Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1978 (6. évfolyam, 16-18. szám)
1978 / 16. szám
DISSERTATIONS* Ford, Kathleen (Brown U., 1976) Abortion and Family Building: Fertility Limitation in Hungary and Japan. 171 pages. Microfilm and xerox order no. 77-14, 114. A mathematical fertility model (FERMODA) was constructed to study the use of abortion and contraception in the family building process. The model was applied to study groups of women in Hungary and Japan. Interest was focused on the quality of available abortion data. The consistency of available information on proportions married, proportions of married women using contraception, marital birth rates, and marital abortion rates was tested. In the two Hungarian samples the information was consistent, with that gathered through FERMODA, i.e. high abortion rates can occur when more than half of the married female population is using traditional contraception. Information available for the three Japanese groups did not seem to be consistent with the data gathered from FERMODA. Evidence has not been found in Hungary or in Japan for increasing reliance on abortion as against contraception since abortion was fully legalized. In Japan, increases in the use of contraceptive practices are observed while in Hungary traditional patterns continue. Gluck, Mary (Columbia U.) Endre Ady: an East European Response to the Cultural Crisis of the Fin de Siede. 266 pages. Microfilm and xerox order no. 77-24, 912. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century the decline of the liberal parties signaled a fundamental reorientation in politics, economics, philosophy, the sciences, and arts. The rational liberal tradition, based on positivism in philosophy and faith in progressive social evolution, came under increasingly serious attacks. This study examines the nature of the Hungarian cultural response to the change in the larger framework of European developments at this time. Two mutually contradictory impulses shaped the outlook of Hungarian progressive intellectuals at the turn of the century. On the one hand, they were passionately committed to the ideajs of democratic and liberal reforms that would finally allow Hungarian society to “catch up with the West.” On the other hand, their faith in the panacea of liberal democracy was seriously undermined by the example of Western Europe, where “post liberal,” neo-idealistic, metaphysical currents of thought were replacing the older liberal outlook. The main portion of the dissertation focuses on the development of Ady, whose art and thought encompassed both the political aspirations of the radicals and the metaphysical and cultural concerns of the men around Georg Lukács. The study concludes with the years of World War I, and the different ways in which Ady, the radicals, and the Lukacs circle reacted to the war and the political collapse of 1918 and 1919. Because of its complexity and contradictions, Ady’sart mirrored most completely the intellectual and artistic dilemmas faced by his contemporaries. Though unique in Hungarian culture, Ady’s outlook was, at the same time, typical. It represented a distinctly East European response to the cultural crisis of the fin de siede. ARTICLES and PAPERS Jonas, Paul, “Home Thoughts from Abroad,” Harper’s 254 (April 1977) 20-21. Jonas looks back on the reception given him and other Hungarian revolutionaries in 1956 and their gradual realization that when the novelty wore off, they had to make new lives for themselves lest they become professional exiles. In spite of their success in establishing themselves in the U.S., there is a note of regret in the final sentence: “History will not remember us as successful immigrants but as exiles, miserable, unhappy and failed.” Jonas is Prof, of Economics at the U. of New Mexico. dl Kovács, Steven, “Beyond Socialist Realism,” Sight and Sound 45 (Autumn, 1976) 243-245. Kova'cs discusses the new trends in Hungarian film making. As a focal point of the comments, he uses Zoltán Fábri’s new film, The Unfinished Sentence, based on Tibor Dery’s novel of the same title. In a brief yet informative review of film making in Hungary and Eastern Europe since World War II, he stresses that political subjects and themes are purposely often avoided because the strongly didactic films of the Stalinist era had given these a poor reputation. In this instance, however, the political message is allowed to come through subtly and the complexity of the film allows for a fuller development of characters. “In its flesh and blood characters with a social dimension,” Kovács writes, "The Unfinished Sentence offers a vital model for Marxist cinema.” In the same issue of Sight and Sound there is a brief report on Hungarian documentaries by Mari Kuttna (pp. 225-226) in which she points out the problems encountered in presenting social problems on the screen, but suggests that the techniques of documentaries seem to be having an effect on films in general. D The New Republic (March 26, 1977) and the New Yorker (February 28, 1977) carried translations from contemporary Hungarian poets. In the former, two poems each by Sándor Csoóri, Zoltán Zelk and György Somlyó and one by Gábor Garai were given in Daniel Hoffman’s translation (pp. 29-30). William Jay Smith’s translation of Szabolcs Várady’s “Chairs above the Danube,” and Richard Wilbur’s rendering of József Tornai’s “Mr. T.S. Eliot Cooking Pasta,” appear in the latter (pp. 34-35). These, translations are good English poetry as well as faithful reflections of the originals. Recently, Smith and Hoffman participated in aU.S. tourthat featured poetry readings by several contemporary Hungarian poets, Sándor Weörös, Amy Károlyi, Gyula Juhász and István Vas, who also read their poetry in the original. Among other places they read at the Guggenheim Museum and at the Library of Congress. Kahn, Marcia L., "How Free is the Freest?” America 136 (January 22, 1977) 53-54. Kahn gives summaries of three personal expressions she had witnessed, attesting to lack of genuine freedom in Hungary. A university professor would like better access to foreign professional journals and the ability to travel freely with his family outside the Warsaw Pact nations. An old woman has doubts about the “peace priests” and the new Primate, and desires that religion were more openly practiced. Finally, a young laborer expresses the wish that it were easier to travel abroad. [H (Continued on page 8) NO. 16, 1978 HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER 7
