Un gen literar al secolului al XVIII-lea românesc: cronicile versificate, între istorie şi literatură
A Literary Genre of the Romanian 19th century :Versified Chronicles ,between History and Literature

Summary/Abstract: History and literature are two important features that mould the spiritual existence of any nation and it was (still is!) only natural that they should be closely connected in some ways. Where there is truth, there is imagination, where there is real fact, there is legend and this is the foundation many Romanian chronicles were based on. The chronicle is both a historical and a literary genre which is very well represented in Romanian literature. The Romanian scholars are not the first to be interested in this kind of writings, and the appearance of the rhymed narratives based on historical events, a phenomenon that is characteristic to the literary period between the second half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, was influenced by the existence of such works in foreign literatures that the Romanian writers knew very well. This literary genre was well developed in the historical literature of countries such as Greece, Poland, Russia or Hungary and the Romanian history and culture is connected to them. Most chronicles deal with tragic deeds, terrifying incidents, spectacular falls, dramatic conflicts, shocking death, all presenting the opportunity to contemplate world from the point of view of futile existence. World and fate are deceiving; luck changes and people have no power to counterbalance them. The rich and the poor, the commoners and the aristocrats are all subjected to the whims of fate. The chronicle writers cultivate motifs like fortuna labilis and ubi sunt?, which are representative for the Baroque style. Only a lettered man, with at least some tendency to introspection and philosophical thinking could have resorted to such motifs and that ensures the anonymous writer a place in the bigger book of Romanian literature. Due to the chronicles’ certain achievements, D.H.Mazilu advocates the value of theses texts about which he says „were I be more courageous, I would call them the most important genre of Romanian literature of the 18th century.” Both history and literature, the versed chronicles have shortcomings, as well as certain qualities, which prevent them from being either ignored or forgotten.

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