Wilhelm Kühlmann

Gábor Tüskés

Miklos Zrinyi the Elder (died 1566) and his great-grandson and namesake (died 1664), the general, politician, poet and educated man of the world, are the topics of this work, not only as great names in Hungarian history but also as European figures of inestimable charisma. Numerous texts from the culture of the Old Reich bear witness to this? reports, poems, flyers, sermons, stories, novels - and also dramas such as Theodor Korner s tragedy. These proceedings of an international conference document the exact state of research and provide a wide-reaching reconstruction of the foundations, forms, stages and perspectives of this reputation, concentrating on accessing known and unknown works from German literature. "

Militia et Litterae

Éva Knapp

The main aim of the work is to present emblematics in Hungary in its European context, and to show the reciprocal influence between that phenomenon and mainstream literature. The description of the theoretical and historical development in Hungary is supplemented by a series of case studies examining the effect of emblematics upon various literary genres. The final chapter analyzes the link between literary emblematics and the visual arts by looking at a specific example. As in most European countries, emblematics in Hungary is part of a complex labyrinth of literary modes of thought and expression. A relative poverty of theoretical writing went hand in hand with a considerable range of emblematic practice. The emblem proved to be a transitional form between the period when signs and motifs were regarded as having specific and fixed meanings and the modern period when we have developed a different and shifting concept of language and meaning. At the same time as emblems began to penetrate the more popular levels of national culture and literature, they also became more specialized. Hungarian emblematics used, for the most part, existing pictorial and textual combinations of pictures and texts. They employed the emblem notably in genres and texts of the genus demonstrativum, which referred to matters which were topical at the time.

A Study of the History of Symbolic Representation in Renaissance and Baroque Literature

Emblematics in Hungary

Réka Lengyel

The present collection of primary sources, comprised of printed and manuscript materials, offers a new approach to the history of learned societies and Freemasonry in Hungary in the 18th century. Materials include academic proposals, regulations of learned societies and reading circles, letters, pamphlets as well as Masonic constitutions, rituals, orations, essays, and a sentimental novel. In addition to the Latin- and German-language documents, some Hungarian-language sources of special importance are published in English translation. The sources in the first part of the collection illustrate the growing desire and ambition among Hungarian intellectuals for establishing national literature and science, and for raising the level of general literacy among the population. Starting from the diagnosis that, compared to other European countries, Hungary was quite backward in terms of cultivating the sciences, several people emphasized the need to raise the standards of public education, while others thought that establishing learned societies or scientific academies could change the situation. The examination of the history of learned and secret societies shows that in 18th-century Hungary social culture could develop within the framework of Freemasonry. The functioning learned societies and reading circles were established at the initiative of lodge members, and a large number of the authors of the proposals were also Freemasons. The establishment of learned societies was motivated by the ideas which were also the guiding principles of the Freemasons: spreading enlightenment, promoting the well-being of the people, and supporting the sciences and the arts. The editors intended to bring to an international audience the selected materials which warrant further research and examination.

Gábor Tüskés

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