Adaptare și imitație în romanele "No Time Like the Present", de Nadine Gordimer și „Vremea Minunilor", de Cătălin Dorian Florescu / Adaptation and mimicry in the novels “No Time Like the Present”, by Nadine Gordimer and “Vremea minunilor”, by Florescu

Authors

  • Simina Pîrvu West University of Timisoara

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35824/sjrs.v1i1.16810

Keywords:

South Africa; adaptation; imitation;, violence; relocation.

Abstract

In a series of lectures in 1994, Nadine Gordimer remarks the different status of Africa which is no longer at the edge of the empire, but on the contrary, in the center of it. In this respect, post-apartheid Africa has rebuilt its national identity on the background of global events that write universal history, offering citizens the chance to escape their country's constraints and bring important key elements in the globalization process.

Thus, replacing apartheid themes in a new country is an extreme task by the applicant. Some of the favourite subjects of the "old guard" are the following: the importance of multiculturalism in post-apartheid South Africa, the writer's status, vulgarisation of violence due to mass-media, reconciliation with a violent past and their economic and cultural implications, the fight against AIDS, sexual emancipation, globalization and loss of cultural and national identity, uprooting, migration and economic exile which replaced major pre-existing concerns about violence, racial and gender discrimination, the relationship between literature and politics, or the role of ethics in literature.

The same situation can be applied to eastern countries. Even though they were not "postcolonial" in the classical sense of the term, applicable to the former British, French, Spanish, Portuguese or Dutch colonies, the "post-communist transition" through which they passed included the disarmament of a certain political and economic "occupation".

People had to adapt to the new order, to the new reality, which was a complex process, a difficult one, that implied, many times, exile.

Therefore, the purpose of my argument is to present what consequences can occur at the psychological level because of the attempt of adaptation of the characters to the new social and political order, by imitation, postcolonial and post-communist context. And here comes the question: does imitation facilitate adaptation? Although the logical answer would be yes, we will notice, by discussing the two texts, exactly the opposite.

Author Biography

Simina Pîrvu, West University of Timisoara

Simina Pîrvu (Timofte) teaches Romanian at a Secondary School for almost 14 years and, at the same time, she is a Master student at the West University of Timișoara, in Literature and Culture - Romanian Contexts, European Contexts. Among her professional achievements, mention cand be made of the article Mircea Eliade: "Hooligans" between nonconformism and failure, published in the Culture Magazine Discobolul, Year: XX, No. 238-239-240, 2017. Another article will appear in the Culture Magazine of the Art House from Caransebeș, Interferențe, New Series, No. 2, 2018 - Love and Death in "Dying Animal", by Philip Roth, "Povestea târfelor mele triste", by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and "Frumoasele adormite", by Yasunari Kawabata. She is also involved in HerA Project (Local Heritage for Active Tourism in Banat), a project set up by The West University of Timișoara, the City Hall of Kikinda and The National Museum of Kikinda, project of which she is very fond, because it corresponds to her interests - tourism, traditions and everything related to Romania's national heritage and its preservation.

References

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Caraivan, M.-L. (2017). Nadine Gordimer and the Rhetoric of Otherness in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Cambridge ScholarsPublishing. accesibil lahttps://books.google.ro/books?id=eTjZDQAAQBAJ&pg=PR7&lpg=PR7&dq=Caraivan,+MariaLuiza+Nadine+Gordimer+and+the+Rhetoric+of+Otherness+in+PostApartheid+South+Africa&source=bl&ots=CfQAnu3caM&sig=t4H2EVCI7WsNYabPGbmKABKf0_k&hl=ro&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjq3_qMurzZAhVGbFAKHfbSCtkQ6AEIPzAD#v=onepage&q=Caraivan%2C%20MariaLuiza%20Nadine%20Gordimer%20and%20the%20Rhetoric%20of%20Otherness%20in%20PostApartheid%20South%20Africa&f=false, vizualizat la 25 august 2017.

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Published

2018-02-24

How to Cite

Pîrvu, S. (2018). Adaptare și imitație în romanele "No Time Like the Present", de Nadine Gordimer și „Vremea Minunilor", de Cătălin Dorian Florescu / Adaptation and mimicry in the novels “No Time Like the Present”, by Nadine Gordimer and “Vremea minunilor”, by Florescu. Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies, 1(1), 87–98. https://doi.org/10.35824/sjrs.v1i1.16810