Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1980 (8. évfolyam, 23-26. szám)
1980 / 25. szám
and interests seem to govern Canadian and American community support for scholarly ventures. Robert Harney (U. of Toronto) stressed the need for a scholarly and unimpassioned approach to ethnic and immigration studies. He suggested that archival collections should be integrated into the appropriate department, e.g., history, sociology, literature, etc. Paul Rékai (Central Hospital) stressed the need for multilingual services at hospitals and clinics, pointing out that Central Hospital in Toronto was founded to meet such a need. Marvi Ricker (U. of Toronto) focused on recent efforts made by the university to familiarize the ethnic community with its services and to involve more ethnics in its programs; and Judy Young (Multicultural Directorate of the Canadian Government), spoke of the federal programs aimed at integrating ethnic communities into the wider aspects of Canadian life through various programs for language and culture maintenance. Aid is given to community-run language schools and publications, to chairs of special studies and particularly to programs circulating books in various languages through the library system. The presentations in the LITERATURE section focused on modern times. András Boros-Kazai (Indiana U.) examined the impact of urban life on Hungarian literature of 1880-1900. The role of the newspapers was particulary significant because it formed a reading public and helped develop the short story, the short-short story and the satirical sketch as genres handled with skill by the writers of the early 20th century. Bela Kriegler (Calasanctius School) traced the idea of Humánum as a continuing strain in modern Hungarian poetry; and Marianne Birnbaum (UCLA) spoke of Hungarian poetry in Yugoslavia, pointing out that while the region possessed a rich literary heritage since the Middle Ages, it has received a separate and dynamic development after 1948. Intellectual dependency on Budapest still existed during the interwar period, although few of the writers of the Vojvodina were known in Hungary. The break between Tito and Stalin proved beneficial, because cut off from Budapest the writers developed their own path with good access to both Western and Hungarian literature and freedom to explore new trends and critical theories. Mary Boros-Kazai (Indiana U.) opened the section on IMMIGRATION AND SETTLEMENT with an analysis of Hungarian emigration laws and policies in the 1880s and 1900s. While concerned with the loss of population, particularly the fear of loss of Magyar stock, no restrictions on freedom of movement were contemplated. The measures were designed chiefly to regulate the activities of agents. Nándor Dreisziger spoke of the “other side,” the situation in Canada, where many immigrants found they had traded one hard life for another. The seasonal nature of much of the work available in Canada often meant migrant work; the winters in particular were hard, and during the depression the newcomers, having fewer resources to fall back on, suffered more than the natives. Only in the 1940s, with the boom of the war economy, were many able to buy farmsteads, or attain the security of a city job. Susan M. Papp (Multicultural History Society of Ontario) gave an account of the organizational development of the Hungarian communities in Ontario, illustrating her comments with slides of the life of the community from the archives of the Society. Martin L. Kovács (U. of Regina) concluded the panel by summarizing earlier statements. In the FOLKLORE section, Ildikó Kriza (Ethnographic MEETINGS (Continued) Research Institute, HAS) gave an historical overview of “outlaw ballads" (betyarballadak) from their 17th-18th century origins to the 20th century romanticization. Maria H. Krisztinkovich (U. of British Columbia) demonstrated the influence of Hungarian decorative motifs in Hutterite samplers. She contended that the Anabaptists, who had enjoyed a measure of protection in Hungary and even prestige as the scribes in many great houses, retained an emphasis on caligraphy, and carried decorative elements as well as the letters with them to the New World. László Kürti, pointed to the essential distinction in the form or structural configuration between Romanian and Hungarian dances. The section on MINORITIES contained reports on the situation of the Jews (Robert Blumstock, McMaster U.) and the elderly (Bela J. Bognár, Wright State U.), as well as on the Hungarian minority in Czechoslovakia (Charles Wojatsek, Bishop's U.). The placing of the “Jewish question" in a historical perspective has led to a decline of public visibility in the interest of private survival. In the case of the elderly, there is an officially recognized difference between policy and practice: those over 70 lack adequate pensions, acceptable housing, and access to existing programs. Possibly worse than the physical deprivation is the lack of recognition of the historical role of this generation that is thus denied a sense of purpose. Hungarian contributions to science was the topic of the papers in the SCIENTIFIC section: László Veró' (Eötvös Geophysical Institute, Budapest) stressed the valuable contributions of Eötvös to petroleum research; Peter J. Forbath (St. Michael’s Hospital) spoke of the tragic life of Igna'c Semmelweis as he sought recognition for the antiseptic practices that dramatically reduced childbed deaths. István Horvath (National Dermato-Venerological Institute, Budapest) stressed the importance of proper sex education in combating the world-wide epidemic of veneral disease. Anna B. Katona (Coll, of Charleston) examined the image of the United States in JaYios Szász’s Amerikából jöttem, while the other speakers in the section on NATIONAL IMAGES focused on the Hungarian image in Canada and the United States. Katona pointed out that Bölöni Farkas admired the United States more than Szász, who found the lack of a national culture disturbing. The observations of Ruth G. Biro (Duquesne U.) on the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic nature of much of children’s literature, bibliographic materials and resource publications proved to be a timely commentary on different priorities. Thomas Szendrey (Gannon Coll.) showed yet another aspect of national consciousness in his review of the lack of Eastern European and specifically Hungarian materials in European history books published in North America. The program was complemented by an evening with four Hungarian-Canadian poets (György Faludy, László Kemenes-Gefin, Tamás Tűz, György Vitéz) who spoke of writing Hungarian poetry in a non-Hungarian cultural environment. The speaker at the closing banquet, Francis S. Wagner (Lib. of Congress), highlighted some of the Hungarian contributions to Canada and the United States. (EMB) □ An INTERNATIONAL HUNGAROLOGICAL CONGRESS will be held by the International Association of Hungarian Studies (see HSN no. 16, p. 14, and no. 17, p. 6 for information on the society) between August 10 and 14, 1981. The congress will convene in the main building of the HAS in Budapest. Two major themes were selected: (1) The teaching 6 NO. 25, AUTUMN, 1980, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEW5LETTER
