Dana Radler | The Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies (original) (raw)
Papers by Dana Radler
Incursiuni în imaginar, 2022
Often looked upon from the perspective of his biography in relation with his works, Ion D. Sîrbu ... more Often looked upon from the perspective of his biography in relation with
his works, Ion D. Sîrbu published the novel “Dansul ursului” [The Dance
of the Bear], apparently a children’s book, in 1988. The key protagonists,
Buru the Bear and the Gary the donkey are both lively alter egos of the
writer. At the surface, the narrative builds on characters whose life is
upset by World War II, while in fact the main theme concerns physical
and intellectual freedom. This paper draws on studies referring to
repression under the communist regime (Mareș, 2011), the novelist’s
personal correspondence (2020, 1998, 1994) and his confessions (2009),
to examine whether, and how, the imaginary has its roots in one’s
personal experience. What happens to humans, domestic and wild
animals when they lose the routine and values of their existence? Who
are Gary and Buru, in fact? Is this work truly “a novel for children and
grandparents”1 as the subtitle states? While interest in Sîrbu’s
personality and works does not fade, this particular narrative opens as a
combination of multiple connections, resistance and learning.
Synergies in Communication Conference Proceedings, 2022
In "Remember" (first volume-edition in 1924) and "The Rakes of the Old Court" (first Romanian ser... more In "Remember" (first volume-edition in 1924) and "The Rakes of the Old Court" (first Romanian serial edition in 1921, in print in 1936 and English version in 2021), Mateiu Caragiale (1885-1936) exposes a world on the verge of extinction. Drawing on his knowledge of heraldry, Caragiale presents several males who indulge in pleasure, knowledge and group-affirmation as they preserve their own principles. These rakes possess the financial means to engage in various types of experiences that others do not have access to or an appetite for. While employing the Saidian concept of “Orientalism” and that of “Balkanism” coined by the Romanian critic G. Călinescu, this paper examines the construction of a refined narrative. Scenes and portraits are typically painted in heavy, rather dark tones, with sophisticated fragrances and attire in tune with equally complex entertainment and conversational practice. What do the main protagonists think about their own identity and how do they pursue their interests? While knowledge and wealth are the key to a comfortable life, being one of a select few is vital to the key protagonists. They enjoy time spent together, as well as looking back at their roots. Visual, audio and linguistic representations, diluting or enhancing distinct temporal, spatial and personal ingredients, build on a particular universe in which introspection and companionship are the key ingredients to one’s existence.
The unprecedented experience of Gavrilescu, the main character in the La Țigănci short story, con... more The unprecedented experience of Gavrilescu, the main character in the La Țigănci short story, continues to arise various interpretations, proving the viability of this eliadesc writing. For some literary critics, he is the anti-hero by definition, which lives what Eliade understands by "level break", but without understanding anything of it. The ordinary man, with a banal existence, routinely in the profane becomes the Chosen One uselessly claimed by sacred, for ignorance prevents him from seeing beyond the Illusion. In the hut of the gypsies, he crosses a rite of passage, from life to death, proof being the shrouded curtain that will wrap his naked body, the terrible thirst for unpopularity, and the surprising encounter with the always young Hildegard, the beloved of his youth. In this article, I try to reveal another dimension of this eliadesc short story, linked to the name of the main character, which, in my opinion, refers to the name of the archangel Gabriel, the &qu...
Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies, 2022
In recent times s, Indian ascetics have become pop icons due to the influence of visual entertain... more In recent times s, Indian ascetics have become pop icons due to the influence of visual entertainment media. Outside their country of origin, they are often negatively stereotyped to foster derogatory understandings of the Others and their cultures. In this paper, we will focus on representations of Indian ascetics. Starting with their early depictions in the memoir of the Transylvanian physician Dr Honigberger, we will examine their representations in Romanian newspapers and journals. In order to account for Romanian interest in ascetics from a faraway land, this paper will take into consideration the historical developments that led to the growth of European interest in them. Through a comparison between nineteenth century British (Osborne 1840) and East-European (Honigberger 1851, 1852) writings on Indian ascetics, we will try to understand whether conceptualization of Indian ascetics in Romanian-speaking territories differed in any way from that of the British colonizers in India. The paper will then move on to examine how the Romanian press conceptualized these ascetics. Evidences point to the fact that the Romanian press became interested in Indian ascetics, erroneously generalized as fakirs, from ca. 1900 to 1940. Analysing Romanian journal and magazine articles on Indian fakirs, which till now remain untranslated into English, this article will try to show how the Romanian press conceived of the ascetics of a faraway country. Our research methodology is based on text analysis, relying on a broader cultural perspective. For the purpose of this paper, we have selected a series of article samples, taking into consideration diversity in terms of regions (southern Romania and Transylvania), as well as the most relevant period (1906-1935). The interest in Indian sadhus and their doings basically emerged starting with the mid-nineteenth century. Yet over the following decades accounts have changed in terms of focus. While nineteenth century authors were primarily concerned with the physical aspects of their work, texts written in the first decades of the twentieth century suggest that journalists and writers generally looked at the more surprising and entertaining side of fakirs’ actions. Finally, the paper suggests why Romanian press lost interest in Indian ascetics after the 1940s.
Transfer. Reception Studies, 2020
In John McGahern's works, characters emerge in both comic and tragic instances, and their whole e... more In John McGahern's works, characters emerge in both comic and tragic instances, and their whole existence comes under the spotlight, as the writer uses mild, ironic or sarcastic touches, which have not been examined so far. In between automatisms and mobility often directed at dogmatism or mental stereotypes displayed by characters, clergymen, workers, teachers, writers or family members display their ignorance, occasional (lack of) manners, boredom or elevation, often imitating what seems to be 'decent' in terms of taste. Building on the three main approaches to humour (superiority, incongruity and relief according to John Morreall) yet refuting a monolithic interpretation. This paper explores how class, gender and false pretences are ridiculed and exposed in both novels and short stories. Laughter moves from a classical Kantian play instance to a Freudian-supported analysis of condensation and ambiguity as vehicles employed by a realist creator. The narrative often alternates between family roles and poles of power, visible and invisible laughter, as natural and changing (or hybrid) as human nature. Examples extracted from McGahern's novels, short stories, memoir and essays present differentiations in the actions of protagonists such as imitation or repetition as attributes of routine and failure, while fear and violence stem from a reactive, insensitive behaviour which the narrative exposes succinctly or at length. Shared by others, or not, such experiences nuance Irish identity, the mix of humour and realism opening itself to further reading, connecting, for instance, McGahern's works to psychoanalysis, angelic versus demonic laughter or carnival laughter (Alfie Bown).
Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 2021
In Stavro, the first opening piece of Kyra Kyralina (published in 1923), the narrative focuses on... more In Stavro, the first opening piece of Kyra Kyralina (published in 1923), the narrative focuses on the actions taken and the reactions shown or concealed by three male characters in alternation, with particular emphasis on gender, age, and experience. In between traditionally built sections and ample back-storytelling, the story addresses the key learning stances adopted by the three male characters at the end of a short trip that they complete together: reserve, reclusion and (self-)reflection. How does a modernist vision frame one's identity against age, common social norms and openly manifested repression in small urban neighbourhoods? Can one protagonist's understanding about his sexual orientation be genuinely shared with others? In what way does Stavro's personal experience alienate his prospects of family life in the port of Brăila? This paper aims to decode the narrative based on modern confession, continuity versus fragmentation, sexuality and modes of memory alter(n)ation.
Colocviul „Panait Istrati”, 2020
Rezumat : Narațiunea din Chira Chiralina (prima ediție în franceză în 1924) continuă să fie subie... more Rezumat : Narațiunea din Chira Chiralina (prima ediție în franceză în 1924) continuă să fie subiectul cercetărilor specialiștilor. Povestirea se concentreaza pe actiunile si reactiile intreprinse sau ascunse de trei personaje principale, intr-o alternare continua a sexului, varstei si experientei. Cum imbraca sexualitatea identitatea protagonistilor in relatie cu varsta, normele sociale si represiunea deschis manifestata in comunitati urbane restranse ? Poate marturia unuia sa fie transmisa deschis celuilalt ? Aceasta contributie examineaza trei moduri narative care sprijina ciclul lui Istrati : confesiunea, nostalgia si memoria, legandu-le de un repertoar bogat al reprezentarilor din pictura romaneasca interbelica.
WOMEN WHO MADE HISTORY, edited by Umberto Mondini, 2020
1918-2018: Limba şi cultura română – structuri fundamentale ale identităţii naţionale: evaluări, perspective, 2019
Sorrow, temptation and hope in the novel Voica by Henriette Yvonne Stahl In the Romanian interwa... more Sorrow, temptation and hope in the novel Voica by Henriette Yvonne Stahl
In the Romanian interwar landscape, Henriette Yvonne Stahl’s first novel has raised interest yet its reception was more or less favourable, since the themes were mainly thought as feminist, apparently aligned to similar concerns of other female writers of the time.
The current paper aims to look at the life of protagonists and their actions presented in Stahl’s debut novel, Voica (1924), considered as one of the valuable works of the writer. In addition, the narrative techniques significantly tinge key-protagonists or traits of the secondary ones. The present analysis starts from the following questions: how do interpersonal relationships impact actions in this novel? How does identity shape individuals from distinct social classes and backgrounds: the rural/urban area or the cohabitation space in between rural and urban? What is the route of generations (child, adult, elder) and the relationships inside and outside the family? What is the position of the narrator towards events and protagonists presented in her work? The current paper aims at exploring her fiction in close relationship with a volume standings out as her memoir (Cristea 1996).
Stahl’s first novel presents a writer passionate about the life of peasants whom she had met in the village Fălăștoaca, where Iordache (Dumitru in the novel) was from, the man her family was close to during the First World War. While comparing it to her testimonies published in 1996, the narrative shifts events to the area of Neajlov-Arges, and the main characters massively adopt traits of the real individuals whom the writer, adolescent at the time, had met once. Placed within a classical structure, yet displaying obvious realist influences, the novel comes out as a balanced whole, presenting impressionistically-infused, slightly idealized descriptions, well-shaped protagonists and predominantly dramatic experiences. If the novelist had looked at her own work as a social piece, the results of the present analysis confirm that Voica constitutes a social and psychological novel, a distinct combination of the time.
Philologica Jassyensia, 2019
Closing the "Dubliners" and the representation of the Irish capital and community setting at the ... more Closing the "Dubliners" and the representation of the Irish capital and community setting at the turn of the century, "The Dead" is the longest piece, concluding the set of stories with a distinct message about life and intellectual fulfilment. From manuscript to print, the collection went through a seven-year saga of trial and error with various publishers, being finally published in 1914, after the entire first print-run was burned before it could reach the public, on 11 September 1912 (Fargnoli and Patrick 1995: 145). Charles Levin and Charles Shattuck looked at it as a series of 15 vignettes (1944: 30), linking the series to Joyce’s own confession in May 1906 to his publisher about the “paralysis” covering the whole collection and, then, explaining the stories as a journey focused on four main stages: “childhood, adolescence, maturity and public life” (Ellmann 1975: 83). While inspecting such contributions, this paper attempts to employ resources provided by psychoanalytic criticism and offer a wider interpretation about identity, love and death as illuminating topics in the Joycean universe. Earlier criticism focused on exploring links between Joyce’s life and his vision (Magalaner, Kain, 1956; Gilbert, Ellmann 1966; Tindall, 1959; Bowen, Carens, 1984; Bollettieri Bosinelli, Mosher 1998, Bloom 1999), his place in the twentieth-century Irish writing (Garrett 1986; Torchiana, 1986; Beja 1989; Henke 1990), while recent studies provide topical insights (Schwaber 2000, Fargnoli, Gillespie 2006; Sakr 2008, McArdle 2010; Oatley, Djikic et alii 2016, Olivares Merino 2016). As Patrick Parrinder notes in his study, in the years Joyce wrote and waited for Dubliners to come into print, symbolism “was a topical and widely discussed literary technique” (Parrinder1984: 51), yet Parrinder rejects the idea launched by Levin and Shattuck about the parallelism to the Odyssey. The final story of "Dubliners" can be nevertheless discussed in the light of concepts such as Eros and Thanatos, dream and the use of symbols and metaphors. The main questions I address are: is the party described in the story a genuine communal gathering, or is it meant to foresee mental isolation and annihilation, placing the key protagonists at a huge distance from each other, despite their apparent love? And is snow, the final symbolic element covering the city, working as a hint to purification or merely suggesting a world reduced to silence by its own death? This paper employs psychoanalytic criticism for a close reading of the story, inspecting the construct in terms of primary drives, as well as the questionable actions and thoughts of the key protagonists.
Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies, 2018
Remarked from her very first book, Voica (published in 1924), and up to her last novel Le Témoin ... more Remarked from her very first book, Voica (published in 1924), and up to her last novel Le Témoin de l’éternité, printed first in France in 1975 and translated into Romanian in 1995, Henriette Yvonne Stahl turned from a promising female writer into a unique voice in the inter-and post-war literary life in Romania.
Starting from Rimbaud’s illuminating pensée “Love has to be reinvented” (Felman 2007: 5), this paper aims to explore the identity of females in My Brother, the Man, drawing on identity and trauma as devised by Penny Brown (1992), Cathy Caruth (1995 and 1996), Shoshana Felman and Dori Laub (1992). In addition, the mixture of memory and narrative covers types of talk fiction (Kakandes 2005), the shift of focus from the subject of remembrance to the mode it takes place (Anne Whitehead 2009), and Beata Piątek who looks at how narratives impact readers (2014). Are the main characters engulfed in a dense life texture able to explore their personal dilemmas, difficult choices and detach from the flux of their own passions and desires? Or are they going to fall victims to their own inability of understanding the meaning of life, paralleled by the lack of vision and humanity manifested by secondary characters? Both male and female characters display a dominant profile, their actions and inner voices are marked by subtle or abrupt shifts, meant to stimulate a noticeable response from those they love or hate. The omniscient narrator employs a vast repertoire of techniques, meant to nuance egos and changes, moving from a classically-structured narrative to a detective story supporting inner monologues and deepened psychological impasses, occasionally bringing fictional personae closer to realist and existentialist fiction.
![Research paper thumbnail of Dana Radler, book review, Panait Istrati, povestitorul fotograf, fotograful povestitor [Panait Istrati, the storytelling photographer, the photographing storyteller].pdf](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/57778757/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Synergy, 2018
Zamfir Bălan’s recently published volume adds to the corpus of contributions devoted to Panait Is... more Zamfir Bălan’s recently published volume adds to the corpus of contributions
devoted to Panait Istrati’s biography and works. This bilingual edition in Romanian
and French brings an exciting insight into Istrati’s childhood and early formative
years, his interest for egalitarian, socialist politics, and lifetime friendships such as
those with the Russian refugee Mikhail Kazanski, the illuminating encounter and
literary guidance received from the French writer, Romain Rolland. Throughout his
life, Istrati has followed a committed type of writing meant to support intellectual
growth among those with less fortunate prospects than the upper classes of the
Romanian society. Bălan’s latest book adds to a publication about Istrati’s
experience as a photographer, “Panait Istrati – fotograf și în fotografii”, marking
the centenary of his birth over three decades ago (1984).
Synergy, 2018
Unpredictable journeys are a dominant feature in Istrati’s fiction, taking the main protagonist (... more Unpredictable journeys are a dominant feature in Istrati’s fiction, taking the main protagonist (Stavro) from unstable yet familiar settings to exciting experiences if not sorrowful ones. Characters display coarse or delicate features, in accordance with their habitat and identity. In urban or country locations, light and dark mix with visible or hardly perceivable feelings and actions, the result being a narrative focused on or diluting
facets of sensuality, power and authenticity. Male and female characters portrayed by Romanian artists in the inter- and post-war decades present similar characteristics. This paper aims to explore the tache as a key plastic sign in text and painting, drawing on Øystein Sjåstad’s theory of connections between perception and reality, the result being a
continuum in different artistic media.
Folklor/edebiyat, 2018
Alienation makes the heroes in John McGahern’s stories behave or appear like uncontrolled, wild a... more Alienation makes the heroes in John McGahern’s stories behave or appear like uncontrolled, wild and fearful creatures, anticipating a peril but unable to detect a precise danger and the way to counteract its impact. The demarcation between the safe and unsafe territory is even more difficult in circumstances related to death and funerals, as characters are transposed into a symbolically-built space where images, sounds, colours, and domestic totems help or restrain them, linking the visible to the subconscious. Diverse motifs from the animal, vegetal or human realms, are accompanied by a panoply of stylistic means employed to take the readership into a genuine Irish setting in which animal representations often mirror feelings of numerous humans, from hope to despair, or frailty to rigidity. This paper aims to explore the way in which folklore-extracted elements shape Irish identity and recurrently emerge in McGahern’s literary works, the result being a unique mixture of imagery and personal memories implanted in both content and narrative.
BAS - British and American Studies, 2018
Silhouettes, silence, guilt and conflict permeate the memoir by Elite Olshtain, a genuine life-te... more Silhouettes, silence, guilt and conflict permeate the memoir by Elite
Olshtain, a genuine life-testimony of her childhood spent in Czernowitz and Romania before and after World War II. How is one’s identity fragmented when war cuts the existential route of a prosperous and caring family? Where is the victim and who is the heroine? This paper explores trauma, identity and gender rooted in a remediated frame which captures imprints coming closer to the reader, or remains at distance, making the narrative poignant or as diffuse as an aquarelle.
SYNERGY, 2017
Love, power and money determine the characters in this play switch from open to hidden discourse ... more Love, power and money determine the characters in this play switch from open to hidden discourse and action. The ability of characters to reveal or conceal their agenda connects communication skills to the success or failure of their negotiation. What is loss and gain in their quest for justice? How are the politically (in) correct elements articulated in public speaking via dramatic techniques? Where does ambiguity start and where does obligation end, entailing both comic and tragic effects on the fate of protagonists? This paper aims to explore the means of negotiation employed by both female and male characters in a complex cultural background, and their adjustable tactics displayed in public contexts.
EAST-WEST CULTURAL PASSAGE, 2015
Childhood and youth emerge and re-emerge, time and again, as durable concerns and difficult inter... more Childhood and youth emerge and re-emerge, time and again, as durable concerns and difficult intervals to reach adulthood, as John McGahern describes his experience in novels and short stories. In Memoir (2005), the writer adopts a more detached vision than in his earlier writings, yet he does not admit it to be a typical autobiography.
How are conflicts shaped and reconverted by the passage of time? Where does imagination start and where do facts determine the narrative? Is Memoir a piece of fiction, a well-documented and rather neutrally-written volume, or something in between? This article aims at exploring the way in which the narrator‟s identity is infused with difficult, tormenting memories of a distant past, while the writer undergoes a difficult process. To understand the process, the analysis relies on major cultural concepts: collective memory (Halbwachs), communicative memory (Assmann), remembering as remediation (Erll) and memory seen as migration (Glynn and Kleist).
American, British and Canadian Studies, 2016
Current explorations of migration in fiction focus on innovative perspectives, linking memory and... more Current explorations of migration in fiction focus on innovative
perspectives, linking memory and trauma with the concepts of exile and
conflict. Personal memories ask for an understanding of what belonging
and identity represent for the Irish; immigration has hybrid and fertile
links to memory studies, psychology and psychoanalysis (Akhtar), making the immigrant both love and hate his new territory, while returning to the past or homeland to reflect and regain emotional balance. From the focus on ‘the sexy foreigner’ (Beltsiou), we rely on the idea of crisis discussed by León Grinberg and Rebeca Grinberg, Frank Summers’ examination of identity, the place of the modern polis and the variations of the narrative (Phillips), the trans-generational factor (Fitzgerald and Lambkin), the departure seen as an exile (Murray and Said) and the impact of guilt (Wills).
Such views support an analysis of McGahern’s writing which works as a blend of memories and imagination, the writer highlighting dilemmas, success and failure as ongoing human threads. They are as diverse as the people met by the novelist in his youth, many of them being workers, nurses, entrepreneurs, teachers and writers, both young immigrants in search of a better life and migrants returning to spend their retirement or holidays home.
SYNERGY, 2016
Torn between traditions, the sense of belonging to local communities and the urge to find a bette... more Torn between traditions, the sense of belonging to local communities and the urge to find a better living, young adult migrants are in John McGahern's prose both heroes and victims. The purpose of this paper is to explore the connections and layers of their family environment and past, and of a fragile route to individual success and failure. Both male and female characters feel rather confined when placed in urban sites, and their education limits employment opportunities, while the degraded and degrading human topoi are bitterly scrutinized in a blend of tragic and comedy. Examples taken from the collections of short stories and novels attest that protagonists oscillate between physical and mental departures and arrivals, easy gain and shallow feelings that imprint characters a perceptible change and low self-confidence, despite a vibrant and apparently friendly urban fabric.
Incursiuni în imaginar, 2022
Often looked upon from the perspective of his biography in relation with his works, Ion D. Sîrbu ... more Often looked upon from the perspective of his biography in relation with
his works, Ion D. Sîrbu published the novel “Dansul ursului” [The Dance
of the Bear], apparently a children’s book, in 1988. The key protagonists,
Buru the Bear and the Gary the donkey are both lively alter egos of the
writer. At the surface, the narrative builds on characters whose life is
upset by World War II, while in fact the main theme concerns physical
and intellectual freedom. This paper draws on studies referring to
repression under the communist regime (Mareș, 2011), the novelist’s
personal correspondence (2020, 1998, 1994) and his confessions (2009),
to examine whether, and how, the imaginary has its roots in one’s
personal experience. What happens to humans, domestic and wild
animals when they lose the routine and values of their existence? Who
are Gary and Buru, in fact? Is this work truly “a novel for children and
grandparents”1 as the subtitle states? While interest in Sîrbu’s
personality and works does not fade, this particular narrative opens as a
combination of multiple connections, resistance and learning.
Synergies in Communication Conference Proceedings, 2022
In "Remember" (first volume-edition in 1924) and "The Rakes of the Old Court" (first Romanian ser... more In "Remember" (first volume-edition in 1924) and "The Rakes of the Old Court" (first Romanian serial edition in 1921, in print in 1936 and English version in 2021), Mateiu Caragiale (1885-1936) exposes a world on the verge of extinction. Drawing on his knowledge of heraldry, Caragiale presents several males who indulge in pleasure, knowledge and group-affirmation as they preserve their own principles. These rakes possess the financial means to engage in various types of experiences that others do not have access to or an appetite for. While employing the Saidian concept of “Orientalism” and that of “Balkanism” coined by the Romanian critic G. Călinescu, this paper examines the construction of a refined narrative. Scenes and portraits are typically painted in heavy, rather dark tones, with sophisticated fragrances and attire in tune with equally complex entertainment and conversational practice. What do the main protagonists think about their own identity and how do they pursue their interests? While knowledge and wealth are the key to a comfortable life, being one of a select few is vital to the key protagonists. They enjoy time spent together, as well as looking back at their roots. Visual, audio and linguistic representations, diluting or enhancing distinct temporal, spatial and personal ingredients, build on a particular universe in which introspection and companionship are the key ingredients to one’s existence.
The unprecedented experience of Gavrilescu, the main character in the La Țigănci short story, con... more The unprecedented experience of Gavrilescu, the main character in the La Țigănci short story, continues to arise various interpretations, proving the viability of this eliadesc writing. For some literary critics, he is the anti-hero by definition, which lives what Eliade understands by "level break", but without understanding anything of it. The ordinary man, with a banal existence, routinely in the profane becomes the Chosen One uselessly claimed by sacred, for ignorance prevents him from seeing beyond the Illusion. In the hut of the gypsies, he crosses a rite of passage, from life to death, proof being the shrouded curtain that will wrap his naked body, the terrible thirst for unpopularity, and the surprising encounter with the always young Hildegard, the beloved of his youth. In this article, I try to reveal another dimension of this eliadesc short story, linked to the name of the main character, which, in my opinion, refers to the name of the archangel Gabriel, the &qu...
Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies, 2022
In recent times s, Indian ascetics have become pop icons due to the influence of visual entertain... more In recent times s, Indian ascetics have become pop icons due to the influence of visual entertainment media. Outside their country of origin, they are often negatively stereotyped to foster derogatory understandings of the Others and their cultures. In this paper, we will focus on representations of Indian ascetics. Starting with their early depictions in the memoir of the Transylvanian physician Dr Honigberger, we will examine their representations in Romanian newspapers and journals. In order to account for Romanian interest in ascetics from a faraway land, this paper will take into consideration the historical developments that led to the growth of European interest in them. Through a comparison between nineteenth century British (Osborne 1840) and East-European (Honigberger 1851, 1852) writings on Indian ascetics, we will try to understand whether conceptualization of Indian ascetics in Romanian-speaking territories differed in any way from that of the British colonizers in India. The paper will then move on to examine how the Romanian press conceptualized these ascetics. Evidences point to the fact that the Romanian press became interested in Indian ascetics, erroneously generalized as fakirs, from ca. 1900 to 1940. Analysing Romanian journal and magazine articles on Indian fakirs, which till now remain untranslated into English, this article will try to show how the Romanian press conceived of the ascetics of a faraway country. Our research methodology is based on text analysis, relying on a broader cultural perspective. For the purpose of this paper, we have selected a series of article samples, taking into consideration diversity in terms of regions (southern Romania and Transylvania), as well as the most relevant period (1906-1935). The interest in Indian sadhus and their doings basically emerged starting with the mid-nineteenth century. Yet over the following decades accounts have changed in terms of focus. While nineteenth century authors were primarily concerned with the physical aspects of their work, texts written in the first decades of the twentieth century suggest that journalists and writers generally looked at the more surprising and entertaining side of fakirs’ actions. Finally, the paper suggests why Romanian press lost interest in Indian ascetics after the 1940s.
Transfer. Reception Studies, 2020
In John McGahern's works, characters emerge in both comic and tragic instances, and their whole e... more In John McGahern's works, characters emerge in both comic and tragic instances, and their whole existence comes under the spotlight, as the writer uses mild, ironic or sarcastic touches, which have not been examined so far. In between automatisms and mobility often directed at dogmatism or mental stereotypes displayed by characters, clergymen, workers, teachers, writers or family members display their ignorance, occasional (lack of) manners, boredom or elevation, often imitating what seems to be 'decent' in terms of taste. Building on the three main approaches to humour (superiority, incongruity and relief according to John Morreall) yet refuting a monolithic interpretation. This paper explores how class, gender and false pretences are ridiculed and exposed in both novels and short stories. Laughter moves from a classical Kantian play instance to a Freudian-supported analysis of condensation and ambiguity as vehicles employed by a realist creator. The narrative often alternates between family roles and poles of power, visible and invisible laughter, as natural and changing (or hybrid) as human nature. Examples extracted from McGahern's novels, short stories, memoir and essays present differentiations in the actions of protagonists such as imitation or repetition as attributes of routine and failure, while fear and violence stem from a reactive, insensitive behaviour which the narrative exposes succinctly or at length. Shared by others, or not, such experiences nuance Irish identity, the mix of humour and realism opening itself to further reading, connecting, for instance, McGahern's works to psychoanalysis, angelic versus demonic laughter or carnival laughter (Alfie Bown).
Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 2021
In Stavro, the first opening piece of Kyra Kyralina (published in 1923), the narrative focuses on... more In Stavro, the first opening piece of Kyra Kyralina (published in 1923), the narrative focuses on the actions taken and the reactions shown or concealed by three male characters in alternation, with particular emphasis on gender, age, and experience. In between traditionally built sections and ample back-storytelling, the story addresses the key learning stances adopted by the three male characters at the end of a short trip that they complete together: reserve, reclusion and (self-)reflection. How does a modernist vision frame one's identity against age, common social norms and openly manifested repression in small urban neighbourhoods? Can one protagonist's understanding about his sexual orientation be genuinely shared with others? In what way does Stavro's personal experience alienate his prospects of family life in the port of Brăila? This paper aims to decode the narrative based on modern confession, continuity versus fragmentation, sexuality and modes of memory alter(n)ation.
Colocviul „Panait Istrati”, 2020
Rezumat : Narațiunea din Chira Chiralina (prima ediție în franceză în 1924) continuă să fie subie... more Rezumat : Narațiunea din Chira Chiralina (prima ediție în franceză în 1924) continuă să fie subiectul cercetărilor specialiștilor. Povestirea se concentreaza pe actiunile si reactiile intreprinse sau ascunse de trei personaje principale, intr-o alternare continua a sexului, varstei si experientei. Cum imbraca sexualitatea identitatea protagonistilor in relatie cu varsta, normele sociale si represiunea deschis manifestata in comunitati urbane restranse ? Poate marturia unuia sa fie transmisa deschis celuilalt ? Aceasta contributie examineaza trei moduri narative care sprijina ciclul lui Istrati : confesiunea, nostalgia si memoria, legandu-le de un repertoar bogat al reprezentarilor din pictura romaneasca interbelica.
WOMEN WHO MADE HISTORY, edited by Umberto Mondini, 2020
1918-2018: Limba şi cultura română – structuri fundamentale ale identităţii naţionale: evaluări, perspective, 2019
Sorrow, temptation and hope in the novel Voica by Henriette Yvonne Stahl In the Romanian interwa... more Sorrow, temptation and hope in the novel Voica by Henriette Yvonne Stahl
In the Romanian interwar landscape, Henriette Yvonne Stahl’s first novel has raised interest yet its reception was more or less favourable, since the themes were mainly thought as feminist, apparently aligned to similar concerns of other female writers of the time.
The current paper aims to look at the life of protagonists and their actions presented in Stahl’s debut novel, Voica (1924), considered as one of the valuable works of the writer. In addition, the narrative techniques significantly tinge key-protagonists or traits of the secondary ones. The present analysis starts from the following questions: how do interpersonal relationships impact actions in this novel? How does identity shape individuals from distinct social classes and backgrounds: the rural/urban area or the cohabitation space in between rural and urban? What is the route of generations (child, adult, elder) and the relationships inside and outside the family? What is the position of the narrator towards events and protagonists presented in her work? The current paper aims at exploring her fiction in close relationship with a volume standings out as her memoir (Cristea 1996).
Stahl’s first novel presents a writer passionate about the life of peasants whom she had met in the village Fălăștoaca, where Iordache (Dumitru in the novel) was from, the man her family was close to during the First World War. While comparing it to her testimonies published in 1996, the narrative shifts events to the area of Neajlov-Arges, and the main characters massively adopt traits of the real individuals whom the writer, adolescent at the time, had met once. Placed within a classical structure, yet displaying obvious realist influences, the novel comes out as a balanced whole, presenting impressionistically-infused, slightly idealized descriptions, well-shaped protagonists and predominantly dramatic experiences. If the novelist had looked at her own work as a social piece, the results of the present analysis confirm that Voica constitutes a social and psychological novel, a distinct combination of the time.
Philologica Jassyensia, 2019
Closing the "Dubliners" and the representation of the Irish capital and community setting at the ... more Closing the "Dubliners" and the representation of the Irish capital and community setting at the turn of the century, "The Dead" is the longest piece, concluding the set of stories with a distinct message about life and intellectual fulfilment. From manuscript to print, the collection went through a seven-year saga of trial and error with various publishers, being finally published in 1914, after the entire first print-run was burned before it could reach the public, on 11 September 1912 (Fargnoli and Patrick 1995: 145). Charles Levin and Charles Shattuck looked at it as a series of 15 vignettes (1944: 30), linking the series to Joyce’s own confession in May 1906 to his publisher about the “paralysis” covering the whole collection and, then, explaining the stories as a journey focused on four main stages: “childhood, adolescence, maturity and public life” (Ellmann 1975: 83). While inspecting such contributions, this paper attempts to employ resources provided by psychoanalytic criticism and offer a wider interpretation about identity, love and death as illuminating topics in the Joycean universe. Earlier criticism focused on exploring links between Joyce’s life and his vision (Magalaner, Kain, 1956; Gilbert, Ellmann 1966; Tindall, 1959; Bowen, Carens, 1984; Bollettieri Bosinelli, Mosher 1998, Bloom 1999), his place in the twentieth-century Irish writing (Garrett 1986; Torchiana, 1986; Beja 1989; Henke 1990), while recent studies provide topical insights (Schwaber 2000, Fargnoli, Gillespie 2006; Sakr 2008, McArdle 2010; Oatley, Djikic et alii 2016, Olivares Merino 2016). As Patrick Parrinder notes in his study, in the years Joyce wrote and waited for Dubliners to come into print, symbolism “was a topical and widely discussed literary technique” (Parrinder1984: 51), yet Parrinder rejects the idea launched by Levin and Shattuck about the parallelism to the Odyssey. The final story of "Dubliners" can be nevertheless discussed in the light of concepts such as Eros and Thanatos, dream and the use of symbols and metaphors. The main questions I address are: is the party described in the story a genuine communal gathering, or is it meant to foresee mental isolation and annihilation, placing the key protagonists at a huge distance from each other, despite their apparent love? And is snow, the final symbolic element covering the city, working as a hint to purification or merely suggesting a world reduced to silence by its own death? This paper employs psychoanalytic criticism for a close reading of the story, inspecting the construct in terms of primary drives, as well as the questionable actions and thoughts of the key protagonists.
Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies, 2018
Remarked from her very first book, Voica (published in 1924), and up to her last novel Le Témoin ... more Remarked from her very first book, Voica (published in 1924), and up to her last novel Le Témoin de l’éternité, printed first in France in 1975 and translated into Romanian in 1995, Henriette Yvonne Stahl turned from a promising female writer into a unique voice in the inter-and post-war literary life in Romania.
Starting from Rimbaud’s illuminating pensée “Love has to be reinvented” (Felman 2007: 5), this paper aims to explore the identity of females in My Brother, the Man, drawing on identity and trauma as devised by Penny Brown (1992), Cathy Caruth (1995 and 1996), Shoshana Felman and Dori Laub (1992). In addition, the mixture of memory and narrative covers types of talk fiction (Kakandes 2005), the shift of focus from the subject of remembrance to the mode it takes place (Anne Whitehead 2009), and Beata Piątek who looks at how narratives impact readers (2014). Are the main characters engulfed in a dense life texture able to explore their personal dilemmas, difficult choices and detach from the flux of their own passions and desires? Or are they going to fall victims to their own inability of understanding the meaning of life, paralleled by the lack of vision and humanity manifested by secondary characters? Both male and female characters display a dominant profile, their actions and inner voices are marked by subtle or abrupt shifts, meant to stimulate a noticeable response from those they love or hate. The omniscient narrator employs a vast repertoire of techniques, meant to nuance egos and changes, moving from a classically-structured narrative to a detective story supporting inner monologues and deepened psychological impasses, occasionally bringing fictional personae closer to realist and existentialist fiction.
Synergy, 2018
Zamfir Bălan’s recently published volume adds to the corpus of contributions devoted to Panait Is... more Zamfir Bălan’s recently published volume adds to the corpus of contributions
devoted to Panait Istrati’s biography and works. This bilingual edition in Romanian
and French brings an exciting insight into Istrati’s childhood and early formative
years, his interest for egalitarian, socialist politics, and lifetime friendships such as
those with the Russian refugee Mikhail Kazanski, the illuminating encounter and
literary guidance received from the French writer, Romain Rolland. Throughout his
life, Istrati has followed a committed type of writing meant to support intellectual
growth among those with less fortunate prospects than the upper classes of the
Romanian society. Bălan’s latest book adds to a publication about Istrati’s
experience as a photographer, “Panait Istrati – fotograf și în fotografii”, marking
the centenary of his birth over three decades ago (1984).
Synergy, 2018
Unpredictable journeys are a dominant feature in Istrati’s fiction, taking the main protagonist (... more Unpredictable journeys are a dominant feature in Istrati’s fiction, taking the main protagonist (Stavro) from unstable yet familiar settings to exciting experiences if not sorrowful ones. Characters display coarse or delicate features, in accordance with their habitat and identity. In urban or country locations, light and dark mix with visible or hardly perceivable feelings and actions, the result being a narrative focused on or diluting
facets of sensuality, power and authenticity. Male and female characters portrayed by Romanian artists in the inter- and post-war decades present similar characteristics. This paper aims to explore the tache as a key plastic sign in text and painting, drawing on Øystein Sjåstad’s theory of connections between perception and reality, the result being a
continuum in different artistic media.
Folklor/edebiyat, 2018
Alienation makes the heroes in John McGahern’s stories behave or appear like uncontrolled, wild a... more Alienation makes the heroes in John McGahern’s stories behave or appear like uncontrolled, wild and fearful creatures, anticipating a peril but unable to detect a precise danger and the way to counteract its impact. The demarcation between the safe and unsafe territory is even more difficult in circumstances related to death and funerals, as characters are transposed into a symbolically-built space where images, sounds, colours, and domestic totems help or restrain them, linking the visible to the subconscious. Diverse motifs from the animal, vegetal or human realms, are accompanied by a panoply of stylistic means employed to take the readership into a genuine Irish setting in which animal representations often mirror feelings of numerous humans, from hope to despair, or frailty to rigidity. This paper aims to explore the way in which folklore-extracted elements shape Irish identity and recurrently emerge in McGahern’s literary works, the result being a unique mixture of imagery and personal memories implanted in both content and narrative.
BAS - British and American Studies, 2018
Silhouettes, silence, guilt and conflict permeate the memoir by Elite Olshtain, a genuine life-te... more Silhouettes, silence, guilt and conflict permeate the memoir by Elite
Olshtain, a genuine life-testimony of her childhood spent in Czernowitz and Romania before and after World War II. How is one’s identity fragmented when war cuts the existential route of a prosperous and caring family? Where is the victim and who is the heroine? This paper explores trauma, identity and gender rooted in a remediated frame which captures imprints coming closer to the reader, or remains at distance, making the narrative poignant or as diffuse as an aquarelle.
SYNERGY, 2017
Love, power and money determine the characters in this play switch from open to hidden discourse ... more Love, power and money determine the characters in this play switch from open to hidden discourse and action. The ability of characters to reveal or conceal their agenda connects communication skills to the success or failure of their negotiation. What is loss and gain in their quest for justice? How are the politically (in) correct elements articulated in public speaking via dramatic techniques? Where does ambiguity start and where does obligation end, entailing both comic and tragic effects on the fate of protagonists? This paper aims to explore the means of negotiation employed by both female and male characters in a complex cultural background, and their adjustable tactics displayed in public contexts.
EAST-WEST CULTURAL PASSAGE, 2015
Childhood and youth emerge and re-emerge, time and again, as durable concerns and difficult inter... more Childhood and youth emerge and re-emerge, time and again, as durable concerns and difficult intervals to reach adulthood, as John McGahern describes his experience in novels and short stories. In Memoir (2005), the writer adopts a more detached vision than in his earlier writings, yet he does not admit it to be a typical autobiography.
How are conflicts shaped and reconverted by the passage of time? Where does imagination start and where do facts determine the narrative? Is Memoir a piece of fiction, a well-documented and rather neutrally-written volume, or something in between? This article aims at exploring the way in which the narrator‟s identity is infused with difficult, tormenting memories of a distant past, while the writer undergoes a difficult process. To understand the process, the analysis relies on major cultural concepts: collective memory (Halbwachs), communicative memory (Assmann), remembering as remediation (Erll) and memory seen as migration (Glynn and Kleist).
American, British and Canadian Studies, 2016
Current explorations of migration in fiction focus on innovative perspectives, linking memory and... more Current explorations of migration in fiction focus on innovative
perspectives, linking memory and trauma with the concepts of exile and
conflict. Personal memories ask for an understanding of what belonging
and identity represent for the Irish; immigration has hybrid and fertile
links to memory studies, psychology and psychoanalysis (Akhtar), making the immigrant both love and hate his new territory, while returning to the past or homeland to reflect and regain emotional balance. From the focus on ‘the sexy foreigner’ (Beltsiou), we rely on the idea of crisis discussed by León Grinberg and Rebeca Grinberg, Frank Summers’ examination of identity, the place of the modern polis and the variations of the narrative (Phillips), the trans-generational factor (Fitzgerald and Lambkin), the departure seen as an exile (Murray and Said) and the impact of guilt (Wills).
Such views support an analysis of McGahern’s writing which works as a blend of memories and imagination, the writer highlighting dilemmas, success and failure as ongoing human threads. They are as diverse as the people met by the novelist in his youth, many of them being workers, nurses, entrepreneurs, teachers and writers, both young immigrants in search of a better life and migrants returning to spend their retirement or holidays home.
SYNERGY, 2016
Torn between traditions, the sense of belonging to local communities and the urge to find a bette... more Torn between traditions, the sense of belonging to local communities and the urge to find a better living, young adult migrants are in John McGahern's prose both heroes and victims. The purpose of this paper is to explore the connections and layers of their family environment and past, and of a fragile route to individual success and failure. Both male and female characters feel rather confined when placed in urban sites, and their education limits employment opportunities, while the degraded and degrading human topoi are bitterly scrutinized in a blend of tragic and comedy. Examples taken from the collections of short stories and novels attest that protagonists oscillate between physical and mental departures and arrivals, easy gain and shallow feelings that imprint characters a perceptible change and low self-confidence, despite a vibrant and apparently friendly urban fabric.
EAST-WEST CULTURAL PASSAGE, 2015
Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies, 2022
Identifying itself as a prolific cultural research, the second issue of the fifth volume encompas... more Identifying itself as a prolific cultural research, the second issue of the fifth volume encompasses thirteen articles written in English. Besides its thematic diversity, the present issue pictures pluriperspectivism and views with intercultural and international nuances coming from Ukraine, Spain, India and Romania. Aiming towards highly academic standards and variety, there are several sections included in the present volume: literary studies, cultural studies, translation studies and linguistics. All the articles filed in this issue portray a fruitful, noble, and deeply rooted communion between authors, editors and overseas reviewers. Honoured by the absolutely fundamental work of our thirty international reviewers coming from the USA, Israel, Germany, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan and Romania, we are sincerely expressing all our esteem and gratitude towards them.
by Lucian Vasile Bagiu, Monica Manolachi, Dana Radler, Marina-Cristiana Rotaru, Danciu Petru Adrian, Magdalena Filary, Carmen Darabus, Chris Tanasescu (MARGENTO), Titela VILCEANU, Felix Nicolau, Felix Nicolau, and Simina Pîrvu
Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies, 2018
In the first volume of Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies (ISSN 2003-0924) we are happy to welco... more In the first volume of Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies (ISSN 2003-0924) we are happy to welcome ten articles and two book reviews on Romanian language, literature, culture and film, written either in English or Romanian, by academics from various established universities. Literature section is well represented by authors with affiliation to University of Bucharest, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, The “A. Philippide” Institute of Romanian Philology, Iași, West University of Timișoara and “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia. The articles explore alluring and sensitive issues such as censorship, identity, marginality, prophetism, adaptation or escape, casting innovative visions on the works of canonical Romanian writers (Mihail Sadoveanu, Ionel Teodorenu, Mircea Eliade, Gabriel Liiceanu) and on the creations of less explored artists (Tia Șerbănescu, Liliana Corobca, Henriette Yvonne Stahl, Cătălin Dorian Florescu). Film section benefits from the original insights of academics from Technical University of Civil Engineering, Bucharest and Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, centring mostly on contemporaneity, in interdisciplinary approaches: a documentary by Sorin Ilieșiu turns out a perfect ground for social semiotics and the Romanian New Wave is decoded through the psychological and social symbolism of colours. Thanks to “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia Cultural studies depict the realm of ethnology and sacred folk literature, dissecting the metamorphosis of a deity from a prehistoric totem, due to the masculine Dacian cults, into a demon with Semite elements, finally corrected by Christian syncretism by its transformation into a legend. The same university offers in the Linguistics section an interdisciplinary approach which combines historical linguistics, semantics, pragmatics, lexicology, lexicography, history and cultural studies in a suggestion for an alternate etymological approach to a few words used to depict the realm of the Dacians in a contemporary novel, a stylistic endeavour which may have actually voiced the little-known substratum idiom. Owing to University of Craiova and Lund University the Book reviews section approaches a Polish exegesis to the philosophical anthropology of Mircea Eliade and a presentation of a literary theory tome (comprising translation studies and semiotic tackling) by Romulus Bucur.
Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies is published in collaboration with “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia, Romania and welcomes contributions from scholars all over the world.
by Lucian Vasile Bagiu, Felix Nicolau, Simina Pîrvu, Carmen Dominte, Iosif Camara, Zabava Camelia, Adina Curta, Carmen Darabus, Jarmila Horakova, Monica Manolachi, SILVIU Mihaila, Antonio Patras, Dana Radler, Corina Selejan, Adrian Tudurachi, Rodica Chira, and Marius MIHEȚ
Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies, 2019
In the second volume of Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies we are delighted to welcome ten artic... more In the second volume of Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies we are delighted to welcome ten articles and four book reviews on Romanian language, literature, translation, culture and theatre, written in English, French or Romanian, by academics from various traditional universities.
Literature section is illustrated by authors with affiliation to The “A. Philippide” Institute of Romanian Philology, Iași, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, and West University of Timișoara. The articles advance novel insights when inquiring into enticing subjects such as: the bodily community and its representations in the common space of the members of Viața românească literary group, analysed through Roland Barthes’s and Marielle Macéʼs theories; the remix of hajduk fiction in the nineteenth and early twentieth-century Romanian literature, conveying a modern lifestyle; the exile and nostalgia for the native lands in a comparative reading of the works of two seemingly unrelated writers: Andreï Makine and Sorin Titel, both of whom revealed to undergo a pilgrimage to reinvent themselves.
Translation studies is a perfect ground for “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia to present a paper dealing with a view on the concept of fidelity in literary translation with an analysis of the Romanian poet Mircea Ivănescu’s work on the overture of episode eleven, “Sirens”, from James Joyce’s “Ulysses”. The paper is not intended to elicit the imperfections of the translation but rather to illustrate the intricacy of the task, the problems of non-equivalence that are difficult to avoid by any literary translator.
Theatre section benefits from the original intuitions of academics from National University of Music Bucharest and Military Technical Academy, Bucharest, concentrating on modernity: the importance of the Romanian theatrical project – DramAcum, as a new type of theatre and dramaturgy, within the larger European influence of the verbatim dramatic style performed in theatres under the slogan of the in-yer-face; staging O’Neill’s Hughie by Alexa Visarion makes way for an investigation of several drama reviews that discuss the play’s first night, revealing that the performance was a successful attempt at communicating and debating the conflicted values of American pragmatism and equally a crowning of the Romanian director’s effort to unfold the “anti-materialism” and the fatalistic approach to existence of the American playwright.
Owing to University of Bucharest in Cultural studies we witness the reconstruction of the attitudes of Romanian peasants towards the vestiges of prehistoric material culture, finding out what people thought about the origin of prehistoric artefacts and what meanings were associated to them.
In the Linguistics section thanks to Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, and Lund University we are introduced to three perspectives on Romanian language: the destiny of the Latin in the East is interpreted through the pastoral character of Romanity, which led to a population mobility that influenced the language at diatopic level, with a focus on the transhumant shepherds whose travels played a linguistic levelling role, despite the territorial spread of the language; the modern French impact on the Romanian language (the redefining of the neo-Latinic physiognomy of the Romanian language) is detailed from a chronological perspective, the influence of French language being considered from a linguistic perspective, but also with a view to the various social circumstances; last but not least, we are proposed a plea in favor of a linguistic updating, namely the acceptance into the literary language of feminized denominations of professions.
Due to University of Oradea, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, and University of Craiova the Book reviews section engages: a tome written by Paul Cernat, an essential study for those interested in the phenomenon of the Romanian avant-garde; a book by Carmen Mușat, which analyzes and systemizes the relational character of literature and the discourses on literature, a plea for the theorist and his presence in the world, retaining a valid purpose; a volume proposing multiple interpretations, in which Carmen Dărăbuş traces the (evolutionary) trajectory of male characters, by highlighting the permanent capabilities of metamorphosis of the primordial pattern; a literary magazine bringing into attention of the contemporary readers the cultural activity of the Romanian intellectuals from exile, with a focus on Camilian Demetrescu.
Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies is published in collaboration with “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia, Romania, and welcomes contributions from scholars all over the world.