Hungarian

Introduction to the basic structures of the Hungarian language. Students with a schedule conflict should consult the instructor about the possibility of adjusting hours.

Further develops a student's knowledge of the Hungarian language. Students with a schedule conflict should consult the instructor about the possibility of adjusting hours.

Further develops a student's knowledge of the Hungarian language. Students with a schedule conflict should consult the instructor about the possibility of adjusting hours.

Advanced Hungarian Grammar focuses on the more complex syntactic/semantic constructions of Hungarian in addition to vocabulary enrichment. Readings in literature, oral presentations, translations, and essays serve to enhance the grammatical material.

W3341y has an emphasis on rapid and comprehensive reading of academic materials. In addition to weekly readings, oral presentations and written essays serve to improve fluency in all aspects of Hungarian.

This course introduces students to representative examples of an essentially robust, reality-bound, socially aware literature. In modern Hungarian prose fiction, the tradition of nineteenth-century "anecdotal realism" remained strong and was further enlivened by various forms of naturalism. Even turn-of-the century and early twentieth-century modernist fiction is characterized by strong narrative focus, psychological realism, and an emphasis on social conditions and local color. During the tumultuous decades of the century, social, political, national issues preoccupied even aesthetics-conscious experimenters and ivory-tower dwellers. Among the topics discussed will be "populist" and "urban" literature in the interwar years, post-1945 reality in fiction, literary memoirs and reportage, as well as late-century minimalist and postmodern trends.

Hungarian cinema, like film-making in Czechoslovakia, underwent a renaissance in the 1960's, but the Hungarian new wave continued to flourish in the 70's and film remained one of the most important art forms well into the 80's. This course examines the cultural, social and political context of representative Hungarian films of the Kadarist period, with special emphasis on the work of such internationally known filmmakers as Miklos Jancso, Karoly Makk, Marta Meszaros, and Istvan Szabo. In addition to a close analysis of individual films, discussion topics will include the "newness"of the new wave in both form and content (innovations in film language, cinematic impressionism, allegorical-parabolic forms, auteurism, etc.), the influence of Italian, French, German and American cinema, the relationship between film and literature, the role of film in the cultures of Communist Eastern Europe, the state of contemporary Hungarian cinema. The viewing of the films will be augmented by readings on Hungarian cinema, as well as of relevant Hungarian literary works.