ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a concerted effort by the recently established Hungarian Learned Society (Academy of Sciences) in the 1830s and 1840s to commission and publish translations of classic and recent works in the arts and sciences as a means of improving vernacular language, culture and the overall conditions of the country. The documentation of the project allows a comprehensive assessment of dominant views on what, why and how to translate in an era crucial to the rise of modern Hungary. The analysis of the many translations published in the Academy’s journal Tudománytár (Repository of Learning), intended as a window open for the educated public to the progressive world, shows the possibilities and the limitations for the journal to fulfil this function. The chapter also contributes to the discussion about continuity and transition between the Enlightenment and the age of liberal reform.
