Letter FromrnHungaryrnby Thomas MolnarrnCulture vs. ColonizationrnEastern Europe’s adversary today, nowrnthat communism is dead, is the melangernof brutal liberalism pouring in as an ideologicalrnmenace from America. Thosernwho will shape the new Eastern Europernwant very much a renewal of culturalrnlinks with the West, but they alreadyrnsense that a severe selection will have tornbe effected in the list of its Greek gifts,rnwhich create, as in ancient Troy, distrustrnas much as gratitude. The reestablishmentrnof cultural links is by necessityrnpoliticized to some extent, since thoserncalling themselves “nationalists” or “populists”rnhave a different view of culturernand politics than those calling themselvesrn”liberals” or “cosmopolites.”rnI lowever, culture (which next to politicsrnis the great force) remains and respectrnfor culture is pervasive enough torninspire hope. While political events arernliterally devilish—the Slovaks have dug arnnew channel for the Danube, ruiningrnparts of northern I lungary; Armenia andrnAzerbaijan are still at war; conflicts betweenrnGermans and Poles, Croats andrnSerbs go on, etc.—culture emerges as anrnexpression of supranational solidarity, orrnat least of exchanged glances and wordsrnbeyond borders. Vaclav Havel made arnbeautiful speech as a new foreign memberrnof the French Institut des sciencesrnpolitiques et morales (Mgr. Ratzinger,rnPrince Charles, and the King of Spainrnare also honorary members) in which hernwarned public figures against the hubrisrnof rushing time, of impatience, of universalrnplanning. (Arc you listening PresidentrnClinton, Fukuyama, tutti quanti?)rnNo week goes bv in any of the region’srncapitals or even secondary centers withoutrnthe holding of an international symposium,rnwhere the important thing isrnnot what is produced but the reality ofrnwarming relations among strangers, evenrnenemies. The various nations’ culturalrnembassies are reactivated; the Italiansrnand the French send lecturers, exhibits,rnwhole programs, and invitations withrngenerous scholarships; governments offerrnlavish tours to foreign specialists andrnjournalists; even lurkey recently invitedrnviewers from as far as Chile to inspectrnthe new finds at Ephesus, one of Christianity’srnbirthplaces.rnThe political intention is never too farrnfrom these official occasions, but let mernemphasize again that after a half-centuryrnof hibernation they open uprnnew channels for friendship and, for thernlocals, give a feeling of acceptance andrnreintegration. Within the circle of largerrnevents, sponsored by governments, foundations,rnand businesses, there are thernsmaller ones, organized by religious authorities,rnwhich permit the chronicling ofrnthe suffering under Marxist regimes. Inrnthis respect, the communist regimes hadrnan intriguingly selective policy in culturalrnmatters that many have come to praisernin retrospect. The enormous loans thesernregimes had taken out from internationalrnbanks led, in part, to the domesticationrnof intellectuals: books were widelyrnand lavishly published, while underpriced;rnconcerts and exhibits were favoredrnwith heavy royalties and underpricedrntickets; the restoration of oldrnbuildings, including medieval ruins, proceededrnvery well, employing areheologistsrnand historians. Publishers and impresariosrnprofited considerably, as didrnthe cultured classes, except of course thernmultitude of those who refused to sellrnthemselves.rnToday’s cultural life suffers from reductionsrnin all these fields, and publishersrnhave three choices: get out of business;rnsell their firms to book speculatorsrnwho then convert them into video storesrnor market the cheap junk that floods inrnfrom the West; or vie for the modestrnmanna that some banks and the governmentrnhand out twice a year to facilitaternthe publication of some 300 titles judgedrnto be meritorious, although not necessarilyrnfinancially profitable. This situationrncreates strange occurrences. Myrnfirst book sold out in two months (1,500rncopies), but the second received norngovernment backing, with the argumentrnthat its 3,000 copies would sell anywavrnon the market. But nobody denies—inrnEurope, not America—that culturalrnmatters need government support.rnWhether in Prague, in Warsaw, in Kiev,rnin Budapest, bookstores are numerousrnand full of customers, though they arernforced to choose among relatively fewrnofferings: publishers are unable to payrnfor works, local and imported. Nevertheless,rnscholadv and scientific books ofrnsuperb quality appear, not in the largerrnstores but as academy publications (withrna separate, although also reduced, budget)rnand in hole-in-the-wall shops wherernonly the cognoscenti go to browse andrnpurchase at prices too high for local readers.rnUnder these circumstances two phenomenarnmay be observed, one sinister,rnthe other promising. The first is the vastrndisaffection from reading and the eonsequentrnturn to junk, VCRS, bad films,rnworse-than-Woodstock festivals: a subculturernthat attracts questionable elementsrnand lowers taste. The presence ofrnthese hooligans is known to all societiesrn(because thev spend a lot of money),rnbut in transition periods thev constituterna class among which crime flourishes.rnOn the other hand, there is an eliternvouth, purposeful, of sure taste and remarkablernculture, whose conversation isrna delight and whose aspirations are ofrnthe highest. Correcting exam essays, Irnfound my students at two universities tornbe not only accomplished writers, butrnquasi-ready scholars whose work could bernsubmitted to high-caliber journals.rnWhen a 20-vear-old blond girl, besidesrnbeing pretty, devotes 18 pages to Hegel’srnanalysis of Spinoza’s pantheism, andrnwith sustained argument, you feel thatrnyour professorial career has been recompensed.rnOne conclusion that may be derivedrnfrom these observations is that class differences,rnwith a new democratic basern(students recruited, at university level,rnwith regard onlv to their preparation andrnworth), will again be the central featurernof Eastern Europe. One way or another,rnthe Geistlich again predominates, whilerneconomically the area develops into arnfree-for-all, on the model of Western industrialrndemocracies. Thus parallel to arnsavage liberal economics, there are alsornthe beginnings of a talent-led culturalrnnetwork, also international and very selective.rnThis network is fighting for survivalrnagainst the encroachments of therneconomic argument, powerful in impoverishedrncountries. One example: Irnlearned from the I lungarian Minister ofrnSchools and Culture himself that underrnWestern pressure (in reality the blackmailrnof offering or withdrawing aid) hisrnministry is preparing a new academicrnprogram and curriculum. According tornWestern “advisors,” the country mustrninflate the number of students at its uni-rn’ersities and academies from the currentrnII percent to at least 30 percent. Thisrnmeans, of course, the dilution of the pro-rnNOVEMBER 1993/43rnrnrn