Wissensräume aufschließen
Unlocking Knowledge Spaces

Summary/Abstract: German studies as a university subject has been represented in Hungary since the 18th century (!). In 1784 Josef II ordered the establishment of the Department for German language and literature at the university of the Hungarian capital Pest. This department is considered to be the second oldest in the world (after the one founded two decades earlier in Vienna). German studies in Hungary can therefore look back on very long traditions. It may also have something to do with the fact that it is represented by Hungarian researchers who have made a name for themselves in European German studies. The goal of the following article is to review and discuss the celebratory publication dedicated to the recognized Hungarian Germanist, scientist and university professor Erzsébet Drahota-Szabó Kulcs a világhoz: Drahota-Szabó Erzsébet köszöntésére. Key to the world: Festschrift for Erzsébet Drahota-Szabó. The title of the publication shows the intertextual reference to Wilhelm Humboldt’s famous thesis that language is a key to the world. The volume sees itself as a key with which access to certain areas of knowledge, as elements of the world, is made possible.The volume contains in total twenty contributions, written in German and Hungarian, that are thematically linked to the research and teaching of the jubilarian. The knowledge elements contained in them relate to comprehensive scientific or research areas, such as German as a foreign language, (foreign language) teacher training, as well as multilingualism and translation. The authors of the contributions focus on different perspectives from which the listed topics and areas are dealt with (e.g. contrastive, didactic, literary and historical perspectives) and relate their investigations to different languages (in addition to German to Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian). This creates complex, diverse networks between the contributions, which are to be uncovered in the following review article. The readers of the review article not only gain an insight into important research areas of German studies, including those represented by the jubilee, but they should also be encouraged to take the Festschrift into their own hands and to interact with the authors of the articles and with the jubilarian herself scientifically “to exchange” ideas and thoughts.

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