Un critic al Partidului Liberal: „primul” Ștefan Zeletin
A critic of the Liberal Party: the "first" Stefan Zeletin

Summary/Abstract: The thought of Ștefan Zeletin (1882-1934) is generally considered as the very epitome of Romanian “modernism” or “westernism”. Too often, however, the analysts have overlooked the fact that his westernist argumentation is connected with an apology for the policies of the Romanian political establishment of the time, whose hard core was constituted by the Liberal Party elite. The article starts by emphasizing that the two dimensions of Zeletin’s political writing are inseparable. It goes on by pointing to the fact that this was not always the case with Zeletin: before the “classical” period of the author, one can distinguish another period, which can be conveniently labeled as “the first Zeletin”, to be opposed to the “second Zeletin”, that we are familiar with. The first and the second Zeletins are perfectly opposite authors. While the last one is the most vocal and elaborate defender of the Liberal elite and a devout westernist, the first one is a radical and bitter critic of the establishment and a nostalgic “traditionalist”. The article makes a comparison between the two stages in the evolution of the author. In the end, it amounts that such a comparison enables us to reevaluate the classical works of Zeletin, and to rethink the relation between “modernism” and “tradi- tionalism” in Romanian culture. A partial rehabilitation of the “traditionalist” arguments is the most general conclusion of the article.

• Details
• Contents