From hungary-online-owner Tue May 16 12:18:13 1995 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id MAA18587 for hungary-online-out31415; Tue, 16 May 1995 12:18:13 -0700 Received: from localhost (daemon@localhost) (fnord) by nando.yak.net (8.6.5/8.6.5) id MAA18578; Tue, 16 May 1995 12:18:02 -0700 Received: from jhorv@mars.iif.hu () via =-=-=-=-=-= for hol@hungary.yak.net (18574) Received: from mars.iif.hu (mars.iif.hu [192.84.225.92]) (fnord) by nando (8.6.5/8.6.5) with SMTP id MAA18569 for ; Tue, 16 May 1995 12:17:45 -0700 Received: by mars.iif.hu (5.67a8+/ULTRIX-1.01) id AA20437; Tue, 16 May 1995 21:16:35 +0200 Date: Tue, 16 May 1995 21:16:33 +0200 (MET DST) From: John Horvath To: Hungary On-line Subject: (HOL) Cold War in Hungary Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Charset: US X-Char-Esc: 0 Sender: owner-Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net Anyone interested in reading a manuscript on the Cold War in Hungary (1948-68)? Actually, this manuscript has a history of its own. Originally, I had written it as a doctoral thesis for the History Department at ELTE. I had started work on it in November 1991 and submitted it May 13, 1994 (unintentionally, that date happened to be Friday the 13th). According to letter I had received concerning my PhD, the thesis and defense all had to be completed by November 1994; thus, I was happy at having half a year left with which to prepare. And now half a year has passed since the deadline, and the thesis still has not made its way through the university bureaucracy. I was fortunate enough to receive one opponent's appraisal -- albeit, a couple of months after the deadline; but the other seems to be taking as much time as it did to write the thesis itself. Now I make it part of my routine to drop by ELTE once a month to see if an appraisal has happened to have mysteriously found its way through. And, as always, the answer remains the same: no. I can't help but wonder what kind of process organizing the defense will have to go through. What is amazing is that the deadline is something set by ELTE and which the said university did not keep. I've reminded them of the fact that I have kept my part of the bargain, and I've been curious as to what will happen. After all, it will be almost a year late (at the earliest). But, in their stoic sort of way, they've continuously reassured me that it will be "no problem". Maybe it won't. However, somehow the whole thing has become a bit of an anticlimax, so I don't really give a damn anymore. Still, I feel a little sorry that the effort that went into writing a history of the Cold War in Hungary should go to waste. At first I was thinking of selling it; break it up into smaller essays and offer them as ready-made szakdolgozats for undergraduates. I quickly dropped the idea because I realized that such an action is no better than intellectual prostitution, of which the world abounds nowadays. So, I'm left with a thesis, still waiting for a day that most likely will never come. Perhaps I'll scrap the whole idea of a PhD -- anyone interested in publishing a book? Or if anyone is interested in just reading something for the sake of reading, please let me know. I will be more than happy to let you have a copy. The manuscript is about 120 pages long; I can send a print file by e-mail (zipped and encoded). If you are interested, send a short message by e-mail to jhorv@mars.iif.hu I would appreciate very much any comments and/or criticisms that you may have, so that if I am able to publish it I can make the necessary revisions or, on the chance that I will actually have the opportunity to defend it, I will be able to prepare myself accordingly. Thanks and bye for now, John :) ############# # This message to Hungary-Online@hungary.yak.net # was from John Horvath # # To unsubscribe, # send "unsubscribe" to # An announcement-only subscription (less volume) is available # at # Send mail to for more information, # or to if you need human assistance. #############