The Canadian-American Review of Hungarian Studies - Vol. 4 ... - EPA

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trated immigrants had become converts to radical ideologies. Theiractivities were more likely to attract the attention of the Englishlanguage press than the work and views of the majority of immigrantswho were satisfied with the Canadian system of government.The immigrants' greatest problem was that their self-assessment as acultured, loyal, and moderate group was not shared by the Canadianpublic. The newcomer's boasts about the greatness of his own culturalheritage could easily be misinterpreted as mere bragging and his insistencethat he loved his adopted land, not taken at face value. Canadianshad to be convinced by fellow Canadians whose impartiality could notbe questioned. Fortunately for New Canadians in general and Hungarian-Canadiansin particular, a few Canadian individuals were willingto undertake this task. Perhaps the most notable among them wasWatson Kirkconnell.WatsonKirkconnellKirkconnell was born in the town of Port Hope, Ontario, in 1895. Hismother, in Kirkconnell's own words, had a "highly diversified ancestry,"whereas his father descended from an ethnic group noted forgiving so many distinguished sons and daughters to Canada: theScottish. An industrious student with a gift for languages and mathematics,the young Kirkconnell completed his high school education inLindsay, Ontario. In 1913 he entered Queen's University in Kingstonearning his B. A. and M. A. degrees in Classics. Following three years ofwar service and a prolonged illness, Kirkconnell entered Oxford Universityto earn a degree in Economics as preparation for a career injournalism. 9 But a journalist he did not become. In 1922 he accepted ateaching post in Winnipeg's Wesley College. The appointment turnedout to be the beginning of a distinguished academic career, whichincluded a stint as Head of Wesley College's Department of Classics(1939 to 1940), as Professor of English and Department Head atMcMaster University in Hamilton (1940 to 1948), and, finally, asPresident of Acadia University (1948 to 1964).What brought Kirkconnell in touch with several New Canadiangroups was his passion for verse translation. He developed this predilectionrather late in his youth. His talent for languages and Englishversification had been evident in primary school. He combined the twotalents for the first time during his stay at Queen's University, when hewas given a class assignment to translate Latin verse into English prose.In his memoirs, Kirkconnell relates that he accomplished the task in
fifteen minutes, and spent the rest of the hour versifying the translation.He found that the "metre flowed" from his pen "almost as freely asprose." 10 But this incident did not inspire a systematic effort at versetranslation. It was only during the second half of the 1920's that hebecame involved in translating European verse into English and developedintimate ties with Canadians of European background. Kirkconnell'sfirst encounter with New Canadians came in 1922, when on hisreturn voyage from England he found himself surrounded by immigrantsfrom many parts of Europe. Scattered throughout this largegroup, comprising mainly agricultural workers, Kirkconnell foundseveral well-educated refugees from Eastern Europe's civil wars andrevolutions. 11 He was apparently impressed and took an interest inthem but after arriving in Canada lost contact with them.In September of the same year, Kirkconnell began his teaching careerin Winnipeg. During his first three years in this busy centre of immigrantlife, the young university teacher did not develop close contactswith New Canadians. What led to Kirkconnell's life-long friendshipwith Canada's European immigrants was involvement in verse translation.Kirkconnell turned to this type of scholarly activity for solace whenhis wife died after giving birth to twin sons. In the lonely, long monthsthat followed, Kirkconnell made plans for translating samples ofEurope's best poetry into English "as a memorial" to his departedwife. 12 This was a monumental plan, beset by many difficulties, not theleast of which was the lack of suitable grammar books and dictionaries.Kirkconnell was also saddled with incredulous publishers who at firstrefused to believe that anyone could master scores of foreign languages,and translate the poetry of numerous European nations. Only afterinternationally recognized experts of European linguistics ascertainedthe quality of Kirkconnell's translations was a publisher found. Kirkconnell'sfirst volume of verse translation, European Elegies, appearedin 1928.A Philosophy of Ethnic RelationsAt first, verse translating served Kirkconnell only one purpose: ithelped to "deaden the pain of great bereavement." 13 But soon the taskassumed greater significance. As he expressed it in his memoirs: "itopened doors for me into new worlds of imaginative experience." 14 Italso launched Kirkconnell's career as a verse translator. This activitygained him new acquaintances, initially mainly among the academic
Page 1 and 2: Canadian-American Review of Hungari
Page 9 and 10: the best possible settlers who woul
Page 11 and 12: than a decade later they were follo
Page 13: Sociologists have yet to explain sa
Page 18 and 19: from the "Canadian poetry" of Icela
Page 20 and 21: garian community of Western Canada,
Page 22 and 23: lowed translations from other, more
Page 24 and 25: which took place in the pages of th
Page 27 and 28: from teaching in 1968, Kirkconnell
Page 29 and 30: Magyar poets and writers to the rea
Page 31 and 32: tive of his helpful attitude and un
Page 33: 33. Kirkconnell, A Slice of Canada,
Page 36 and 37: The groaning of the slaves on Egypt
Page 38 and 39: ecause most such lines are imbedded
Page 40 and 41: ;Two spheres contend with one anoth
Page 42 and 43: matched it to this feeble hurdy-gur
Page 44 and 45: NOTES1. The only full-length study
Page 46 and 47: terest in Hungarian literature, has
Page 48 and 49: limitations of Bowring and others:
Page 50 and 51: Jones' Five Hungarian WritersJ 4 Su
Page 53 and 54: REVIEW ARTICLEHungarian Poetry in E
Page 55 and 56: ooks written in English. A table of
Page 57 and 58: passive, or into noun phrases in En
Page 59 and 60: REVIEW ARTICLEHungarian Religious P
Page 61 and 62: magas és a mély magánhangzójú
Page 63 and 64: SPECIAL SECTIONToldiAn Epic Poem (1
Page 65 and 66:
CANTO ONE"He lifted, with one hand,
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"Who should be squire of this whole
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What meant this hubbub in a widow's
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"Lad, here's your share! Don't say
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The heavy stone flies on: where wil
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The homes of moorhen, plover, gull
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Perhaps I'll shed my blood, some no
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CANTO FIVENicholas went wandering a
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Her tongue was like a coulter in th
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Rosemary pots mourned on its window
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Such were her words. No more would
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As if a nest of hornets rose to sti
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Upon an isle, by a Czech's hand the
Page 95 and 96:
REVIEW ARTICLEQuo Vadis Transylvani
Page 97 and 98:
Hungarians in Rumania in terms of t
Page 99 and 100:
down by serious shortcomings in bot
Page 101 and 102:
alanced presentation of the Vienna
Page 104 and 105:
talent enables Wass to depict the s
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Carpathian Federation, and printed
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Now and then, however, this rule de
Page 110 and 111:
temper such an indictment by recogn
Page 112 and 113:
OUR CONTRIBUTORS (continued from pa
Page 115:
TO THOSE WISHING TO SUBMIT MANUSCRI
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