Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1985 (13. évfolyam, 43-46. szám)

1985 / 43-44. szám

BOOKS (Continued)

munizmus” Új március, 1929, is also included in Hevesi Gyula válogatott Írásai, Budapest, 1965. Hungarian historians in general returned to a 1920 study written by Marxist economic theoretician Jenő Varga as their main source. Other writings show “some correlation with distance in time and space from the events.” This volume under consideration approaches the major theme through a socialist frame of reference reaching beyond the Hungarian scene. The first chapter discusses anticedents to the industrial revolution, followed by a sketch of problems related to private capital and nationalization. Chapter 3 is concerned with labor; chapter 4 with management, pricing, barter, while chapter 5 focuses on centralization. Chapter 6 deals with the systems of war communism and conflict between “scientific plant management” and workers’ control.

Somos, András, THE PAPRIKA. Budapest: Akadémiai kiadó, 1984. 302 pages diagrams, tables, biblio, illus. $30.00 cloth.

This is a most comprehensive monograph on the origin, botany, production, and consumption of paprika, which, according to A. Merriam Webster is “a mild red condiment consisting of dried finely ground pods and various culturated sweet peppers. Also: a sweet pepper used for making paprika.” The first information in Europe about paprika was associated with the name of the humanist author d’Anghiera who mentioned the fact that Columbus brought back pepper from America that was more pungent than the pepper from the Caucasus, around 1493. Paprika spread quickly in Europe. First grown in greenhouses as an ornamental plant, it rapidly spread over the Old World. It reached Hungary in the 16th century, where it became a sort of a national condiment and vegetable. Thousands of acres of land, especially in south and southeast Hungary, were devoted to the growing of paprika, serving equally the domestic and foreign markets. It was less a fad than a response to the high nutritional^value of the plant. The discovery in 1937 that Vitamin C is present in paprika is associated with the name of Albert Szent-Györgyi, who received the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine for his paprika-related research. He was the first to isolate pure Vitamin C from the lemon and tomato shaped paprika. The volume under review contains a thorough discussion of the significance of paprika, its botanical characteristics, ecological factors bearing on its growth and cultivation, diseases and remedial factors.

The author conducted his research mainly at the Institute for Vegetable Growing of the U. of Horticulture in Budapest.

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We have noted occasionally books jointly published by Western publishing houses and Hungarian publishing agencies, but do not recollect cases in which Hungarian agencies would publish, in Hungarian, the writingsof Western authors. That is, until now. Karl Beck élete és kdltó'i pályája (The Life and Poetic Career of Karl Beck) by Ágnes Huszár Várdy (Akadémiai kiadó, 1984, 167 pages. Forint 30.00) is such a volume. It is a biography of a relatively little-known poet (1817-1879), who was born and raised in Baja, Hungary, but spent most of his adult life in Germany, where he wrote in German, bridging the gap between the two cultures by relying on his Jewish upbringing. □

DISSERTATIONS*

Felkay, Andrew (Temple U., 1984) “Kádár’s Hungary and the Soviet Union: Hungarian-Soviet Relations and the Rule of János Kádár, 1956-1976. (Volumes 1 and 2.) 505 pages.

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Microfilm and xerox no. DA8419759.

This study scrutinizes the Kádár regime with special emphasis on Kádár’s role in shaping Hungarian developments and effecting changes in Soviet-Hungarian relations. The study found that the Soviet-installed Hungarian communist leader, despite the circumstances of his coming into office, has emerged as an effective leader in his own right. Although he always was a firm believer in the correctness of the Marxist-Leninist doctrines, he was not blinded by dogma. He was able to perceive realistically the prevailing political and economic conditions in post-1956 Hungary. From the onset, his domestic policies have been guided by pragmatism. As much as he needed the Kremlin as backing, he realized that he could not function effectively without broadly based domestic support. But to engender the cooperation of the initially hostile Hungarians, he had to bring about significant economic improvements and concurrently make political concessions without overstepping the Sovietimposed limits of such actions. By introducing innovative non-Marxist structural economic reforms, Kádár has been able to create one of the most efficient economic systems within the Soviet bloc. In effect, he was changed the totalitarian dictatorship into an authoritarian regime under which Hungarians can live in relative comfort. □

Meja, Volker (Brandeis U., 1984) ‘“Crisis’ and ‘Planning’ in the

Work of Karl Mannheim.” 198 pages. Microfilm and xerox no. DA 8420783.

Mannheim’s active intellectual career spanned three distinct cultural settings: Budapest, Heidelberg/Frankfurt, and London. It saw him repeatedly reorient his work from one situation and audience to another. He began his work in sociology by attempting to strike some sort of balance between the sociological achievement of Max Weber and the Hegelianized Marxism of the early twenties. By the end of his life he was considerably closer to the French sociological tradition which he tried to reconcile with the kind of American pragmatism represented by John Dewey. He was in search of a strategy to harness and master the irrationality he found in the social world, to bring it in the service of a humanized rationality. His project carried forward the design of the most sophisticated liberalism, in form as in content. The crisis of 1933 undermined the plausibility of the intellectual strategy Mannheim had been projecting and this led him, after his emigration to England, to a search for alternatives in a hostile situation and in an alien culture. The dissertation focuses careful attention to Mannheim’s actual situation in England, first among English sociologists fighting off the continuing influence of Le Play in English social science and then among social-minded Christia thinkers. D

Schwartz, Laura Anker (State U. of New York at Stony Brook, 1984.) “Immigrant Voices from Home, Work, and Community: Women and Family in the Migration Process, 1890-1938.” 869 pages. Microfilm and xerox no. DA8420706.

Based on over 200 immigrant life histories as well as demographic, industrial, and institutional data compiled in the late 1930s, the dissertation challenges accounts of immigrants as passive victims of industrialization and modern'Abstracts are usually based on those published in Dissertation Abstracts International. Microfilm and xerox copies of the original full dissertation may be obtained, when indicated, from Xerox University Microfilm 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106. When ordering, use the number shown.

NO. 43-44, SPRING-SUMMER 1985 HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEW5LETTER