Între memorialistică și (auto)biografie. Studiu de caz: Monica Lovinescu
Between Memoirism and (Auto)Biography. A Case Study: Monica Lovinescu

Summary/Abstract: Monica Lovinescu has a special place in Romanian culture. Her journals, as well as the diversity of her reviews and articles in Radio Free Europe have defined her as an emblematic figure in the Romanian cultural space during communism. However, it is precisely this dimension of the cultural act, in memories – through La Apa Vavilonului or Jurnalul esențial – and essays – volumes such as Etica neuitării or O istorie a literaturii române pe unde scurte – that brings to light an issue for which the boundaries of apparently distinct but theoretically different concepts, such as memoir and biography, seem to be extremely volatile. Starting from the premise that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to separate the cultural act from the biographical dimension – especially in this case, where the very essence of the cultural act is both a consequence, and a mirror representation of the biographical dimension – and based on a theoretical approach that revolves around the concept of biographical criticism, this paper aims, through an analysis of diaries, volumes of essays and last, but not least, the centenary album Monica Lovinescu: O viață, o voce, un destin (Humanitas, 2023) by Cristina Cioabă, to address, from the perspectives of literary theory, socio-cultural theory and history, the complementary relationship between memoirs and biographical criticism. By analyzing the corpus from the aforementioned theoretical perspectives, the purpose of the paper is to highlight both the complexity of the biographical dimension in Monica Lovinescu’s works – by referring to diaries and essays as well – and, at the same time, to underline the adaptability of Monica Lovinescu’s biography to a series of literary genres – from memoirs to biography (or autobiography), as well as biography in the field of visual arts, through the centenary album.

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