Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1979 (7. évfolyam, 19-22. szám)
1979 / 21. szám
ARTICLES & PAPERS Hofer, Tama's. "Hungarian Ethnographers in a Hungarian Village." In George M. Foster, et al (eds) Long Term Field Research in Social Anthropology. Academic Press, 111 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003, 1979.376 pages, $26.00 cloth. Pages 85-101. This is a report on anthropological (ethnographic) field work carried out by Edit Fél and Tamás Hofer in the village of Átány in Heves County, for a period of over twenty years. Since the traditions, objectives, and methods of Hungarian ethnography differ from those of American anthropology, the author first sketches the cultural content in which the research took place, then describes ethical aspects of the methods applied in view of the dramatical social and political changes that characterized the past thirty years. However, it would be an error to think that the principal concern of the author lies in methodology. His concern is with the best possible utilization of the enormous data gathered in the process, thousands of pages of field notes, over 10,000 photographs, 3,800 museum items. The author and Edit Fél published a respectable volume in English (Proper Peasants, Aldine Publishing Co., 529 South Wabash Avenue , Chicago, IL 60605,1969. 440 pages, cloth. According to the critics, it is the best East European ethnographic monograph.) Two other volumes based on research in Átány were published in German: Bäuerliche Denkenweise in Wirtschaft und Haushalt: Eine ethnographische Untersuchung über das ungarishe Dorf Atany. [Peasant Reasoning in Economy and Household; Ethnographie Research at the Hungarian Village of Átány]. Verlag Otto Schwartz & Co., Gottingen, 1972.551 pages, cloth; and Geräte derÁtányer Bauern [Implements of Peasants of Atany]. Danish Academy of Sciences Copenhagen, 1974. 678 pages, cloth. The author is Department Head at the Hungarian Ethnographic Museum in Budapest. □ Kertesz, Stephen D., “Peacemaking on the Dark Side of the Moon: Hungary 1943-1947,” The Review of Politics 40:4 (October 1978) 469-498. This essay is part of the author’s memoirs relating personal experiences at the end of World War II, and its aftermath. He was one of the principal architects of the Hungarian argument at the Paris peace negotiations in 1947. He says that “geography proved decisive in the misfortune of Hungary, a country that had been in the inner circle of the German power sphere.” If geography prohibited certain desirable actions on the Hungarian side, “political and strategic inter-Allied decisions in 1943 and 1944 settled the fate of East Central Europe. From this time on the area became the ‘dark side of the moon’ for the Western Allies.” The author quotes Philip E. Mosley, who said that the Hungarians prepared for the peace negotiations thoroughly based "on the assumption that the issues would be treated on their merits by the Great Powers.” But “the struggle over the formal terms of the treaty was merely one aspect of a more general struggle to extend or confine Soviet power in Europe. In thatstruggle Hungary had little to hope for and much to fear." In the end “The peace treaties signed with the Danubian states in 1947 meant abandonment of the Atlantic Charter and the principle of selfdetermination of peoples... We may conclude that the method and result of peacemaking [in Europe] after the Second World War did not mean progress, but a substantial backward step in history, and this circumstance influenced unfavorably not only Hungary’s fate but the future of the entire European continent. The meaning of Soviet hegemony became clear when in 1947 Stalin prohibited the East European states from participating in the Marshall Plan. With this veto, the unprecedented political and economic division of the Old Continent became an inexorable reality.” The author is professor emeritus of international relations at the U. of Notre Dame. Cl Marco, A. Guy and A. Robert Rogers. "Five Years of the Gombo'cz Scholarship; Hungarian Students at the Kent State U. School of Library Science." Leads 20:4 (Winter 1979) pp. 1- 3. Published by the American Librarians Association’s International Relations Round Table. Ed. E.S. Moffat, Palmer Graduate Library School, C.W. Post Center, Long Island U., Green vale, NY 11548: Gombo'cz, one of Hungary's key librarians associated with the Széchényi Library, died in 1973. To commemorate his efforts toward international cooperation in librarianship, Kent St. U. created the István Gombocz Scholarship in cooperation with the Association of Hungarian Librarians. In the scholarship program a Hungarian librarian is working toward a graduate degree at Kent St. U. each year. Awardees have been as follows: Ilona Kovács, deputy head of the cataloging dept, at the Széchényi library (1974); András Jablonkay, librarian, Central Library, Medical U. at Debrecen (1975); Peter Szántó, at the dept, of research and development of the Hungarian Central Technical Library and Documentation Center (1976); Tamás Rónai, Library of the Hungarian Parliament (1977); and Pe'ter Hegedűs (1978). D Korponay, Irene, “Esztergom 1946." Impetus (a blue moon publication of The Writer's Club, School of General Studies, Columbia U.,) 1:1 (1978) pp. 29-39. This is an account of the author’s personal experience and thus, it is a contribution to historical detail of the period. The contents are presented in the framework of a short story soon to be expanded into a full-length book. As in all historical novels, it is rather difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish facts from fiction. Nevertheless, it is an interesting contribution to American literature in the first issue of an ambitious student journal. D Magocsi, Paul R. The Language Question Among the Subcarpathian Rusyns. Carpatho-Rusyn Research Center, 355 Delano Place, Fairview, NJ 07022,1979. 41 pages, illus., biblio. $3.75 paper. The author discusses five periods of language controversy from the 17th to the 20th centuries. He gives a description of the various alternatives: local Rusyn vernacular, Church Slavonic, Russian, Ukrainian, Slovak, Latin, and Magyar. A comprehensive bibliography is included. CD Rothkirchen, Livia. Deep Rooted Yet Alien: Some Aspects of the History of Jews in Subcarpathian Ruthenia. Carpatho- Rusyn Research Center, 355 Delano Place, Fairview, NJ 07022, 1979. 46 pages. $2.75 paper. The author shows how, in contrast to other areas of Europe, Jews in Subcarpathia traditionally got along well with the local Rusyn population. tZ] Pilisi, Paul, “Hungarian Minority in Romania,” International Perspectives (Canada) January/February 1979, pp. 24-28. The ever growing number of volumes of writings on the fate (Continued on Page 6) NO. 21, 1979, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER 5
