Washington, DC – 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 third issue for 2017.
On the cover: Library of the Reformed College of Sárospatak. Photo by Gordon McKechnie.
The first four articles in this issue were originally contributed to the Budapest Family Summit held on May 25-28, 2017 and are published in Hungarian Review by permission of the Hungarian Ministry of Human Resources. The working group organizing this event was headed by Katalin Novák, Minister of State for Family, Youth and International Affairs, in cooperation with Hungarian and international organizations. These articles are written by: Jaime Mayor Oreja (“The Necessary Strengthening of the Truth”); Eduard Habsburg (“Family Values and Europe Today – In the Media and in Reality”); Larry D. Jacobs (“Making Families Great Again – Natural Family, Humanity and Virtue in the Post-Modern World”) and Katalin Novák (“A Strong Nation is Built on Intact and Happy Families – A Demographic Snapshot”).
The rest of this issue is devoted to the future of Europe and the European Union after Brexit. John O’ Sullivan, in his editorial note entitled “Moving towards Post-Democracy?” highlights that in this section “both Zsolt Németh and János Martonyi have good practical advice to give both London and Brussels in their articles. It is hard to summarize such very subtle and detailed arguments – and Mr. Martonyi is to return in our next issue to complete his analysis – but they both recognize that too great an emphasis on uniform arrangements has been one of the besetting problems of the EU. It was a factor in the British decision to depart; and it creates divisions in the rest of the EU, notably divisions between Central Europe (meaning the EU bureaucracy and Germany) and Brussels over refugee policy and between Mediterranean Europe and Brussels over the financial consequences of the euro. And these will have to be resolved creatively by Europe, presumably by some combination of “more Europe” with more subsidiarity”. This section, entitled ‘The European Union’, includes contributions from Zsolt Németh (“The Future of Europe – Keynote Speech on the Occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the Treaty of Rome”); Gergely Egedy (“The “Anglosphere” – An Alternative to Europe?”) and János Martonyi (“Brexit. Brexit?”).
The periodical then continues with an ‘Essays’ section with contributions from Stanislav Balík (“The Right to a Normal Life – The New Conservativism in the Czech Republic and Europe”); Nicholas T. Parsons (“Vienna Vignettes – A Note on Eduard Hanslick”); Éva Eszter Szabó (“Migration as a Tool of US Foreign Policy in the Cold War”) and András Ludányi (“Absent-minded, Uncoerced and “Painless” Hungarian Assimilation in the United States”).
In his essay on Hungarian assimilation in the United States, Coalition Member András Ludányi emphasizes: “Although Diaspora Hungarians are descended from immigrant and émigré Hungarians, they are already second or third generation in most instances. Unlike the immigrants who focus on economic interests, and the émigrés who are committed to political goals, the Diaspora Hungarians focus on cultural survival and global networking. Overall they have not been able to line up large number of supporters, because they have from the beginning represented a minority of the Hungarians who left their homelands. However, they are the organizers and activists of some of the most durable organizations beyond the borders of Hungary, including the Hungarian Scouts Association in Exteris, the Hungarian Communion of Friends, The Hungarian American Coalition, the American Hungarian Federation, the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation, to mention just a few”.
As many recent issues, this one also contains a section devoted to ‘The Revolution of 1956’ and has articles from Anna Porter (“About Hungarian ‘56ers in Canada”); György Ferdinándy (“Mother and the Revolution”); István Vas (“The New Thomas”); Bálint Tóth (“In the Morning the Hangman”) and Attila Gérecz (“On Bread and Water”).
Finally, the ‘Arts and Literature’ section features an article by Gordon McKechnie (“Csaroda and the Hungarian Reformation – A Travel Essay, Part II”).
Currently, 38 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.