Great Expectations and Interwar Realities

Title: Great Expectations and Interwar Realities
Subtitle: Cultural Diplomacy in Horthy's Hungary
Author: Zsolt Nagy
Price: € 146,00 excl. VAT
ISBN: 9789633861943
Format: Hardback
Number of pages: 368
Language: English
Publication date: 15 - 07 - 2017
Dimensions: 15.9 x 23.4 cm
Categories
Discipline: History, Art History, and Archaeology
Imprint: CEU Press
Also available as: eBook PDF - € 145,99

Table of Contents

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Acronyms and abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction

Chapter 1. Mobilizing the Nation: From War Propaganda to Peacetime Cultural Diplomacy and Beyond
From the Emergence of Wartime Propaganda to the Changing Nature of International Relations
Hungarian Dreamland and Its Destruction, 1918–1920
Hungary, 1920–1927: From Turmoil to Consolidation
1927: Opening a New Phase
Stages of Traditional and Cultural Diplomacy, 1927–1941
Conclusion

Chapter 2. Defining the Nation
National Identity before the Nation-State?
Post-World War I Crisis of Culture
Hungarian Nemzetkarakterológia
Main Themes and Topoi
Conclusion

Chapter 3. Educating International Public Opinion: Cultural
Institutions and Scholarly Publications
Institutions
The Hungarian Reference Library
Academic Publishing and Lectures
Conclusion

Chapter 4. Showcasing the Nation: The Role of Tourism
The Hungarian Tourist Industry and the Image of Hungary before Trianon
“A Country without Mountains or Sea”: The Reorganization of the Hungarian Tourist Industry after World War I
Tourism Propaganda and the Constant Problem of Image
Competing Mental and Physical Landscapes of Hungary’s Tourist Image
1938: Hopes, Disappointments, and Change
Conclusion

Chapter 5. Becoming Audible and Visible: Radio Broadcasting and Cinematic Production in the Service of Cultural Diplomacy
Radio Broadcasting: Providing Voice for a Nation
Radio: Cultural Diplomacy’s Sharpest Weapon
Domestic Challenges: The Hungarianness of Hungarian Radio
Challenges to the Radio’s Foreign Policy: From “the Battle of Radio Armaments” to War
The Birth, Destruction, and Rebirth of the Hungarian Movie Industry, 1896–1929
Celluloid Résumés: The Role of Kulturfilme and Newsreels
Conclusion

Conclusion

Bibliography
Index

Zsolt Nagy

Great Expectations and Interwar Realities

Cultural Diplomacy in Horthy's Hungary

After the shock of the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, which Hungarians perceived as an unfair dictate, the leaders of the country found it imperative to change Hungary’s international image in a way that would help the revision of the post-World War I settlement. The monograph examines the development of interwar Hungarian cultural diplomacy in three areas: universities, the tourist industry, and the media—primarily motion pictures and radio production. It is a story of the Hungarian elites’ high hopes and deep-seated anxieties about the country’s place in a Europe newly reconstructed after World War I, and how these elites perceived and misperceived themselves, their surroundings, and their own ability to affect the country’s fate. The defeat in the Great War was crushing, but it was also stimulating, as Nagy documents in his examination of foreign language journals, tourism, radio, and other tools of cultural diplomacy. The mobilization of diverse cultural and intellectual resources, the author argues, helped establish Hungary’s legitimacy in the international arena, contributed to the modernization of the country, and established a set of enduring national images. Though the study is rooted in Hungary, it explores the dynamic and contingent relationship between identity construction and transnational cultural and political currents in East-Central European nations in the interwar period.

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