Finnish Journal for Romanian Studies/CALL FOR PAPERS | No. 4 / 2018

Journal of Romanian Literary Studies, 2022

Journal of Romanian Literary Studies is an international online journal published by the ALPHA Institute for Multicultural Studies in partnership with the Department of Philology at UMFST in Targu-Mures and the "Gh. Șincai" Institute of Social and Human Research Research of the Romanian Academy. It is an academic publication open to academics, literary critics, theoreticians or researchers who are interested in the study of Romanian literature, as well as the Humanities. Our essential goal is to set communication paths between Romanian literary and humanistic research and the contemporary European cultural discourse, bringing the most valuable phenomena recorded in the Romanian culture into a beneficial dialogue with the other European cultures.

Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies, 2019

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.

Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies, 2018

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.

World literature studies, 2015

In national historiographies, the inclusion of exile literature is still subject to the concept of the traditional background. This means that it is based on the convention of a unified language, ethnic group, and territory, stemming from the French identity model of État-Nation that was adopted by European cultures in the 18th and 19th centuries. This principle also serves as the basis for another function of the national language: it is the only one that can provide the means of expression for national literature. On the other hand, the events of the 20th century and transition to the new millennium are showing us that cultural reality does not conform to this model. Moreover, the models of globalisation, world literature, and post-colonial studies that came widely into use in recent years challenge the limitations of the single national language principle (monolingualism) in our present world and highlight the problem in studies of the cultural processes in the past. In reality n...

Transilvania , 2022

The present essay aims at discussing the recent volume Creolizing the Modern: Transylvania across Empires (2022) by Anca Parvulescu and Manuela Boatcă as a significant contribution to the recent attempts at rethinking Romanian literature. In this regard, the examination of the volume is constantly reckoned in dialogue with some of the previously undertaken projects. The dialogic approach highlights two significant aspects, related to both the volume and the context in which it is received. On the one hand, it shows that the theoretical and methodological framework deployed in the volume can constitute the ground for future studies. On the other hand, it draws attention to the fact the rethinking of Romanian literature has been a collective and gradual endeavor.

Revista Transilvania, 2019

This article introduces the first part of the New Paradigms in Contemporary Romanian Literary Studies collective work that Revista Transilvania has set to publish in order to get a better picture on contemporary local literary research. Emanuel Modoc and Ștefan Baghiu argue that there is a paradigm shift at the beginning of the 2000s in Romanian literary theory and literary criticism that has its effects on today’s literary research, and describe the use of quantitative methods, World Literature concepts and transnational studies perspectives in several new research published by young scholars such as Emanuel Modoc, Daiana Gărdan, Ovio Olaru and Snejana Ung. https://revistatransilvania.ro/configurations-of-transnationalism-in-east-central-european-avant-gardes/ https://revistatransilvania.ro/novels-as-big-data-a-genre-centric-approach-to-the-romanian-novel-1900-1940/ https://revistatransilvania.ro/what-is-digital-humanities-and-whats-it-doing-in-romanian-departments/ https://revistatransilvania.ro/the-literature-about-the-former-yugoslavia-in-the-paradigm-of-world-literature/

Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies , 2024

The call for papers for Volume 7 of the Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies sought manuscripts which report rigorous research on Romanian language, literature, theatre and film, cultural studies, anthropology, history, translation studies, education as well as research seminars and reviews of works within these fields. This first issue collates research which is both diverse and eclectic in topic and method by scholars from Turkey, Spain, Poland, Serbia, and Romania. This issue stands out because all the twelve papers are written in English. This deliberate decision not only sets a clear tone but also shows the journal’s dedication to encouraging worldwide conversation and making the content accessible. By using English as the only language, this issue reaches a broader audience, inviting people from different parts of the world to connect with the articles and join the discussion on the topics presented.

Anuarul Arhivei de Folclor, 2022

Book Review: Corin Braga (edit.), Enciclopedia imaginariilor din România, First vol., Imaginar literar. Coordinated by Adrian Tudurachi. Iași, Polirom, 2020, 440 p. [The Encyclopaedia of Romanian Imaginaries, Volume I: Literary Imaginary].

Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies, 2022

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.

FOREWORD The School of Languages and Translation Studies at the University of Turku has undertaken this year a novel initiative in the field of Romanian studies: the publication of an academic journal – a unique attempt until now in Finnish academic milieu. The Finnish Journal for Romanian Studies (FJRS) focuses on different aspects of Romanian culture, mainly as reflected outside Romania, while researchers from around the world are invited to publish, the interdisciplinary dialogue between researchers in the field being heartily encouraged. The first issue of FJRS brings together research articles from different areas of Romanian studies – literature, society, politics and art, which analyse and revisit the development of concepts, theories and paradigms as offered by specialists from different centres of research. Our aim is to approach the concept of Romanian identities from a double perspective i.e. that of old concepts and theories which are challenged under the new epistemological developments, and that of the new identity paradigms that challenge in their turn the old establishments and canons in all areas of research mentioned above. We thus express our sincerest thanks to the contributors of the current issue for their novel perspectives brought to the field of Romanian studies as well as to the reviewers of the articles. The Editors