From the Dawn of history all Slavic peoples and in general the peoples of Eastern Europe have suffered more than any others from aggressive imperialism. It was against them that the notorious Drang nach Osten of the Germans was directed, particularly dangerous when backed by one of the successive Reichs. It was Eastern Europe with its predominantly Slavic populations which always was the first and sometimes the only victim of a long series of Asiatic invasions through the open gate between the Urals and the Caucasus. And though the Ottoman Turks at the height of their power reached as far as German and even Italian borderlands, they conquered exclusively and threatened chiefly Slavic and East European countries. Finally, these same countries used to be the first affected when Venice or Sweden played the part of great powers.

The Recent Publication of Journey for Our Time; the Journals of the Marquis de Custine, has served the purpose of reawakening interest in the conflict between East and West which existed a century ago. In some respects, a comparison with the present “cold war” is in place. Thus Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith, in the introduction, points to certain similarities in the status of the Tsarist Empire around 1839, as reported by de Custine, and the Russia of our times.

Separately considered, the journals of the Marquis de Custine perhaps give an impression of uniqueness which is not warranted. The French nobleman was not the first in his own generation to point to a supposed Russian threat. Nor was he an isolated prophet in a wilderness, calling for some sort of European unity or alliance against the Muscovite menace, personified in the glacial figure of the Russian autocrat, Nicholas I.

Intercultural Relations are only now becoming the concern of foreign offices and other governmental bodies in the new world. In Central Europe they have long played a part, and especially so for the Hungarians. Lying as they do on the strategic divide between the Slavonic and Teutonic worlds, yet being neither Germanic nor Slavic, their problem has been one of national survival amidst two great conflicting currents. Further, Hungary's policies have been influenced by the conversion of her people to Rome instead of Byzantium in the tenth century. This fact has caused her to adhere traditionally to the civilization of Western Christianity and to claim membership in this cultural area. While the motivating forces in Hungary's intercultural efforts may have varied from time to time, their origin may ultimately be traced to these two main sources.

When Rumanians are asked, “Are there any great comic writers in Rumanian literature?” there can be no question that most of them think first of Caragiale. If I were asked, “Who is the most original of Rumanian writers?” I should be tempted to answer likewise: “Caragiale!” Perhaps what I should really mean is that his writing is exceptionally vivid and vital, so that through him Rumania, and especially Bucharest, of the late nineteenth century lives in the imagination with an intensity and individuality such as that, for example, with which another great comic writer, Mark Twain, has endowed the Mississippi Valley of a slightly earlier period.

Ion Luca Caragiale was born on January 29,1852, in a Wallachian village not far from Ploesti. His father was one of three brothers who were all connected with the theater, but had left the stage years before, divorcing his actress wife and marrying a country woman. While I. L. Caragiale was still a small boy, the family moved into Ploesti, and it was there that he went to school.