Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1994. [Vol. 2.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 22)

STUDIES - Lehel Vadon: László Országh, the Founder of American Studies in Hungary.

British roots to its development of a national perspective and its establishment of intellectual autonomy. Országh continued to devote his attention to the development of an independent American national literature when he returned to the topic of his doctoral dissertation in his thorough and analytical 1958 essay, The Preponderance of National Perspective in American Literary Historiography and Criticism? His lucid yet substantial studies, introductions, author portrayals and comprehensive essays reflected scholarly research and indicated his preparation for the writing of an extensive, wideranging work on the history of American literature. In his first significant study,

4 he analyzed Sinclair Lewis'

— America's first Nobel laureate

—criticism of middle class life at the time of the American Industrial Revolution, the unrestrained greed and other definitive values of the era, and the author's moderate irony and realistic, disillusioned description of everyday life. In the descriptive and analytical introductory chapter to American Literature in the Twentieth Century, Országh provides a sweeping historic and cultural panorama including an overarching view of the history of literature and the press, gives stringently logical analyses of extremely heterogeneous literary phenomena, adroitly sketches the main developmental trends of American literature, and presents the significant authors and literary achievements of the era.

5 The same volume includes Országh's artistically imaginative, profound, and empathic essay on one of his favorite authors, John Steinbeck.

6 In his Whitman treatise, he analyzes the human and artistic significance of this revolutionarily modern poet who in "free falling lines of free verse sang hitherto unheard songs of the new times to honor the q László Országh, "A nemzeti szempont uralomra jutása az amerikai irodalomtörténetírásban és kritikában," [= The Preponderance of National Perspective in American Literary Historiography and Criticism.] Világirodalmi Figyelő 1 (1958): 10—21. 4 László Országh, "Sinclair Lewis," Magyar Kultúra 13—14 (1934): 7—12. 5 László Országh, "Bevezetés a huszadik század amerikai irodalmába," [= An Introduction to American Literature in the Twentieth Century.] Az amerikai irodalom a XX. században, ed. László Kardos and Mihály Sükösd (Budapest Gondolat Könyvkiadó, 1962) 5—44. 5 László Országh, "John Steinbeck," Az amerikai irodalom a XX. században, ed. László Kardos and Mihály Sükösd (Budapest: Gondolat Könyvkiadó, 1962) 359—377. 145