1918-2018. La literature nationale comme projet unificateur

Abstract

"1918-2018. National Literature as a Unifying Project ● Abstract (original): This paper offers a new approach on the topic of the identity of Romanian Literature as National Literature. I will discuss the case of the referential History of the Romanian Literature from its Origins until Present Day (1941) written by the most important Romanian literary critic and historian G Călinescu. This holistic historical narrative sends to a particular strategy of legitimizing the national literature as a history of literary values. I will argue that his focus on Romanian language as a trademark of Romanian literary identity proves insufficient as there are too many examples which invalidate Călinescu’s theory. I will propose in exchange an alternative, rather relative, but dynamic and integrative perspective: national literature as a concept with a variable geometry. That means, among others, the outcome of a historical metamorphosis, with its multiple borders and changing statutes, also with its modern and pre-modern avatars. We know that the challenges and new conflict between national and supranational brought by globalisation radically reformulate literary national identities and particularly peripheral and semi-peripheral identities, which need to update their roles and strategies of affirmation and preservation. This approach regarding National Literature will open a new dialogue with concepts like Regional Literature and even World Literature (in terms of world system analysis)"