Only the English Go There

The past is always relevant. Even if momentarily, at the beginning of the 21st century, the prevailing thought is that humanity needs no other knowledge but what is directly applicable. Various communities of different cultures carry diverging understandings of what they mean by tradition. Some concentrate on one memory, a singular part of their heritage, and then with one great leap in time try to apply this to finding solutions to contemporary problems. Others will review their entire cultural heritage with regard to every question that needs to be asked in order to solve contemporary challenges. They want to understand what kind of answers other people in other ages and under different circumstances had provided to the same or similar questions. I personally believe that from the perspective of self-awareness, as well as from the point of view of cherishing the innovative force that a community can provide, the latter is the preferable route for Western Christianity, that is for European people. Self-awareness is particularly important for the peoples of CentralEurope, which have gained their independence a mere three decades ago, many of whom had never been independent for such a “long” period, while others had suffered half a millennium of oppression since losing their independence. These nations were not afforded centuries to formulate who they were, how they were similar to others and in what respects they differed from them. This is one reason why the present state of non-understanding had emerged between the Western and the Eastern parts of their common marketplace (since Europe as such does not exist). Near the Eastern end of this market a new kind of intelligentsia is being born today, one that is reminiscent of the era when the authors of the English texts of the present volume visited the Kingdom of Hungary and Transylvania. Some groups within this community, rather anachronistically, seek their ancestral home in Paradise, claim that Adam and Eve spoke their language and gave rise to all cultures and civilisations. Theories like this were not uncommon during the era of ‘national awakening’ in the 19th century and continue to exist to this day. Another important source of self-awareness is how others see us. What do they think about us? During the aforementioned era, in 1802, Count Ferenc Széchényi was granted permission by Francis II (Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary) to establish the Bibliotheca Regnicolaris. This is the name the founder chose to give to the collection he intended to create, rather than Bibliotheca Nationalis or Bibliotheca Nationalis Hungariae and certainly not Bibliotheca Hungarica Nationalis. His objective, in his own words, was to gather all Hungarica, that is, all documents regarding Hungaria and the Hungarians, in one accessible collection. A century later when Hungaria collapsed and Hungary was born (which is completely different from Hungaria), the event was a shock to the entire nation. Róbert Gragger (1887–1926) began his activity as head of the Hungarian Seminar (Ungarisches Seminar) of the University of Berlin on August 19, 1916. He coined the term hungarológia (Hungarologie, Hungarian Studies) which was to develop into a discipline in its own right over the decades to follow. What did he mean by Hungarian Studies? The aim of the seminar was to teach Hungarian language and literature. In the work-plan published in 1921 in the first edition of the annual Ungarische Jarbücher Gragger elaborated on his objective. He wrote: “On the doorstep of a new world [i.e., following the terrors of the First World War and the peace dictates of Trianon] ... it is the obligation of any responsible person to endeavour to gain an objective understanding of nations. ... The Ungarische Jahrbücher aims to create an academic platform for presenting the Hungarian language, history and culture ... Besides scholarly questions in the narrow sense we need to consider as all manner of economic, social, political and artistic problems, since for us culture means the sum of intellectual creations and institutions historically rooted in the social life of humanity.”1 It was not until 1977 that the discipline of Hungarian studies managed to establish an international professional organisation (Nemzetközi Magyar Filológiai Társaság, literally meaning International Association for Hungarian Philology) and which, based on a 1996 ruling of its general assembly, changed its name to Nemzetközi Magyarságtudományi Társaság (International Association of Hungarian Studies). The second president of this organisation, Péter Rákos (1925–2002) (all presidents are expatriate scholars) summed up his opinion in the ongoing discussion on the “what is Hungarian Studies?” theme as follows, “Hungarian Studies is not what the metropolis offers, but what the location requires.” We, Hungarians have a real need for the knowledge which lies within how differently our history and our culture is seen in Ankara or Paris, Helsinki or Prague. We also need to know why this is, because this is the only way in which we can assist the work of those people around the world who strive to introduce Hungarians and Hungarian culture to locals. Also, this alone can help us explain to Hungarians why their country often provokes reactions which are incomprehensible, shocking and devastating to Hungarians. Péter Rákos also declared his belief in the existence of interdependence. Professionals in educational and research facilities both nearby and far away need to be acquainted with the results of Hungarian scholarship, to gain an understanding of these, but they also need the challenge of having to weigh their own academic performance. The English have never really been very interested in the European Continent, and especially not in the Kingdom of Hungary, Transylvania or Hungary. Nevertheless, one of the best summaries of our history is The Will to Survive: A History of Hungary2 by Sir Bryan Cartledge. There has been quite a distance between the time when Sir Bryan was ambassador to Hungary and the publication of the present volume, for which I am writing this preface. If we go back to the beginning of the 19th century we find an interesting opinion about the Hungarians which will be discussed later on. Although not malicious, it is clearly sarcastic and certainly enlightening. It may be particularly illuminating for those who, in our day and age, still dream of the ancient ‘Hungarians’ who galloped around freely on the great plains and carried within them a primeval force of an ancient civilisation. This example also leads us on to the genre of travel literature. Indeed, the travelogue is nor par excellence historical writing, nor would it qualify as ethnography. It is the record of various nations, peoples, cities, customs and cultures written by people of various levels of training and from a range of occupations and disciplines. ...

István Monok