Hungarian Studies Newsletter, 1999 (16. évfolyam, 55-57. szám)

1999 / 55-57. szám

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ized database systems, knows how much patience and detail is needed to arrive at first class results. The editors, as well as Ilona Kovács, the Hungarian Studies compilation program organizer, and Ádám Horváth, the programmer, deserve a great deal of recognition for the excellent final product. The use of this bibliography will be assisted with precise biographical, geographic, institutional, organizational and other information.

The Hungarian Studies bibliography, as is the case with other Hungarian National Bibliographies, is based on professional standards that will make the conversion to a CD-ROM database guarantee maximum access. In the meantime, the more traditional researcher will also gain maximum benefits from this carefully edited compilation in printed format. Researchers in North America will find this to be a useful bibliography for sources published both in Canada and the United States of America.

Peter Dippold

Téglás, Csaba. BUDAPEST EXIT. A MEMOIR OF FASCISM, COMMUNISM, AND FREEDOM. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, Eastern European Studies No. 7, 1998. Pp. 1-161. Hardbound, $25.50.

There have been so many personal memoirs published of the generation of 1956 that one may be forgiven for being less than enthusiastic at the appearance of another one. That was my initial reaction, too, on being asked to review Teglas's volume. Yet when I actually received it, I could not put it down.

In Exit, Teglas has produced an unusually memorable work. His English is excellent, his style fits his topic, his prose flows well, and his tale, sad but optimistic in the end, is told with gentle humor. And this is an elegant and beautiful little book. From the striking cover to the overall layout and typography, it is a pleasure to hold and to read. The 15 pages of photos, which tie Hungarian history to the author's personal microcosm, help draw the reader into the story, and remind him that Teglas is talking about real, "ordinary" people, with their own tragedies and triumphs, which add up to the tragedy and triumph of a nation; and the fifteen magnificent drawings by the famous graphic artist Lajos Szalay, which depict the greater tragedy of man in the 20th century, with its wars and ethnic cleansing, are in themselves worth the price of the book.

In fact Teglas begins and ends with allusions to current events, to Bosnia (when he wrote his introduction and his epilogue, Kosovo was yet to come), and the resurgent Serbian communism or fascism whose effect, on their victims, is according to him the same. But in spite of this depressing point of departure, the author manages to maintain an optimistic attitude in unfolding a bleak past, and while pointing to a precarious future, as if he were saying: man, personally and collectively, may overcome even the worst that fate has to offer, and Csaba Teglas is living proof that this is possible.

Using the device of answering questions about Hungary from his American sons, Nicholas and Gordon, Teglas builds up his chapters from anecdotes, recollections, and a great deal of popular history, covering the period from his childhood in World War II to his escape from Hungary in 1956, and his eventual settlement in Canada and the United States. The result is an enjoyable and informative work that can be read with profit by anyone, of high school age and up, who is interested in gaining an understanding of modern Hungary.

BOOKS (Continued)

In light of all this it may seem nitpicking to point out that Teglas, who otherwise seems candid throughout, never mentions that Hungary and the United States were on opposite sides in World War II. Worse yet, in speaking of the summer of 1944, he states that the Russians had started bombing Budapest, and tells what seems a fanciful account of a Soviet pilot who crashed at Leányfalu and was captured by kind locals. For what it’s worth, I have a different recollection from childhood days and nights in Budapest air raid shelters. It was the Western allies who started bombing us heavily that summer, the British by night and the Americans by day. The Soviet air force, which had only limited tactical capability, was to play a rather minor role only later in the battle for Hungary.

Is this how Teglas really remembers it? Or is it that he has tried to make the story more palatable to the Nicholases and Gordons of America? 1 cannot help thinking that the latter is the case. And 1 find that disingenuous, therefore baffling.

For all that, Budapest Exit belongs on the bookshelf of every American Hungarian family. Buy it, read it, recommend it, get your library to order it. Teglas' history is our recent history, and it has been told here in a thoroughly enjoyable form.

Louis J. Elteto

PROFILES

In future issues we would like to profile organizations or institutions that play an important role in Hungarian studies in the United States and Canada. We hope this profile will inspire others to send us descriptions of their own organizations and activities.

The Hungarian Studies Review.

The Hungarian Studies Review is the oldest English-language scholarly journal of its kind outside of Hungary. It made its debut in 1974 as a result of the efforts of the late Ferenc Harcsár, a research scientist with Canada's Department of National Defense, and myself, at the time a young lecturer at the Royal Military College of Canada.

In 1978 a Chair of Hungarian Studies was established at the University of Toronto and Professor George Bisztray became its incumbent. He accepted the journal’s co-editorship. The HSR’s editorial office relocated to the University of Toronto, and the University of Toronto Press became the journal's printer and distributor. Editorial tasks became divided between the two co-editors, according to their fields of expertise and, for some time, the task of preparing the journal for electronic typesetting was assumed by a salaried assistant editor.

The early 1980s were the HSR’s golden years. The number of subscribers approached 500, largely as a result of Dr. Harcsár's indefatigable efforts. The journal had a subvention from the Hungarian Chair’s budget, and soon it qualified for financial backing from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC). But these years of plenty did not last long. The HSR’s subscriber base began eroding. It seems that a great many of the early subscribers had been Harcsár's contemporaries - indeed, his friends and acquaintances - and as they retired or died, the journal lost their support. The decline in subscriptions resulted in the loss of our SSHRCC funding. Faced by financial constraints, we could no longer afford the University of Toronto's services and the help of an assistant editor. To save money, I assumed the task of preparing the journal for electronic typesetting.

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NO. 55-57, SPRING/SUMMER/AUTUMN 1999, HUNGARIAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER