József Zelnik graduated from the Temesvári Pelbárt Franciscan Secondary School in Esztergom in 1967. In 1973 he graduated as an ethnographer at the Eötvös Lóránd University. From 1973 he worked as a staff member of the Néművelési Intézet (Hungarian Institute for Popular Culture). Already in the early 1970s, he became involved in the emerging movement for intellectual-cultural-political renewal. His views have been greatly influenced by Eric Voegelin, Martin Buber, Simone Weil, Hans Jonas, Dante, Adolf von Harnack and Paul Feyerabend.
His family background, university education and connections predestined him to focus his research on the transformation, renewal and disappearance of traditions, traditional forms and values. In the 1970s, he became a pioneer in the study of folklore in Hungary, and for a decade he was a dominant figure in this field. (Folklore becomes folklore when it appears in contexts to which it did not originally belong, such as television contests, the works of professional artists, etc.). His interest in this area was also shaped by his openness as a researcher to the culture-shaping influence of traditions and modern means of communication. His early editions were aimed at preserving and protecting the traditional cultural assets that still existed (Régi és új formák [Old and New Forms] in 1977, Régi famesterségek [Old Wooden Crafts] in 1981, Gyermeki játékok [Children's Games] in 1982). He organised national and international conferences on the theme of folklore (e.g. UNESCO International Workshop Meeting on Traditional Culture and Creativity Today–1982, Kecskemét), and edited volumes in English (Tradition and Creativity) and in Hungarian (Hagyomány és kreativitás [Tradition and Creativity]). In 1983, he co-edited the volume Folklór és kulturális alternatívák (lit. Folklore and Cultural Alternatives) with Péter Niedermüller. He also edited the Folklorizmus Bulletin (lit. Folklorism Bulletin) periodical and the series Folklór, társadalom, művészet (lit. Folklore, Society, Art). In 1983 he wrote his doctoral thesis [CSs level] A magyarországi folklorizmus (lit. Folklorism in Hungary).
His interest extended to communication theory from the 1980s. In his book, A video világa (lit. The World of Video) (1984), he explores the new technical–communication form from video technology to video art. In 1988, he became an associate professor at the University of Applied Arts, where he was asked to develop and launch a curriculum for the programme of video art.
He has regularly raised his voice against the superficial, stereotypical and often false nature of mass media and contemporary festive and festival culture. He recognised that "the attraction to tradition, the recognition of the standardizing role of industrial civilisation and mass communication, the rise of ethnic consciousness, the demand for cultural pluralism are all symptoms of a great sense of inadequacy. We must see, however, that these experiments will remain a utopia until they are able to make us aware of the essence of their pitfalls."
In his book of essays Az ünnep megszállása (lit. The Occupation of the Feast), published in 1989, he implanted the Barthesian and Baudrillardian semiotic, modern mythological research stream of contemporary cultural studies into the Hungarian academic milieu. These essays explore and present the manipulative power and mechanism of political power and tools of mass communication via case studies, such as the part-folk-art productions for the 60th birthday of Mátyás Rákosi [a communist politician who was the de facto leader of Hungary from 1947 to 1956], or the semiotic analysis of the album dedicated to the dictator. Already during the socialism of the 1980s, Zelnik openly stated that communist cultural politics had created its own political religion, including its leadership cult, by using Christian and national symbols. He also pointed out that the television representation of the ‘folk art renaissance’ that began in the 1970s was in fact manipulative, created based on the editors' preconceptions, which was nothing other than the ‘folklore of folklore’. At the same time, he pointed out that the image of ethnic identity thus presented in art also primarily represents the interests of political power and is in opposition to authentic ethnic identity.
From the 1990s onwards, his writings, in addition to the semiotic, folkloristic research aspect, emphasise ecological thinking and his own unique scientific-thinker literary style, often with transcendence at its centre. His books and writings are deeply rooted in Christian culture, revealing his own world view and the (patriotic) educational intentions he wished to pursue through it.
When, for example, he writes large-scale works on the mysticism of wine (Zarándoklat a borhoz [lit. Pilgrimage to Wine], 2000; A nagy szertartás [lit. The Great Ritual], 2010), he gives a cultural history of wine under the auspices of different cultures and religions, and also, in his own words, "invites his readers on a spiritual pilgrimage" by exploring, among other things, the characteristics of the Egyptian, Babylonian and Jewish religions. He also introduces the reader to the mysteries of symbols and the contemporary longing for transcendence in today's materialist-dominated world, and its wild rampages such as the legend of the Grail, Freemasonry and black magic. He writes about the wine of the profane world, while at the same time revealing its transcendent framework and connections, the sacred content behind wine as symbol.
He then produced a summary such as Negyven év után (lit. After Forty Years), in which he explores what he calls the ‘folk art renaissance’, a complex cultural movement that started in the early 1970s as a grassroots initiative, returning to tradition, which movement he was personally a part of, a point of orientation and an ideological shaper. However, in his writing he does not focus primarily on the well-known Táncház (dance-hall) movement, but points to its broader context: the "nomadic generation, opening the doors of the sky" and its antecedents (Károly Kós [architect, 1883-1977]), which discovered old and new values and forms in traditions that were doomed to death under the conditions of communism, which destroyed tradition, transcendence and national consciousness, and which manifested themselves in literature, architecture, music and art. He also refers to the tendencies in architecture, the precursors of organic architecture (the art of Imre Makovecz [1935-2011]; György Csete [1937-2016] and his tulip decoration, which sought to relieve the inhumanity of prefabricated houses, and the resulting 'tulip controversy', which was not purely aesthetic), and to his literary connections (Sándor Csoóri [1930-2016], László Nagy [1925-1978]). As early as 1981, he stressed that the 'nomadic generation' was not just a fashionable phenomenon. As he said during the Kádár era, “at first glance it seemed that these were limited role-plays, but at first glance it was also apparent that these roles evoked a way of life. Their essence was not an irrational longing for the empty props of past life models, but an identification with the values of their own inner world, an identification with the better forces that were organising the world around them, which was emptying out [...] The folk-art movements of the 1970s were an attempt to restore the festivities." Similarly, he pointed out that it would lead to false results if we started to analyse the dance halls without their social and political connotations: “it is becoming increasingly clear that we were wrong to see and perceive this movement only in its relation to folk art, and that we were always picking at this one thread. It is worth asking whether this youth movement was a desertion or a quiet, withdrawn construction. Is it just a hiding place for small communities where a desire for identity can form, albeit within a narrow circle, the pillars of security and freedom?"
The 2006 Tengerkönyv (lit. Book of the Sea) is a spatial, intellectual and cultural wanderings triggered by the Adriatic environment, evoking Kodály [Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer, 1882-1967], Ferenc Deák [Hungarian politician, 1803-1876], Moses, Salvador Dalí, among others, as well as earlier periods and events in Hungarian history, while the fate of the Hungarian people, the rescue and revival of Hungarian culture, and the renewing power of traditions remain at the centre of the intellectual plane. His reflections do not become superficial or one-sidedly influenced by emotions, but through the often temporally and spatially distant fabrics of culture he educates, teaches and awakens self-knowledge.
Already in 1988, ahead of his time, he turned to ecological thinking when he wrote in A dolgok fájdalmas természete (lit. The Painful Nature of Things) that "the modernization paradigm is now being replaced at an ever-increasing rate by the ecological paradigm. And in terms of this paradigm shift, neither uncritical lovers nor unloving critics are of any relevance." His book, A zöld ember (lit. Green Man) was published on the tenth anniversary of the Ökotáj magazine, which he edits. The publication includes Zelnik's writings for this journal, along with some older and more recent essays originally published in earlier books or in newspaper articles. The book is a synthesis of Zelnik's ecological system of thought, which sees the household of our earth as a unified whole, where cultural processes have a decisive influence on the ecological balance. The writings cover a broad spectrum from sacrality to symbolism to politics, bound together by a creative thinking responsible for the cultural and natural environment.
In his writings, József Zelnik regularly holds up a mirror to readers and society, while at the same time challenging the oversimplifying, false cultural images and interpretations of culture. He draws attention to the ideology- and nature-destroying effects of the contemporary materialist-dominated world, to the fact that "we must not fall into the delusion that the correct interpretation of the world has been developed today, or, on the other hand, that the world has become the most spiritually and psychologically sick by now [...]. The question is whether this is the first time in history that this situation has arisen, or whether it always occurs before every great spiritual and mental change of world historical significance." Zelnik, however, does not stop at simply complaining about the quality of culture and listing the grievances, but seeks to find those responsible, the responsible spirit(s) of the time, the responsible historical periods, the responsible social strata, naming not only the political elite of the time, but also the responsibility of the intelligentsia: "we intellectuals do not really understand either how, in the face of so much misfortune, the country still functions, and how this people, God-given, can still decide so wisely in the most dangerous moments. Perhaps it is because it is God-given, because it is certainly not because of what it gets from us intellectuals [...] I believe that the Hungarian intelligentsia has never been in such a position in history like today, when they could not understand the essence of world processes and the local issues that follow from them."
In 2007 he was awarded the Cross of Honour in Italy for Testamen, Leonardo evangéliuma (lit. Testamen. Leonardo’s Gospel), his work of existential philosophy and literature is unique in its genre and character. The story thread, strung along the anatomical drawings of Tibor Kiss graphic artist from the autopsy room, is ostensibly a work of fiction, presenting Leonardo's 'found' gospel, revealing his inner struggles with himself, with Satan, historical figures of the time and figures from the past. The book, composed of dreams, diary-like entries, dialogues and fragments of thoughts, is in fact a fiction, twisted several times and set outside of timelines, not primarily a work of literature, but a reflection on the concerns of existence formulated in Hungary at the turn of the millennium. It is about whether mankind has a future, whether our ties that bind us to nature are definitively severed by denying God, by black magic or by cloning.
József Zelnik's studies and books are never dry professional works, but readable, literary-style overviews for researchers and interested laypeople, balancing on the border of ethnography, theology, literature, art history and cultural history, which at the same time teaches and awakens the reader to the spiritual and moral state of himself and our culture, to the natural and cultural trends of the world around us. Protecting the destiny and culture of Hungarians, nurturing a healthy national consciousness, the awareness and focus on our values, remain at the heart of his writings throughout. As he says in the Book of the Sea, “there must be a Hungarian Agartha, like the great mythological Agartha, where, during centuries of crushing, the Hungarian sages have, with ant-like diligence, dragged down our spiritual and intellectual treasures, and the time has come to go and get these values, and some have already begun this work”.
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Since the 1970s, József Zelnik has also been active in cultural activities. He was the founder of the Fiatalok Néművészeti Kollégiuma (Folk Art College of the Youth) in 1973. Its activities led to the publication of the first books on the movement in the second half of the 1970s (Táncház [lit. Dance Hall]; Nomád nemzedék [lit. Nomadic Generation]; Húzzad, húzzad muzsikásom [lit. Play your Fiddle, Musician]). In 1977, together with László Nagy (poet, 1925-1978) and Sándor Csoóri (poet, 1930-2016), he succeeded in getting the Deputy Minister of Culture to launch the Élő népzenei antológia (lit. Antology of Living Folk Music) and from then on, they continued to publish folk music records in Hungary. They also organised folk art camps or workshops (e.g. Tokaj Artists' Camp, Magyarlukafa Artists' Camp, Kecskemét Ceramics Studio, etc.).
From 1986, as head of the Közművelődési Információs Vállalat (KIV) (Public Culture Information Company), they organised weekly dance workshops at their headquarters, the Selyemgombolyító [once an industrial building, now a cultural venue]. He succeeded in getting Hungarian Radio to broadcast their folk music evenings live, practically turning the company into a workshop for folk music and dance house. Under his management, the Selyembombolyító became a legendary "cultural citadel", reviving Hungarian folk traditions and making its values public. Today it houses the largest ecological collection in Central and Eastern Europe, with more than 8,000 volumes.
He played a major role in the launch of Duna TV [a Hungarian public television channel]in 1992, where he was president in 1992-1993. He was one of the initiators of the Bethlen Gábor Foundation and one of the participants in the Lakitelek Consultation, and in 1992, together with Tibor Gyurkovics [Hungarian writer, poet, psychologist, 1931-2008], they conceived the idea and plan of establishing the Hungarian Academy of Arts.
Member or leader of several professional and public organisations. From 1989 he was president of the Hungarian Chamber of Culture (later Hungarian Cultural Association), member of the board of the Hungarian Cultural Society, participated in the work of the Országos Rádió és Televízió Testület (ORTT) (National Board of Radio and Television), vice-president of the Hungarian Wine Academy. He has received prestigious awards. He is the only Hungarian holder of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Knights Templar, he has been awarded the Patria Prize, the Cross of Honour, the Balassi Prize, the Tokaj Writers' Camp Prize and the Hungarian Heritage Prize.
József Zelnik's career – in the words of István Bakos, who praised him – is characterised by his knowledge of our past, his efforts to preserve values, and his intention to renew, enrich and universalise Hungarian culture.
[2016]