QUELQUES CONSIDÉRATIONS SUR LE CATÉCHISME PERDU ET RETROUVÉ DE GEORGES BRANKOVIĆ

Author(s): Levente Nagy / Language(s): French Issue: 1 supp./2024

George Branković (Gheorghe Brancovici, Đorđe Branković, 1645-1711) was the brother of the Greek Orthodox bishop of Transylvania, Sava Brancovici (1615-1683). Initially, he was Apafi’s envoy and interpreter in Constantinople. Later, he became secretary to the Prince of Wallachia, Şerban Cantacuzino (reigned 1678-1688). Emperor Leopold I granted Branković the title of baron in 1683 and count in 1688. In 1690, imperial general Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden arrested him because he believed that Branković was inciting the Serbs against Vienna. After his arrest, Branković remained in prison for the rest of his life: he was imprisoned in Vienna until 1703 and then in Egger in Bohemia until 1711. During his imprisonment, he even composed an anti-Catholic and anti-Calvinist catechism. It was Emil Turdeanu who, during research carried out in 1936 and 1937 at the Library of the Royal Serbian Academy in Belgrade, discovered three religious works by George Branković. At the time, these three texts by Branković were in two different manuscripts. One, designated by Turdeanu as A, carried the number 168/8. The contents of this manuscript were as follows: 1. Book of holy prayers; title: Carte aciasta a sfântelor rugăciuni. 2. Catechism, in questions and answers, including 44 chapters (untitled) 3. Advice for true travelers; title: Cătră adevărați călători, comprising thirteen paragraphs. The other manuscript named by Turdeanu B, bore the number 236. According to him this manuscript presents the same texts as manuscript A except that it omits from the end of the Book of Prayers a brief biographical note, deletes the incomplete text from the end of manuscript A, that is to say Advice for true travelers. On the basis of two short autobiographical notes contained in the text of manuscript A, Turdeanu was able to establish precisely that the said manuscript was completed in October 1690. Manuscript B being a copy of manuscript A was written later and must have been made by one of those men with whom Branković came into contact during his stay in prison in Vienna: a certain Jovan Aleksijević, dvornik pisar with the despot, or Jovan Lipovskí, a relative of Branković, who accompanied the prisoner in his exile to Egger in Bohemia, and who collected the last confessions. It is thanks to him that, after long efforts with the Austrian authorities, the literary heritage of Georges Branković was returned to Serbian circles. Shortly after the publication of Turdeanu’s article on the discovery of Branković’s religious works, World War II broke out. Thus, Turdeanu no longer had the opportunity to make a more in-depth study of this subject, nor to edit these three works of Branković. Especially since even Turdeanu believed that during the bombing of Belgrade in April 1940 by the German air force, the two manuscripts containing Branković’s three texts had been destroyed. Fortunately, this is not the case, because during the bombing only manuscript 168/8 was destroyed. The other manuscript bearing the number 236 was preserved and can still be found today in the archives of the Library of the Serbian Academy (Српска Akadемија наука и уметности, SANU) under the same symbol. This manuscript is not autograph and contains only the prayer book and the catechism. Relevant literature has so far only registered the existence of the catechism, but the text has not yet received proper scholarly treatment. In the catechism, Branković defined Eastern Orthodoxy in opposition to Transylvanian Calvinism and the pressure of Catholic cultural colonisation emanating from the Viennese court. Branković’s work is a particularly important piece of cultural heritage because it deals with topics that are not usually discussed in contemporary catechisms: witchcraft, oath-breaking, popular religiosity, etc. In my study, I would like to make a brief comparison between some chapters of Branković’s catechism and between the other catechisms of the time (Ștefan Fogarasi, Varlaam, Cyrille Loukaris) and between the prefaces written to the different books of the New Testament text of the New Testament of Bălgrad (1648). I will treat first of all the chapters in which faith, good works and fasting are discussed.

Maternitate, coping religios și afectiv în confesiunea Floricăi Baţu-Ichim

Author(s): Emanuela Ilie / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 49/2023

The following study continues some of the research I published a few years ago (particularly, the papers interested in the reflection of the imaginary of the traumatized corporeality in the women's confessive writings). It analyzes a very provocative, sadly almost unknown, cancer narrative: Florica-Baţu Ichim's book, entitled La porţile disperării, începutul speranţei/ At the Gates of Despair, the Beginning of Hope. As most of the confessive texts, written during radical identity crisis (caused by receiving a diagnosis perceived as lethal), this auto-biographical splendid text articulates itself as a hybrid narrative, in which the author mixes fragments of micro-family novel, diary notes, hospital reports, reading notes, etc. But the truly specific note of this volume – as in the case of Mioara Grigore's Cancer, my love – is given by the way in which the writer (priest's wife and devoted mother of six children) intuitively mixes religious coping with a sort of affective coping, with the aim of strengthening her spiritual identity during the terrible struggle with the Great C.

ESTETICA URÂTULUI ÎN PROZA REGINEI MARIA A ROMÂNIEI. FUNCȚII, FORME, MESAJ

Author(s): Alexandra Maria RUSU BOCȘA / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2024

The artistic concept of the aesthetics of the ugliness was first introduced into the European literature by the French writer Charles Baudelaire, through the book Les fleurs du mal, and was then developed by the German philosopher and writer Karl Rosenkrantz through the volume Ästhetik des hässlichen. In Romanian literature, this concept was introduced through the contribution of the poet Tudor Arghezi. He published the volume of poems Flori de mucigai in 1931, a representative volume for this aesthetic perspective. In Romanian literary history, royal literature also remains a landmark moment, not only because of its exponents, but also because of its form and content. Royal literature represents a literary product that benefited from prior maturation: the historical context, the cultural influences that came into contact with the writers of the Royal House, the personal experiences of the authors who, as we know, were deeply connected with the realities and ideals of the Romanian society and, last but not least, the set of tools that the authors benefited from in their artistic process, acquired either through the education they received or during their lifetime.All these are elements that strongly manifested their influence in the work of Queen Mary of Romania. For her, writing is not just an artistic phenomenon, like painting or drawing. Her writing is strongly anchored in meaning. Every literary work has a precise message, a well-defined purpose. Her style is as fine and delicate as it is studied and meticulous. The characters and events are not left to chance, they are the very product of intentionality, as are the literary techniques and registers she uses. The aesthetics of the ugliness is a concept she adopts and uses recurrently in her work.Our research, however, aims to highlight the diversity of forms and functions that this concept can take. Also, although Queen Mary wrote literature especially for children, using the literary species of the story and the fairy tale, the aesthetics of the ugliness are not used on a standardized level, as we might expect. In her work, the ugliness transforms into a wide palette of variations, serving the third basic element of Queen Mary's writings: the message.Our research will be based on the analysis of some support-texts belonging to Queen Mary of Romania in relation to the concepts of aesthetics, aesthetics of the ugliness, imaginary and its representation in the social context.

EVADAREA TĂCUTĂ A LENEI CONSTANTE. ROLUL TERAPEUTIC AL DIARISMULUI

Author(s): Valentina Silvia Copîndean (Haiduc) / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 1/2024

The present paper emphasizes the therapeutic role of diarism and liberation from cloistering by creating wings of words (initially stifled by reasons of ontological order, but so pregnant as soul life through the prism of the inner flight it projects in the soul of the person condemned to captivity). Lena Constante's "silent escape" is another type of diary, written later, after the experience of detention ended, but capturing the experiences from the prison with the same acuity as if she had recorded them at the time of the experience. Recovered through anamnesis, the diarist's confessions are intended to facilitate the inner flight with the aim of finding the harbor of light inside her being troubled by injustices and sufferings. Finding the inner resources necessary to detach from self and the body subject to despair, hunger, cold and fear, the diarist becomes a spaceless and timeless living spirit, destined only for eternity. Her diary becomes a catalyst for the healing of wounds that have hurt and lasted for too long.

EXÉGÈSES PASCALIENNES DANS LA ROUMANIE POSTCOMMUNISTE

Author(s): Marius Popa / Language(s): French Issue: 1/2024

The present article aims to analyze three of the most important exegeses dedicated to Pascal in Romania after 1989, signed by Horia Lazăr (1991), Vlad Alexandrescu (1997) and Călin Cristian Pop (2011). After presenting a brief history of the reception of the French philosopher in the Romanian cultural space (containing an inventory of the translations and monographs that were dedicated to him), we proposed an analysis of the way in which the mentioned researchers approach the problem of the Pascalian paradox, emphasizing the original and particular methodologies of each of them. The three books are important contributions to what we could call a tradition of Pascalian studies in Romania, bringing at the same time innovative ideas on the international level and being very well anchored in the current dynamics of Pascalian studies in the Western world.

THE EPISTOLARY WRITER IOAN CARAGIANI

Author(s): Mirela Averikios / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 38/2024

Ioan Caragiani has maintained over the years, with a real and sincere involvement, a rich correspondence with important people of his time or with his friends, on topics of great interest to him, literary, political and religious, which he sometimes treats repetitively, with many details. He was also concerned to present in his letters, details of the history of the Aromanians, their deeds of arms during the Greek revolution of 1821, and their desire to free themselves from the oppressive tutelage of the Constantinople Patriarchate, which forbade the use of the Romanian language in churches and schools. In his letters on personal matters, he is frank and equally frank in seeking advice from his addressees.

THEATRICALITY OF PROSE AT THE TOPOI LEVEL

Author(s): Ana Ghilaş / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 38/2024

In the article deals with the phenomenon of theatricality in the narrative literary text is approached from the point of view of the relationship between literariness and theatricality and of the concepts the world as theater and the world as performance, topoi of cultural-aesthetic origins. From the perspective of the comparative method, we analyze the specifics of the artistic imaginary of I. Druță and V. Vasilache, creative individuals from the same generation 60, demonstrating the artistic vision of each author, the way theatricality and its forms are manifested in their narrative texts. In this context, the opinion of the theatrologist, playwright N. Evreinov regarding the theatricalization of life and the pre-aesthetic aspect of theatricality becomes current. The characters in the prose of these authors reveal to a large extent the social dramaturgy, the way in which man dramatizes life and the art of the creative personality to artistically capture and transfigure such aspects of reality.

THE ARTISTIC PERSONALITY OF ZAHARIA STANCU

Author(s): Oana Loredana Bițu (Diaconu) / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 38/2024

The study titled "The Artistic Personality of Zaharia Stancu" seeks to highlight the coherence of Zaharia Stancu's vision, as reflected both in his life philosophy and in his work as a writer, politician, journalist, poet, and novelist. Throughout the various stages of his development, Stancu demonstrates that the thirst for knowledge and the desire to understand the world and to use that knowledge in support of the helpless are essential elements in the evolution of a person. His life was harsh, in a society that did not value his vast culture or the numerous books he had read, forcing him into a constant struggle. Through his words, Zaharia Stancu sought to combat social injustices, to secure rights for the marginalized, to denounce the abuses of the powerful, and to artistically transfigure the suffering of the Romanian peasant, who rebels against poverty and oppression, deserving recognition and appreciation.

E. LOVINESCU AND INTERWAR WOMEN WRITERS

Author(s): Paula Andrada Hurducaci / Language(s): English Issue: 38/2024

E. Lovinescu, one of the most representative figure of Romanian literary critics, knew that women had the power to change the world. This was the reason why he accepted their presence in his literary circle. Becoming a mentor of this new category of writers, he was able to show the world that the beauty and the value of a literary work is given by its own substance and aestethic value. Because of the emancipation of authors and because of their ambition to try new artistic methods, feminine writers were free to express their ideas in the world of literature, a world of men until that moment. That was the historical moment when the Romanian literature changed and accepted the women as real writers.

THE DEPTH OF BANAL AND ROUTINE – SOURCE AND/OR CONSEQUENCE OF TRAUMA – EXISTENTIAL LIMINALITY IN „GREAT EXPERIENCES” – SHORT FORAY IN SHORT STORY COLLECTION „RELATIONS” COORDINATED BY MARIUS CHIVU

Author(s): Ioan Alexandru Murar / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 38/2024

The paper follows the relationship between the everyday life (social reality) of the experimenter (human existence) and the effects it has on his interior. In a continuous evolution and in the constant attempt to connect to a world characterized by existential dynamism and change, the experimenter lives the great experiences that, in this dynamic, become routine, routine, but profound for inner living. Defining for great experiences is that they characterize the human experience regardless of the relationship of the experimenter with the world in which he lives, more precisely, they are in fact universal experiences that do not take into account the people, the people, geography, country or history. Thus, whenever the experimenter meets with this „big experience” born out of routine lives a liminal situation that he can overcome or not. If the liminal situation is not overcome, the person experiencing it experiences an existential suspension that can lead to trauma or even reactivate older trauma.

Rodica Marian - Poezii/Poems

Author(s): Raluca-Nicoleta Rogoveanu / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

Review of: Rodica Marian - Poezii/Poems. Translated by Mihaela Mudue. Cluj-Napoca: Scriptor, 2021.

Vasile Alecsandri și literature Istorică în secolul al XIX-lea

Author(s): Mihaela Nicoleta Ichim-Radu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: L/2021

The poet Vasile Alecsandri has always had the conscience of the writercitizen, his entire work being directly addressed to the public. His desire „to write” was the starting point in opening new paths, in literature in general, and in historical literature in particular. The importance of language in the destiny of the Romanian people was defined by Alecsandri as the most precious treasure that children inherit from their parents, the most sacred deposit left by past generations.

Călin TEUTIȘAN, Scenarii ale criticii. Protagoniști, metode, interpretări, [“Scenarios of Critique: Protagonists, Methods, Interpretations”], 2021

Author(s): Iulia-Maria VÎRBAN / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2024

Cu cărțile pe masă - Recenzii

Author(s): Otilia Ungureanu,Eugenia Sarvari,Maria Zintz / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 9/2024

Reviews concerning new books, but also art exhibitions.

THE POEM AFORETIME (DEMULT) BY GEORGE BACOVIA: AN ANALYSIS

Author(s): Irina Ana Dobrot / Language(s): English Issue: 39/2024

The purpose of the paper is to analyse the poem Demult by George Bacovia, based on the framework provided by reader-response criticism, and free associations, in order to highlight the way in which the symbol, within the Symbolist movement, can have both a public and, especially, personal connotation. The poem analysed becomes, in addition, an example of atypical poem for poet George Bacovia’s style, leaning more towards the Romantic movement influence than towards the influence of the Symbolist movement, marking, in fact, the specificity consisting of the overlapping between these two movements in Romanian culture. Additional insight into the understanding of this poem, next to the analysis based on literary and cutural studies, is provided by different translated versions.

FORAY INTO POSTMODERNIST POETRY. ANALYSIS OF THE WORK OF ION STRATAN

Author(s): Cristina Lizeta Furtuna / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 39/2024

Ion Stratan is an unserialized, a difficult poet. He is the poet least adherent to eighties poetics, because he lacks the defining marks of the eighties spirit (realism, everyday life, objectualism), but uses lyrical humor, playful spirit, intertextuality. Considered "structural, a modernist poet", situated at the beginning in a "poetics of Mallarmée and Barbian origin", associated with "two epic masters" - Nichita Stănescu and Leonid Dimov -, close to Urmuz or Bacovia in certain creations, Ion Stratan will build a polyphonic vision that tries to express the inexpressible, to capture the essence, to draw the contours of absence, to imagine the unseen from a position hermetic, not devoid of playful inclination. In this sense, we propose that through this work to evoke the particularities of postmodernism through Stratan's impressive work.

AN ECOCRITICAL APPROACH TO LUCIAN BLAGA’S THE WONDROUS SEED (MIRABILA SĂMÂNȚĂ) AND NOVEMBER SUMMER (VARĂ DE NOIEMBRIE)

Author(s): Andrei Dimitrie Borcan / Language(s): English Issue: 39/2024

This article analyses Lucian Blaga’s volumes The Wondrous Seed (Mirabila sămânță, 1962) and November Summer (Vară de noiembrie,1962) through the ecocritical lens, It discovers in a large number of poems in the respective volumes Greg Garrard’s ecocritical tropes, alongside with Jane Bennett’s ‛vital materialism’ and animism, Serenella Iovino and Serpil Oppermann’s ‛material ecocriticism’ and, beings’ ‛porosity’ and Stacy Alaimo’s ‛transcorporeality’ of nature. It also identifies ecocritical neo-religious terms of the ‛reenchantment of David Ray Griffin’s and the desacred’ David Abram’s ‛more-than-human’ and JeffreyCohen’s ‛inhuman’. It discovers a number of hyperobjects corresponding to Timothy Morton’s work on the matter. It also finds out that Blaga uses the baroque oxymoron in quite a large number of poems. The translation of the quoted poems has been done by the author of this article.

THE ILICIT FORMS OF REALITY UNDER THE AUTOMATIC WRITING. IDENTITY BETWEEN HAZARD AND MANIPULATION IN THE TRILOGY OF "TĂLPI" - NICHITA DANILOV

Author(s): Alina Costea / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 39/2024

Nichita Danilov's work captures the idea of man as a machine that functions on its own rules. The trilogy deconstructs various instances, presenting their physicality as a collage of images as the reflections of the individual subjectivity. Through this exploration, this paper aims to analyse how the subconscious mind and self-censorship contribute to the ambiguity of situations, resulting in a world woven with irrationality and delirium. The concept of living is constantly linked to the genesis and it is influenced by the omnipresent evil within things. However, the representation of existence using mythical rituals remains uncertain given the cognitive limitations of the universe. In a world constantly evolving and embracing change, the author emphasizes freedom, rebellion, duplicity, and the assertion of identity as desired outcomes. The surrealist image explores the connection between thought and reality by using illicit language and by exploiting external objects - an expedition that leads to an immense literary universe. The induced reverie blurs the boundaries of awakening, dreaming, reality, reasoning and madness since any event revealing a desire is considered a hazard.

Nationalism and Antisemitism in Interwar Romania: The Case of Nicolae Davidescu

Author(s): Ioan Sebastian Crintea / Language(s): English Issue: 17/2024

This article aims to present the nationalism and antisemitism promoted by N. Davidescu in the interwar period. I was interested to analyze the first and so far unnoticed connections with these ideologies, that he had at the beginning of his literary career. The ambiguities of the early part of his life became a violent form of antisemitism in the later 1930s. Using unclear concepts such as “Romanian spirit”, “collective soul”, and “territorial collectivity”, he developed an antisemitic ideology with the goal of demonstrating the dangerous character of the Jews’ presence in Romania. They were accused of dominating the country and ruining its economy. The Jews were portrayed as aggressors, and the Romanians were threatened to be subjugated by them. The only chance to defeat those depicted as conquerors was to erect a totalitarian state that would successfully defend the Romanian people.

Cu cărțile pe masă

Author(s): Valentin Trifescu,Bianca Andreea RĂDULESCU,Daniela Pană,Ana Dobre,Evelina CÎRCIU,Dorin Nădrău / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 10-11/2024

A collection of book reviews.