Originalitatea – un mit? Ştefan Aug. Doinaş: despre imitaţie
The Originality - a Myth? Ştefan Aug. Doinaş: About Imitation

Summary/Abstract: The problem of originality has been differently approached depending on the era. In antiquity, the notion of originality became meaningless because its value was conferred by the compliance of the rule, in romanticism the originality came from the abolition of the rules. Modernity was equidistant towards the norm, originality did not mean a gap but it did not mean blind submission either. Stefan Aug. Doinas approaches originality in a larger context; originality can not be approached without referring to three other contexts: tradition, innovation and imitation. The Romanian theoretician sustains that no creator ever begins by being original, he ends up being original. The game between imitation and originality is a very subtle one: only by the assimilation of the cultural elements, which represent a strong creative personality, one is able to get rid of the tyranny of models. Culture is the one that ensures the actual solution, by passing from the experiment to poetic experience. The modern writer’s attitude towards tradition should be a “middle” one, a balanced one, the creators who imitate tend to become epigones; the ones that refuse imitation (the models) become victims of their own ego. As far as we know, the concept of “imaginary translation”, belonging to Vasile Voiculescu, finds its only theoretical development in Aug.Doinas’ work. It has the value of an over controlling concept, which represents the correlation between tradition – imitation - model more accurately then the term mimesis. This is the step forward modernity takes (through Doinas), looking back towards antiquity.

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