Abstract The Italian-born ballerina, Claudina Couqui (1835–1913), performed as a guest artist in numerous cities, including two appearences to Pest during the 1860s. Her first performance in 1863 was preceded by great anticipation, and after receiving an enthusiastic reception, she returned to the National Theatre the following year. This study seeks to explore the context of Pál Gyulai’s lesser-known–and, to our knowledge, only–ballet-related dramaturgical work through the lens of the guest performances of the ballerina who had come from Vienna. The investigation is justified by the fact that Gyulai’s critical writings and theatre reviews primarily focused on dramatic productions. However, Couqui’s guest performances required the clarification of some fundamental questions: What role did ballet play among theatrical genres? Where did it stand in relation to drama and opera? And what expectations did contemporary theatre critics and dramaturgists have regarding the genre? Furthermore, what could Gyulai have known about the ballet productions in Pest at the time, and to what extent? Addressing these questions requires an examination of the reception of specific ballet productions.

Abstract The paper offers an analysis of Lilla Bulyovszky’s Norwegian travelogue, published in 1866. An important context for the interpretation is the socio-historical connections of the author’s biography, particularly her conflicts concerning gender and nationality. Lilla Bulyovszky’s subversive career led to a deprivation of her social roles in two senses: the contemporary press responded to both her “anti-national” and “unfeminine” behaviour with discursive exclusion. The second part of the paper tries to identify the cultural and literary historical traditions that enabled Lilla Bulyovszky to write Norvégiából: Úti emlékek in a way that bears virtually no marks of her conflicts concerning social roles. The comparative investigation ends with the conclusion that the travelogues produced by classical authors of European literature (especially Dante), and female writers (above all, Mary Wollstonecraft and Polixéna Wesselényi) provided a tradition to build on and to continue for Lilla Bulyovszky. The confidential conversational tone of her travelogue was the result of a conscious connection to available traditions.

Abstract One of the most fascinating examples of networked art groups in 20th century art history, the Cobra art movement (1948‒1951), disrupted the logic of center-periphery relations in art through a model of cooperation between artistic hubs, in this case, Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam, as the name of the group suggests. However, Cobra soon became a model that was easy to extend to further connections and hubs, including Scandinavia and East Central Europe. Unexpected and mutual exchanges occurred within this artistic network. The article explores these exchanges through two lesser-known episodes of Cobra’s East Central European connections. Hungarian women artists like Margit Eppinger Weisz and Madeleine Kemény Szemere became involved with the activity of Cobra, and their case studies show specific models of circulating ideas.

Abstract The only complete copy of Tamás Balásfi’s Epinicia Benedicto Nagi known today is preserved among the old books at the Batthyaneum in Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár). This work was published in Pozsony in 1616. According to current knowledge, only three copies of this small volume, consisting of about forty pages, have survived. The copy in the Hungarian National Library is missing the entire first sheet (A), including the title page and dedication, as well as two pages from the end. This small book is particularly significant for the study of Péter Pázmány’s controversial writings before his archbishopric, representing the final piece in a series of polemics (1614–1616) written against the Lutherans of Western Transdanubia. Pázmány became archbishop in 1616 and was either unable or unwilling to continue engaging in this controversy, leaving Tamás Balásfi to conclude the polemic on his behalf. At the end of this paper, I will provide a transcription of a missing part from the Budapest copy: the Latin dedication at the beginning of the book.

Abstract The analysis argues that the social history and meaning of landed property is far from a closed process, and makes the important point that land should be seen as an integral part of the human world, society and culture. As such, we need to map out the roles and meanings that land assumes in particular social situations. In this sense, the land is a kind of social actor, not an entity outside society, independent of it, behaving and changing in a certain sense. Thus, the study sees land as endowed with agency in relation to human society, a land that can be seen as elastic even in its physical extent, as the wrangling over restitution has shown. The first three parts of this paper will review the social meanings of land and the issue of land reform. The fourth part illustrates the evolution of these meanings through some concrete examples of Transylvanian rurality.

Abstract For most of the 20th century, Hungarian literary history disregarded decadence as a thematic or stylistic marker and refused to acknowledge that it was a significant cultural driving force of the fin-de-siècle Hungarian literature. I propose to interpret decadence not as a mere stylistic, moral or temporal category, but as a cultural trope, a modernist way of perceiving the world and creating art. I hypothesize that the Hungarian reception of French and English decadence at the end of the 19th century produced a uniquely reflexive version of this phenomenon. I aim to understand how decadence integrates into and presents itself in Hungarian literature and to uncover significant works hidden by the cultural forgetfulness of Hungarian literary history.

Abstract The paper examines heavenly letters by combining folkloristic, historical, and anthropological perspectives. First, it analyses and compares variations collected by Hungarian folklorists, critically evaluating their findings. Secondly, to reframe these interpretations and explore the character and late modern uses of the letters, the paper traces the origins of this tradition, and looks at the early medieval counterparts of the letters. Based on this brief review of their original form and function, the paper offers an anthropological reading of the communicative role of the letters. My central argument is that through the mere act of copying the metonymic relationship between the letter and the divine power is metaphorically altered, and that the act of copying gradually became an expressive, rather than a technical action. As a result, the changes in their character, the various protective functions incorporated into them or associated with their possession, can be understood as part of a process in which heavenly letters shifted from being indexes to signals.

Abstract In this paper, I aim to analyse Imre Kertész’s Fatelessness from the perspective of its economic systems. In Kertész’s work they form a discursive network that permeates the entire novel (Szirák 2022). It is also important to see that the circulation of symbolic and material values also plays a key role in the demarcation of the boundaries between the concentration camps and the world outside. However, in the novel’s memorable yet perplexing conclusion, this distinction turns into a speech about the relative purity and simplicity of life in the camp. In an attempt to answer the questions arising from this statement by György Köves, I will argue that understanding of the economic models and the differences between them in the worlds of the inside and the outside is essential to the interpretation of Fatelessness.

Abstract The variants of the song analyzed in this paper have persisted in Hungarian popular poetry (manuscript songbooks) and folklore from the 1710s to the present day. The song, composed after the fall of Ferenc Rákóczi II’s War of Independence (1703–1711), expresses the grievances of soldiers regarding public order. Despite their heroism and victories, they were not appropriately honored by their noble officers, which facilitated the Habsburgs’ ability to suppress the revolt. Nearly all variants of the song criticize the arrogant Hungarian nobility for their delusions. Later versions of the song transcend the Kuruc era, addressing soldiers’ experiences more broadly across different historical periods. It was sung by Hungarian soldiers fighting against Napoleon and other adversaries, as well as in the context of conflicts with outlaws. Starting in the mid-19th century, the rise of “Kuruc romanticism” imbued this popular song type with renewed significance, leading new written versions to be perceived by the public as “original.” The Tyukodi Song (Te vagy a legény, Tyukodi pajtás – ‘You are the guy, our pal Tyukodi’) stands as one of the most renowned examples. It can be regarded both as an authentic relic and as a counterfeit, reflecting its dual role in Hungary’s cultural memory.

Abstract The article explores the emergence and significance of the modern Hungarian art novel and novella in the 19th century, situating it within a broader transnational literary framework. The genre, often overlooked in literary histories, reflects the socio-cultural modernization of the era and the professionalization of the arts. Through the lens of seminal Hungarian works like Pál Gyulai’s The Old Actor and Júlia Apraxin’s The Diary of Ilma Szerendy, the study delves into themes of artistic autonomy, emotional depth, and the societal challenges faced by artists, particularly actors and actresses. These narratives illuminate the paradoxical nature of artistic independence – intertwined with societal expectations and market constraints – while also addressing gender dynamics in the context of artistic creation. By linking Hungarian and global literary traditions, the paper argues for a reevaluation of the 19th-century art novel/novella/short story as a critical expression of artistic and intellectual modernity, emphasizing its enduring relevance in understanding the complex identity of the modern artist.

Abstract Historical film – a film genre supported in the Cold War era – has re-emerged in the 21st century in Eastern European cinemas, its success signalled by popularity, dedicated state financing funds or political support. This article frames the phenomenon within the Assmannian model of three communicative generations, suggested to be interlinked on the level of both the creative staff and the audience of Eastern European historical films. Based on box-office data of the Lumiere Database of the European Audiovisual Observatory, and research referring to further elements of canonization, it is argued that titles such as Polish Katyn (2007), Romanian Aferim! (2015) or Hungarian Bet on Revenge (2016) – the first majority production historical films to achieve significant audience, and, consequently, critical success in their domestic markets in the 21st century – signal a successful collective memory-work process. While in the major Polish market this may be inscribed within the three communicative generations of the victims, the forgetters and the mourners doing memory-work – possibly processing collective traumatization too –, the two small national examples fall outside the validity of the Assmannian model. In order to somewhat refine this apparent opposition between 21st century Eastern European major and small national collective memory-work through historical films, further examples from the Polish, Hungarian and Romanian top lists are examined. Poetic-medial features – the actualization of “trauma narratives” (Alexander 2012) or of postmodern irony, the employment of cinematic and/or televisual visuality – seem to facilitate collective memory-work differently for major and small national domestic audiences, activating or not their belonging to the three communicative generations with respect to the historical events represented in the films.

Abstract Romanian IT professionals are marketized as young, highly skilled, and full of potential individuals. However, there is a contradiction in their image. In the discourse of international outsourcing, they are presented as cheap labour, while on the national and local level they are considered high earners. Under the privilege of income tax exemption, the IT sector is continuously growing and attracting labour, providing well-paying entry-level jobs and bringing in foreign capital. At the same time, on a symbolic level, it also developed a reputation as a facilitator of social ascension and of importer of European ideas. In this paper I aim to examine what drives people towards professional reorientation to IT. How is the idea of the middle class being used? What is the imaginary that makes people take on the risky and arduous road of re-professionalization and what are its consequences?

Abstract The purpose of this study is to make a comparative analysis of the interconnections between language, environment and identity from an ecolinguistic point of view. It is meant to analyse the attachment of two Finno-Ugric poets, Demeter Lakatos and Alf Nilsen-Børsskog to their own cultural and natural environment. Demeter Lakatos was a Csángó folk poet, who consciously adopted the local, popular dialect to express his loyalty to his ancestry, to his roots that lay in the Moldavian Csángó identity. Alf Nilsen-Børsskog was the first writer and poet who wrote in Kven. His literary work has been of great significance in the context of the cultural emancipation of his ethnic minority and the revitalization of their language. The main things that keep together a minority community – especially an endangered community – are basically language, faith, and certain characteristics of their own local natural surroundings (including the place where – for one reason or another – they had to flee from). This can be practically anything: a mountain, a river, even a tree. And whatever it is, it has a special, almost sacred place in the hearts of the members of the community. I have chosen these two poets because their poetry has not been much analysed and also because both belong to Finno-Ugric minorities whose languages are highly endangered, and this fact marks their attitude towards their environment. This study follows a qualitative approach through discourse analysis, and the source of data are the volumes of poems written by Demeter Lakatos and Alf Nilsen- Børsskog.

Abstract The study reviews from an ecopoetic point of view the tendencies in Hungarian poetry of recent years that emphasise the biopoetic aspects of existence. László Lázár Lövétei’s eclogues, for example, renew the discourse from the perspective of the ancient tradition, while Tamás Korpa and Mátyás Sirokai transform the reader’s mental consciousness by focusing on the plant life, and in doing so, reassess and rethink the concept of being embedded in nature. For example, Gábor Dávid Németh combines the mechanisms of cultural memory, the ecosystems of environmental awareness and the plant metaphor system arising from the organicity of language. Gábor Mezei approaches the question from the perspective of hybridity. Besides blurring the traditional boundaries of body and self, these authors also exploit the subversive, resistant character of ecopoetics, not once asserting the principle of what they call the ecopoetic imperative whose topological, tropological, entropological and ethnological dimensions are worth exploring.

Abstract This study treats literature as a reflection of cultural memory and explores how literature mediates between mythical and cultural relations to the natural world. The paper aims to promote interdisciplinary dialogue between cultural memory, ecocriticism, and literary studies and draws on foundational texts from these disciplines and previous research that seeks to link them as a theoretical basis. By analysing the works of Gábor Devecseri, chosen as representative examples, the paper demonstrates how literature reveals the return to the deep layers of cultural memory represented in myths and the defects of the relationship between humans and nature, and how it thus contributes to the understanding of a complex (and interdisciplinary) process.

Abstract The present paper compares the author’s original proposal called ecorhythmology with contemporary ecophilosophies. After briefly outlining the background and results of more than two decades of research, it examines the seminal theses of Object Oriented Ontology (Graham Harman), Action Network Theory (Bruno Latour) and the concept of being ecological (Timothy Morton) from an ecorhythmological perspective. Taking stock of interesting similarities and correspondences, this analysis also raises new questions, to which the author proposes different solutions. The paper presents two critiques of the reductionism of string theory and compares Harman’s theory of metaphor with the concept of art based on gestural resonance. Further investigations connect Latour’s redistribution of agency to the intersubjective relationship between the human and non-human, and relate hybridity to proximity. In the second part of the paper, Morton’s different temporalities are juxtaposed with rhythmic dimensions, and finally, the article makes a difference between the casual, political and ethical approaches to the phenomenon of tuning. The stakes are always learning and relearning what kind of contact making can lead to greater peace in difficult human – non-human coexistence.

Abstract The focus of this paper is an ecocritical examination of Ádám Bodor’s The Birds of Verhovina. The study begins with an introduction to Hubert Zapf ’s theory of sustainable texts and the ecocritical concept of Greg Garrard’s Ecocriticism, and concludes with an interpretation of the chosen work along ecocritical tropes. The paper starts from the premise that Ádám Bodor’s work employs the rhetoric of ecocriticism, thereby closely linking literature to a wider web of discourses on nature and the environment. The hypothesis of the study is that the relationship between human and nature, nature and culture, and power and the individual are emphasised in the work. The inhabitants of Verhovina live in harmony with nature; wild and untamed nature not only provides the community with raw materials, but also creeps into the consciousness of the characters, determining their behaviour, their attitudes towards each other, as well as their way of thinking about life. However, the various signs of this shift of power suggest that a rupture has occurred in the hitherto harmonious relationship between the community and nature, the individual and nature.

Abstract In this study, I examine the complex intertwining of the relationship between man and nature through the activities of a typical group of farmers dominated by urban-rural farmers, the artisan cheese makers of Hungary. I focus on a specific issue, raw milk cheese making, where humans and microbes work together on a daily basis to produce a sellable product. In this context, I will describe how the complex, hybrid nature of the knowledge required for this process of cheese making is produced, and then review the different narratives of Hungarian cheesemakers about the method. I will then show how this method and the particular perspective it entails affects the daily practice of farming, and how working with invisible microbes transforms the fundamental way these farmers think about the relationship between humans and non-human actors.

Abstract The reception of Sándor Petőfi’s poems and the critical discourse on them in German by bilingual German poets and publicists in Hungary began during the poet’s lifetime and ran parallel to the development of his career. In the same period, however, from the mid-1840s, a very intense interest in his person and his poetry, which was even deeper and more diverse than in German, was awakened in southern Slavic, especially Serbian, literature. This paper explores the possible reasons for his integration in Serbian poetry and public poetry. Among the most important factors is the fact that in the 18th and 19th centuries, strong centres of Serbian culture developed in Hungary, including Buda, and that in the northern part of present-day Serbia, in Vojvodina, the population had for centuries been of mixed nationality, including Serbs, Hungarians and Germans. As a result, a large part of the Serbian intelligentsia spoke Hungarian, and many of the Hungarians in Vojvodina had spoken Serbian since the last century, so they could read each other’s literature in the original. Petőfi’s poetry, like much of 19th century Hungarian literature, was translated by renowned authors, sometimes of European quality, and his poetry was an inspiration for Serbian Romanticism in terms of form, theme and poetics (Jovan Jovanović Zmaj, Đura Jakšić). Finally, it is worth mentioning the historical circumstances, the fact that, although the two peoples were on opposite political sides in the Hungarian War of Independence of 1848 and several times later, Petőfi’s figure transcended political differences and his reception remained unbroken even in the most difficult periods. The belief that Petőfi, who originally went by the name Petrovics, was of Serbian origin – a belief that is difficult to verify biographically – and which dates back to Petőfi’s own time, has contributed to this. The layers and trends in the history of Petőfi’s reception in Serbia also shed light on the mechanisms of intellectual relations in the common cultural space of the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans.