Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1985 (13. évfolyam, 43-46. szám)
1985 / 45. szám
HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER No. 45 ISSN: 0194-164X AUTUMN, 1985 Published quarterly by the Hungarian Research Center of the American Hungarian Foundation: Winter, Spring (two numbers included), and Autumn. Founder and editor: Bela Charles Maday; Communications concerning content should be addressed to the Editor, 4528-49th Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20016. Communications concerning subscriptions, advertising, and circulation should be addressed to American Hungarian Foundation, 177 Somerset Street, P.O. Box 1084, New Brunswick, NJ 08903. Annual Subscription in the U.S.Ä. $5.00. Abroad $7.00. Current single copy $3.00; back issues $3.50 each. BOOKS (Continued) The author provides a comprehensive picture of Hungarian folk beliefs, and a description of the antecedents of ethnographic research and achievements and problems of this branch of ethnology. The volume deals with the mythical beings of folk beliefs and discusses the essence of beliefs connected with such mysterious figures as the shaman, the táltos, the Wandering Scholar, the Clever Coachman or the Cunning Shepherd. The study also incorporates discussions of such magical practices as bewitchment through the evil eye, beneficient magical rites, love magic, divination, and the magical power of words. The study of folk beliefs first developed as an auxiliary discipline of modern history. Until then folk beliefs were generally dismissed as superstition, though peasants were aware that their customs differ from those of urban populations. Beginning in the 19th century folk beliefs were recognized as one possible means for reconstructing elements of pre-history and hence as an important political tool in establishing Hungarian self-identity (ethnogenesis). Early in the 19th century European intellectuals were astonished to realize that phenomena observed in exotic non-European cultures were to be found within their own societies, primarily within the peasantry. An exhaustive bibliography verging on a bibliographical article concludes the volume. The author is prof, of ethnology at the Eötvös L.U. Evans, R.J.W. RUDOLF II AND HIS WORLD: A Study in Intellectual History 1576-1612. Oxford University Press, 200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016,1984. (First published in 1973.) xvi + 323 pages, 16 plates. $18.95 paper. "Rudolf II of Habsburg (born in 1552), Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia and Hungary was without doubt one of the most extraordinary of all European rulers. His personality, attractive and repulsive by turns, has exercised down succeeding centuries a fascinantion not restricted to his chosen residence of Prague or the extensive Danubian territories where the events of his long reign were mostly played out.” The author places King Rudolf into a new perspective and documents his reign in the setting of the intellectual history of Europe. Many historians dismissed his role as that of a melancholic madman, conspicuous for his lavish patronage of the arts, his obsession with occult sciences, and his chronic political inaptitude. The author explores the reality behind the image and reconstructs the cultural milieu of a man whom Frances Yates has described as “one of the most significant figures of the late Renaissance." Yet, no major biography of him has ever been written. The author recognizes three distinct dimensions of Rudolf: the 2 feeble, unstable, and impoverished monarch; the great Maecenas; and the patron of occult learning bordering madness. Some overlap between these dimensions has always been assumed: “Rudolfs mental imbalance might be attributed to his occultism and presented as the cause of his political failure; his artistic interests have been associated with a neglect of everyday affairs.” The author is fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, and university lecturer in modern history. Frank, Tibor ed., THE ORIGINS AND ORIGINALITY OF AMERICAN CULTURE. Budapest: Akadémiai kiadd, 1984. xi + 801 pages. $48.00 cloth. North American studies in Hungary have gained a good reputation over the past ten-to-twenty years. Departments of English at Hungary’s three major universities have included an increasing number of courses in American literature as part of their standard curricula, and thereare indications that interest in American culture and history has also been on the increase. Cooperative ventures between American and Hungarian scholars have resulted in exchange programs, visiting scholarships, the establishment of a Hungarian Chair at Indiana U. and one at the U. of Toronto, as well as continuous cooperation between HAS and American institutions of support. The English Department of Eötvös L.U. made American literature a compulsory subject for all students of English, encouraged its doctoral candidates to chose American topics for their dissertations, and finally, it undertook the organization of an International Conference in American Studies in 1980. The volume before us constitutes the some seventy papers presented at the conference in their original form. They are grouped into fourteen chapters as follows: 1. Origins I: Puritanism; 2. Origins II: American Renaissance and Crucible; 3. From Epic to Fiction; 4. Novels colonial, Novels Southern; 5. The Modern American Novel; 6. Society and Literature; 7. On Modern Poetry; 8. The Case of Drama; 9. The Critical Heritage; 10. Ideas and Ideologies; 11. Myths, Dreams, and Realities; 12. Native Versus Ethnic; 13. American English I: Impacts and Influences; 14. American English II: Theories and Theorists. The papers as well as the academic affiliation of the participants show a strong leaning toward language and literature and virtually no contribution from the social sciences. A list of participants and an index of authors, titles, and placenames make the volume an interesting and useful contribution to American Studies. Hajdú, Péter and László Honti eds. STUDIEN ZUR PHONOLOGISCHEN BESCHREIBUNG URALISCHER SPRACHEN (Studies for the phonological description of Uralic languages). Budapest: Akadémiai kiadó', 1984.331 pages, tables, graphs, illus, $27,00 cloth. This volume contains the transcripts of 31 papers and some comments presented at the Second Phonological Symposium of Uralic Languages, held at Matrafiired (Hungary) in October 1979. Most of the papers are in German, but eight are in English. The latter concern themselves with Uralic but not Hungarian phonologies and with topics from quantity in Samoyed, Nenets phonology, fricatives in Selkup dialects, vowel frequency, to other phonological problems of Vogul, Estonian, Lappish. German-speaking scholars with linguistic and Finno-Ugric interest will enjoy this highly technical book. Handler, Andrew ed., THE HOLOCAUST IN HUNGARY; An Anthology of Jewish Response. University of Alabama Press, NO. 45, AUTUMN 19Ö5, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER
