Ștefan Bezdechi and Classical Studies in the University of Cluj’s First Romanian Decade Cover Image

Ștefan Bezdechi și studiile clasice în primul deceniu românesc al Universității din Cluj
Ștefan Bezdechi and Classical Studies in the University of Cluj’s First Romanian Decade

Author(s): Marina Cristea
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Romanian Literature, Philology
Published by: Editura Universităţii de Vest din Timişoara
Keywords: classical education in Ro-mania; classical studies; 20th century; Vasile Pârvan; Vasile Bogrea; Ștefan Bezdechi; University of Cluj;

Summary/Abstract: The first half of the twentieth century was crucial for the formation of modern Romanian education and culture, including in the field of classical studies. The year 1919 was one of transformation, marked by the reorganization of the former Hungarian Royal University “Francisc Iosef” as a Romanian university, where the study of the ancient Greek and Latin languages, literatures, and cultures was considered essential not only to the advancement of Romanian education in Transylvania but also to the identity of the newly united nation, integral to its social and cultural progress. Together with his professors and colleagues, Ștefan Bezdechi contributed through his teaching and philological work to inspiring students and training authentic classicists, in order to promote excellence in Romanian literary culture. His intellectual curiosity encompassed all periods and genres of ancient Greek literature, Byzantine hagiographic literature, and—no less—Neo-Greek lyric poetry from the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. The themes he approached are arborescent in conception: the philological and historiographic threads are braided with philosophical, ethical, and aesthetic issues, all inter-twined within a historical and social perspective that approximates the life and thought of a world that, although it reaches us only through its literary documents, endures in posterity.

  • Issue Year: 2025
  • Issue No: 63
  • Page Range: 117-135
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: Romanian
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