Fraternity-Testvériség, 1958 (36. évfolyam, 1-11. szám)
1958-08-01 / 8. szám
FRATERNITY 9 the normative attitude is a part of a man’s character formed in the early years of youth and it remains stable and unaltered into old age. It is at this point and in this realm that there is a departure within the second generation. The social heritage of the American, rather the Canadian-born generation, in this case, has a set of normative values ground in the Canadian scene, and its character develops accordingly. It is interesting to note that the sample indicates that all but two well-to-do persons were married, whereas the number of bachelors was very high among the poor. Immigrant bachelors seem to lack the drive to accumulate wealth in real estate. Professor Kosa presents an interesting scheme of the process of adjustment and assimilation of the Hungarian immigrant. Moreover, through quantitive analysis of 13 measures, he shows the transition in the Hungarian group. A table of contingency correlations of the 13 measures is provided. It points out among other things: a significantly high correlation between financial success and the adjustment rating. This indicates that a financially successful immigrant is likely to make adjustments in some other fields of life, too. On the other hand, the length of Canadian residence does not show any significant correlation with financial success and the adjustment rating. This study by Professor Kosa about the Hungarian immigrant deserves the reading of not only the historian, the economist and psychologist, but also the general reader. This well documented and long needed study presents the American reader with an objective and adequate picture of the Hungarian immigrant studied. “THE NAKED FACE OF GENIUS” — BÉLA BARTÓK'S AMERICAN YEARS. — By Agatha Fassett. (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2 Park St., Boston, Mass.; $5.00.) In this moving and enveloping account of the last years of the great Hungarian composer one can learn more about the nature of creativeness than from any number of scholarly and psychological studies. It is an intensely observed personal record of an intricate and driven genius, fighting a relentless and uncompromising battle against time, fatal illness and, most of all, the petty considerations of the mortal world. The author, herself a Hungarian, who had long been in this country, had close association with Bartók and his wife from the time of their arrival in 1940 until Bartók’s death in 1945. Agatha Fassett was born in Buda. She could read music long before she learned her ABC’s, and studied piano from the age of five. She came to America in the late 1920’s, married S. F. Fassett, and they now live in Boston, Massachusetts, on Beacon Hill.
