The Documentary Research within the Information and Documentation Centre (IDC) Premises of a Case Study

This study is an investigation on integrating the users’ (pupils and teachers) desk research conducted within the Information and Documentation Centre (IDC) in the didactic activity, through project-based pedagogy, with a view to elaborating a local strategy (at school level) on developing and including information-documentation competences in the development of subject-specific competences of future graduates of compulsory education. The introduction presents words and concepts that are relevant to the topic of the research; then, the study covers an applicative research framework methodology (methods, instruments) aimed at identifying the appropriateness of the project based pedagogical method in exploiting the documentation actions within the IDC, by developing the pupils’ correlated competences. The study highlights that the goal of training pupils in the information-documentation field through didactic activities can be fulfilled in optimal conditions by using the IDC as a specialized and attractive information documentation structure and by applying the pedagogic project as a modern and efficient didactic method.

Keywords: documentary research, constructivist chdactics. project-based pedagogy, desk research

Philosophy as Discoursiveness

The philosophical discourse sets into motion, in a manifested or concealed way, the intention to organize not facts, but significances that engage an experience. In essence it is about a one-time containment of a relative decision on reality, resulting from putting in perspective of a fact, inside a provisionary or finite totality, illusional or authentic, but lived as such by a conscience.
In order to assess the status of philosophical practices, we must take into consideration their objectivable dimensions, looking for the traces of operations that assure their construction in the order of discourse. By its calling, philosophy tends to master over and to explain the conditions of its own representation. It rejects therefore any attempt that, from a position exterior to itself, might claim the objectivation of its rules of installment and functioning.

Keywords: discourse, philosophy, knowledge, representation, meaning, reality, truth, time, text, enunciation, concept.

Imposing the Addressee’s Author Ity by Means of the Imperative (With Examples From Jean De La Fontaine’s Fables)

Persuading the interlocutor to do something is what the addressee has in mind. This process depends on the relations between the speakers. Out of many acts of language performed by the imperative (to order, to advise, to ask, to menace) we shall point out the ones which express the addressee’s authority.
In this paper, we want to identify the linguistic means which make these acts possible. We shall insist upon the use of the verbal imperative from which renders the dominant / dominated relation in most of the cases. In order to emphasize the complexity of such a phenomenon, we shall mention certain linguistic elements having imperative value. These elements reinforce the addressee’s authority in front of the interlocutor.
We have chosen examples from Jean de La Fontaine’s Fables because in his lines we have detected various aspects showing both exerting the power and imposing the addressee’s will.

Keywords: authority, imperative, addressee, interlocutor, order.

The Terror of Romanian History. Testimonies from Exile

Mircea Eliade saw his own exile as a series of instructive probations in order to write his pieces of work in order to reach consecration in the literary and scientific field. Eliade developed a theory of the theory of history that he also illustrated in his literary work, especially in the novel Noaptea de Sânziene and in the short story Șanțurile. This article aims at following the writer’s notes inserted in his autobiographical writings, Memorii, Fragmente dintr-un Jurnal and Incercarea labirintului. In all these writings, the author notes his indignation against the layout from communist Romania, but also aspects linked to his major decision to leave the country in 1940. Being far from stripping off the destiny of his country, Eliade followed carefully and painfully the political evolutions from Romania and expressed his opinion, by taking the position his exiled writer status permitted. In his autobiographical writings, the author comments political evolutions, events, news of all kinds which came from different sources: friends, family, acquaintances, mails etc.

Keywords: exile, creation, initiating trial, Ulysses, the terror of history, diaspora, the intellectual elite

Cultural Transfer in the Translation of the Language of Power

“To translate” does not mean changing the language of the discourse anymore, it is not simply just the result of a translation action, as it used to be defined in dictionaries. Translation is a phenomenon that is alive, functional, organic, a “soft power” which is useful and useful to the cultural politics of a certain state, of international relations, of globalization. Translators are now the ones who “watch”, they became “professional forecasters” who build „cultural myths”. A certain amount of power has been insinuated in translation for a long time now. Is the translation of a discourse of power after all defined as the translation of a specialized language which implies its own level of technicality and difficulty? Which are the challenges imposed to the translator during his traductologic process within the domain of the power discourse? Is it possible that the power discourse might be just a political discourse? Does cultural transfer have a spot in the translation of a power discourse? Is the translator a professional forecaster? These are the questions that will be answered in this particular article.
After the publishing of Patrick Charaudeau’s book “Le discours politique. Les masques du pouvoir”, the political discourse as a power discourse is re-placed under the “domination” of the language and is redefined as an entity which is situated in permanent connection with the public opinion, the media and the political actors. Of course, it obeys certain rules and obligations related to language norms, individual options, persuasion rules, the balance between locutors and enunciators (which leads to a construction that is different when it comes to self-image), cultural values of a certain era, communication situation, orality, style.
Nowadays, the political discourse is more than that, it became flexible and can be defined based on interfaces, borrowings, exchanges, it becomes cultural or even pluri cultural. Here is why during its translation we are witnessing a cultural transfer. The definition of the cultural transfer is not precise and was released to the public by Michele Espagne. Which is the exact definition of the cultural? The education of spirit or civilization? The formation of intelligence? A precise definition is still missing. “Culture” underlines and makes us understand everything that is related to mediation between humans, research of literature, history, art, philosophy and other things and matters which are related to culture as an education of the spirit. But is the term “cultural transfer” within translation related to these concepts or not? The response to these questions is to be found in the following article.

Keywords: cultural transfer, power discourse, translation/translator, political discourse.

A Certain Mr. Piekielny or the Power of Literature

In this article we aim at problematizing the intricate relationship between reality and fiction in the French contemporary novel Un certain M. Piekielny, written in 2017 by the Goncourt Prize nominee François-Henri Désérable. We will identify the main literary techniques that the author uses in order to discover or to recreate the history of a character mentioned in passing by the reputed French novelist Romain Gary in La Promesse de l’aube (1960), writer that has a major impact on Désérable’s literary becoming. The power of literature to create reality or the illusion of reality will also be examined in the manner that François-Henri Désérable builds his characters, history and plot, on a constant dialogue between his texts and Gary’s novel, in a labyrinth of quotations, personal recollections, photographs and archive documents.

Keywords: François-Henri Désérable, Romain Gary, (self)fiction, literary biography, reality

The Forest, Labyrinth of the Unconscious: Țugulea, the Son of the Old Couple (Petre Ispirescu)

Among the genres of folk literature, tales have become, in our opinion, the most important means of breaking the boundaries between generations and of going back to our “world within”, to our Self. The analysis of tales involves an interdisciplinary approach. Folklore studies make the material available to us, but it cannot be studied without resorting to the theory of mentalities, the history of religions and myths, or the new approaches of the theory of imaginary and of cultural anthropology. Understanding the pre-Christian substratum, but most of all getting inside the mentality of archaic communities is extremely difficult, because mentalities adapt to historical events.
In Romanian culture, forests are ambivalent spaces, of protection and safety, but also of fears and wandering. They are deemed passages to the other world, realms of initiation, of incursion into the subconscious, of preparation for entering a new stage of life. To study the extraordinary voyages into the forest, we will analyse Țugulea, the Son of the Old Couple, a tale gathered by Petre Ispirescu. Crossing the border and returning to the familiar space are the best proof of the existence of another dimension.

Keywords: Romanian folk tale, theory of imaginary, the forest, theory of the limit.

Aspects of literary travel writing by Joachim Wittstock

Born in Hermannstadt / Sibiu in 1939, the Romanian-German writer, who continues to live in his birthplace, wrote poems, prose sketches, narratives, novels, essays and literary treatises. In 2016, he published in the Sibiu publishing company hora verlag the volume “The White Lagoon and other travel stations”, with the explanatory subtitle “Travel prose”. At first glance, this sounds rather sober, but in Wittstock’s narratives the real travel stations turn into scenes of fictional events and the author offers a documentary-artistic travel literature, whose starting point lies mostly in his real experiences, but the literary means of representation that Wittstock uses in his narratives are of literary-aesthetic nature. Thus, Wittstock’s travel prose fundamentally differs from the travel writings for tourist purposes, which are to be considered as functional literature. In what form and with what intentions the RomanianGerman author deals with the subject of travel, will be explained in the present work.

Keywords: Joachim Wittstock, tourist travel literature, functional literature, documentary-artistic travel literature

Strukturanalyse von Ferdinand Raimunds Der Alpenkönig und der Menschenfeind

This article describes Ferdinand Raimund’s drama. „Der Alpenkoenig und der Menschenfeind“ and analyzes it’s structure. It takes into account the life and times of that famous Austrian author who lived in the time of the so called Biedermeier, which, by some, is regarded as a repressive time, suffering under severe restrictions and censorship. A short description of the content of the play. „Der Alpenkoenig und der Menschenfeind“ is given and all apearing characters analyzed in detail, focussing on the diferent types of humor put into them. Another special focus is put on symbolism appearing within the play and about it’s typification. Original citatations from the play are given within the article’s text in order to nail down argumentation.

Keywords: Austrian literature, dramaturgy, structure analysis, Biedermeier

Hexenwahn und Aberglauben im Spiegel der Hermannstädter Gerichtsprotokolle des 17. Jahrhunderts

Die europäische Hexenforschung versucht in den letzten Jahren, eine Erklärung für das in der frühen Neuzeit so vehement sich manifestierende Phänomen der Hexenverfolgung zu finden. Dabei hat sich ein neuer Ansatz herausgebildet, der die Ursprünge für dieses einzigartige Phänomen in dem von den gebildeten Schichten gepflegte magische Denken der Renaissance aufdeckt und zu erklären versucht. Ausgehend von diesem Ansatz untersucht der Beitrag ein Zeugenvernehmungsprotokoll aus einem Hexenprozess im Hermannstadt des16. Jahrhundert und analysiert die darin auftretenden Elemente des magischen Glaubens, der das Denken des frühneuzeitlichen Menschen in Siebenbürgen wie in Westeuropa gleichermaßen geprägt hat.

Schlüsselwörter: Hexenverfolgungen, Magie, Siebenbürgen, Zeugenvernehmungsprotokoll, Aberglauben, Hermannstädter Judikat.

Max Frisch – Diary 1946-1949. The Notes of an Allocentric (II)

Das zweite Tagebuch verlängert die Tendenzen des ersten und bleibt demnach, trotz der sichtbaren Akzentveränderungen, ein objektives, extravertiertes und stilisiertes Werk. Kennzeichen des Künstlertagebuchs und des politischen Tagebuchs werden hier deutlich. Subjektive Gefühle und Stimmungen werden immerhin nur gelegentlich ausgedrückt. Die Dankbarkeiten und einige Auszüge zur Freude und zum Hass eröffnen den Weg zu dem privaten, echten Tagebuch.

Keywords: Tagebuchliteratur, Künstlertagebuch, das echte Tegbuch, Fragebogen

The Image of Afrcan-Americans in Literature

Racism is an issue that has been debated and analysed in many cultural and literary studies. Considering that this this topic is a very delicate one, we will focus on some theoretical approaches which also involve the fiction area. Many representatives of the African Americans and also white writers created many literary works in which we can find various interpretations regarding the African Americans. The main concern of the literary works and studies is to offer a different perception of the population and their culture from the darkest to a more enlightened way. The purpose of this article is to show some historical events that are connected to the racist approach and to compare two novels which deal with the African Americans and their life conditions in the `30s in the United States.

Keywords: african-americans, culture, racism, tolerance, history, Harlem Renaissance.

The Supreme Magistrate or the Power as Reason of State

Latin American literature of the 20th century is fascinated (sometimes, even obsessed!) with the image of the dictator and the significance of dictatorship. This fact can be easily explained the taking into consideration that the South American continent was, for decades, under the rule of pitiless presidents whose mythical figures became in time part of many narrative discourses authored by the most important writers of this specific world. That is what outstanding authors such as Miguel Ángel Asturias, Augusto Roa Bastos or Gabriel García Márquez did in their famous novels: “Mister President” (1946), “I the Supreme” (1974) and “The Autumn of the Patriarch” (1975). In his turn, the Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier publishes in 1974 a masterpiece of the genre: “El recurso del método” (“Reasons of State” in the English translation. The book’s central character, The Magistrate, half real and half mythical, expresses all the aesthetic and political tensions of Latin America (signifying the inner conflicts of a pre-modern country) and also establishes an exquisite literary and textual relationship with many other characters or situations created by the authors of the “Boom” generation.

Keywords: Latin-American fiction, 20th century novel, dictatorship, dictator, imagination, history.

The Rhetoric of Power in the Romanian Mediaeval Literature

We witness various types of discourses revolving around on the same topic: the power in the mediaeval times. What we had in view were both the Romanian chronicles and Dimitrie Cantemir’s novel, Istoria ieroglifică (“The Hieroglyphical History”). Cantemir’s novel offers us a double perspective on the way power is wielded. On the one hand, there is a discourse the ideal way of government held by the Unicorn, the only character that is entirely good. He puts forward advanced ideas upon the qualities a king or a leader should have: honesty, wisdom, sobriety, and, about it most important, love for the people he rules. But such qualities make the Unicorn an endangered creature, because of other creatures’ envy. On the other hand, the Raven’s speech shows us how despotic he is. His speech contains nothing more than ideas referring to imposing his own will and demanding obedience. Mostly, the chroniclers’ work reflect the same aspects. The characters’ discourses are based on the duality between the ideal wise form of government and the despotic one.

Keywords: mediaeval literature, rhetoric, power, government, Cantemir’s novel, Romanian chronicles.

From Historical Avant-Garde to the Neoavant-garde of the 2000s

The present paper attempts to investigate the extent of which the Romanian historical avant-garde has constantly updated itself throughout history, starting from the early reiterations in the 40s and 50s and ending with the poetry of the 2000s. In order to demonstrate this, I will asses both the socio-cultural context of Romanian post-war and post-communist transition, as well as the evolution of literary forms that allowed for the constant “updates” of the historical avant-garde in Romanian poetry. This article also debates the thesis of Peter Bürger and the way it can be applied both to the historical avant-gardes and to the poetry of the 2000s, as contemporary poetry does present the same rebellious attitude towards the institutionalised literature of its precursors.

Keywords: historical avant-garde, Generation 2000, fracturism, Marius Ianuș, manifesto. literary institutions