Zsófia GOMBÁR (University of Aveiro, Portugal)

Anthologies of British Literature in Portugal and Hungary between 1949 and 1974


The aim of the present paper is to compare anthologies of British literature published in the two countries when both lived under different forms of dictatorship simultaneously. The initial year of the investigated time span marks the Communists’ final takeover of the Hungarian book industry, while the closing year denotes the end of the rightist dictatorial regime in Portugal. The paper contrasts the number of anthologies as well as the lists of selected authors and their works. Furthermore, it also attempts to provide possible explanations as to the two regimes’ different selection criteria with regard to certain British authors in the light of contemporaneous literary-critical discourses.