Laszlo Kosa
The last Hungarian work on the history of Hungarian cul- ,ture was published between 1939 and 1942. After the ,communist takeover in 1947-48, under the ideological au- ,tocracy of Marxism, cultural history as a discipline came ,under suspicion, and was therefore pushed into the back- ,ground; even the university departments were abolished. It ,was not until the 1960s that cultural history started gradu- ,ally to regain its status. ,After a steadily growing number of publications, the ,first definitive synthesis, the aim of which is to acquaint ,the reader with Hungary's cultural past which consists of ,an unbroken continuum spanning over a thousand years, ,appeared in Hungarian in 1999. The present volume is ,an English version of the first five chapters, guiding the ,reader in the subject up until 1800. The publication of a ,second English-language volume is scheduled for 2000. ,Researchers in various areas - historians, literary histo- ,rians, archeologists and ethnographers - have united to co- ,author this new cultural survey. The relationship between ,Man and the natural world, the changes in inanimate and ,animate nature, are threads that run through the book; ,changes in lifestyle and mentality, the Hungarians' every- ,day experience, their holidays, the material world around ,them, the ideologies which shaped their lives, and the ,habits and institutions of human communication are exam- ,ined. Churches and denominations are accorded due atten- ,tion in the survey, as are the arts, education, and the role ,of science and scholarship. ,The volume presents the most important processes and ,achievements of a developing culture which has charac- ,terised the Hungarian people from the earliest times - ,a culture nourished by the strong roots it has established ,in European soil but proud to display its own unique, ,inimitable features as well.
A Cultural History of Hungary: from the Beginnings to the Eighteenth Century