Ocene, zapiski – Reviews, Notes

A cseh szak 50 éve (1955–2005) meetings always encourage the expres- (50 years of the Czech Department sion of new ideas and inspire original 1955–2005). Ed. Heé Veronika, Oleg interpretations and reinterpretations of Fedoszov. Budapest: ELTE BTK, texts and cultural phenomena. Szláv Filológiai Tanszék, 2007. 207 The book is divided into three parts pp. according to subject. 1. The first part presents the history The book A cseh szak 50 éve (1955– of Czech studies at three universities 2005) (50 Years of the Czech Depart- located in Budapest, and Kiev. ment 1955–2005) contains the proceed- The introductory study by Veronika ings from a conference held on the 14th Heé familiarizes the reader with the and 15th of November, 2005. The con- development of Czech Studies in Bu- ference was organized to celebrate the dapest. Even though mutual interest in 50th anniversary of the founding of the Czech and Hungarian history and cul- Czech Department in the Department of ture existed previously, it was not until Slavic Philology at Eötvös Loránd Uni- the end of the Second World War that versity, Budapest, . Scholars this process acquired concrete form in from four European countries took part, Hungarian translations of Czech liter- including Professor František Čermák ary classics by authors such as Božena from Charles University in Prague, Němcová and Karel Čapek. In 1955 the the head of the Institute of the Czech Czech Department in the Department of National Corpus, Professor Richard Slavic Philology was established. The Pražák, translator, diplomat and liter- Study of Slavic Languages has existed ary scholar from Masaryk University, at Eötvös Loránd University since the who has devoted his life to building second half of the 19th century, and close relations between the Czech Re- between 1879 and 1919 the first Hun- public and Hungary for over 50 years, garian Slavist, Oszkár Asbóth, worked scholars from the University of Ostrava, there. Azsbóth was the first scholar to the University of Vienna, the Univer- research Hungarian words borrowed sity of Kiev, as well as academics from from Slavic languages. In the 19th cen- the Hungarian universities of Szeged, tury the Department of Croatian and Piliscaba, and of course scholars from Slovak Studies was founded; Czech Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. and Bulgar Studies had to wait until Because of the broad variety of top- the 1950s and Polish Studies until the ics, research methods and points of view 1970s. Veronika Heé claims László Do- presented at the conference, it would bossy is the most influential Hungarian be difficult to analyze in detail all the Slavist. He worked to develop the Czech contributions. Thus I will discuss only a Department and is the author of several few of them in depth and merely touch volumes devoted to Czech literature, upon others. Besides the gain in scholar- for example a monograph on Karel ship, one of the biggest benefits issuing Čapek, publications on Jaroslav Hašek, from the conference was that the schol- and above all, his Czech-Hungarian ars were given an opportunity to present Dictionary, which, although published their opinions to a broader, interna- nearly 50 years ago, is still in use and tional audience and discuss questions has assisted generations of translators, of Czech culture and literature. Such teachers and students in their study of

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Czech language and literature. Upon aspects of the Czech National Revival professor Dobossy’s retirement, his stu- and spells out the significance of pri- dent Veronika Heé, along with Ludmila vate sympathies in the development of Hankó, took over the teaching of Czech science and culture by examining the literature. Together they wrote The His- connections between Pohl and Farkas tory of Czech Literature (2003) – a much and Pohl and Dobrovský. needed reference work for students of In her contribution, Olga Palamarčuk, and literature. The oth- head of the Department of Czech Stud- er scholar at the department, a linguist, ies at the University of Kiev, writes is Oleg Fedoszov, a native Russian, who about her home department, which graduated from Charles University. The was established in 1842. The institution author of the study goes on to mention played an important role in the enrich- Czech lecturers and graduates of the ment of Ukrainian-Czech intercultural Czech Department who have worked as and academic contacts. She also ad- translators, teachers and diplomats and dresses events during an exceedingly have participated in the consolidation tragic period of Ukrainian scholarship of Hungarian-Czech relations in culture in the 20s and the 30s when Stalin sent and many other fields. nearly all Ukrainian Slavists to concen- The next study, The Beginnings of tration camps. After the Second World Viennese Czech Studies in the 18th Cen- War, Slavic Studies underwent major tury and their Relations to Hungarian reorganization, initiated primarily by L. Studies (For the 50th Anniversary of Bulachovský. Pomarčuk describes the the Establishment of Czech Studies in entire structure of the Department of Budapest), written by Stefan Michael Czech Studies and the system of educa- Newerkla from the University of Vi- tion. The importance of the study lies enna, primarily treats the work of Jan especially in its collocation with the Václav Pohl, one of the first profession- study on Hungarian Slavic Studies. al teachers of Czech in the Hapsburg All three studies are valuable from Monarchy and the author of a hand- a historic point of view. They demon- book of Czech grammar. He worked in strate three ways of developing Slavic the Collegium Theresianum, a military studies in three different regions – Cen- academy, and was the teacher of the tral Europe (Budapest), the West (Vien- emperor’s family. Pohl tried to create na) and the East (Kiev). By pointing to new rules for Czech orthography and the most influential scholars, they show translated a Jesuit catechism. Pohl’s how young academics should work and friend János Farkas translated the book demonstrate the need for continual into Hungarian. It is highly probable cooperation between nations. On the that he was inspired by Pohl’s concep- other hand, all three studies remind us tions while writing his own Hungarian of nearly forgotten figures, enabling us grammar textbook. Pohl’s efforts were to see the issue of Czech Studies in a not clearly understood by his contem- wider context. Naturally, an even broad- poraries, and it was due to the indirect er context would have been welcome, efforts of Josef Doborovský that Pohl’s and perhaps in the future a similar yet voluminous German-Czech- dic- more encompassing conference could tionary never saw publication. The be organized. study draws attention to lesser-known

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2. The second part of the collection, usage of antonyms, synonyms and other Language and Linguistics, contains language elements. four studies concerning linguistic top- 3. The third and final section, Litera- ics from several points of view. It pro- ture and Cultural History, is the longest vides a general overview of the modern and most heterogeneous. It comprises Czech language. Especially helpful is ten studies, which suggests that ques- the demonstration of the variety of re- tions of culture and literature are still search methods and the discussion of perhaps the most attractive for research- the matter of language, which is shown ers. The first group of studies treats as a social entity. Research methods, significant figures responsible for the language and linguistic questions are constant evolution in relations between demonstrated from the point of view the two nations. The study In Memory of prominent individuals and presented of László Dobossy and Scholarship on using comparative aspects. Czech-Hungarian Relations by István Anna Benešová presents the general Fried is devoted to the life and work context of the Czech language in her of this prominent Hungarian scholar. study The Czech Language in the Eu- Although he worked for almost 25 years ropean Union. František Čermák fo- as a professor of Czech literature, his cuses on modern methods of language horizon of interests was exceedingly research in The Czech National Corpus broad – he began his academic career (http://UCNK.FF.CUNI.CZ The Current researching French literature, but in the Situation (2005)), which deals with the 50s turned to Slavic Studies, especially project’s evolution beginning in 1994. Czech literature. At the centre of the In his study, Vladimír Skalička and interests of this extremely influential Hungarian Grammar Oleg Fedoszov pedagogue was primarily the literary reminds us of an admirer of Hungarian heritage of Karel Čapek and Jaroslav culture and an extremely influential fig- Hašek. Secondarily, Dobossy examined ure in the development of Czech-Hun- general questions of Czech-Hungarian garian relations. Skalička was one of the cultural relations. He is also the author most prominent Czech scholars in the of an excellent Hungarian translation of field of Hungarian Studies at Charles Komensky’s Labyrinth of the World and University and an important practition- Paradise of the Heart and an expert on er of Prague structuralism. Fedoszov fo- Komensky’s literary production in gen- cuses on his academic contributions, for eral. Fried’s study is significant from example those on Hungarian grammar, a historical point of view and presents and briefly sums up his achievements, many facts that were previously not which are still influential in the field well known. The second study from this of linguistics. In the final study in this area is The Contribution of the Transla- section, Comparative Analysis of Czech tional Works of František Brábek and and Hungarian Linguistic Associations, the Collection of World Poetry to an Gábor Szelmeczi examines materials Acquaintance with Hungarian Poetry from two language experiments that of the Second Half of the 19th Century took place in 1983 (Hungarian) and in by Petr Hora. The “Collection of World 1988 (Czech). By comparing the results Poetry” played an important role in the of the reactions to 56 pairs of words, he evolution of Czech poetry and familiar- demonstrates common tendencies in the ized the Czechs with new directions in

— 171 — Ocene, zapiski – Reviews, Notes world poetry. Brábek, who spent his and philosophical significance of the childhood in Hungary, was an expert term fatefulness, the primary topic of in and culture and Kertész’s novel and one that also ap- thus translated original texts himself, pears in Lustig’s book. This term can be which was extremely rare in the case of understood as the destiny of the entire a Hungarian. He worked with Jaroslav war generation, not only Jews, whose Vrchlický, and the results of this part- lives and fates were forcibly and perma- nership were three books of Hungar- nently altered. A related term, fateless- ian poetry in Czech, among them the ness, connotes the inability to decide literary works of Hungary’s national one’s own life and the loss of individual- poet Sándor Petőfi. The purpose of the ity. Both texts are filled with parallels collection was to acquaint readers with – both heroes prematurely grow up, and new ideas and international culture and they are conscious of their tragic situa- what Brábek achieved for Hungarian tions. The texts are also similar in their poetry. Hora analyses Brábek’s transla- autobiographical backgrounds – both tions and points out the most distinc- Kertész and Lustig themselves were tive features of the poetics of the Lumír prisoners in Nazi concentration camps. School. The study shows and emphasizes the The next section is devoted to ques- similarity of the cruel experiences of the tions of modern Czech literature and generation that lived in Central Europe culture. Iva Málková in her study Czech during the Second World War. These Poetry at the Beginning of the 21st Cen- tragic times recall Efraim Israel’s text tury examines the modern poetry scene, The Nation That Does Not Want to Be- especially in Ostrava. She also notes long to Itself, an article devoted to Edu- new cultural tendencies such as poems ard Beneš and his status in the history published on the Internet. In his study of Czechoslovakia. devoted to Czech cinematography, The The next study, Hungarian Aspects Preservation of Values and Renewal, of The Czech National Revival by Rich- László Kovács also surveys new ten- ard Pražák, concentrates on the cultural dencies in Czech culture. He tries to and political aspects of Czech-Hungar- explain how Czech cinematography ian relations in the 19th century. The successfully dealt with political changes author highlights the mutual influence during and after 1989 and offers a brief between these two nations and draws overview of the most important films attention to the similar character of from the beginning of the 21st century Jungmann’s and Kazinczy’s revivalist until today. In her study, The Mean- conceptions. Hungarian influence was ing of Literature for Children, Andrea present in all phases of the Czech Na- Balázs compares the results of research tional Revival, and Pražák follows the in the field of literature written for chil- transformations of this influence. The dren in Czech and Hungarian scholar- next study, From Complaining Hungary ship. Ludmila B. Hankó, in her contri- to Complaining Slavia by Róbert Kiss bution, Collateral Fatelessness (Imre Szemán, is devoted to questions of the Kertész and Arnošt Lustig: A Compari- 19th century. The study deals with Jan sion of Their Books “Fatelessness” and Kollár’s most significant poem, Slávy “From the Diary of Seventeen-Year-Old dcera, and concentrates on a single mo- Perla Ch.”) focuses on the metaphorical tif – the figure of Complaining Slavia.

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He relates this motif to the figure of category is that by Efraim Israel, which Querela Hungairae, which was often is more polemical in nature. His contri- present in Hungarian literature from the bution, which was originally published 16th century. Kollár, who knew this to- in the Internet newspaper Britské listy, pos from lectures on Hungarian poems is more openly emotional and subjec- in Latin, used it in his Latin-language tive and without the scholarly apparatus didactic poem and later reinterpreted it typical of this collection. Although it is in his Slávy dcera. The study offers a not without interest, it would certainly new perspective on interpretations of be more appropriate and find perhaps a Kollár’s poetry and will surely inspire greater readership in a different forum. further research. Significant poets are The studies are written either in also the subject of the study The Dif- Czech or in Hungarian, and only the ferences in “Great Poems” in Czech first one by Veronika Heé has two ver- and Hungarian Poetry by István Vörös. sions. From a practical point of view, it The author describes two great figures would be better if every study had its from the 19th century, Karel Hynek counterpart in the other language and Mácha and Mihály Vörösmarty, who thus be accessible to more readers. Brief both had considerable influence on the resumes are of course useful, but they development of “great poems.” Both cannot replace the full article. poets inspired others and encouraged This collection of essays is recom- the creation of national poetry. The mended primarily to anyone interested most typical feature of Mácha’s literary in Czech-Hungarian relations. It pro- production was the use of oxymoron, vides useful, previously little-known which is seen throughout Czech poetry information and opens up new avenues of the 20th century. Metaphor plays a of interpretation. It will certainly in- similar role in Vörösmarty’s works as spire other scholars, teachers and stu- oxymoron does in Mácha’s poetry, for dents. Apart from its pure scholarly example, in the works of Attila József, value, however, the book demonstrates János Pilinszky and László Nagy. how two nations with different roots The variety of comparative view- and different histories are able to coop- points represented in this collection of- erate and enrich each other culturally. fers an extensive overview of Czech and Academia is conventionally seen as an Hungarian cultural and literary stud- exclusive world isolated from current ies. As this collection demonstrates, and pressing issues of the present day, the comparative method has the abil- but this conference and this collection ity to enrich national scholarship with show how not only scholars, but stu- a context that other types of scholar- dents, writers, teachers and diplomats ship cannot. Old topics are suddenly can learn from the experiences of previ- seen in a new context, a new light, ous generations and other cultures. and from a different point of view. In most cases texts are intended to cre- Agnieszka Janiec-Nyitrai, ate mutual understanding and comple- Masarykova univerza v Brnu, ment one another not only regarding [email protected] the subject matter, but also the general issue of Czech-Hungarian relations. The one article that seems to fall out of this

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