Focus [antikvár]

Preface It was in 1995, when JPU Department of English celebrated its silver jubilee, that the idea of launching a series of departmental publications was conceived. The fourteen papers collected in the present volume called Focus: Papers in English Literary and Cultural Studies at JPU form the first issue of what is planned to be a biennial series. Among the authors there are present and former colleagues as well as scholars from other Hungarian or foreign institutions who contributed to our work by giving occasional lectures or teaching courses here as visiting professors, and some of the authors have been our students. The volume intends to demonstrate how teaching and research have influenced each other and jointly enriched the development of the Literature euid Culture Sections of JPU Department of English in recent yeeu-s. From July 1998 these sections will continue their work together and independently of the other units involved in educating English majors, under the name Depeu-tment of English Literatures and Cultures. A greater specialization of research activities within this combined area will probably be facilitated by the change, leading to a renewed urge to publish the results of ongoing scholarly inquiry. Many thanks to the authors and the co-editors for their valuable cooperation as well as to László Komlósi, head of JPU Department of Enghsh and János Majdán, director of University Press Pécs, who have supported the publication of the volume. Mária Kurdi Associate Professor May 1998