Vol. 6 No. 1 (2023): Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies
Editorial
Interculturality is one of the sources necessary for identity knowledge, development, and awareness. The present world is more than prone to facing challenges concerning the understanding of the human being. Thus, culture represents a guiding light through a dynamic maze, the world. Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies pursues such high academic purposes, and it offers an environment where world cultures and people can meet to explore a variety of narrative paths meant to consolidate communication and enrich the intellect of its contributors and readers. The current issue of the sixth volume presents a recent streamline of articles written in several languages, namely Romanian, English, French, and Spanish. Topics vary from inquiries into 17th-century works and reach postmodernity. They are grouped into six categories: anthropology, education, linguistics, literature, research seminars, and book reviews. Each section proposes contemporary frames of thought that traverse unique multidisciplinary layers.
The first section invites readership to explore the perception of music with the opening article proposed by Livia Georgeta Suciu from Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca. She investigates how the philosophical deconstruction promoted by Jacques Derrida is articulated in the context of avant-garde music promoted by artist John Zorn. Mircea A. Diaconu from Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava continues with historical imprints about Balthasar Hacquet, researching studies about this enigmatic traveller as published in Romania between the 19th and 21st centuries. He proposes a re-reading of Hacquet’s travel notes from an imagological perspective. Alexandru Ofrim and Lucia Terzea-Ofrim from the Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest, impel the historical element into magic formulas and analyse medical practices that involved written books or letters and their significance for the process of healing as perceived in Romanian society until the 20th century. The collective work of Iulia Anghel, Elena Banciu, Flavius Pană, and Ana Maria Birtalan from the Ecological University of Bucharest closes the section and discusses how the concept of the ‘public sphere’ reconfigured in Romania along with digitalization.
Education includes discussions on teaching methods, assessing, and adapting to specific contexts. Mădălina Ungureanu from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași presents the teaching material used by a teacher of Slavonic in the second half of the 17th century, Rom. ms. 312 BAR, and highlights the importance of this bilingual material for didactic purposes. Mădălina Elena Mandici from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași conceptualizes two teaching approaches, the flipped classroom and micro-teaching, as used in the Applied Linguistic MA program during the first semester of the academic year 2017-2018. Her case study is a resource and example of bridging the gap between theory and practice. Gabriel-Dan Bărbuleț from 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia continues the educational inquiry with a study focused on multimedia tools for teaching a foreign language. Finally, Maria-Magdalena Jianu from the National University of Theatre and Film I.L.Caragiale, Bucharest, Theater Faculty, Romania, and Elisabeta Niță, Ph.D. Student at the School of Advanced Studies of the Romanian Academy, Institute of Philosophy and Psychology Constantin Rădulescu – Motru, Romanian Academy, Romania, psychologist Fundeni Clinical Institute evaluate the communication needs of the parents of children with cancer from the perspective of the semantic values of the morphological units used and integrated into sentence structures or sentence segments (with response status to open questions) and from the perspective of the factual analysis of the percentages of closed questions.
The Linguistics section presents a fruitful article about language purism as displayed in the works of William Barnes and August Treboniu Laurian. The author, Sorin Ciutacu from the West University of Timișoara, aims to reveal the essential linguistic contributions both referred authors had for their cultures. Moving on with the Literature section, the authors reveal fiction through meaningful insights. Maricica Munteanu from the A. Philippide Institute of Romanian Philology, Iași, Romania invites readers to consider the socialist movements in 19th-century Romania under the spectrum of two main concepts, sociability and social network. Alexandra Olteanu from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania, explores the idea of social banditry as becoming a central figure in 19th-century Romanian historical novels. Ioana Camelia Brustur from 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia approaches the topic of fame as revealed in the fiction of Philip Roth and Marin Preda. She focuses on one novel from each author, connecting American and Romanian works of literature within a postmodern theoretical frame. Lucian Vasile Bâgiu from 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia completes the section with a critical examination and reinterpretation of Dracula’s image, aiming to investigate the cultural and philosophical concepts of death and immortality as the basis of the understanding of the myth of Dracula.
Research Seminars, a novel section in the journal, dwells on aspects regarding Romanian culture, language and literature and explores issues tackled by professors at Seminars with learners from abroad. The current issue welcomes the academic initiative of prestigious scholars from the Complutense University of Madrid and the University of Valencia who approach the topic of exile and reveal exquisite reflections about Romanian writers who either experienced or wrote about this phenomenon. Alba Diz Villanueva from the Complutense University of Madrid illustrates Mircea Eliade’s pace through life, literature and science. Inés Carvajal Argüelles from the Complutense University of Madrid portrays elements in Herta Müller’s novels and identifies their universal value for understanding 20th-century Europe. Angelica Lambru from the University of Valencia writes about Matei Vişniec and considers the author’s work as revealing specific features of the creative universe from a diachronic perspective. Felix Nicolau from the Complutense University of Madrid and the Doctoral School of 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia completes the section by researching Alexandru Busuioceanu and his rich intellectual legacy.
Book reviews, the ending section of the current volume, enriches the overall structure with presentations of scholarly, well-informed readings. Antonio Patraș from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania, analyses the relationship between failure and success from the point of view concerning creative psychology and sociology of creation as expressed in Angelo Mitchievici’s recent book entitled The Charm of Failed Lives (2022). Mihaela Bărbieru from C.S. Nicolăescu-Plopşor Institute for Research in Social Studies and Humanities from Craiova, of the Romanian Academy, the University of Craiova, presents the volume 1821-2021. The Bicentennial of the Revolution led by Tudor Vladimirescu, coordinated by Sevastian Cercel and Georgeta Ghionea, and published by Academia Română Publishing House in 2022. Carmen Dimitriu from the Institute of the Romanian Language, Bucharest/University of Tel Aviv-Israel, prompts the various hermeneutic possibilities advanced by Iosefina Blazsani-Batto in her book entitled Symbolism of the Summer Solstice: Comparative Readings. The final review proposed by Gabriela Chiciudean from 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia reflects on childhood trauma as described in the narrative universe of Helene Pflitsch.
The works included in the present issue trace unique perspectives on Romanian features. The diverse narrative paths proved to open valuable and resourceful gates towards universal and contemporary issues. We are indebted to the exceptional work of our thirty-two international reviewers, from the Czech Republic, China, Germany, Israel, and Romania, and we are delighted to greet and thank authors, editors and reviewers alike. Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies is published in collaboration with Lund University, Complutense University of Madrid, 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia, Romania, and the Romanian Language Institute, Bucharest, and welcomes contributions from scholars worldwide.
Bianca Maria Bucur
Advisory board for this issue:
Gabriel Bărbuleț, 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia
Cezar Bălășoiu, University of Bucharest, Romania
Diana Câmpan, 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia, Romania
Rodica Gabriela Chira, 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia, Romania
Marcela Ciortea, 1 Decembrie 1918 University, Alba Iulia
Sorin Ciutacu, West University of Timișoara, Romania
Carmen Dimitriu, Tel Aviv University, Israel / Romanian Language Institute, Bucharest
Carmen Duțu, Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, Bucharest
Marcela Fărcașiu, Politehnica University of Timișoara
Ioan Fărmuș, Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania
Ovidiu Ghenescu, 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia, Romania
Cristina Gherman, Technical University of Civil Engineering, Bucharest, Romania
Crina Herțeg, 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia, Romania
Jarmila Horakova, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic
Arleen Ionescu, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Teodora Iordăchescu, 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia, Romania
Monica Manolachi, University of Bucharest, Romania
Dan Mateescu, University of Bucharest, Romania
Diana Mihuț, West University of Timișoara, Romania
Doris Mironescu, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania
Monica Pătruț, Vasile Alecsandri University of Bacău, Romania
Dana Radler, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
Ioana Rustoiu, The National Museum of the Union, Alba Iulia, Romania
Valentina Sandu-Dediu, New Europe College, Bucharest, Romania
Ioan Laurian Soare, Politehnica University of Bucharest, Romania
Liliana Soare, University of Pitești, Romania
Vasile Spiridon, Vasile Alecsandri University of Bacău, Romania
Iuliana Wainberg, 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia, Romania
The cover photo was taken by Ioana Bîscă in 2020 and represents front gate to the Memorial House of Constantin Brâncuși in Hobița, Gorj County, Romania
