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The music of Veljo Tormis (b. 1930) became well-established in Estonia during the 1960s yet remained little known in the West until the fall of Communism. By incorporating traditional Estonian folk song, regilaul, into his works, Tormis’s name became closely associated for Estonians with upholding a sense of national identity against the Soviet regime. It is his vast output of some 500 choral songs for which he is most immediately recognised; indeed, once regilaul had come to dominate the ‘Tormis style’, he dedicated himself almost exclusively to choral composition. This paper examines regilaul, its impact on Tormis during his formative years, and its integration into his mature compositional style, leading him to claim that he had ‘found his voice’ as a composer.
Az evéssel kapcsolatos civilizációs zavarok gyakoribbá válásának hátterében a kulturális hatások lényegesek. Ezek között a nemzeti identitásvesztés fontos lehet. A nemzeti identitás kialakulásában az ételekkel és étkezéssel kapcsolatos hagyományok szerepe alapvető. A nemzeti szimbólumok között számos étel található, amelyeket gyakran használunk a nemzetek jellemzésében. Az ételek fontos szerepet töltenek be a kulturális emlékezetben is. A közös emlékezet jelentősége nagy az identitásban, s az ételekre, ételkészítésre való emlékezés a kultúrákban fontos etnikai összetartó erő. Ezt segíti az ételek és az étkezés időt strukturáló hatása is. A globalizáció korában a nemzeti ételek segítik a speciális nemzeti karakter megőrzését, de az európai szokásokhoz való alkalmazkodás megkívánja az ételkészítés átalakulását is. A jövő kérdése, hogy ez a hatás mennyire jár a nemzeti identitás csökkenésével, és fokozza-e az evéssel kapcsolatos patológiás megnyilvánulások gyakoriságát.
A művészetet és irodalmat a pszichológia általában az esztétikai élmény szemszögéből tanulmányozza. Igen kevés vizsgálat vesz fel olyan szociálpszichológiai nézőpontot, amelyben a művészet és irodalom szociális funkciója válik hangsúlyossá. Korábbi vizsgálatainkban (László, Vincze és Kőváriné Somogyvári, 2003; Vincze és László, 2004) népszerű történelmi regényeknek a nemzeti identitás mintáinak konstrukciójában és közvetítésében betöltött szerepével foglalkoztunk. Jelen tanulmány ezt a kutatási vonalat folytatja, de ellenkező szemszögből. Azt vizsgálja, hogy a csoportközi viszonyok hogyan hatnak egy történelmi novella befogadására. Az olvasó csoporttagsága miként befolyásolja a szereplők iránti empátiát, és az empátia hogyan közvetíti a befogadást a szereplők és a közöttük lévő kapcsolatok percepciójában? Kísérletet végeztünk, amelyben a személyek egy olyan történelmi novellát olvastak, amit átalakítottunk saját csoport és történelmi konfliktussal terhelt külső csoport elrendezéseket létrehozva. Feltételeztük, hogy egy történelmi novella elhatároló stratégiát alkalmaz a saját csoporton belül, és kategoriális empátiát vált ki a csoporttagokból, míg ugyanaz a történet külső csoport szereplőivel, külső csoport elrendezésben univerzálisabb, közvetítő empátiát használ (Keen, 2006), és szituációs empátiás stratégiát (Hogan, 2003) hív elő az olvasókban. Az eredmények alátámasztották ezeket a feltevéseket, bizonyítékot szolgáltatva arra, hogy a történeti irodalmi narratívumok az empátiás folyamatokon keresztül hozzájárulnak a nemzeti identitás konstrukciójához és közvetítéséhez.
Summary This paper explores the specific relation of ambiguity with the other Slavic peoples, reflected in some concrete works from Macedonian literature. First of all, it gives some details, analyses and thoughts about the enigma of Slavic Unity, or the philological concept, or whatever it is. The paper constitutes an effort to demonstrate that in Macedonian culture there is a controversial attitude towards the concept of Slavism, and that the stereotypes connected with it give material to speak about the tendency of re-evaluation of this idea, from the level of cultural community to the level of absolute diversity. The stereotypes of the other Slavic peoples show two opposite tensions: first, they show the close, familiar and friendly approach, and from the other side, they confirm that there is strong ironical and critical, even phobic position. The topics of the discussion are drawn from The Enigmatic Concept of Slavism, The Image of the Russian and Ukrainian Immigrant in the Macedonian Novel and The Stereotype of the Slavic Woman. Those topics are discussed in the examples drawn from contemporary Macedonian literature, or more precisely in the following works: the drama The Slavic Coffin (1996) by Venko Andonovski, and the novels Aquamarin (2004) by Tanja Urosevik, The Wife of the Whiteguard (2001) by Srbo Ivanovski, and Prostate Juice (1990) by Jovan Pavlovski. The conclusion of the paper is that the Slavism as historical and philological cultural community should be evaluated only with a comprehensive understanding of the diversity of many various national identities.
Summary Nineteenth-century Romanian theatre vacillates between vaudeville and historical drama, reflecting the ideological dichotomy of its time, seeking a balance between the Western world and its national identity. After the struggle for independence, the political and social changes influenced a new generation of writers-playwrights who came into conflict with the choices of the (provincial) bourgeoisie. Ion Louca Caragiale is one of the most important representatives of this generation. In The Lost Letter he reveals the bankruptcy of the political system and transfers on stage “the suspicious' activities of the members of a society in the middle of a moral crisis. The play was first staged in Greece 75 years after its Bucharest premiere and the critics discovered the resemblance of its characters to their Hellenic counterparts. The common historic course of the two countries as well as the Hellenic descent of its author contributed to the creation of dramatis personae who surpassed the narrow local boundaries and were incorporated into a Balkan perspective.
Summary The focus of this essay is on ethnic stereotypes that emerge in particular areas of group identities, as ideological products articulated through collective representation. The fervid exchange of stereotypes between Western and Eastern Europe has its sources in specific contexts: the two distinct “Europes', historically divided by unstable borders and the purportedly peripheral status and socio-economic belatedness of the latter. Due to the frequent journeys of the Occidentals to the European “Far East', Western stereotypes have been set swiftly by widely circulated texts. The cultural stereotypes I am pointing to - crafted in Romania, a liminal area of Eastern Europe - should mostly be identified as a response to these. The polar stereotypes of the “Happy Good Savage' and the “Pitiful Westerner' represented as such in an insightful series of literary texts, have an interesting prehistory dating back to mid-nineteen century, when Romanian intellectuals educated in Western Europe started building a modern national identity. In their birthplace, these polar stereotypes have constantly been evaluated on rhetorical, ontological and moral grounds. My analysis of both fictitious and non-fictitious texts (novels, travelogues, essays) clearly follows and underlines these levels of stereotyping.
Abstract
László Arany's Eredeti népmesék (Authentic Folktales, 1862) is an iconic collection of folktales. The tales in this publication have been entrenched in the national identity as classic Hungarian folktales, and the narrative style of the tales has been established in the public consciousness as the narrative style of Hungarian folktales. The Arany family's collection of folktales ultimately had a similar function in Hungarian culture as the Kinder- und Hausmärchen of the Brothers Grimm had in Germany, but while the text formation of the Grimm tales had been thoroughly explored by philology, the Arany tales had not been accompanied by folkloristic interpretations or in-depth philological analyses. To László Arany, the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm were the ideal, which he indicated in his many theoretical writings as well as his role as a collector and editor of tales. To form the individual texts found in Eredeti népmesék, László Arany used the tale manuscripts transcribed by his mother and sister in the 1850s, modifying them considerably, primarily by employing stylistic devices, many of which can also be observed in the work of the Grimms. This essay examines the extent to which László Arany's editorial and text formation practices were determined by the textological practice developed by the Brothers Grimm, and ultimately the extent to which the stylistic ideals of fairy tales developed by the Grimms contributed to the development of the written, literary version of Hungarian folktales.
King Matthias Corvinus' is a beloved figure in the folklore of the Slav nations of the historic Hungarian kingdom. This folklore divides into two groups: in the South Slavs' folklore the genre of historical epos prevails, while in the Slovak, Rusyn and Hungarian folklore King Matthias appears first of all as a protector of the common people against their masters' self-will, as a fair and wise king. In the Rusyn folklore King Matthias and his military leader Pál Kinizsi are being nationalised. They appear as Rusyns; the tales of King Matthias teem with local toponyms and often reflect real historic events and facts. In this way people unintentionally show King Matthias' great services at the legislative definition of the Rusyns' privilegies and rights, which exerted influence upon the shaping of their national identity. The theme of King Matthias' love-affairs, known in the Slovak folklore, does not exist in the Rusyn tradition. Thus, in particular the Rusyns' folklore stands closest to that of Hungarians. In comparison with the Hungarian folklore one can point to its greater severity and elements of sorcery and superstitions, typical in general of the world view of the Rusyn common people.
I wish to briefly present the male Christian names of the serfs of Sáros County. In the present paper the heads of households are listed. During the socage of 1772-74, various lists of names were compiled. These either contained the names in their canonized, Latin versions, or in the original Rusyn forms. I will sum up the names registered in the latter form. In order to provide the possibility for regional and chronological comparisons, I use three concepts: a) name, in its standard form; b) variants of the name; and c) occurrence (specific name, name in the text). The basic form, that is the standard, is always provided in its Latin form.Number of names: 51 Number of occurences: 2,538 Number of variants: 127 The five most common names were: Joannes, Michael, Andreas, Basilies, and Georgius.It is seen in the statistics that in the North-Eastern part of the Hungarian Kingdom the most common name, regardless of ethnic or national identity, was Joannes. This was the case in Sáros County as well.
The study presents the history of the Jesuit missions led to Ottoman Hungary, summarising the conclusions of the author’s earlier research. After long decades of a preparative phase, the Jesuits settled down in Ottoman Hungary in 1612. In the beginnings, the mission stood under the authority of the Austrian and Roman provinces. The southern stations, Belgrade (1612–1632) and Temesvár (Timişoara, 1632–1653) belonged to the latter province. The missions of Pécs (1612–1686–1773), Andocs (1642–1684), Kecskemét (1633–1635) and the residence of Gyöngyös (1633–1682–1773) worked under the authority of the Austrian provincial. The stations counted 2–3 Jesuits, whereas in Gyöngyös 3–6 religious were active at the same time. In spite of the low number of missionaries, the activity of the Jesuits had an inestimable impact on religious and cultural life as well as on the conservation of national identity. Stations assisted in the pastoral care of the local parishes led large-scale missions well beyond the boundaries of the parish and maintained schools. In Transdanubia, the Jesuits were practically the only priests who took spiritual care of the population. The Gyöngyös grammar school was the only institution of secondary education under Turkish occupation; it was attended also by students from the Hungarian Kingdom. The fathers brought the spirit of the European Catholic reform to the Ottoman territories.
