Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1983 (11. évfolyam, 35-38. szám)

1983 / 35-36. szám

HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER

No. 35-36 ISSN: 0194-164X SPRING-SUMMER, 1983

Published quarterly by the Hungarian Research Center of the American Hungarian Foundation: Winter, Spring (two numbers included), and Autumn. Founder and editor: Bela Charles Maday. Journal editor: Susan M. Nagy. Communications concerning content should be addressed to the Editor, 4528-49th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20016. Communications concerning subscriptions, advertising, and circulation should be addressed to American Hungarian Foundation, 177 Somerset Street, P.O. Box 1084, New Brunswick, N.J. 08903. Annual subscription in the U.S.A. $5.00. Abroad $7.00. Current single copy $3.00; back issues $3.50 each.

BOOKS (Continued)

CROSS CURRENTS: A Yearbook of Central European Culture, ed. by Ladislav Matejka and Benjamin Stolz. Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ml 48109,1982.379 pages, illus. $10.00 paper (Michigan Slavic Materials, no. 20)

This annual contains mainly literary works of poetry, biography, proze, but also some papers on philosophy, politics, ideology originating in East Central Europe. Of the 25 papers 3 have specific Hungarian topics. George Konrad in Letter from Budapest describes in a 3-page article fundamental East Central European attitudes. He says that “The communist world is highly sensitive to ideas. The ideas in whose names the rulers rule and the people obey, or grumble, or criticize, are of paramount importance. The mainstay of the system is the prevailing written and unwritten ideology.” Emery George in Contemporary Poetry in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia points to the diverse cultures of the region and presents his own translation of “Spacious Winter” by Gyula Illyés, and “Auden in Old Age” by Ágnes Gergely, as well as a translation of Ágnes Nemes Nagy’s “Pinetree” by Bruce Berlind. Albert B. Lord in Béla Bartók as a Collector of Folk Mus/c discusses Bartók’swork indifferent cultural settings is well documented by the fact that he collected 3,500 Romanian, 3,223 Slovak, 89 Turkish, 65 Arabic, and more than 200 Ruthenian, South Slavic and Bulgarian songs in addition to 3,700 Hungarian folk songs. He uses Bartdk’s definition of “folk song” i.e., songs regularly sung in the peasant community “whether rare or well-known, whether of urban or foreign origin.”

Drachkovitch, Milorad M. ed., EAST CENTRAL EUROPE: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, 1982. xi + 417 pages, tables. $25.95 cloth.

This volume offers a panoramic survey of developments over several decades within a particularly significant and turbulent part of Europe and allows the reader to place current events in the proper historical perspective. The volume is divided into two parts: The first concerns theoretical and practical factors which appear to shape the destiny of the “socialist commonwealth” of East Central Europe. The second describes the individual countries involved and the principles which supposedly guide each country’s politics and their practical application. Chapter 14, Hungary: Two Revolutions, One Compromise was written by Bennett Kovrig (pp. 287-301). The first revolution was the radical transformation that emanated from the communist takeover in 1948, and the second was the national uprising of 1956. A compromise that was forged in the early 1960s between

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rulers and ruled seems to be enduring and “promises to endure into the forseeable future.” The country possesses some unique features that distinguish it from its neighbors. “The 1956 revolution and the personal characteristics of Kádár made the eventual compromise of the alliance policy necessary and possible.” The author sees economy as the pivotal problem in a country where 40% of the national income is derived from foreign trade. Known circumstances make the country’s economy dependent on the Soviet Union a situation which is seen as worsening, hence, prospects of continuous rise in the standard of living are dim. Similarly, the constraints of Soviet hegemony allow no optimism regarding future political liberalization.

The author is senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.

Eősze, László, ZOLTÁN KODÁLY: His Life in Pictures and Documents. Budapest: Corvina kiadó, 1982. Second ed. 168 pages, index of persons shown in pictures. $11.90 cloth. (Album.)

This album originally published in 1971 was reprinted in 1982 for the Kodály centennial (1882-1967). It contains a comprehensive 16-page biography portraying Kodály and his work in the broad categories of composition, ethnomusicology, and education. This followed by a 144-page section of black and white pictures with generous captions.

Hansen, Art and Anthony Oliver-Smith, eds. INVOLUNTARY MIGRATION AND RESETTLEMENT: The Problems and Responses of Dislocated People. Westview Press, 5500 Central Avenue, Boulder, CO 80301,1982.333 pages, tables, figures, biblio. $25.00 cloth. (A Westview Special Study.)

This volume, though only marginally related to the Hungarian scene, cannot be overlooked by students of Hungarian migration/immigration because it addresses “the broad scope of issues and wide variety of contexts in which migration and resettlement schemes have occurred.” Some 20 authors present 11 case studies involving mostly Third World cultures in three groups: (1) resettlements due to political upheaval; (2) resettlements due to natural disasters; and (3) resettlements as elements of planned change. Chapter 15 is of particular interest. Written by Thayer Scudder and Elizabeth Colson, it sketches a conceptual frame for the analysis of dislocated people and reformulations of hypotheses “as to how communities, households, and individuals can be expected to respond to resettlement.” The authors consider physiological, psychological, and socioeconomic stress at various stages of the relocation process, major issues and policy implications, and try to identify the similarities and differences that exist among situations of involuntary migration as against those among voluntary migrants.

Hansen is assist, prof, of anthropology at the U. of Florida, and Oliver-Smith is assoc, prof, of anthropology at the same institution.

Horak, Stephan M. comp. RUSSIA, THE USSR, AND EASTERN EUROPE: A BIBLIOGRAPHIC GUIDE TO ENGLISH LANGUAGE PUBLICATIONS, 1975-1980. Libraries Unlimited, P.O. Box 263, Littleton, CO 80160-0263,1982.279 pages. $25.00 in the U.S.; $30.00 elsewhere, cloth.

This volume, a supplement to Russia, The USSR, and Eastern Europe: A Bibliographic Guide to English Language Publications, 1964-1974 (Libraries Unlimited, 1978), extends its listings to cover the years 1975-1980. Some 1,000 monographs, most written in English, are included. Annotations are derived from published reviews, with full citations to the

NO. 35-36, SPRING-SUMMER 1983 HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER