HSK Hungarian Studies ^vieiv Vol. XXVI, Nos. 1-2 (Spring-Fall, 1999) Special Volume: Women and Hungary: Reclaiming Images and Histories Edited by Marlene Kadar and Agatha Schwartz Essays in Politics, History, Literary and Art History, and Biography HUNGARIAN STUDIES REVIEW HUNGARIAN STUDIES NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CANADA SZECHENYI LIBRARY VOL. 26, NOS. 1-2 (SPRING-FALL 1999) EDITORS GEORGE BISZTRAY N.F. DREISZIGER University of Toronto Royal Military College of Canada GUEST EDITORS FOR 1999 MARLENE KADAR AGATHA SCHWARTZ York University University of Ottawa EDITORIAL ADVISERS OLIVER BOTAR GEZA JESZENSZKY University of Manitoba Budapest and Washington ILONA KOVACS MARIA KRISZTINKOVICH National Szechenyi Library Vancouver, B.C. BARNABAS A. RACZ THOMAS SAKMYSTER Eastern Michigan U. University of Cincinnati THOMAS SPIRA S.B. VARDY U.P.E.I. Duquesne University JOZSEF VEKERDI Budapest SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER EVA TOMORY Toronto Correspondence should be addressed to: The Editors, Hungarian Studies Review, University of Toronto, 21 Sussex Ave., Toronto, Ont., Canada M5S 1A1 E-mail: [email protected] Articles appearing in the HSR are indexed in: HISTORICAL ABSTRACTS and, AMERICA: HISTORY AND LIFE. Copyright © (1999) the Hungarian Studies Review. ISSN 0713-8083 (replacing 0317-204X) The Hungarian Studies Review is an interdisciplinary journal devoted to the publication of articles and book reviews relating to Hungary and Hungarians. Since its launching in 1974, the Review has been a forum for the scholarly discussion of issues in Hungarian history, politics and cultural affairs. Subscriptions are $12.00 per annum. Membership in the Hungarian Studies Association of Canada includes a subscription to the journal. For further informa- tion, visit our web-page: http://www.ccsp.sfu.ca/calj.hsr Statements and opinions expressed in the HSR are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the journal's editors. Desk-top typesetting by N.F. Dreisziger. Printed in Hungary. Distributed by the National Szechenyi Library of Hungary. Special Volume: Women and Hungary: Reclaiming Images and Histories Edited by Marlene Kadar and Agatha Schwartz Essays by: CHRIS CORRIN EVA THUN JUDIT ACSADY KENNETH McROBBIE AGATHA SCHWARTZ MARLENE KADAR EVA KISS-NOVAK KATHERINE GYEKENYESI GATTO PHILEEN TATTERSALL Plus: Book Reviews, Obituaries and an Index to volumes XV-XXV Forthcoming in our next volume (vol. XXVII, the year 2000): Thousand Years of Hungarian Thought compiled, edited and introduced by: George Bisztray Translations from the writings of: Janos Arany Simon of Keza Mihaly Babits Lajos Kossuth Bela Bartok Dezso Kosztolanyi Gergely Berzeviczy Ferenc Kolcsey Daniel Berzsenyi Laszlo Nemeth Farkas Bolyai Stephen I (King Saint Stephen) Janos Apaczai Csere Istvan Szechenyi Sandor Korosi Csoma Blanka Teleki Lorand Eotvos Pal Teleki Otto Herman Mrs. Pal Veres Gyula Illyes Miklos Zrfnyi Contents Women and Hungary: An Introduction AGATHA SHWARTZ and MARLENE KADAR 1 PART I POLITICS AND HISTORY Gender Politics and Women's Political Participation in Hungary CHRIS CORRIN 9 Women in Hungary in Times of Social and Cultural Transition EVATHUN 39 Remarks on the History of Hungarian Feminism JUDIT ACSADY 59 Ilona Duczynska (1897-1978) From "Early Morning": Memories of a Hungarian Childhood KENNETH McROBBIE 65 PART II LITERATURE The Image of the "New Woman" in Hungarian Women's Literature at the Turn of the Century AGATHA SCHWARTZ 81 Ilona Duczynska Polanyi: The Midwife-Translator MARLENE KADAR 93 The Changing Role of Women in Contemporary Hungarian Literature EVA KISS-NOVAK 105 PART III THE ARTS Her Twentieth Century: The Postmodern Cinema of Ildiko Enyedi KATHERINE GYEKENYESI GATTO 123 Medals, Miniatures and More: The Art of Dora de Pedery-Hunt PHILEEN TATTERS ALL 133 Book Reviews: Steven Bela Vardy. Historical Dictionary of Hungary. Lanham, Md., and London, 1997. Reviewed by Thomas Szendrey 147 Richard S. Esbenshade. Hungary. New York, 1994. Reviewed by N.F. Dreisziger 149 Magyarorszdg es a Szentszek kapcsolatainak ezer eve. Istvan Zombori, ed. Budapest, 1996. Reviewed by S.B. Vardy 150 Szerep es alkotds: Noi szerepek a tarsadalomban es az alkotomuveszet- ben. Beata Nagy and Margit S. Sardi, eds. Debrecen, 1997. Reviewed by Agatha Schwartz 152 Istvan Hegyi. Vilagunk zeneoktatasi oroksege. A zenetamtas kis- enciklopediaja. Pecs, 1997. Reviewed by S.B. Vardy 154 Karoly Kocsis and Eszter Kocsis-Hodosi. Ethnic Geography of the Hungarian Minorities in the Carpathian Basin. Budapest, 1998. Reviewed by Andrew Ludanyi 156 Gyorgy Gyuris. A Tiszataj fel evszazada, 1947-1997. Szeged, 1997. Reviewed by A.H. Vardy 157 Gabriella Hima."Dunkle Archive der Seele" in hellen Gebarden des Korpers: Die Anthropologic der neusachlichen Prosa. Frankfurt a.M, 1999. Reviewed by Agatha Schwartz 159 Horthy Istvan repiilo fohadnagy tragikus halala. Ilona Horthy, ed. Budapest, 1992. Reviewed by N.F. Dreisziger 160 Laura-Louise Veress. Clear the Line: Hungary's Struggle to Leave the Axis During the Second World War. Dalma Takacs, ed. Cleveland, 1995. Reviewed by Esther E. Vitalis 163 Red Star, Blue Star: the Lives and Times of Jewish Students in Communist Hungary. Andrew Handler and Susan V. Meschel, eds. New York, 1997. Reviewed by Marlene Kadar 164 Az 1956-os magyar forradalom a vilagpolitikdban. Csaba Bekes, ed. Budapest, 1996. Reviewed by N.F. Dreisziger 166 Obituaries: Francis S. Wagner and Peter Gostony By N.F. Dreisziger 171 Index to volumes XV to XXV Author index 175 Index of books reviewed 179 Subject index 183 Women and Hungary: An Introduction Agatha Schwartz and Marlene Kadar To date, the participation of Hungarian women in various aspects of public life has not been sufficiently documented. Hungarian women's participation in both politics and the arts has been recognized, if at all, mainly in relation to the role Hungarian women fulfilled as mothers and wives and supporters of men in their fight for various causes. Or, as for the arts, their work has been measured by standards set by a largely male- dominated establishment whose interests do not necessarily serve the in- terests of women writers and artists. Often the contributions of women to the culture both in Hungary proper and in the Diaspora have been under- valued or misinterpreted according to masculinist norms of quality, aesthetics and reason. It is no surprise that in Hungary, as in Western Europe and North America, women's intellectual work is denigrated as trivial, dealing with topics not considered adequately "universal" to be taken seriously by the legitimate judges of taste and value. During the communist era in Hungary, publications about women's issues were scarce, and a critique of the state socialist interpretation of "the woman question" was all but forbidden. According to communist party doctrine, women were emancipated by their equal right to and acquisition of paid labour. Hungarian women, like Russian women, were portrayed as happy workers, released from the drudgery of home and hearth. Nevertheless, there were signs of equity in the public sphere: women had the right to work and were paid the same salary for the same type of work as men. Moreover, the state provided inexpensive childcare. But the ideology that supported these otherwise progressive initiatives was conventional, unchanged and oppressive for women in the family and in other aspects of both the private and public spheres. Thus, women still tolerated oppressive laws and social controls in Hungary. They perse- vered the double burden of paid productive labour and unpaid "unproduc- tive" labour in the household; gender stereotypes were reproduced in the family, in society and understandably extended into the workplace; women's bodies and reproductive rights were still in large measure controlled by the state. To make matters worse, these important topics were rarely discussed in a public forum. As a matter of fact, the National Council of Hungarian Women, the "official" women's organization during the communist era, helped the state maintain the hypocritical ideology because, as an organ of government, this Council did nothing to foster a critique of either the communist agenda for women, nor the condition of women's lives.1 In the years following the fall of the Iron Curtain, a heightened awareness of women's issues has emerged in Hungary. Women have organized themselves politically and initiated diverse political groups. There has been more research with a focus on inequalities and discrimina- tion based on gender, be it in education or in society in general. More- over, Hungarian scholars are, like feminist scholars abroad, interested in uncovering women's forgotten history. Although women's studies as a degree programme is still not taught at Hungarian universities, in the past decade several initiatives at a few universities have resulted in courses in various disciplines that fall within the disciplinary category of women's studies. At Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Eva Thun, one of this volume's contributors, has been teaching a course on feminist pedagogy for several years now, and Judit Acsady, another of our contributors, initiated, while still a student, a series of lectures on "Woman and Society" in 1989. Publications on various women's and gender studies- related topics have multiplied over the past years, in the form of articles in newspapers and/or magazines; special volumes (such as Ferfiuralom [Male Rule], Miklos Hadas, ed., Replika-series, Budapest, 1994); antholo- gies (Magyar koltonok antologidja