BETWEEN BIBLIOGRAPHY AND COLLECTIVE BIOGRAPHY.
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY ROMANIAN POLITICAL ELITE
IN HUNGARY (1867-1918)

Abstract:

How many members of the Romanian political elite from Hungary were book authors? And which were their areas of interest? Is there a relation between authorship and their (sometimes self-assumed) position as national leaders? These are few of the questions to which our research seeks an answer, starting from the methodological principles of collective biography (or prosopography) and applying them to a bibliographical database. The themes of the writings, aside from the subjective point of view given by the prolificacy of certain characters, offer a quite clear image on the education and intellectual interests of the authors. They also allow us to establish a direct connection between one’ place among the political elite and the nature of the books he published. The high percentage of political writings elaborated while holding offices inside the Romanian parties strengthens the believe that we are dealing with members of an elite; though they were not “professional” politicians, they were trying to take upon themselves the responsibilities of politics, even if their professional background and expertise didn’t always work to their advantage. Not least, the fact that the writings mirror the ups and downs of the inner political struggles from the Romanian parties is a strong argument for the methodological validation of our approach.

Keywords:

political elite, Hungary, collective biography, bibliography, books, authorship