Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1976 (4. évfolyam, 9-12. szám)
1976 / 11. szám
East European Affairs at McMaster U. devoted its seventh annual conference in 1973 to an examination of this experience. The volume comprises a reedited version of the papers presented at the conference. B. Gruchman (U.N.) introduces the reader to development regions in centrally run economies; Z. Fallenbuchl (U. of Windsor) and G. Karaska (Clark U.) give contrasting views on the Polish case; György Enyedi (Hungarian Academy of Sciences) describes the delimitation of regions on the Nagy Alföld (Great Plain of Hungary), while Philip Uren (Carleton U.) discusses the impact of industrialization on the agriculture of Dunántúl (Transdanubia), the western part of Hungary. Further chapters by V. Holubnychy (Hunter Coll.) on the Soviet planning experience is matched against the Canadian planning described by N. Pearson (U. of Western Ontario) and by G. Potvin (U. of Ottawa). The conclusions of the editor state that “all nations feel obliged to be involved in economic planning” of some sort, and all countries, including those with a relatively small territory like Hungary, feel the need for regionalization and decentralization. That this frequently coincides with the political and administrative divisions of a country, have noteworthy consequences. Enyedi points out the conflict between national, regional, and enterprise interests as they effect planning and operation. “The meshing of central plans with regional needs is evidently difficult to achieve.” The editor is professor of geography at McMaster U. Halász, Zoltán. A SHORT HISTORY OF HUNGARY. Budapest: Corvina, 1975. 274 pages, illustr. n.p. cloth. If historical accounts could be written “objectively,” one such account of a period could satisfy the average reader. But there is no average reader. All history is viewed, written, and read through cultural glasses. Culture, i.e., experience, tradition, Weltanaschauung, and future objectives color the glasses of the writer and of the reader. C.A. Macartney's and Denis Sinor’s short histories of Hungary do not fit the socialist frame of reference, hence, the Hungarian academy deemed it necessary to present a Marxian version of the past. Halász performs this job thoroughly by describing the history of the Magyar people from the Conquest to 1972 in Marxian ideological terms. A large volume, A History of Hungary, written by members of the Institute of Historiography of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was published in 1973. HUNGARY AND SWEDEN EARLY CONTACTS EARLY SOURCES. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1975. 122 pages. $4.00 paper. First in a series of Swedish-Hungarian Historical Studies. A few years ago Swedish and Hungarian historians formed the Swedish-Hungarian Historical Committee to promote the study of common historical ties and to bring about closer connections between the two scholarly communities. The present chairmen of the Committee are Folke Lindberg and György Ranki. This volume is the first fruition of this cooperative effort, and it comprises two papers. The first by György Székely, Prof, of History at Eötvös U., who discusses little known details of Norman-Hungarian contacts in the Middle Ages and later periods. The second paper is by Ake Kromnow, Director General of the Swedish National Archives, who presents a survey of archival and bibliographic materials stored in the Swedish National Archives on BOOKS (Continued) Hungarian and especially on Transylvanian history, mainly up to 1660. This material or royal letters, texts of treaties, diplomatic papers, and various mixed collections should be of particular value to scholars with interest in the history of Transylvania. Illyés, Gyula. ONCE UPON A TIME; Forty Hungarian Folk Tales. Budapest: Corvina, 1970.324 pages, $5.00 cloth. (First edition was published in 1964.) Collection of folktales began long ago, and since Janos Kriza's Vadrózsák (Wild Roses) in 1843 a legion of them have been published, mostly in Hungarian. Today, the number of known folktales in Hungary is estimated as about six thousand. This volume reaches deeply into the repertoir of Hungarian children tales. Illyés has recast and refined most of the forty stories he presents, but he preserved the original beauty of content and style. He uses the volume to appeal for unity among mankind, and refers to the many common characteristics of folktales of various nations, which for a long time have been considered as uniquely culture-specific. Hungarian folktales also reflect on the life of the peasantry. “The life of the hero of the tale is, at the outset, overshadowed by bitter and hopeless struggles; one doubts that the little swineherd will ever be able to vanquish the awful Dragon with the twelve heads. And yet.. .truth and courage prevail and the youngest and most neglected son of the family, of the nation, of mankind, chops off all twelve heads of the Dragon, to the delight of our anxious hearts. This exultant victory, towards which the hero of the tale always strives, is the hope and trust of the peasantry and of all oppressed peoples. This hope helps them bear the burden of their destiny.” King, Robert R. and Robert W. Dean, eds. EAST EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES ON EUROPEAN SECURITY AND COOPERATION. Praeger Publishers, 111 Fourth Avenue, New York, NY 10003, 1974. 256 pages. $17.50 cloth. According to the editors, “the broad hypothesis onwhich this book is based is that Eastern Europe is in a period of transition or readjustment in which the former East-West equilibrium based on balance of tensions has been, if not eliminated, then considerably altered.” “...Eastern Europe, readjusting foreign policy toward the West to take advantage of economic and political opportunities has been counterbalanced by measures to control the impact of detente at home. How this evolving process, which is generally designated as European security, has influenced the policies and perceptions of each of the countries in the Warsaw Pact and Yugoslavia is the subject of this book.” The Hungarian experience is discussed by William F. Robinson, who says that the strong loyalist position of Hungary has three main reasons: Hungary learned in 1956 that there are no alternatives to alliance with the Soviet Union; it consequently made a virtue out of adjustment to its relationship with the Soviet Union; and these trends have been reinforced by Kadar’s “belief and determination that this is the correct and only path to be followed.” The editors feel that a possible result of detente will be an increased sense of security by the Soviet Union, which in turn may result in a less rigid insistence on conformity in Eastern Europe. They feel that détente may encourage internal evolution which may make the Soviet leadership more responsive to the needs and concerns of its own population and more sympathetic to the divergent interests of the East European governments and parties. Chapters are addressed to Soviet Policy in Eastern (Continued on page 4) NO. 11. 1976. HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER 3
