A French Diplomatic Initiative: the Revue de Hongrie (1908-1931) (Accepted)

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
Close examination of original documents reveals a cluster of historical events, statements, and decisions that plausibly lead from the founding of the Revue de Hongrie in 1908 by Vicomte Joseph de Fontenay, French consul in Budapest (1905-1912), to Trianon. I present these documents inductively in their historical context and draw a possible inference, suggesting a case of influence or impact. The paper highlights one thread in the complex tapestry that links the history of the Revue de Hongrie to French behavior at the Peace Conference. These documents also illuminate an important aspect of the history of the Revue de Hongrie, a Hungarian journal written entirely in French, edited and owned by Vilmos de Huszár (my grandfather). From its conception the governments of France and Hungary supported a common goal of cultural exchange. Politics, however, soon intervened. When Huszár arrived in Bern, Switzerland, in the summer of 1916, as a diplomat for the monarchy, he was shocked to discover the negative image the Entente press had painted of Hungary and the extent to which world opinion accepted this portrayal. During WWI the Revue represented Hungary and the empire, participating in a propaganda war that Huszár called “literary lead poisoning.” For the rest of his life, Huszár fought on the pages of the Revue for his ideals of truth, justice, and peaceful coexistence.



Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Marguerite DeHuszar Allen received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. She developed her theory of the earliest Faust Books as formulaic fiction in her book The Faust Legend: Popular Formula and Modern Novel (1985), updated as a book chapter in The Faustian Century (2013). Her articles include a review article on the Holocaust in Hungary. She has written articles about her father and grandfather: “The WWII Diary of a Former Refugee in US Military Intelligence” (2017) and a history describing the founding of the Revue de Hongrie (2014). In 2008 she was a Fulbright Research Scholar in Hungary. She has taught at Loyola University of Chicago, Princeton, and Northwestern.