Reading Classics by the Danube

https://www.wiley.com/en-us/A+Handbook+to+Classical+Reception+in+Eastern+and+Central+Europe-p-9781118832714 The medieval and early modern Kingdom of Hungary was a multiethnic and multilingual entity for most of the time of its existence, where Latin functioned for a long time as a written and spoken lingua franca, understood and actively used by the state and church administration both at the local level, at the royal court, and in the Hungarian Parliament (Diet). Accordingly, there existed a rich literary Abstract Classical culture played a very important role in the history and evolution of Hungarian arts and literature from the foundation of the medieval Hungarian kingdom in 1000. Geographically situated between Byzantium and the Holy Roman Empire, Hungary was continuously exposed to influences both from the Eastern/Greek, and the Western/Latin tradition up to the end of the Middle Ages. Allusions to classical literature and ancient heroes occur continuously, starting from the earliest literary works written in Hungary, and classical texts were studied in cathedral schools and chapter houses from the eleventh century onward. Renaissance humanism, with its concentrated effort on reviving the ancient artistic forms and literature, made a powerful impact in the court of King Matthias, which became a stronghold of classical studies at the end of the fifteenth century. Translations into the vernacular appear with the coming of the Protestant Reformation, commencing with drama (Sophocles, Euripides) and soon followed by epic poetry (Vergil). After the first experiments with the introduction of the classical meter into Hungarian versification in the seventeenth century, the era of eighteenth‐century neoclassi-cism was marked by the enormous success of classicizing poetry both in epic poetry and various lyric forms. Due to the multiethnic constitution of Hungary, Latin acted as a pivotal language within the country for translations from English and French, and it remained the official language until 1844. While the active use and knowledge of ancient languages decreased from the turn of the century, translations of classics and rewritings of ancient literary themes reached a previously unprecedented popularity in the twentieth century.

Historický časopis

2019

2019

The most striking feature of early twentieth-century Hungarian culture was its severely divided nature. On one side stood the forces of traditionalist patriotism, on the other, those of international Modernism. All the traditional institutions of the establishment, such as the ministries, the Academy the universities and the literary societies, were in the hands of conservative groups who followed official doctrine. The Modernists, however moderate, had no option but to create their own institutional establishment: the press. Most of the important writers of the era went to university (as their families wanted a 'proper' career for them), but only a couple actually graduated. Most of them left to pursue journalism, or, more precisely, freelance writing backed up by journalism, which could also be interpreted as a symbolic desertion to the 'other side'. Even more importantly, the leading literary journals became alternative institutional centres of modern culture. The name of the most important periodical of moderate Modernism, Nyugat (West, 1908-1941), became synonymous with the whole period, serving as a meeting place and a collective label for several literary generations. Similarly, the premier cultural review of the Hungarian avant-garde, Ma (Today, 1916-1925), as well as its short-lived predecessor, A Tett (The Action, 1915-1916), were synonymous with the Modernist renewal movement to such a degree that its members were often referred to as 'Maists'. It is also worth noting that Ma is unusual among the European avant-garde periodicals because of its ten-year lifespan. The greater part of the cultural history of this period could be written as the history of these journals. The once-revolutionary ideas of Hungarian Romanticism (especially those of János Arany and Sándor Petőfi) were considered highpoints of national culture and thus followed slavishly. In effect, the cultural establishment rewarded didacticism and unoriginality, if not downright plagiarism. Literary innovation was regarded with suspicion, as reflecting either immorality or cosmopolitanism. In this context, even the title of the new literary journal of 1908, Nyugat, was a provocation. The periodical embraced the New, the central idea of Modernism, and for at least a decade became the unchallenged leader of literary renewal. One would expect its editors to have considered Futurism a natural ally, a comrade-in-arms against the obsolete views of official obscurantism, but this was not the case. Nyugat's attitude towards Futurism was mostly patronizing and sometimes even downright hostile, but not just because of aesthetic conservatism. The mission that Nyugat set itself, and that it successfully accomplished in terms of literary history, was the modernization of mainstream Hungarian culture. The review had to introduce the ideas of Symbolism and Naturalism before turning to more radical streams, and it had to employ ideas that could flourish within brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk

AHU MATT, 2015

On a Major Scholar with Lessons for Culture in Hungary

Cultural Intertexts, vol. 13, 2023

The natural elements of inhabited areas often shape people’s lifestyles, psychology and worldviews, influencing their moods, decisions and actions. Rivers in particular are often associated with the historical development of human relationships and the emergence of settlements and urban life. This paper explores the representations of the Danube in four contemporary novels by Hungarian authors or set in Hungary: The White King (2008) by György Dragomán, Train to Budapest (2008) by Dacia Maraini, Under Budapest (2013) by Ailsa Kay and Los Amantes Bajo el Danubio (2016) by Federico Andahazi. The aim of this analysis is to show how the river operates as a framework of “liquid modernity” (Bauman, 2000) in each of these works, it has a representative power of its own and determines people’s destinies and human relationships in heterogeneous cultural contexts. It functions both as a natural backdrop for historical events and as a means of expressing and conveying emotions, creating a transnational political identity that is both socio-cultural and deeply intimate.

2006

Latin language in 18th-century Hungary played an important role in culture, social life, communication, and science. In the first half of the century, church intelligentsia found a new way of expression in neoclassical Latinity. Poetry was continually created in Latin, and that was the language of education too. Investigations of Neo-Latin literature in the 18th century was not a separate branch of science for a long time, but was part of historia litteraria, and within that, history of the church. The 18th century is the period just prior to the time when history of literature became a national science. In this period, historiographic and philological works discuss literary aspects within res litteraria-culture and sciences-, together with the history of education, printing, book trade and libraries. The focus of these works is a presentation of the whole of Hungarian culture, cultural conditions, its way of life, and its results and spreading. Often this is coupled with a summary and an outline of possible changes. The approach of church history is becoming less-and-less dominant, while fictional literature and poetry are increasingly seen in themselves and valued more-and-more highly. Significance of national-language works increases with the dissolution of Hungarus-consciousness and the new predominance of nationalistic ideals. In recapitulating philological activities related to Neo-Latin literature one cannot ignore the fact that foundations of literary history were laid out mainly by an increasingly lay church intelligentsia. A great part of works in historia litteraria was born out of self-defence, in refutation of low foreign opinions of Hungarian culture and science. One must bear in mind that Neo-Latin literature in Hungary cannot be assigned exclusively to one nation or another living here in this period. The majority of works that need to be considered discuss writers producing in Latin and those writing in national languages together. A need for national-language literature is articulated only in the last third of the century, and works dedicated to the history of literature begin to appear only near the end of the investigated period. In the 1780s, abundance of material begins to overflow traditional frameworks of presentation. Differentiation of authors becomes more subtle, and ingenium replaces ars as the focus of assessment. Denominational differences become secondary, and the esteem of living national-language literature becomes drastically higher. Just as Neo-Latin literature includes numerous different genres, scientific survey of this corpus too occurred in different forms with different objectives.

Journal of Art Historiography, 2013

This article has two principal aims. The first is straightforward: to outline the approach and careers of a group of Hungarian-born art historians who trained in Vienna and who came together in Budapest during and immediately after the First World War. This was a critical moment in Hungarian history, and a critical moment in the understanding of Modernity in Central Europe. The radical intellectual climate, and the experience of war and revolution, exposed these scholars to new concepts of art and culture, challenging many of the aesthetic principles they had acquired in Vienna. For some in the group, however, it was possible to envisage an approach to art history that bridged these two camps-the Vienna School and the Lukács circle in Budapest. This is now recognized as one of the sources of the social history of art that thrived in the mid to late twentieth century. The second aim of the article is less conventional. In tracing the dispersal of this group and their subsequent careers, a contrast is made with some of the approaches to art historical scholarship that did develop in Hungary in the inter-war period. By implication, I wish to suggest that a distinctive type of art history could have developed in Hungary if the political situation had been more conducive. To understand the significance of the 'generation of 1919', it may help to sketch in some of the background to art history as an academic discipline in Hungary. As several scholars have pointed out, the origins of art history in Hungary can be traced back to the so-called 'Reform Period' of the 1840s, although it was not until the after the Ausgleich [Compromise] of 1867 that this made any impact on Hungarian intellectual and cultural life. 1 Even at this time, the activity was linked to developments in Vienna, although not in any formal sense. Perhaps the most important early figures were Ferenc Pulszky (1814-97) and Imre Henszlmann (1813-88) both of whom, during the 1850s, worked with the Viennese sculptor, medallist and collector Joseph Daniel Böhm (1794-1865), a key figure in the formation of Viennese collections and in the development of art history 1 See Ernő Marosi (ed.