Innovation, Classicism and Humanism
This study focuses on one of the most important and latest contributions to the exploration of Albert Camus’s work in Romanian field of culture. In this volume, the studies can be grouped according to the (inter)disciplinary field Camus’s work often approaches: morality and sacred, philosophy and mythology, literature and stylistics. The authors stress that Albert Camus lived and wrote in accordance with moral discipline which, on the one hand, objected to social injustice and human weaknesses, and, on the other hand, defended the human beings and tried to help them while avoiding the notion of the human being as abstract entity. Furthermore, Camus’s “new humanism” is equally humanitarian (owing to the idea of human solidarity against injustice, poverty and death) and humanistic (owing to the superiority of human values: freedom of choice, reason and disinterested love). Albert Camus believed in the “tragic nature of the human being”, which means being good at any cost, hence his triple militant ideology for equality, justice and freedom. At the end of the study, the authors approach a more general conclusion: with no damage to the topicality and the importance of studying Anglo-American language and literature in Romanian, this concern should not turn in cultural monopoly. The Romanian culture’s ties to the Latin vein are incontrovertible and this requires its contextualization depending on its “relatives” – the French, Spanish or Portuguese culture.
Keywords: innovation, classicism, humanism, Albert Camus
1. Tzvetan Todorov, La littérature en péril, Flammarion, Paris, 2007.
2. Alexandru Matei, Charisma pierdută a literaturii [The Lost Charisma of Literature], in Idei în Dialog no. 9 (36), September 2007, pp. 33-34.
3. Ioan Lascu, Camelia Manolescu, Valentina Rădulescu (eds.), Albert Camus: innovation, classicisme, humanisme, Scrisul Românesc, Craiova, 2013. The references hereinafter will be made to the studies included in this volume.
4. Ibid., p. 7. Camus’s most important works published in Romanian were: The Stranger, The Plague, The fall, The Exile and the Kingdom, by Georgeta Horodinca, Olga Mărculescu and Irina Mavrodin, RAO, Bucharest, 2013; The First Man, transl. by Ileana Cantuniari, RAO, Bucharest, 2014; Betwixt and Between, Noces. The Myth of Sisyphus, The Rebel, by Irina Mavrodin, Modest Morariu and Mihaela Simion, RAO, Bucharest, 2014; Notebooks, transl. by Micaela Ghițescu, RAO, Bucharest, 2003; Caligula. The Misunderstanding. The State of Siege. Révolte dans les Asturies, transl. by Catinca Ralea, RAO, Bucharest, 2004; Albert Camus – René Char, Correspondence 1946-1959, transl. by Vasile Savin, RAO, Bucharest, 2011.
5. Albert Camus, Trois interviews, in Actuelles. Chroniques 1944-1948, Oeuvres complètes II, Paris, Gallimard, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade – “nrf”, 2006, p. 476.
6. Albert Camus, The Fall, translated into English by Justin O’Brien, Vintage Books, New York, 1956, pp. 11-12.
7. Alain Vuillemin, Ioan Lascu, Valentina Radulescu, Camelia Manolescu, Anca Radulescu, Cecilia Condei (eds.), Albert Camus – un écrivain pour notre temps, Universitaria, Craiova, 2011. We list some of the most important Romanian exegeses of Camus’s work: Ion Vitner, Albert Camus sau tragicul exilului [Albert Camus or the Tragedy of the Exile], Editura pentru Literatură Universală, Bucharest, 1968; Anne-Marie Codrescu, Spațiul închis la Albert Camus [The Locked Space at Albert Camus], Bucharest, Editura Universității din Bucharest, 1997; Virginia Baciu, Albert Camus et la condamnation a mort, Junimea, Iași, 1998; Florian Bratu, Albert Camus: mit și metafizică [Albert Camus: Myth and Metaphysics], Junimea, Iași, 1998.
8. The international conference “Reconstruind latinitatea: Identități naționale și Transnaționale ale Culturilor Romanice” [(Re)constructing Latinity: National and Transnational Identities of Romance Cultures], ULBS, Sibiu, 21-23 November 2013 (http://conferences.ulbsibiu.ro/latinity2013/). Details in Alina Bako, “Latinitatea – limbă, spiritualitate și identitate” [Latinity – Language, Spirituality and Identity], in Transilvania no. 11-12, 2013, pp. 148-152.
