Oldal 20 [20]
Introduction
The figure of Mate Latvija is thus placed next to other female representations of na¬
tions, but her characteristic Latvian features are also emphasized.
The third chapter, entitled Reinterpreting Eastern Pasts for Show, studies a par¬
ticular aspect of modernity which involved the show of cultural differences in large¬
scale exhibitions, their cultural-political contexts and their varying impact on their
audiences. Miklös Székely’s “From Figure to Pattern: The Changing Role of Folk
Tradition in Hungarian Representations at Universal Exhibitions (1867—1911)”
surveys the practices of putting Hungarian national and rural tradition on show.
The author analyzes the role of universal exhibitions as a new phenomenon in the
secularized and industrialized society in the late nineteenth century, together with
their new form of architecture like “light structured pavilions.” Referring to Bjarne
Stoklund, Székely suggests that the organizers of the national sections of such ex¬
hibitions again and again had to answer the challenge of acquiring “commercial
and cultural advantages for their country by creating an original and distinctive
image of the country.” Such efforts of country-branding often appeared, as Székely
stresses, in the form of the show of historical traditions, especially peasant culture
considered to be a “primary national symbol” of the exhibiting countries. The au¬
thor tells us how the interest in (a rather Romanticized) peasant culture appeared
at the first universal exhibitions (1851—1860s), and how a historicizing national
self-representation reached its peak at the so-called Millennium Exhibition of 1896
in Budapest, aiming to celebrate the conquest of the lands and the foundation of
the Christian kingdom of Hungary in the early Middle Ages. This festivity, having
a very Hungarian national aspect, offended many of the different ethnic groups
living in the territory of the country. The aim of such universal exhibitions was
to enhance foreign appreciation for Hungary as a legally equal partner of Austria
within the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Székely’s study estimates the results as
well as the limits of those efforts. Miloslav Szabé’s “Invasion of ‘Judeo-Magyars’?
The Hungarian Millennium of 1896 in the Anti-Semitic Caricature” examines the
Hungarian millennium celebrations of 1896 from a different angle. His analysis fo¬
cuses on the celebrations by which the Hungarian establishment hoped to impress
other European countries, but which also turned out to be an opportunity for the
Hungarian and Austrian Catholic and Christian socialist propagandists who dis¬
torted as “Jewish” the recent liberal legislation on civil marriage and the equality of
Judaism with other denominations. Founding its analysis largely on the concepts
of W. J. Thomas Mitchell and the so-called pictorial turn, Szabé shows us how the
opposition press in Hungary and Vienna launched an anti-Jewish campaign against
the millennium celebrations that was largely based on images. Anti-Semitic political
caricature is taken for analysis from anti-liberal Hungarian, Slovak, and Austrian
satirical magazines like Herké Pater, Cernoknaznik, and Kikeriki!, published around
the time of the millennium celebrations. Szabé investigates why political caricature
is particularly suited to projecting collective identities and their alleged “Others,”
and pinpoints how closely images interact with language, processes of visualization,