Debrecen could also be the “gateway to Transylvania”, the cultural center of the region
Transylvanian Demeter Szilárd, writer, publicist, political analyst, director general of the Petőfi Literary Museum, and ministerial minister was the guest of the May 27th public meeting of the Partium House. At the meeting, the Director General spoke about the role that music plays in his life, how he took the path of writing, what he learned from the Reformed Bishop László Tőkés, and why he thought Debrecen would be significant as a cultural center. The director General Kiss Fruzsina from Pesti Tv spoke.
The compulsion of a dictatorship
At the meeting, the audience could hear stories from the now 45-year-old publicist childhood, the time of the Ceausescu dictatorship. They learned that the music in the political analyst was presumably planted by folk songs sung by his mother and grandmother, that instrumental play was necessary for flirtation, and it also turned out that books and writing still play a significant role in his life today. “I love to read, I’m a reader, and that’s because of Ceausescu communism.” There was no internet then, no television. However, the book was easily and cheaply available, he recalled, adding that reading was a kind of breakout opportunity in their lives.
After winning the Tiszatáj short story competition at the time, unexpectedly for him, he kept writing to order, and he really enjoyed the task, despite his expectations. “When I write, I get into an ecstatic state in the philosophical sense of the word, so I’m projected on my own,” he shared with the audience, noting that since he’s been a director-general, he doesn’t have the full immersion he needs to write.
Humor is a leadership tool
Szilárd Demeter previously worked with the Reformed Bishop László Tőkés. As he said, he learned from him, “if you know you’re right, you can’t tip you off balance”. He also mentioned as an important teaching (though he had a hard time accepting) that “you have to go ahead and then Good God will create the ingredients”. He emphasizes that he also attaches a significant role to his sense of humor because of his relationship with the bishop. “It could be a leadership tool, I had to figure it out,” he said.
Inevitably, there was a remark at the meeting about the appointment of the director general, which said that Szilárd Demeter would “dump 80 percent of Hungarian literature.” He still claimed: I say what every critic of something thinks, he just doesn’t dare say. He noted that there are those who, without giving a voice, but agree with him, and of course there are those who, out of the space he manages – not based on party ideology – completely leave because of his view.
Must be made available
Debrecen, as a continuously and dynamically developing city, could even be the cultural center of the region. Demeter Szilárd parallels his former idea that Oradea should be the “gateway to Transylvania”, saying that it is important to fill the blanks of our mental map so that not only the starting point and destination but also places where we do on the way it is worth stopping. In the field of light music, the idea of Oradea even worked, as many bands touring designated the local Moscow Café as a stop, but in other areas the cultural central character of the city did not unfold. According to Szilárd Demeter, Debrecen will absorb the entire Partium over time, but he also emphasized the need to pay special attention to the cultural catching up of small settlements. In his words, access to culture must be granted.
BBI