Századok – 2016

2016 / 1. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Erős Vilmos: A második "Száműzött Rákóczi” vita. (Szekfű Gyula "Bethlen Gábor” című művének korabeli fogadtatása)

46

EROS VILMOS

A levéltári jelzetekIrövidítések feloldása

MTA KK Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Könyvtár, Kézirattár

EKK Egyetemi Könyvtár Kézirattára

OSZKK Országos Széchényi Könyvtár Kézirattára

THE SECOND „RÁKÓCZI IN EXILE” DEBATE

(The Contemporary Reception of Gyula Szekfű’s „Bethlen Gábor’’)

by Erős Vilmos (Summary)

The paper analyses the reception of Gyula Szekfű’s book about Gábor Bethlen in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The author ranged into three major categories the contemporary reactions. The school of national romantics, headed by István R. Kiss, basically rejected the book and even persecuted it. Secondly, there was a transitional zone, where critical and approving opinions were mixed. Finally, the author presents those positive reviews which came from within the „craft”, and prove that Szekfű’s work can indeed be regarded as a professional achievement. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that the group which rejected the book altogether, and their arguments, remained basically unaltered since the debate over Szekfű’s previous work on the exiled Rákóczi. The paper is complemented by a long source publication, which contains the letters addressed to Szekfű by Árpád Károlyi with regard to the Bethlen book and the so-called Gálócsy-affair. These letters (together with the critical remarks) are a clear indication of the fact that, as in the case of the scandal caused by the book on Rákóczi, Károlyi basically stood by Szekfű’s side in the debate unleashed by the latter’s work about Bethlen.