Népiblog

The authors of this volume were not only evoking the past, but also intending to start over. After the change of regime, the former popular movement, and then the popular-national movement that succeeded it, was exhausted and lost not only its connection with the present Hungarian reality, but also with its own past. At first, the water of the formerly abundant spring only became scarce, and now it has become irrevocably muddy. The popular movement used to be a swelling stream of young intellectuals and peasants, but today it barely blinks, and members of the younger generations know nothing about it.

We believed that three basic things needed to be clarified. First of all, what do we think about the past of the popular movement, what do we consider valuable to preserve, and what do we think should be of interest only to historians. On the other hand, we considered language renewal to be fundamental: the preservation of the traditions of demanding Hungarian prose, but at the same time the communication of modern, high-quality content. And thirdly, we aimed to revive the sociographic tradition, which activity has become extremely important again nowadays, although in our opinion it has never really become obsolete.