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"Max Blecher’s Central European Affinities. Max Blecher’s connections with the Central European literary imaginary, which scholars have established through readings that place Blecher in the proximity of authors such as Bruno... more
"Max Blecher’s Central European Affinities. Max Blecher’s connections with the Central European literary imaginary, which scholars have established through readings that place Blecher in the proximity of authors such as Bruno Schulz or Franz Kafka, could be revisited not only comparatively, but also by tackling some key issues in his work and biography that may confirm the writer’s belonging to this vast intellectual territory. Provincial spaces, marginality, uncertainties regarding identity, existential confusion, immaturity, the pervasiveness of objects and of the artificial, they all reveal a perspective upon literature that may function, in the absence of a geographical belonging, as a bridge and connection between worlds that mirror each other’s essence and difference. Keywords: Central European literature, identity, the province, periphery, Jewishness "
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Max Blecher, a paradigmatic case of marginality, has been the subject of recent critical reevaluations that established his canonic status in modern Romanian literature. His novel Occurrence in the Immediate Unreality (1936) bears not... more
Max Blecher, a paradigmatic case of marginality, has been the subject of recent critical reevaluations that established his canonic status in modern Romanian literature. His novel Occurrence in the Immediate Unreality (1936) bears not only the mark of Blecher’s affinity with the Avant-garde, but of his intense and original perception of issues pertaining to identity and the construction of the self. His status as a Jewish writer struggling for authenticity and recognition in the complex historical context preceding World War II and the instauration of Communism adds depth and detail to a dramatic biography lying in the background of his fiction. Peripheral spaces, childhood and immaturity, the revelation of sexuality and death become decisive elements in a metaphysical adventure that is simultaneously an initiation and a metamorphosis. A narrative that validates the author’s Surrealist lineage, Occurrence in the Immediate Unreality favors a comparative perspective that equally connects Max Blecher to a Central and Eastern-European framework.
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"Narratives of a Struggle: The Experience of Assisted Reproductive Medicine in Online Infertility Communities. Although ART (assisted reproductive technology) has become a well-established field in modern medicine, the subject is... more
"Narratives of a Struggle: The Experience of Assisted Reproductive Medicine in Online Infertility Communities. Although ART (assisted reproductive technology) has become a well-established field in modern medicine, the subject is still taboo in many modern societies. This prompted infertility patients (roughly 15-20% of the general adult population) to find online platforms to discuss options, treatments, experiences and create virtual communities – mainly forums and Facebook groups. I shall focus on aspects concerning the narratives of trauma, loss and empowerment in two online communities - Infertilitate. Fertilizare in vitro. Sustinem Asociatia SOS Infertilitatea (Infertility. In vitro fertilization. We support the SOS Infertility Association) and Fertility Friends, from two different geographical areas – the UK and Romania, in order to reveal the dynamics of advice giving, information sharing, experience narratives and patient support. Communication is paramount to infertility treatment, yet specialized clinics often underestimate the importance of this aspect. Online forums and social media have provided patients with opportunities to connect, shaping particular jargons and textual strategies with regard to the medical journey of ART. I intend to outline the structure and relevance of these verbal constructs, in order to explore the specific manner in which online platforms offer a valid environment for a positive exchange of information among ART patients while also creating a medium of emotional support. My interdisciplinary focus will involve methods specific to medical humanities, text and discourse analysis and linguistic commentary. Keywords: assisted reproduction, infertility, loss, online communities, support groups, trauma "
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Peter C. Herman’s volume Unspeakable: Literature and Terrorism from the Gunpowder Plot to 9/11 is a comprehensive approach to the cultural history of terrorism, namely its reflection in literature....
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I intend to explore Philip Roth’s strategy of affirming youth as core value among his major themes revealing the experience of aging, illness and loss by revealing its particular framing in the novels of his later work. I shall analyze... more
I intend to explore Philip Roth’s strategy of affirming youth as core value among his major themes revealing the experience of aging, illness and loss by revealing its particular framing in the novels of his later work. I shall analyze the contexts that connect youth to vitality and survival, revisiting some key moments in the long imaginary biographies of his notorious characters David Kepesh and Nathan Zuckerman. Although central in Roth’s work, youth has been commonly investigated in connection to allegories that anchor the writer’s oeuvre in a territory marked by nostalgia, loss, and a sense of impending vital exhaustion. My aim is to isolate this issue more clearly and focus on its specificity rather than its connectivity.
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Cinema was, in interwar Romania, one of the most relevant agents of cultural modernization. It became an important subject of discussion not only in the artistic and literary milieus of the era but also in the writings of Romanian... more
Cinema was, in interwar Romania, one of the most relevant agents of cultural modernization. It became an important subject of discussion not only in the artistic and literary milieus of the era but also in the writings of Romanian modernism’s founding promoter – poet and journalist Tudor Arghezi. The present investigation maps some of Arghezi’s most penetrating writings about cinema in his time.
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Little girls and young women are Dorothea Tanning’s recurrent archetypes, defining and structuring her conceptual archive concerning gender and the feminine. A celebrated painter and sculptor who shaped her artistic vision in the... more
Little girls and young women are Dorothea Tanning’s recurrent archetypes, defining and structuring her conceptual archive concerning gender and the feminine. A celebrated painter and sculptor who shaped her artistic vision in the proximity of the historical avant-gardes, Tanning was also a writer who revealed the mystery and estrangement of family ties in Chasm: A weekend, a novel she started writing in 1943 and published six decades later, in 2004. This singular book offers a privileged dialogue between literature and art, as several episodes revisit and translate the high tension of some of her most representative paintings. From within a feminist framework, the article will discuss aspects of female authority and control in Tanning’s novel as dominant forms of female empowerment, present throughout her visual Surrealist oeuvre. I argue that examining these allegories reveals their role as connectors between the literary and the visual arts, between Dorothea Tanning’s fiction and ...
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In this paper I shall explore one of Herta Müller’s cardinal tropes, the collective imaginary project of fleeing communist Romania, of massive influence in her novels and biography. Novels such as The Land of Green Plums (1984), The... more
In this paper I shall explore one of Herta Müller’s cardinal tropes, the collective imaginary project of fleeing communist Romania, of massive influence in her novels and biography. Novels such as The Land of Green Plums (1984), The Passport (1986) and Travelling on One Leg (1989) shape a complex perspective on one of the most intense collective desires of Romanians during communism – fleeing the country
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Although one of the most influential figures of Romanian Communism, Elena Ceaușescu has been the subject of a rather limited literature exploring her historical figure. I intend to revisit the political humour of Romanian communism in... more
Although one of the most influential figures of Romanian Communism, Elena Ceaușescu has been the subject of a rather limited literature exploring her historical figure. I intend to revisit the political humour of Romanian communism in order to reveal the manners and strategies employed by this type of folklore in affirming the hyperbolized clichés that defined the dictator’s wife in the public mind of that age. I also intend to bring into discussion the common traditional prejudice that blamed Elena Ceaușescu for her husband’s catastrophic politics that impoverished and isolated Romania in the Eastern Bloc.
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1. IntroductionThe relatively obvious mirroring between Dorothea Tanning's oeuvre as a painter and her literary work has been noted by the artist herself: "Each of my paintings are steps marked on the same path. I don't see... more
1. IntroductionThe relatively obvious mirroring between Dorothea Tanning's oeuvre as a painter and her literary work has been noted by the artist herself: "Each of my paintings are steps marked on the same path. I don't see any cuts, any deviations. The same preoccupations are manifest since the beginning. Obsessions come to the surface as marks that can't be erased. My paintings, and lastly my sculptures, are part of the same search, with the same discoveries, the same storms, the same mad laughter, suffering and rebirth" (Tanning 1974, qtd in Carruthers 2011: 134). Prolonging the image/text analogy, Tanning once declared that publishing a story is very close to "the showing of a new picture to friends" with the notable difference that "the looking eyes become the reading eyes" (Tanning qtd. in Conley 2013: 132). This analogy might seem common, yet it is particularly relevant for Tanning's case: her fiction accurately translates the sur...
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American Pastoral is not only an elegiac fictional biography, but an in-depth analysis of the demise of the American dream in the context of post-war social and cultural mutations. The loss of innocence echoes the tragic mythical Fall... more
American Pastoral is not only an elegiac fictional biography, but an in-depth analysis of the demise of the American dream in the context of post-war social and cultural mutations. The loss of innocence echoes the tragic mythical Fall from Paradise and the novel’s main characters, Seymour “Swede” Levov and his daughter, Merry, mirror this process in a complex and meaningful way.
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1. Introduction: A recipe for disasterRevolving around the family events triggered by the disappearance and death of a patriarchal figure, Tracy Letts' August: Osage County (2007) has been acknowledged by the vast majority of its... more
1. Introduction: A recipe for disasterRevolving around the family events triggered by the disappearance and death of a patriarchal figure, Tracy Letts' August: Osage County (2007) has been acknowledged by the vast majority of its critics as an exemplary play of family crisis and disintegration. The play premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago in 2007, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2008. Five years later, in 2013, John Wells directed a cinematographic version of the play, receiving a significantly less enthusiastic critical response.My paper will carry out a close inspection of the major thematic structures in Letts' play, trying to reveal some clear similarities with other important plays that explore the same dramatic spectrum. As Edward Sobel, Steppenwolf Theater's director of play development, points out, Tracy Letts seems to be engaged in dialogue with the pantheon of American playwrights, from Eugene O'Neill to Edward Albee, as "th...