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Hungarian Rhapsodies: Essays on Ethnicity, Identity, and Culture
Like the renowned American writer Edmund Wilson, who began to learn Hungarian at the age of 65, Richard Teleky started his study of that difficult language as an adult. Unlike Wilson, he is a third-generation Hungarian American with a strong desire to understand how his ethnic background has affected the course of his life. "Exploring my ethnicity," he writes, "became a way of exploring the arbitrary nature of my own life. It was not so much a search for roots as for a way of understanding rootlessness - how I stacked up against another way of being." He writes with clarity, perception, and humor about a subject of importance to many Americans - reconciling their contemporary identity with a heritage from another country.
From an examination of photographer Andre Kertesz to a visit to a Hungarian American church in Cleveland, from a consideration of stereotypical treatment of Hungarians in North American fiction and film to a description of the process of translating Hungarian poetry into English, Teleky's interests are wide-ranging. he concludes with an account of his first visit to Hungary at the end of Soviet rule.
From an examination of photographer Andre Kertesz to a visit to a Hungarian American church in Cleveland, from a consideration of stereotypical treatment of Hungarians in North American fiction and film to a description of the process of translating Hungarian poetry into English, Teleky's interests are wide-ranging. he concludes with an account of his first visit to Hungary at the end of Soviet rule.
256 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1997
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March 22, 2025
Like the author, I am a 3rd generation Hungarian American from Cleveland. My paternal grandparents came to the US in 1907. Family lore has it that they met on the boat.
Unlike the author’s grandparents, my grandfather never looked back. He never lived in the Hungarian neighborhood, never joined the Hungarian Scouts, didn’t read the Hungarian newspapers, etc.
But I find my curiosity about my heritage is similar to the author’s, except that I have no personal reference points. So I found the book enjoyable, riding along as the author explores various aspects of Hungarian-ness.
My favorite essay is the story of St. Elizabeth’s church and the struggle to keep the mission going long after all its Hungarian parishioners have moved out to the suburbs. When is it time to move on, to let go, to make room for something new? What should be preserved? For whom?
Apparently the St. Elizabeth’s community has found its answer, at least for now. Thirty years after the book, they still have daily mass.
Unlike the author’s grandparents, my grandfather never looked back. He never lived in the Hungarian neighborhood, never joined the Hungarian Scouts, didn’t read the Hungarian newspapers, etc.
But I find my curiosity about my heritage is similar to the author’s, except that I have no personal reference points. So I found the book enjoyable, riding along as the author explores various aspects of Hungarian-ness.
My favorite essay is the story of St. Elizabeth’s church and the struggle to keep the mission going long after all its Hungarian parishioners have moved out to the suburbs. When is it time to move on, to let go, to make room for something new? What should be preserved? For whom?
Apparently the St. Elizabeth’s community has found its answer, at least for now. Thirty years after the book, they still have daily mass.
Displaying 1 of 1 review