Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1985 (13. évfolyam, 43-46. szám)

1985 / 46. szám

ARTICLES & PAPERS (Continued)

autonomy and the role of ethnic minorities, the legal and psychological factors of Slovak-Hungarian relations and the expanding Slovak language borderline. He emphasizes the amicable relationship which functioned well for nine centuries, until the rise of violent nationalism in the 19th century. The author makes specific recommendations toward conditions for genuine integration of the region such as (a) restoration of ethnic frontiers, (b) the participation of peoples in the totality of their ethnic existence, and (c) the balancing of the number of ethnic minorities. The author is a research associate at the U. of Adelaide (Australia).

Vincze, Lajos, “Hungarian Peasant Obscenity: Sociolinguistic Implications.” Ethnology 24:1 (January 1985) 33-42.

This paper presents an ethnographic account of what the Hungarian inhabitants of a peasant village perceive as obscenity with regard to bodily modesty and verbal behavior. The community of Erdó'gyarak (pop. 2,500) is situated in Romania, near the Hungarian border. The inhabitants call themselves parasztok (peasants) in contradistinction to the social category of urak (gentlemen). The author shows how the villagers’ modest, prudish behavior co-exist with their public use of obscene language. When such contrast is brought to their attention by outsiders, villagers rationalize in defense of their speech behavior. Most of these, however, represent spurious justifications. Deeper, the contradictory co-existence is related to the duality of the villagers’ status perception. Structural analysis was chosen to discover how perceptions of obscenity are related to emic views of social realities. The scope of the study is specific inasmuch as it deals with a single community and a single period of time. This limitation, coupled with the scarcity of the comparative material, precludes the possibility to expand the model into a comprehensive generalization. The author is prof, of anthropology at Bowling Green State U. □

MEETINGS

The Third World Congress for Soviet and East European Studies took place at Washington, D.C. between October 30 and November 4, 1985. Sponsored by the International Committee for Soviet and East European Studies and the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, it constituted the most significant gathering of area specialists this year. Papers with Hungarian revelance were underrepresented in numbers and somewhat tangental in content. The following papers had Hungarian revelance: Peter Egyed (Canadian Chamber of Commerce) “Conservation in Hungary.” György Enyedi (Commission on Rural Development, HAS) “Peasants, Post-Peasants and Farmers: The Agricultural Population of Hungary.” Horst Hazelsteiner (U. of Vienna), “The Eastern Great Powers and the Bulgarian Crisis of 1885: Austria-Hungary." László Kovács (Purdue U.) “Book Studies in Eastern Europe: Today’s Hungary.” Alfonz Lengyel (Rosemont Coll.) "Soviet Intervention in Budapest, 1956: Who Called the Soviets to Intervene?” Vasyl Markus (Loyola U., Chicago) “The Fate of the Union of Uzhorod in Transcarpathia and Slovakia after 1945.” Ja'nos Mátyás Kovács (HAS) “The ‘other’ Preobrazhensky." Francis Wagner (Library of Congress) “A Marxist-Leninist Solution to the Gypsy Ouestion in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.” A few Hungarianists, like George Barany and Michael Sozan participated in panel discussions, while István Dobozi, Peter Kene,

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George Schoepflin and Peter Sugar made their contributions as discussants of papers, chair of sessions, round table contributors, etc. The next conference will be held at Harrogate International Centre, North Yorkshire, England, between July 23 and 28,1990. Those interested may contact re: congress program: John Morison, Dept, of Russian Studies, U. of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, England. Re: accommodation: Harrogate Accommodation Bureau, Royal Baths Assembly Rooms, Crescent Road, Harrogate HG1 2RR, England. □

The Second Scholarly Conference of Hungarian Librarians was held in Budapest on August 26 and 27,1985, sponsored by the Széchényi Library, the Hungarian Librarians Association, and the World Federation of Hungarians. The two-day meeting included a tour of the impressive new quarters of the Széche'nyi Library (in the former Royal Castle), as well as various social events. Following the Budapest meeting, an opportunity was given to participate in the annual meeting of Hungarian Librarians Association at Gödöllő'. Zoltán Havasi and Mrs. Endre Ferenczy opened the Budapest conference on behalf of the host institution with papers on the Hungarica collections and the Széchényi Library’s central role in collecting such materials. Enikő Molnár-Basa, Library of Congress, spoke of the new format of the National Union Catalog and its potential in identifying Hungarian materials; Gabor Horchler, Library of Congress, outlined some of the new preservation technology; Judith Oroszlán, Library of Congress, spoke of the cooperative authority work in progress at the Library of Congress. Other North American librarians who participated were Gabor Kovács, who spoke on library automation and

cooperation; Piri T. Szako on the role of school libraries in the education of youth; Sylvia Szmuck on the Hungarian Collection of St. John’s U.; László Kovács on evaluation of Hungarian collections in American libraries; Reka Kozak on hidden Hungarian materials of university and research libraries; and Ruth Biro on children’s juvenile books having some Hungarian relevance. Ilona Kovács of the Széchényi Library, spoke about the Hungarica collections of public libraries in the U.S. from the Hungarian perspective. There were two papers on significant Hungarian-American collections in Hungary: László' Peter on the Vasvary collection housed at the Szeged public library, and Kálmán Ujszászy on the Hungarian-American material of the Reformed Church collection at Sárospatak. Ivan Beky-Halasz addressed the problem of the new Library of Congress subject classification for Transylvania. (E. Molnár-Basa) a

August 26-30, 1985, marked the date of the International Comparative Literature Colloquium at the U. of Sussex, England, a scholarly follow-up to the ICLA Conference in Paris. The Colloquium drew scholars from all over the world. Tightly organized around four major themes introduced by plenary addresses, a wide range of topics was explored within the comparative framework. George Bisztray (U. of Toronto) invited a plenary session to consider value neutrality in sociological literature. Enikő' Molnár-Basa (Library of Congress) spoke on Zrinyi and Arany in her paper entitled, “The National Epic as a Purposeful Retelling of History,” and Bálint Rozsnyai of the U. of Szeged (currently at the U. of Minnesota) gave a paper on “The Reception of American Literature in Hungary since 1945.” Participants from Hungary included L. Szilárd and T. Ungvári from Budapest, and George M. Vajda, Tibor Fabiny, and György Endre Szó'nyi of Szeged — a good representation at a prestigious international conference. (E. Molnár-Basa) □

NO. 46. WINTER, 1985-1986, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER