AZ ORSZÁGOS SZÉCHÉNYI KÖNYVTÁR ÉVKÖNYVE 1960. Budapest (1962)

IV. Könyvtár- és művelődéstörténeti tanulmányok - Summaries

Spurious prophecies attributed to the poet Csokonai B. VARGHA We have knowledge of a series of prophecies in manuscripts since 1830, which refer to various years of the XlXth century and predict the Last Judgement for the end of the century. The earliest version is in Latin and its deliberately obscured title tells that it was found in the Benedictine monastery in Naples. A German version existed also. From the 1840's on the versions attribute the authorship to Mihály Csokonai V., the greatest Hungarian poet of the Enlightenment, though nothing in his life or works gave the slightest foundation to it. From 1876 on these prophecies are printed as trashy literature, always under the name of Csokonai. We know of eight editions up to 1918, but there must have been considerably more. Presumably these publications were the chief source of the belief among the peasants that Csokonai predicted certain events. Problems about the ideological preparing of the Austrian revolution of 1848 M. LENGYEL The revolution of 1848 was the most important stage in the Austrian people's struggle against feudal absolutism. The least elaborated part of its history is its preparatory phase, which took place almost exclusively in the field of publicism. Because of the many hampering circumstances under the Hapsburg monarchy, even the weapon of the press could be used only with great difficulty. The writers of Young Austria partly were obliged to emigrate, partly to have their manuscripts smuggled out of the country and to publish them abroad, mostly anonymously or under a pseudonym. The polemical literature of the opposition in the thirties and forties (abt. 125 pamphlets by about twenty-odd authors, and the journal Die Grenzboten) severely criticized the whole political system of the absolutistic state, the Church and many other obstacles of social and economic progress, and discussed Austria's international position, the nationality problem and the question of German unity. As to the standpoints, this literature divides into numerous shades of opinion, and to be able to differentiate fairly among them, a lot of preliminary spadework has to be done, such as unravelling the pseudonyms, identification of anonymous authors, examination of the lives and class backgrounds of the persons involved, etc. After the achievement of sush studies it will be possible to evaluate rightly the ideas in question, which would also contribute to a better knowledge of the Hungarian history of the period. 354