The “Hungarian Review”, the English-language affiliate of the bi-monthly journal Magyar Szemle, edited by Gyula Kodolányi and John O’Sullivan, has published its fourth issue for 2017. 

A great part of this issue discusses the European political and strategic landscape after the twin shocks of Brexit and the election of President Trump. John O’ Sullivan, in his editorial note entitled “Truth, Lies and 1956” emphasizes that “we seem to have moved into a historical stage beyond both the Cold War and the post- Cold War world. That is a landscape still being shaped by events and so open to some creative gardening. János Martonyi, whose experiences include negotiating Hungary’s entry into the European Union, provides Brussels and London with some guidelines on how to preserve good relations in a post-Brexit world (that might also prove to be a prolonged mid-Brexit world). But he places an equal stress, if not a stronger one, on the impact of the Brexit decision on the development of the remaining 27-member EU and on the growing importance of Central Europe in this new entity.”

In his article entitled “Brexit, Brexit? – Part II” János Martonyi highlights that “despite some voices coming both from the inside and the outside, countries such as Poland and Hungary will never leave the European Union. Contrary to what many try to suggest, the main reason is not money. There are, of course, economic, geopolitical and security policy considerations, but they are still not the most important factors. The root causes are much deeper: “it is culture that matters”.”

The ‘Current’ section also includes other articles from David Morris (“Rising in the East”); Nicholas T. Parsons (“Islam, Islamism and Islamophobia”); George Gömöri (“Report from the Other World – poem”); Anton Hykisch (“Quietly and Closer”) and Gergely Szilvay (“A Century of Christian Youth Movements in Hungary”).

As many recent Hungarian Reviews, this issue also has a separate section entitled ‘1956’, but this time it is especially rich in poems, short stories and historical essays on the Revolution and its consequences. In his speech transcript entitled “The Celebration of a Tragedy’ originally delivered on May 10, 2017 at the symposium launching Hungarian Review’s Down Fell the Statue of Goliath. Hungarian Poets and Writers of the Revolution of 1956, John O’Sullivan underlines: “This volume’s title – Down Fell the Statue of Goliath – is alone enough to explain the West’s admiration for 1956 and the loving celebration it receives here. By 1956 everyone knew Goliath and his real nature. He was not the imaginary bringer of social justice whom some mistakenly welcomed in 1945. There could be no sympathy for a totalitarian regime that ran its tanks over both people’s bodies and their hopes, thus there could be no disillusionment with resistance to Goliath whether it succeeded or failed”.

This section has other contributions from István Ágh (“The Blood of Falling Leaves”); Ignácz Rózsa (“They Played at Truth…”); Attila Szepesi (“Maléter – poem”) and David A. Reynolds (“Revisiting Recent History and Constructing Counter- Revolution”).

The periodical then continues with a ‘History’ section with essays from Michael A. Casey (“”The Power of the Powerless” and “Living Truth” in Democracy”); Igor Pomerantsev (“Ersatz Freedom – Remembering Yevgeny Yevtushenko”) and Norman Stone (“The Compromise: A European Perspective”).

Finally, ‘The Arts’ section features articles by István Orosz (“Da Vinci and the Migrants”) and Ilona Sármány-Parsons (“The First Golden Age of the Műcsarnok”).

Currently, 39 issues of the Hungarian Review from 2010 through 2017 can be ordered from amazon.com; or directly from the publisher; or by calling the Coalition office in Washington.