Magyar Szemle (Hungarian Review), Vol. XI. Nos. 3–4., April 2002, Budapest.
Editor-in-Chief: Gyula Kodolányi. Published by Magyar Szemle Foundation. Chairman: György Granasztói.
A Hundred and Twenty Years’ Memory/Crossings. Editor’s Note by Gyula Kodolányi.
VIKTOR ORBÁN, Prime Minister of Hungary. The Man Whose Word Mattered. Speech given at the launching of the Centennial Year of Gyula Illyés (1902–1983), Hungary’s definitive man of letters in the 20th century.
ZOLTÁN ROCKENBAUER, Minister of National Cultural Heritage. The Explorer of the Hungarian Nation. Gyula Illyés scrutinized Hungarians like an impartial observer, being at home in Paris just as in his home country.
SÁNDOR ANDRÁS, poet, Washington and Budapest. Hungarians in Europe, Europe in Hungary. On Zoltán Szabó. An investigation of the idea of Hungarians as an imagined and (therefore) real community, as propounded by the major 20th century essayist Zoltán Szabó (1912–1984) who lived almost half his life in exile in London.
JÁNOS ZLINSZKY, Former Judge of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, Former Dean of the Faculty of Law, Pázmány Péter University, Budapest. The Evolution of Our Historical Constitution. Part I. Hungarian constitutionalism has its origins more than 1100 years back in history. The election of kings set Hungary apart from most of Europe in the Middle Ages, leading to an early development of the separation of powers, and a clash with Habsburg absolutist ideas from the 16th century on.
GÁBOR JOBBÁGYI. The Silent Boot-Sole – Ilona Tóth, Martyr of the Faculty of Medicine, Part II. 24-year-old Ilona Tóth, a graduating doctor who was healing the wounded of the 1956 Revolution at a Budapest hospital, was convicted of murder and executed by János Kádár’s justice. In the examination and the trial false charges, false witnesses, physical torture and drugs were used to force a conviction. Gábor Jobbágyi reconstructs the process from secret documents.
FERENC HORKAY HÖRCHER, historian of ideas, Editor, Heti Válasz, Budapest. Constitutional Order and Practical Wisdom. Part II. Reviewing Attila Károly Molnár’s monograph on Edmund Burke, the author offers a sweeping essay on the British conservative philosopher.
ATTILA SZEPESI, poet, editor, Budapest. The Two Dresdens,The River Man, Hunnia’s Tales. Three pieces from the Quodlibet series of short essays on life and the imagination.
ATTILA NÉMETH, Vice President of the Society of Hungarian Psychiatrists, Budapest. Gambling. A brief survey of the pathology and therapy of gamblers, and the social phenomenon of wide-spread gambling which has appeared in the last ten years in Hungary.
LÍVIA MOHÁS, psychologhist and novelist, Budapest. On a Love Triangle. Workshop Study. A student of humanities, her nouveau riche lover and his wife are the actors of this contemporary drama, where ultimately the uneducated self-made millionaire proves to be the only protagonist capable of mental progress.
GÁBOR CZAKÓ, novelist and essayist. Police Story. Piece from the Hungarian Horror Tales series of short grotesque stories, illustrated by Ferenc Banga, the designer of Magyar Szemle.
Circle and Quadrangle. Essay on the ancient relations and symbolism of the number four.
Books and Events
Aladár Lászlóffy. Building a Chasm. Contemporary impressions inspired by the essays of Blaise Pascal in the new Hungarian edition of Pensées. (Gondolatok. Transl. Pődör László. LAZI Kiadó, Szeged, 2000.)
Gáspár Gróh. The World as Freedom and Fate. On the new major work of Transylvanian novelist István Szilágyi, Raven’s Time. (Hollóidő, Magvető, Budapest, 2001).
Péter Sneé. Soliloquy, Between Two. On a book of conversations with Transylvanian novelist Ádám Bodor, The Smell of the Prison. (A börtön szaga – Válaszok Balla Zsófia kérdéseire, Magvető, Budapest, 2001).
István Kápolnai. Solutions For the Hungarian Demographic Tragedy. A review of a book of essays on historical demography in a political perspective by Lajos Für (Magyar sors a Kárpát-medencében – Népesedésünk évszázadai. Kairosz, Budapest, 2001).
Klára Tóth. Wonders Do Happen. Tamás Almási has made his second extraordinary film in two years, Sejtjeink (Our Cells).
Katalin Metz. Our theatre critic saw János Szikora’s ideosyncratic production of The Tragedy of Man by Imre Madách, at the opening night of Hungary’s new National Theatre building in Budapest.
János G. Gáspár wrote his domestic affairs column on a controversial article by Jackson Diehl in the Washigton Post and its links with the election campaign of the Hungarian Left. How and to what extent do political terms translate – that is the conceptual problem raised by this article for the analyst.
Mihály Kubinszky. Hungary Heading for the Sea – The Port of Fiume and the Railway. The recent agreement between Hungary and Croatia and Hungarian financial participation in the reconstruction of the Rijeka port renews Hungary’s easy access to the Adriatic. The modernization of the Budapest–Rijeka railway is an inevitable part of the financial and technological package.
In this issue facsimile reproductions illustrate Gábor Jobbágyi’s article. On the front cover: Gyula Illyés.
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