Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1982 (10. évfolyam, 31-34. szám)
1982 / 33. szám
ARTICLES & PAPERS (Continued) the society in which he functioned from the 20th century artist living in capitalism, which provides total freedom for his self-expression, only to be ruled by the laws of the market. Here the artist loses contact with his audience and becomes isolated, alienated, even dehumanized by his aimless, missionless freedom of artistic expression, as opposed to the pre-modern artist, where the sense of social mission was intact and a guiding, driving force. The author continues by outlining the Lukácsian views on artistic freedom under socialism, where the potential for ideal conditions should be present, but are not, because of infringements on the rights of personal freedoms, and where censorship prevails, the author being ultimately responsible to the ideology of the Party, as opposed to the market place. According to Lukács, artistic freedom is quite inadequate in both forms of society, capitalist or socialist. He believed that the former ensures more freedom, but the potential for an ideal environment for the artist exists within the latter. (SMN) □ McCauley, Brian. “Hungary and Suez, 1956: The Limits of Soviet and American Power.” Journal of Contemporary History 16 (1981) 777-8000. This abstract from the author’s doctoral dissertation attempts “to illuminate the decisive factors behind the American response to the Hungarian Revolution and the Soviet response to the Suez Crisis” by the juxtaposition of the interwining events’ documentation beginning in 1953 and emphasizing the intense days between October 23 and November 6, 1956. The death of Stalin, the 1953 East German riots, and the June 1956 Polish uprising at Poznan are mentioned to have set the stage for the events in Hungary. The multiple factors in this crisis are re-examined closely using "the assistance of newly-acquired documents from the Department of State through the Freedom of Information Act.” The Eisenhower Administration’s initial “liberation” policy (1953) ceased to exist by the time the crisis in Hungary culminated on October 23, 1956. During the entire crisis the U.S. maintained a low-key, non-involvement policy. On October 28,1956, simultaneously with the cease-fire and the beginning of the “withdrawal” of Soviet troops from Hungary, the Suez Crisis broke out stealing much of the world’s attention. An intricate web of political and military concerns formed between the various actors, and the author tries to unravel relationships and events by analyzing the views and actions of each participant. E.g. “a lesser known incident of November 2, 1956 sheds some new light behind the scenes, when Khruschev and Malenkov traveled secretly to Yugoslavia seeking understanding, if not support, of their military actions in Hungary.” The concluding section of the essay compares the policies of the two superpowers and notices surprising similarities between the predicament and actions of the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. during the 1956 turn of events. Brian McCauley is a Soviet foreign policy analyst, and is currently working on his doctoral dissertation at Georgetown U. (SMN) □ McRobbie, Kenneth. “Beyond Nature with a Human Face? Ferenc Juhász’s ‘Homage to Karl Marx’.” Canadian Slavonic Papers 13:3 (September 1981) 273-290. The 381 line prose-poem by Juhász, a contemporary Hungarian poet, is explored in detail, deciphering its multiple levels, symbolism, unique word formations and imagery. The poet “introduces major themes of our time: the constraints of the natural order, man’s drive to transcend material existence, the laws of historical development, the role of knowledge, and the significance of death, sexuality and love.” More specifically, the New Economic Mechanism’s potential influence on Hungarian society as foreseen by Juhász, and its manifestation in the poem (being the conception and behavior of the devouring consumer) is studied in depth. The article is a challenging attempt in examining “the most artistically daring example of affirmative ideological consciousness to emerge in Eastern Europe in many years”, depicting not only the literary, poetic, but the socio-economic, political and ideological features which the poem encompasses. The article closes with a scholarly critique of the epic-like poem written in 1975. (SMN) □ RESEARCH IN PROGRESS Louis Buda (1531 Glastonberry Road, Fern Park, Orlando, FL 32751) is doing research in a much neglected area: the role of small states in World War II. □ Bela C. Maday and Eva V. Huseby havejust about concluded the collection of 150 oral life histories of Hungarian immigrants in the U.S. AMEN, as the project is called jocularly (Amerikai Magyar Emigránsok Néprajza), will be a unique testimony to the socialization process of Hungarian immigrants. The tapes will have to be transcribed for easier handling, and it would be quite desirable to have the tapes translated into the other language so they could be made available to monolingual researchers. Presently, about 2/3 of the tapes are in Hungarian, and 1/3 are in English, thus one has to be bilingual to make full use of the collection. □ Institute of Comparative Civilizations, Montreal, Announcing FROM TRIANON TO THE FIRST VIENNA ARBITRAL AWARD, The Hungarian Minority in the First Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1938 by Charles Wojatsek, Bishop’s University, 1981. Price $13.75 Cloth edition $19.00. Available from: M. Kolbe Editions, P.O. Box 2058, Postal Station “J.C." Sherbrooke, Quebec, J1J 3Y1, Canada or Puski-Corvin Books 1590 Second Avenue New York, NY 10028 HUNGARIAN TEXTBOOK AND GRAMMAR 4th Revised Edition, 1977 by Charles Wojatsek, Bishop’s University. Price $8.00 Available from: Pannónia Books, P.O. Box 1017, Station “B,” Toronto, Ontario M5T 2T8, Canada or Puski-Corvin Books 1590 Second Avenue New York, NY 10028 6 NO. 33, AUTUMN 1982, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEW5LETTER
