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

1985 / 43-44. szám

ization placing women and the family at the center of the immigration process. Kinship ties were the cement of immigrant social life, the links in the chain which joined Europe to America, the bridge between factory and community. Kinship defined the trajectory of individuals, families, and groups into the American industrial order, creating a degree of control over an unfamiliar environment, but also providing the mechanism by which social class was transmitted from Europe to America and from the first to the second generation. By focusing on the particular stories of Hungarian, Slovak, Polish, Italian, and Jewish families in Europe and in Connecticut, the study provides a detailed description of the confrontation between ethnic familiar culturesandtheexigenciesof American urban life. Itoffersa corrective to studies that paint an overly optimistic picture of the conditions and consequences, which these achievements imply. Structured by persistent patriarchial values and American industrial practices, the very acts of survival undertaken by the family sweated women’s labor and sometimes imposed stultifying limitations on the independence and individuality of the immigrant daughters. The precarious balance achieved by immigrant mothers was the product of a particular historical moment and contained seeds of its own transformation. The process of adapting to and controlling the impact of urban industrial society propelled family members outward from ethnic communities, created new networks and, ultimately, new methods of survival and change. D

Finta, Michael (Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies, 1974) “Die Tragödie des Menschen von Imre Madách in der Beleuchtung von Goethes Faust.” iv +135 pages. Copies may be obtained from the author: 980 Rosita Road, Monterey, CA 93940.

We are including reference to this master’s thesis because of its qualities and the popular interest expressed in the subject matter.

Stone, Helene Somraty (U. of Southern California, 1983) “Early Environmental Correlates of High Academic Attainment in the American Hungarian Euro-Ethnic Group.” Available from Micrographics Department, Doheny Library, USC, Los Angeles, CA 90089.

The central objective of the study was to identify early environmental variables associated with high academic attainment among those of lower socioeconomic status in a sampleof second and third generation American Hungarians. A general hypothesis was developed based on review of the literature and on the typology of an “academically oriented family”, developed by Marjoribanks. A purposeful research sampleof 54 members of the American Hungarian community was taken. A retrospective 118-items questionnaire was employed, which described 9 dimensions of background variables. Among the most salient findings were: While both, mother and father were perceived as equally important in the eariy schooling of the Low SES/high attainers, teachers and “self” were seen as the two goals. Both male and female subjects cited internal personal characteristics as the critical variable which most accounted for their high academic success. Several correlates differentiated the Low SES/high attainers from the Low SES/low attainers and corroborate that specific aspects of an “academically oriented family” may be more important than socioeconomic status in determining such children’s educational attainment. Among these variables were the individualistics and achievement orientations of parents, familiar press for English and high parental

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

educational and occupational aspirations. Interesting findings also emerged regarding child-rearing practices, peer relations and demographic variables related to time of arrival of the American Hungarian immigrant groups. D

ARTICLES AND PAPERS

Boba, Imre. “The Monastery of Sazava: Methodian Continuity North of the Danube?” Paleobulgarica, Vol. 5 (1981); 1,84-87.

It has been long assumed that the Monastery of Sazava, with its use of Slavonic liturgical language until 1096, represented in Bohemia a Methodian tradition and Moravian continuity. However, the author finds no evidence which would allow the existence of such a tradition in Sazava itself or of a Moravian continuity north of the Danube in general. That Methodius was not associated in medieval Bohemia with some West-Slavic territory is evident also from the first vernacular Czech chronicle of Dalimil, in which the saint is believed to be a Rusin, that is, a person representing an East-Slavic, Kievan religion and cultural milieu. The author sees sufficient reasons to assert that the monastery in Sazava does not represent a Methodian tradition in Bohemia. A Moravian continuity north of the Danube in present-day Czechoslovakia is inconceivable without any trace of activity there by St. Methodius and, possibly, of Constantine, as well as some conclusive proof for the usage of the Glagolitic script. The author is prof, of history at the U. of Washington. HU

Boba, Imre, “The Seven Hungarian Countries in Medieval Transylvania” in Society in Change: Studies in Honor of Bela K. Király, edited by Steven Bela Vardy and Agnes Huszar Vardy. Brooklyn Coll. Press, 1983, pp. 273-289.

The seven counties of Transylvania were part of the royal system of administration of the king’s private possession ever since that region’s conquest by King St. Stephen. But because Transylvania before this conquest was a more or less independent realm, it remained a “duchy” under the Hungarian Crown. Newly colonized territories in the region were given autonomy and were placed also under the supervision of royal officials: Counts of the Siculiand Counts of the Saxones. Since they derived their privileges and authority from the King of Hungary, the nobility of the seven counties never manifested any interest in seceding from the Crown. When involved in political activities beyond their assigned duties, it was always during an interregnum or crisis in the central government, that the voevoda in question hoped thereby to increase his power within the central government. The three “nations” of Transylvania shared power only after 1526, during the period of Hungary’s trisection, when the country’s southern and central parts were occupied by the Turks and when Transylvania itself fell under Turkish suzerainty. The nobility of the seven counties remained loyal to the Hungarian Crown. Any armed conflict with the Habsurgs, as kings of Hungary, was always in the form of resistance (authorized by the Golden Bull of 1222) against the person of the king, and not against the Crown. In short, there is no evidence for the assertion that the voevodas or the nobility of the seven counties were ever inclined to dismember the Kingdom of Hungary. The author is prof, of history at the U. of Washington. D

Boba, Imre, “A Twofold Conquest of Hungary of ‘Secundus Ingressus.’” In Ungarn Jahrbuch, vol. 12 (1982-1983) pp. 23-41.

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