Farewell from Lóránt Czigány
Obituary Lóránt Czigány (1935-2008). Commemorating Lóránt Czigány, Hungarian literary historian and author, who died on 8 November 2008 in Budapest, András Sándor (New-York—Budapest), recalls a number of common personal experiences, especially from the period after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 in Oxford and London. Lóránt Czigány and the author, both arrived after the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 to Oxford, where they continued their study of Hungarian Literature, which they commenced at the University of Szeged, Hungary. At that time several ‘great’ personalities of Hungarian spiritual life were living in England, like László Cs. Szabó, Zoltán Szabó, András Révai, Béla Iványi-Grünwald as well as other representative persons of the Hungarian life for art and literature. Lóránt Czigány set up, with István Siklós, the ‘Szepsi Csombor Circle’ a cultural center of great importance for a long period in the U.K. and overseas.
Lóránt Czigány and the Mikes. Exegi monumentum.
The author stresses the important role Lóránt Czigány played in the ‘chain of good friends’ when cooperating in the activities of the ‘Hollandiai Mikes Kelemen Kör’ (Association for Hungarian Art, Literature and Science in the Netherlands), the organization from which ‘Mikes International’ grew out. The author highlights several members of this international chain of Hungarian culture in the West (outside the Netherlands): László Cs Szabó, Lóránt Czigány, György Gömöri, Győző Határ, László Péter, Mátyás Sárközi, István Siklós, Zoltán Szabó (London), Endre Karátson, Pál Nagy, Tibor Papp, Gyula Sipos (Paris), Tibor Balogh, Gyula Borbándi, Sándor Kibédi Varga, József Molnár (Munich), Aladár Lászlóffy (Kolozsvár/Cluj/ Klausenburg), Kinga Illyés (Marosvásárhely/Tirgu Mures), Attila Fáj (Genoa), Ottó Tolnai (Yougoslavia), Bálint Balla (Berlin), Pál Szőllősy (Zurich), István Deák, András Sándor (U.S.A.—Budapest), Sándor Csoóri, Miklós Mészöly (Budapest), Zoltán Mariska, Ildikó Veres (Miskolc). Last but not least the author pays a special tribute to Mrs. Magda Czigány, who as wife and spiritual partner fulfilled a very significant role in the activities of Lóránt Czigány during his whole life.
Obituary István Láng / Stephan Lang (1945-2008)
István Láng / Stephan Lang, born in Transylvania (Romania), had a difficult life. Arrested and tortured by the ‘Securitate’, the secret police of the Ceauşescu regime, condemned to forced labor in the ‘Danube Delta’, with the help of a Dutch lady later fled from Romania, and became a well-known Dutch writer with his autobiographical novels in which he unmasked both the cruelty of the Communist regimes in Eastern-Europe and the hypocrisy of the leftist intelligentsia in the West, which morally supported those regimes. He had a great success in Dutch literally circles as well as among ‘second generation’ Hungarian youth.
Krónika
Chronicle
In this column the excellent Hungarian journalist, Ágnes Frigyesy (Budapest) publishes three writings: reports about two events, and an interview with a sculptor.
The first writing provides an overview of the Bible Exposition, organized by bishop László Tőkés of Nagyvárad / Oradea (Romania) as member of the European Parliament, opened on 10 December 2008 in Brussels in the building of the European Parliament, by Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the Parliament, followed by a meeting, next day, consecrated to the role of Christianity in Europe. Both the exposition and the meeting were very successful and focused the attention at the spiritual roots of the European culture.
The second article, entitled the ‘Hungarian National Council of Transylvania Is 5 Years Old’ summarizes the event held on 15 November 2008, which underlined the motto: ‘In order to continue the struggle the cooperation of Hungarians is necessary’.
The last writing is a dialogue with László Hunyadi, a Transylvanian sculptor at the occasion of his 75th anniversary.
Three novels of Éva Bánki
Áron Kibédi Varga signs a ‘laudation’ under the title ‘Three Novels of Éva Bánki’. The Hollandiai Mikes Kelemen Kör (Association for Hungarian Art, Literature and Science in the Netherlands) grants every year a literary prize named ‘Hungarian Literary Spectator’ (Magyar Irodalmi Figyelő) to a Hungarian writer living anywhere in the world. The Prize is awarded based on the judgment of a well-known specialist in the field of Hungarian literature. Éva Bánki is living in Budapest. She published several novels, which are held in esteem by Prof. Kibédi Varga (Freiburg i. Br.). Based on his proposition the ‘Hollandiai Mikes Kelemen Kör’ awarded the prize for the year 2008 to this author.
Ethnic minorities in Central Europe: from conflict to pacification
The author scetches a picture of the situation of the most important minorities in Central Europe in this Dutch article. He points out, among other things, that the number of the minority-problems has diminished, but the existing ones became even more important: the Roma, German and Hungarian minorities.
Nemzeti kisebbségek Közép-Európában: konfliktustól pacifikációig
A szerző áttekinti a közép-európai kisebbségek helyzetét ebben a Holland nyelvű írásban. Többek közt megállapítja, hogy a kisebbségi problémák száma csökkent, de a létező kérdések még erőteljesebben manifesztálódnak, pl. a romák (cigányok), a németek és a magyarok esetében.
Philosophia perennis
Men and values in the 21st century
This penetrating study of the important philosophic question of values investigates among others the problems of value itself, the social and individual elements in values, the tension between science and responsibility, the problems between family and school, nationalism and cosmopolitism, tradition and renewal, conflicts of generations at the edge of the 21st century.
Böhm and Apáthy (The Philosophy of ´Sichselbst Setzen´ from science´s point of view)
The author reconstructs — based on existing evidence — the background of the tension between Károly Böhm and István Apáthy, both professors at the Kolozsvár University, at the end of 19th and the beginning of 20th centuries and its consequences on the one side for the evolution of the philosophical interest of Böhm and on the other on some events in the field of the university policies concerning the issue of the possibility of setting up a new chair for philosophy within the faculty of natural sciences.
Kanttól a hermeneutikáig és a dialektikai theológiáig
A szerző, Veres Ildikó, ´Kanttól a hermeneutikáig és a dialektikai theológiáig — A filozófiai-theológiai kutatás lehetséges útja Közép-Európában: Tavaszy Sándor´ című írásában a kolozsvári filozófiai iskolának a kifejlődését beleállítja az európai gondolkodás egészének a fejlődésébe és így világítja meg Tavaszy Sándor theológiájának a kialakulását és annak helyét az európai gondolkodásban.
Hungarologia
The dignitary degree ´tudun´
The word ‘tudun’ was a degree and a social position in several Central-Asian countries. The author investigates this word in Mongolian and Turkish texts.
The language of ancient Hungarian therapy
For understanding of this ‘language’ it is necessary to examine Hungarian religion and therapeutic methods before the acceptance of Christianity.
The Fehérvár (White Castle) of heaven in the east
The expression ‘White Castle’, well-known in Hungary and in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe exists also in Japan, where castles were and are often of white color. This article tries to find an explanation to this fact, motivated by a previous article published by Borbála Obrusánszky.
Civilizációs kitekintő — Civilization outlook
The development and the different branches of buddhism
The author reviews the origins and evolution of Buddhism in its several forms in the course of history. A concise and at the same time penetrating survey of the history of this great religious movement in its rich varieties.
The secret history of the mongols
The author provides an overview of the major Mongolian historical source: ´The Secret History of the Mongols´. The work was written in the first part of the 13th century originally in the Uyghur language, though only the Chinese translations remained for us. At present the most complete translation with commentaries is of Igor de Rachewiltz, published in 2006 by Brill Academic Publishers.
History of the Mongol empire
The author, an eminent scholar and specialist in Asiatic languages and history wrote a study, in Hungarian, on the history of the Mongols, published in 1895 in ‘Erdélyi Múzeum’ (Transylvanian Museum). It is of great importance that this study of historic significance has been made accessible for the broader public through Mikes International and the digital facsimile published by the Hungarian Electronic Library.
Könyvajánló — Book review
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