Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1986 (14. évfolyam, 47-50. szám)
1986 / 49. szám
Ml / VJ I AMGRICAN HUNGARIAN FOUNDATION HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER BOOKS Heinrich, Hans-Georg, HUNGARY: Politics, Economics, and Society. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 948 North Street, Boulder, CO 80302,1986.198 pages, tables, diagrams, map. $25. cloth; $11.95 paper. This book analyzes and evaluates critically the relationship between Marxist theory and its practical application in the political, economic, and social spheres of contemporary Hungary. It is a scholarly effort in updating the reader on recent changes, which affected the way of life in the country. The book opens by providing brief geographical and historical settings for the discussion of such areas as social structure and the regime’s ideological and political commitments, much likeearlierworksof similargenre have done. (See: E.C. Helmreich, Hungary. New York: for the Mid-European Studies Center of the Free Europe Committee by Praeger, 1957, or G.A. Lipsky. U.S. Area Handbook for Hungary. G.P.O., 1959, mimeo.) Both works are out of print as of now. These two volumes are broad reference books, while the book before us deepens its inquiry in selected areas well supported by 53 demographic and statistical tables as well as 8 diagrams. Area specialists and persons interested in political dynamics will find the volume a useful reference book. The volume is one of the series of 36 multidisciplinary volumes on as many topics. At the time of this writing, the following volumes were available: Afganistan, Ethiopia, Grenada, Guyana, Romania, and the Soviet Union. The author is assistant prof, at the Institute of Political Science, University of Vienna. The general editor of the Marxist Regimes series is Bogdan Szajkowski, lecturer on comparative social institutions, University College, Cardiff, Wales. MORNING IN HIS HEART: The Life and Writings of Watson Kirkconnell. Biographical sketch by J.R.C. Perkin; bibliography by James B. Snelson. Published for Acadia University by Lancelot Press, Wolfville, NS BOP IXO, Canada, 1986.371 pages, indexes, illus. $15.00 paper. This book is about Watson Kirkconnell, 1895-1977, a writer, poet, historian, genealogist, college president, and one of the architects of Canadian multiculturalism. But most of all, Kirkconnell was a Hungarianist. Hungarianists are scholars with professional interest in Hungarian culture regardless of theirown ethnicaffiliation, as distinguished from Hungarians, members of the Hungarian ethnic group. It is true that most Hungarianists are of Hungarian ethnic descent, but those who are not are most valuable. Hungarian academe is fortunate, because it had the contributions of two giants among its ranks: C. A. Macartney and Watson Kirkconnell. This volume is about the latter. It consists of two parts: a 64 page biography and a bibliography of 1,800 entries listing his works. A preface is rendered by lain J. Bates, Acadia University librarian, who says that “The breadth of Kirkconnell’s scholarship is not yet adequately described and his contribution to Canadian University life and letters has never been properly assessed. Those tasks remain a challenge to some industrious and intrepid researcher. The project will be monumental, but should be undertaken because Kirkconnell is one of that small band of individuals who, to a significant degree, helped to create modern Canada.” The book is a good initial step in the right direction. As far as Hungarian references are concerned, they are in the hundreds in the bibliographical part of the opus, and rather few in the biographical section, leaving the reader wondering of how Kirkconnell became involved with Hungarian culture and people. The breadth of his intellect and ability to bridge cultural gaps is well shown in such works as his European Elegies (1928) in which he released translations of one hundred poems from European literature in fifty languages, including Hungarian. A fine example of his ability as translator of verse is the Hungarian Helicon (published in 1985 by the Széchenyi Society of Canada, Calgary, Alberta. 763 pages. Canadian $50.00 cloth. It represents the work of more than fourdecadesand provides verse translation of many kinds of Hungarian poetry, from long epics to brief elegies and love songs from medieval church verse to the poetry of the 1956 Freedom Fighters. An earlier volume of his, The Magyar Muse (1933) is an anthology of Hungarian poetry between 1400 and 1932. The author and the compiler are on the faculty of Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada. Bernát, Tivadar et al, AN ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY OF HUNGARY. Budapest: Akadémiai kiadó, 1985. 450 pages, diagrams, maps, biblio, tables. $35.00 cloth. The volume provides the reader with facts and analysis about the development, spatial locations and territorial relations of the Hungarian economy, as well as about the questions of regional development. The task is set out in part by general chapters (population, settlement, industry, agriculture, etc.), in part by regional characteristics (economic planning regions) illustrated generously by a number of cartograms. In addition, the volume contains a bibliography of the most important publications of Hungary’s economic geography. The book is a product of library research and scholarly empirical field work. “As regards the method of presentation, the authors have subordinated description, the mere statement of facts, to an analysis of the spatial location of the economy in order to ensure a better understanding of geographical relationships. Compiling a work for foreign readers, the authors have deemed it appropriate to include it in fewer place names and statistical data than otherwise would have been warranted.” The book is also a testimony to changes in the science of geography which it has undergone since the 1950s. “Scientific knowledge about the locational factors of production, the cooperation of science in taking (Continued on Page 2) NO. 49. AUTUMN 1986, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER
