Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1980 (8. évfolyam, 23-26. szám)

1980 / 25. szám

Rath, John R. ed. AUSTRIAN HISTORY YEARBOOK. Vol. 14 (1978). Rice U. Houston, TX 77001,1978. 451 pages. $18.50 paper.

The most recent volume of the yearbook continues the tradition of previous volumes. (For general description, see HSN no. 9, p. 1-2; for review of consecutive volumes see: HSN no. 12, p. 2, and no. 18, p.2.) The Hungarian-related coverage is extensive and of high quality. Of the five leading articles (with comments and replies) under the title Warfare and Society: The Impact of War on Politics, Diplomacy, and Social Change, one reflects on Hungarian attitudes and actions at the time of the collapse of the Italian front at the end of World War I: Vae Victis! The Austro-Hungarian Armeeoberkommando and the Armistice of Villa Giusti by Ronald W. Hanks. Two articles on The Nazi Interlude are followed by a score of bibliographic articles. At least 12 of the books, 8 doctoral dissertations, and some 48 articles either focus on Hungary or clearly relate to it. We learn of research projects in progress, such as Peter Brock’s Tolstoyism and the Hungarian Peasant; Richard R. Lawrence’s Pacifism and Militarism in Austria-Hungary, 1867-1918; Thomas Spira’s German-Hungarian Relations and the Swabian Problem, 1936-1938; and Bela Kiraly’s War and Society in East-Central Europe during the 18th and 19th Centuries (in collaboration with Gunther Rothenberg). A long list of Austrian and German books, doctoral dissertations, and articles is followed by 155 pages of book reviews. After a list of books received, encomiums of C.A. Macartney, Paul Ignotus and Friedrich Engel-Janosi conclude the volume.

The editor is prof, of history at Rice U.

Volgyes, Ivan ed. EASTERN EUROPE: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY SERIES. Published in behalf of the American Association of the Advancement of Slavic Studies by Cliff Notes, P.O. Box 80728, Lincoln, NE68501,1978.Ten volumes with maps, charts, tables, bibliographies, and audio-visual aids.

The series was developed by the editor for the Education Committee of the AAASS with the support of the US Office of Education. According to the editor the publication is intended “to enhance the teaching of East European studies in American colleges, universities and secondary schools. Each of these volumes deals with one disciplinary area but in its totality, the series can be used to teach interdisciplinary courses dealing with Eastern Europe as a whole." Of the ten volumes contemplated, seven are in print, as follows:

The Peoples of Eastern Europe by Walter C. Bisselle (Boston U.). 77 pages. $4.95 paper.

The History of Eastern Europe by Joseph Held (Rutgers U.). 99 pages, $4.95 paper.

The Geography of Eastern Europe by Dean S. Rugg (U. of Nebraska). 116 pages. $5.95 paper.

Society and Social Change in Eastern Europe by Bogdan Denitch. (Columbia U.) assisted by Ben T. Shomshor (U. of Nebraska). 33 pages and 113 tables. $5.95 paper.

The Politics of Eastern Europe by Ivan Volgyes (U. of Nebraska). 87 pages. $4.95 paper.

Eastern Europe and the World by Charles Gati (Union Coll.). 69 pages. $3.95 paper.

The Economies of Eastern Europe by Edward A. Hewett (U. of Texas, Austin). 44 + 17 pages. $3.95 paper.

BOOKS (Continued)

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The Legal Systems of Eastern Europe by William E. Butler;

The Literature of Eastern Europe by Tamas Acze'i; and

The Music of Eastern Europe by Jelena M. Djuric.

Since the series may become widely used as a guideline for courses on Eastern Europe including Hungary, the editor of HSN wants to urge you to try out volumes in your particular area of competence and let us know of your criticism with regard to the usefulenss, accuracy and reliability of the content of the volumes. We have not seen the audio-visual aids, which accompany each and every volume, thus comments on those would also be appreciated.

Volgyes is assoc, prof, of political science at the U. of Nebraska.

ARTICLES (j PAPERS

Kürti, László'. “The Structure of Hungarian Dance: A Linguistic Approach,” Journal for the Anthropological Study of Human Movement 1:1 (Spring 1980) 45-62.

The study of dance has been central to dance foljtloristics, a scholarly discipline developed in Hungary during the 1950s. Its focus is on the dance tradition of the peasantry. It attempts to discover the small elements, which in their totality constitute dance, not unlike linguistics trying to break down language into sentences, phrases, words, morphemes and phonemes. According to Martin and Pesovár, the morphological analysis of dance reveals the laws governing the structure of dance, its relation to music, its motor components, the correlation of its parts, rhythmics, dynamics, spatial components, and the choreographical relations. For the present study, five versions of a dance popular with a Hungarian isolate in the Kükülld region (now Romania), the pontozó (pointing or dotting) is used. The author shows the complex and symbolic character of the dance that varies from one individual to another. He also tries to show how dance, together with language, art, religion, ritual, social structure expresses the patterns of subjective perception. The Hungarian School seems to be ahead of others in recognizing the sophisticated nature of these phenomena. The author, on the other hand, goes further in advancing a form of analysis, which might be useful in cross-cultural investigation of the anthropology of human movement. The author is a doctoral candidate at the Dept, of Anthropology, New York U. Ó

Lahav, Yehuda. “Soviet Policy and the Transylvanian Question (1940-1946).” The Soviet and East European Research Centre of the Hebrew U. of Jerusalem. Research Paper no. 27. July 1977. 72 pages, mimeo.

The mixed ethnic character of Transylvania has been its strength and its weakness. The need to live peacefully in an ethnically pluralistic setting brought to fruition democratic legislation, such as the guaranty of religious freedom much before the Western world adapted the idea. It was also manifest in the establishment of pioneering religious movements, such as, Unitarianism. But, pluralism also meant conflicting loyalties on which adversaries and great powers could play. Historically it was the Habsburgs, the Ottoman Turks, and the Russians. More recently the Western Allies and the Soviet Union applied the ancient tenet of “divide and conquer.” First, Hitler used Transylvania as a carrot for closer Hungarian and Romanian cooperation in World War II. Later,

Still under preparation are three volumes:

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NO. 25, AUTUMN, 1960, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEW5LETTER