Rhetoric and Rhetorism in Cantemir’s „The Hieroglypihic History”

In his allegory, Demeter Cantemir shows a big consideration on rhetoric. All the positive characters are also good orators, while the negative ones are stupid and mimetic chatterers. A paradoxical presence is the parrot, which is well known in all the bestiaries for his capacity of imitating the human voice. In Cantemir’s novel, the talkative bird, the emblem of rhetoric in Cesare Ripa’s Iconology is an injudicious demagogue. So, Cantemir turns the traditional symbol into its opposite.

Keywords: rhetoric, Middle Ages, bestiary, parrot

• Aristotel, Histoire des animaux, vol. I, texte établi et traduit par Pierre Louis, Société d’éditions „Les Belles Lettres”, Paris, 1964.
• Buffon, Pagini din „Istoria naturală”, traducere, prefaţă şi note de Pan Izverna, îngrijire de ediţie şi postfaţă de A. Papadopol, Editura Ion Creangă, Bucureşti, 1981.
• Dimitrie Cantemir, Istoria ieroglifică, în D. Cantemir, Opere, Vol. I, Divanul, Istoria ieroglifică, Hronicul vechimei a romano-moldo-vlahilor, ediţie de Virgil Cândea, Editura Academiei Române şi Univers Enciclopedic, Bucureşti, 2003.
• Virgil Cândea, Raţiunea dominantă, Editura Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, 1979.
• Jean-Paul Clébert, Bestiar fabulos. Dicţionar de simboluri animaliere, traducere de Rodica Maria Valter şi Radu Valter, Editurile Artemis şi Cavallioti, Bucureşti, 1995.
• Esop, Fabule, traducere, prefaţă şi note de Traian Diaconescu, Editura Univers, Bucureşti, 1972.
• The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, translated by Sphen A. Barney, W. J. Lewis, J. A. Beach, Oliver Berghof with the collaboration of Muriel Hall, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• Iconologia di Cesare Ripa Perugino, Cavalier di Ss. Mauritio et Lazaro, Venetia, Presso Cristoforo Tomasini, 1645 (ediţie facsimil).
• Plinius, Naturalis Historia, ediţie îngrijită, prefaţă şi note de Ioana Costa, volumul al II-lea, Editura Polirom, Iaşi, 2001.
• Marie-Hélène Tesniére, Bestiaire médiéval. Enluminures, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, 2005.

Anglo-American models of the interwar “experientialists”

A problem which our litterary history have ussualy ignored was the influence of the English and American Culture towards the Romanian interwar Young Generation, especially from the Criterion group – inspired by the American debates – till some novelistic patterns, poetical or theatrical, inspired by the anglo-saxon sources. Some of the young essaists of the 30‘ts was also particulary interesed by the American or English litterature and cultural mentality. In fact, it was the first time when the Romanian modern culture really meets that pattern, a pattern who became global after few decades. Which were the consequences of those cultural influences – that is the question which this paper tries to answer.

Keywords: authentic, conservative, creuset, generation, imperial identity

• Mircea Anghelescu, Mistificţiuni (Falsuri, farse, apocrife, pastişe, pseudonime şi alte mistificaţii în literatură), Editura Compania, Colecţia “AltFel”, Bucureşti, 2008.
• Lucian Boia, Franţa, hegemonies ou decline? Traducere din franceză de Emanoil Marcu, Editura Humanitas, Bucureşti, 2009.
• Iordan Chimet, Cele două Europe, cele două Românii, Editura Noul Orfeu, Bucureşti, 2004.
• Mircea Eliade, Oceanografie, Editura Humanitas, Bucureşti, 2008.
• Mircea Eliade, Memorii 1907-1960, ediţia a doua revăzută şi indice de Mircea Handoca, Editura Humanitas, Colecţia „Memorii-Jurnale”, Bucureşti, 1997.
• Nicolae Iorga, America şi românii din America. Note de drum şi conferinţe, Vălenii de Munte, 1930.
• Mac Linscott-Ricketts, Rădăcinile româneşti ale lui Mircea Eliade. 1907-1945, traducere de Virginia Stănescu, Mihaela Gligor, Irina Petraş, Olimpia Iacob şi Horia Ion Groza, Bucureşti, Criterion Publishing, 2004.
• Rodica Pioariu, On Romanian-American Cultural Relations in the Interwar Period, în Analele Universităţii din Alba-Iulia, Philologica, tom 3, 2003
• Simona Sora, Regăsirea intimităţii. Corpul în proza românească interbelică şi postdecembristă, Editura Cartea Românească, Colecţia „Critică şi istorie literară”, Bucureşti, 2008.
• Stelian Tănase, Cioran şi Securitatea, Editura Polirom, Colecţia „Istorii subterane”, Iaşi, 2008.
• * * *, Bătălia pentru roman. Antologie de Aurel Sasu şi Mariana Vartic, Editura Atos, Bucureşti, 1997.
• * * *, Dicţionarul cronologic al romanului tradus în România de la origini pînă la 1989, Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică şi Istorie Literară „Sextil Puşcariu”, Editura Academiei Române, Cluj-Napoca, 2005.
• Mircea Anghelescu, Mistificţiuni (Falsuri, farse, apocrife, pastişe, pseudonime şi alte mistificaţii în literatură), Editura Compania, Colecţia “AltFel”, Bucureşti, 2008.
• Lucian Boia, Franţa, hegemonies ou decline? Traducere din franceză de Emanoil Marcu, Editura Humanitas, Bucureşti, 2009.
• Iordan Chimet, Cele două Europe, cele două Românii, Editura Noul Orfeu, Bucureşti, 2004.
• Mircea Eliade, Oceanografie, Editura Humanitas, Bucureşti, 2008.
• Mircea Eliade, Memorii 1907-1960, ediţia a doua revăzută şi indice de Mircea Handoca, Editura Humanitas, Colecţia „Memorii-Jurnale”, Bucureşti, 1997.
• Nicolae Iorga, America şi românii din America. Note de drum şi conferinţe, Vălenii de Munte, 1930.
• Mac Linscott-Ricketts, Rădăcinile româneşti ale lui Mircea Eliade. 1907-1945, traducere de Virginia Stănescu, Mihaela Gligor, Irina Petraş, Olimpia Iacob şi Horia Ion Groza, Bucureşti, Criterion Publishing, 2004.
• Rodica Pioariu, On Romanian-American Cultural Relations in the Interwar Period, în Analele Universităţii din Alba-Iulia, Philologica, tom 3, 2003
• Simona Sora, Regăsirea intimităţii. Corpul în proza românească interbelică şi postdecembristă, Editura Cartea Românească, Colecţia „Critică şi istorie literară”, Bucureşti, 2008.
• Stelian Tănase, Cioran şi Securitatea, Editura Polirom, Colecţia „Istorii subterane”, Iaşi, 2008.
• * * *, Bătălia pentru roman. Antologie de Aurel Sasu şi Mariana Vartic, Editura Atos, Bucureşti, 1997.
• * * *, Dicţionarul cronologic al romanului tradus în România de la origini pînă la 1989, Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică şi Istorie Literară „Sextil Puşcariu”, Editura Academiei Române, Cluj-Napoca, 2005.

Ion Vinea during totalitarianisms (I)

The study is focused on the figure of Ion Vinea, one of the major poets of the interwar period. But the object of the study is not Vinea’s poetry, the author being interested in his activity as a journalist – Vinea being the editor-in-chief of the most influential avant-garde magazine, Contimporanul (1922-1932), and also of Facla (1930-1940), another influential magazine of the period. Even though Vinea has been biased towards leftist intellectuals and journalists, frequently hiring them as editors in the journals and newspapers he ran, after the installation of the communist regime he was immediately purged. This first part of the study examines the years prior to 1945, when Vinea edited the newspaper Evenimentul zilei (The event of the day), aiming at creating an example of free press in an extremely complicated context.
Keywords: Romanian history, interwar period, Ion Vinea, interwar press, Evenimentul zilei, totalitarianism, censorship.

• Vlaicu Bârna, Între Capşa şi Corso ⁄ Between Capşa and Corso, Bucureşti, Albatros, 2005.
• Ion Caraion, Jurnal II. Literatură şi Contraliteratură ⁄ Diary II. Literature and contra-literature, ed. by Emil Manu, Bucureşti, Albatros, 1998.
• N. Carandino, Nopţi albe şi zile negre ⁄ White nights and black days, Bucureşti, Eminescu, 1992.
• Eugène Ionesco, Jurnal în fărâme ⁄ A diary in crumbs, transl. by Irina Bădescu, Bucureşti, Humanitas, 1992
• Mihaela Cristea, Despre realitatea iluziei. De vorbă cu Henriette Yvonne Stahl ⁄ On the reality of illusion. Speaking with Henriette Yvonne Stahl, Bucureşti, Minerva.
• Saşa Pană, Născut în ’02. Memorii – file de jurnal – evocări ⁄ Born in ’02. Memoirs – diary pages – evocations, Bucureşti, Minerva, 1973.
• Miron Radu Paraschivescu, Jurnalul unui cobai ⁄ The diary of a labrat, ed. by Maria Cordoneanu, pref. by Vasile Igna, Cluj, Dacia, 1994.

Mircea Eliade: Dayan and the signs of the hidden third

The aim of this paper to offer a transdisciplinary reading of Mircea Eliade’s novel, which illustrates the relevance of the fundamental components of the eliadean cultural project for the way humanity changes at present. Motivated by the desire to open his spirit to the fundamental insights which can define one’s existential situation, the protagonist of this mythologising story aims to identify the correlations between the realm of science and the sacred messages that form the perennial wisdom of humanity. Through his ”ultimate equation”, he proposes a completely new perspective on the structure of reality, whose consequences, properly understood, might radically change mankind’s understanding of the universe. Engaged in his quest, Dayan discovers that, beyond attaining rational knowledge, humans should remember and develop their abilities to distinguish life’s multiple components in order to successfully emerge from its labyrinths and enjoy absolute freedom.

Keywords: Mircea Eliade, hidden third, transhistory, initiation, primordial models

I

• Eliade, Mircea, Proză Fantastică (Tales of the Sacred and the Supernatural), vol. V, Bucureşti, Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române, 1992, 255 p.
• Eliade, Mircea, Sacrul şi Profanul (The Sacred and the Profane), Bucureşti, Editura Humanitas, 1992, 204 p.
• Eliade, Mircea, Fragmentarium, Bucureşti, Editura Humanitas, 2008, 166 p.
• Eliade, Mircea, Symbolism, the Sacred and the Arts, Editor: Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, New York, Continuum, 1985, 183 p.
• Eliade, Mircea, Arta de a Muri (The Art of Dying), Cluj-Napoca, Eikon, 2006, 477 p.
• Eliade, Mircea, Eseuri – Mitul eternei reîntoarceri (Essays – The Myth of the Eternal Return), Bucureşti, Editura Ştiinţifică, 1991, 308 p.
• Eliade, Mircea, Naşteri mistice (Mystic Births), Bucureşti, Editura Humanitas, 1995, 223 p.

II

• Allen, Douglas, Myth and Religion in Mircea Eliade, New York and London, Routledge, 2002, 375 p.
• Capra, Fritjov, The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism, Boston, Shambhala Publications, 2000, 355 p.
• Ghiyka, Matila, Filosofia si Mistica Numărului (The Philosophy and the Mystical Interconnections of Numbers), Bucuresti, Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 1998, 294 p.
• Losski, Vladimir, După chipul şi asemănarea lui Dumnezeu (In God’s Likeness and Image), Bucureşti, Editura Humanitas, 2006, 232 p.
• Nicolescu, Basarab, Transdisciplinaritatea: Manifest (Manifesto of Transdisciplinarity), traducere de Horia Mihail Vasilescu, Iaşi, Polirom, 1999, 180 p.
• Basarab Nicolescu, O descoperire surprinzătoare – Nivelurile de Realitate (A Surprising Discovery – Levels of Reality), in De la Isarlîk la valea uimirii. Drumul fără sfârşit (From Isarlîk to the Valley of Wonder. The Endless Road), Vol. II, Bucureşti, Curtea Veche Publishing, 2011, p. 7-18.

Gnostic motives in „Arta fugii“ by Ioan Petru Culianu

The constant interest that Ioan Petru Culianu had on studying the Gnosticism has “existential roots” according to the writer himself in the Preface of thanking to the volume The tree of Gnosis. Feeling painfully the condition of the “exiled” of the man in the world, Ioan Petru Culianu focuses  – both in the scientific and the literary work – on ways of escaping this “prison” we are “thrown in”. Our paper deals with analyzing some motives of the Gnostic imaginary (the world – imperfect creation of the demiurge, “the Gnostic sleep”, the hypostases of Sophia, the liberation of human being) from Ioan Petru Culianu literature even from his first reunited fictions in the volume Arta fugii. The literary “fugues” of this historian of religions, who made into fiction his topics of the scientific research, do not stop on a single solution of escape out of the world (the certainty of such a “recipe” would definitely mean the entrance to a new captivity), but they record a search of the searching, the process all the time recommenced of identifying the possible ways of salvation.

Keywords: Gnosticism, out of the world, initiation, other worlds, the liberation of human being.

• Culianu, Ioan Petru. Arta fugii [The Art of Fugue], Prefaţă de Dan C. Mihăilescu, Iaşi, Editura Polirom, 2002, 256 p.
• Idem. Arborele gnozei. Mitologia gnostică de la creştinismul timpuriu la nihilismul modern [The Tree of Gnosis. Gnostic Mythology from Early Christianity to Modern Nihilism], Ediţia a II a, traducere de Corina Popescu, Iaşi, Editura Polirom, 2005, 383 p.
• Idem. Gnosticism şi gândire modernă: Hans Jonas [Gnosticism and Modern Thinking: Hans Jonas], traducere de Maria-Magdalena Anghelescu şi Şerban Anghelescu, Postfaţă de Eduard Iricinschi, Iaşi, Editura Polirom, 2006, 240 p.
• Idem. Răzbunarea gnosticilor [The Gnostic Revenge]. În: Studii româneşti I. Fantasmele nihilismului. Secretul doctorului Eliade [Romanian Studies I. The Phantasma of Nihilism. The Secrets of Doctor Eliade], Ediţia a II-a, traduceri de Corina Popescu şi Dan Petrescu, Iaşi, Editura Polirom, 2006, p. 163-209.
• Patapievici, Horia – Roman. Ultimul Culianu [The Last Culianu]. În: Ioan Petru Culianu. Omul şi opera [Ioan Petru Culianu. The Man and His Work], coordonator Sorin Antohi, ed. cit., p. 618-640.

The Fishermen – Unknown Community Life

The present study attempts to offer an in-depth analysis of the novel Pescarii (Fishermen) by Carol Ardeleanu, a literary work about the life of an authentic community living in Vâlcov, near Tulcea, in Dobrogea. The author presents the poor life and harsh work of an unknown yet specifically Romanian community in the interwar period of time waiting for the cynegetic adventure, the change, and the illusion of action in the delta.

The study also deals with the description of nature in Vâlcov, and the presentation of a dramatic moment lived by the fishermen of Lipova, an environment that served as source of inspiration for the author’s literary work and the creation of his powerful and unforgettable characters living in Dobrogea.

Keywords: community, nature, fishermen, brutalization, unknown

• Ardeleanu, C., Pescarii / The Fishermen, roman, Bucureşti, Editura Adeverul S.A., 1942.
• Boureanu, Radu, Funia de nisip / Rope of Sand, Bucureşti, Editura Cartea Românească, 1972.
• Călinescu, G., Istoria literaturii române de la origini până în prezent / History of Romanian Literature from Origins Up to the Present, ediţie nouă, revăzută de autor, text stabilit de Al. Piru, Craiova, Editura Vlad & Vlad, 1993.
• Crohmălniceanu, Ov. S., Literatura română între cele două războaie mondiale / The Romanian Literature in the Interwar Period, vol. I, Bucureşti, Editura pentru literatură, 1967.
• Cubleşan, Constantin, Conferinţe literare / Literary Conferences, Târgu-Lăpuş, Galaxia Gutenberg, 2009.
• Pandrea, Petre, Atitudini şi controverse / Attitudes and Controversies, ediţie îngrijită, cuvânt înainte şi note de Gh. Epure, Bucureşti, Editura Minerva, 1982.

Mircea Nedelciu – The Adventure of the Text

The author of the article looks into the moment of Mircea Nedelciu’ affirmation, undoubtedly one of the most important leaders of the ’80 generation. In his short prose fiction, , Mircea Ndelciu sets the pace as regards the search for novel resources, at a moment when literary experiments were not positively regarded by the censorship of the time. The textualist practice characterizes Mircea Nedelciu’s prose (n. 1950) from the very first volume (Aventuri într-o curte interioară/ Adventures in an Inner Yard, 1979). Starting from the second volume (Efectul de ecou controlat/ The Effect of Controlled Echo, 1981) and especially from Amendament la instinctul proprietăţii/ Amendment to the Ownership Instinct (1983), it becomes obvious what “textual engineering”, as the young writer calls the writing, means from his perspective. These volumes are marked by experiments, the author being one of the most gifted prose writers of the last decades of the last century

Discussing the phrase “textual engineering”, Gheorghe Crăciun identifies the implications of textuation and of the unveiling of the procedures within the text. The text also means reflection on the text, that is why each prose reveals a working “hypothesis”, necessary to the reading. The second person narrative is recurrent, which involves both distance taking and intimacy with the story substance. Daily life encompasses different syncopes, but the interval does not impinge on the text, the break making the connections between objects and beings even more obvious. Reality is explored by an image-catching eye, by exquisite hearing, the process of text delivery comprising random facts (news heard on the radio, read in newspapers, texts which come back in memory etc.).

The rare capacity to pass from “classical” to “modern” eliminates the suspicion of artificiality, although, in the last pages, an alert eye can discover stereotypes. In his texts, Mircea Nedelciu proves that short prose fiction still has many surprises in store as regards experimental resources.

Keywords: short prose fiction, innovation, experiment, daily life, classical, modern, traditional, „ textual engineering”, reality, textualism, reader.

• Antofi, Simona, (Meta)discurs postmodern şi literatură: ficţiune, autenticitate şi joc în proza lui Mircea Nedelciu, în „Revista de istorie şi teorie literară”, nr. 3-4, 2008.
• Cârneci, Magda, Arta anilor ’80. Texte despre postmodernism, Editura Litera, Bucureşti, 1996.
• Ciobanu, Nicolae, Recenzie M. Nedelciu, în „Luceafărul”, 1979, nr. 22.
• Crăciun, Gheorghe, Arhipelagul ’70-80 şi noul flux, în „Astra”, 1982, nr. 8, p. 1 şi 3.
• Crăciun, Gh., Competiţia continuă. Generaţia ’80 în texte teoretice. Ed. Vlasie, Piteşti, 1994.
• Crăciun, Gh., şi Viorel Marineasa, Generaţia ’80 în proza scurtă, Ed. Paralela 45, Piteşti, 1998.
• *** Desant ‛83. Antologie de proză scurtă scrisă de tineri, Buc., C.R., 1983.
• Iorgulescu Mircea, Arhipelag (1970-1980). Proză scurtă contemporană. Antologie de…, Buc., Ed. Eminescu, 1981.
• ***, Literatura română. Crestomaţie de critică şi istorie literară, Cluj-Napoca, Dacia, 1983.
• Moraru, Cornel, Semnele realului, Buc., Eminescu, 1981.
• Idem, Textul şi realitatea, Buc., Eminescu, 1984.
• Oţoiu, Adrian, Ochiul bifurcat, limba saşie. Proza generaţiei ’80. Strategii transgresive, Editura Paralela 45, Piteşti, 2003.
• Idem, Trafic de frontieră. Proza generaţiei ’80, Editura Paralela 45, Piteşti, 2000.
• *** Realitatea socială şi tinerii scriitori (colocviul), în „Ateneu”, 1984, nr.5, p. 2-7.
• Perian, Gheorghe, Scriitori români postmoderni, E.D.P., R.A., Bucureşti, 1996.
• Regman, Cornel, Nuvela şi povestirea românească în deceniul opt. Antologie, introducere şi aparat critic de …, Buc., Ed. Eminescu, 1983.
• Simion, Eugen, Scriitori români de azi, vol. IV, C. R., Buc., 1989.

Bucureşti c’est mois

Andrei Bodiu discuses a tendency in the Romanian literature published in 2011. He discovers that the editorial year 2011 has as a feature a kind of hybrid books, which mix up memories, fictions and essay from an ethical perspective. The first book which is anliyzed inthis study is the most recent one of Florin Iaru, an excellent Roamanian poet who published a book of, as Andrei Bodiu’s argues, « short stories » Andrei Bodiu debates Iaru’s book integrating it in a famous Romanian literary tradition which starts from 1848 and later, with the work of Ion Luca Caragiale.

Keywords:

• Iaru, Florin, Fraier de Bucureşti/Dupe in Bucharest, Iaşi, ed. Polirom, 2011.
• Caragiale, I.L, Teatru şi proză/ Theater and prose., Iaşi, 2000.
• Hasdeu, B.P., Scrieri literare,/ Literary works, Bucureşti, 1989.
• Ghica, Ion, Scrisori către V. Alecsandri/ Letters to V.Alecsandri, Bucureşti, 1997

Looking back, Eminescu’s modernity

This article focus on Radu Vancu’s most recent book, Eminescu. Three essays. The book does not intend to dismantle some existing theories concerning Mihai Eminescu’work, it offers a very exciting thesis and, in many ways, unprecedented: on one hand, Eminescu’s separation of romanticism and his approachement of the modernity, on the other hand, the existence of some similarities between the young poets from the so called generation 2000 and the author of The Letters.
Keywords: Mihai Eminescu, Radu Vancu, romanticism, modernity, existence, apocalyptic imaginary.

• Radu Vancu, Eminescu. Trei eseuri / Eminescu. Three essays, InfoArtMedia – Argonaut, Sibiu – Cluj-Napoca, 2011.