The Theophanies of a Theo-Geographical Route. The Resurrection Gospel from… Ravenna
The present study originates in its author’s personal experience after the visit of the medieval Christian churches from Nonantola (near Modena) and Ravenna. Based on a variegated specialized literature, the author aims at to successive goals: first of all, he tries to relate the architecture and the sacred iconography with the beginnings of Christianity in western Europe (and also with the history of the heretical doctrines evolved from Christianity). Secundo, he wants to show the extensions of those intense medieval relations with the sacred in the present – as the author does not accept that post- or hyper-modernism is a desecrated world. The study is therefore to be read as a plea for the presence of the sacred in the so-called Entzauberte Welt. A plea for the Wiederzauberung der Welt.
Keywords: history of Christianity, medieval Christianity, sacred iconography, sacred architecture, medieval church of Nonantola, medieval church of Ravenna
The Concordat
The Italian Grolier encyclopedia presents The Concordat as a bilateral act in which a certain state and The Holy Seat agree about the legal position of the Catholic Church active on the territory of that state. The great Italian dictionary defines the concordat as a convention between The Holy Seat and a state for a legal regulation of matters of common
interest. Metropolitan Valeriu Anania gives the following classification of concordats:
1) the bilateral arrangement for the purposes of regular interstate treaties – and that only at the insistence of modern
states,
2) two unilateral and symmetrical acts, one emanating from the Pope, another by the State government,
3) a papal bull that the sovereign or the government acquires which gives him legal attributes.
Keywords: the Concordat, The Holy Seat, Catholic Church, types of concordats, relations between states and
churches
A Logical Apprehension: “Hope” and “Resignation” in the Poetry of the Young Eminescu
Following Schiller’s influence upon Mihai Eminescu’s youth verse, our research aims to investigate the understanding of concepts such as “hope” and “resignation” in the contexts of Eminescu’s translations, as well as in his original works. The inquiry of sub-manuscripts “Elena” and “Marta” – conventionally named after Eminescu’s “muses” – discloses the fact that, departing from a genuine misreading of the Romantic tradition, the Romanian poet acquires a problematic and presumably tensed meaning of the two abstract notions. Unlike Schiller, Herder and Bürger’s “Hoffnung”, which depends on the dialectics of living, Eminescu’s idea of “Hope” relies on a “logical anxiety” about the representation of nothingness. Briefly, the inspiring literature of Schiller is turned, in Eminescu’s “misreadings”, to a mystical and philosophical dimension, built on actual readings from Cabala and, consequently, on a twofold intensity of reality perception. Remarked by Eminescu’s apt editor, the internal coherence of the two mentioned notebooks appears to be sustained not only psychologically, as the outer expression of a juvenile transitory mood, but also conceptually, as an effort to keep even the scales of thought.
Keywords: Hope, Resignation, Cabala, misreading, logical anxiety
Biographism, Confession, Individuation. Poetry between Psychocriticism and Sociopoetics
The present study departs from the refutal of Proust’s famous distinction between the artistic and the social egos from Contre Sainte-Beuve. The social person and the creative ego cannot be perfectly isolated, as the French writer states, since the psyche which creates comes within the text and instils it with a whole psychological (and therefore social, and political, and economical a.s.o.) context. Recent literary theory has developed a new type of biographical and social approach free from the mechanical determinism of the old biographical school, and therefore fertile and useful in its approaches. Understood as the confession of a psyche with social and political extensions, literature is fruitfully approachable via these new theories regarding the „modern mises-en-scènes of the author”, as Jérôme Meizoz calls them in his influential studies.
Keywords: biographical theories of literature, biographism, sociopoetics, psychocriticism, confessional poetry, literature as confession, Jérôme Meizoz
The Essay between Portrait and Photography
This study deals with the paradoxical views of Romanian essayist Paul Zarifopol (1874-1934) on biography, and especially with portrait and photography as ways to mediate one’s personality. Starting with Zarifopol’s open rejection of self-presentation, and referring to his opinions on the use of the biographical method in literary criticism, we discuss how these opinions reflect on the particular traits of the essay as a genre. The essayist shuns away from making his own portrait or from posing in photos. Giving up the claim to critical objectivity, Zarifopol’s literary portraits do not aspire to attain a natural resemblance to their subject, but to recreate a moral texture, reaching the paradoxical “likeliness” that Georg Lukács talked about in his letter On the Nature and Form of the Essay.
Keywords: biography, essay, portrait, Romanian literature, Paul Zarifopol
Constantin Noica and the Concept of “Paideia”
As in the case of his lifelong friends, Mircea Eliade and Emil Cioran, some biographical aspects of Constantin Noica’s life have become nowadays a vivid subject of debate, leaving on a secondary level the cultural value of his work. The present study surveys the paideic model of the philosopher Constantin Noica, mainly centered on the relationship between master and disciple. The author therefore proves that the main goal of Noica’s project was to create an intellectual elite (the “Păltiniş School”), able to preserve the Romanian liberal and humanist values, via the so-called “resistance through culture” against the aggression of the communist regime.
Keywords: contemporary Romanian philosophy, Constantin Noica, paideic perspective, master and disciple, parable of the Prodigal Son.
The Balladical Profile of Ştefan Aug. Doinaş in the Economy of the Sibiu Literary Circle
The study surveys the history of the Sibiu Literary Circle, focusing on the figure of Ştefan Aug. Doinaş, its foremost poet. The author has a twofold interest: on the one hand, he analyzes Doinaş’s poetry and its innovatory resources comparing it with some sections of the previous Romanian poetry. The author makes use of Harold Bloom’s theory of the „anxiety of influence”, seeing in Lucian Blaga „the paternal figure” for Doinaş’s poetry and psyche; therefore, he shows that the clinamen and the kenosis are the favorite revisionist figures of Doinaş’s poetry. On the other hand, Ursenco is interested in the secret relation of Doinaş with the communist Securitate, which was kept hidden until 2005, three years after Doinaş’s death.
Keywords: contemporary Romanian literature, Ştefan Aug. Doinaş, the Sibiu Literary Circle, Lucian Blaga, Harold Bloom, the anxiety of influence
Bibliografie critică:
Interviuri:
Bibliografie lirică:
Nicolae Regman. Psalm versification and lyrical prose
Nicolae Regman (the pseudonym: Z. Sandu) along with his extensive work form a separate chapter of Transylvanian culture in the first half of the twentieth century. Despite this, the only mentions about his biography – certainly not the literary one – can be exclusively found today in a few theology works. Aesthetically, he is a modest writer, but his scholar figure – on which the exegesis was not yet pronounced – require to be recorded on the Transylvanian geography map with others enthusiasts writing in the last century.
Keywords: Nicolae Regman, Z. Sandu, Transylvanian culture, the first half of the twentieth century, the samanatorism
Matei Vişniec in dialogue with Ionesco or about the absurdity of history
The study is an analysis of the dramatic text with tools provided by the concept of intertextuality. Matei Vişniec wrote the text On The Sensation of Elasticity When Walking Upon Corpses as a tribute to Ionesco. Lesson, Rhinos, Bald Soprano are rewritten using specific rhetorical strategies, but more than a rewriting, the text of Vişniec is an allegory of the absurd history lived by the finest intellectuals in the communist prisons. There are quotes from Ionesco’s theater whose function is to neutralize in an ironical flavour the various situations in which Vişniec’s characters are being plunged in. Intertextuality is achieved not only by direct reference, but also through pastiche, being undoubtedly a parody of Ionesco’s masterpiece. The sense of tragedy is emphasized at a textual level by the play-within-the-play. In conclusion, on a first reading the play written by Visniec denounces the harsh historical conditions improper for developing the writing skills but also the freedom offered through literature to those underprivileged.
Keywords: intertextuality, history, absurdity, parody, quote, irony
Ilya Ehrenburg and the Communist Century
The present study is focused on Ilya Ehrenburg’s work in its testimonial relation with the communist century. First, Stanomir discusses Ehrenburg’s famous under-dimensioned novel The Thaw, which created such an intense intellectual debate that its title eventually became the denomination of the whole communist atmosphere following Stalin’s death. Then, the author of the study compares also Ehrenburg’s monumental memoirs, People, Years, Life with Nadezhda Mandelstam’s diptych, Hope Against Hope and Hope Abandoned, observing by comparison Ehrenburg’s irredeemable communist character and adhesion. Even when pretending to be disillusioned and critical towards the regime, Ehrenburg actually behaves like an intellectual ambassador ot the Soviet Union.
Keywords: history of communism, history of the Soviet Union, communism and intellectuals, Ilya Ehrenburg, Nadezhda Mandelstam
Simion Bărnuţiu’s conception about the nation
This article is intended to be an overview of how Bărnuţiu Simon, one of the most important representatives of the generation of 1848 in Transylvania, introduced the concept of “nation” over time. He was the personality who decisively influenced the nation’s perspective on forty-eighters Transylvanian intellectuals. Bărnuţiu was the one who reformed vision of the concept of “nation” and discussed the constitutional recognition of self-determination and nation, as part of the state. When talking about the nation or in speeches or in his writings, he referred many times to the Transylvanian Romanian nation. He tried to base an ideological foundation for a better political affirmation for the Romanian nation. He tried to realize an ideological foundation for a modern an free Romanian political nation, and he found his arguments in using various ideas regarding national freedom, some of those ideas being part of the natural rights theory.
Keywords: Simion Bărnuţiu, nation, Blaj, speech, concept, Romanians, Transylvania
The Contribution of Metropolitan Anthim the Iberian in Translating the “Euchologion” in Romanian
Saint Anthim the Iberian is one of the most remarkable cultural personalities of the Romanian Church. A top achievement of this great prelate is the printing of Euchologion in Romanian language, a crucial moment on historical level in the existence of these orthodox liturgical books. The novelty of saint Anthim’s publication consists in the exclusive use of the Greek sources, a procedure whereby the metropolitan differs considerably from his predecessors, who mixed Greek and Slavonic sources. Significant is also his courage to translate and publish the Euchologion in Romanian, in a language that
was clean and understood by everyone, as he accomplished in this work his predecessors’ effort to Romanize church service. Anthim’s Euchologion built a model for his successors, and at a careful comparison between the text of this edition and the following ones, including the official edition used by the Romanian Orthodox Church, it can be seen that there are no too great differences, an attestation of the quality of this great editorial achievement.
Keywords: Metropolitan Anthim the Iberian, the “Euchologion”, translation, Romanian Orthodox Church
Byzantine Carmel. Twenty years of presence in Romania (1994-2014)
The Carmel of the byzantine rite, present in Romania for twenty years, by the Hermitage of the Holy Cross in Stânceni, is the fruit of the sincere desire to achieve the Christian Unity. East and West, through the Christian culture preserved in the liturgy, iconography, architecture, are opening to the believers eager to participate to the realization of the unity in faith and truth. The present article is the presentation of an approach which proves that the Unity is possible, while the differences between us are in fact a richness that accomplishes.
Keywords: carmelites, religion, monachism, iconography, ecumenism, catholicism
The History of Actuality and The Actuality of History.
The Ejection of the Huguenots.
– The France of Some Economical Interests During and After the Rescission of the Nates Verdict. Tolerance and Intolerance –
Confrontations and crimes and persecutions with a religious tinge always kept the atention of the researchers. In France in the years 1500-1750 the Huguenots’ avatars are occupying an important place. What generated the „expulsion of the Huguenots” and what were the consequences? Here is the subject of this study.
Keywords: religions, persecutions, Edict of Nantes, abrogation, emigration, development
Cognitivst-Constructivist Reverberations in Art Theory
Researches carried out in recent decades in the field of cognitive science reveal models, patterns, schemes, based on which the human mind encodes the information received through the senses. These schemes organize the experience of the individuals according with the principle of cognitive economy, facilitating the adaptation to the environment. The
reception of the artistic objects follows the same process of creating the scheme and then correcting it when reality changes. Theorists of literature, plastic arts and film explain that the construction of the meaning of a work involves the elaboration of assumptions and expectations based on already established (created) schemes. These hypotheses are tested and verified; if they are disproved, the schemes will be subject to a revision process – representing the very essence of reception as a creative act.
Keywords: art theory, theory of reception, cognitive sciences, constructivist psychological schemes, art reception as a creative act
The “Googleberg” Galaxy and the Making of Digital Man.
Towards a New Paradigm of Existence, Communication, Culture and Knowledge The Gutenberg Galaxy, built on the printed word, is the space of existence of civilization, in the center of which stands the “typographic man”. Marshall McLuhan describes in his famous book The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man (1962) the paradigm of human existence in the print era. He also talks about the impact of technology on civilization, about the future of humanity, about the transition from the individual to the collective existence, on a “tribal base”, in the “global village”, and about the control exercised by Big Brother through electronic means. New technologies, especially information technology, make the transition of civilization and of the individual into the Digital Era and virtual universe. Based on McLuhan’s model, we can now talk about: The “Googleberg” Galaxy and the Making of Digital Man. Technology generates a new paradigm of existence, communication, culture and knowledge. Its benefits are huge for the individual and for humanity. But so are its risks and dangers: the transfer of the existence from real to virtual, the transformation of the real human being into a virtual being, his or her depersonalization, despiritualization, and deculturalization, the superficial knowledge and mediocrization, the control and manipulation of all, massification and uniformization of individuals through the digital technology within the globalization process.
Keywords: the Gutenberg Galaxy, typographic man, technology, the “Googleberg” Galaxy, digital man, new paradigm, real and virtual existence, control, manipulation
Enter the white world: ‘magic quarantine’ for the child and Ways to develop ‘magic immunity’. Cheating destiny.
The traditional community has developed over time many magical ways of maximal efficiency to trick destiny and to manipulate the opposing forces and to answer to certain potentially unwanted outcomes. All these mechanisms to manipulate destiny in a child’s favour are activated in a spiritual context that belongs to the way of tackling life and death in the traditional village. It also involves a tight relationship between the concepts of destiny and evil for the field of customs and beliefs pertaining birth and childhood. Under such conditions temptation to activate mechanisms to make destiny favorable is strongly emphasized – given the initial absence of cultural identity of the child who comes from the unknown and enters the world thus altering if for the moment the balance for the mother, family, and community. Salaj villages still conserve such information, and the stories told in this paper stand proof of that.
Keywords: traditional community, magical quarantine for the child, potentially unwanted outcomes, magic immunity, cheating destiny
