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

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garian community of Western Canada, was the establishment of apermanent weekly newspaper, the Kanac/ai Magyar Vjsdg (CanadianHungarian News). 24 Toward the end of the decade, the Royal HungarianConsulate opened in the city. These events established Winnipegas the undisputed centre for the intellectual and political life of Canada'sHungarian community.Translating Hungarian PoetryThe development of cultural and intellectual life within Winnipeg'sHungarian community and Professor Kirkconnell's work in verse translationmade contact between the young scholar and the city's Hungarianelite inevitable. Indeed, it was Kirkconnell's prolific activities inthis field that attracted the attention of Bela Bachkai Payerle of theCanadian Hungarian News. Having read Kirkconnell's translationsfrom Magyar in European Elegies, Payerle encouraged Kirkconnell topublish a separate volume of verse translation from Hungarian. Payerlewould assist with deciphering the original Magyar text. In 1930 thisventure resulted in a manuscript entitled "North American Book ofMagyar Verse." 25 Since the Depression brought many publishers tonear ruin or bankruptcy, the volume's publication became impossiblefor the time being. Installments were printed in the Canadian HungarianNews, and later in Payerle's English-language magazine, theYoung Magyar-American. A small anthology of poems was publishedas "A Magyar Miscellany" in the prestigious, London based, learnedjournal, the Slavonic and East European Review. Little is known aboutthe reactions of Hungarian-Canadians to Kirkconnell's translations,but the response from Hungary was positive. Congratulatory letterscame from poets and scholars, and in 1932 one of the Hungarianlearned socieites, the Petofi Tarsasag, elected Kirkconnell to honorarymembership. 26Meanwhile, the obstacles blocking more ambitious publicationschemes were being slowly overcome. In 1932 Lord Rothermere, theEnglish newspaper publisher, visited Winnipeg and contributed $200 todefray the cost of printing Kirkconnell's collection of Magyar poetry.The Hungarian government advanced $500 for 500 copies intended fordistribution in Hungary. The Hungarian Consul in Winnipeg, Istvan J.Schefbeck (Petenyi) also made a cash contribution. The noted Hungarianwriter, Ferenc Herczeg, lent his prestige by writing the introduction.Payerle did the typesetting with his own hands, gratis. In January1933, The Magyar Muse at last became available. 27
During the next several years, additional translations from Magyarpoetry followed. Work was started on the expansion of The MagyarMuse into a two-volume manuscript, intended for a new, enlargededition. A translation of Janos Arany's epic, The Death of King Bucla,was published in 1936 with the help of the Cleveland-based BenjaminFranklin Bibliographical Society, an organization dedicated to publishingbooks on Hungarian subjects. The translation of Arany's epicwas followed by a work on Hungarian grammar. Primer of Hungarian,published in installments in Payerle's Young Magyar-American. Thencame still more studies and translations, published from time to time inthe Slavonic and East European Review, and elsewhere. 28In 1936 Kirkconnell helped in the launching of the HungarianQuarterly. The journal was the brain-child of Count lstvan Bethlen, oneof Hungary's elder statesmen. Its primary purpose was to offer theBritish and North American reading public a journal which wouldconvey information on Hungary's cultural life, political problems, andaspirations. Kirkconnell was one of the journal's first contributors. Hisarticle, "Hungary's Linguistic Isolation," expressed the hope that theperiodical would serve as an "open window," through which the worldcould "gaze into Hungary's lonely tower of linguistic isolation" and seethere "the vital personality of a gifted people." 29With the blessing and financial backing of individuals and institutionsin Hungary, the Hungarian Quarterly prospered for several years.The Second World War saw its demise. Since then, attempts to revive ithave failed primarily because of the lack of adequate financial resources.Although more than a generation has passed since the originalHungarian Quarterly folded, it has yet to be replaced by anotherperiodical of the same scope and quality, and dedicated to similarideals. 30During and after the Second World War new concerns, additionalduties and changed circumstances prevented Kirkconnell from devotingas much time and effort to verse translation from Hungarian asbefore. His work continued, but more sporadically. In 1947, an anthology,"Little Treasury of Hungarian Verse," appeared, followedmore than a decade later by translations of the Premonstratensiancanon Laszlo Mecs's poetry. Next came an anthology of the "freedomfighter" poetry of "Tibor Tollas"and others. But systematic work in thisfield could not be undertaken until after Kirkconnell's resignation fromthe Presidency of Acadia University in 1964. In 1967, he completed oneof his old projects, a translation of Arany's Toldi. He also started workon still another, more complete anthology of Magyar verse. Next fol-
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 and 14: Sociologists have yet to explain sa
Page 15: fifteen minutes, and spent the rest
Page 18 and 19: from the "Canadian poetry" of Icela
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,
Page 67 and 68: "Who should be squire of this whole
Page 69 and 70: 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
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REVIEW ARTICLEQuo Vadis Transylvani
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Hungarians in Rumania in terms of t
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down by serious shortcomings in bot
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alanced presentation of the Vienna
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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
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temper such an indictment by recogn
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OUR CONTRIBUTORS (continued from pa
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TO THOSE WISHING TO SUBMIT MANUSCRI
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