The context and subtext of Ignác Goldziher’s memorial lecture on Ármin Vámbéry

Abstract

AbstractThis article analyzes Ignác Goldziher’s portrayal of Ármin Vámbéry in his memorial lecture of 1915. Goldziher positioned Vámbéry, his teacher, as a Jewish Hungarian nationalist Orientalist and a foundational figure to Hungarology. Through this portrayal Goldziher opened the door to the notion that he, too, was like Vámbéry, a nationalist Hungarian Orientalist, despite the fact that his own work did not contribute to Hungarology, and did not display nationalist and patriotic tendencies as did Vámbéry’s. Goldziher’s portrayal of Vámbéry, thus, is a part of Jewish apologetics that emerged as a response to growing anti-Semitism during the early twentieth century.