Szőnyi, György Endre
Professor
Email:
Office location: Ady tér, III. emelet, Angol Tanszék
Office phone: +36-62-544 030
Personal website: www.staff.u-szeged.hu/~geszonyi
- Degrees: MA (Hungarian and English, József Attila University, Szeged, 1977), studies in Polish philology (ELTE University, Budapest, 1983-85), dr. univ. (József Attila University, Szeged, 1981), PhD (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1993), dr. habil. (ELTE University, Budapest, 2000), DSc (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2004).
- Areas of competence: Cultural History, Intellectual History, Literature and the Visual Arts; English Studies (15-18th centuries; modern and postmodern fiction, especially historical metafiction); Hungarian and Central European Studies; the European Renaissance; cultural and literary theory.
- Areas of specialization: Renaissance studies; Renaissance magic and occultism with their antecedents and developments till the (post)modern age; the semiotics and iconology of early modern culture.
György Szőnyi joined JATE (the predecessor of the University of Szeged) in 1977 and since then he has been member of the English Department here. Since 2006 he has been enjoying a shared part time position between the Medieval Studies and the History Departments of the Central European University, Budapest, too. At the University of Szeged he also functions as the director of the English and American Literatures and Cultures PhD study program as well as the Hungarian and Central European International Studies Center.
Important scholarships: IREX (USA, 1984); Fulbright (USA, 1986/87, 2004); Mellon (Germany, 1995; USA 2001); Alfried Krupp Senior Fellow, Collegium Budapest Institute of Advanced Study (1998/9); Leverhulme Visiting Professor, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge (2009).
Guest lecturerships / guest courses: University of Warsaw (1980-82); Elon University (USA, 1987); University of Hull (1993); University of Vienna (1996); University of Turku (2000); University of Milan (2002); University of Kansas (2004); University of Salzburg (2005, 2006); University of Warsaw (2008).
- Research interests and work in progress: Two books in the making:
1/ Exaltation and Power. Studies in Early Modern Hermeticism and Magic; 2/ The Enoch Readers. Apocalypticism and “Ascension on High” From Biblical to Postmodern Times.
- Publications: His recent monographs include Gli Angeli di John Dee (Rome: Tre Editori, 2004); Pictura & Scriptura. 20th-Century Theories of Cultural Representations (in Hungarian, Szeged, 2004); John Dee’s Occultism (Albany: SUNY Press, 2004).
He has also edited among others: “Lights and Shadows on the Frontier of Europe. Studies in Late-Renaissance Hungarian Culture,” special issue of Hungarian Studies 10.2 (1995); European Iconography East & West. Selected Papers (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996); The Iconography of Power: Ideas and Images of Rulership on the English Renaissance Stage (with Rowland Wymer, Szeged: JATEPress, 2000); “Not of an age, but for all time”: Shakespeare across Lands and Ages. A Festschrift for Holger Klein (with Sabine Coelsch-Foisner, Wien: Braumüller Verlag, 2004); “The Voices of the English Renaissance,” special issue of The Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies 11.1 (2005); The Iconology of Gender (with Attila Kiss, Szeged: JATEPress, 2008). Since 1998 he has been editor in charge of the series Ikonológia és műértelmezés Iconology and Interpretation and Papers in English and American Studies (both published in Szeged by JATEPress). He is on the editorial board of Aries (E. J. Brill) and several other national and international journals.
- Theses topics offered:
- BA: English literature (16-18th century), British arts and music, (post)modern historical fiction.
- MA: English literature (16-18th century), the mediality and semiotics of culture, (post)modern historical metafiction, English literature and the occult, the university novel.
- PhD: English literature (16-18th century), the mediality and semiotics of culture, (post)modern historical metafiction, English literature and the occult, the university novel.
- Past theses supervised:
- Lilla Kopár, The iconography of Viking-age stone sculptures: visual evidence of religious accommodation in the Anglo-Scandinavian communities of Northern England (PhD, defended in 2003)
- Róbert Péter, The Mysteries of English Freemasonry (PhD, defended in 2006)
- Miklós Péti, Homérosz-értelmezések a 16-17. századi angol irodalomban (PhD, defended in 2007)
- Kata Koncz, The Nation Through the Signs (MA thesis, 2006)
- Gyöngyi Marsi, The Role of Parody in 18th century English Novels (MA thesis, 2006)
- Tamás Szabó, How Handel Became and English Composer? (MA thesis, 2006)
- Csaba Maczelka, Steps Toward an Ecocritical Approach of Milton’s Lycidas (MA thesis, 2006)
- László Maczelka, The Role of Knowledge in British Urban Novels (MA thesis, 2007)
- Ágnes Pap, Cultural Heritage and National Identity (MA thesis, 2007)
- Zsuzsanna Balog, Musical Scenes in William Hogarth’s Painting (MA thesis, 2007)
- Gábor Dénes, The Nature of Power in Hobbes’ Philosophy (MA thesis, 2008)
- Gabriella Hodován, Charles Rennie Mackintosh (major paper, 2008)
- Zsuzsanna Tóth, The Charm of Innocence. Representation of Children in British Art from the Middle Ages till the 18th Century (major paper, 2008)
- Teaching this academic year: British Arts and Music 1 (from Stonehenge to the 18th century); Cultural Memory and the Memory of Culture: The Pullman Reader; Hungarian Floklore and Music History (for the Hungarian Studies Center)
