AZ ORSZÁGOS SZÉCHÉNYI KÖNYVTÁR ÉVKÖNYVE 1959. Budapest (1961)

IV. Könyvtár- és művelődéstörténeti tanulmányok - Summaires

was a leading personality of the Hungarian literary life of his age, was celebrated in 1959. This anniversary occasioned our present study, discussing the background of editing those of his works that appeared in book-form after his death. Owing to the large extent and significance of Kazinczy's literary activity over more than half a century, the appreciation of his works will be published in two studies of which this is the shorter one; the first study, which will be longer, is to be devoted to revealing the circumstances surrounding the publication of the writer's collected works, edited by himself, when he was still alive. In acquainting the reader with the great man's works published after his death, the best method seems to be to introduce them individually. Thus, in keeping with the original publishing plan of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, a separate chapter each is devoted to such of his works as Poetai munkák (Poetical works), Utazások (Journeys) including Erdélyi levelek (Letters from Transylvania), Pályám emlékezete (In memory of my career) and Fogságom naplója (Diary in prison). The fate of publishing the Kazinczy correspondence is also discussed. It is to be mentioned here that the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was the first editor of the author's handwritten literary remains. A plan for publishing Kazinczy's works was set up in 1834, but owing to financial difficulties, this enterprise had to be abandoned in 1839, at a time when only the third volume had left the press. After this date the entire task of publishing his works was left to private publishers, who had but the material gain in mind; this meant that the plan of publishing Kazinczy's literary remains in their entirety had to be given up and only works that afforded good reading were allowed to appear. This is explained by the fact that due to changes in the literary taste of the public which gradually took on a popular tendency after the writer's death, the classical works of Kazinczy did not hold a promise for material profit and public appreciation. Under these circumstances the works of Kaz'tnczj appeared in about fourteen kinds of book-series of varied contents, with belletristic and general educational tendencies. As no private publisher showed any interest in the correspondence, this part, as the only one among his literary remains, after an interval of several decades, was again included in the Academy's publishing "programme. Thus, the collection including 5,933 letters, was published as a single series of 23 volumes. Regrettably, a critical edition of Kazinczy's works has not been published up to the present day. The publicistic activity of Lajos Kossuth in exile B. DEZSÉNYI One of the points not yet sufficiently clarified by literary historians is the question of publicistic literature in Hungary in the 19th century. Undoubtedly, Kossuth the world-famous leader of the Hungarian revolution and of the war of Independence was the greatest of all publicists of that century in our country. While we are fairly well acquainted with the press activity of Kossuth in the first half of the century, a philological approach to the extensive propaganda work he exercised for almost over half a century abroad (England, United States of America, France and Italy) following the suppression of the Hungarian War of Independence of 1848 — 49, has not yet been attempted, and what is more, not even a sketchy outline of this work is known. This study cannot be intended to remedy the omission, it merely volunteers information in order to help outline and systematize—solely from the viewpoint of publicism—the literary activity of Kossuth in the period from 1849 to 1894, with particular emphasis on the literary forms he used in his political struggle, the variants and development of these forms, as reflected by his work. 409