Despite the pandemic, this year saw
\nthe publication by Polirom of a considerable collective work consisting of five
\nvolumes and entitled The Encyclopaedia of the Imaginaries (Enciclopedia
\nImaginariilor). With contributions from writers and academics, the work
\nlooks at five different areas of cultural production, namely literature,
\nhistory, religion, linguistics and the arts. A concept that transgresses the notion
\nof imagination and fantasy, which is seen as merely producing illusions, fiction
\nand imaginary worlds, the imaginary has for a number of years become an
\nindependent subject of academic study in Romania as well, says Corin Braga, the
\neditor of the volume dedicated to literature:<\/p>\n
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The imaginary is a function that
\nstructures our forms of knowledge just like reason and the senses. It helps us
\nunderstand the way in which we relate to the world. We can speak of social
\nimaginary, collective imaginaries, and also individual imaginaries. The
\ncollective imaginaries can be divided according to different fields: literary,
\nhistorical, theatrical, artistic, etc. There even exists a religious and
\ngeographical imaginary, and even a linguistic imaginary. That’s how this
\nencyclopaedia is divided, with each volume dealing with a different field. The
\nfirst volume explores the literary imaginary, namely the representations that
\ninform the visions and imaginary universes in the theatre plays, novels and
\npoetry that together form Romanian literature.<\/p>\n
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The volume about the literary
\nimaginary contains 20 chapters written by 20 different authors and edited by
\nCorin Braga. The first chapter is about folk literature, which is described
\nfrom the point of view of the images that make up the special universe of folk
\nproduction. It is therefore an approach that differs from conventional literary
\nhistory, which is based on chronology, and from thematic history, which is
\nbased on ideas. Corin Braga explains:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
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Literary history usually covers
\nshorter or longer periods, depending on their focus, whether on centuries or
\nliterary movements, so we can speak of old literature, 18th century
\nliterature, the Enlightenment, Romanticism and 1848 literature, the literature
\nof our great classic authors, inter-war literature and post-war literature. This
\nencyclopaedia, however, without ignoring conventional chronology, groups the material
\nin a different way, namely into constellations of symbols that transcend
\nhistorical periods and literary movements and which can be found both in the 18th
\ncentury as well as in the 20th century. The chapter dedicated to the
\nfolk universe is followed by one about the religious imaginary in Romanian
\nliterature, namely religious representation. It starts with a number of religious
\nrather than literary texts written by the likes of Dosoftei and Anthimus of Iberia
\nand goes all the way up to the 20th century to writers who found
\ninspiration in religion: the Psalms of Tudor Arghezi and the poems of Lucian
\nBlaga, Ioan Alexandru and Vasile Voiculescu. We were particularly interested in
\nthe constellations of symbols that make up a system to see how they have
\nevolved until the present day.<\/p>\n
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Literature inspired by history is
\ngiven the same treatment in The Encyclopaedia of the Imaginaries in Romania.
\nChronology is not eliminated entirely, says the editor of the volume Corin Braga,
\nbut overly restrictive categories are broken down:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The volume contains a number of
\narticles referring to the Enlightenment and the rational and cultural imaginary
\nof the authors belonging to this movement. Another chapter looks at the
\nLevantine, Balkan imaginary, of Oriental inspiration, in Romanian literature,
\nanother at the Romantic imaginary, or the Decadentist imaginary. I’m going to
\ngive you an example from Romantic literature, which has its own characteristic
\nphrases: it entails a form of pre-Romanticism and another of militant
\nRomanticism, from around 1848, and great Romanticism as represented by Eminescu,
\nwho is on par with the likes of Novalis and Byron. However, Romantic imagery
\nand themes, such dreams, love and ghosts, are still found in Romanian literature
\nbeyond Romanticism. They can be found, for example, in the works of the
\ncontemporary writer Mircea C\u0103rt\u0103rescu,
\nwho employs dream-like images reminiscent, somewhat, of Eminescu. There was
\neven a group of oneiric poets, such as Leonid Dimov and Dumitru \u021aepeneag, who are
\nin the tradition of the great Romantic oneirism, despite having their own definitions.<\/p>\n
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The Encyclopaedia of the Imaginaries in
\nRomania thus provides not only a fresh perspective on the history of Romanian
\nculture, but also new interpretations of the connection between past and
\npresent in literature and beyond.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New publication looks at different areas of cultural production from a different perspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":50395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[45610,35810],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-169785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-imaginary","tag-literature"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n