Literary Modernism, Anti-Semitism, Jewishness and the Anxiety of Assimilation in Interwar Hungary
In this paper I will provide a brief overview of early twentieth-century, Hungarian history in order to examine how anti-Semitism and anti-modernism influenced modernism’s reception in fin- de- siècle Hungary. In 1908 the most significant Hungarian literary review of the twentieth century was founde...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University Library System, University of Pittsburgh
2017-09-01
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| Series: | Hungarian Cultural Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://ahea.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/ahea/article/view/296 |
| _version_ | 1818853551187689472 |
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| author | Dávid Szolláth |
| author_facet | Dávid Szolláth |
| author_sort | Dávid Szolláth |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this paper I will provide a brief overview of early twentieth-century, Hungarian history in order to examine how anti-Semitism and anti-modernism influenced modernism’s reception in fin- de- siècle Hungary. In 1908 the most significant Hungarian literary review of the twentieth century was founded by Hugo Ignotus, Miksa Fenyő and Ernő Osvát, all of whom were assimilated Jews. The journal’s title, Nyugat, [‘West’] unambiguously marked the editors’ orientation and program of accelerating cultural modernization by reviewing and translating Western European works. For conservatives this aim of transferring aestheticism, late Symbolism and decadence was regarded as an attack against the nation’s patriotic traditions. Anxiety surrounding the Jewry’s purported “failed assimilation” was compounded by the fear that a foreign culture would have an undue impact on Hungarian literature. It is my aim to analyze both the first and second wave of modernism in Hungary so as to reveal the analogous relationship between the argument that Western European modernism is alien to the Hungarian literary style and language and the anti-Semitic argument stating that assimilation of the Jews is superficial. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T07:38:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9d0dee8cd5fc429ca46c1ee1d5fc005f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2471-965X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T07:38:37Z |
| publishDate | 2017-09-01 |
| publisher | University Library System, University of Pittsburgh |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Hungarian Cultural Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-9d0dee8cd5fc429ca46c1ee1d5fc005f2022-12-21T20:30:32ZengUniversity Library System, University of PittsburghHungarian Cultural Studies2471-965X2017-09-0110014515710.5195/ahea.2017.296286Literary Modernism, Anti-Semitism, Jewishness and the Anxiety of Assimilation in Interwar HungaryDávid Szolláth0Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Literary StudiesIn this paper I will provide a brief overview of early twentieth-century, Hungarian history in order to examine how anti-Semitism and anti-modernism influenced modernism’s reception in fin- de- siècle Hungary. In 1908 the most significant Hungarian literary review of the twentieth century was founded by Hugo Ignotus, Miksa Fenyő and Ernő Osvát, all of whom were assimilated Jews. The journal’s title, Nyugat, [‘West’] unambiguously marked the editors’ orientation and program of accelerating cultural modernization by reviewing and translating Western European works. For conservatives this aim of transferring aestheticism, late Symbolism and decadence was regarded as an attack against the nation’s patriotic traditions. Anxiety surrounding the Jewry’s purported “failed assimilation” was compounded by the fear that a foreign culture would have an undue impact on Hungarian literature. It is my aim to analyze both the first and second wave of modernism in Hungary so as to reveal the analogous relationship between the argument that Western European modernism is alien to the Hungarian literary style and language and the anti-Semitic argument stating that assimilation of the Jews is superficial.https://ahea.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/ahea/article/view/296Modernism, Anti-Semitism, Assimilation, Anxiety of Assimilation, Nyugat, Tibor Déry, Lajos Kassák, Miklós Szentkuthy |
| spellingShingle | Dávid Szolláth Literary Modernism, Anti-Semitism, Jewishness and the Anxiety of Assimilation in Interwar Hungary Hungarian Cultural Studies Modernism, Anti-Semitism, Assimilation, Anxiety of Assimilation, Nyugat, Tibor Déry, Lajos Kassák, Miklós Szentkuthy |
| title | Literary Modernism, Anti-Semitism, Jewishness and the Anxiety of Assimilation in Interwar Hungary |
| title_full | Literary Modernism, Anti-Semitism, Jewishness and the Anxiety of Assimilation in Interwar Hungary |
| title_fullStr | Literary Modernism, Anti-Semitism, Jewishness and the Anxiety of Assimilation in Interwar Hungary |
| title_full_unstemmed | Literary Modernism, Anti-Semitism, Jewishness and the Anxiety of Assimilation in Interwar Hungary |
| title_short | Literary Modernism, Anti-Semitism, Jewishness and the Anxiety of Assimilation in Interwar Hungary |
| title_sort | literary modernism anti semitism jewishness and the anxiety of assimilation in interwar hungary |
| topic | Modernism, Anti-Semitism, Assimilation, Anxiety of Assimilation, Nyugat, Tibor Déry, Lajos Kassák, Miklós Szentkuthy |
| url | https://ahea.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/ahea/article/view/296 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davidszollath literarymodernismantisemitismjewishnessandtheanxietyofassimilationininterwarhungary |