Istvan Schutz - follower and developer of the Hungarian tradition in Albanology

Abstract

The Hungarian professor István Schütz is well-known in the field of the modern Albanology and he is the most famous representative of Albanology in Hungary. His interests on Albanian began since 1948, when he was assigned in teaching Hungarian to the first Albanian students attending the university in Hungary. Since that time, he engaged himself passionately in learning Albanian and became an expert of this language. For more than 40 years, he teaches Albanian at the University of Budapest and keeps alive the tradition of Albanological studies in his country, which has had old ties with Albania.

Produce of his long experience as a professor of Albanian is his recently published work, Albàn nyelvkönyv (The Book of Albanian), Balassi Kiadó, Budapest, 2002, 177 p. This manual provides not only the good knowledge on necessary elements of Albanian, but also much information on the Albanian civilization. Prof. István Schütz has also completed a big Albanian-Hungarian dictionary, which is expected to be printed soon building this way a linking bridge between the Albanian and Hungarian cultures.

Prof. István Schütz is evaluated by Hungarian scientific critics as a regenerator of the tradition of Balkanological studies in Hungary. Also, he has addressed one of the crucial questions of Balkanistics: the enigma of Albanian-Rumanian relations of the early medieval times. It has been time that the researchers have noticed a range of concordances and similarities between Albanian and Rumanian and various hypotheses have been articulated for their explanation.

The Hungarian Albanologue has carried out serious researches in this field and has brought forward new elements that attest the influence of Albanian language and folkloric culture on Rumanian ones. These researches are presented in the monography Fehér foltok a Balkánon. Bevezetés az albanológiabá és a balkanisztikába (Blank Spots in the Balkans) Balassi Kiadó, Budapest, 2002, 223 p. which has been evaluated by critics as a work of international standard that fills a vacuum.

Prof. István Schütz is well known in the scientific circles of Albania and Kosova, where he has participated in various scientific activities such as conferences reading papers of great interest. We can mention the one dealt in depth with, "Songs of the Frontier Warrior", which has drawn the attention of many other researchers. As it is known, a similar cycle is found at Bosnians and hypotheses have been raised on the Albanian, Bosnian or mixed source of this cycle.

In the Workshop of 2007 on Albanian language, literature and culture, István Schütz held a conference on this subject where he draws the attention on some data that attest the ancientness of the a large number of this cycle's songs in Albania. With these contributions, Prof. István Schütz occupies an honorific place in the modern Albanology.