The novel in
\nquestion is Upstarts Old and New (Ciocoii
\nvechi si noi). Its author, Nicolae Filimon, was born 200 years ago on the 6th
\nof September 1819 in Bucharest. Somewhat younger than his creator, Dinu
\nPaturica has retained his relevance and is still seen as the symbol of some
\nunpalatable local customs. Nicolae Filimon, on the other hand, is still waiting
\nfor his work to be completely discovered by literature lovers. From the same
\ngeneration as the literary figures who took part in the 1848 revolutions in
\nWallachia and Moldavia, Filimon did not, however, join the protests. He did
\nmake his voice heard through his professional activity. The literary critic
\nPaul Cernat tells us more:<\/p>\n
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Paul Cernat: The son of a priest, he was
<\/p>\n
The novel
<\/p>\n
Paul Cernat: Around
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Upstartism,
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Paul Cernat:
The publication of the first Romanian modern novel led not only to the development of this very popular literary genre but also to the gradual insinuation into the pubic conscience of a character: Dinu Pat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":169026,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[45480,45479,45478],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-169025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-upstarts-old-and-new","tag-dinu-paturica","tag-nicolae-filimon"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\na music commentator, our first music critic in fact. He was also a subtle and
\ndiligent theatre reviewer and published in the Romanian press after 1850. As a
\nwriter, his output was uneven, but marked the Romanian literature of the 19th
\ncentury through the diversity of the genres he approached. Unfortunately, he
\ndied at 46 from phthisis<\/em>, when he was at the height
\nof his creative powers. We should perhaps better highlight his work as a music
\nand theatre reviewer, for Filimon was a pioneer in this field in Romania.<\/p>\n
\n
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\nUpstarts Old and New, with the subtitle That which is born of a cat will eat
\nmice, is the first Romanian novel written in the realistic style of the day.
\nIt was first published in serial form in 1862 before appearing in one volume
\none year later. At first, its impact was not very strong, for there were few
\nnovels at the time and not very popular with readers. Literary critic Paul
\nCernat explains:<\/p>\n
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\n1840, several more or less successful attempts to write a novel had been made,
\nespecially sentimental novels. Several novelists, Filimon’s contemporaries,
\nwrote texts that had certain qualities. The Romanian production as a whole was
\npoor and no critics sustained it. Filimon made his debut at a time when the
\nnovel had rather a subordinated function. He tried to write a sort of
\npedagogical novel, however a satirical novel that was exquisite from a moral
\npoint of view. Subsumed to a kind of romantic antithesis, typical of the time,
\nhe compared the decadent Romanian society prior to the 1821 revolution led by
\nTudor Vladimirescu to society after the restoration of native rulers replacing
\nthe Fanariot rulers, when justice was allegedly done and shortcomings were done
\naway with. Paradoxically however, the upstart Dinu Paturica, whom Filimon tried
\nto delineate as a negative character, gave proof of an amazing vitality. The
\nnegative characters in that novel are the ones who really live, not the
\npositive ones.<\/p>\n
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\nPaturica’s main trait, comes from the word upstart, a sort of servant or
\ntenant, who by dishonest means succeeds in overcoming the limitations of his
\nstatus, even harming his benefactor. The accuracy with which Filimon describes
\nthe methods used by that upstart and places him against the background of his
\ntime and the fact that the type of Paturica is still topical today have been
\nreasons for the novel to be appreciated over time. In the 20th
\ncentury, several leading novelists called Filimon their forerunner,
\nhighlighting latent valences of his novel.
\n<\/p>\n
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\nNicolae Filimon was an amazing prose writer of the early 19th
\ncentury Bucharest. From this point of view, he was followed by Romanian writers
\nafter 1900, the interwar and even post war writers. So, Filimon’s fame
\ncontinued to increase. Even if his novel is imperfect, it has outlived its time
\nthrough its very imperfection. He also wrote some very interesting short
\nstories, unequal in terms of value though. Filimon’s novel Upstarts Old and
\nNew continues to reveal its uncommon relish and surprising facets.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"