Past Abstracts
1,037 abstracts found
Language About Language: Comments on Hungary’s New Media Laws
Cultural Studies/ArtsRecent months have seen extraordinary national and international interest in Hungary’s new Media Law (Law 158/2010) and the so-called Media Constitution (Law 104/2010). While “official” English versions of these are said to be available on the websites of the National Media and Communications Authority (NMHH) and the Hungarian Government, these are incomplete and misleading, merely compounding the already difficult task of trying to clarify what exactly they seek to regulate. The paper will first attempt to shed some light on the language of these attempts to control the media’s use of language in Hungary (which are not limited to the use of the Hungarian language) and then look at the NMHH’s allegations against Tilos Radio as a possible indicator of how these regulations may be applied in the future.
Language as a Marker of Identity: the Diaries and Memoir of Hungary 1944-1948 of Sándor Márai
Language/LiteratureThe concept of identity is quite complex and dynamic and it is something that concerns us in every phase of our life. The topic is even more fascinating when we deal with the importance and the meaning of identity to a person such as Sándor Márai. With the aid of his diaries, in this paper I try to explore what identity meant to Márai, which were the elements of his selfhood, how he perceived himself and how the others perceived him just before and during his first exile in Naples (from October 1948 to April 1952). I’ll discuss the significance and the (symbolic) role of the mother tongue to him as a crucial factor of identity: the Hungarian language to him was something that represented “the only significance of life”…
Language Attitudes Among Vlax Gypsies of a Village in Baranya County
Language/LiteratureThis research examines (1) language attitudes, (2) patterns of language use, (3) and the connection between mother tongue and identity. The aim is to inquire about the situation of the Romani language, in particular the Lovari dialect; I examine how certain language varieties, correlate with the other social/sociological variables (gender, age). The research was in a village in Baranya county, namely in Bicsérd. Based on my private experiences and former studies I was sure that the vlax gypsy inhabitants would cooperate with me. My main questions were as follows: how the interviewed people think about their mother tongue in the light of the Hungarian language and other gypsy languages and dialects (especially Boyash)? What other Romany dialects do they know? In the frame of A nyelvi másság dimenziói [The dimensions of language otherness] project the questionnaire (made by Csilla Bartha and Anna Orsós) was conducted on the language of the community and was recorded on tape. I used the Lovari version of the questionnaire in my research. Because of the low number of participants (20) during the data-analysis I used qualitative and quantitative methods as well. In the conference I would like to present the researches results.
„SUPPORTED BY THE ÚNKP-19-3-II NEW NATIONAL EXCELLENCE PROGRAM OF THE MINISTRY FOR INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY.”
„SUPPORTED BY THE ÚNKP-19-3-II NEW NATIONAL EXCELLENCE PROGRAM OF THE MINISTRY FOR INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY.”
Language Without Borders – Heritage Languages and Language Education in Cultural Identity Formation: The Case of Hungarian
Education/Social SciencesMy paper contrasts the processes of learning and acquiring, as well as the motives of transmission, of Hungarian, in two contexts: Hungarian, as a heritage language in the United Kingdom v. Hungarian as a minority language in Romania. Evidence is based on my experience as a teacher working with heritage speakers of Hungarian from a variety of backgrounds at UCL, and on fieldwork in various minority communities Eastern Europe.
Languages, and even small contrasts between dialects, are powerful markers of one’s cultural affiliation, identity, and status. Heritage and minority Hungarian speakers acquire Hungarian outside of Hungary, thus, they form a social and cultural identity inclusive of Hungarian in a different way from speakers of Hungarian in Hungary. It is instructive to explore the differences between the two groups in terms of perceived linguistic vitality, other H speakers’ expectations towards them, processes of Othering, and how these factors are influenced by, or impinge on, their actual use of Hungarian. This contributes to a better understanding of how languages are interwoven with the thought, custom, and culture of their speakers.
The model ‘one language – one nation’, which underlies ‘foreign’ language learning, and which has been recently reiterated in the new Constitution of Hungary, is dismissive towards heritage and minority speakers’ language competence, and towards contact varieties of a language. I discuss how purist tendencies in the case of a language which is imagined as monocentric jeopardise the sustainability of multilingualism and multiculturalism involving the language, in this case Hungarian, in question.
Languages, and even small contrasts between dialects, are powerful markers of one’s cultural affiliation, identity, and status. Heritage and minority Hungarian speakers acquire Hungarian outside of Hungary, thus, they form a social and cultural identity inclusive of Hungarian in a different way from speakers of Hungarian in Hungary. It is instructive to explore the differences between the two groups in terms of perceived linguistic vitality, other H speakers’ expectations towards them, processes of Othering, and how these factors are influenced by, or impinge on, their actual use of Hungarian. This contributes to a better understanding of how languages are interwoven with the thought, custom, and culture of their speakers.
The model ‘one language – one nation’, which underlies ‘foreign’ language learning, and which has been recently reiterated in the new Constitution of Hungary, is dismissive towards heritage and minority speakers’ language competence, and towards contact varieties of a language. I discuss how purist tendencies in the case of a language which is imagined as monocentric jeopardise the sustainability of multilingualism and multiculturalism involving the language, in this case Hungarian, in question.
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy – Innovator of the Avant Garde; His Artistic Journey Towards the Light
Cultural Studies/ArtsLaslo Moholy- Nagy (1895-1946) was a major creative force among the 20th century artistic avant garde- first in Europe and later in the USA. He is famous for constant experimenting with new media-using photomontages, photograms, collages, oil painting, film and shadow- casting kinetic sculpture. First exposed to modernism in Berlin, he was influenced by Dada, Surrealism, Cubism and especially Russian Constructivism. The paper explores light as a crucial element in his oeuvre. It is mainly based on the recent retrospective exhibition that took place at the Guggenheim Musuem in New York City. Moholy Nagy's fascination with light and its spacial effects shows his two and three-dimensional work crated throughout his life, whether it is in the imaginative, geometric transparencies of his paintings and designs, or in the reflective, shadow- casting surfaces of his plexiglass and alumnium sculptures. Especially in the last phase of his life, the artist’s creative exploration seems to be at its boldest phase. He works with thick plexiglass which he heats in the oven and bends into exuberant, flowing forms. Exposed to the rays of his beloved light, they cast complex shadows and become almost animated entities. This work is a precursor to contemporary artists like Donald Judd, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Christian Boltanski, Pipilotti Rist.
László Tisza Belonged to the Giants of Physics: Traveler, Researcher, Observer, and Major Contributor to 20th Century Science
History/Political ScienceMost people, when asked to name a few giants of physics of the 20th century, they might name Edward Teller, Robert Oppenheimer, Werner Heisenberg, etc. If they are of Hungarian origin, they might add Eugene Wigner, John von Neuman, Leo Szilard, Theodore von Karman and Albert Szentgyorgyi (who actually was not a physicist). Laszlo Tisza career spanned almost all through the 20th century. He is not only witnessed the developments of physics at close hand and worked with many of the major figures, but he also made significant contributions on his own. As a young man, he grew up in Hungary, when at that time the country was the seat of science, culture and arts, the center of intellectual life. The 20th century was the golden age of physics, covering from the cosmos and the universe, down to the nano world of science and down to the subatomic particles. His travels and his career took him from Hungary to Germany, then back to Hungary, the Soviet Union , again back to Hungary, then to France and finally to the United States. His life reflected the cultural and intellectual life in Europe between the two world wars, the turmoils and the arising conflicts in that continent, which finally resulted in the 2nd World War. His major contributions to physics involved among them, the statistical analysis of thermodynamics, solving the mystery of super fluids and he also did work in the exciting area of quantum physics.
Látni, hallani a szöveget a romániai magyar audiovizuális médiában
Language/LiteratureElőadásomban hangsúlyt fektetek a rádióban és televízióban használt nyelvezetre és az elhangzó szöveg interpretálására, kommunikativítására. A beszéd általános jellemzéséből kiindulva, a megszólalás, megszólaltatás kérdését fejtegetem. Ezeket követi a szöveg és a hangzásforma kapcsolata, a műfaj és az akusztikus stílusideál kapcsolata, valamint a szöveg (mondatok) hangzásának (intonálásának) szerepe, hangsúlyt fektetve a szöveg és a szupraszegmentális eszközök kapcsolatára, a szöveg megszólaltatásakor. Ez a kérdés a rádió- és tévé-hírek szövegformájára és megfogalmazási, megszólaltatási gondjaira épül. Szó van a kommunikatív, informatív megfogalmazásról, az ún. kétarcú szerkezetről, a hírmondatok tagolásáról, a típushibákról, a hírek logikai felépítéséről és kommunikativításáról, mondhatóságáról. Mindezek aktuális példákkal vannak alátámasztva a Román Rádió Nemzetközi Szolgálatának Magyar Adásában és az RTV bukaresti Magyar Nyelvű Adásaiban elhangzott szavakkal, mondatokkal, szószerkezetekkel, valamint kérdésekkel.
Seeing, Hearing the Text, in the Hungarian Audio-Visual Mass-Media in Romania.
In my talk, I stress the importance of the use of language in the radio and television, and the interpretation of text, as a means of communication. Starting from the general description of speech, I develop the question of uttering words, the speech. These are followed by the written text, the of hearing, the link between the literary work and the ideal acoustic style, as well as the text (sentences), the role of intonation, underlying the importance of text and upper segments of means of communication, when uttering a word.
This question is lying on the form of text at the radio and Tv news declaration, uttering. It is about the creation of communication, information, “double faced” construction, about uttering of speakers, types of mistakes, about logistics of the news and communication of their message. All these are founded on examples from the Hungarian Department of the Romanian Radio, International Broadcasting section, and RTV Hungarian language broadcastings, words, sentences, word clusters and questions.
Seeing, Hearing the Text, in the Hungarian Audio-Visual Mass-Media in Romania.
In my talk, I stress the importance of the use of language in the radio and television, and the interpretation of text, as a means of communication. Starting from the general description of speech, I develop the question of uttering words, the speech. These are followed by the written text, the of hearing, the link between the literary work and the ideal acoustic style, as well as the text (sentences), the role of intonation, underlying the importance of text and upper segments of means of communication, when uttering a word.
This question is lying on the form of text at the radio and Tv news declaration, uttering. It is about the creation of communication, information, “double faced” construction, about uttering of speakers, types of mistakes, about logistics of the news and communication of their message. All these are founded on examples from the Hungarian Department of the Romanian Radio, International Broadcasting section, and RTV Hungarian language broadcastings, words, sentences, word clusters and questions.
Learning about the Holocaust through Interactive Technology
Education/Social SciencesThe National Center for Bilingual Education (2007) reported that while the general population of children attending public school increased 24% over ten years, the number of students attending schools whose first language and culture is not from the United States increased by 105%. Teachers must actively bridge life and learning in ways that are relevant and meaningful for all students.
Education today is finding ways of presenting multiple views of history, cultures, and issues. “By confronting students with uncertainty, ambiguity, and conflicting perspectives, instructors help them develop more mature mental models that coincide with the problem-solving approaches . . . where there may not be a right or a wrong answer” (Briggs, 2007). Our students must learn to see and think in multiple perspectives.
This rationale supported an experience where students learned about the Hungarian Holocaust from one who experienced it as a teenage girl. Livia Bitton-Jackson, a Holocaust survivor from Somorja, has written four books for youth and presented hundreds of events which have deepened people’s understandings of history and culture around the world, including Arab girls in Palestine.
Through an interactive Skype presentation I developed at the University of Pittsburgh Bradford, Dr. Bitton-Jackson engaged students from a rural community although thousands of miles away in Israel. Many never met a Holocaust survivor, knew nothing about the Hungarian Holocaust, and only met foreign students in class. Bitton-Jackson confronted them with truths, perspectives, and problems where answers are not clear or immediately available. Her passion, experiences, culture, and faith advanced their perspective of others when seen in the eyes of Dr. Bitton-Jackson, a survivor.
Education today is finding ways of presenting multiple views of history, cultures, and issues. “By confronting students with uncertainty, ambiguity, and conflicting perspectives, instructors help them develop more mature mental models that coincide with the problem-solving approaches . . . where there may not be a right or a wrong answer” (Briggs, 2007). Our students must learn to see and think in multiple perspectives.
This rationale supported an experience where students learned about the Hungarian Holocaust from one who experienced it as a teenage girl. Livia Bitton-Jackson, a Holocaust survivor from Somorja, has written four books for youth and presented hundreds of events which have deepened people’s understandings of history and culture around the world, including Arab girls in Palestine.
Through an interactive Skype presentation I developed at the University of Pittsburgh Bradford, Dr. Bitton-Jackson engaged students from a rural community although thousands of miles away in Israel. Many never met a Holocaust survivor, knew nothing about the Hungarian Holocaust, and only met foreign students in class. Bitton-Jackson confronted them with truths, perspectives, and problems where answers are not clear or immediately available. Her passion, experiences, culture, and faith advanced their perspective of others when seen in the eyes of Dr. Bitton-Jackson, a survivor.
Learning Hungarian Can Be Fun. The Story of Fungarian.
Education/Social SciencesFungarian offers a light-hearted way of learning Hungarian, specializing in providing educational tours to school groups ranging from small classes to large field trips, as well as individual visitors and expats. Our innovative approach to learning the language incorporates dissemination of the best of Hungarian culture and thus empowering the students to function well in everyday situations. After 14 years of its launching, by now Fungarian is an accepted brand in tourism and among teachers of Hungarian as a foreign language. The presentation will highlight some linguistic aspects learners find strange or even amusing when confronted with everyday situations, as well as what first visitors find strange in Hungary or what causes culture shock for them. The innovation of Fungarian is dialogical and interactive learning wrapping cultural, historical and practical information into a session. These intercultural encounters provide a lot of empirical data to enable the teaching staff to find the appropriate means to make Hungarian culture familiar to foreigners. (fungarian.com) Since the clientele has been 65 per cent American a significant intercultural database has been assembled. The lecture will focus on what first-time visitor Americans find strange in Hungary or what causes culture shock for them including an analysis of more than 200 Tripadvisor reviews that they have submitted. The conclusion the presentation is aiming at is to provide an alternative way to motivate foreigners to learn Hungarian and appreciate Hungarian culture.
Learning the Rules of “Fair Play”: ‘English’ Influences on Hungarian State-Building, 1867-1918
History/Political ScienceFocusing on the Dualist era (1867-1918), my paper examines Hungarian elites’ appeals to what they saw as ‘English’ models in debates over what direction the Transleithanian half of Austria-Hungary should take in the decades following the Compromise of 1867.
To that end, I focus on Dualist Hungary’s proposed “solutions” to the Kingdom’s “nationalities’ question.” I see these as attempts to create a “modern” nation-state, rather than simply as manifestations of chauvinistic nationalism (which they certainly also were). In particular, I examine the Kingdom of Hungary’s increasingly forceful Magyarization policy as an effort at state-building and modernization based, at least in part, on perceived Western models.
My paper highlights the role that Hungarian elites’ own sense of their Kingdom’s backwardness played in their search for foreign models of political and economic “modernization” during the Dualist era. I examine the extent to which we can understand Hungarian elites’ project of centralization and ‘Magyarization’ as an effort to implement foreign, “Western” models in their own country. Specifically, I show the ways in which an Anglocentric strain of political and developmental thought existed across the political spectrum, to influence both nationalist elites, and their more progressive, socialist opponents. By highlighting appeals to English models in arguments over Magyarization, I hope to shed greater light on the intersection of nationalism, modernization, and state-building. In particular, by focusing on Magyarization campaigns as a function of state-building, one deeply influenced by elites’ perceptions of foreign examples and models, I hope to shed light on the material impacts of self-ascribed ‘backwardness’ narratives, and to deepen our scholarly understanding of the operation of ‘modern’ state-building outside of ‘classic’ Western examples such as France or Britain.
To that end, I focus on Dualist Hungary’s proposed “solutions” to the Kingdom’s “nationalities’ question.” I see these as attempts to create a “modern” nation-state, rather than simply as manifestations of chauvinistic nationalism (which they certainly also were). In particular, I examine the Kingdom of Hungary’s increasingly forceful Magyarization policy as an effort at state-building and modernization based, at least in part, on perceived Western models.
My paper highlights the role that Hungarian elites’ own sense of their Kingdom’s backwardness played in their search for foreign models of political and economic “modernization” during the Dualist era. I examine the extent to which we can understand Hungarian elites’ project of centralization and ‘Magyarization’ as an effort to implement foreign, “Western” models in their own country. Specifically, I show the ways in which an Anglocentric strain of political and developmental thought existed across the political spectrum, to influence both nationalist elites, and their more progressive, socialist opponents. By highlighting appeals to English models in arguments over Magyarization, I hope to shed greater light on the intersection of nationalism, modernization, and state-building. In particular, by focusing on Magyarization campaigns as a function of state-building, one deeply influenced by elites’ perceptions of foreign examples and models, I hope to shed light on the material impacts of self-ascribed ‘backwardness’ narratives, and to deepen our scholarly understanding of the operation of ‘modern’ state-building outside of ‘classic’ Western examples such as France or Britain.
Left Behind: Formation and Evolution of Heritage Language and Cultural Identity in Isolation
Cultural Studies/ArtsGrowing up Hungarian in another country, with virtually no contact to other Hungarians until adulthood impacts how one’s identity is formed and evolves. This study explores, through interviews, how heritage language speakers views of themselves as Hungarians have evolved during their lifetimes.
Participants were asked to describe their initial and evolving conceptualizations of their ethnicity. They reported that challenges to their original conceptualizations of their own ethnicity came mainly through interactions with native and expatriate Hungarians, educational opportunities, and travel to Hungary. Encounters with unfamiliar social, educational, and political situations, views and institutions were some of the categories that emerged in the interviews. Coping strategies for dealing with feelings of alienation and confusion caused by the clash of expatriate cultural norms and expectations compared with reality will be explored and analyzed.
Participants were asked to describe their initial and evolving conceptualizations of their ethnicity. They reported that challenges to their original conceptualizations of their own ethnicity came mainly through interactions with native and expatriate Hungarians, educational opportunities, and travel to Hungary. Encounters with unfamiliar social, educational, and political situations, views and institutions were some of the categories that emerged in the interviews. Coping strategies for dealing with feelings of alienation and confusion caused by the clash of expatriate cultural norms and expectations compared with reality will be explored and analyzed.
Legacy of Margit Slachta, a Pro-Active Social and Political Representative of Modern Catholic Thinking
History/Political ScienceMargit Slachta’s reburial in December 2021 has given a new impetus for historians to reconsider her activity and role in modern Hungarian history. For decades in state socialist Hungary, her personality was put into a false interpretative scheme, which showed her as a representative of the “clerical reaction”. Contemporary historiography still owes her a great debt to present her true legacy based on new primary historical sources. The lecture strives to give a contribution to this endeavour. After an overall survey of Slachta’s manifold activities as Catholic social activist, “Christian feminist”, a founder of a modern women’s order, a rescuer during the Shoah, it will focus on her political activity as the first woman MP in the history of Hungarian parliamentarism. Slachta was a representative in three parliamentary cycles: first after World War I and twice after World War II, which made her a stakeholder during these highly significant periods of Hungarian history. That’s why, beyond her church historical importance, Slachta’s legacy shall find its proper stand also in the social and political history of the country.
Legényes Made Me a (Hungarian) Man—National and Gender Identification through a Popular Transylvanian Dance
Music/FolkloreDone by Hungarians and non-Hungarians throughout the world, the men’s dance Kalotaszegi Legényes is probably the most iconic of all Hungarian village dances. As with other folk dances, the legényes is part of the fiber of the village by virtue of its rules. The rules help dancers to find their place among other men and other villagers.
The táncház revival has sought to recreate and follow village rules in relation to cycles of dances from various areas. The surprising part is that preserving and following the rules convey to city revival dancers some of the benefits of self-representation, control, and community that they had in the original context.
This paper explores the rules behind legényes to reveal its structure and the social implications that are embedded in it. I then present interviews with real-life legényes dancers and táncház participants to see how revivalists’ experiences of the dance have shaped their attitudes. My observation is that through following the rules revivalists benefit from dance in a similar way to villagers. Further, I believe that the process of doing the dances strengthens a certain way of being that participants identify as masculine and Hungarian. If your values are identified by what you do, can you also develop values by the activities you choose?
The táncház revival has sought to recreate and follow village rules in relation to cycles of dances from various areas. The surprising part is that preserving and following the rules convey to city revival dancers some of the benefits of self-representation, control, and community that they had in the original context.
This paper explores the rules behind legényes to reveal its structure and the social implications that are embedded in it. I then present interviews with real-life legényes dancers and táncház participants to see how revivalists’ experiences of the dance have shaped their attitudes. My observation is that through following the rules revivalists benefit from dance in a similar way to villagers. Further, I believe that the process of doing the dances strengthens a certain way of being that participants identify as masculine and Hungarian. If your values are identified by what you do, can you also develop values by the activities you choose?
Leopold Ungar’s 1956: Hungarians, Christians, and Jews in Austria
History/Political ScienceAs part of my continuing work on the Hungarian refugee crisis of 1956, I gave an AHEA talk last year entitled “Send us a Planeload! Catholic Organizations and the Resettlement of 56ers.” That presentation touched upon the partnership of the director for Austria of America’s Catholic Relief Service, Fr. Fabian Flynn, with the head of Vienna Caritas, Msgr. Leopold Ungar. This paper will focus specifically on Msgr. Ungar.
Ungar (1912-92) was born in Wiener Neustadt of Jewish parents originating from Hungary. Inspired in part by the social engagement of the satirist Karl Kraus, he converted to Catholicism and entered seminary in 1935, but fled Austria due to his Jewish ancestry after the Anschluss and was ordained in France. He was interned twice as an enemy alien, first in France after the country’s occupation by the Germans and then again in Britain. His languages and his experience as a refugee led to his appointment as head of Vienna Caritas in 1950.
Ungar amplified the generous reception that Austrians accorded the Hungarian refugees in 1956, and his measures to ensure more humane conditions and protect Jewish refugees from anti-Semitic incidents contrasted with the sometimes ambiguous response of secular authorities. John Connelly has demonstrated in From Enemy to Brother: The Revolution in Catholic Teaching on the Jews, 1933-1965 that Austrian Jewish converts and other Grenzgänger were prominent among the theological pioneers. Ungar, who during his long career in Austrian Caritas steadily increased its international engagement, should be seen in a similar light.
Ungar (1912-92) was born in Wiener Neustadt of Jewish parents originating from Hungary. Inspired in part by the social engagement of the satirist Karl Kraus, he converted to Catholicism and entered seminary in 1935, but fled Austria due to his Jewish ancestry after the Anschluss and was ordained in France. He was interned twice as an enemy alien, first in France after the country’s occupation by the Germans and then again in Britain. His languages and his experience as a refugee led to his appointment as head of Vienna Caritas in 1950.
Ungar amplified the generous reception that Austrians accorded the Hungarian refugees in 1956, and his measures to ensure more humane conditions and protect Jewish refugees from anti-Semitic incidents contrasted with the sometimes ambiguous response of secular authorities. John Connelly has demonstrated in From Enemy to Brother: The Revolution in Catholic Teaching on the Jews, 1933-1965 that Austrian Jewish converts and other Grenzgänger were prominent among the theological pioneers. Ungar, who during his long career in Austrian Caritas steadily increased its international engagement, should be seen in a similar light.
Lessons in “Diversity” and “Equality”; Conceptual analysis of the 2020 Hungarian National Core Curriculum
Education/Social SciencesApproaching diversity and equality have recently become central questions in educational contexts ranging from educational publishers integrating the themes in their materials and research teams investigating their presence in national curricula and teaching materials. From the perspective of literacy, literature and cultural studies, we set out to give an objective and detailed portrait of how the 2020 Hungarian National Core Curriculum deals with equality and diversity to observe it in the broader European context of school curricula. We decided to use the technique of thematic coding from the research methodology of social sciences and focused on the general introduction and humanities sections, including Hungarian Literature and Grammar, Foreign Languages, History, Geography, Drama, and Studies in Media and Moving Images. However, the initial reading of the curriculum’s text yielded very few exact matches of these concepts, which fact justified the need for the semantic expansion of “diversity.” This fact aligns with the public debates and recent political approaches to renewing education in Hungary outlined in the first section, proving our initial idea that diversity and equality would not appear explicitly or often in the national curriculum. In our presentation, we give a detailed account of our methodological approach our findings with examples and suggestions for dealing with this issue in pedagogical practice.
Liberated Women Survivors (?) Effects and After-effects of the Holocaust in Women’s Narratives (Teréz Rudnóy and Boris Palotai)
Cultural Studies/ArtsAlthough scholarly interest in Holocaust representation and remembrance from a gendered perspective emerged, over the last decades a few researches on Holocaust in Hungarian scientific studies began to analyze the significance of gender differences regarding Holocaust experiences and narratives. Many women Holocaust survivor attempted to record and preserve their suffering in fiction and poetry, using literary and aesthetic strategies to mediate their experiences emphasizing how gender differences shape the perceptions, experiences, and representation of the Holocaust. In my presentation I will focus on two intertwined novels; Teréz Rudnóy’s Szabaduló asszonyok, 1947 (Liberated Women Survivors) and Boris Palotai’s A férfi, 1964 (The Man) can be analyzed foregrounding issues of gender, the representation and trauma of Holocaust concerning social and historical context, which frame the literary texts.
Teréz Rudnóy in her text of Szabaduló asszonyok [Liberated Women Survivors] - published in 1947 [2011], a month before her death – narrates her experiences in creating novel about devastation, hopelessness, tormented memories, in posing questions about law and revenge right after the liberation. The text portrays the strong female bodily experiences; within this representation the fragmented female body could be revealed as a sign of suffering, absence and vulnerability. The complexity of memory in narrating the woman’s experience after the Holocaust can be seen in Boris Palotai’s text (titled, A férfi, The Man), contained fictionalized set of biographical elements referring to Teréz Rudnóy’s tragical story after the liberation. The protagonist of the novel struggles to recover a collapse connection with life, but she cannot survive her suffering, loss of her family and own liberation.
The aim of this presentation is to explore the extratextual and intratextual interconnections between these two texts produced within the representation of the women’s experience in Holocaust concentrating on the dilemma of interpreting representations.
Teréz Rudnóy in her text of Szabaduló asszonyok [Liberated Women Survivors] - published in 1947 [2011], a month before her death – narrates her experiences in creating novel about devastation, hopelessness, tormented memories, in posing questions about law and revenge right after the liberation. The text portrays the strong female bodily experiences; within this representation the fragmented female body could be revealed as a sign of suffering, absence and vulnerability. The complexity of memory in narrating the woman’s experience after the Holocaust can be seen in Boris Palotai’s text (titled, A férfi, The Man), contained fictionalized set of biographical elements referring to Teréz Rudnóy’s tragical story after the liberation. The protagonist of the novel struggles to recover a collapse connection with life, but she cannot survive her suffering, loss of her family and own liberation.
The aim of this presentation is to explore the extratextual and intratextual interconnections between these two texts produced within the representation of the women’s experience in Holocaust concentrating on the dilemma of interpreting representations.
Life and Work of Painters Elizabeth Sass Brunner and Elizabeth Brunner
Cultural Studies/ArtsThe life and art of Elizabeth Sass Brunner (Nagykanizsa 1889 - Naini Tal 1950) and her daughter Elizabeth Brunner (Nagykanizsa 1910 - New Delhi 2001), who travelled to India in 1930 upon Rabindranath Tagore's invitation and remained there for life, has become topical for several reasons. It was the exotic appeal of their lives surrounded by legends rather than their painting that has attracted the greatest interest so far. In Rózsa G. Hajnóczy's book The Fire of Bengal a lopsided, biassed picture is given of the two "Bessies" as she called them. In Rózsa G. Hajnóczy's book The Fire of Bengal a lopsided, biassed picture is given of the two "Bessies" as she called them. The fact alone that a little known paintress and her daughter left their small native town Nagykanizsa for India without any preliminary preparations and lived in Rabindranath Tagore's Santiniketan compund kindled the curiosity of generations. That their memory did not sink into oblivion owed to the above mentioned popular novel for a long time.
The deep and close friendship between the Brunners and Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharial Nehru, R. Radhakrishnan, Indira Gandhi or the Dalai Lama and others were often stressed as catalyst in the political relations between the two countries. As regards the viewpoint of art history, hardly any meaningful assessment of their work was done or published.
The deep and close friendship between the Brunners and Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharial Nehru, R. Radhakrishnan, Indira Gandhi or the Dalai Lama and others were often stressed as catalyst in the political relations between the two countries. As regards the viewpoint of art history, hardly any meaningful assessment of their work was done or published.
Life as Narrative: Identity construction among English majors from Vajdaság
Cultural Studies/ArtsI was recently asked by an acquaintance, ‘Do you consider yourself Hungarian or American?’ Identifying as a bilingual and bicultural Hungarian-American who has lived for over thirty years in Szeged, I smiled and answered, ‘Well, … both’. The benign but ultimately reductive and essentialist view of cultural identity implied in this question prompted me to wonder about the identities held by my own students at the University of Szeged, including identities tied to regions within and without Hungary, to socio-economic status, and to second language(s). Proceeding from work by Bruner (1987) and Fougère (2008) on the construction of identity through self-narrative, the paper will present findings from qualitative research on narratives produced by a small group of native speakers of Hungarian from the Vojvodina/Vajdaság region of Serbia, who are in a BA program in English Studies at the University of Szeged. Themes explored will include: sensemaking (the process of an ever changing understanding of an ever changing identity); a sense of belonging with a focus on insideness and outsideness, competence and role fulfillment, and center and periphery dynamics; questioning and learning about the self; and development and change, including heterotopias and the ‘third space’, and dwelling in-between. In demonstrating how these particular learners tell their identity, the findings may have implications for foreign language learners, teachers, administrators, teacher trainers, educational policymakers, coursebook and other materials designers and anyone involved in foreign language learning and teaching, which is by definition an experience marked – and enriched – by multiple cultural and linguistic identities.
Liszt the European and His Transylvanian Rhapsody: An Idyll of Intercultural Harmony
Music/FolkloreFerenc Liszt, the Hungarian who spoke hardly any Hungarian, was a committed pan-European. For example, he composed songs to texts from the literatures and in the languages of Italy, France, Germany, Britain, Hungary, Russia – and even America. Of course, he supported Hungarian political goals, but especially charitable and cultural goals. His most famous works include his series of Hungarian Rhapsodies (published as Rhapsodies hongroises, S. 244). Still obscure – partly because of their extreme technical difficulty – is his earlier set, published as Magyar dalok és magyar rapszodiak, S. 242. One of these latter, no. 20, deserves special attention. Its first publication in 1936 was entitled “Rumanian Rhapsody.” Upon inspection, it contains Hungarian themes (of urban café origin) and a Transylvanian Saxon march Liszt calls a “Hermannstädter.” And it contains the most remarkable theme of all, an authentic Romanian folk shepherd tune he titles “Walachische Melodie,” set in harmonic and pianistic colors that would not be written again until Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, many decades later. Liszt develops and combines these themes in a manner idealizing the potential harmony between three cultures, in what is neither a Hungarian nor a Romanian rhapsody, but truly a Transylvanian one. He epitomizes the concept of a harmonious cultural crossroads and presents a musical vision of the human ideals at the center of the European Union project, one to set beside the EU anthem, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy with its alle Menschen werden Brüder. Musical excerpts will illustrate the talk.
Liszt’s Waltz à la hongroise: The Mephisto Waltz No. 1
Music/FolkloreFranz Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1 (1859–62) exemplifies his capacity to merge national idioms with cosmopolitan dance forms. Drawing on Nikolaus Lenau’s retelling of the Faust legend, Liszt reimagines the Viennese waltz as a vehicle for both narrative and stylistic transformation. Beneath its programmatic surface – the demonic dance of Mephistopheles and a village inn – the piece reveals a deliberate subversion of traditional waltz conventions: its asymmetrical phrasing, volatile tonal plan, and extreme tempo fluctuations distort the elegant periodicity of the ballroom waltz (Hamilton 2011). The resulting rhythmical instability aligns the work more closely with Hungarian verbunkos practice, whose off-beat accents, modal inflections, and alternating moods of lassú and friss infuse the piece with Magyar vitality (Saffle 1994; Walker 1989). In this hybrid structure, the waltz becomes both seductive and infernal, embodying the same paradox that underlies Liszt’s national aesthetic: at once European and distinctively Hungarian. Rather than parodying the social dance, Liszt transforms it into a symbolic drama of temptation and liberation, where the sensual sweep of the waltz rhythm collides with the improvisatory intensity of Romani-Hungarian performance. Mephisto Waltz No. 1 thus fuses the popular and the metaphysical: a national idiom masquerading as cosmopolitan form, and a waltz that waltzes itself to the brink of transcendence. Through this reinterpretation, Liszt elevates dance into philosophical expression, situating the waltz at the centre of Romantic modernism’s dialogue between body, nation, and spirit.
