Hungary

Many factors determine a literature’s reception. It is a complicated phenomenon, theoretical approaches which touch on linguistics and literary theory.

But its practical side cannot be reflected upon independently of the publishing industry, translations, the book trade and advertising, literary criticism and the state of German area studies in the recipient country.

A reception also depends on the quality of the literature being received. In the last twenty to twenty-five years, a paradigm shift took place in German literature that is not entirely coterminous with the change in generations. The great poets of the former BRD and DDR who are still present – such as Martin Walser, Günter Grass, Siegfried Lenz and Christa Wolf – wrote important works during this period. The next generation, authors born in the mid- or late forties, often choose the past as their topics. A change in perspectives is noticeable concerning the National Socialist past; the earlier thesis of collective German guilt is being rethought. The new generation of authors, born in the second half of the ‘eighties, no longer lives in the paranoid situation of a divided country, and is no longer personally affected by World War II, but rather by the Balkan conflicts. Germans are able to view themselves ironically from the outside and to allow others to do so. Other peoples’ cultures and relationships with them are gaining a new significance, because the works of this new generation of writers belong in a part to intercultural literature. Today, only a few would deny that this literature is part and parcel of contemporary German literature. The question is therefore to what extent is contemporary German literature – one of the most interesting and important literatures today – present in Hungarian intellectual and cultural life, to what extent is it being assimilated or can it be assimilated?

Compared with previous years, the Hungarian reception of contemporary German literature in the last twenty years reveals a multifaceted picture. In the past, the publishing industry was able to issue classical literature and modern classics and keep pace with contemporary literature, thanks to state subsidisation. After the transformation, readers’ habits also changed, and therefore the situation of the publishers, too. But contrary to all expectations, this change was not unambiguously positive. The dissolution of state supervision of the publishing industry, the elimination of political obstacles, and the introduction of free intercultural relations ought to have stimulated reception. But this was not the case, at least between 1990 and 2000. Miklós Gyorffy observed sadly in his lecture Unsere sichtlose Weltliteratur (i.e., our sightless world literature) that “German-language literature of the ‘eighties and ‘nineties remained practically unknown in Hungary.“ The numbers show this, too: between 1990 and 1999, in other words within nine years, 40 books of classical German-language poetry and fiction appeared in Hungarian translation; books from Germany, Switzerland and Austria. But the situation changed between 2000 and 2008: about 80 works of the last 20 years were translated and published. The publishers evidently are more interested in works from the last eight years and in new authors. German statistics also point out this: in a 2008 statistical study, Hungary is among the top ten countries that purchased licences for German books. This naturally sounds very encouraging, but what is less pleasant is the fact that, with the exception of a few publishers (such as Európa, Magveto, Jelenkor) no criterion for book selection is apparent. In spite of this, it can be said that some important representatives of contemporary German literature are present on the Hungarian book market with one or more titles.

The following names should be mentioned without claiming to provide a complete list and without comment: Günter Grass, Martin Walser, Siegfried Lenz, (Christa Wolf has been forgotten by the Hungarian publishing industry), and representing the next generation, W. G. Sebald, Bernhard Schlink, Christoph Hein, Daniel Kehlmann, Ingo Schulze, Zsuzsa Bánk, Terézia Mora, and Sasa Stanisic.

Another segment in the reception picture is the reader himself, who – if he does not understand the foreign literature’s language – must rely on the translator. If the translation is of poor quality, the work cannot achieve its goal, that of drawing attention to its theme. It can be said of the translators of contemporary German literature that – with a few exceptions – they can succeed completely. The overwhelming majority follows the Hungarian tradition of translation, and this holds for translators of literature of the last twenty years as well. But a good translation is useless if the reader remains uninformed about the book’s existence. In the course of reception, literary criticism - book reviews - whose task is to draw attention to the book, play an important role. They are important because they are eagerly read by potential readers. The cultural pages of Hungarian daily newspapers deal with literature only to a meagre extent, and German books are even less frequently reviewed. Magazines play a far more important role, of whom a few – such as Magyar Lettre International, Magyar Narancs starting in 2000, and Muút, which has appeared starting in 2007 – also seek to promote German culture and literature by publishing entire original texts or excerpts, and also thematic overviews, studies or interviews. It is a pity that these texts have little influence on a wider readership, because they only appeal to a limited stratum of experts.

However, there are other encouraging signs in the area of promotion and dissemination. At the Budapest International Book Festival, German literature enjoys as much attention as other foreign literatures (First Novel Festival). Just as Hungary was the guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1999, Germany was given this position – in response – in 2004 in Hungary. This was not without effect, and made itself evident in the number of works newly published and in the media. Unfortunately, one could not always detect this influence in the selection of books, however. The Hungarian publications and the dissemination of German literature are supported by the Goethe Institute, on one hand with financial grants and on the other with projects such as “Literature in Motion,” with public readings by authors and discussions.

No clear-cut answer can be given to the question of whether one may speak of a Hungarian reception of contemporary German literature. To be sure, important works are being published, but it is clear that they cannot achieve the intensity of effect that our tradition, the points of intersection of our present, contemporary German literature, and the two-decades-long triumphal success story of Hungarian literature, would command in Germany. This ambivalence has diverse causes: among others the general situation in Hungary, the economic, intellectual and cultural situation, and the recent distancing of Hungary. Last but not least, current fashion should be mentioned: the predominant Anglo-Saxon orientation in every area of life is gradually displacing German culture, which has been an organic and natural part of Hungarian intellectual life for centuries. But fashions come and go, and the economic situation can change. The publication of German-language literature can be fostered by good work in the publishing business and with the help of specialists working in the area of German culture, and with the new generation emerging from the universities, and not last through personal contacts.