A declaration for the New Age ofrliterature as wakefulness : the calligrapher by the Romanian Alexandru Ecovoiu (2001) Cover Image

Une déclinaison du New Age ou la littérature comme veille : Le Calligraphe du Roumain Alexandru Ecovoiu (2001)
A declaration for the New Age ofrliterature as wakefulness : the calligrapher by the Romanian Alexandru Ecovoiu (2001)

Author(s): Michel Wattremez
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Applied Linguistics
Published by: EDITURA ASE
Keywords: Alexandru Ecovoiu; New Age; allegory; parable; reading; writing; Romania; Romanian literature

Summary/Abstract: « A Declension for The New Age or Literature as Wakefulness : The Calligrapher by theRomanian Alexandru Ecovoiu (2001)»The Romanian novelist Alexandru Ecovoiu falls within the tradition of Proust andKafka, for whom literature is a labyrinthine and orphic excursion into the meanders ofspirit and memory. His writing style can also be seen as an exploration into the strangeand the absurd, while remaining in line with Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse andUmberto Eco’s stylistic parameters, as an infinite and joyful quest of sparkling beauty.As a witness to deep political, social and cultural changes in his native Romania,Ecovoiu exemplifies the established movement christened the New Age. It is a complexpostmodern galaxy drawing from numerous Western sources of the Gutenberg era,through planetary and tangled networks. The Calligrapher borrows many themes andmotifs from this multifaceted movement: a holistic approach and an esoteric vision ofthe universe, the synesthesia of a total art, the initiation into the individual’s rebirththrough exchanges with others, the game of writing and reading through connivanceand utopia. Most importantly Ecovoiu exemplifies the force of spirituality and the deep- rooted conviction that writing means putting into doubt fundamentally thetransmissibility of the text and the letter to the human community beyond itsdifferences. Ecovoiu convincingly demonstrates that a Romanian literary voice is heardwithin world literature.

  • Issue Year: 14/2013
  • Issue No: 27
  • Page Range: 1-15
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: French