Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1984 (12. évfolyam, 39-42. szám)
1984 / 42. szám
Ml / \11 AMGRICAN HUNGARIAN FOUNDATION HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER BOOKS Bona, Ervin, Eva Gabor, Pa'l Sárkány, and Dávid Biró, eds., FUTURE RESEARCH IN HUNGARY. Budapest: Akadémiai kiadó, 1983. 384 pages, tables, diagrams. $24.00 cloth. This volume contains 25 essays written by Hungarian scholars and scientists who have interest in researching the future images and prognoses up to the year 2000 and sometimes beyond. Authors of this volume began to make their contribution to future research in Hungary in the 1960s, when such interest became expressed in academic communities the world over. The first part of the volume approaches future research from a historical point of view; the second is aimed at historical-ideological analysis; the third reports on methodological aspects; and the fourth part guides the reader through the workshops of future research in Hungary. The volume presents a rather even-keeled picture because of the uniformly Marxist approach to future research problems. Of course, the shapes and dynamics of future research are of utmost interest to planners and managers of all kind and in all social-political constellations, especially to highly centralized governments. Thus, in Hungary future research was stimulated by the increasing role of long-term planning. Economic plans for 1971-1985 and later for 1976-1990 were prepared and the National Planning Board expressed need for long-term socioeconomic plans for 1981-2000. The economic reforms of 1968 as well as the cooperation with COMECON constituted further stimuli for such activities. The institutional setting for future research in Hungary has been well established: on the macro level the Committee for Future Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences has been established and a Club of Future Research provides opportunities for interdisciplinary and applied discussions. Czigány, Lóránt. THE OXFORD HISTORY OF HUNGARIAN LITERATURE, From the Earliest Times to the Present. The Clarendon Press, Oxford U. Press, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, 1984. 582 pages, glossary, biblio. $39.95 cloth. This impressive encyclopedic volume was written between 1973 and 1978 with two objectives: to provide a textbook for students of literature “whose mastery of the language is not sufficient to study Hungarian literature in the original; and to serve as a guide to one aspect of Hungarian intellectual history forthose whose interest in Hungary is broaderthan, but includes, its literature.” The reader will find a general outline of the stages of growth of Hungarian literature with brief sketches of the major intellectual movements examined against the overall cultural background. The volume contains a critical survey of major authors, and short references to the minor ones, together with some indication of their most significant works. The authors are illustrated with at least a NO. 42. WINTER 19Ö4-1985, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER THE SOROS FUND George Soros, a New York businessman who came to the U.S. in 1947 at the age of 17, has donated $1 million toward a fund promoting Hungarian culture and scholarship in the U.S. and in Hungary. For this purpose he created the Soros Foundation and signed an agreement with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on May 28, 1984. In addition, a separate agreement was signed with the Országos Vezetőképző Központ (national leadership training center) relating to management training. A third agreement was enacted with the Hungarian National Council of Librarianship in order to purchase books published by American university presses. Other projects are presently under review. The secretariat of the HAS-SF has advertised in the Hungarian daily and weekly newspapers to solicit applications for grants. Procedures for the adjudication of potential awardees are also under consideration. For further information contact: The Soros Foundation, Inc., 10 Columbus Circle, #1230, New York, NY 10019. few lines from their works. Czigány has taken pains “to show those facets, particularly in this century, which are less introspective, less devoted to national issues. This was a hard task since histories of Hungarian literature, both Marxist and non-Marxist, have been on the whole blind to authors who neglected their share of national responsibilities.” Special attention is paid to literary opinions on Hungarian literature in the English speaking world. In sum, the volume fills a gaping void in the history of Hungarian literature. It is the first comprehensive anthology in English since Frigyes Riedl’s History otHungarian Literature (London: Heinemann, 1906). If it is true that one can obtain insight into the culture of a society by studying its literature, this volume comes very close to meeting the reader’s expectations. The author was lecturer in Hungarian literature at the U. of California and now lives in London. Király, K. Béla ed. EAST CENTRAL EUROPEAN SOCIETY AND WAR IN THE ERA OF REVOLUTIONS, 1775-1856. Brooklyn College Studies on Society in Change, no. 13, distributed by Columbia University Press, 562 West 113 Street, New York, NY 10025, 1983. xvii + 666 pages, tables, maps, illus. $40.00 cloth. (East European Monographs, no. 150; War and Society in East Central Europe, vol. 4; Joint publication with the Committee for Danubian Research, Inc.) Dedicated to the memory of Robert A. Kann. Of the 37 essays which comprise this book, 17 deal with Hungarian topics explicitly and most Hungarianists will find Hungarian relevance in the remainder of the studies. The general editor, Béla K. Király, in the preface to the series (Continued on Page 2)
