Description
Book SynopsisWhat does it mean for someone or something to be Hungarian? People in Hungary grappled with this far-reaching question in the wake of the losses and transformation brought by World War I. Because the period also saw the rise of cinema, audiences, filmmakers, critics, and officials often looked at films with an eye to that question, too. Did the Hungary seen on screen represent the Hungary they knew from everyday life? And-crucially-did the major role played by Jewish Hungarians in the film industry make the sector and its creations somehow Jewish rather than Hungarian? Jews, it was soon decided, could not really be Hungarian, and acts of Parliament soon barred them from taking major roles in cinema production. This book tells the troubled story of that period in Hungarian cinematic history, taking it up through World War II.
Trade ReviewBAFTSS 2018 Best Monograph Runner-up. Comments by the panel: "The subtitle of the book strikes at the heart of Gergely’s concerns both as a critique of the cinema and as an appraisal of the gap in much of the extant academic literature. What is a real pleasure within the book, though, is the extent to which the author is keenly aware of the general ignorance around Hungarian culture for his mainly English-speaking readership, and as a history book more generally, the texts sits well alongside the style of cultural historians like Arthur Marwick. As such, this book speaks across disciplines and is truly enlightening."
Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Key Concepts in Pre-1945 Hungarian Cinema Chapter 2: A Contested Film History Chapter 3: An Industry Emerges 1931-1935 Chapter 4: Boom, Crisis and Anti-Semitic Reorganization 1936-1941 Chapter 5: From War Boom to Bust 1941-1944 Epilogue: Industry Reboot and the Myth of a New Start 1945-1947 Concluding Remarks
