REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
LINGVISTICĂ / LINGUISTICS
Camelia BEJAN, lect. univ. dr., Universitatea Ovidius, ConstanŃa
(România)
Two types of German psych nominals: -ung v. -en
The argument structure of deverbal nominals has been studied extensively in
German. The general issue is whether deverbal nominals show in their ability
to take arguments any systematic relation with their related verb, or whether
their behaviour is different. Recent literature on the topic (Abraham 1989,
Bhatt 1989, and Lindauer 1995, 1998) has provided detailed accounts of the
structure of transitive nominalizations. However, these studies do not have
much to say about nominals other than those derived from verbs denoting
physical action.
The paper contributes to this area of linguistic inquiry by including in the
discussion those nominalizations that have not been given proper attention,
namely psych nominalizations. The paper proposes an investigation of the
argument-structure of two types of psych nominals: deverbal nominals and
nominalized infinitives, also known as -ung and -en nominals, respectively.
We correlate variation in word order patterns in psych nominalizations with
the properties of the verbal sources and in doing this we sketch a typology of -
ung and -en psych nominals. We will show that the syntactic irregularities
encountered among psych nominalizations are a reflex of the language
specific DP structure and of the lack of homogeneity among psych verbs.
Keywords: psych nominal, argument-structure, typology
Alina BUGHEŞIU, cerc., Universitatea de Nord din Baia Mare / drd.
Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara (România)
Trade names: a sociolinguistic approach
The present research aims at defining and analyzing, from a sociolinguistic
perspective, trade names, that branch of onomastics which includes firm names,
company names and brand names. The study of trade names is a relatively fresh
aspect of onomastics ; it has recently become a focus of interest for researchers
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
from various fields (linguistics, economy, advertising, psychology, sociology), as
a natural effect of the unprecedented economic growth, and even more so in the
context of globalization. From a strictly linguistic perspective, trade names define
a new onomastic category and a different kind of naming pattern. A
psycholinguistic approach would underline the relation between the structure of
the names and the psychological processes of the individuals who give/interpret
the names within a certain communicative context. Economists are interested in
how a name can attract profit, and advertising strategies teach us that it is not only
the linguistic sequence that matters, but also the whole complex of audio and
visual images built around it.
From a sociolinguistic perspective, which is, in fact, the one that makes the object
of this paper, trade names represent a diagnostic index of social structures : they
reflect the peculiarities of how people interact within a society. Trade names
reveal the effect society has on language, but also the effect language has on the
society. The changes which occur within a language (in this case, in the process
of name giving, or concerning the phonetic, lexical and semantic structure of a
name) are a direct result of the transformations which stand for the idea of
« society » as we know it. My paper focuses precisely on this symbiotic relation
between language and society, as it is sketched and branded by the names of the
things we buy and the names of the things we sell.
Keywords: Trade names, language, society, diagnosis
Ileana CHERSAN, asist. univ. drd., Academia de PoliŃie Bucureşti
(România)
A socio-historical overview of the lexical field of crimes
This study is an attempt to correlate the main social and semantic shifts in the
lexical field of crimes. From pilferage and fiddling to embezzlement and
racketeering, obsolete terms, terms which changed their meanings and newly
coined terms alike bear the evidence of the emergence and development of an
English system of law and policing.
Keywords: specialized vocabulary, semantic shifts
2 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
Alexandra CORNILESCU, prof. univ. dr. / Ruxandra COSMA, conf.
univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din
Bucureşti (România)
Remarks on the Romanian Verbal Supine and its German Equivalents
The analysis of the Romanian non-finite supine traditionally focuses on its
categorial definition, outlined by an identical morphology of the supine and of the
past participle, as well as by its categorizing syntactic status. Different degrees of
nominality and of verbality are being distinguished by primarily determining i.)
the status of the preposition DE, which displays a double syntactic interpretation -
as being lexically selected by a higher predicate and introducing nominal
projections, or as a functional preposition introducing a verbal category and ii.)
supine complementation. There is a non-uniform behavior to be identified in all
of the specific syntactic contexts, displaying a mixed category. More recent
interpretations of embedded object licensing, clause union or restructuring, or of
the absence of φ-features in all contexts suggesting an uninterpretable nominal
feature will be analyzed, in order to offer a complex image of the noun-verb
interplay. The supine corresponds in other Romance languages as in German to
the infinitive. Different degrees of nominality and of verbality of the Romanian
supine distribution display differences in the use of infinitival structures in
German, whether used with infinitival operators or with the infinitival particle
ZU. These correspondences also raise important questions with respect to
aspectual and modal values of the supine.
Keywords: nominality, verbality, restructuring, modality
Ioana COSTACHE, asist. univ. drd., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
The role of locatives and spatial deixis in romanian legal documents, 16th to
18th c
Romanian legal documents of the 16th to the 18th C, be they state documents
or agreements between individuals, rely heavily on the underlying principle of
location as possession and the use of spatial deixis not only in the delimitation
and ascertainment of real property, but also in conferring legitimity to the
parties and to the transaction itself. There is a permanent interplay between
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
linguistic space designators and the extra-linguistic reality; although the latter
is subject to change, which would render it an unlikely marker of permanent
hold over land, it is nonetheless the primary means of establishing and
proving the rightfulness of one’s claims. Spatial deixis, in turn, serves to
confirm the identity of the parties and the reliability of the witnesses. Not last,
the commonality of space, as expressed by linguistic means, contributes to the
construction of a sense of community, thus reinforcing the legal transaction.
Keywords: Romanian legal documents; 16th to 18th C; spatial deixis; location
Stefan ENGELBERG, prof. univ. dr., Head of the department
“Lexik” at the Institut für Deutsche Sprache & professor for German
linguistics at the University of Mannheim (Germany)
German as a lingua franca in the South Pacific?
The colonization of large parts of the world by European powers between the
15th and the 20th century created complex linguistic situations that were
characterized by contact-induced structural and lexical language change and
the emergence of pidgin and creole languages. These linguistic developments
stood in close connection to language attitudes and language policies of the
different linguistic agents such as missionaries, indigenous rulers, colonial
administrators, and European settlers. The contribution of Germany and the
German language to these developments has never attracted much research
although German rulers and German-speaking merchants and missionaries
have been involved in colonial enterprises continuously from the 16th century
on.
Between 1884 and 1914, large areas of the South Pacific were under German
colonial rule. Around the turn of the century, a number of contact-induced
phenomena of language change related to the presence of Germans were
underway: (i) an influence of German on the lexicon of the indigenous
languages; (ii) an influence from English, English-based pidgins, and
indigenous languages on the local varieties of German; (iii) the development
of German-based pidgins and creoles; (iv) the spread of English-based
pidgins. At the same time while German already excerted an influence on
linguistic developments in the local languages, it was considered within
colonial circles whether German could function as a lingua franca in the
 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
South Pacific colonies.
I will show how these developments were fostered by the language attitudes
of the different groups of linguistic agents and the language policies pursued
by the German government and the different mission societies.
Keywords: colonialism, language policies, language attitudes, language
change, loanwords
Ioana Hermine FIERBINłEANU, lect. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi
şi Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Einige Bemerkungen zu den Resultativkonstruktionen im Deutschen und
Rumänischen – Notes on resultativ constructions in German and Romanian
Resultativ constructions had been studied in German (Das Bonbon schmolz
dickflüssig), English (The children ran the lawn flat.); Baciu (2007) has
approached this constructions for Romanian. I present Wunderlich’s typology
(2000), which points out that romanic languages allow only weak-resultativs,
and I try to show that AP may appear in path-languages as Romanian.
Keywords: resultativ constructions, path-languages, AP
GÁSZPOR Réka, lect. univ. dr., Facultatea de ŞtiinŃe Tehnice şi
Umaniste, Universitatea Sapientia Târgu-Mureş (România)
Limbaj uzual vs limbă maternă în spaŃiul mediatic / Language use and
mother tongue in mediatic space
If there is a causal link between the mediatization of western societies, the
emergence of informational society, and the global ecologic crisis, meaning the
eradication of the natural environment; if there is a relationship between these
seemingly remote groups of phenomena, and that the effects of this causal
relationship manifest themselves not only directly, in economics, but also
indirectly, through cultural variables, we might ask ourselves that if the role of
media consumption and media use is constantly growing to support and spread the
consumerist system that causes the ecologic crisis, what role does it play in
processes that engender change in language use, in the creation of mother tongue –
secondary language – prestige language configurations, especially in language
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
3
environments already dominated by functional bilingualism.
We propose that the mediatization of society leads not only to an ecologic crisis,
but, indirectly, to a language crisis as well. Namely, the daily average of several
hours’ worth of media intake – including watching television, using the computer
and the Internet – suspends our primary experiences about the world (denying us
the chance to acquire these experiences, and even rewriting our past experiences),
and it is possible to look at this question both from the viewpoint of our relationship
with the natural environment, as well as from that of the formation/transformation
of our primary language environment. Regarding experiences, we are gradually
becoming more removed not only from the natural environment, but from our
habitual language environment, or rather, our mother tongue as well, and the effects
of this process are even more pronounced in the most susceptible segment of the
media consumer public: small children.
Thus, we are primarily interested in the language preferences of preschool– and
schoolchildren manifested in mediatic space, namely from the viewpoint of effects
that they are all subject to. In order to shed light on the issue, let us first review the
situation of natural languages worldwide, let us examine certain aspects of the
national statistical data about domestic media consumption, and after this, let us
examine how media reality also creates a new linguistic reality for our children.
Keywords: language preferences, life of languages on the global language
market, mother tongue – prestige tongue configurations, language mentality
Octavian GORDON, lect. univ. dr., Facultatea de Teologie
Ortodoxă, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
DicŃionarul grec-român „al lui Ioanid”: un punct de reper pentru
traductologia patristică românească / The ‘Ioanid’ Greek-Romanian
Dictionary: A Landmark for the Romanian Patristic Traductology
An ignored Ancient Greek-Romanian Dictionary (“translated by Ioanid”)
from the second half of the 19th century seems to be very useful for two main
purposes, both important for the Classical Philology in Romania: First, the old
dictionary, unique of its kind, could serve as the main lexicographical source
in elaborating the new Dictionary of Ancient Greek-Romanian lexical and
semantic equivalents, because it provides an already elaborated corpus, which
4 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD

can be partially used nowadays. Second, it appears that the “Dictionary of environment, and the more the database relies on the network of senses, the better
Ioanid”, printed in 1864 with both Cyrillic and Latin characters, constitutes translation results a translator may have.
the mirror of a “strange” mixture of Old (16th-18th centuries) and Modern
Keywords: adverbs, network, prepositions, translation, term base
Romanian (contemporary, i.e. 19th century). The explanation consists in the
fact that the “Dictionary of Ioanid” tries to be an agent of modernization – and
one could find very modern lemmas suggested as lexical and / or semantic Svenja KÖNIG, asist. cerc., Magister Artium, Institut für Deutsche
equivalents for different Ancient Greek terms –, but, at the same time, it Sprache, Mannheim (Germany)
doesn’t push aside the old lemmas, which sound very “ecclesiastic” and
archaic for the profanes’ ears. Why would a modern dictionary include such a „Du bist Deutschland? – Ich bin einkaufen!“. The Absentive in modern
great number of archaisms? It is because, until the 19th century, the majority German
of the Greek texts translated into Romanian were the ecclesiastic (liturgical,
Until recently, the German Absentive has been a widely unrecognized
patristic, biblical, canonical) literature. Our paper aims to offer philological
grammatical construction. Its syntactic structure can be presented as follows:
arguments for taking into consideration the “Dictionary of Ioanid” when
Subject + verb sein [to be] (finite) + full verb (Infinitive)
dealing with the patristic traductology.
The following corpus data can serve as proper examples of the German
Keywords: patristic traductology, hermeneutics, Ancient Greek, confessional Absentive:
language
Der Chef war wandern ( in
IMRE Attila, lect. univ. dr., Facultatea de ŞtiinŃe Tehnice şi Umaniste, den Alpen).
Universitatea Sapientia, Târgu-Mureş (România) The boss-1.sg., nom to be-Past to wander, Infinitive (in
the Alps).
Translating the Romanian deasupra The boss was away wandering (in the Alps).

The study of prepositions has become much more widespread since the advent of Kennedy war segeln, (als der antifaschistische Schutzwall errichtet
cognitive linguistics. Although deasupra is not listed among the most important wurde).
Romanian adverbs/prepositions, its study is strictly connected to the English over, Kennedy-1.sg., nom to be-Past to sail, Infinitive (while the antifascist
above, the Romanian peste or the Hungarian felett, fölött, felül, which were more wall of protection has been built ).
intensely studied by cognitive linguists in the last four decades. Romanian Kennedy was away sailing, (while the antifascist wall of protection has been
grammarians (L. Vasiliu, C. Dominte and A. CuniŃă) described the Romanian built ).
prepositions, descriptions coming very close to a cognitive approach. Based on
Concerning the semantics of the construction, as can be seen from the
their descriptions, the first part of the paper offers a possible network of the
transcriptions above, the Absentive at first hand conveys the meaning that the
Romanian deasupra senses, deriving from a basic, central sense, which is
referent of the subject NP implements the action expressed by the full verb.
followed by possible metaphorical extensions as well. The second part focuses on
Additionally, it conveys the information that the subject referent is absent from
the increased importance of translations and the difficulty of choice when
the topic location (or the deictic centre) to perform the action in question. Third, it
overlapping senses of over, above, deasupra, peste, asupra, felett, felül are
is implicated that he or she will come back to the topic location after
involved in the translation. As we are faced with the fast growing popularity of
accomplishing the action described by the main verb.
CAT-tools, the possibility of creating a database of carefully chosen samples is
also discussed. This database may be inserted in the term base of a translation

Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010

 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
The aim of this presentation is to present the syntactic and semantic
characteristics of the Absentive. Moreover, it will be shown that the Absentive
can and should be distinguished from similar constructions such as the so-called
Am-Progressiv (Der Chef war am Wandern –The boss was wandering) and the
Past Perfect Construction with gehen (to go), where the past participle of gehen
(to go) is assumed to be ellipted (Der Chef ist wandern (gegangen) – The boss is
(gone) wandering).
On the basis of corpus data and other empirical research, it will be argued that the
Absentive is neither a variant of the Progressive nor an ellipted form of the
Perfect construction with gehen. Furthermore, I will present two different
theoretical approaches that may serve to analyse the Absentive syntactically as
well as semantically: Valency Theory and Construction Grammar.
Keywords: Absentive, Progressive, Corpus Linguistics, Verb Valency,
Construction Grammar
Ioana-Sabina POPÂRLAN, lect. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi
Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Reprezentări lexico-gramaticale ale factitivităŃii în limba hindi
Each of the three factitive levels is expressed in Hindi by a specific form of a
verbal series: the event factitivity by the basic lexeme, e.g. ut
hnā (“to wake”,
intr.), the central or human factitivity/ agentivity by the first derivative (root +
the suffix “-ā”): ut
hānā (“to wake”, tr.) and the third type corresponding to
the verbal instigation to action (when a Causer asks a Causee to do
something), represented by the second derivative: basic root/ root of
derivative 1 + the suffix “-vā”: ut
hvānā (“to ask somebody to wake somebody
else”). In most of the situations, to each serial segment corresponds, from the
point of view of the “propositional semantics” (cf. L. Theban, 1980, 2006), an
actantial schema dominated by a specific agent: the natural Force/ the
Instrument in the case of the basic factitivity, the Executor or the Author for
the human practical agentivity and the Causer for the directive act of requiring
the Causee to do something.
There are also deviating contexts, for example, when the causative factitivity
is already expressed at the second level (dhulānā = dhulvānā “to ask
somebody to wash”), or when a second derivative is used instead of a basic
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
5
transitive verb in order to show politeness: Yah kām karvāo lit. “Please ask
somebody to do this thing” in place of Yah kām karo “Do this thing”.
Together with the typical structures, we intend to identify situations
apparently out of norm, but which can be explained through the propositional
semantics or strictly at the pragmatic level.
Keywords: verbal series, actantial configurations, factitivity, typical and
special forms
Kristel PROOST, dr. phil., Regular member of research staff, Institut
für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim (Germany)
German SEARCH-constructions as Candidates for Construction Grammar
SEARCH-constructions are argument structure patterns of the form [NP V PP]
expressing that the referent of the subject NP tries to find or obtain the referent of
the NP embedded in the PP by carrying out the action expressed by the main
verb. German examples include Die Touristen suchen nach ihren
Reisedokumenten (‘Tourists are looking for their travelling documents’) and Man
fischt nach Muscheln (‘People are fishing for mussels’). In German, SEARCH-
constructions typically show the following structure (constituents mentioned in
subordinate clause order):
NP nom PP nach(dative) V
die Touristen nach ihren Reisedokumenten suchen
x y v
(the entity (the entity searched for) (the activity
searching for expressed by the
something) main verb)
Prepositional phrases (PPs) with nach which are part of SEARCH-constructions
differ from other such PPs, especially temporal and directional ones, in that
their occurrence cannot entirely be predicted on the basis of grammatical
rules. This may be seen, for example, from the fact that verbs may receive
special interpretations when occurring as part of SEARCH-constructions. An
example is Archäologen schaben und kratzen nach neuem Material
6 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
(‘Archaeologists scrape and scratch after new material’), where the
combination of the verbs schaben (‘scrape’) and kratzen (‘scratch’) with the
PP headed by nach evokes the interpretation ‘to search by scraping and
scratching’, which cannot be explained compositionally on the basis of the
lexical meaning of the verb and that of the preposition. Additionally, in some
instances of the SEARCH-construction, the PP realising the entity searched for
is not licensed by the verb (e.g. Das Publikum johlt nach einer Zugabe – ‘The
audience is yelling for an encore’). Argument extensions like these present a
problem for valency-based approaches. Rules and valency properties – as well
as combinations thereof – being insufficient explanations, this talk discusses
the question of whether SEARCH-constructions may be more adequately
described within the framework of Construction Grammar.
Keywords: SEARCH-construction, valency, regularity, argument extensions,
Construction Grammar
Ruxandra RAIANU, lect. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Procedee de atenuare în limba japoneză / Grading-attenuation methods in
Japanese
‘Intensification is the linguistic expression of exaggeration and depreciation’
(Bolinger, 1972, 20).
In this paper, we will try to analyze some intensifiers of depreciation in
Japanese. We will use the term intensifier for ‘any device that scales a quality,
whether up or down or somewhere between the two’ (Bolinger, 1972, 17).
The purpose of this paper is therefore to investigate the different ways of
expressing attenuation in Japanese, and to categorize them. There are ways of
expressing attenuation through prefixes-such as bi-, ko-, nama-, hada-, ura-
and suffixes –such as ge- (internal way, intralexematic) or through
compromisers, diminishers, minimizers (external way, extralexematic).
The compromisers are the intensifiers on the middle of the scale of quality,
often trying to look both ways at once, such as isasaka ’rather’. The
diminishers are the intensifiers on the lower part of the scale of quality,
looking down, such as chotto, sukoshi ’little’. The minimizers are the
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
intensifiers on the lower end of the scale, such as taishite (+ nai), betsu (+
nai) ‘a bit, a iota’.
In this paper we will categorize the intensifiers, which are more or less
grammaticalized, from the semantic point of view, and we will make some
considerations from a typological perspective.
Keywords: grading, intensifier, attenuation, diminishers, grammaticalization
Susan SCHLOTTHAUER, cercet., Institut für Deutsche Sprache,
Mannheim (Germany)
Adnominal adpositional phrases in classifying and qualifying function
Typological linguistic research distinguishes (at least) four functional
categories of adnominal modification: classifying modifiers, specifying a
particular subtype of the referent (a corporate lawyer), qualifying modifiers,
specifying a more or less inherent quality of the referent (an intelligent
lawyer), quantifying modifiers, specifying the cardinality of the referent (five
lawyers), and referential (also: anchoring, localizing) modifiers, which
specify properties concerning the location of the referent and, more generally,
act as anchors for the identification of the referent (the lawyers of this firm,
the lawyers on the first floor) (Koptjevskaja-Tamm 2002, 2003, Rijkhoff
2004).
A one-to-one relationship between the function and the form of a modifier
exists neither cross-linguistically nor language-specifically. For instance,
classifying modifiers can take the form of (relational) adjectives, possessive
NPs or compounds (compounds being widely used in German or Hungarian
but virtually ruled out in languages like French and Polish). Conversely, an
English possessive NP can serve as a referential-anchoring, a qualifying and a
classifying modifier.
The use of adpositional phrases containing a ‘semantic’ adposition (as
opposed to semantically empty adpositions like ENG of or GER von) is a
strategy which has received considerably less attention (than possessives for
instance) and which appears to be employed comparatively rarely in
classifying or qualifying modification. Examples for classifying modification
include POL fotel na biegunach ‘rocking chair’, GER Ferien auf dem
 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
Bauernhof ‘holidays on a farm’. N+PP syntagmas like POL suknia z jedwabiu
‘silk dress’ and GER Kinder unter sechs Jahren ‘children under six years’ are
instances of qualifying modification (illustrating the semantic domains
MATERIAL and AGE).
On the basis of a European language sample – with a special focus on
English, French, German, Hungarian and Polish – an attempt is made to
ascertain to what extent members of the formal category PP may serve the
function of classifying and/or qualifying modifiers.
Questions to be addressed in the talk include the following:
First, how widespread is the use of this modification pattern in European
languages? Is its occurrence somehow related to the non-occurrence of other
formal devices for adnominal modification, as the non-occurrence of
compounds in Polish might suggest?
Second, since almost every N+PP syntagma of this kind competes with
alternative modification patterns – in the first place with adjectives and
compounds (GER Hemd mit langen Ärmeln vs. langärmeliges Hemd ‘long-
sleeved shirt’) –, which language-specific factors favor the use of different
patterns ?
Third, which semantic relations (e.g. alienable/inalienable possession,
purposive, abessive, locative) are preferably encoded by means of non-
anchoring adpositional modification patterns from a cross-linguistic
perspective?
Keywords: contrastive linguistics, typology, noun phrase, adnominal
modification
SperanŃa STĂNESCU, prof. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi
Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Compliniri propoziŃionale cu să sau «grup verbal complex».
Problematizarea unei clasificări contrastive a verbelor germane şi
româneşti / Der rumänische subjunctiv: satzförmige Verbergänzung oder
dependente Verbform
The contrastive description of German „Konjunktiv” with Romanian
„conjunctiv” is not only a terminological matter. It also brings into our
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
7
discussion the analysis of the să-form used in complex verbal phrases. The
simple parallel clasification given in the Kontrastive Grammatik deutsch-
rumänisch (Heidelberg 1993) has to be reviewed regarding the analysis of the
subject as dass/să phrase.
Keywords: conjunctivesubjunctive, subject
Mihaela TĂNASE-DOGARU, lect. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi
Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
A unified treatment of romanian pseudopartitive constructions
The paper addresses the question of whether quantitative pseudopartitive
constructions of the type o sticla de vin /a bottle of wine and qualitative
pseudopartitives of the type un zdrahon de barbat / a hulk of a man should be
analyzed as underlain by different syntactic representations (cf. Corver 1998,
Den Dikken 2006) or as identical syntactic structures. The paper takes the
second direction of analysis and demonstrates that both types of
pseudopartitives are actually base-generated in the order N1of N2, thus
overriding the need for complex and uneconomical syntactic mechanisms,
such as Predicate Inversion. The paper will thus show that not only is
Predicate Inversion not suitable to account for quantitative pseudopartitives
but neither is it an adequate mechanism to account for qualitative
pseudopartitives. Data from Latin and old and present-day Romanian will be
used in order to show that pseudopartitive constructions are actually former
genitive/partitive constructions undergoing a process of grammaticalization.
The preposition de is a marker of (pseudo)partitive case in Romanian.
Therefore, pseudopartitive and partitive ‘cases’ are two values of the genitive
case.
Keywords: pseudopartitive constructions, binominal constructions,
exclamative constructions, genitive case, partitive case
Alina TIGĂU, prep. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi Străine,
Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Some aspects of interpretation of the direct object in Romanian
This presentation is concerned with some syntactic and semantic properties of
8 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
the direct object in Romanian which distinguish this language from other
languages such as English, German, Hungarian or Dutch. Roughly, Romanian
resorts to PE marking and Clitic Doubling to solve certain aspects related to
the interpretation of sentences that the languages from the latter group solve
by means of movement or a particular word order.
We considered the semantic phenomena of scope and binding and we reached
the following conclusions based on empirical observations: for the latter
languages the scope of Q(uantifier)P(hrases)s is mostly determined by word
order: the leftmost QP usually outscopes the QP to its right. In Romanian, on
the other hand, we have found that movement to the left is not a prerequisite
for a wide scope reading. Furthermore, a constituent that has moved to the left
does not necessarily acquire a wide scope interpretation. Moreover, clitic
doubled and PE marked direct objects may acquire a wide scope reading
irrespective of their position in the sentence and with respect to the subject
QP.
With respect to binding, we noticed that Romanian examples containing PE
marked and clitic doubled direct objects display inverse binding effects –
inverse binding does not depend on movement or on the antecedent c-
commanding the anaphor.
Trying to solve the puzzle made apparent by these empirical facts, we
advanced the hypothesis that the internal structure of the DP is decisive for
the interpretation of the direct object in Romanian as opposed to the other
languages listed above where word order is the crucial ingredient when it
comes to teasing away between a wide or a narrow scope interpretation.
The configurational languages pertaining to the second set are ‘languages of
type A (which lack Differential Object Marking)’ while Romanian was
considered to be a language of ‘type B (which resorts to Differential Object
Marking)’.
The hypothesis we put forth prompted us to inquire into the exact contribution
of those elements which may make up the internal structure of the direct
object: whether these objects are marked by PE or not and whether they are
anticipated/resumed by clitic or not.
Keywords: Word order, wide scope, narrow scope, clitic, Differential Object
Marking
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
Minerva TRAJLOVIĆ-KONDAN, lect. univ. dr., Filološki fakultet
Univerziteta u Beogradu, Beograd, Belgrad (Serbia)
Toponime la Vladimirovac (Petrovasâla) / Toponyms in Vladimirovac
(Petrovasâla)
The aim of this case study is taking inventory, description, lexical-semantic
and morpho-syntactic analysis of the names of places in the locality
Vladimirovac (Petrovasala), a place located in the Serbian Banat. In
determining the inventory of place names in Vladimirovac (Petrovasala) we
began from the current period as well as from the older periods when we
wanted to trace the preservation or disappearance of certain linguistic terms.
Toponyms are closely related to extralinguistic factors. So in commenting on
Vladimirovac (Petrovasala) toponyms, we considered the age of the
relationship between the local people and the environment, the continuity of
inhabitation in the determined geographical area, the nature of social and
economic relations between people of the two communities that live in this
locality – Romanians and Serbs – and history of an individual and the group
he or she belongs to, that determines to a large extent the toponymy of a
region.
Toponymy provides a source of language facts such as: the occurence of
analytical means in the formation of the genitive of place names formed from
appellations, but also synthetic means of which various forms of casual
construction have set: apositions, genitive or prepositional attributives.
Toponyms from Vladimirovac (Petrovasala), represent in the morphological,
syntactic and lexical-semantic relationship the general characteristics of
Banatian sub-speech, many of them being used in the same form and content
as the Daco-roman dialects. On the other hand, some of them have origins in
Serbian language, due to geographical, economic, political, social and cultural
factors. The identity of place names has very often been generated by local,
particular factors, certain facts, events and happenings in the life of the
inhabitants of Vladimirovac (Petrovasala).
We finish this short presentation of some aspects related to life of the names
in locality Vladimirovat-Petrovasala in the hope that this research will
contribute to a better knowledge of the history of the language of the
Romanians from the Serbian part of Banat.
 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD 9

Keywords: toponyms, Vladimirovat-Petrovasala, linguistic and extralinguistic complex named directional complement construction, where the path verb
factors shows its gradual grammaticalization.
In this paper, we are interested in the inclusion of Qi – stand up, go up, rise –
Rodika URSULESKU-MILIČIĆ, asist. univ. drd., Departamentul de in the category of motion path verbs and we aim to find an explanation for its
Limba şi Literatura Română, Facultatea de Filosofie, Universitatea din Novi marginal status and even its exclusion from this category, as well for the
Sad (Serbia) relative neglect of its value of expressing concrete direction as
monomorphemic path satellite.
Exprimarea culorilor în limba română şi limba sârbă / The expression of
colors in Romanian and Serbian We try to demonstrate that the motion path verb Qi has a double status, as a
full verb and as a grammatical word, in a gradual continuum – a graduality of
The aim of this work is to analise and explain – taking care of morfological and meaning from expressing concrete direction to expressing figurative direction
syntactic issues, terms that are expressing colours, in both Romanian and Serbian and to entirely voiding.
language. Qi confirms that, in Contemporary Chinese, motion path verbs do not fit very
It is scientifically proved that colours have an highly effect on our disposition. well into the typological dichotomy satellite-framed language vs verb-framed
Also, it is well known that they are differently percepted from person to person, language because they keep to some degree their verbal features.
sending different messages from one to another. Therefore colours might change Keywords: motion, path, satellite, grammaticalization
and transpone sedness into joy through their presence in our environment.
Terms which are expressing colours are mostly adjectives, sometimes nouns and,
very seldom, verbs or lexemes made by prefixes and suffixes. Having all that in
mind, it is intended to present some of the most frequent prefixes and suffixes
used in construction of this words. Also, the colours that will be analised are:
white, black, red, yellow, green, blue.
Aside from morfological and syntactic analise of the colours, it is intended to
investigate the expressions, in both languages, which contain lexemes expressing
colours. It should be emphasized that some of them are identic, some are similar
and some are completely different.
Keywords: Romanian language, Serbian language, prefixes, suffixes, colours

Florentina VIŞAN, prof. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi

Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)

The Chinese Motion Path Verb QI and its Gradual Grammaticalization

The cognitive strategy of merging a motion path verb with another verb in a
single motion event has in Chinese a syntactic codification as a verbal

Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010

 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
LITERATURĂ / LITERATURE
Dagmar-Maria ANOCA, conf. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi
Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Imaginea câmpiei în lucrările scriitorilor de expresie slovacă din România /
The image of the plain in the literary works of the Slovak writers from the
Romania
The paper presents the image of the plain (as a Panonic archetype, according to
the vision of Professor Michal Harpáň from the University of Novi Sad-Serbia)
in the literary works (poetry, prose) of some Slovak writers living in Romania.
Keywords: Pannonia archetype, Slovak writers from Romania, “the
phenomenon of Nădlac”
Mariana BĂLUłĂ-SKULTÉTY, prof. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi
Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
PolivalenŃa funcŃională a epitetului homeric în reprezentarea zeilor / The
functional polyvalency of the Homeric epithet in the representation of gods
Considered as a purely stylistic-aesthetic notion, the epithet exceeds by far, in
Homer, the meaning of an added element (epitheton), that might suggest a
diminished expressive inner strength; in reality, the Homeric epithet has a very
well organized inner structure, capable of creating its own firmly established
existence, of concentrating and essentializing the determined element, of
representing an entire world – a Homeric, namely Homeric gods’ world. It is
not limited merely to the simple exterior, decorative function of a purely poetic
instrument, but it is a strongly synthesizing poietic pattern, with deep and fully
significant implications, with extended, penetrating and penetrated roots.
Its functional multiplicity – mythological, historical, symbolic, aesthetic –
makes the Homeric epithet become equivalent to a cumulative force with
explanatory capacities of even the deepest meanings. Through their
informational and aesthetic functions, the epithets for the divine characters have
the capacity of presenting themselves as an arborescent structure comprising
both the insignia of the deities, which implicitly refer to their attributes and
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
authority, as well as characteristics of a figurative value for multiple aspects
connected to the world of the gods, with their activities, their strengths and
weaknesses, their affinities and resentments, but also enlightening for their
relations with the human world, as these were known by Homer.
The Homeric epithet is also intended to highlight the attributes that are
archetypically symbolized by onomatology, thus gaining augmentative values
in underlining the features of the divine power, which suppose a positional
quality, related to the position and the hierarchical relationships within the
Greek Pantheon, so that an epithet can synthesize even a fundamental myth, as
the one of the titanomachy, according to which Zeus keeps for himself the
heavens and the universal prerogatives.
Keywords: the Homeric epithet, the Greek Pantheon, the heraldry
Monica BOTTEZ, prof. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Dickens and the Noble Savage
The paper first traces back the use of this syntagm to John Dryden, against the
common error of attributing it to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It then discusses
romantic primitivism against the imperial Enlightenment project and dwells on
Dickens’s views as dramatised in his novel Bleak House and expounded in his
1852 article in the periodical Household Words and against the reports of tragic
end of the Franklin expedition.
Keywords: postcolonialism, primitivism, romanticism
Mianda CIOBA, conf. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Geografías imaginarias y la construcción de la identidad en la Edad Media
The paper aims to present the writing protocols and the rhetorical statute of the
geographical description in the Medieval West and, at the same time, to
 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
establish the boundaries between the real experience of the distant geographies
and the imaginative pattern nourished by the biblical lectures.
Keywords: descriptio terrae, identity, Holy Land, memory
Ioana COSTA, prof. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Sihastrul şi lumea sa. Ieronim despre Pavel, Malhus, Ilarion / The hermit
and his world. Hieronymus about Paul, Malhus, and Hilarion
Hieronymus’ hagiographic writings Vita Pauli monachi, Vita Malchi monachi
captiui and Vita Hilarionis give a picture of ascetic life accomplished by three
non similar personalities. Each of these Vitae is to be read as an independent
work: nevertheless, the introductory passage of Vita Hilarionis reveals the
intention of Hieronymus to offer contrasting patterns that equally led to
spiritual and devotional perfection.
Keywords: Hieronymus; hermits; asceticism; temptation; visions
Anca CRIVĂł, conf. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Recobrar su juventud : un tema de la literatura erudita medieval
Eternal youth, rejuvenation, ressurection are old themes of the philosophy,
occult sciences, literature, and figurative arts. The occurences of rejuvenation in
the literature of late Antiquity and in the latin medieval encyclopedias
represents a relatively frequent motive in scholarly literature, whose analysis
may be relevant to medieval Weltanschauung.
Keywords: Medieval encyclopedias, Physiologos, medieval allegory
Roxana DONCU, drd., Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Representations of Hindus and Muslims in the Travelling Fiction of V. S.
Naipaul
As claims to truth and validity are stronger in the case of traveling literature
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
11
than other types of fiction, this fact renders it a suitable choice for the
discussion of issues of mimesis and representation. My presentation will be
focused on the way Hindus and Muslims are represented in the traveling fiction
of Anglo-Indian writer V.S. Naipaul, particularly India. An Area of Darkness
and Among the Believers : An Islamic Journey. While both Hindus and
Muslims are perceived and represented as <other> figures to liberal western
civilization, there is never an equality between the ways they differ from
western european civilization. In other words, even if Muslims and Hindus
generally appear as less than civilized, their <barbarity> is described and
understood differently. The reasons that prevent the Hindus from establishing a
successful democratic society are connected to the apparent stability and
rigidity of the caste system, impervious to change, to a poorly organized
bureaucratic apparatus and geographical and historical specificities. In contrast,
Muslims are negatively perceived and understood as religious fundamentalists,
their society as marred by authoritarianism, nationalism, and an almost
complete closure to democratic ideals. This negative portrayal of Muslims may
be grounded in the fact that Naipaul associates the Islamic religion with
political totalitarianism, while he posits, at the same time, Hinduism as a more
inclusive system of religious beliefs.
Keywords: binary oppositions, fundamentalism, democracy, liberalism
Irina-Ana DROBOT, prep., Technical University of Civil Engineering
Bucharest, Department of Foreign Languages and Communication
Modern and postmodern representations of the world in Virginia Woolf’s
Mrs Dalloway and in Graham Swift’s The Light of Day
The aim of this paper is to find Modern and Postmodern features in Virginia
Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and in Graham Swift’s The Light of Day which are used
to represent the world for their characters. Features shared by both trends or
used by both writers will be pointed out, as well as inner and outside
representations of the world. Similar elements, such as the lyrical style used by
both authors, the same one-day duration of the novel, interweaving of past and
present, use of language (ordinary speech, linguistics effects) as well as other
features related to the literary trends they belong to (for instance, parody in
Swift) will be considered in the analysis of the representation of the world in
12 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
these novels. How does Swift rewrite the stream of consciousness used by
Woolf and what is its effect on the representation of the world?
Keywords: modernism, postmodernism, Woolf, Swift, representation
Irina DUBSKÝ, lect. univ. dr., Universitatea “Spiru Haret”, Bucureşti
(România)
The Gates of the Invisible – Representations of the Hierarchy of Being in
Moby Dick
At the thematic core of “Melville’s most difficult and perplexing narrative” – as
Cristopher Sten describes Moby Dick – lies the theme of piercing the husks of
appearances, of penetrating the opacity of the visible to gaze upon the beyond.
The present study tries to reveal how Melville artistically articulates his
intuition of the hierarchical structure of the Universe encapsulated in Ahab’s
vision of “the pasteboard masks”. Central to the projection of the world
structure in the whaling epos is the functional similarity displayed by the whale
and the mask, both of them being interpreted, in the light of the Swedenborgian
theory of correspondences, as the isthmus between the sensible and the
intelligible.
Another key-element in the configuration of the hierarchical structure of the
world as represented in the novel is Ahab’s hunt which is meant to open the
gates of the invisible, thus assuming the dimension of an initiatory quest. The
interconnection between the levels of being is further explored by reference to
the esoteric significance of a graphic sign – the letter nun – and to the
symbolism of the cosmic form to which René Guénon devotes an in-depth
analysis in his thought-provoking book Symboles fondamentaux de la science
sacrée. Projecting these symbolic aspects upon the story of Moby Dick it
becomes apparent that the whale functions as the Savior-Fish, leading the way
out of “the cosmic grotto” (René Guénon). Furthermore, the whale emerges as
the matrix in which the transition between two modes of being is effected.
The overarching idea of the study is that the world projected in the Melvillean
epos is articulated through an interplay of meanings of cosmic laws which
generate a multifarious configuration.
Keywords: hierarchy, correspondence, whale, invisible, cosmic
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
Laura-Violeta DUłĂ, drd., Universität Wien – Universitatea din Viena
(Austria)
(Re)inventing the World: Jack Hodgins or the master of the new beginnings
The Canadian writer Jack Hodgins likes to play with the idea of inventing a
new world, and the Vancouver Island, where he sets his novels, is a perfect
place for starting such an endeavor: still connected to the Old World, yet
conveniently far, wild enough and with a fair amount of magic dwelling among
its rocks, the island is the proper place where people can look for becoming
small gods, mad architects of brand new cities or resurrected souls.
My motivation for writing this paper lies in the fascination that Jack Hodgins
proves for these new worlds, for the new beginnings and second chances, and
in the easiness that he puts into such otherwise difficult to achieve tasks. Hence,
my paper aims to discuss the idea that, beyond the plethora of myths and
symbols, or the almost mathematical narrative structures that Jack Hodgins
brings into his fiction, one of the main recurrent motifs is that of the new
beginnings. In all three novels that my paper will bring into discussion, there
are miracles of a new start, of a new world being born, be it the (re)birth of the
Revelations Colony of Truth and the new freedom of its people in The
Invention of the World, or the larger-than-life community of the young city of
Victoria, in search of its new identity, in Innocent Cities, or the actual rebirth of
the main character in The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne, carrying along the
revival of an entire community after a landslide. I will also argue that the
symbolism goes beyond the personal level of individuals looking for a place
where they can either fulfill their dreams, escape from the past, or build their
own vision of the world, and goes to the dream of Canada as a nation.
Keywords: Jack Hodgins, world, Canada, beginning
Theodor GEORGESCU, lect. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Reprezentări ale naturii în poezia bucolică greacă. Naşterea unei utopii /
Representations of Nature in Greek Bucolic Poetry. The Birth of a Utopia
In the IIIrd century BC, in the Ptolemaic Alexandria, it is for the first time that appears
 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
the image of an idealized nature, in Theocritus’ poetry. He is the inventor of
pastoral poetry, which was born, paradoxically, in an urban context. Why does this
literary genre, which focuses on shepherds and nature, appear in that precise
moment? Should it be the literary taste of an urbanized population, which, after
losing contact with nature, tends to regain it through literature, by idealizing it? The
analysis of the Idylls of Theocritus and of other bucolic poets puts into light a
natural frame which is fully tranquil, friendly with the characters or the readers: a
perfect synesthesia inside each Idyll. It is during this era that we acknowledge the
birth of a myth, that of a beneficent nature, a literary utopia that has lasted till the
present day.
Keywords: idyll, Theocritus, nature, utopia
Raluca-Mihaela GHENłULESCU, asist. univ. dr., Universitatea Tehnică
de ConstrucŃii, Bucureşti (România)
Reprezentarea artei baroce flamande în romanele lui Tracy Chevalier / The
representation of Flemish baroque art in Tracy Chevalier’s novels
Tracy Chevalier is a true advocate of the idea that, in order to represent in
contemporary fiction a work of art created in the past, a writer should re-create that
work in a new medium of expression. This is what she actually does in her two
‘Flemish’ novels, Girl with a Pearl Earring and The Lady and the Unicorn, where
she shows that the basis of an interdisciplinary study of art and fiction is the so-
called mise-en-abîme. As one of the favourite techniques of the Flemish painters, as
well as of many writers, this structure en abîme connects the visual world of the
Flemish Baroque art to the textual world of Chevalier’s novels.
The relationship between visuality and textuality can be discussed from the
viewpoint of two major dichotomies: ‘picture’ vs. ‘picturing’ and ‘pictura’ vs.
‘idola’. Art as a final product and art as a process are the two fundamental aspects
involved in the analysis of the main elements transferred by Chevalier from the
Baroque paintings and tapestries to the plot of her novels.
Our comparison between the fabula in art (i.e., the narrative scheme in painting or
tapestry) and its literary counterpart (i.e., Chevalier’s fiction) does not concentrate
on faithfulness to the source. On the contrary, it considers both the painting or
tapestry and the novel as parts of the same reality. Through their own specific
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
13
narrative structure, they convey the same thing to their audiences, even if they use
two different types of discourse. From this point of view, the connection between
an artistic and a literary representation of the same reality (i.e. the Flemish society
in the 17th century) is both intertextual and interdiscursive.
Keywords: Baroque, picture v. picturing, pictura v. idola
Marina ILIE, drd., Şcoala Doctorală de Studii Literare şi Culturale,
Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti
(România)
Dialectica terestru-acvatic în lirica lui Iosif Brodsky / The dialectics of terrestrial
and acquatic elements in Iosif Brodsky’s poetry
The antithetical evaluation of space in the Brodskian lyric is paradigmatic for the
way in which the poet envisions his cosmology. As a fundamental dimension of his
artistic vision of the world, space offers on the one hand the concrete environment
for existential positioning, being the area in which the poet moves, also used as an
instrument that guarantees the transition to a temporal stabilization. On the other
hand, space transcends fixed, geographical forms, relativizes the allusive references
and even compresses time. This manner of using and representing space is
crystallized in a dialectic expressed or suggested mainly in Brodsky’s
autobiographical essays and emigration poetry.
The antithetical environments under scrutiny are the urban landscape, understood
as a terrestrial, inhabited space, static, organized, anthropic, and an object of
secular contingency; and the marine landscape, which, like the sky, is a pure and
uninhabited space, fluid and essentially unmarked, which escapes any temporal
constraints. Brodsky treats the tension between urban and marine in terms of the
opposition between the active and passive principles of the universe, but especially
between space and time, the sea being the spatial representation of time. Just like
time dominates space, being its superior because “space is the thing, and time is the
idea behind the thing”, creating and destroying it, so does the sea – a powerful
destructive element, with the ability to dissolve matter – dominate the cityscape.
The places of tension between the two elements draw the poet’s attention and
subtly dissimulate his doubling. Venice and Saint Petersburg are the cities in which
the terrestrial-marine dialectic manifests itself in the shape of systole – diastole,
14 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
with time constantly oscillating between the two spatial spheres.
Keywords: space, city, water, tension, doubling
Daniela IONESCU-BONANNI, lect. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi
Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Kulturelles Wissen als Quelle literarischen Verständnisses Fallstudien zu
deutschsprachigen Autoren mit rumänischem Hintergrund
Intercultural competence is one of the most important skills for any individual who
wants to succeed on the job market. Political and development sciences researchers
have shown how literary products are invaluable sources of cultural knowledge and
emphasize their inclusion in special management training. In terms of content,
literary products are so profoundly interconnected with cultural features that
literary fragments with a strong biographical element are increasingly used to
exemplify theoretical knowledge about a foreign country.
But since we live in a global world, one particularly interesting question arising in
this context is whether literary productions can be understood correctly without any
references to the cultural background from which they emerge. In this respect it is
valuable to examine how literary products by German authors with a Romanian
background may be read or even misread because the appropriate cross-cultural
background is lacking.
After Herta Müller won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009, the intriguing
question is whether a far-reaching imagination or more a mixture of images from
different cultures lend such literary productions their unique intercultural
dimension?
This paper will take a closer look at literary fragments by some German authors
with Romanian backgrounds such as Herta Müller, Catalin Dorian Florescu, Franz
Hodjak and Carmen Francesca Banciu. The purpose is to investigate whether their
meaning can be influenced by such a lack of cultural background, and also in
considering their provocative images whether we can find explanations for this
literary output in the specific content of Romanian culture.
Keywords: German literature, inter- and cross-cultural communication, Herta
Müller
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
Laura LAZĂR ZĂVĂLEANU, lect. univ. dr., Facultatea de Litere,
Universitatea „Babeş-Bolyai”, Cluj-Napoca (România)
Du livre pharmakon, à la lecture philoxénie : l’espace de l’œuvre comme
solution ontique dans la littérature roumaine ancienne
The extremely troubled history of the Romanian ancient period places the horizon
of the human life under the sign of insecurity and anxiety of extinction. To the
dramatic existence referred in Dimitrie Cantemir’s phrase – „the time of crying” –,
the protagonists of this period propose their own alternative: “the time of writing”.
In a period of ontological uncertainty and in a space of inconstancy, writing,
understood therefore as a way of gaining eternity – “the letter is alive, it never dies”
(Matei al Mirelor) – may give, through the scriptural anamnetic exercise, a new
order to the chaotic world. This is why the space of literary work – perceived either
as a literary space, as well as a space of writing and, at the same time, as a
privileged space where the reader seeks for compensatory alternatives to the
immediately delusive reality – becomes a kind of pharmakon, able to symbolically
heal from the anguish of time and death. In a complementary key we shall read
consequently the metaphors of book and of the philoxenic reading: the medieval
writers / readers don’t belong only to a historical – social concrete space that they
duplicate – in a compensative way – through scriptural ideal spaces, but they
conceive the literary work in itself as a symbolic space that embodies them and
influences their writing / reading. We find again here the resorts of the same
consciousness eager to imprint its passing through time and who identifies in the
space – both physical and that of ideas – of the literary work precisely the
ontological solution sought. The text-as-a-world and the text-as-history can
become, at any time, an alternative to life.
Keywords: space of literary work/of writing/of reading; the pharmakon book; the
philoxenia reading; the metaphors of the book/reading; the portrait of the writer
Octavia NEDELCU, prof. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
ConstrucŃia şi deconstrucŃia canonului identitar în romanul Muzeul durerii
de Dubravka Ugrešić / Construction and deconstruction of the identity canon
in the novel The Museum of Pain by Dubravka Ugrešić
 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
Over the past two decades, after the fall of the communist ideology,
redefining efforts of the identity concept became visible once with the
revival of the national consciousness issue, particularly in the newly-created
countries, whose rebirth took place amid the ashes of recent wars in the
Balkan area. Therefore, one must consider the extra-literary reality that was
marked by two major events: the implosion of the Eastern Bloc and the
explosion of Yugoslavia. The former Eastern Bloc collapsed just like the
nuclear reactor in Chernobyl due to the regime’s disintegration, with the
collapse of the Berlin Wall representing only the burial ceremony of
government institutions. The former Yugoslavia went off like a clock bomb,
for want of timely settlement of domestic problems. After the fall of the
communist regime, the Western world lived for a long time with the illusion
that, following the implementation in the Balkans of paradigms previously
checked in western societies, the results would be promising. Nevertheless,
the Balkan civilisation proved to make no response to the western logic and
it turned out that Lyotard’s post-modernism stating the disbelief in the
existence of great epopees was unsubstantiated. The literary history of one’s
own nation had not been completed yet. No final responses had been given
to the questions relative to the reality’s status, meaning and truth, whether
they existed in reality or all was only a Balkan-like reality show.
Yugoslavia’s falling apart and the period of transition, alongside the war,
prompted the Croatian writers and the writers in Bosnia-Herzegovina to
embrace new identity attitudes in the context of the new reality. Writers
such as Slavenka Drakulić, Predrag Matvejević or Dubravka Ugrešić opted
for an ideological non-commitment (declarative or real), which damaged
their image. The decline to subject literature to ideologies must not be taken
for the modernism’s aesthetism, since one dealt rather with various post-
ideological strategies in defining the lost identity. The realistic mimetism or
the avantgardistic vision of the world implies the existence of a genuine
reality. However, reality was no longer a given landmark, mimicked by the
language, as the feeling of reality suffered over time a radicalisation,
especially in the late ‘90s. In her novel entitled The Museum of Pain,
Dubravka Ugrešić attempts at redefining by means of her characters the
concept of the identity canon in a globalist society.
Keywords: construction, deconstruction, identity concept, post-modernism
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
15
Raluca OPROIU, drd., Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
The End of the World as They Knew It? A Vision of the Apocalypse in Shirley
Jackson’s The Sundial
Take twelve people who cannot stand each other, but lead their lives together,
in total isolation. Add an old, crooked and unwelcoming villa to accommodate
them. Season with two mysterious murders, several unexplainable phenomena
meant to shatter the small community’s illusions about domesticity and an
imminent end of the world announced by a ghost. This paper discusses the way
in which the American writer Shirley Jackson builds in the novel The Sundial
(1958) a fragmented and comical image of a post-apocalyptic world by
exploring the 1950s’ paranoia of alien invasions, the fascination with outer
space and the UFO craze, the visions of utopian futures and nuclear threats,
together with the theme of domesticity and failed relationships. The small
community, who, on a ghost’s account, believe they will be the sole survivors
of the forthcoming cataclysm, represents a small-scale reproduction of the
entire world, allowing the writer to sketch a critique of the American society in
the Tranquilized Fifties. I will argue that Jackson resorts to the founding myths
of the American people (the myth of the American Adam, the chosen people,
the city / house on a hill) and to a presupposed imminent threat of world
destruction to satirize the paranoia of Soviet intrusion, to question people’s
beliefs, to point to the dissolution of family and moral values and ultimately to
expose the absurdity of a society ruled by the media and television.
Keywords: post-apocalyptic world, ghosts, the chosen people, UFO craze,
America’s founding myths
FlorenŃa POPESCU-SIMION, lect. univ. dr., Facultatea de Litere,
Universitatea „Spiru Haret”, Bucureşti (România)
Le paradis, l’enfer et tout le reste… L’au-delà dans la littérature roumaine
It is never too much or too boring to talk about the afterlife. This subject is
always fascinating. And it’s not to forget, though it is commonplace, that the
very first literary writing known in the world – The Epic of Gilgamesh –
narrates the tribulations of a king in search for the eternal life, for he is too
scared of the bitterness of death.
16 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
The purpose of this study is to determine some literary landmarks in the
geography of death, as they emerge from the analyze of writings belonging
to different periods. The afterworld seems to be organized in a
complementary way in all the traditions and mythologies of the world – the
good separated from the evil, the paradise set apart from hell –, and the
Catholic Church entered the Purgatory in this geography. So, I shall try to
establish what is the literature doing with these spaces, and how did it
domesticate them – or not – by creating afterworlds out of words.
The aim of this paper is to sketch an introduction to a literary anthropology
of death, because if the mythology and the rituals of death have been very
well studied from an ethnological or anthropological point of vue, this
approach is missing in the study of the Romanian literature. I shall mention
some literary works indispensable for this subject (such as The Epic of
Gilgamesh, halfway between myth and literature, Boccaccio’s Decameron,
and Dante’s Divine Comedy). But my interest will be mainly in some
writings from the Romanian literature: Povestea lui Ivan Turbincă (Ion
Creangă), Craii de Curtea-Veche (Mateiu I. Caragiale), Cimitirul Buna-
Vestire (Tudor Arghezi) and SalvaŃi sufletele noastre (LaurenŃiu Fulga).
None of these writings is typical for the subject, but this is precisely what
makes them even more interesting. From a popular and comical vision of
the heaven and hell, passing through the assuming the eternal damnation or
the invasion of the living by the dead, to the tribulations in a purgatory
which is (almost) unknown in the Romanian culture, the pictures of death
and of the afterlife are drawing an original topography, which situates,
however, as I shall try to demonstrate, very close to the representation of
death in the Romanian folklore.
Keywords: death, afterworld, imaginary, romanian literature, folklore
Martin POTTER, Lecturer in Residence, Facultatea de Limbi şi
Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Sign-Making in David Jones’ Poetry – Theory and Practice
The modernist poet David Jones is known for his theoretical writing on
poetic (and artistic) signification as well as for his dense and difficult
poetry. In this paper I shall explore his theory of sign-making in art, which
includes aspects such as sacramentality, the basic identity of the human
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
being as artist, and the place of the human being as artist in the cosmic
scheme. In building his theories he draws concepts from a variety of
sources, some religious and some secular, and I shall indicate ways in which
his world view combines elements of traditional philosophy and theology,
while weaving in insights from modern thought. After this I shall try to
show his theory in action in his poetry, and in order to do this I shall focus
on The Anathemata, one of his long poems, arguably an epic, and discuss
methods he uses in the poem to build up a cosmic picture through linguistic
sign-making. Among the devices and features of design in the poem I shall
include in the discussion will be his attention to details of geographical
location, his extensive use of words and phrases from languages other than
English (especially Welsh), the ambiguity as to the personal identities of
characters in the poem, the partially non-linear treatment of historical time,
and the interlayering of physical, human and theological narrative.
Keywords: poetry, signs, narrative
Marina PUIA BADESKU, prof. univ. dr. / Virginia POPOVIĆ, asist.
univ. dr., Departamentul de Limba şi Literatura Română, Facultatea de
Filosofie, Universitatea din Novi Sad (Serbia)
Peisajul urban şi Dubla fiinŃă a naturii în poezia Mărioarei Baba / Urban
Landscape and Double Being of Nature in the Poetry of Mărioara Baba
Mărioara Baba by the titles of books Urban Gates and Double Being of
Nature wants to suggest to readers that in their hands is a guide which opens
the doors to metaphorical labyrinth of the city of Novi Sad, full of
mysteries. Mărioara Baba is the author of modern lyrical discourse. Her
poetry seems like a rather intimate poetry, not proposing to make a lyric
monograph of Novi Sad, and people living there all belong to a mysterious
world. It describes the tribulations of his soul, and how events and the way
that people around her marked her personality. Half-dreams, half-memory,
the world is discovered from the first page of those two volumes. The artist
is looking for a way out of maze behind the gates of the city to discover
another world where she will never feel foreign.
Mărioara Baba’s poetry is part of the modern poetry of middle generation. It
approaches to the poetry of the eighties, by the dramatic force, the melody,
 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD 17

the whole being imaginary and real, by the dual nature of being, enters the
XXI century, universal poetry. Andreea-Raluca TOPOR (CONSTANTIN), asist. univ. drd.,
Keywords: Romanian literature from Voivodina, modern poetry, the Universitatea Româno-Americană Bucureşti (România)
metaphysical anguish, thirst for absolute
A Canadian in Africa. Margaret Laurence’s Representations of the
African World
Cătălin SIMION, lect. univ. drd., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Străine, Universitatea „Spiru Haret”, Bucureşti (România)
The Canadian author Margaret Laurence (1926-1987) is both known for her
Manawaka cycle set in the prairie and her African writings. Before realizing
Ion Vinea et Ilarie Voronca, conscience et imagination
that Canada was the place where she belonged both in life and in fiction,
Laurence had lived in Somalia and Ghana and had written, edited and
A comparative study of the two Romanian and Francophone writers to
translated Africa-related works, in order to finally arrive at the fictional
whom the title of this presentation makes direct reference can be nothing
Manawaka prairie town. Crossing spatial and fictional borders, Laurence
but a kind of rebellion aimed at Sartre’s disciples, that is, aimed at those
underwent a series of transformations, leading to a self-discovery as a
who reject or despise the realm of the imaginary, alongside the archetypal
woman writer and to a re-configuration of her experience abroad in her
role it plays/ in the literary and the artistic creation.
subsequently published fiction and non-fiction.
The imaginary structures which the two writers generate and by which,
conversely, the two writers are generated, derive their evocative force from My paper aims to demonstrate that the novel This Side Jordan (1960) and
an overt sense of rebellion which they assume and assert – a rebellion which the short-story collection The Tomorrow-Tamer (1963) represent more than
is, nevertheless, integrated into the norms – as well as from their common “her apprentice years, [which] prepared the way for Manawaka” (Clara
desire to circumscribe their work within the avant-garde of the European Thomas, “Afterword” in Laurence, The Prophet’s Camel Bell 266), the four
modernity. novels and the short-story collection published between 1964 and 1974. The
African world the author depicts, the Gold Coast in 1957 before becoming
The underlying substance of the imaginary which Vinea projects is
Ghana, is torn between its colonial and independent status, moving towards
represented by an aesthetics of the decadent, of the human being and of
a different society where class, gender and race identity have new
their surrounding objects as well as by defining the fantastic and the
connotations. It is a universe which taught the young woman and author
artificial as instrumental to the reifying process of his own imagination.
“about the validity of human differences” (Laurence, A Tree for Poverty
Vinea looks upon the process of imparting a concrete character to images as
19), a universe which, in Laurence’s view, is surprisingly global, even
a way to define his own self and to express his own conscience – an
multicultural, in its attempt to accommodate a variety of people, traditions,
approach which his creation closely embraces with a view to becoming
and life styles.
more concrete and “more unique”.
To have a complete picture, I suggest that the two fictional works be
At the other end of the spectrum lies Voronca’s poetry and prose, a dadaist
analysed in the wider context of her non-fictional writing set in Africa: A
and surrealist writer, in whose work consciousness dissolves, overpowered
Tree for Poverty (1954) – Somali poetry and prose collected and translated
by the force of the passions which turn out to be incapable of expressing
by the author, The Prophet’s Camel Bell (1963) – a travel memoir, Long
themselves verbally and of finding the desired state of balance in their
Drums and Cannons: Nigerian Dramatists and Novelists (1968) – an
never-ending pursuit of “perfect happiness”.
anthology.
Keywords: comparatism, imaginary, conscious, surrealism
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
18 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
Keywords: Canada, Africa, fiction/non-fiction, old/ new world
Mária VEGA, prof. univ. dr., University Complutense, Madrid (Spain)
Gunn y Zunzunegui: la visión del mundo de dos autores al acabar al acabar
la 2ª guerra mundial y la guerra civil española / Gunn and Zunzunegui: two
authors’ Visions of the World at a Post-war Period
The aim of this Paper is to try to demonstrate the different and diverse
linguistic, stylistic and literary procedures and resources of two authors – Neil
M. Gunn and Juan A. Zunzunegui – when faced with crucia moment in their
lives and careers, that of, what was for both of them, a post-war period.
In order to achieve my purpose (the expression of both writers’ vision of the
world), I will base my work on “conceptual blending” (Fauconnier and Turner:
2002), a great mental capacity which, in its most advanced double-scope form,
affords us – and has always afforded our ancestors – the superiority as human
beings which, for better or for worse, has made us what we are today.
I will highlight the anthropological principles of conceptual blending, its
fascinating dynamics, and its essential role in how we think and live. In my
brief work, I will endeavour to pinpoint how Gunn and Zunzunegui offered us
– their readers – their vision of the world at a given point in their literary
careers.
Conceptual blending operates largely behind the scenes. Most likely, neither
writer was consciously aware of the hidden complexities of the language, style,
genre and literary devices they were utilizing, since conceptual blending
choreographs vast networks of meaning, yielding cognitive products which, at
the conscious level, appear relatively simple.
Our first writer, Neil M. Gunn, was a Scotsman who devoted all his life and
writings to affirming his Celtic origin, and to defining the ethical, ideological and
symbolic representation and vision of the Celtic world. He had, however, to write
in English and not in Scots-Gaelic, particularly in 1946, one year after the end of
the Second World War.
Our second author, Juan A. Zunzunegui, was born and lived all his life in the
Basque Country. He felt himself a pure Basque and a member of the Basque
Community. In a manner similar to that of Gunn, his vernacular
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
Euskara/Euskera was banned in Spain in those crucial days after the Spanish
Civil War terminated in 1939, putting an end to any linguistic or cultural
representation of the Basques.
The Paper thus will analyze:
First the intentions each author (consciously or unconsciously) had in mind
when they produced their novels in 1945-46 and 1939-40 respectively, i.e. at,
for each of them, a post-war moment in time.
Second the languages they were obliged to use (English and Spanish {Castilian
would be a better expression}) which in many respects were alien to their
spirits and visions of the world.
Third in both cases, a certain number of linguistic foregrounding devices, used
as vehicles to transmit their ideologies, points of view, and consequently their
vision of the world.
Fourth the literary style each of them chose.
Fifth the subgenres each of them found as the most appropriate to show us,
readers, their Weltanschauung.
Finally, in order to clearly demonstrate their feelings at the end of wars which
were not their wars at all but which they had had to suffer through, I have
chosen some paragraphs (sometimes only sentences or merely phrases or
lexical items) which I hope will give evidence of five essential factors:
One Both Gunn and Zunzunegui felt that these wars had nothing to do with
them – Gunn had not been fighting for Scotland’s independence, nor had
Zunzunegui been fighting for an independent Basque Country.
Two Both writers were nationalists, and consequently their literary discourse
portrayed their individual vision of the world.
Three Both chose the genre of novel to transmit their ideologies in a more
subtle manner than if they had been writing essays.
Four Gunn’s The Drinking Well (1945) has not been translated into Spanish
yet; Zunzunegui’s El Chiplichandler (1940) has not, as far as I know, been
translated into English.
I will therefore be as bold as to put into English the extracts I have referred to
above in order to contrast and compare key parts of their narrative discourse.
 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD 19

Keywords: novels, Weltanschauung, Post-war Period Ioana ZIRRA, conf. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Andreea VLĂDESCU, prof. univ. dr., Universitatea „Spiru Haret”,
Bucureşti (România) Mutual Presence and Pretense in the Victorian Neighbourhood – A
Pragmatopical Analysis of Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend, Ch. V
SpaŃiul exterior şi lumea interioară în romanul cuplului / Espace
extérieur et monde intérieur dans le roman du couple The implications of making acquaintance and claiming kin, in the Boffin-
Wegg fictional cycle are analysed from a pragmatopical and semantics of
This paper takes as its point of departure the symbolic significance of the commonplaces perspective to demonstrate the workings of a progressive
exterior space in Simone de Beauvoir’s novel, L’Invitée. We aim to identify isotopy which explores the co-presence contracts foregrounded by
and analyze three frame categories (that of the intimacy, of the transitory Dickens’s text. The paper works with the definition of progressive isotopies
and of the socialized), whose subjectivization shows that in this [lines of doxical structurations of the cultural field (or traditions)] and it
psychological novel of the love couple, space becomes a means for the shows how the low mimetic co-presence tradition is strained through a
analytic suggestiveness. collocation that both restricts and expands the commonplaces which are
comically/absurdly handled in the 5th chapter of Our Mutual Friend; further,
Keywords: subjectivization, metaphoric polysemy, variability of openness
the imaginatively/fictionally reinforced commonplaces become the
equivalent of doxical structurations/traditions in the text as a whole and they
Richard WITT, Visiting Lecturer, Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi can be shown to progressively motivate several other fictional contexts,
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România) / Independent scholar, collocations and correlations that make up the narrative texture of Dickens’s
SUNY Atena (Grecia) fiction in this novel. Ostensibly, the sense of a literary text obtains as a
function of several sets of empirically used or transcended commonplaces.
The poemizing of Hellas: Elytis’ construction of a contemporary-and-
timeless Greece in his poems ‘Axion Esti’ and ‘Mikros Naftilos’ Keywords: transcended commonplace logic, comic fictionality, invented
co-presence, pragmatopical analysis
At two periods of his poetic and civic existence – the aftermath of the Greek
Civil War in the 1950s and the duration of the Military Dictatorship from
1967 to 1974 – Odysseas Elytis, as an internationalized semi-exile, posed to
himself a question familiar in Greek literature and politics: what is
'Hellenicity' (Greekness)? He responded in each case by composing – with a
curious blend of laboriousness and inspiration – a portrait of Greece and the
Greeks as he saw them, temporally and sub specie aeternitatis. Both poems
are intricately wrought from disparate elements, and in both he succeeds, as
perhaps no other Greek poet has done, in transmitting the quiddity of the
land and its inhabitants.
Keywords: Greece, landscape, history, identity

Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010

 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
...STUDII CULTURALE / CULTURAL STUDIES...
Mădălina ALAMĂ, asist. univ. drd., Academia de Studii Economice,
Bucureşti (România)
Online Verbal Aggression: Representations of individual identities embedded
in the invisible audience
The paper addresses online verbal aggression among adults, focusing on reasons
why online participants might engage in aggressive behaviour manifested in
written language. Along with the proposed explanations for verbal aggressive
behaviour online, the paper proposes possible remedies to this type of behaviour.
The paper points out strengths and limitations of each of the three theories
employed: aggression theory, social networks perspective and restorative justice
models. The three theories can be conflated in an attempt to reduce aggressive
behavior online, yet these theories do not offer an ideal solution in the context of
perceived threatened identity that is defended online by engaging in verbal
aggression. A key concept of the paper is that of self-image of the aggressor and
the relationship s/he has with other members of the online audience. Parallels
between the offline and the online social environments are drawn in order to
emphasize what aspects of one’s identity come to the fore in the virtual space and
speculate on the reasons why adult individuals might feel threatened to the point
of defending identities by attacking others and their identities. The paper puts
forth that the online space is an extension of the offline social space and that
manifestations in the virtual space are the result of years of socialization in the
offline space. The paper further speculates that the self-image of the online
aggressor is inextricably linked with how s/he perceives others’ impression of
her/him. It is in this strong connection between self-perception and perception of
others that possible remedies can be found.
Keywords: self-image, social networks, aggression, restorative justice
Dana-Melania BĂDIC, dr., CS III, Institutul de Lingvistica „Iorgu
Iordan - Al. Rosetti”, Bucureşti (România)
Meanings of covenant in Jewish culture and Hebrew language. The relationship
with God and the relationship to other human beings in Torah and Talmud
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
In Judaism allegiance to God involves a commitment to Jewish law, to a
discipline, to specific obligations (the word obligation comes from Latin obligo,
to bind, and denotes the state of being bound by a legal or moral tie). To the
Jewish mind life is a complex of obligations and the fundamental category of
Judaism, is a demand rather than a dogma, a commitment rather than a feeling.
God’s will stands higher than man’s creed. Reverence for the authority of the law
is an expression of our love for God. However, beyond His will is His love. The
Torah was given to Israel as a sign of His love. God asks for the heart, not only
for deeds; for insight, not only for obedience, for understanding and knowledge
of God, not only for acceptance. Impersonal obedience is not what the Bible
requires. For Torah and prophecy, the source of morality is the will of God.
LOVE, COMPASSION AND HONOR
Compassion is simply a quality of God. This goodness has been revealed to man,
and the man has been commanded to realize it in his own life. The golden rule -
You shall love your neighbor as yourself - a positive extension of You shall not
hate your brother in your heart - is the climax of biblical morality and the
greatest principle of the Torah.
It is instructive to note that you are the measure and the standard of love and
honor. You must love and honor the other as much as you do yourself (the
various nuances of respect are discussed in the Talmud).
The Rabbis reaffirmed and enlarged on the the doctrine and speak not of your
brother or your neighbor, both ow which the traditions usulally interprets as
refering to fellows Jews, but God’creatures - beriyyot which clearly refers to all
human beings.
This is what the Holy One said to Israel: My children, what do I seek from you? I
seek no more than that you love one another and honor one another; and that you
have Yirah (awe and reverence) for one another. Be careful of the honor of all
human beings and honor them as they should be, with the thought that you are
thereby giving honor to God’s own Self, who is blessed- because they are work of
God’s hands and God’s creatures. In every person there is something precious,
which is in no one else.
 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
Keywords: law and inwardness, Covenant (brit), commandment (mitzvah),
Torah (as a sign of love) and Talmud, virtues (compassion, love, honor, respect,
charity, hospitality, to give the benefit of the doubt etc.)
Monica COLł, drd., Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Elements of Cultural Shock in Their Dynamics in Neil Bissoondath’s The
Innocence of Age and the Short Stories
It is common knowledge that the phenomenon of migration in the contemporary
world brings along the effect of cultural shock, as “a newcomer will judge the
new culture by the old values and find it lacking.” (Hofstede 424) Bissoondath’s
fiction raises problems concerning identity and belonging especially for the
immigrants who belong to the so-called visible minorities, whose adjustment to
a new culture is a process of negotiation which should take into consideration
the reaction of the host culture, based on the idea that culture is about “shared
meanings,” (Hall 1) mainly through language as a system of representation.
Bissoondath is interested not so much of “where does one belong but how does
one belong” (Jain 10) and the aspect is also approached in relation to the cultural
memories, feelings and attitudes challenged by the diasporic circumstances of a
multicultural society.
Such a process of negotiation is imbalanced and both in the short stories and the
novel The Innocence of Age there are characters of mixed cultural experience
who express feelings of marginalization and homelessness characteristic of “the
trauma of displacement” (Mishra 58) in the postmodern world. These characters
embody the Indo-Caribbean-Canadian experience despite Bissoondath’s practice
of not localizing his narrations and focusing mainly on Canadian-born
characters. The Innocence of Age can be read as an allegory of multiculturalism,
in which the metaphor of house is depicted in a dynamic from home to
homelessness. On the other hand Bissoondath deconstructs race and ethnicity as
concepts of difference in a multicultural framework, perceived as encouraging
isolation and stereotyping of the cultural groups, whereas focusing on superficial
differences at the expense of human similarities.
Keywords: representation, multiculturalism, family as cultural value, difference,
ethnicity
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
21
Alexandra-Marina GHEORGHE, lect. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi
şi Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Natsume Sōseki – despre conceptul de individualism în lumea japoneză
modernă / Natsume Sōseki – about the concept of individualism in the
modern Japanese world
The present paper uses two concepts – identity and interculturation – in order to
reinterpret one of the most popular Japanese lectures on individualism belonging
to a representative Japanese writer of the Meiji era: Natsume Sōseki (1867-1916).
The well known lecture called «Watakushi no kojinshugi» („My Individualism”),
that he presented in front of a group of students from the elite Gakushuin College
in 1914 is analyzed in terms of identity – regarded as a permanent evolution of
self-definition, conditioned by several outer factors, as well as by inner
connections and biases – and interculturation, a process of acknowledging the
differences between the cultural competitors resulting in an original cultural
synthesis. The present analysis identifies the most important elements in Sōseki’s
best public lecture that stand for the modern Japanese identity, which reunites
both traditionally inherited ethical values as well as Western inspired new
elements: freedom, uniqueness, happiness, financial power and individuality.
Sōseki is regarded as the main human link between the Western model – in this
case the British one, with which he had come into contact a decade earlier – and
the young Japanese leaders in grain from Gakushūin College. He is a part of the
in-group, which acts, though, as the mouthpiece of the outer (and superior) group,
without ostensibly expressing that. Japan in 1914 has no longer the same
collective conscience towards the Western world, as in Sōseki’s youth, yet the
Western models still exist and they are still partially perceived as such, due to
different reasons, of which the linguistic concepts may be only an insignificant
part. Sōseki tries to domesticate the concept of individualism and implement it in
the conscience of the future young Japanese leaders educated at Gakushūin,
stripping it off all the prejudices coming from the Japanese. The paper analyzes
mainly the way the writer presents the modern Japanese identity, as well as
Sōseki’s original contribution in presenting the West-derived concept of
individualism together with other ideas, underlying the mutual dependence
between this concept, respect, duty, happiness, uniqueness and freedom.
Keywords: Sōseki, identity, individualism, West, interculturation
22 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
Armand GUłĂ, dr., CS III, Institutul de Etnografie şi Folclor „C.
Brăiloiu”, Bucureşti (România)
Imaginea etnografică a României în studiile şcolii antropologice croate din
perioada 1938-1944 / The ethnographic image of Romania in the studies of
the Croatian anthropologic school between 1938- 1944
In this essay I shall analyze the Croatian Ethnographic School studies concerning
the Romanian ethnographic, historic and cultural values. These studies were
made between 1937 and 1944 and offered to Croatian intellectual milieu real and
scientific opinions about the Romanian geographic and historic characteristics,
ethnic origin and popular culture particularities from comparative point of view
with the Croatian ones.
Keywords: cultural imagery, nationalism, Romanian ethnic features, cultural
anthropology
Anca Irina IONESCU, prof. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi
Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Codex Gigas
The Codex Gigas is the largest medieval manuscript in the world, known also
as the Devil’s Bible because of a large illustration of the devil on the inside
and the legend surrounding its creation. It was created most probably in 13th
century in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice in Bohemia (Czech
Republic). The Codex Gigas contains five long texts as well as a complete
Bible. The manuscript begins with the Old Testament, and it is followed by
two historical works by Flavius Josephus who lived in the first century AD.
These are The Antiquities and The Jewish War. The most important book of
Christianity is the Bible. The other texts in the Codex Gigas were carefully
chosen to provide information about Jewish history (Josephus), universal
knowledge (Isidore) medicine and local Czech history, Cosmas Decanus of
Prague, Chronica Boemorum. It also includes a Calendar, containing a list of
saints and local Bohemian persons, donors of the monastery and the days on
which they were commemorated. Since 1594 the manuscript was kept in the
Castle of Prague; during the Thirty Years’ War (1648) the entire collection
was taken to Sweden and it is now in the National Library of Stockholm,
where it is not available to the public. On September 24, 2007, after 359
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
years, Codex Gigas returned to Prague on loan from Sweden until January
2008, on display at the Czech National Library - Clementinum of Prague. A
special room was built by the Czech authorities on this occasion to
accommodate the precious manuscript.
Keywords: Giant Bible, medieval, manuscript, Czech history, Benedictine
LuminiŃa MUNTEANU, prof. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi
Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Cuir à l’ancienne. Sur le traité de gastronomie de Ali Eşref Dede, postnişîn
du tekke Mevlevî de Edirne / Cooking in the traditional way: The
gastronomic treatise of Ali Eşref Dede, postnişîn of the Mevlevî tekke in
Edirne
It is often assumed that the life style in the tekkes of the Islamic mystical orders
was characterized by asceticism, seclusion and regular prayers, but also by a
certain disdain regarding the material aspects of the day-to-day existence. In fact,
many members of the dervish lodges had great socialites, enjoyed life to the full
and saw no contradiction between their private religious convictions and their
worldly matters; as a matter of fact, many Sufi adepts were not bound to celibacy,
but returned, after having been initiated, to their daily life and partook
periodically to prayer meetings.
The gastronomic treatise of Ali Eşref Dede, postnişin („Father superior”) of the
Mevlevi tekke in Edirne (1859-1901) offers an excellent example from this point
of view. On the other hand, it has not many equivalents in the Ottoman history,
excepting the „cooking book” by Mehmet Kâmil, which was lithographed in
1844. The treatise of the Mevlevi shaykh offers lots of valuable information
concerning the traditional Ottoman dishes, recipes, ways of cooking, kitchen
ustensils, but also about the most common or rare ingredients, such as herbs and
spices, all kinds of meat and fish, vegetables, fruits, salads, pickles, etc. It also
demolishes some preconceptions and received ideas about the eating habits of the
Mevlevi dervishes (for example, the fallacy of the prohibition on eating fish,
considering that the writing of Ali Eşref Dede includes a large amount of recipes
about their preparation).
We should also mention that the preparation of food had a special, symbolic
meaning in the ideology of the Mevlevi order, insofar as the cooking process was
likened to the maturation of the disciple under the guidance of his Sufi master.
 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
Keywords: Ottoman gastronomic treatise, sufism, Mevlevî order, Ali Eşref
Dede, 19th century.
Roman PAŞCA, lect. univ. drd., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Reprezentări ale lumii în secolul XVIII: Andō Shōeki şi Adam Smith sau
modernitatea avant la lettre / Representations of the World in the 18th
century: Andō Shōeki and Adam Smith or the modernity avant la lettre
This paper deals with the writings of two 18th century thinkers: Andō Shōeki’s
Shizen shin’ei dō (“The True Way of Nature”) and Adam Smith’s An Inquiry
into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. My main assumption is
that both these texts represent, in fact, a ‘prologue’ to full-fledged modernity
as it was theorized in the 20th century, in the sense that they can both be read
not only as treatises of agriculture or economics, but also as concentrates of
ideas that pertain to (what is now referred to and understood as) modernity.
Also, I propose that, even though pre-modernity and modernity emerged and
developed along different lines in Japan and England, there are quite a few
similarities between these developments. Thus, I suggest that there are several
points of intersection in the way these two thinkers perceive the world in
general and the relation between man and nature in particular. In order to
demonstrate my assumption and illustrate my lemma, I list several elements
of the Weltanschauung as it appears in Shōeki’s text and I draw a parallel
between these and Smith’s ideas. I then move on to a comparative analysis of
these elements and ideas, provide several arguments to support the
proposition that they are indeed quite similar to some of the features in the
cluster that constitutes the core of modernity, and wind up with several
concluding remarks.
Keywords: modernity, Japan, England, Weltanschauung, man and nature
Roxana-Alina RÎBU, drd., Şcoala Doctorală de Studii Literare şi
Culturale, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
„Manifestul în numele naŃiunii chineze...” şi re-prezentarea tradiŃiei
confucianiste / „The Manifesto in the name of the Chinese Nation...” and
the re-presentation of the Confucianist tradition
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
23
„A Manifesto on the Reappraisal of Chinese Culture：Our Joint
Understanding of the Sinological Study Relating to World Cultural Outlook” as
the complete title goes was issued as a reaction to the view, common in the
West during the 1950’s, that Chinese culture is to be talked about only using the
past tense. Thus re-presenting the unyelding vigor of the Chinese culture, the
Manifesto was published as a 20-so pages article in the Hong Kong Democratic
Tribune. Its four authors belong to the second generation of the New
Confucianists (xin rujia) who activate outside the then borders of the Popular
Republic of China – namely Hong Kong, Taiwan, even USA. Although the
article itself did not cause much stir at the time, it became very popular during
the 8th decade of the last century, being considered as a „Magna Charta of the
New Confucian movement” (Umberto Bresciani). The Manifesto presents a
series of ideas that would later become the main directions of the movement,
from the central position that Confucianist thought has within the Chinese
culture, the most effective ways to be followed in order to correctly understand
Chinese culture, the elements that China could embrace from Western
civilisations and those that China has to offer to the world in its strive for peace
and harmony down to the religious value of Confucianism. The 1958 Manifesto
thus offers the main frame within which the dialogue between Western
civilizations and the Confucianist Chinese one – viewed as the most open,
inclusive and creative – can be successfully realised, which, in itself, is the
main focus of the New Confucian movement.
Keywords: centrality, understanding, tradition, orthodoxy, dialogue
Octavian ROSKE, conf. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Despre radicalism, moderaŃie şi arta guvernării: Edmund Burke şi
RevoluŃia franceză / About Radicalism, Moderation and the Art of
Government: Edmund Burke and the French Revolution
Although Burke worried about the beginning of the French Revolution, his
immediate reaction to it was not hostile. In August 1789 the National
Assembly decided to abolish all feudal privileges and to draft a Declaration of
the Rights of Man and the Citizen. The events, Burke remarked, seemed to
indicate that the moderate reformers were losing political control. His worst
24 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD

fears became a reality when Englishmen began to express their strong support Keywords: nationalist discourse, master tropes, postcommunist identities,
for the radical changes in France, describing the National Assembly as a Hayden White
model to be adopted in Britain. When the Revolution Society, an association
composed of Anglican Whigs and Protestant dissenters, met on November 5,
1789, the speaker, Dr. Richard Price turned his sermon “A Discourse on the
Love of Our Country” into a praise of the French Revolution. It was Price’s
sermon that determined Burke to start the battle with the French Revolution.
Burke’s response to Price’s sermon, Reflections on the Revolution in France,
and on the Proceedings in certain Societies in London relative to that Event
was published in November 1790. Burke recognised the abuses of the Old
Regime in France, and was ready to encourage substantial remedies. On the
other hand Burke believed that French monarchy was capable of being
reformed, and made part of a constitutional arrangement. By demolishing the
French monarchy rather than accepting it as a necessary component of the
political system, the French revolution, Burke predicted, approached the
military dictatorship of Napoleon. Burke was no champion of the status quo.
In spite of his instinctive distrust of sudden change, he insisted that a state
without the means of some change was without the means of conservation.
The law of change was in nature, Burke argued, and statesmen had to adjust
their policies to its necessities. Nevertheless he distinguished between true
reform and violent revolution, between drastic reform and gradual
improvements. He believed in reform through prudence, and in accordance
with the constitutional tradition of England and natural law principles.
Keywords: change, government, reform, revolution

Bogdan ŞTEFĂNESCU, conf. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi

Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)

Discursive Representations of National Identity in Postcommunism: A

Tropological Approach

The paper proposes a methodology for the interpretation and classification of

discourses on the national self in postcommunist societies that modifies
Hayden White’s tropological scheme for the categorization of historiographic
discourse (Metahistory, Tropics of Discourse etc.)

Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010

 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD

VILLES RÉELLES – VILLES IMAGINAIRES

Colloque organisé par le Centre de recherches HETEROTOPOS
de la Faculté de Langues et Littératures Étrangères de Bucarest

Carmen ANDREI, conf. univ. dr., Facultatea de Litere, Universitatea
din GalaŃi (România)
Bruges, ville de l’Eros et du Thanatos dans Bruges-la-Morte de Georges
Rodenbach
À partir du thème de l’identification du destin individuel avec l’ambiance
citadine, Georges Rodenbach, écrivain belge d’expression française, construit
dans Bruges-la-Morte une trame narrative astucieuse autour des deux mythes
extrêmement intéressants, qui font fortune dans la littérature européenne : le
mythe de la Ville-Morte et le mythe de la Ville-Femme. Bruges est à la fois
la ville-morte et la ville-femme, labyrinthe et aquarium fermé qui fait l’objet
d’une passion masculine monomaniaque. Elle est l’épouse, la mère, « soror
dolorosa » de Hugues Vaine, veuf solitaire et désemparé, donc vulnérable. Il
trahit la ville en se vouant temporairement à une passion pour une comédienne
ingrate. Il en sera puni de manière exemplaire. L’originalité de Rodenbach
consiste justement dans le pouvoir d’attribuer une âme à une ville, de l’animer
au point de devenir non pas une toile de fond ou un personnage quelconque,
mais la véritable protagoniste du livre, voire un mythe littéraire.
Mots-clés : mythisation, roman célibataire, symbolisme, ophélisation,
monomanie.
LuminiŃa DIACONU, lect. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Entre réel et imaginaire – les villes italiennes dans les chroniques de voyage
de Maupassant
Comme la plupart de ses contemporains, Maupassant a eu la passion du voyage,
poussé par le besoin de connaître par lui-même certaines régions de France aussi
bien que d’autres pays, telles les colonies françaises – l’Algérie et la Tunisie.
L’Ailleurs ne se réduit pourtant pas au seul Maghreb, où les artistes et les
écrivains de l’époque se sentaient attirés de manière irrésistible par les mystères
du Désert. En effet, Maupassant a entrepris aussi quelques voyages en Italie, ces
expériences lui assurant la matière de plusieurs chroniques publiées surtout dans
le journal Gil Blas. L’analyse de ce corpus nous permet de découvrir un voyageur
fort curieux, qui s’intéresse à la physionomie des villes italiennes qu’il traverse
dans ce qu’elles ont, selon lui, de plus admirable et surprenant, mais également
dans ce qu’elles ont de répugnant. Réel et imaginaire, présent et passé, voici les
principales antinomies qui structurent sa perspective sur les villes italiennes, où le
regard de l’écrivain-voyageur est tantôt content ou ravi, tantôt étonné ou las,
sinon désenchanté.
Mots-clés : villes italiennes, voyage, imaginaire, Maupassant, XIXe siècle.
Alexandra EMILIAN, conf. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi
Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Namur – d’un espace stratégique à un espace ludique
Namur, ville dont l’histoire mouvementée est liée à sa position stratégique, est
évoquée par Boileau dans son Ode sur la prise de Namur et par Baudelaire
dans ses pages Sur la Belgique. Il n’y est pas question d’imagination mais
d’événements connus et vécus. Par contre, lors du Festival international du
théâtre de rue, qui a lieu au printemps depuis 14 ans, l’imagination, la
fantaisie et l’enthousiasme font revivre l’ambiance des fêtes foraines du
passé, notamment du XVIIe siècle. Un acte de culture issu d’un émetteur
multiple dont l’identité est donnée par le pays d’origine, qui atteste la jonction
possible des époques où le présent est projeté sur le passé et où la ville est à la
fois décor et personnage central.
Mots-clés : Namur, la ville-décor, la ville-personnage, le passé, le présent

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26 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD

Irina GEORGESCU, prep. drd., Facultatea de Litere, Universitatea y a tout de même un roman, Au piano, où Paris est projeté sur l’écran d’un
din Bucureşti (România) imaginaire religieux et idéologique, dans le cadre du triptyque Paradis-Purgatoire-
Enfer, d’une part, et de l’opposition implicitement idéologique clôture-contrôle
Lieux identitaires – La ville et ses pouvoirs illégitimes dans Medgidia, versus ouverture-évasion. En fin de compte, cette ville-là devient un vécu social
oraşul de apoi et individuel façonné par un long et tortueux parcours éthique.
Mots-clés : Échenoz, Paris, religion, idéologie, quotidien.
Avec son roman Medgidia, oraşul de apoi (2009), Cristian Teodorescu échappe à
la tradition romanesque, pour s’inscrire plutôt dans la tradition de la prose courte.
Ileana MIHĂILĂ, conf. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Ses micro-narrations se prolongent d’une page à l’autre, visant tout d’abord des
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
histoires personnelles qui s’entrelacent, et faisant la preuve d’une vie
décomposée, à la fois rassurante et outragée. Rien de mécanique, seulement des
Le Tableau de Paris à la fin des Lumières
fragments superposés de vie, qui rendent l’image (presque apocalyptique) du
bourg de Dobroudja. Celui-ci devient ainsi, dans la logique de la narration, un
En reprenant le titre de l’ouvrage de Louis Sébastien Mercier j’ai voulu préciser
centre du monde, un axis mundi, un lieu de rencontre du fabuleux et du réel, de la
aussi bien le thème – regard panoramique sur la capitale des Français, avec
logique narrative et proprement historique, ancrée dans la réalité des rebellions
quelques coups d’œil discrets sur certains détails urbains, lourds de significations
légionnaires ou de l’occupation soviétique. L’histoire des années ’40 dévoile des
culturelles – que le corpus de textes, en l’occurrence l’œuvre du même titre de
relations profondes entre les personnages, chacun ayant ses chagrins et ses
Mercier, auquel je vais ajouter son autre création qui l’avait rendu célèbre, l’An
préjugés. Mais derrière ce voile d’ambiguïtés historiques et de mélanges
2440, rêve s’il en fut jamais.
ethniques et sociaux, la ville de Medgidia – un toponyme d’origine turque –
devient le miroir romanesque d’une grande famille dont ses membres se sont Mots-clés : Paris, urbanisme, Louis Sebastien Mercier, les Lumières.
remplacés par des réflexions narratives. Dans cette communication, je me
propose de voir comment s’articule l’hétérotopie de la ville, comment se Vanezia PÂRLEA, asist. univ. drd., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
prolongent ses tentacules dans la narration, et quel est l’effet de l’agression de Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
l’histoire sur la vie des personnages.
Mots-clés : Cristian Teodorescu, Medgidia, la ville décomposée, hétérotopie, Images de la ville orientale dans les Mémoires du chevalier d’Arvieux
mélanges ethniques.
Au XVIIe siècle, l’Empire ottoman suscite aussi bien l’inquiétude que la curiosité
des voyageurs européens, français en particulier, les villes, surtout les villes
Alexandru MATEI, lect. univ. dr., Facultatea de Litere, Universitatea
illustres, comme Constantinople par exemple, constituant l’attraction principale.
Spiru Haret, Bucureşti (România)
Malgré les lieux communs, les nombreux topoï et l’intertextualité spécifiques aux
relations de voyage du XVIIe siècle, les Mémoires du chevalier d’Arvieux
La Ville de l’éternel retour
proposent un imaginaire riche et pluriel de la ville orientale, où l’observation
personnelle joue un rôle important, témoignant du regard singulier de l’un des
La plupart des romans de Jean Échenoz sont parisiens : ils sont publiés par une
voyageurs les plus curieux du siècle. Dans le présent travail, nous nous proposons
maison parisienne, l’auteur vit à Paris, la scène narrative est également
de mettre en lumière un imaginaire de la ville orientale tel qu’il se construit dans
parisienne. Pour cet écrivain, Paris est également un lieu de mémoire et un non-
l’œuvre du chevalier d’Arvieux, en nous appuyant sur des descriptions de
lieu : un procès plutôt qu’une entité, l’occasion de déterritorialisations et de
quelques villes particulières, telles Smyrne et Damas.
reterritorialisations qui en fait tantôt un ensemble de repères, tantôt un chantier. Il

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 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD 27

Mots-clés : Ville, Orient, imaginaire, voyage, curiosité.
Dolores TOMA, prof. univ. dr., Facultatea de Limbi şi Literaturi
Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti (România)
Zola ou l’amour criminel pour la ville
Paris est-il dans les romans de Zola "doué d’une unité fondamentale", comme
pour les romantiques, comme l’affirmait Pierre Citron ? En analysant les vues
d’ensemble et les occurrences de la ville morcelée, on découvre l’existence
d’une pratique désabusée de l’urbain. Les personnages négatifs ne sont pas les
seuls à vouloir "éventrer" la ville : l’auteur lui-même rêvait de faire
disparaître son espace brownien, où personne ne trouve sa place, pour faire
apparaître l’harmonieuse cité utopique.
Mots-clés : ville morcelée, pratique de l’urbain, cité utopique

AMERICA IN THE WORLD, THE WORLD IN AMERICA

SecŃiune organizată de Centrul de Studii Americane / Center for American Studies

DIANA BENEA, drd., Universitatea din Bucureşti reconstructing myth, Pynchon’s ambivalence

Deconstructing/Reconstructing American Exceptionalism in Thomas Ilinca DIACONU, drd. Universitatea din Bucureşti
Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon
Auto-Images of Amerindians in Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine and
Thomas Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon has been frequently interpreted as a Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water
critique of American exceptionalism and the mythical narratives pertaining to
it (“the frontier”, “manifest destiny”). Focusing on the novel’s contradictory The purpose of my presentation is to draw a comparison between two novels, one
representations of America, as well as on its ambiguously ironic ending, this by American writer Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine (1984) and one by Canadian
paper aims to show that Mason & Dixon offers a much more complex reading author Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water (1993), by focusing on the
of American exceptionalism, one that dissents from this ideology while auto-images of Amerindians which they portray. Specifically, the main
paradoxically reaffirming it in the end. assumption that directs this paper is that the auto-images present in these literary
works, are based both on the construction and deconstruction of a stereotype
Drawing on recent critical studies on American exceptionalism, my paper
regarding Amerindians, albeit in different ways according to the specificity of
seeks to address the following questions in relation to Pynchon’s novel: How
each novel. The reason for my selection of these two authors is that, although
can one negotiate Pynchon’s deconstruction of American exceptionalism with
they are associated with different countries, both of them are of Native American
the final reassertion/reconstruction of America as “an object of hope”? How
ancestry and portray Amerindians in their works. While taking this similitude into
can one interpret the juxtaposed representations of America as both utopian
account, my presentation discusses the binary mainstream-minority, as an
and dystopian? Is the final section of the novel to be read as a testament to the
opposition between two categories that can be viewed both as reflecting and as
cyclic self-renewal of American exceptionalism, or is it just a nostalgic
exceeding the cultural divide that exists between the United States and Canada.
longing for an impossible America?
Keywords: auto-images, Native Americans, stereotypes
Keywords: American exceptionalism in the post-Cold War era: subversion and
self-renewal, utopian/ dystopian representations of America, deconstructing and
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
28 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD
Anda DIMITRIU, drd., Universitatea din Bucureşti
Lessons Disney Teaches Children: Female Stereotypes in Famous
Animated Fairytales
In today’s world, written fairytales have given way to animated movies in
children’s preferences; still, while no one remembers Pif et Hercule or even
Tintin, most children know every Disney movie by heart. And, since the
supremacy in the department of modern animated fairytales is held by an
iconic American company, my paper will take into account how the message
of Disney movies might be received by young girls all over the world, who
try to see themselves and their environment through the eyes of popular
animated female characters. Starting from a feminist basis, I will give
examples from various Disney animated movies and I will try to emphasize
the stereotypes present therein (for instance that of the young girl, the kind old
lady or the witch), demonstrating in the process that, even though Disney has
been trying to broaden its target audience, the images it sends little girls have
remained the same.
Keywords: Disney, modern fairy tales, female stereotypes
Şerban Dragoş IONESCU, MA in American Studies, Facultatea de
Limbi şi Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti
Lock & Load: The Pervasiveness of (Space) Marines and Other US-borne
Paraphernalia in SF
This paper looks at „future war”- type fiction novels from the early 20th
century, as well as their later (end of 20th century, start of 21st century)
militaristic science-fiction counterparts in literature as well as film, looking at
the way that American military structure (be it Naval, Air Force or Marines)
is employed next to typically patriotic symbols with a very high rate of
recurrence and how some aspects of an American model seem to be
ubiquitous in their borrowing from writer to writer, hinting at the fact that
some fundamental values have come to be inextricably linked to the US and
its component parts, furthering the tradition of American exceptionalism.
Keywords: American exceptionalism, patriotic symbolism, ludology, SF
Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010
literature, marines
Anca RONCEA, drd., Universitatea din Bucureşti
Whitman’s Natural World in Song of Myself and the Myth of Osiris
Walt Whitman’s influence in American poetry is perhaps one of the strongest.
His work has been included in the canon of Western literature and discussed
from humanist, transcendental, realist points of view. This paper will try to
analyze the influence of Egyptian mythology on one of his most well known
poems, “Song of Myself” where he employs the myth of Osiris to suggest a
different manner of seeing the connection between nature and man. In this
great poem of him there is a strong plea for man to allow himself to be
reconnected to nature through the experience of the poem itself. I will try to
show that Whitman tried to do so by including the ideological framework of
the myth of Osiris into Song of Myself, showing man as fragments of the
natural world.
Mădălina STĂNESCU, drd., Universitatea din Bucureşti
Encounters with Otherness in Henry James’ Daisy Miller
The aim of this paper is to look at fundamental aspects of national experience
in its encounter with the space of otherness, and this will be explored with
reference to Henry James’ short story Daisy Miller. It will present the contrast
between America and Europe, seen as symbolizing the New World and the
Old World, two different cultures, as they appear in the work I am dealing
with. It will analyze the fate of Americans in Europe, how their opinions and
their understanding of life change because of the influence of a corrupt
civilization. It examines the manner in which an American woman’s life is
changed in the context of her encounter with Europe, and how the outsider
may become a victim of a totally distinct system of values. It demonstrates
that it is this huge gap between the two worlds that leads to failure and even
death for the ones that cannot understand the demands of a new society, and
in short it will deal with the effects of Europe on American identity.
Keywords: otherness, New World, Old World, American identity
 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD 29

LÁSZLÓ Szabolcs, MA in British Cultural Studies, Facultatea de is to present the underlying principles of the so-called Tea Party Movement
Limbi şi Literaturi Străine, Universitatea din Bucureşti and compare/contrast them to those of the thinkers they claim are their
political and economic role-models.
Could media activism transform capitalism? Keywords: Tea Party, Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, federal
Although theorists like Joseph Stiglitz, Noam Chomsky or David Harvey government, deregulation
have long since criticized the neoliberal aspect of globalization, creating a
strong stand in (mostly leftist) academic circles, it is only after the actual
ALEXANDRA VASILE, Universitatea Creştină Dimitrie Cantemir
consequences of the recent world-wide economic crisis that these anti-
globalization critiques of the neoliberal doctrine have caught the attention and
North Korean Poster Art as Anti-American Propaganda
support of the wider public. The success of such controversial documentaries
as that of Michael Moore’s ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’ (2009) or ‘The Yes
Throughout the world, propaganda posters serve a tool for disseminating
Men Fix The World’ (2010), and other investigative or subversive attempts
political and ideological doctrines, as well as instilling the ruling ideology
that address similar economic and environmental problems, are proof of this
into people’s minds. My presentation will deal with depictions of anti-
newfound general attention. The growing popularity of such forms of media
Americanism in North Korean art, namely in propaganda posters. The
activism (ranging from traditional political activism to practices of ‘tactical
exploration of this topic is based on the idea that North Korean art does not
media’, ‘culture jamming’, ‘guerilla communications’) show a tendency
serve an aesthetic purpose, but rather it is viewed as a means of reinforcing
towards a transformation in mainstream American discourse concerning the
the ideology of the country. Using a series of posters, I will exemplify and
issues of global economy, free-market policies and the regulating role of
discuss how socialist realist art is used as a political tool and as a means of
governments and international institutions.
communication with the people about how they should view the United
Keywords: neoliberalism, left-wing theorists, economic crisis, media States. At the same time, several interconnected images of the United States
activism, new economic policies will be analyzed: the United States as an aggressor, as a symbol of Western
corruption and as an obstacle in the way of the national ideology, among
Marius-Bogdan TUDOR, MA in American Studies, Universitatea din others.
Bucureşti, cercetător independent Keywords: visual arts, anti-americanism, propaganda, North Korea
‘Exceptional’ Americans: The Rise of the Tea Party Movement

“If you read our Founding Fathers, people like Benjamin Franklin and
Jefferson, what we’re doing in this country now is making them roll over in
their graves.” This statement belongs to business commentator Rick Santelli
and it is part of a speech that has been dubbed “the rant heard around the
world”, the call to arms that sparked what is now known as The Tea Party
Movement, a conservative grassroots movement allegedly dedicated to
limiting the excesses of the federal government whose members clamour their
allegiance to the principles of the Founding Fathers. But are they really aware
of the writings of at least some of the Founding Fathers? The aim of my paper

Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010

30 REPREZENTĂRI ALE LUMII / REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD

Bucureşti / Bucharest, 5-6 nov. 2010