The Politics of Textuality: Fenyő Miksa’s Wartime Memoirs in 1946 and 1986

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
My proposed paper aims to present the textual and publishing history of Miksa Fenyő’s wartime diary Az elsodort ország ( A Country Adrift). Fenyő, a founding editor of Nyugat and manager and contributor to the periodical for its whole lifespan, suffered persecution after the German occupation of Hungary in 1944: both for his earlier condemnation of Nazi Germany and also for his Jewishness. Whilst sheltered by friends and also by complete strangers in Budapest in 1944-45, he kept a detailed journal of his daily experiences, political views, musings about history and his hopes for the post-war future. Fenyő survived the war, did not emigrate until 1948, and saw through the first publication of his complete diary in 1946 by the Révay . The memoir did not see a second edition until 1986, when Magvető brought out again, under the epithet javított (improved) edition, whilst, in 2014, Park Publishers brought it out again, reverting to the original, 1946 version, which is also the basis of its first English translation, to be published by Helena History Press, US in 2015. The present paper intends to provide a close examination of the first, 1946 edition in comparison with the 1986 edition, which, defying the adjective ’improved,’ was in reality abridged and bowdlerised. The differences between the two texts offer meanig ful insights into political sensitivities and taboos of the Kádár regime.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Z.Varga studied at ELTE of Budapest, and the Edinburgh and Strathclyde Universities. She has taught Hungarian Studies at Glasgow University since 2008.