Evreu-român-ortodox: metamorfozele identitare ale lui N. Steinhardt
Jew-Romanian-Orthodox: The Identity Metamorphoses of N. Steinhardt

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to present the main development stages of Nicolae Steinhardt’s personal identity while taking into view his affiliations to such categories as “Jew”, “Romanian” and “Orthodox Christian”. The analysis will be conducted on the basis of Steinhardt’s selected journalistic and autobiographical texts. Concepts and terminology pertaining to the field of cultural studies, anthropology and social psychology, in particular the notions present in Erik Erikson’s personal identity theory and Antonina Kłoskowska’s definitions of national identification and conversion will be employed during the analysis. It will be of much significance to establish the relationship between those concepts and the notion of religious identification and conversion. This will make it possible to capture the complexity of Nicolae Steinhardt’s identity transitions which stems from the overlapping of ethnic, national, cultural and religious factors with reference to Jewishness and Romanian-ness and the tension between those two categories. Juxtaposition of Steinhardt’s early texts on Jewish issues with two versions of Jurnalul fericirii – a self-analysis of the conversion to Christianity – will allow to answer the question what it meant for Nicolae Steinhardt to be a Jew and to be a Romanian, what role religious factor played in his identification with these two categories, and how Steinhardt viewed these two groups at a given time.

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