National Literature, World Literatures, and Universality in Romanian Cultural Criticism 1867-1947

Abstract

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“Old” stories in “new” clothes – a reading of the novel The children’s crusade by Florina Ilis

“…Cu tot fundalul "românesc", pe care autoarea nu numai că nu-l ascunde dar îl chiar menționează ca fiind între intențiile sale, Cruciada Florinei Ilis are un "etaj" universal, care depășește așadar "canonul național" -prin "vecinătățile" ficționale (Marcel Schwob et al) și prin limbajul universal al "colecției" de traume pe care le convoacă. Să conchidem, alături de criticul Andrei Terian (2015), că pentru a se putea considera cu adevărat parte din literatura mondială, "literatura română ar trebui mai întâi să învețe să se vadă pe sine ca o literatură a lumii, ca un bun cultural față de care toți cititorii și criticii din lume, indiferent de cultura lor nativă, să aibă drepturi de proprietate egale" (trad. n., G.O.).…”

Storytelling for a republic of childhood: rebranding China’s national images in children’s literature

“…The comparison of key literary figures and styles thus serves as a self-regulatory strategy for illustrating how aesthetic codes developed by national writers are cosmopolitan literary and worthy of respected literary status in some of their manifestations. Terian's (2013) second strategy draws out the innovative and pioneering role of national writers, through which "the construction of a 'national character' start(s) from (generic, thematic, formal, geographic, social, etc. ) characteristics which should illustrate literary excellence or even universality" (p. 5).…”

“…In addition, Chinese literary heritage contains abundant resources with which to practice Terian's (2013) third strategy of worlding a peripheral literature-"to appropriate an archaic or regional literary heritage which would 'elevate' that particular literature" (p. 5). As Tan (2020) notes, contemporary Chinese children's literature, if interwoven in the rich national heritage, should make fewer demands for "three dominant (imported) types: picture books, fantasy novels and cartoons" (p. 155).…”

Quantitative translationscapes and chronological constellations: French, Soviet, and American novels in communist Romania

“…To summarize, Soviet literature translated during socialist realism mainly consists of contemporary authors, while the French novel survives in Romanian translation through 19th-century authors only. After 1964, the French novel dominates the field through a compensation process (Terian 2013;Baghiu 2019a), while the Soviet and Russian novels diminish in size within the translationscape. The rise of the American novel is visible during the 1940s but stops during socialist realism and dominates the debates of the last decades of the communist period.…”