ȘTIRILE FALSE: CÂTEVA SUGESTII DE ANALIZĂ
Fake News: Some Analytical Suggestions
Abstract: The article argues that fake news is not a modern invention but a long-standing practice that has gained unprecedented scale and impact in the contemporary “post-truth” era. While global events such as elections, Brexit, and the war in Ukraine have intensified scholarly interest in fake news, research on this phenomenon in Romanian remains limited, despite clear societal vulnerabilities in Romania and the Republic of Moldova. The article highlights major challenges in studying fake news, including definitional ambiguity, verification difficulties, and the subjective evaluation of truth and falsity. Existing communication-focused and computational approaches are shown to be methodologically insufficient, particularly due to weak typologies and limited linguistic insight. To address these gaps, the article proposes a clear definition of fake news and a refined taxonomy of news types, advocating for qualitative, linguistically grounded analyses alongside quantitative methods, with special attention to Romanian-language corpora.
Keywords: fake news, Romanian language, qualitative vs. quantitative approaches, propaganda news vs. fabricated news
VALEURS CIRCONSTANCIELLES DE LA PREPOSITION AVEC DANS UNE PERSPECTIVE COMPARATIVE
Comparative Perspectives on the Circumstantial Values of the Preposition Avec
Abstract: This article is based on the observation that the Romanians who learn French, particularly those at beginner or intermediate levels, often face significant challenges in transferring certain values of the preposition avec/cu from one language into the other. These challenges stem from the nuanced semantic and morphosyntactic differences in these two languages, which are not always apparent to learners. To address this issue, the article proposes a detailed semantic and morphosyntactic analysis of the circumstantial values of the preposition avec, examined through a comparative lens in relation to its Romanian counterpart. The goal is to highlight the inherent complexity and contextual diversity of avec, demonstrating how its meanings and functions can vary across different communicative and grammatical contexts. This comparative approach ultimately underscores the importance of exploring prepositions as multidimensional linguistic tools, whose usage is deeply rooted in the cognitive and cultural frameworks of each language.
Keywords: preposition, avec/cu, comparative analysis, contextual diversity
COGNITIVE STYLISTICS: FOUNDATIONAL CONCEPTS OF AN EMERGENT FIELD
Abstract: This article seeks to add to the current body of knowledge regarding Cognitive Stylistics an approach that has witnessed an increase in popularity in recent years due to the emergence of Cognitive Linguistics as a valuable tool for studying language in general. Stylistics and its evolved form, Cognitive Stylistics, have proved influential in understanding the process involved both in the creation as well as in the reception of literature. The study demonstrates that Cognitive Stylistics is a reliable framework for explaining how textual features such as deviation, metaphor or foregrounding trigger specific cognitive models and mental processes in readers. It argues that incorporating cognitive theories and tools, like conceptual metaphor theory, schema theory, text-to-world theory and foregrounding, can enhance literary interpretation and reveal both universal and text-specific aspects of reading comprehension.
Keywords: stylistics, cognitive stylistics, theory, foregrounding, metaphor
STRUCTURALIST AND POSTSTRUCTURALIST JOYCE: “HE WAR” TO DIFFERENCES!
Abstract: The article explores the complementary relationship between structuralist and poststructuralist approaches to James Joyce’s Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. It does so in two ways: firstly, it traces this interpretive tension through early critical responses, particularly T. S. Eliot’s mythic structuralism and Ezra Pound’s proto-deconstructive reading of Homeric parallels as mere “scaffolding”. Secondly, the study offers a close reading of the “Ithaca” chapter of Ulysses and of one of the most anti-representational works, the “Mamafesta” section of Finnegans Wake. Drawing on Umberto Eco’s concept of “chaosmos” and Roland Barthes’ shift from excavating structures to constructing interpretive systems, the article argues that Joyce’s work simultaneously absorbs and subverts both structural meaning and anti-representational practice. His textual mechanisms operate through excessive language and systematisation, parodying taxonomic discourse and catalogue-making in ways that at once enact and destabilise the drive toward comprehensive representation. These texts, written decades before the formal emergence of structuralism, anticipate both its theoretical frameworks and the poststructuralist critiques that would follow, particularly the decentering of fixed meaning and the generative instability of signification.
Key-words: James Joyce, anti-representation, structuralism, poststructuralism
RADU STANCA’S OEDIPUS SAVED: REDEMPTION, AESTHETIC SOVEREIGNTY, AND THE END OF TRAGEDY
Abstract: The article examines Radu Stanca’s Oedipus Saved as a radical modernist reconfiguration of the Oedipal myth and a deliberate interruption of the classical tragic paradigm. Rejecting the fatalistic logic that defines Sophoclean and post-Sophoclean versions of the myth, Stanca imagines an Oedipus who is redeemed rather than destroyed, shifting the emphasis from divine determinism to human agency, solidarity, and ethical self-understanding. Drawing on the conceptual framework of Franco Moretti’s theory of “tragic sovereignty,” the study situates Oedipus Saved within the Sibiu Literary Circle’s aesthetic ideology, arguing that Stanca’s play replaces the traditional deconsecration of sovereignty with its aesthetic transfiguration. Through extensive intertextual engagement and mythopoetic innovation, Stanca reopens the tragic form to the possibility of metaphysical survival, rather than inevitable catastrophe. The article demonstrates that Oedipus Saved marks both a continuation and a rupture within European tragic discourse: it revives myth only to transform it into a modernist salvific narrative, where poetry and human insight triumph over the destructive logic of fate.
Keywords: Radu Stanca, Sibiu Literary Circle, modern tragedy, tragic sovereignity, deconsecration of power
POEZIA POSTCONFESIVĂ ÎN METAMODERNISM: EXPLORAREA IDENTITĂȚII ȘI A MEMORIEI LA ANGELA MARINESCU ȘI ADRIENNE RICH
Postconfessional Poetry in Metamodernism: Exploring Identity and Memory in Angela Marinescu and Adrienne Rich
Abstract: This study offers a comparative analysis of postconfessional poetry through the works of Angela Marinescu and Adrienne Rich, emphasizing how both poets move beyond traditional confessionalism by using personal experience as a foundation for broader reflections on memory, identity, and historical context. Marinescu, writing from a Romanian post-communist perspective, and Rich, deeply rooted in American feminist and political discourse, engage with a global poetic consciousness. Their poetry exemplifies a metamodern sensibility, marked by an interplay between emotional depth and critical awareness, between personal vulnerability and social responsibility. Rather than presenting trauma as an isolated experience, they transform it into a space for empathy and resistance. Through recurring themes such as corporeality, marginalization, and the tension between inner life and external reality, the study shows how both poets articulate a shared literary sensitivity that transcends cultural boundaries, reflecting a literary synchronicity and contributing to the theorization of metamodernism in contemporary poetry.
Keywords: postconfessional poetry, metamodernism, Adrienne Rich, Angela Marinescu, identity
AUTHOR INVISIBILITY VERSUS TRANSLATOR VISIBILITY IN THE WORKS OF ELENA FERRANTE
Abstract: The main goal of the presentation is to address the topic of invisibility—in this case, applied to the role and status of the writer, i.e. Elena Ferrante—compared to the visibility of the translator(s) of her most celebrated works. I consider that the present paper provides a fresh perspective and a shifting paradigm from the more traditional approach to the translator’s invisibility, inviting a dialogue of several voices: publishers, editors, translators, readers, and writer—mediated by the text which serves as the best connector and interpreter of the stories told by the author and skillfully interpreted by a translator. Author Invisibility, in this case, plays an important role in the need to promote the book—the story itself will help circulate the original text. Therefore, the mastery of the translator (visible) will also indirectly promote the author (invisible). To sum up, the presentation sets forth a novel approach to visibility/invisibility both in authorship and translation.
Keywords: visibility vs invisibility in translation, author–translator interaction, Elena Ferrante, world literature
CÂND BĂRBAȚII TREBUIE SĂ DEMONSTREZE CĂ ÎNCĂ SUNT „BĂRBAȚI”: MASCULINITATEA COMPENSATORIE ÎN ROMANELE PRIETENA MEA GENIALĂ ŞI POVESTEA NOULUI NUME DE ELENA FERRANTE
When Men Have to Prove They are Still “Men”: Compensatory Masculinity in the Novels My Brilliant Friend and The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante
Abstract: When talking about gender dynamics, there is a power disparity between men and women, which can be emphasized when men’s condition is being threatened. This is how compensatory masculinity manifests itself through abusive behavior towards people considered more vulnerable (children, women etc.) to reinforce masculine authority, when there is no financial, political or sexual stability to support it. The same phenomena may be seen in Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet, in which life in a poor neighborhood on the Neapolitan outskirts, in a post-war context, leads the male characters, such as Fernando Cerullo, Rino, Nino or Donato Sarratore, to express their masculinity in violent ways. Such a study has not been applied in so much detail to Ferrante’s work. While closely observing the most relevant scenes from the Quartet’s first two novels, My Brilliant Friend and The Story of a New Name, this research paper showcases the different levels of masculine violence, as well as compensatory masculinity’s causes and effects on the other characters. The conclusions mention the importance of Elena Ferrante’s place in world literature, thanks to her feminist perspective in these novels and to her intersectional approach.
Keywords: Elena Ferrante, The Neapolitan Quartet, compensatory masculinity, gender dynamics, abuse, post-war Italy
TRANSMEDIALITATEA ÎN ZONA DE INTERES: MARTIN AMIS ȘI JONATHAN GLAZER
Transmediality in The Zone of Interest: Martin Amis and Jonathan Glazer
Abstract: New ways of experiencing trauma, history, and memory have employed affect as a tool to enhance the instructive nature of transmedial representations of the Holocaust: literary fiction, sites of memory, and film. In the absence of direct contact with such “limit situations”, the transfer from individual memory to collective and cultural memory occurs through “mass technologies”, constituting what Alison Landsberg termed “prosthetic memory”. In the case of cinema, the medium dramatizes the past. It is capable of adapting the viewers’ perspectives by offering not merely a historical narrative, but a personal experience to which they naturally had no access. Performativity involves the abstraction of discourse through what Vivian Sobchack calls “structures of direct experience”, which have the capacity to suggest the sensation of the real (movement, hearing, sight). This paper will discuss the effects produced by the transmediality of two artifacts of prosthetic memory in the context of adapting the novel The Zone of Interest (2014) into Jonathan Glazer’s homonymous film (2023). It will compare the effects of these two forms and analyze the strategies through which cinematic and literary expressions engage with one another and with traumatic memory.
Keywords: transmedialitity, trauma, prosthetic memory, The Zone of Interest, cinematography, fiction
ANATOMIA TRAUMEI ÎN VEGETARIANA DE HAN KANG
The Anatomy of Trauma in Han Kang’s The Vegetarian
Abstract: This paper explores the multiple representations of trauma in Han Kang’s novel The Vegetarian (2007, translated in English in 2015), analyzing how individual, transgenerational, and historical traumatic experiences shape the identity of the protagonist, Yeong-hye (as well as her relationship with others). Using the framework of trauma theory and drawing on concepts such as wiederholungszwang introduced by Sigmund Freud, or trauma as a belated and fragmented experience (Cathy Caruth), the article examines the impact of patriarchal oppression, social norms, and collective memory on the female body and psyche. The protagonist’s transformation—from the refusal to eat meat to a deep psychological dissociation—becomes an act of resistance against ongoing and progressive violence. Furthermore, the paper connects the dots between the novel and some of South Korea’s collective historical traumas, such as the experiences of comfort women, the 1980 Gwangju Massacre, and the postwar consequences of the Vietnam War, all of which are important chapters of the country’s history. The analysis highlights the way in which Han Kang constructs a complex literary discourse on trauma, using bodily symbols and recurring dreams to articulate the unseen pain of her characters.
Keywords: historical trauma, individual trauma, PTSD, South Korean literature, Han Kang;
DIALECTICA OPRESIUNII ȘI A REZISTENȚEI: O HERMENEUTICĂ A CONTRASTELOR ÎN PERSEPOLIS
The Dialectic of Oppression and Resistance: A Hermeneutics of Contrasts in Persepolis
Abstract: This article examines the dialectical dynamic between oppression and resistance in Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi’s graphic memoir, through the lenses of postcolonial and feminist theory. Drawing on key conceptual frameworks such as “subalternity” (Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak), “intersectionality” (Patricia Hill Collins and Sirma Bilge) and “orientalism” (Edward Said), the study explores how identity, voice, and agency are negotiated under conditions of political and religious authoritarianism and diasporic displacement. The analysis foregrounds not only the external apparatuses of domination but also the internalized mechanisms of control that shape subject formation. Furthermore, the article critically engages with Pascale Casanova’s model of world literary circulation, arguing that Persepolis subverts dominant aesthetic paradigms by achieving global recognition without compromising its cultural specificity. By employing a hybrid medium—the graphic novel—and juxtaposing minimalist visual style with thematically dense political content, Satrapi produces a counter-discourse that resists exoticization and reclaims narrative sovereignty. Ultimately, the memoir destabilizes binary constructions of East and West and articulates a space for complex, intersectional identities and narrative subversion.
Keywords: subalternity, graphic novel, oppression, resistance, postcolonial feminism, world literature
CIRCULAȚIA POEZIEI MARTEI PETREU ÎN CONTEXTUL LITERATURII MONDIALE
The Circulation of Marta Petreu’s Poetry in the Context of World Literature
Abstract: The present paper examines the international reception of Marta Petreu’s poetry, focusing on its circulation, translation, and critical integration into world literature. While Petreu’s work has been translated into multiple languages and presented at international literary events, these efforts have not secured her a stable position within the global literary canon. This study emphasizes the difference between circulation and integration of literary artefacts, arguing that translations alone do not necessarily guarantee critical recognition or an organic readership. Moreover, as I’ve discovered, the reception of Marta Petreu’s poetry is mostly limited to accompanying texts written by translators, lacking broader critical discourse or readers’ engagement. Ultimately, this paper argues that continuous recognition – both critical and from a more general readership – is essential for a literary work to truly become part of world literature, a status Petreu’s poetry hasn’t achieved yet despite its ongoing export.
Keywords: circulation, translation, critical reception, Marta Petreu, Romanian literature
REPREZENTĂRI ALE HOTELULUI ÎN MUZEUL DIGITAL AL ROMANULUI ROMÂNESC
Depictions of the Hotel in the Digital Museum of the Romanian Novel
Abstract: This article is part of a vast research project involving the analysis of some specialized places that provide different services in the interwar period. I tried to redefine Marc Auge’s concept of non-places and to apply it in modernity (1920–1940). My aim is to discover the number of occurrences and recurrences, using the digital archive, and to offer a few examples from these novels, in order to expose the domains that are connected to the images of the hotel. In this particular case, I focused mainly on the depictions of the hotel in the novels published in 1936.
Keywords: hotel, quantitative analysis, novel, modernity, specialized places
ONIRISM ȘI EXPRESIONISM ÎN PROZA LUI H. BONCIU
Oneirism and Expressionism in H. Bonciu’s Prose
Abstract: The prose of H. Bonciu, represented by his two novels, Bagaj… and Pensiunea doamnei Pipersberg, was placed by critics into a quite ambiguous zone of intersection between expressionism, late avant-garde and even surrealism. The purpose of the present paper is that of delineating and analysing the oneiric instances which are identified in H. Bonciuʼs writing (in Bagaj… and Pensiunea doamnei Pipersberg) and also their manifestation within an expressionist (or surrealist) perspective in the Romanian cultural space. Moreover, the oneiric element, in its various forms that occur in these texts, also represents the various facets of anguish that disturb H. Bonciuʼs writing conscience in a specific historical period. It can be stated that the present paper can be included in the discussion scope of The Oneiric Factor in Literature and Arts, with the recurrent emphasis that it is impossible to enclose H. Bonciuʼs prose into ultimate categories of meaning. The present paper proposes a hermeneutic analysis of the novels mentioned above, focusing on elaborating and interpreting the implications of the oneiric element which was identified as a recurring stylistic method. Thus, even though there were multiple attempts to delineate the genres and aesthetic directions that run through H. Bonciu’s prose, this specific approach does not meet H. Bonciu’s actual creative scope, which is why we are revisiting his aesthetic and stylistic intentions.
Keywords: oneirism, expressionism, marginality, pornographic literature, avant-garde