Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

In my presentation, I examine how a Transylvanian Hungarian weekly newspaper (published between 1830 and 1844) sought to encourage its readers to travel, and how it attempted to teach them how to perceive and appreciate nature through the travelogues published in its columns.

Paper long abstract

The first Hungarian political weekly newspaper in Transylvania was published in 1827 (under the name Erdélyi Híradó [Transylvanian News]). Its co-journal, Nemzeti Társalkodó [National Conversationalist] (1830–1844), dealt with issues of public education. Reflecting on the popularity of travel in the 1830s, the editors and authors of the paper sought to encourage Hungarian readers in Transylvania to travel as well. They presented this as an important intellectual goal of the era, as the underlying purpose was to create a thorough description of the country. At the same time, however, these narratives also sought to teach their readers how to prepare for and carry out their travels and how to enjoy nature. They listed and highlighted which elements of nature were worth paying attention to, what was worth seeing, visiting, and recording in their travelogues, or what they should ask others, the representatives of local knowledge, about. The travelogues were mostly written by people who can be identified as pioneers in the field of folk literature or later collectors of folklore. The travelogues typically only allowed for the appearance of certain folklore genres (such as historical legends, descriptions of customs, etc.).