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BOX-FOLDER-REPORT: 33-4-141
TITLE:             General Survey of Literature
BY:                AB
DATE:              1967-3-14
COUNTRY:           Hungary
ORIGINAL SUBJECT:  Hungarian Unit
THEMATIC SUBJECTS: Hungary--1956-1965, Hungary--Literature, Freedom of Speech

--- Begin ---

RADIO FREE EUROPE Research
EAST EUROPE

HUNGARY
14 March 1967

GENERAL SURVEY OF LITERATURE
August 1966 - January 1967

Summary: The literary events of the past six months are
evidence that a favorable atmosphere now prevails in
literary life. A more realistic literary policy has made
possible the broadening of literary freedom. A remarkable
feature of Hungarian theatrical life is the pioneering
program policy of the theaters in the provinces. The
economic reform plans promote a more healthy
development of literary life.

* * *

The Chronicle of the Past Few Months Reflects the Favorable
Atmosphere in Literary Life

When evaluating the events of the past six months, we
come to the remarkable conclusion that there was no aggressive
intervention in literary life by the regime during that period.
This fact has great significance, because there are increasing
signs of severity in other areas as the result of the worsening
international and internal political situations.

The zone of literature seems to be free of tension.
Whenever necessary, the writers have supported various political
actions on the "do ut des" basis. Thus, for example, they have
protested against the imprisonment of Spanish writers[1], the
Vietnamese intervention of the Americans[2], there have been writers
whose works contained propaganda for the. policy of the regime, and
writers, in general, avoided irritating the regime with careless
remarks on the 10th anniversary of the 1956 revolution.[3] On the
other hand, or as a result of this, they have achieved some goals
------------------------------
(1) Elet es Irodalom, 22 October 1966.

(2) The New York Times, Home Edition, 15 November 1966, Hungarian
Monitoring, 15 November 1966.

(3) The only exception was [T]ibor Dery who, in an interview with a
Western TV company, took a stand supporting the 1956 revolution.

[page 2]

which were unthinkable only a few years ago. Literary freedom
has broadened.

The October 1966 four-day writers-poets meeting in
Budapest was one of the significant literary events of the past
six months.[4] The European writers-poets conference, which was
called The Days of Poetry in Budapest, was attended by about 100
foreign poets, writers and translators of literary works. The
meeting actually played the role of a trial balloon. The purpose
to find out whether it would be worth while to arrange such meetings
in the form of a biennial. As a result of the favorable reaction
abroad to the Days of Poetry in Budapest, plans have been made to
arrange a meeting in 1968 or 1969 on the shores of Lake Balaton.

The Ninth Congress of the HSWP, in late November and
early December 1966, could be considered as an outstanding event
from the point of view of literary policy. The literary aspect of
the congress deserves attention from a number of points. It became
evident that Marxist aesthetics are undergoing a considerable
transformation. It is true that the development of an aesthetical
"Hungaro-Marxism" has limited possibilities, but it is also true that the
impulses coming "from the Western ideological centers of Marxism are
favorably received in Hungary. The congress decided to maintain the
relative liberalism of literary policy. Furthermore, the discussions
at the congress revealed the fact that the literary left wing is
growing even more isolated.[5]

The chronicler of Hungarian literary history must also
note the SEC and PEN meetings held during the period under survey.
About 40 members of the executive council of the Société Européenne
de Culture, which holds bi-yearly meetings, attended the September
1966 four-day meeting in Hungary. The executive council has three
Hungarian members: Ivan Boldizsar, Tibor Kardos and Endre Sik. The
Hungarian meeting deserves attention -- beyond the conversations
within the framework of the SEC -- from the Hungarian point of view,
because of the intensification of that country's international
relations. The Hungarian PEN (poets, essayists, novelists) Club held its
annual membership meeting on 4 December 1966a Lately the Hungarian
PEN Club has shown considerable renewed activity. This activity
has been manifest in invitations to foreign writers and in the
arranging of "authors' nights." The demand that the Hungarian PEN Club
should intensify its relations with the PEN centers of the "friendly
countries" was also expressed at the membership meeting. The question
of the relations between the International PEN Club and the Soviet
writers was repeatedly discussed at the membership meeting.

Austro-Hungarian cultural relations have further improved
in the course of the past few months. The literary evening, arranged
on 1 December 1966 at the Vienna Collegium Hungaricum, by Kortars,
a literary and critical monthly of the Hungarian Writers' Association,
with a circulation of 13,000 copies, can be considered an outstanding
event. Such representatives of Hungarian literary life as Tibor Dery,
------------------------------
(4) Situation Report, 25 October 1966.

(5) EERA Background Report, "Hungarian Literary policy, as Reflected
at the Party Congress," 31 January 1967.

[page 3]

Laszlo Nemeth, Ferenc Juhasz, the chairman of the Hungarian Writers'
Association, Jozsef Darvas and the editor-in-chief of Kortars, Istvan
Simon, appeared at this evening. On that occasion, the chairman of"
the Austrian PEN Club, Franz Theodor Csokor, pointed out that the task
of such programs would be "the restoration -- at least on a small
scale -- of the cultural unity of old Austria, where Hungarian literature
was known and loved."[6] The evening, which was attended by an
audience of about 500, received favorable reviews in the Austrian
press.

It should be mentioned that, during the period under survey,
on 1 October 1966, the deadline for the more than 250,000 - forint
drama competition, which was put up by the Writers' Association and
the Ministry of Education in January 1966, expired. According to
the jury, none of the 370 works submitted was worth the 100,000 forint
first prize but, according to the communiqué of the jury; "the jury
has found a number of works of remarkable conceptual and artistic
value." It seems that the real socialist drama has not yet been born,
even as a result of this quite siginificant competition.

It is necessary to note a number of other events, in
addition to those mentioned above. There have been countless remarkable
events in the kaleidoscopic maelstrom of literary life as, for example,
the trips abroad of writers' groups with well-established names,
Tibor Dery's coming out in support of the 1956 revolution, Gyula Hay's
settling in Switzerland and the death of the Szekeler, Aron Tamasi,
among the peasant writers. The Budapest Opera House has produced the
widely propagated but not completely successful opera Together and
Alone, by the Communist composer Andras Mihaly, which deals with the
wartime underground fight of the Communists. A very talented young
composer, Sandor Szokolay, whose work, Blood Marriage, adapted from
the drama by Federico Garcia Lorca, is the most important new
Hungarian opera to be produced in decades (it will be produced in
Wuppertal and five other West European theaters), is now working on
an opera based on Hamlet. The recently deceased Zoltan Kodaly again
visited America, meeting with the reverence and high esteem of the
Western musical world.[7] Dramas by well-known authors have been
produced in Hungarian theaters and a number of bestsellers have
appeared on the book market. The refreshing air of literature has
crept in through windows cautiously opened to the West and the
endless game of power relations in the magic triangle: the cultural
apparatus of the Party, the writers, and public opinion, has continued.

This just about comprises the chronicle of Hungarian
literary life in the past six months.
------------------------------
(6) Wiener Zeitung, 4 December 1966.
(7) Kodaly died on 6 March 1967.

[page 4]

Where Are the Actual Limits to Literary Freedom?

According to the vice-chairman of the Hungarian PEN Club, the
"sharp customer" Ivan Boldizsar, there have been no "taboos" and "holy
cows" since the liquidation of Stalinism and one can write about any
subject one chooses.[8] Unfortunately, practice proves to be
different and the question could be more precisely formulated in the
following way: What about, by whom, and how?

The particular point of interest about the development of
Hungarian literary life is that, even in this form, no exact answer
could be given to that question. It is impossible to answer the
question from the legal, literary-political or logical points of
view.

The jurist will state that there is a connection between
literary freedom and the conceptual range of "instigation." The
broader the concept of "instigation" in the system of penal law, the
more limited the free expression of opinion and literary freedom
will be. The concept of "instigation" has a wide range in the Hungarian
Penal Code. The Penal Code provides criminal protection, not only to
the basic constitutional institutions, but also to all newly-established
bodies and institutions serving the objectives of socialism,, It
provides legal protection for the people's rule, the people's democratic
system, the political, economic and other institutions of the regime
which are the bases of the state and social structures. This elastic
definition makes the dividing lines between taboo and freedom quite
indistinct. Though the number of arrests on charges of instigation has
lately increased, writers have not been arrested, in spite of some
works which might fall under the category of instigation.

The Hungarian regime's literary policy also does not provide
a satisfactory answer to the above question, since this policy states,
in the first place, assumptions. On the other hand, literary life --
in its manifold decentralization -- is being formed, not only on the
grounds of assumptions, but on the basis of other components, too,.
Thus, the actual limits of literary freedom will take form in a
different way than that required by the above-mentioned assumptions.

Logic fails to give an answer, because each of the. writers
has a different limit of literary freedom.

But, instead of theory, let us take a look at practice.
Here are a few examples of those limits.

The January 1967 issue of the literary and critical monthly
of the Hungarian Writers' Association, Kortars, published the short
story Chronic Ward by Anna Jokai. The scene of the short story is
laid in the gloomy atmosphere of a hospital. One of the characters
is Dr. Izsak who has to attend one of the conferences of the medical
staff of the hospital. The people attending that conference receive
a briefing on foreign policy in addition to the normal lecture on
------------------------------
(8) Boldizsar made this statement to Austrian writers and newsmen
at the Hungarian Embassy in Vienna on 7 October 1965.

[page 5]

medical technology. The following are a few excerpts from the short
story expressing the thoughts of Dr. Izsak on the briefing:

"He was wanted on the phone. This somewhat disturbed his high
spirits.... It might be Ilu.... But, on the other hand, he can
avoid this foreign policy baloney. Always those far away things...
Vietnam and so forth....

"Again the Negro question.... Well.... The instinct of power.
The arrogance of the white people.... In America.... But what
about here, in our own country? Those are not problems here,
in our country... They are far away things. We, too, have our
troubles. Why not talk about our own troubles?... We should
leave the Negroes alone. A Western question, typically, the
biggest tasks have to be tackled by Central Europe....

"The Arabs might have something up their sleeves. Or the
Chinese.... But we are far away... we are far away from all
these things. We always mind other people's business. There
are some general problems but not these.... The example of the war
in Vietnam has-really proved that America will not abandon its
aggressive goals. The launching of chemical warfare has aroused,
with reason, the deep moral indignation of the workers in the
world....

"Big words. Telegrams. Then everything goes on as if nothing
has happened.

"He looked around in the room. Deep moral indignation.... Half
of the colleagues present were dozing. Soltesz was examining
his football pool coupon. Vietnam is very far away."

These are heretic words and thoughts at a time when there
is a campaign on in favor of Vietnam.

But let us talk about something else. If somebody were
publicly to declare, as far as "alienation" is concerned, that people
are much better off in the West because they can "alienate" themselves
to a little house or some hobby, but not in Hungary, where people are
dissatisfied with socialist building, homelessness, the housing
situation, their earnings, their jobs, etc., he could very easily be
reported on charges of instigation. But, on the other hand, if all
this were not only declared, but also published[9] by somebody whose
name happened to be Peter Veres[10], he would get away with it
unpunished. The 70-year-old "Uncle Peter" annoys the Communists with
his blunt, courageous and original statements. Public vigilance and
------------------------------
(9) Hungarian Press Survey, No. 1557, 23 December 1964.

(10) Peter Veres (1897-), one of the interesting personalities of
Hungarian public life and literature. He stems from a family of
agricultural laborers, became an agrarian-socialist (Peasant
Party) politician, a former peasant writer, minister, chairman
of the Writers' Association, representative, a writer awarded
the Kossuth Prize, a publicist.

[page 6]

critical independence irritates many people -- he writes -- it
irritates those who are supposed to know, but don't know everything
and those who are not sure of anything. They don't like those who
have a firm opinion and who, furthermore, stick to this opinion.[11]
They don't pay attention to my works -- he writes -- and if they
"officially" do so the "estimation is quite different."[12] But
let us see some of Peter Veres's ideas which are anything but
"Party-minded."

"We should not judge people, who work hard and make a good living,
on the grounds of class viewpoints. The ones who remain in the
world of physical work do not know what to do with their
contemporaries who want to reach a higher social level, even if they
are related to them or are their next of kin.[13]

"Today, the writer does not have to represent, in his works, the
old-fashioned stand of those of the government party and the
same sort of people in the opposition. It is quite enough if
he represents the truth... even by means of criticizing or
portraying negative occurrences. The criterion is, that all his
writings must be true.[14]

"There is no reliable Hungarian historiography. We have some
knowledge of facts, but the interpretation of those facts is
not always convincing. I believe, the only thing I know the
best is the sociology of life.' There are too many people who
don't know how to live. Neither under tyranny nor in freedom...'.
I cannot accept the right of anybody to tell the people: 'what is
literature, what is art and that everybody should adjust to these
rules.' [15]

"I consider as one of us not only he who already believes in
socialism but also he who does not yet believe in it, and even
he who never will believe in it."[16]

Another example. In her report, published in the Elet
es Irodalom,' on her visit to Kazakhstan, the courageous Erzsebet
Galgoczi[17] does not conceal the encroachments, forced
resettlements, the destruction of livestock, the destructive famine, the
------------------------------
(ll) Elet es Irodalom, 28 January 1967, p. 7.

(12) Elet es Irodalom, 7 January 1967, p. 7

(13) Elet es Irodalom, 13 August 1966, p. 12.

(14) Uj I[r]as, December 1966, p. 108.

(15) Elet es Irodalom, 28 January 1967, p. 7.

(16) Elet es Irodalom, 7 January 1967, p. 7.

(17) Erzsebet Galgoczi (1930-) deals, in the first place, with the
problems of the peasant society, Her excellent sociographic
works expose mistakes with blunt sincerity,, Because of this
she has often been reprimanded. She has been given the Attila
Jozsef Award.

[page 7]

faults of compulsory delivery, the show-window policy vis-a-vis the
top kolkhozes, in connection with the forced collectivization in
1930 in Kazakhstan. Then, turning to the domestic situation, she
writes:

"There was a time in our country when it was the custom to refer
to Soviet experiences, even in petty affairs. It was quite a
comfortable solution, because it excused a lot of people from
doing the hard work of thinking. But this method was not
expedient. It resulted, in the first place, in mistakes, instead
of successes, in the peasant question and in agriculture.
Fortunately, this view has disappeared more and more and is being
replaced by the realization that our own problems should be
solved -- starting from our own conditions and according to our
own possibilities -- in a creative way. During the past week,
I have visited three villages in County Somogy and talked to the
village and farmers' cooperative leaders... they could not
completely conceal either their bitterness about the fact that we
could have spared ourselves a detour (the detour means the wrong
peasant policy of the past .. Ed.). (l8)

Gyula Hernadi, too, writes about a "detour" in his novel,
Corridors.(19) The novel was published in book-form, after a long
delay, in the fall of 1966, though the novel had already appeared
in the November and December 1964 issues of Kortars. This "detour"
is connected with the Hungarian economic system. Here are a few
excerpts from the novel:

"...was socialism built? Yes, it was built, but we would be in
a different position if those detours could have been avoided....
From 1945 to 1949, we were in the position of one who has a
privately-owned flat occupied by others. From 1949 to 1953, we
were guided in a completely voluntary and subjective way, the
public was rigid and dogmatic, there was hardly a chance for
scientific research: from 1953 to 1956, management was uncertain
and confused; from 1956 to 1959, they tried to restore the
balance, which was upset in 1956 and, actually only in 1959, after
the collectivization of agriculture, were we able to move into
the privately owned flat....

"...the mechanism of leadership is still the old one. Management
is more circumspect, but it functions the best within the limits
of the old mechanism. A completely new mechanism should be
developed to establish a really well-functioning management....
------------------------------
(18) Elet es Irodalom, 24 December 1966, p. 4.

(19) Gyula Hernadi (1926-) has been writing since 1954. His works --
according to the Communist critics -- reveal the influence of 20th
Century bourgeois literature. His novel, Corridors, which was
published in serialized form in late 1964, is the first exposé
of the idea of economic reform.

[page 8]

"...we were able to start this work Just two years ago. How
can we, in your opinion, speed up this work and make it more
effective?

"By no means in such a way that we spend years cautiously
considering all that is new. That we try to patch up the old mistakes,
though we know very well that they are irreparable. The
capitalists do not mind spending money, they have a host of research
institutes and there is no nonsense, they adapt the successfully
tested methods right away....

"I would establish, for those phony people (the cadres unfit
for the implementation of the new mechanism -- Ed.), an 'upper
house.' I also would give them a monthly salary of 5,000 forint
without any obligation, and my only condition would be that they
should never go near their former working place. Thus, we would
be better off than now, when they do nothing but harm...."[20]

The novel proposes a complete "change-over" in connection
with the economic reform.

The December 1966 issue of the "class-angled" Tiszataj,
a literary monthly of the South Hungarian group of the Hungarian
Writers1 Association, published the short story of an unknown young
writer a 17-year-old schoolboy, Szilveszter Ordogh, Class Picture,
which has created an unusual stir throughout the country.[21] The
story concerns a school class. In one of the classes, the teacher
discusses happiness and the object of life with the students. Here
are a few excerpts from the novel:

"Why should I care for this useless discussion... happiness?...
empty phrase... rubbish. At first, we should restore order in
the country, the prices should be stabilized, everything should
be developed, then we can talk about happiness....

"I just cannot stand it that the Americans announce the launching
of a rocket one month before the test and the Russians only
after the rocket is already in orbit. And the US admits a
possible failure and mistake. But this is out of the question
as far as the Russians are concerned... we do not know a thing.
Well, where is the direct line?...

"Because where is the truth?.... The whole school is out in the
streets, carrying torches, singing 'Elijah Tobiah,' making
disturbances and engaging in free-for-all wrestling, and next day
you can read in the papers: "The students staged an enthusiastic
demonstration against the Vietnam war of the Americans. After
the demonstration, they organized a spontaneous protest meeting;
------------------------------
(20) Gyula Hernadi, Corridors, Kortars, December 1964, p. 1924-1945.
(21) Hungarian Press Survey, No. 1797, 2 March 1967.

[page 9]

at the end of the meeting, they joined in the call: 'Hands off
Vietnam.' And during the meeting, the whole bunch slipped
quietly away, so that I laughed my head off.

"Real power is to allow, and not to forbid, something... how
can the leaders of the country have any power when everything
is restricted?... But, in the West...."[22]

The result of the remarks made in the short story was not
an arrest on charges of instigation but, besides troubles with the
school, just a mild and well-meaning reprimand: perhaps it would
have been better not to publish this "immature work" for the time
being.

In the days of the 1956 revolution, the self-criticism
of Radio Kossuth sounded something like this: we were lying at
night, in the daytime and on all wave lengths. In a "literary
script," in December 1966, it was again established that Radio
Kossuth is still lying. The racing fan, Istvan Csurka, in his
satirical literary "scenario": The Horse is a Human Being, Too,[23]
makes one of the reporters of Radio Kossuth appear on the scene who,
in a conversation with a forage master, has to swallow the following
answer: "Not everything that you say over the radio is true either."

This will suffice for examples. But let us now take a look
at literature in general. What are those areas which deserve special
attention as far as the problem of literary freedom is concerned?

First of all, sociography, which is currently enjoying
a renaissance. This literary form has quite a tradition, as the result
of the work of peasant writers. A new, talented generation has grown
up side by side with the old, excellent masters of sociography, and
thus, sociography has gained a permanent column in the periodicals,
a comparable position in book publishing, in radio, TV and even in
the movie industry. The spectrum of subjects covered by sociography
has considerably broadened when compared to the past. While the
sociographical works of the Thirties dealt, almost exclusively, with
the position of the peasantry, the present sociographical works are
penetrating other areas as well. Thus, for example, they now deal
with the situation of the workers, youth, the sociography of the
cities and even with the exposure of the deficiencies of the economic
mechanism. Some of the sociographical works raise questions which
evoke a response not only in the public, but also in politics.

Furthermore, an interesting feature of the relatively
more liberal literary atmosphere is the fact that the figure of the
"man-in-the-street" receives ever more attention in literary works.
We still remember the consternation caused by Endre Fejes' work,
Rust Cemetery, because Fejes turned attention upon a stratum which
is almost untouched by Communism. Well, the figures of this stratum
have lately invaded all the various areas of literature in a rush.
------------------------------
(22) Sziveszter Ordoghs Class Picture, Tiszataj, December 1966,-
p. 975, 977, 979, Hungarian Press Survey, 1797, 2 March 1967.

(23) Uj Iras, December 1966.

[page 10]

Nowadays., literature in Hungary deals more openly with the
painful social problems which necessarily cause tension. As an example
of this, here is an excerpt from the drama, The Fruit of the Forbidden
Tree, by Antal Vegh. Andras, the young shepherd who remained in the
cooperative, complains to his brother who became a physician:

"Should I study? Since I also have to work from daybreak till
nightfall if I want to get anywhere... in the evening I'm
numb with exhaustion... and I'm supposed to take up my book
and study... what do you want from me? Who can stand this any
longer? We should study... you preach this all the time... our
brains are empty... thought, it is in the constitution. But,
you have completely forgotten that we work day and night. Who is
ignorant?... the one who works like an animal. And now, without
a school education, we cannot do this, we cannot do that. All
right, then we just don't do it. God damn... at least you should
not begrudge us what we can do. Do you have any consideration at
all? Where am I now? Do you think that I don't have the desire
to take a bath every. night? To put on a new shirt every day? I
haven't had a free day for the last 10 years. You know that very
well. This year, you spent your vacation in Opatija... like the
baron... I have to get up early on Sundays to get the feeding
done before ten o'clock, to take out the manure... when will all
this come to an end?"[24]

Literature tries to approach and expose, not only the
serious problems of everyday life, "the literary concretization of
everyday reality,"[25] but also turns its attention to the vital
questions of the nation such as, for example, the problem of
population growth, history, the national past, the position of the Hungarians
in the Danubian basin, etc.

The possibility of a slow literary rehabilitation process
is another remarkable feature of the relatively more liberal
atmosphere now permeating literature. Thus, for example, literary
works of the period between the two world wars by Babits, Kosztolanyi,
Krudy, Tomorkeny are more readily available than before.

Judging from the above, the problem of literary freedom,
in its entire complexity, is a question which can hardly be outlined
either in an inductive or in a deductive way All the less so since
some ambiguous works which seem to embody literary freedom when looked
at from the point of view of the West can nevertheless also appear, from
the Communist point of view, as creative activity in the interest of
the improvement and strengthening of the regime. Thus, we would end
up with a Janus-faced literature, in which both sides believe they can
discover their own interests. In the last analysis, the public will
tip this literature, which is balanced on a razor's edge, to the right
side.
------------------------------
(24) Antal Vegh: The Fruit of the Forbidden Tree, (drama) Kortars,
December 1966, p. 38.

(25) This is the goal of Kortars, presented in the February 1967
issue, p. 335.

[page 11]

The Increasing Role of the Provincial Theaters is a Valuable
Contribution to Theatrical Life

Besides the theatrical life concentrated in the capital,
the sometimes avant-gardist activities of the provincial theaters
grow ever more accentuated. This appears to be proven by the
statement in the theatrical almanac, Uj Szinhaz (The New Theater), 1966
edition: "if we want to be frank, we have to state that the advance
of the provincial theaters is a merit raising the literary standard
and a victory for the theatrical workshop atmosphere which, at the
same time, means the diminution in the importance of the Budapest theaters."
The section below will deal exclusively with the significance of
the provincial theaters, all the more because, up to now, this sector
of Hungarian theatrical life has played the role of stepchild.

According to the statistics, the 15 provincial theaters
in Hungary annually have about 2,500 performances more than the 17
Budapest theaters.[26] But, on the other hand, it is true that the
number of Budapest theatergoers is higher than the number of all
theatergoers in the provinces. The provincial theaters are in a
difficult position. Very often, those theaters arc confronted
with personnel, financial and technical difficulties.

Well-trained actors and actresses are scarce. It is
difficult to secure adequate replacements, because, since 1965, the
young actors and actresses who have finished the Academy of Dramatic
Arts do not have to work in the provinces for a period of two years.
The management of the provincial theaters entails considerable
financial sacrifice. The situation is being worsened by the fact
that the attendance at the theaters decreased by 10-12 per cent because
of TV and, as a result of this, the income of the theaters has dropped
as well. The state grants a subsidy of several million forint to
these theaters. The annual operating expenses of the Nyiregyhaza
Theater are half a million forint. Most of this is covered by
box-office receipts, but they are not enough to cover the whole of the
operating expenses. The Deryne Theater, which is a touring company,
can be kept alive only by means of a huge state subsidy. The state
"compensates" eight-10 forint on every ticket sold. In 1966, at the
Veszprem Theater, the state paid 25.40 forint for every theatergoer.[27]
------------------------------
(26) Szigligeti Theater, Szolnok; Pecs National Theater; Csokonai
Theater, Debrecen; Repertory Group of the Csokonai Theater;
Miskolc National Theater; Jozsef Katona Theater, Kecskemet;
Kisfaludy Theater, Gyor; Szeged National Theater; Repertory Group
of the Szged National Theater; County Bekes Jokai Theater,
Bekesdsaba; Geza Gardonyi Theater, Eger; Gergely Csiky Theater,
Kaposvar; County Veszprem Petofi Theater, Veszprem; Deryne
(Village) Theater; Szeged Open Air Festivals.

(27) Magyarorszag, 22 January 1967, p. 20.

[page 12]

Some of the technical equipment of the provincial theaters is
outdated. The storerooms and dressing rooms of the Szolnok Szigligeti
Theater are primitive. The scene painters, for example, work with
a cologne spray, because their compressor has been out of order for
the past two years. Mildew and moths cause extensive damage in the
storerooms.[28]

The reason why the provincial theaters hold the center
of interest despite the above sad picture is their clever and very
often courageous program policy. One of the distinguishing features
of the provincial theaters, apart from the fact that they inevitably
produce second-run-performances of the plays presented in Budapest,
is the fact that they often present the Hungarian premiers of both
Hungarian and foreign plays. The plays staged at such premieres
are plays which could not appear on a Budapest stage because they are
politically objectionable and the central cultural apparatus has
Barred a Budapest performance or because the Budapest theatrical
managers have not dared to take the risk. But plays, which the
Budapest theatrical managers simply misjudged, are being staged in
the provinces. Furthermore, some authors very often write their
plays directly for the provincial theaters.

The program policy of the provincial theaters affects
Budapest theatrical life as well. This influence is increased by
the fact that the performances of the provincial theaters are
regularly televised. At first, this was carried out in the form
of live telecast; at present a new method is being introduced.
The whole ensemble of a provincial theater is taken to Budapest where
it puts on the play on the large stage of the House of Culture of
the Hungarian Optical Works, where TV has a better chance to get a
good kinescope.

Let us now examine some remarkable plays which have been
staged in the provinces:

A) Margit Gaspar: "I Will Deny it if You Talk About it"

A satirical play. It is played in Veszprem and Debrecen,
has opened in Szombathely, and is scheduled in Bekescsaba.

The well-known authoress wrote this play four years ago,
but nobody dared to put on the play until now. The play deals
with a version of the personality cult -- pushed to the peripheries
but just as dangerous: the petty monarch, vest-pocket Machiavellism.
The plot of the play is as follows: there is in Zsomboly, the capital
of County Porosd, a research institute, as well as a clinic. A young
woman doctor is being transferred from the clinic to the research
institute as a company physician; she brings to light why the
extremely talented engineer, whose invention promises to become a
world sensation, has been sidetracked into a library job. The
person behind the whole affair is the manager of the research
------------------------------
(28) Naplo, (Veszprem), 8 January 1967, p. 4.

[page 13]

institute, Ince Zsabka, who, at first, pigeonholes the documents
of the experiments and later tries to use them under his own name
and to his own advantage.

Zsabka impersonates a sectarian cadre type who, in the
Rakosi era, used the methods of that era, and who now uses more
clever and refined methods to fool his superiors.

The Veszprem premiere received extremely good reviews.
The Veszprem Naplo wrote that "this was the most successful
premiere in the past five years at the Veszprem Petofi Theater."[29]
Why? Probably not because of the artistic qualities of the play,
but for its courageous tone and "oppositionist" trend.

TV has reported on the play and the text of the play was
published in the Veszprem Naplo and in the theatrical almanac
Uj Szinhaz. The Association of Dramatic Arts, together with the
Writers' Association, held a conference on the play in Veszprem.

B) Miklos Hubay: "Roman Carnival"

An acrid comedy. Premiered and still playing in Eger.

The title of the play refers to an old Roman custom. Two
or three hundred years ago, at the time of the carnival, it was the
custom to arrange a competition among the lame, blind and other
cripples to amuse the people. Against the background of this old
Roman carnival custom, the play tells a modern story. A great
revolutionary, who happens to be a writer, too, travels through
Hungary. In his honor and to fool him, one of his plays is dug up
and a theater manager orders rehearsal of the play with the pariahs
and wrecks of theatrical life who are no longer active on stage. But
this rehearsal is not followed by a premiere. The pariah actors
again disappear into the misery of everyday life after the carnival
on stage. In this play, Miklos Hubay tries "to search, in a moralizing
self-examination, for those general social and humanistic relations,
which are also characteristics of our era, based on mutual respect
and confidence, the eternal human features, which are regenerating
and acquiring a real meaning in our own era, and with the help of which
the human being -- outcast and hurt in his humanity -- could obtain
and restore his faith in himself."[30]

Although the actual text of the play is not available, we
know that the climax of the drama comes when the visiting revolutionary
and writer gives voice to his political and human crisis. The critics
have praised the drama, but they have also pointed out that "here and
there, there are some points which can be questioned."

------------------------------
(29) Nepujsag, (Heves) 8 January 1967, p. 4.
(30) Nepujsag, (Heves) 8 January 1967, p. 4.

[page 14]

C) Gyorgy Sos: "An Everyday Legend"

The performance of the Kecskemet Jozsef Katona Theater for
TV.

The leading character of the play is an old man who sweeps
the yard of a factory. He is a simple, somewhat primitive old
laborer who has been slapped down by life, who does not have a
beautifully furnished apartment but just one room and a kitchen
which contains only the most necessary furniture. He does not care
about any large-scale saving of the world or artificially created
ideas, he just lives his everyday life, in which Tuesdays and Sundays
and all other days of the week are the same. "I don't remember,"
the critic of the Pest Megyei Hirlap writes, "when I have last
seen such a ruin of a man-in-the-street on stage, in the movies or
on the TV screen in any work by a Hungarian author. It isn't my job
to meet workers and peasants, I wouldn't have believed it, while
watching TV, that there still are, in our own day, such fallen
men-in-the-street who live from hand to mouth, whose supper is just some
potatoes with paprika with the only change that, sometimes, they have
some cheap bacon in the dish to make it a little bit more palatable
and filling. Though Janos Ament (the leading character of the play --
Ed.) is not just a made-up hero and not the only one either. There
are still Janos Aments among us. Quite a number of them. Their
existence was not influenced by the fact that, up to now, we haven't
talked about them, or only did so with moderation..... The Janos
Aments still possess nothing more than their diligence, honesty and
humanity. This is quite a lot but, at the same time, very little, too.
The last two decades have passed them by, almost without a trace."[31]

The play enjoyed such success that the theater and TV network
received hundreds of letters about it. It seems that the play aroused
the interest of Hungarians living in Slovakia, too, because one of
the viewers asked, in his letter, about the possibility of a guest
performance there.

D. Karel Capek-Pavel Kohout: "The Battle with the Salamanders"

This is being played in Miskolc.

The staging of this fantastic play of 50 scenes is a
remarkable accomplishment of the Miskolc National Theater. The play
requires 180 costumes and 100 actors. The Miskolc Theater got a part
of its props directly from-Prague. At present, nine theaters in
Czechoslovakia have the play on their program and the play will be
put on stage in Belgium, Moscow, East and West Germany as well.

The name and idea of the salamanders actually express the
anti-human element. The human being has to humanize himself to
dispel the storm clouds over his head. We mean by storm clouds,
totalitarianism, the danger of nuclear destruction, political neutrality
or pacifism.
------------------------------
(31) Pest Megyei Hirlap, 19 January 1967, p. 4.

[page 15]

We could continue this list of examples with the remark
that, thanks to the Veszprem Petofi Theater, the-revised version
of the dramatic play Moses by Imre Madach(32) was put on stage with
such success that the drama was published in book form as well and,
what is more, the Budapest National Theater plans to stage the drama
as well. The staging of the play Big Family by Laszlo Nemeth was due
to the Veszprem Petofi Theater, too. With this play, the Veszprem
theater also made a guest appearance in Budapest. So much for
premieres.

The provincial theaters, as experimental workshops and
laboratories, add an interesting note of color to Hungarian theatrical
life with their premieres. It is not necessary to point out that
they are quite important as second-run theaters as well. Arthur
Miller appears on their programs just as do O'Neill, Sophocles or
Euripides. 

As a result of the increasing importance of the provincial
theaters, the idea of a festival of the provincial theaters has
presented itself. It is quite possible that the provincial theaters
will be represented, in accordance with their valuable role in
theatrical life, in the Hungarian Drama Festival planned by the
Writers' Association for June 1967.

The Economic Reform Promotes a Healthier Development of Literary Life

Besides political, economic viewpoints, too, have noticeably
come to the foreground in book and newspaper publishing and
distribution. This is quite understandable, because they represent a business
worth billions. About 4,700 works have been published in 1966 in
more than 45 million copies, while the number of copies of the
periodical publications was about 900 million. The high numbers
indicate the billions involved. A regime, which is up against economic
difficulties, can hardly afford to print works for the pulping machine 
or for the sake of filling musty storehouses with publications to
become moldy, all the less since most of these publications are
printed on expensive imported paper.

The best example of how increased consideration is being
given economic viewpoints is to be found in the Party itself. The
Party, where political viewpoints play the primary role, has
nevertheless carried through significant economic measures. The Party ordered,
for example, the revision of the publication and production costs of
the house papers. The result was an extensive rationalization and the
liquidation of some of these house papers, as well as an annual saving
of two to 2.5 million forint. The Party's own publishing firm, the
Kossuth Publishers, in preparing its plan for 1967, took economic
viewpoints into consideration. The firm will publish a new series which
promises "business."
------------------------------
(32) Imre Madach's (1823-1864) drama Moses had three performances
in Kolozsvar (Cluj) in 1888 and a few performances in Budapest
in 1925.

[page 16]

If the Party lays such stress on economic viewpoints
as far as its own firm of publishers are concerned, then those
viewpoints will play an even greater role in those state
publishing firms which are less economical. About 15 years ago,
each publishing house held a monopolistic position, because the
individual firms had exclusive rights to carry out certain tasks
of publication. Today, the various publishers are competing with
each other, because a number of firms carry out the same task. In
the course of the past years, the publishing houses have gotten
a taste of "good business." They found that bestsellers could fill
the company coffers in a few weeks. Thus, for example, only 700
copies of Endre Fejes' Rust Cemetery were published, all copies were
sold out in few days and the Magveto Publishers put a second edition
of 25,000 copies on the market. The novel was adapted for the stage
and brought in foreign currency as well.

The competition between publishers makes it possible for
the writers to take advantage of the increasing possibilities in
writing and placing works.

In addition to book publication, the economic reform will
influence the publication of periodicals as well. It will be
undesirable to subsidize newspapers and periodicals, the maintenance
of which is not backed by vital political viewpoints. Periodicals
will have to depend more and more on their own sources. Thus, for
example, the demand has been voiced in Szeged that the literary monthly
of the South Hungarian group of the Hungarian Writers' Association,
Tiszataj, should be popularized, the number of copies and subscribers
as well as the proceeds should be increased in such a way that the
paper could become self-supporting. This became necessary because
of the economic reform.[33]

The economic reform will also exert an effect on the
distribution of books. For the past three years, the market research
unit of the Information Center of Publishers and Distributors has been
in operation. The significance of the unit will increase as the
result of the reform. Distribution must be adjusted to demand and
demand must be satisfied by means of a more modern apparatus. Because
of this, an attempt is being made to reorganize the distribution
apparatus, to . modernize the bookshops and to cut inventories in
the book storehouses. The moving of material is being done by
outdated methods in the book storehouses. To date, it has been
impossible to use foreign packing machines, because the machines tear
the Hungarian-made pack-thread of poor quality.

The average speed of book circulation in the Hungarian book
trade is 307 days. This speed of circulation means the average time
a book stays in the libraries and bookshops. On the other hand, the
optimal speed of circulation of the American book trade is 105 days.
A Hungarian periodical[34] quotes the American expert, Joseph H.
------------------------------
(33) Caongrad Megyei Hirlap, 27 November 1966, p. 3.
(34) Magyarorszag, 15 January 1967, p. 21.

[page 17]

Houlihan, whose opinion is that the annual turnover of a
wellmanaged bookshop should be three and a half times its stock in
hand.

The Hungarian book trade is far from this optimum. The
reason for this is that books published in large numbers (especially
uninteresting political literature) burden the storerooms and
bookshops for too long a period. The Hungarian book trade can get
rid of this burden only if, after a series of price reductions,
the books are sent to the pulping-mill. Moreover, the primitive
methods of book distribution, used especially in the provinces, will
be ripe for elimination as the result of the economic reform. The
incident in Nagykata is well known, where the customers of the
farmers' cooperative stores, while buying a bathtub, a funeral
wreath or vegetables, were persuaded to buy some kind of a book as
well. [35]

Social development points to pluralism. Among the
various syndicates, the writers, too, have announced their demands
concerning their financial interests. At the Ninth Congress, the
secretary of the Writers' Association, Gabor Garai, demanded a
change in the tax regulations concerning writers. Kadar himself has
acknowledged the justification of this demand. An old grievance
of the writers is that the state takes the best part of the royalties
paid for the publication of their works abroad and their heirs are
cut off with almost nothing.

The above-mentioned facts indicate that the economic reform
is influencing the development of literary life and is turning this
development toward a healthier direction.

Hungarian Unit
(AB)

------------------------------
(35) Pest Megyei Hirlap, 9 December 1966, p. 3.

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