Editorial Strategies of Hungarian Women Editors in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

While significant research has been done on periodicals for women readers published in Hungary in the second half of the nineteenth century, little is known about the editors of these periodicals. This article offers a brief discussion of how Hungarian women’s editorial strategies differed from those adopted by their male colleagues. It argues that although periodicals edited by women tended to feature more female literary authors than those edited by men, they generally had no aim of creating a female group consciousness. The essay then goes on to focus on one significant exception, the first periodical edited by a woman in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Emília Kánya's (1828–1905) Családi Kör [Family Circle] (1860–80), which, on the contrary, connected its marketing strategy with female community building. The analysis draws on insights from the fields of women’s studies, history of literature, and history of journalism.