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“THE ‘ETERNAL CANDIDATE’ — THAT WAS ME”: INTERVIEW WITH KAROLY BARD regret I did not study history. I truly believe that you can only do good science if you are well versed in things historic. So there is a simple answer: I’m interested in this topic and I had never dealt with it in depth before. And perhaps I needed a new area of research, having already written too much on criminal procedural law. V. Z. K.: You defended your doctoral dissertation at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences last year, entitled Victims’ dignity and defendants’ rights. Reading the reviews I was struck by the impression that I think radiates beyond your dissertation and perhaps characterizes your entire career. Let me tell you my impression and correct me if I’m wrong. The disputants say that while your familiarity with international literature is impressive, you did not reflect on the Hungarian scholarship or the domestic legal practice to the degree expected. (This criticism is also voiced in respect of your earlier works). I jotted this down and then took another look at your CV and came to the conclusion that you really liked living in Budapest, but on an intellectual level, you were more at home in the international scholarly community. You never left Hungary for too long, but your scientific work took you to the most renowned international institutions, such as the UN, the HEUNI or the OSCE. Am I correct? K. B.: The disputants were right: I should have reflected more on Hungarian scholarly findings. As far as your conclusions are concerned, I can only say, I really liked travelling abroad before the change of political regime. It’s true that I couldn’t stand conferences and the small talk between presentations, and instead of going to the conference reception and dinner I usually retreated to my room to read. But I loved real academic work. I was often abroad and worked for several international organizations and thus had a considerable international network. Alas, my foreign colleagues are getting older and going into retirement, so this network is starting to wane. In Hungary, however, I dropped out of academic life in 1990 with my position at the Ministry. Next came COLPI, where I spent half of the week abroad and although I was quite frequently at ELTE, I lost touch with a lot of Hungarian colleagues. I didn’t have particularly strong ties to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, either, | was not present in Hungarian academic life, for at CEU it is basically only the publications in English that count. This is why I submitted my doctoral dissertation this late. Still, I don’t think I could ever leave Hungary. V. Z. K.: Speaking of the criticism your work received, let me ask one last question on this point. Your colleagues routinely stress that your writing is extremely clear, smooth and exciting. It is not uncommon for lawyers to nurture literary ambitions that are clearly discernable from their writings. Does this apply to you? How do you see yourself: as a lawyer with a writing gift, or a writer who chose law as his muse? K. B.: ’m a slow writer and I never wanted to write literature. It’s just that I truly believe that it is possible to write plainly about complex professional issues without + 39 +
