Government Propaganda in Interwar Hungarian Male Juvenile Travel Writing

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/ahea.2025.593

Keywords:

Trianon Treaty, Johnson-Reed Act, juvenile travel writing, Lola Réz Kozáryné, Andor Kun, Gedeon Mészöly

Abstract

The Trianon Treaty of 1920 forced new realities upon Hungarians living in both what was left of Hungary and in the United States, while rising anti-immigrant sentiments in the New World culminating in the passing of the Johnson–Reed Act of 1924 further complicated the situation. With hundreds of thousands of ethnic Hungarians resettling into smaller Hungary from the territories forcefully ceded to the successor states, Budapest was not interested in large-scale remigration from the US. At the same time, American immigration restriction drastically cut off the flow of Hungarian migrants to the New World communities established at the time of the “new immigration.” American popular culture (especially music, movies, and pulp fiction) took Hungary by storm and further strengthened the overtly positive image of the Transatlantic Promised Land. Travel writing continued to play a dominant role in shaping mutual images, and a new subgenre, juvenile male travel literature, emerged. Taking a closer look at the works of Lola Réz Kosáryné, Andor Kun, and Gedeon Mészöly I explain how tourism, romanticized images of the “Other,” and government propaganda mingled in these texts in what seems to be a concerted attempt to help young Hungarians come to terms with interwar political realities.

Author Biography

Tibor Glant, University of Debrecen, Hungary

Tibor Glant majored in History and English at the University of Debrecen and earned an M.A. and a Ph. D. in History from the University of Warwick, UK. He has taught various courses on American history, culture, and film (including US-Hungarian relations) since 1991 in Hungary, England, the Netherlands, Germany, Romania, and the USA. He chaired the North American Department in Debrecen between 2002 and 2017. He took his Habilitation with the University of Debrecen and has served as President of the Hungarian Association of American Studies between 2013 and 2024. He started work as research professor at the John Lukacs Institute of the Ludovika University of Public Service in November 2024. He has published eight books on World War I and the Trianon treaty, American peace preparations during World War I, Hungarian travel writing on the US, 1956 in American memory, and the American adventures and return of the Holy Crown (1944–78). He lives in Debrecen with his wife and daughter. 

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Published

2025-08-25

Issue

Vol. 18 (2025)

Section

Thematic Cluster: The Impact of Johnson-Reed in Hungary: Changing Trajectories and Perceptions. Guest editor: Balázs Venkovits

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Copyright (c) 2025 Tibor Glant

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