Outline for a History of Romanian Literary Criticism. Searching for Criteria

This study is part of a broader research effort, seeking to plan a future history of Romanian literary criticism. However, for the time being, I’ve restricted the framework of my discussion to an analysis of the solutions provided by the previous approaches. Thus, I have noted that the preceding drafts for a history of Romanian literary criticism can be included in four categories: histories of critical „species” (theory, essay, serial writings, literary history etc.), histories of literary movements (Sămănătorism, Modernist, Postmodernist etc. criticism), histories of critical „models” (which follow Maiorescu’s, Lovinescu’s, Călinescu’s posterity etc.) and histories of critical „concepts” or „problems” (the discipline’s statute, aesthetic autonomy, sequence of methods etc.). The conclusion of my article is that none of these criteria meets the necessary conditions in order to describe systematically the phenomena and processes applicable to the evolution of Romanian literary criticism. Instead, I propose a history of critical paradigms, which I intend to develop in a future article.

Keywords: history of Romanian literary criticism, critical „species”, critical „models”, critical concepts, critical paradigms.

Cambridge History of Literary Criticism, 9 vols. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.

Călinescu 1941 = Călinescu, G. Istoria literaturii române de la origini până în prezent / The history of Romanian literature from its origins to the present. Bucureşti: Fundaţia pentru Literatură şi Artă „Regele Carol II”.

Cornea 1978 = Cornea, Paul. Conceptul de „istorie literară” în cultura românească / The concept of „literary history” in Romanian culture, in Conceptul de „istorie literară” în cultura românească / The concept of „literary history” in Romanian culture. Study and anthology by Paul Cornea. Bucureşti: Editura Eminescu, p. 7-115.

Crohmălniceanu 1975 = Crohmălniceanu, Ov. S. Literatura română între cele două războaie mondiale / Romanian literature between the two World Wars, vol. III: Theatre and literary criticism. Bucureşti: Minerva.

Fotache 2009 = Fotache, Oana. Divanul criticii. Discursuri asupra metodei în critica românească postbelică / The couch of criticism. Discourses regarding the method in postwar Romanian criticism. Bucureşti: Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti.

Gallagher 1997 = Gallagher, Catherine. The History of Literary Criticism. “Daedalus”, 126/1, p. 133-153.

Grigurcu 1981 = Grigurcu, Gheorghe. Critici români de azi / Romanian critics from today. Bucureşti: Cartea Românească.

Lefter 2000 = Lefter, Ion Bogdan. Recapitularea modernităţii. Pentru o nouă istorie a literaturii române / Revising the modernity. For a new history of Romanian literature. Piteşti: Paralela 45.

Lovinescu 1926/1981 = Lovinescu, E. Istoria literaturii române contemporane / The history of contemporary Romanian literature, vol. I [= vol. I. Evoluţia ideologiei literare / The evolution of literary ideology; vol. II: Evoluţia criticii literare / The evolution of literary criticism]. Bucureşti, Minerva.

Lovinescu 1937/1990 = Lovinescu, E. Istoria literaturii române contemporane 1900-1937 / The history of contemporary Romanian literature 1900-1937. Afterword by Eugen Simion. Bucureşti, Minerva.

Lovinescu 1943/2009 = Lovinescu, E. T. Maiorescu şi posteritatea lui critică / T. Maiorescu and hist critical posterity. Ed. by Viola Vancea. Foreword by Alexandru George. Bucureşti: Editura Institutului Cultural Român.

Manolescu 2008 = Manolescu, Nicolae. Istoria critică a literaturii române. Cinci secole de literatură / The critical history of Romanian literature. Five centuries of literature. Piteşti: Paralela 45.

Mihăilescu 1976 = Mihăilescu, Florin. Conceptul de critică literară în România / The concept of literary criticism in Romania, vol. I. Bucureşti: Minerva.

Mihăilescu 1979 = Mihăilescu, Florin. Conceptul de critică literară în România / The concept of literary criticism in Romania, vol. II. Bucureşti: Minerva.

Negoiţescu 1991/2002 = Negoiţescu, I. Istoria literaturii române (1800-1945) / The history of Romanian literature (1800-1945). IInd edition. Cluj-Napoca: Dacia.

Terian 2009 = Terian, Andrei. G. Călinescu. A cincea esenţă / G. Călinescu. The fifth essence. Bucureşti: Cartea românească.

Simion 1971 = Simion, Eugen. Evoluţia conceptului de critică / The evolution of the concept of criticism. In De la T. Maiorescu la G. Călinescu. Antologia criticilor români / From T. Maiorescu to G. Călinescu, vol. I. Realized by Eugen Simion. Bucureşti: Editura Eminescu, p. ix-xxxv.

Simion 2006 = Simion, Eugen. Prima şi a doua posteritate / The first and the second posterity. „Cuvântul”, 17/9, p. 17.

Wellek 1955-1992 = Wellek, René. A History of Modern Criticism: 1750-1950, 8 vols. New Haven & London: Yale University Press.

M. Eminescu’s theatre, between manuscript and editorial nostalgia

This article deals with a largely forgotten editorial project from 1990, when the eminent scholar and editor Petru Creţia submitted to the readers three plays by M. Eminescu: Decebal, Bogdan Dragoş, Alexandru Lăpuşneanu. Although published fragmentarily in several previous editions, they had never been presented as almost complete and able to resist a thorough aesthetic evaluation. The plays appeared in new versions, with numerous emendations and completions to the already published fragments, but their importance is greater if one takes into account the radical editorial conception that they for the first time put into practice, before its ellaboration in the book Testament of an Eminescu Scholar (1998). The paper discusses his conception, as it emerges from practice, with a special emphasis on the editorial role that it generates. We shall also make an analysis of the volume, and especially of the play Decebal, assessing not so much the intrinsic value of the play, but its functioning in the complex reading relationship that it establishes with the public.

Keywords: M. Eminescu, Petru Creţia, romantic theatre, fragment editing, editor role

• Mihai Cimpoi, Eugen Simion, „Eminescu”, în Eugen Simion (coord.), Dicţionarul general al literaturii române/ The General Dictionary of Romanian Literature, vol. III, E-K, Bucureşti, Univers enciclopedic, 2005.
• Petru Creţia, Testamentul unui eminescolog / The Testament of an Eminescu Scholar, Bucureşti, Humanitas, 1998.
• Eminescu, Constelaţia Luceafărului. Sonete. Satire / The Constellation of the Morning Star. Sonnets. Satires, ediţie de Petru Creţia, Bucureşti, Humanitas, 1994.
• Eminescu, Opere/ Works, IV, ediţie îngrijită de Aurelia Rusu, Bucureşti, Minerva, 1978.
• Eminescu, Opere, VIII, ediţie îngrijită de Petru Creţia, Bucureşti, Editura Academiei, 1988/ Works, VIII, edited by Petru Creţia, Bucharest, 1988.
• Eminescu, Teatru. Decebal. Bogdan-Dragoş: Cornul lui Decebal. Alexandru Lăpuşneanu/ Theater. Decebal. Bogdan Dragoş: Decebal’s Horn. Alexandru Lăpuşneanu, ediţie îngrijită de Petru Creţia, Bucureşti, Eminescu, 1990.
• Hans-Ulrich Gumbrecht, The Powers of Philology. Dynamics of Textual Scholarship, Urbana and Chicago, University of Illinois Press, 2003.
• Nicolae Manolescu, Istoria critică a literaturii române / The Critical History of Romanian Literature, Piteşti, Paralela 45, 2008..
• Ioana Em. Petrescu, „Eminescu”, în Mircea Zaciu, Marian Papahagi, Aurel Sasu (coord.), Dicţionarul scriitorilor români/ The Dictionary of Romanian Writers, vol. II, D-L, Bucureşti, Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române, 1998.
• Ioana Em. Petrescu, Eminescu – modele cosmologice şi viziune poetică / Eminescu – Cosmological Models and Poetic Vision,, ediţia a doua, Piteşti, Paralela 45.

The echoes of Dan Botta and Lucian Blaga’s disputes after 1990s

One of the well known dispute in the interwar period was the one between Dan Botta and Lucian Blaga and the reason of this dispute was the pathernity of the idea of the “ ondulatory space”, which is specific to Romanian culture. Dan Botta accused Lucian Blaga for stoling his idea. Dan Botta used this term in his essay called “The Romanian Beauty” and Lucian Blaga’s essey was called “The Mioritic Space”. They both explain the same idea in different terms but we cannot speak about plagiarism. After 1990s, there were written some articles which discuss this problem and everybody agreed that it was only a concidence and not a case of plagiarism.

Keywords: plagiarism, ondulatory space, mioritic space interwar period, esseys

Volume:

• Balmuş, Pavel, Plagiatul la români. Chişinău: Editura Arc, 2004.
• Botta, Dan, Limite şi alte eseuri. Bucureşti: Editura Crater, 1996.
• Nistor, Eugeniu, Polemica Blaga- Botta. Târgu- Mureş: Editura Ardealul, 1992.
• Roatiş, Florin, Confluenţe filosofico-literare. Cluj: Editura Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă, 2008.

Periodice:

• Oişteanu, Andrei, Duelul la români. În: România literară, nr. 22, 2005.
• Roatiş, florian, Simple precizări la polemica Dan Botta- Lucian Blaga. În: România literară, nr. 38, 26 septembrie 2008.
• Simuţ, Ion, Dan Botta şi Lucian Blaga: idei în litigiu. În: România literară, nr. 10, 2005.
• Simuţ, Ion, Lucian Blaga provocat la duel de Dan Botta. În: România literară, nr. 11, 2005.
• Simuţ, Ion, Lucian Blaga şi Dan Botta: sfârşit de partidă. În: România literară, nr. 12, 2005.

The double perspective: Ion Caraion about Ioan Alexandru

Recruited as an informer due to his close relationships with most representatives of the Romanian literary world, Ion Caraion’s assignment was to give in written information about writers, literary critics and any other kind of “dangerous elements” that might have been suspected of having a role in opposing the communist regime. The poet Ion Alexandru is among those he wrote about. The article aims to present how Ion Alexandru, like other representatives of the Romanian literary world, becomes a character in Caraion’s subjective history.

Keywords: Securitate, public space, reality rendered as fiction, manipulation, literary critic, poet, delator

• Caraion, Ion Ion Alexandru în Duelul cu crinii, Bucureşti, Editura Cartea Românească, 1972.
• Caraion, Ion Trăim printre fenomene în Enigmatica nobleţe, Bucureşti, Editura Eminescu, Bucureşti: 1974.
• Cornea, Delia Roxana şi Dumitru Dobre Cazul „Artur” şi exilul românesc, Editura Pro Historia, Bucureşti, 2006.
• Manolescu, Nicolae Ion (Ioan) Alexandru în Istoria critică a literaturii române, Editura Paralela 45, Piteşti:2008, pp. 1040-1047.
• Manolescu, Nicolae Ion Caraion în Istoria critică a literaturii române, Editura Paralela 45, Piteşti: 2008, pp. 924-926.
• A.C.N.S.A.S., fond Reţea, dosar nr. 590 vol. 5.

Suspended and Surrogate Identities in Mircea Nedelciu’s Fiction

The following article discusses the tension between socially imposed identity patterns and the need for self-definition in Mircea Nedelciu’s fiction, showing that the totalitarian framework of the communist regime is allusively and symbolically represented in Nedelciu’s writings as a context undermining personal identity, or, in other words, as a context „suspending” self-determination in favour of highly ideological, ready-made „surrogate” identity patterns. However, Nedelciu’s prominent preference for protagonists presenting confuse, irresolute identities is meant to illustrate that at the individual level, all reactions cannot be predicted and controlled…

Keywords: suspended identity, surrogate identity, amoralism, communist regime, social patterns, ready-made ideological patterns, self-definition

• Bird, Colin. Status, Identity, and Respect, in „Political Theory”, Sage Publications, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Apr., 2004), pp. 207-232.
• Cerulo, Karen A. Identity Construction: New Issues, New Directions, in „Annual Review of Sociology”, Annual Reviews, Vol. 23 (1997), pp. 385-409.
• Cordoş, Sanda. Mircea Nedelciu şi proba clasicismului [Mircea Nedelciu and the Test of Classicism], in Mircea Nedelciu. Proză scurtă, Bucureşti, Compania, 2003, pp. 13-14.
• Crăciun, Gheorghe. Pactul somatografic [The Somatographic Pact], Piteşti, Paraela 45, 2009, pp.70-76.
• Diniţoiu, Adina. Proza lui Mircea Nedelciu. Puterile literaturii în faţa politicului şi a morţii [Mircea Nedelciu’s Fiction. Powers of Literature against Politics and Death], Bucureşti, Tracus Arte, 2011.
• Dobrescu, Caius, Moceanu, Ovidiu (coord.). Dea Munera: reprezentări asupra corupţiei în modernitatea intelectuală şi literară românească [Dea Munera: Representations of Corruption in Romanian Intellectual and Literary Modernism], Braşov, Ed. Universităţii „Transilvania”, 2006, pp. 7-64.
• Foucault, Michel. A supraveghea şi a pedepsi [Surveiller et Punir/Discipline and Punish], Piteşti, Paralela 45, 2005.
• Howard, Judith A. Social Psychology of Identities, în „Annual Review of Sociology”, Annual Reviews, Vol. 26, (2000), pp. 367-393.
• Lotman, Yuri. Studii de tipologie a culturii [Problems in the Typology of Culture], Bucureşti, Univers, 1974.
• Nedelciu, Mircea. Proză scurtă [Short Fiction], Bucureşti, Compania, 2003.
• Nedelciu, Mircea. Tratament fabulatoriu [Confabulatory Treatment], Bucureşti, Compania, 2006.
• Nedelciu, Mircea. Zmeura de câmpie [Plain Raspberry], Bucureşti, Ed. Militară, 1984.
• Nedelciu, Mircea. Zodia scafandrului [Under the Diver’s Sign], Bucureşti, Compania, 2000.
• Petitat, André. Secret şi forme sociale [Secret et Formes sociales/Secrecy and Social Patterns], Bucureşti, Polirom, 2003.
• Ronald Inglehart, Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress, Lawrence E. Harrison Samuel P. Huntington (ed.), Basic Books, New York, 2000.

“Bodily writing” as negative experience in Gheorghe Crăciun’s work

This study’s main purpose is to explain the concept of “body writing/ body écriture”, starting from the stake of Gheorghe Craciun’s writing: his own body. Being considered an extension of the body, language is designated to express both what Craciun calls “interior body”, as well as the relationship: individuality vs. world. In the four novels Gheorghe Craciun wrote, the discourse is focused on the neg ative nature of writing, searching for a certain language of corporality.
Keywords: body writing, negative experience, language, subject of knowledge crisis.

• Barthes, Roland „Fragmente dintr-un discurs îndrăgostit”/ A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments, Ed. Cartier, Chişinău, 2007.
• Baudrillard, Jean „Cuvinte de acces” / Passwords Ed. Art, Bucureşti, 2008.
• Bucur, Romulus „Scrisul, corpul şi moartea” / Writing, Body and Death, Revista „Vatra”, Nr. 9-10, 2007.
• Cistelecan, Alexandru „Ultimul ardelean”/ The Last Transylvanian, Revista „Vatra”, Nr. 9-10, 2007.
• Crăciun, Gheorghe „Cu garda deschisă”/ With Lowered Guard, Institutul European, Iaşi, 1997.
• Crăciun, Gheorghe „Reducerea la scară”/ Reduction to a Scale, Ed. Paralela 45, Colecţia 80, Seria Publicistică, Piteşti, 1999.
• Crăciun, Gheorghe „Frumoasa fără corp”/ Disembodied Beauty, Ediţia a II-a, Grup Editorial Art, Bucureşti, 2007.
• Crăciun, Gheorghe „Trupul ştie mai mult. Fals jurnal la Pupa russa”/ The Body Knows Better. A False Diary for Puppa Russa, Ed. Paralela 45, Piteşti, 2006.
• Crăciun, Gheorghe „În căutarea referinţei”/ In Search of Reference, Ed. Paralela 45, Colecţia 80, Seria Eseuri, Piteşti, 1988.
• Crăciun, Gheorghe „Mecanica fluidului”/ Fluid Mechanics, Ed. Cartier, Chişinău, 2003.
• Crăciun, Gheorghe „Acte originale/Copii legalizate”/ Original Documents / Legalized Copies , Ed. Cartea Românească, Bucureşti, 1982.
• Crăciun, Gheorghe „Pupa russa”/ Matrioshka, Ediţia a II-a, Ed. Art, Bucureşti, 2007.
• Crăciun, Gheorghe „Pactul somatografic”/ The Somatographic Pact, Ed. Paralela 45, Piteşti, 2009.
• Foucault, Michel „Cuvintele şi lucrurile” / Les mots et les choses – une archéologie des sciences humaines / The order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences Trad.de Bogdan Ghiu şi Mircea Vasilescu, Ed. RAO, 2008.
• Mitchievici, Angelo „Gheorghe Crăciun, corpul şi litera” / Gheorghe Craciun: The Body and the Letter, Revista „Vatra”, Nr. 9-10, 2007.
• Ursa, Mihaela „Gheorghe Crăciun – monografie”/ Gheorghe Craciun: A Monograph, Ed. Aula, Braşov, 2000.
• Wilson, Eric G. „Împotriva fericirii – elogiul melancoliei” / Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy, Ed. Nemira, Bucureşti, 2009.

Spaces of femininity in the novels of Virginia Woolf and Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu. The salon and the dining room

This study is an incursion in two of the places which allow a woman to unveil her character and full potential in the novels of Virginia Woolf and Hortesia Papadat Bengescu The interest is focussed on the importance of common needs of the feminine characters inside their homes and on the particular manner of fulfilling such needs, as seen in the light of the characters femininity. To that end, I mapped the places that I consider a woman is most closely related to in her household – namely the dining-room, the drawing room, the budoir, the kitchen etc.

Although the female characters in the novels written by Virginia Woolf and Hortensia Papadat Bengescu go outside their homes, too, visit many places and even travel both at home and abroad ( thus compelling us to discuss their attitudes toward outside realities, as well ) one cannot mention that the feminine behaviour – at its utmost – is expressed by the ladies of the house in the rooms they are most familiar with, in the warmth and cosyness of their budoir, dining room and drawing room.

Keywords: spaces of femininity; female characters; the drawing room; the dining room; household and private areas; ways of self expression.

Istorie, Critică, Teorie Literară Şi Culturală

• Balotă, Editura pentru Literatura Universală, Bucureşti, 1968
• Beauvoir, Simone de, Al doilea sex. Traducere de Diana Bolcu şi Delia Verdeş, Editura Univers, Bucureşti, 1999,
• Butler, Judith, Gender Trouble: Feminism & the Subvertion of Identity, Routledge, London & NY, 1990
• Ciocârlie, Corina, Femeia în faţa oglinzii, Editura Echinox, Cluj-Napoca, 1998
• Gamble, Sarah, Feminism & Postfeminism, Routledge, London &NY, 2001

Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu

• Balaurul, Editura Militară, Bucureşti, 1986. Prefaţă de Gheorghe Crăciun

• Fecioarele despletite, Editura Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, 1986. Prefaţa de Doina Modola

• Concert din muzică de Bach, Editura Tineretului (Colecţia Lyceum), Bucureşti, 1967. Prefaţă şi note de Eugenia Tudor
• Drumul ascuns, Editura Tineretului (Colecţia Lyceum), Bucureşti, 1967. Prefaţă şi note de Eugenia Tudor
• Logodnicul, Postfaţă de Ioan Holban, Editura Junimea, Iaşi, 1986
• Rădăcini, Editura Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, 1986. Postfaţă şi tabel cronologic de Doina Modola

• Holban, Ioan, Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu. Monografie, Editura Albatros, Bucureşti, 1985
• Tudor-Anton, Eugenia, Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu. Marea europeană, Editura Naţional, 2001
• Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu, interpretat de… Antologie, studiu introductiv şi tabel cronologic de Viola Vancea, Editura Eminescu, Bucureşti, 1976

Virginia Woolf

• Woolf, Virginia, A room of one’s own. New York ; [etc.] : Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1991.
• Davies, Stevie, Virginia Woolf: to the Lighthouse, Penguin Books, London, 1989
• Dick, Susan, Virginia Woolf, Edward Arnold, London, 1977
• Goldman, Jane, The Cambridge introduction to Virginia Woolf, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006
• Lee, Hermionue, The Novels of Virginia Woolf, Methuen, London, 1977
• Lehmann, John, Virginia Woolf, Thames and Hudson, New York, 1999
• McLaurin, Allen, Virginia Woolf. Cambridge: At the University Press, 1973.

The Philosophers and Democracy. The Lost Discourse of Liberty

Political philosophy, with its potential to guide politics, is in the paradoxal situation of every theoretical science betrayed by practice. If one hundred years ago, at the beginning of the modern political philosophy, this was able to legitimate political practice, nowadays politics has its own ways to follow, independent of the theoretical aspects. And that happens, beyond the complexity of the contemporary reality, in the wrong approaches of the contemporary political theory.

Keywords: democracy, liberty, redistribution, recognition, rights, justice

• Berlin, Isaiah, Patru eseuri despre libertate (Four Essays on Liberty), traducere de Laurenţiu Ştefan Scalat, Bucureşti, Editura Humanitas, 1996
• Fraser, Nancy, Honneth, Axel, Redistribuition or Recognition? A Political-Philosophical Exchange, London, Verso Books, 2003.
• Fraser, Nancy, „Recognition, Redistribuition and representation in Capitalist Global Society”, în Acta Sociologica, nr. 4 (47), 2004.
• Friedman, Milton, Liber să alegi (Free to Choose), traducere de Petre Mazilu, București, Editura All, 1998.
• Iliescu, A.P. (editor), Filosofia socială a lui F.A. Hayek (Social Philosophy of F.A. Hayek), Iași, Editura Polirom, 2001.
• Locke, John, Al doilea tratat despre cârmuire. Scrisoare despre toleranţă (Second Treatise of Civil Government. A Letter Concerning Toleration), traducere de Silviu Culea, Bucureşti, Editura Nemira, 1999.
• Mill, John Stuart, Despre libertate (On Liberty), traducere de Adrian Paul Iliescu, Bucureşti, Editura Humanitas, 1994.
• Nozick, Robert, Anarhie, stat, utopie (Anarchy, State, and Utopia), traducere de Mircea Dumitru, Bucureşti, Editura Humanitas, 1997.
• Rawls, John, A Theory of Justice. Revised Edition, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1999

Degradation of philosophy at Constantin Noica. Postmodern maladies

The main goal of this critical undertake consists in the promotion of vital concepts which can radically modify how Constantin Noica’s work is perceived at the moment.

For now, even after the publication of few hermeneutical integrated analyses, the critical recovery of Noica’s work is delayed and dull, approaching Noica’s conception/creation exclusively as a philosophical one.

Our critical bet is the following: the inherent meaning of the nicasian work is of a proteinic (maximal) nature, composite and lays priority on the literary creation inferences and only subsequently on the discursive inferences.

Our critical demarche seems atypical – few similar analytical assertions are in an incipient stage (e.g. G. Liiceanu).

We hope that our future researches, based on text analysis (mainly on the “pure philosophical” text of C. Noica), will strongly sustain this critical thesis which seems heretic at the moment and will shed the long awaited interpretation on Noica’s work.

Keywords: Constantin Noica, discourse, language, proteinic text, narrative structure, philosophy.

• Afloroaei, Ştefan, 1997, Cum este posibilă filosofia în estul Europei? (How is the Philosophy Possible in Eastern Europe?), Editura Polirom, Colecţia Plural, Iaşi.
• Brădăţan, Costică, 2000, O introducere la istoria filosofiei româneşti în secolul XX, (An Introduction to the History of Romanian Philosophy in the Twentieth Century), Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române, Bucureşti.
• Flonta, Mircea, 1998, Cum să recunoaştem pasărea Minervei? Reflecţii asupra percepţiei filosofiei în cultura românească (How Do We Recognize the Owl of Minerva? – Reflections on the Perception of Philosophy in Romanian Culture), Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române, Bucureşti.
• Liiceanu, Gabriel, 1992, Cearta cu filosofia (Dissenting to Philosophy), cap. Filosofia şi paradigma feminină a auditoriului, Editura Humanitas, Bucureşti.
• Macoviciuc, Vasile, 1999, Iniţiere în filosofia contemporană (Initiation in Contemporary Philosophy), Editura Universal Dalsi, Bucureşti.
• Vianu, Tudor, 1971, “Filozofie şi poezie” (Philosophy and Poetry), Ed. Enciclopedică Română, Bucureşti.
• Vattimo, Gianni, 1996, Aventurile diferenţei (Adventure of Difference: Philosophy after Nietzsche and Heidegger), Editura Pontica, Constanţa.

Eschatology and Political Theology. Christianity and Judaism

This article presents, an an essay, the paradigm-shift that marks the first centuries of the Christian era regarding the understanding of history and its theological-political consequences. The main point is the Christian vs. Judaic approach of the eschaton and the possibility of the revolutionary scenario. The ”historical” theology of the XXth century Judaism (J. Taubes, G. Scholem, W. Benjamin) takes into account and critically discusses both theoretical options.

Keywords: eschatology, political theology, revolution, discontinuity, logos, mysticism.

• Adămuţ, Anton. Seductia ca spatiu al cenzurii [Seduction as Censorship]. Iasi, Editura Junimea, Iasi, 2004.
• Benjamin, Walter. Iluminări [Illuminations]. Cluj, Idea, 2002.
• Benjamin, Walter; Derrida, Jacques. Despre violenţă [On Violence]. Idea, Cluj, 2004.
• Corneanu, Nicolea. Origen şi Celsus. Confruntarea Creştinismului cu păgânismul [Origene and Celsius. The Confronattion between Christianity and Pagan]. Bucureşti, Ed. Anastasia, 1999.
• Crouzel, Henri. Origen [Origene]. Sibiu, Ed. Deisis, 1999.
• Derrida,Jacques. Credinţă şi cunoaştere. Veacul şi iertarea [Knowledge and Belief]. Piteşti, Ed. Paralela 45.
• Dulgheru, Elena. Tarkovski. Filmul ca rugăciune [Tarkovski. Film as Praying]. Bucureşti, Arca Speranţei, 2004.
• Eliade, Mircea. Mitul eternei reîntoarceri. Arhetipuri şi repetare [Cosmos and History: The Myth of the Eternal Return]. Bucureşti, Ed. Univers Enciclopedic, 1999.
• Eliade, Mircea. Istoria credinţelor şi ideilor religioase [The History of Religious Ideas]. Bucureşti, Ed. Ştiinţifică, 1991.
• Taubes, Jacob. Eschatologia occidentală [Occidental Eschatology]. Cluj, TACT, 2008.
• Tzalimakos, Panayiotis. Origen: Philosophy of History and Eschatology. Supplement to Vigiliae Christianae. Leiden, Boston, Brill, 2007.

Ideology and religion

The nar rowing of the scope of religion, and the predominance of scientific truth in modern society have been seen as the immediate consequences of the separation of knowledge from faith. In the analysis of this duality, religion was supplemented by ideology. In some writings, these two phenomena were perceived as being closely connected: either as aspects belonging to common sense (with nothing to set them apart), or ideology was seen as the successor of religion in the order of faith; other papers reject any relationship between the two. Reg ardless of the manner in which the relationship between the two phenomena was envisaged, it is essential to remember that they cannot be thought of separately. For the modern man, who is ideologically cultivated, knowledge is the new divinity from which he hopes to receive happiness, just as he used to believe (and still believes) that God was going to help him.
Keywords: common sense, faith, knowledge, ideolog y, politics, religion, theory.

• Alain Besançon, Originile intelectuale ale leninismului / The intellectual origins of leninism (Bucureşti: Editura Humanitas, 1993).
• Antonio Gramsci, „Introducere la studiul filosofiei şi al materialismului istoric” / „Introduction in the study of philosophy and historical materialism” in Opere alese / Selected works (Bucureşti: Editura Politică, 1969).
• Ghiţă Ionescu, Politica în căutarea fericirii / Politics and the pursuit of happiness (Bucureşti: Editura All, 1999).
• Herbert Marcuse, „Omul unidimensional” / „Unidimensional man” in Scrieri filosofice /
  Philosophical writings (Bucureşti: Editura Politică, 1977).
• Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels, Ideologia germană / German ideology (Bucureşti: Editura de stat pentru literatură politică, 1956).

Coresi Historiography. Part One. A Bibliography of Coresi Printings

The three parts of the study present an analytical bibliography dedicated to the life and work of printer Coresi who worked in Târgovişte and Braşov during the sixteenth century.

In order to achieve an account of the bibliography as objectively as possible one has used the thematic-chronological criterion. Meanwhile the value criterion has been used for a selection of the studies according to contributions done within the specialized literature.

Keywords: Deacon Coresi, the analytical and thematic bibliography, printings belonging to the sisteenth century.

An Exceptional Intercultural Initiative of the Greco-Catholic Scholar Samuil Micu: the Translation of the Bible from Blaj (1795)

This study focuses on two important Romanian Bible translators: Nicolae Milescu, the first translator of the Old Testament (17^th century) and Samuil Micu, the reviser of Bucharest Bible (1688) and the translator of the Bible from Blaj (1795). These two exceptional translators accomplished an essential goal for every culture and especially for the Romanian speakers: the translation of the Bible into the national language. It is well known that the Greco-catholic Biblical tradition, as well as the Catholic one, is based on the translation of the Latin text of Vulgata. Although Samuil Micu is a Greco-Catholic monk and scholar, he decides to choose as source for his translation the old Greek text, Septuagint, the representative text for the Orthodox Church and not Vulgata in order to accomplish a Bible for all Romanians. This paper underlines from a philological point of view the fundamental role of these initiatives which determined the following Romanian translators, revisers and scholars to choose these texts as a reference source for their translations until the beginning of 20^th century.

Keywords: Bible, translation, Samuil Micu, Nicolae Milescu, Romanian Bible tradition, Septuagint, Vulgata.

• Biblia de la Bucureşti (1688) / The Bible from Bucharest (1688). În seria Monumenta linguae Dacoromanorum, Pars I, Genesis (autorii volumului: Alexandru Andriescu, Vasile Arvinte, Ioan Caproşu, Elsa Lüder, Paul Miron, Mircea Roşian, Marietta Ujică), Editura Universităţii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Iaşi, 1988.
• Arvinte, Vasile. Studii de istorie a limbii române / History Studies of the Romanian Language, Editura Universităţii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Iaşi, 2006.
• Cândea, Virgil. Nicolae Milescu şi începuturile traducerilor umaniste în limba română / Nicolae Milescu and Early Humanist Translations in Romanian Language. În: Limbă şi literatură, vol. VII, Societatea de ştiinţe istorice şi filologice din R.P.R., Bucureşti, 1963, p. 29‑76.
• Chindriş, Ioan. Secolele Bibliei de la Blaj / The Blaj Bible Centuries. În: Biblia adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a legii vechi şi a ceii noao (…) Blaj, 1795. Biblia de la Blaj, Ediţie Jubiliară, cu binecuvântarea Î.P.S. Lucian Mureşan, mitropolitul Bisericii Unite, Ioan Chindriş (coord.), Roma, 2000, p. 1­68.
• Chindriş, Ioan. Crâmpeie din Şcoala Ardeleană / Fragments of the Transylvanian School, Editura Dacia XXI, Cluj-Napoca, 2010.
• Iorga, Nicolae. Istoria literaturii româneşti / History of the Romanian Literature, III, Partea întâia (Generalităţi, Şcoala Ardeleană), Ediţia a II-a, Revăzută şi larg întregită, Editura Funfaţiei „Regele Ferdinand”, Bucureşti, 1933.
• Iorga, Nicolae. Istoria literaturii române în secolul al XVIII-lea (1688-1821) / The History of the Romanian Literature in the 18^th Century, vol. II, Epoca lui Petre Maior – Excursuri, Ediţie îngrijită de Barbu Theodorescu, Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, Bucureşti, 1969.
• Munteanu, Eugen. Biblia de la Bucureşti (1688) în raport cu versiunile ulterioare ale Sfintei Scripturi în limba română. Un punct de vedere filologic / The Bucharest Bible Compared with the Later Versions of the Holy Scripture in Romanian. A Philological Point of View. În: Sfânta Scriptură şi Sfânta Liturghie, izvoare ale vieţii veşnice, Secţiunea biblică, Carte tipărită cu binecuvântarea Înaltpreasfinţitului Teofan, Mitropolitul Moldovei şi Bucovinei. Ediţie îngrijită de Mihai Vizitiu, Trinitas, Iaşi, 2008, p. 111-134.
• Munteanu, Eugen. Lexicologie biblică românească / Romanian Biblical Lexicology, Humanitas, Bucureşti, 2008.
• Nida, Eugene A. Bible Translating, An Analysis of Principles and Procedures, with Special Reference to Aboriginal Languages, First Edition 1961, United Bible Societies, London, 1961.
• Nida, Eugene A. Toward a Science of Translating, With special Reference to Principles and procedures involved in Bible Translating, Leiden, E. J. Brik, 1964.
• Pavel, Eugen. Un monument de limbă literară: Biblia lui Samuil Micu / A Monument of Standard Language: The Bible of Samuil Micu. În: Biblia adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a legii vechi şi a ceii noao, Blaj, 1795. Biblia de la Blaj, Ediţie Jubiliară, cu binecuvântarea Î.P.S. Lucian Mureşan, mitropolitul Bisericii Unite, Ioan Chindriş (coord.), Roma, 2000, p. 1­22.
• Pavel, Eugen. Între filologie şi bibliofilie / Between Philology and Bibliophile, Biblioteca Apostrof, Cluj, 2007.
• Perpessicius. Scriitori români / Romanian Writers, vol. I, Antologie şi prefaţă de Andrei Roman, Tabel cronologic de Teodor Vârgolici, Editura Minerva, Bucureşti, 1986.
• Philippide, Al. Arta traducerii / The Art of Translation. În: Gazeta literară, nr. 16 (58)­joi, 21 aprilie, Anul II, 1955, p. 4.

Leisure and reading in notes on old Romanian book, Transylvania (17th-19th centuries)

In the following lines we will try to bring to the fore some aspects, certifying the increase of the percentage of those who begin to discover that constant reading, sometimes even the daily one, is a favourite way of spending one’s spare time. If Hungarian and Saxon chronicles, journals, various historical documents, guild statutes offer us valuable information regarding to the urban area, the notes on old Romanian book are important concerning the rural area. Some notes prove the fact that systematic reading becomes a favourite way of leisure. Lending a book to some relatives or to a stranger for a specific period of time, for a particular purpose (the habit of reading and writing) is not common.

Keywords: library, old romanian book, orthodox religious book, reading, notes

• Ariès, Philippe; Duby, Georges. Istoria vieţii private, vol. 5: De la Renaştere la Epoca Luminilor (The History of Private Life. Vol. 5: From the Rennaissance to the Enlightenment), Bucureşti, Editura Meridiane, 1995, 411 p.
• Avram, M. Cartea românească manuscris (Romanian Book Manuscript), Sibiu, 1970, 76 p.
• Basarab, Maria. Cartea românească veche în Muzeul din Deva (Old Romanian Books in the Museum of Deva), Deva, Editura Acta Musei Devensis, 1998, 166 p.
• Basarab, Maria. Cărţi manuscrise hunedorene, (Hunedoara’s Book Manuscripts), în Sargeţia, anul XXV, 1992-1994, p. 361-375.
• Basarab, Maria. Cuvinte mărturisitoare. Însemnări de pe cărţi româneşti vechi din judeţul Hunedoara, (Confessional words. Notes on Old Romanian Books from Hunedoara), Deva, Editura Acta Musei Devensis, 2001, 273 p.
• Bianu, I.; Hodoş, Nerva. Bibliografia românească veche 1508-1830, (Old Romanian Bibliography 1508-1830) vol. 1, Bucureşti, Editura Academiei Române, 1903, 571 p.
• Braicu, D.; Bunea, V. Carte veche românească din secolele XVI-XVII în colecţiile Arhiepiscopiei Sibiului (Romanian Old Books from the 16^th and 17^th Centuries in the Collections of the Archidiocese of Sibiu) Sibiu, 1991, 168 p.
• Demeny Lajos. Carte, tipar şi societate la români în secolul al XVI-lea: Studii, articole şi comunicări (Paper, Printing and the Romanian Society in the 16^th Century : Studies, Articles and Communication Studies), Editura Kriterion, Bucureşti, 1986, 350 p.
• Dima, Elena; Buluţă, Gheorghe; Ceauşu, Simona. Carte românească veche în bibliotecile documentare ale arhivelor statului. Catalog (Old Romanian Books in the Documentation Libraries of the State Archives : Catalogue), Bucureşti, 1985, 365 p.
• Dreghiciu, D. Carte românească veche de pe Valea Sebeşului (III) Catalog (Old Romanian Book of Sebes Valley. Catalogue). În Apulum, anul XX, 1983, p. 263-279.
• Dudaş, Florian. Cazania lui Varlaam în Transilvania (Homily Of Varlaam in Transilvania), Cluj-Napoca, Editura Arhiepiscopiei Ortodoxe Române a Vadului, Feleacului şi Clujului, 1983, 505 p.
• Dudaş, Florian. Memoria vechilor cărţi româneşti. Însemnări de demult (Memory of Old Romanian Books. Old Notes), Oradea, Editura Episcopiei Ortodoxe Române a Oradiei, 1990, 410 p.
• Dudaş, Florian. Carte veche românească în Bihor sec. XVI-XVII [Catalog] (Old Romanian Books in Bihor 16^th and 17^th Centuries : Catalogue) Oradea, 1977, 203 p.
• Haţeganu, Lucia; Lupan, Doina. Cartea veche românească în Muzeul din Alba Iulia (Old Romanian Books in the Museum of Alba Iulia). În Apulum, anul XVII, 1979, p. 385-439.
• Haţeganu, L.;  Lupan, D. Cartea veche românească în Muzeul din Alba Iulia (Old Romanian Books in the Museum of Alba Iulia). În Apulum, anul XII, 1974, p. 359-394.
• Lupan, Doina; Haţeganu, Lucia. Cartea veche românească în Biblioteca Muzeului de Istorie Alba Iulia (Old Romanian Books in the Library of the History Museum in Alba Iulia). În Apulum, anul XIII, 1975, p. 353-372.
• Mârza, Iacob. Rostul traducerii şi tipăririi Psaltirii de la Bălgrad în contextul secolului al XVII-lea (The Purpose of Translation and Printing of the Psalter in the Context of the 17^th Century). În Revista de istorie, 5-6/1992, p. 511-529.
• Mihu, Elena Cartea veche românească în Scaunul Mureşului (The Old Romanian Books in the Mures Seat). În Angustia, anul I, 1996, p. 133-141.
• Mosora, Elena; Hanga, Doina. Catalogul cărţii româneşti din colecţiile Bibliotecii Centrale Universitare Lucian Blaga Cluj-Napoca (The Catalogue of Romanian Books within the Collections of the Lucian Blaga Central University Library from Cluj-Napoca), Cluj Napoca, 1991, 302 p.
• Nedelcea, Tudor Activitatea tipografiilor-între trudă şi satisfacţie (Printers Activity between Labour and Satisfaction). În Valori bibliofile din patrimoniul cultural naţional. Cercetare şi dezvoltare, anul II, 1983, p. 325-330.
• Oltean, V. Catalog de carte veche din Şcheii Braşovului (Old Books Catalogue in Scheii Brasovului), Iaşi, Editura Edict Production, 2004, 268 p.
• România, Biblioteca Judeţeană Astra Sibiu, Colecţii speciale, Carte românească veche.
• Tipărituri româneşti 1539-1750 existente la Braşov-catalog  (Romanian Printings existing in the Brasov Catalogue :  1539-1750) Braşov, 1980, 200 p.
• Turc, Corina; Destin livresc în secolul al XVII-lea în sudul Transilvaniei (Bookish Destiny within the 17^th Century in South Transylvania). În Sargeţia, anul XXI-XXIV, 1991, p. 163-173.
• Turc, Corina. Cartea şi preţuirea ei. Atitudini individuale şi colective în Transilvania secolului al XVII-lea (The Book and its Appreciation. Individual and Collective Attitudes in the 17^th Century Transylvania). În Marisia, anul XXIII-XXIV, 1994, p. 203-211.

Elementa linguae daco‑romanae sive valachicae (1780) and the further grammar‑books

Elementa linguae daco‑romanae sive valachicae (1780) and the further grammar‑books. The paper aims to reveal a comparison between two grammar‑books from the eighteenth century (Elementa linguae daco‑romanae sive valachicae written by Samuil Micu and Gh. Şincai and Romanian Grammar (1797) of Radu Tempea). The analysis is based on some aspects concerning the importance of the two papers for that epoch, their structures, the terminology used and even examples that are common for both of them. It has started from the fact that Romanian Grammar of Tempea and other similar speciality papers have been influenced by Elementa. Thus, the comparison has in view the significance of these ancient grammar‑books for the Romanian development in literary history.

Keywords: grammar‑books, terminology, literary history, the eighteenth century, morphology, syntax, orthography, etymologism, loan translation.

• Iorgu Iordan, Scurt istoric al principalelor lucrări de gramatică românească, în ,,Limbă şi literatură’’, anul II (1956) (Iorgu Iordan, A short history of the main Romanian grammar‑books, in ,,Language and Literature”, 1956)
• Radu Tempea, Gramatica românească, Sibiu, 1797 (Radu Tempea, Romanian Grammar, Sibiu, 1797)
• Samuil Micu, Gh. Şincai, Elementa linguae daco‑romanae sive valachicae, studiu introductiv, traducerea textelor şi note de Mircea Zdrenghea, Editura Dacia, Cluj‑Napoca, 1980 (Samuil Micu, Gh. Şincai, Elementa linguae daco‑romanae sive valachicae, edition established by Mircea Zdrenghea, Dacia Publishing House, Cluj‑Napoca, 1980).
• Ştefan Munteanu şi Vasile Ţâra, Istoria limbii române literare. Privire generală, Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, Bucureşti, 1978 (Ştefan Munteanu, Vasile Ţâra, The history of Romanian literary language. General view, Didactic and Pedagogic Publishing House, Bucureşti, 1978).

Hypostases of Women in the Engravings of the Calendar of Buda from 1817

In 1817, Zaharia Carcalechi printed at the University Typography his first Calendar, entitled Genealogy of Emperors and Kings from all over Europe. Calendar (in the same year he published the same book in Greek). Besides the two puncheon prints, on the outside of the covers having mythological scenes, there are other six illustrations inside the book, one of them being signed by Andreas Geiger. The presence of women in the eight illustrations and the fact that the next Calendar edited by Zaharia Carcalechi, in 1818, comprised many pieces of advice for them, being „an encyclopedia of household advice, a vademecum, necessary for the Romanian housewives in the first half of the 19th century”, show the care for woman which started to amplify in the Romanian bourgeois society.

Keywords: University Typography of Buda, old Romanian book, engraving, woman

• Jean Chevalier, Alain Gheerbrant, Dicţionar de simboluri / Dictionary of Symbols, vol. 1, Bucureşti, Editura Artemis, 1993.
• Genealogia împăraţilor şi crailor din toată Europa. Calendar / Genealogy of Emperors and Kings from all over Europe, Buda, 1817.
• Antony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow, The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition, New York, Infobase Publishing, 2009.
• Gh. Oprescu, Grafica românească în secolul al XIX-lea / The Romanian Graphic Arts in the 19^th Century, Vol. I, Bucureşti, Fundaţia Regală pentru literatură şi artă, 1942.

A NARRATIVE “HISTORIA”:

O ΡΟYMANIKΣ KOΣMOΣ ΤΟ 1900

Having as a start point the translation in Greek of the book Lumea românească la 1900, the present study recovers Ion Bulei’s perspective that of a regenerative Historia, seen as an “original phenomenon” of „private histories” / “moments of history.” The constant preoccupation of the historian Ion Bulei remains the historical imagine/ representation, the process of untying pages of manuscript in order to (re)sewing them into a (attractive or fearful) dynamic transition context from one century to another: January 1, 1900. The first day of a new year. But also …. the first day of the twentieth century.

Producing itself, Historia articulates its own discourse, or in Ion Bulei’s terms, regenerates, harmonizing Geschichte (a concurrence of events) with Historia (knowledge, historical narration), in order to equilibrate the evidence novelty-modernity-new time.

Keywords: historical narration; evenimential history; Geschichte selber; Romanian modernity and modernization; when the century was born – the Romanian world 1900; representation and mentality

• Bulei, Ion, Lumea românească la 1900/The Romanian world 1900, Editura Eminescu, Bucureşti, 1984 ;
• Bulei, Ion, Atunci când veacul se năştea/ When the century was born, Editura Eminescu, Bucureşti, 1990;
• Bulei, Ion, Lumea românească la 1900/ The Romanian world 1900, vol. I, Editura Pro, Bucureşti, 2004;
• Bulei, Ion, Lumea românească la 1900. Oameni, obiceiuri, moravuri, vol. II, Editura Pro, Bucureşti, 2006;
• Bulei, Ion, Conservatori şi conservatorism în România, Editura Enciclopedică, Bucureşti, 2000;
• Bulei, Ion, O ΡΟYMANIKΣ KOΣMOΣ ΤΟ 1900 / The Romanian world 1900 (traducere din limba română, lector univ. dr. Ciprian-Lucreţius Suciu), Editura Ekloseis melpomeni dioti, Atena, 2011.

Easel graphics as Sibiu blazonry

The article focuses on the graphic work of Gheorge Pârcălăboiu. The ar tist displays a distinct profile in the contemporar y graphics of Sibiu and beyond. His works draw the attention with their strange surrealist universe, strained with an imagistic density which combines the mythical with the fabulous, and the nightmarish with the oneiric. The unmistakable unconventional of his vision has always a poetic significance or a dramatic load, subtly disguised in a baroque orchestration that blends the epic vision and the symbol, the imaginary and the mysterious. Gheorge Pârcălăboiu has consistently adhered to what one could call a non-utopic figurative surrealism, in which the the real and the imaginary coexist naturally as in a myth or in a fairytale.
Keywords: Gheorge Pârcălăboiu, graphics, easel graphics, compositional baroque, surrealism.