<i>Hungarian Studies Review</i> at 50

A half century of scholarship is a remarkable achievement for an academic journal. That sort of longevity would not be possible without the dedication of many people—authors, editors, peer reviewers, journal staff, and readers—that have given Hungarian Studies Review its content and its purpose. For many years, the journal was stewarded by its founding editor Nándor F. Dreisziger before it transitioned to a new editorial team in 2019.1 Since then, my colleagues and I have tried to build upon his work by continuing the journal’s commitment to publishing independent scholarship on East Central Europe, Hungary, and the Hungarian diaspora.This issue contains a mixture of new scholarship and reflections on the past of the journal and the individuals who contributed to the field of Hungarian studies. The cluster on property regimes, an expansive topic we will continue to investigate at HSR in future issues, includes an introduction by Associate Editor Borbála Zsuzsanna Török, which reminds us that “modern history can be told as one of changing property regimes.” In Anca Glont’s article on coal mines in the Jiu Valley, a property regime—in this case state ownership—was considered a mechanism for modernization. She demonstrates how this concept, associated more with the state-socialist era, somewhat paradoxically had earlier manifestations in the liberal era of the late nineteenth century. Kristof Nagy’s study of the Hungarian Academy of Arts after the 1989 regime change moves us from the industrial to the cultural realm. He shows how “property regimes shape cultural production,” a process often “concealed by the concept of ‘culture wars.’” Tibor Valuch contributes an article to the journal on family history, arguing it is a rich methodology for social historians, enabling intergenerational studies that can track long-term social transformation in new ways. Zsolt Nagy’s “Reading Science Fiction in Socialist Hungary” rounds out the articles in this issue. It looks at how this literary genre was legitimized in 1960s and 1970s Hungary, arguing that it was in part a response to consumer demand. These articles, along with a review essay by Katalin Fábián and the many book reviews organized by Book Review Editor Szabolcs László, all speak to the creative and diverse scholarship that characterizes Hungarian studies today.International collaboration is at the heart of Hungarian Studies Review. It is what makes the journal special. It is also extremely precarious. As many of the contributions to this anniversary issue demonstrate, there have been a number of challenges to collaboration between scholars in Hungary and those in Canada and the United States over the first fifty years of the journal’s existence. Árpád von Klimó’s editorial looking at the founding of HSR in 1973 is a reminder of how deeply politicized the Hungarian diaspora was at that point in time, and how even citing the scholarship of historians based in Hungary and Slovakia was enough to cause an existential controversy for the journal. Tamás Scheibner’s interview with Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor explores another moment of collaboration: refugee aid in the aftermath of the 1956 Revolution. As a member of World University Service, Taylor helped facilitate housing, visas, transportation, and scholarships for Hungarian students who fled after the suppression of the revolution and wanted to continue their studies in other countries.The same year that Hungarian Studies Review was founded, historian István Deák was unceremoniously expelled from Hungary. This episode is explored by Deák’s letter and reports on the incident, published here for the first time, and in Szabolcs László and Matthias Duller’s introduction to these primary sources. Despite the difficulties imposed on him by the Hungarian State, Deák, who passed away earlier this year, persisted in his efforts to support historians in and of Hungary throughout his entire career. In the roundtable in honor of him, Deák’s colleagues and students demonstrate just how important he was for Hungarian studies. Its inclusion in this fiftieth anniversary issue is fitting, though somber. Deák was not the only member of our community whom we lost this year. Peter Pastor gives a moving tribute to Susan Glanz, the long-time secretary/treasurer of the Hungarian Studies Association, who he aptly describes as “the heart and soul of academic organizations dealing with Hungarian studies.” We owe a debt of gratitude to these individuals who worked so hard to cultivate a scholarly community across borders.Fifty years on, the challenges to collaboration continue. Repressive political regimes and dire financial constraints remain realities, as they were when HSR was founded. In the years to come, the members of our scholarly community will need continued support and an outlet to publish their work. I hope for future success for Hungarian Studies Review and the scholars who have made it what it is. To close, I would like to thank friends of the journal and the editorial team for their work on this anniversary issue. Former Managing Editor Steven Jobbitt transitioned to the journal’s editorial board and fielded various questions about the publishing process. Kristina Poznan, Emily Gioielli, and Gábor Egry suggested authors and reviewers and, as always, were generous with their time. Associate Editors Borbála Zsuzsanna Török and Árpád von Klimó not only wrote contributions but oversaw peer review and editing for much of the content of the issue. Szabolcs László, book review editor extraordinare, has been a tremendous addition to the journal, especially with helping recruit more authors to submit to HSR and creating the primary source feature in the last two issues. Technical Editor Richard Esbenshade did the extremely time-consuming and detailed work of translating and editing in multiple languages for the journal. His editorial skills are unrivaled and it would be impossible for us to produce Hungarian Studies Review without him. The production team at Penn State University Press has also been invaluable, especially the journal’s copy editor Gabriele Faßbeck. Finally, thank you to all of the contributors for trusting HSR with your work.

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