Literary studies in Romania before and after 1989

Abstract

In comparative terms, after the strict cultural policies and censorship of the communist regime, the literature and literary studies of post-communist Romania would seem to be almost completely free of the political. This article investigates the complex ways in which various aspects of the study and reception of English literature - from the practice of teaching English, through textbooks, to literary translation - reflect the evolution of the relationship between literature and politics in pre- and post-1989 Romania. In the asymmetrical cultural exchange resulting from the inevitable hierarchy in which Anglo-American culture is dominant, whereas Romanian culture is perpetually subordinate, the latter embraces its marginality and places itself strategically at the receiving end. I therefore argue that while Anglo-American scholars' concern with the pernicious outcomes of Anglocentricity in ES is in itself a laudable ethical move, in target cultures such as the Romanian, Anglocentricity may function as a catalyst of resistance and change.