Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1977 (5. évfolyam, 13-15. szám)
1977 / 13. szám
ARTICLES and PAPERS The Modern Language Association’s annual meeting in New York on December 27, 1976, included a special session on Hungarian literature. Anna Katona (Coll, of Charleston) read a paper on “The Hungarian Image of Centennial America,” discussing the writings of Aurél Kecskeméthy, a highly critical and skeptical journalist who published his impressions in Ejszak-Amerika [sic] 1876-ban (Budapest, 1977), and Bölönyi’s earlier, and more enthusiastic evaluation of American democracy. Steven C. Scheer’s (St. Meinrad Coll.) paper the “Metafiction in the Modern Hungarian Novel: The Thematics of Non- Conventional Fiction-Making in Endre Fejes and Gyula Fekete,” presented a theory of metafiction (i.e. rendering life itself as it is interpreted, explained, or rendered meaningful by those who participate in it) as illustrated in Fejes’ Rozsdatemető (Junkyard, 1962) and Fekete’s A hu asszony meg a rossz nő (The Faithful Wife and the Bad Woman, 1963). Scheer presented the comments in a comparative perspective by reference to works such as Melville’s Pierre: Or the Ambiguities, Guide’s The Counterfeiters, and Conrad’s Lord Jim. Dieter P. Lotze (Allegheny Coll.) contrasted the various European works of the 19th century which seek a philosophical answer to the meaning of life, with Madách’s tragedy, in a paper entitled “Mada'ch’s Tragedy of Man and the Tradition of the Poeme d'humanite in European Literature.” Though each of these works seek unity, the drama of Madach seems the most artistic, coherent and serious. Enikő M. Basa in “Lyrical Modes and Themes: Hungary and America” suggested that the poetry of mid-19th century BOOKS (Continued) ing the vents of the earlier periods of Hungarian historiography, its emphasis is undoubtedly on our own century. This is so partially because of the greater significance of the twentieth-century developments; but perhaps even more so because of the author’s intention of elaborating and analyzing the developments of the earlier centuries in greater detail in a companion volume to this work. The first part of the book briefly sketches development from pre-Christian oral traditions to the studies of the twentieth century. The second part goes into detailed discussion of the reorientation and reorganization of interwar Hungarian historical studies, the emergence of the Geistesgeschichte school, the “Minerva Circle,” and the rise of a young generation, i.e., developments from Szekfu to Malyusz and the ethnohistorical approach. This is followed by a discussion of the national romantic and populist schools, positivism, Domanovsky and the Kulturgeschichte school, constitutional history and the Doctrine of the Holy Crown, and concludes with East European, European, and World studies, as well as a chapter on auxiliary and allied sciences of history. Formal conclusions deal with the beginnings of Marxist historiography in Hungary. Extensive notes (some 65 pages), a bibliography, and a list of significant source publication series since 1857 complete the volume. Dr. Vardy is Prof, of History at Duquesne U. Vas-Zoltán, Peter. THE BRAIN DRAIN; An Anomaly of International Realtions.A. W. Sijthoff, 198 Ash Street, Reading, MA Hungary was both more universal and more artistic than that of the majority of the American authors of the same period and at the same time more political, more nationalistic, more partisan, in short, more concerned with the events of the times. The greatest American poets (Poe, Dickinson, Whitman) either were remote from contemporary life or were not recognized as spokesmen of the nation. □ The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and Eastern Europe was the topic of a panel discussion organized by the American Association for the Study of Hungarian History at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association, Washington, December 29,1976. Under the chairmanship of John C. Campbell (Council on Foreign Relations) four panelists and two commentators discussed the impact of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 on Eastern Europe. Adam Bromke (McMaster U.) spoke of the interest and sympathy the events elicited in Poland, as manifested by the humanitarian aid that was sent almost immediately to Hungary. He hypothesized that now the Hungarians are undergoing a realistic period while the Poles are dangerously close to idealism. The situation in Czechoslovakia, as seen by Paul E. Zinner (U. of California, Davis), was quite different. By and large, the Czechs and Slovaks seemed unaffected by events in Hungary, and in the following ten years expressed satisfaction with the regime. Even the Prague Spring of 1968, in his opinion, seemed not to have been related to the earlier events in Hungary. In Romania, the events of 1956 were used primarily as an excuse by the leadership to impose an even more repressive and Stanlinist order, intensely nationalistic, one in which the Hungarian minority was the chief scapegoat, according to the thesis developed by Stephen Fischer-Galati (U. of Colorado). (Continued on page 7) 01867, and Akadémiai Kiadó', 1976. 150 pages, tables, figs. $12.75 cloth. This is a book about brain drain in general, but some interesting data are cited from Hungarian sources, and Hungary’s involvement in the process is considered to be significant. The author analyzes his topic as a political, economic, and social problem projected against the claim for the basic human rights of movement. He finds the present state of brain drain unacceptable, since it hinders severely the development of developing countries. He also recognizes that administrative measures can bring no solution. In the course of his study, the author quotes Ödön Jozsa’s monograph Oktatás, szakképzés és gazdaság (Education, Professional Training, and Economy) Budapest; Közgazdasági e's Jogi, 1969, page 268, estimating the cost of college education in Hungary in the 1960s as follows: Degree in teachers college Ft 27,240* economics 27,965 arts and sciences 73,210 engineering 78,340 medicine 121,188 agriculture 159,960 academy of arts 166,000 veterinary medicine 193,470 *Ft 100 equals $4.24. The author also quotes G. P. Pető’s “Az ’agylopás’ megideológizálása” (Making of an ideology for the ‘stealing (Continued on page 12) NO. 13, 1977 HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER 6
