É. Apor , I. Ormos (ed.): Goldziher Memorial Conference, June 21–22, 2000, Budapest.

ORMOS, István: The Correspondence of Ignaz Goldziher and Max Herz

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF IGNAZ GOLDZIHER AND MAX H

ERZ kind personality. Gairdner described Goldziher and his wife as "a pair of Hebrew angels"."

8 Kratchkovsky, too, describes him as an optimistic, well-intentioned man. "The real greatness of his character appeared in the circumstance that life did not embitter him at all and did not reduce his optimistic view of life. Up to his last years one could feel in him an unshakable goodwill towards everybody and an especially good-natured gentleness of mind in his relationship with young scholars at the beginning of their career." He finished his obituary with the following words: "The works of Ignaz Goldziher will keep his name forever in the history of scholarship. The present generation of scholars is proud to preserve in his memory a face of rare spiritual beauty and greatness, of good-natured enchantment and goodwill that have been associated with Goldziher forever among all those who have had the great luck of knowing him intimately. " ' It is simply unbelievable that such enthusiastic words as these lack any basis in reality. It is also hard to imagine that, no matter how much he himself revered Goldziher as a scholar, his friend Count Landberg would have invited him repeatedly to his Chäteau in Tutzing in Bavaria to stay there with a select company of guests had Goldziher not been a very sociable man of a pleasant personality. " In addition, we also have interesting and absolutely reliable detailed proofs coming from neutral parties outside the Jewish community and the world of Arab-Islamic scholarship confirming the fact that Goldziher was a kind, devoted friend imbued with deep feelings. The bright aesthete and noted stylist Jenő Péterfy, who also had a most complex and idiosyncratic personality and who committed suicide in 1899, regarded Goldziher as his closest friend in his later years." Goldziher's letters to him attest to an unusually deep relationship. (Péterfy was also a good friend of Vámbéry's, who regularly visited him and had lunch with him at his place.)

3

2 After Péterfy's suicide Goldziher took an active part in the organisatory steps and ceremonies connected with the funeral.

3

3 Close friendly ties tinted with a touch of humour are suggested by the postcard which he received from Zsolt Beöthy and where the address reads: "My Dear Friend Abdallah (Kedves Abdallah "

s Padwick, Temple Gairdner..., 212-213. " ' I. Yu. Krackovskiy, 'Pamyati Ign. Goldzihera (1850-1921 gg.)', Vostok 2 (1923), 162163. [=ld., Izbrann'iye socineniya, V.. Moscow-Leningrad 1958, 211, 214]. Original in Russian. 3

0 Goldziher, Tagebuch..., 175-182, 192-195. 3

1 See the numerous most interesting references to Goldziher and the members of his family in Zimándi P. István, Péterfy Jenő élete és kora (1850-1899) [The Life and Age of Jenő Péterfy (1850-1899)] (Irodalomtörténeti Könyvtár 28), Budapest 1972, 552 (index s.v. Goldziher Ignác, Goldziher Ignácné Mittler Laura, Goldziher Károly, Goldziher Miksa). Cf. also Goldziher, Tagebuch.... 202, 223, 224 (under the German form "Eugen Péterfy"). 3

2 Zimándi, Péterfy Jenő élete és kora..., 209, 381 -382. 3

3 Zimándi, Péterfy Jenő élete és kora..., 472-473. 167