The New Past and Future

Short summary of articles
Journals subsequently canonized by history for their importance generally claim their privileged position on account of the labor of those prominent persons who not merely published their works in, but who wrote specifically for the journal and for the cause such publication stood for, works created within the productive dialogue characterized by the tension of the insider and the external author "for hire".

Such flagship and prominent role were those of Endre Ady and Nyugat, Avigdor Hameiri and our predecessor József Patai, editor of Múlt és Jövő. Such mutually and consciously chosen roles have been emphatically underlined by the publication of special issues during the lifetime of these authors.
The legitimization of our 20 year existence is linked in such way to Ágnes Heller.
All comparisons are somewhat forced and superficial, yet are suitable for highlighting characteristic features, as well as their shades. The pole bearers of Hungarian culture have been traditionally its poets -- uniters of the thought (philosophy) and lyric (music)-- and the discourse and value system of the genius of the nation centered around them. Ady laid the foundations of contemporary Hungarian life and culture, his good friend and follower Hameiri performed this function a continent away, in Palestine and Israel -- but no such classical role would be accorded to a a Jewish poet in Hungary. This is still the case. On the other hand, the role available is one of analysis, criticism, the freedom and fate (or fatelessness) of being concurrently an insider and perennial outsider. This is the role that crystallized in the ouvre of Ágnes Heller -- on occasions at a level of poesis, at a level affecting most (indeed all) continents -- and more renowned and respected outside of Hungary than within.
Her first manuscript reached us from New York, our first personal meetings took place in various borrowed apartments in Budapest. For us, the greatest honor was the ability to participate in the process of her homecoming, while we, as well as our readers, were able to be liberated through her to the world, of which she is a global intellectual emissary. Fully cognizant of this privileged and honored position and using her 80th birthday as a mere excuse, we dedicate this issue, in lieu of a Fetschrift, to express our gratitude to her.
The issue is led off with pieces by the living members of the Budapest school comprising her narrowest circle of friends, György Márkus ("I will not ask for a tuition refund") and Mária Markus ("In search of a (lost) home"), addressing the uniqueness of the ouvre and that of the experience of the friendship and community. The missing (live) member, Miháy Vajda, is represented by his daughter, Júlia Vajda, with an interview focusing on her professional interest, the psychosis of the Shoah, addressing the painful experience of a loss of a father, constituting the connection to the life experience of the feted person. Mária Ludassy, former student of hers, longtime friend and faithful excursion companion, sheds light on the relationship of Heller and French philosophy in her essay titled "Heller and the new Héloise". Steven Ascheim, professor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem dedicates his essay "Hannah Arendt in Jerusalem" to Heller whom he met at an Arendt conference he organized. The younger generation of Hungarian philosophers are represented by János Boros "Narrative philosophy: Essay on Ágnes Heller" and Erzsébet Rózsa "Individual freedom: the benefit and threat of modernity" . The poet Zsolt Kántor pays tribute to Heller in a piece title "Áges Heller--essay in 80 sentences". Ancient friends Marianna D. Birnbaum and Norbert Kerényi provide personal reflections. A relatively new but devoted friend, László Bitó, analyzes the responsibility borne by Hungarians and Christians in connection with the Shoah in an essay bearing the title "For the 80th birthday of Ágnes Heller’s everlasting youth".

In this special issue, Ágnes Heller, too, is represented in two articles addressing topics that are important to us. In "Witness, witnesses, eyewitnesses," she critiques with friendship the Judaism related essay written by two younger colleagues, György Tatár and György Gábor. Her other contribution is from her book on historical novels, a chapter on the representation of the persecution of Jews. Our new section "Family portrait" presents the everyday life of Ágnes (Sára Zorándy). Moreover, as the village of Nagybörzsöny has become such an important setting of her life, another photo essay present her rural settings (Andor Gábor Tooth). János Kőbányai examines the perennial and ever lively nostalgia for New York and Jerusalem in his photo report. This issue illustrated with poems by -- Ágnes Heller’s (and her father’s) favourite poet --, Dániel Berzsenyi. In the annex, we present what may constitute the first fully comprehensive bibliography for Ágnes Heller. This collection of the impressive ouvre, including their numerous foreign translations, has been assembled by Eszter Dallos.

Qty

Content

Berzsenyi, Dániel: To the Hungarians

Berzsenyi, Dániel: Philosophy

Márkus, György: I don’t want the school fees back

Márkus, Mária: In search of a home

Steven E. Aschheim: Hannah Arendt in Jerusalem

Boros, János: Narrative philosophy: An essay on Ágnes Heller

Ludassy, Mária: Heller and the New Héloise

Júlia Vajda: “And then came the instant draft card for forced labour”: the Holocaust trauma of losing your father

Rózsa, Erzsébet: Individual freedom: the benefits and threats of modernity

Zsolt Kántor: Ágnes Heller – an essay in eighty sentences

Birnbaum, Marianna D.: Hommage a Ágnes Heller

Norbert Kerényi: Ági Heller, as I see her

Bitó, László: On the eightieth birthday of Ágnes Heller’s everlasting youth

János Kőbányai: Eternal nostalgia: New York and Jerusalem. Photo reports

Ágnes Heller: The witness, the witnesses, the eye witnesses

Berzsenyi, Dániel: Hungary

Ágnes Heller: Violence

Berzsenyi, Dániel: Youth

Zorándy, Sára: Family photo 1

Gábor Andor Tooth: Family photo 2

Eszter Dallos: An Agnes Heller bibliography.

János Kőbányai: Szerkesztő az olvasóhoz

Order

Here you can order books published by Past and Future Publishing House (Múlt és Jövő)

	journal \| book \| authors \| about us \| news \| links \| Foregin Rights \| Hungarian