Between the Romance World and Eastern Europe: The Geoculture of Romanian Studies

Dr. Andrei Terian (Lucian Blaga Univ. of Sibiu, Romania) will discuss the conflicting positioning of Romanian Studies in today’s geopolitical world as well as on our evolving intellectual and disciplinary maps. At the beginning of the 20^th century, historian Nicolae Iorga famously defined the Romanian people as “a Latin island in a Slavic sea,” attempting to underscore his nation’s belonging to the Romance family, on one side, and, on the other, the difference between the Romanians and their neighbors. Iorga’s views have been rarely challenged by Romanian scholarship. Outside Romania, however, things have been different. The country and its culture do not always occupy the place assigned by Iorga, and this discrepancy becomes obvious when one examines the academic-institutional aspect of how Romania, its inhabitants, and history are represented abroad.

Andrei Terian is Professor of Romanian literature in the Department of Romance Studies at Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu and a senior researcher at G. Călinescu Institute of Literary History and Theory of the Romanian Academy. He specializes in 20^th– and 21^st-century Romanian literature, cultural theory, the history of modern criticism, and comparative and world literature. He has published widely in Romanian and international journals, and his latest books include the monographs G. Călinescu: The Fifth Essence (2009) and Exporting Criticism: Theories, Contexts, Ideologies (2013).