Hungarian Conservative

One of the most beautiful castles in Hungary is the snow-white Brunsvik Castle designed in neo-Gothic style in Martonvásár. The Brunsviks, a Hungarian aristocratic family, transformed a swampy and barren wasteland into an idyllic English garden here, where their friend Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music, often visited them.

Speaking at the EU-PED Day of the university, on which all educators working in Hungarian-language tertiary education are celebrated, Mihály Varga reminded that the goal of the government with the transformation of higher education and the introduction of dual education was for universities to become ‘intellectual centres that define and broaden the country’s development opportunities.’

Losing the World War and the experience of the Treaty of Trianon triggered a discourse in Hungarian public life that was not without precedent, but had never been so vehement before. Perhaps the opinion of many was reflected by the renowned writer Ferenc Herczeg, who declared that ‘Europe, free press, liberalism—all these are slogans that have deceived us.’

The following are poems by cross-border Hungarian poets translated into English that originally appeared in a 2019 anthology published by Hungarian Review.