The project of translating and editing a major philosopher’s complete correspondence for the first time in a certain language poses difficulties not only for the translators, but also to the language itself, the more so as Romanian has not been systematically acquainted to the fundamental concepts of early modern thought. Translated by Vlad Alexandrescu, Robert Arnăutu, Călin Cristian Pop, Mihai-Dragoş Vadana and Grigore Vida, the second part of Descartes’ Complete Correspondence pursues the goal started in 2014. As was the case of the first volume, the text of the second volume is based on a multitude of sources, for instance the Clerselier edition, the Adam and Tannery edition or more recent and specialized editions.1 The 303 letters translated in the present volume prove to be more than mere biographical concomitants to the Cartesian oeuvre. The philosophical consistency of the correspondence is not only due to the ethos of interlocutors such as Huygens, Hobbes or Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and rises above the seventeen century epistolary tradition. Rather, it is determined by the nature of Descartes’ works which originate in a vivid philosophical dialogue with his peers of the Republic of Letters. The volume covers the period of 1639-1644. Indeed, these years were critical for Descartes’ philosophy, as both the Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) and the Principles of Philosophy (1644) were published. The volume begins with an extensive chronology written by Vlad Alexandrescu.2 In 1639, Descartes was living in Haarlem and was still collecting objections to the Discourse on Method. He was looking forward to publish them along with his replies, an idea which he gradually dropped. In a letter to Mersenne from November 1639 (114-119) he was already considering writing a new version of his metaphysics, and in 1640 he begins the first part of the Principles “in an order which can be easily taught” (312-316). Along with the gathering of objections to the Meditations and the development of the Principles in the following years, his relationship with Regius and the beginning of his correspondence with Princess Elisabeth are particularly interesting.
More...Keywords: computer system; computer programme; computer data; cybercrime; computer applications; illegal operations with computer devices or software.
More...Keywords: monument; muzeu;Moldova;
The Edition XV of the Symposium " The Monument-Tradition and future", held in Iasi, between 14 and 17 October 2013, marks the continuation of a tradition in which experts from different fields make a remarkable contribution to the value of monuments but also methods of research, restoration and preservation
More...Keywords: space;time;advertising;storytelling;creativity
The main purpose of this paper is to present the perspective of time and space in advertising stories that uncover brand image and product features, according to suitable narrative techniques. Each action occurs in a specific space and time, describing not only the brand evolution, but the strategy as well. Considering that an advertising story shapes the message based on the characters involvement and sequentiality, this study aims to reveal categories of time and space as they are outlined by the sampling.The present qualitative research was conducted on a sample of 100 TV advertisements belonging to different worldwide markets and product categories, whose commercials ran from 2008 to 2015. The research will be conducted through discourse analysis applied to a sample made up by advertisements of well-known brands,equally shared between global and local market. In addition to stating this issue of space and time references,this research strives for identifying specific narrative strategies that could be related to each campaign objectives and branding equation. The main hypothesis of the present chapter emerges from the fact that a good advertising story should take into consideration consumption time and space representations for any brand and product in order to achieve a high level of loyalty. Besides, space and time not only account for the dynamics of advertisements, but also observe the nowadays consumers’ life by offering efficient tools to preserve their happiness of the well-lived moment.In order to achieve significant findings, our research investigates specific issues: space and time representations (i.e. linear time, circular time, historical time, open space, etc.) individually investigated in each ad; narrative techniques of each ad; branding strategies provided by the whole sample. As a whole, the entire study seeks to find the connection between space-time references on the one hand and product categories and narrative techniques on the other.
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More...Keywords: president of the county council; direct election; emergency ordinance; Government;
The president of the county council represents one of the two local public administration authorities accomplishing local autonomy at the county level. He/she represents the executive authority at the county level, and the county council is the deliberative authority. Since a few amendments have been made in the status of the president of the county council, mainly generated by the change of the appointment modality, we believe it is important to present such amendments and their impact on the activity of the local public administration authorities at the county level. This article deals with issues related to the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 40/20191regarding the amendment and completion of Law no. 115/2015 for the election of local public administration authorities, for the amendment of the Local Public Administration Law no. 215/2001, as well as for the amendment and completion of Law no. 393/2004 regarding the Status of the local elected officials.
More...Keywords: world literature; Franco Moretti; Pascale Casanova; small literature; planetarity;
The article discusses the status and functioning of so-called small literatures, including Lithuanian literature, in the global system of world literature. Referring to Franco Moretti and Pascale Casanova’s interpretation of world literature system as based on the principle of inequality, the author discusses the conception of belonging to small literatures as a destiny and interprets the onecentric world literary system as hegemonic. Being dominated by grand literatures, small literatures have very restricted possibilities of gravitation towards the center of world literature. In that theoretical context, the article considers the following issues: is it possible and how is it possible to avoid the destiny of small literatures staying in the periphery of world literature, what role in this situation plays the writer himself, what depends on the culture and research politics, could literary scholars play the role of mediators and what could be the alternatives for onecentered world literary system.
More...Keywords: Matei Vișniec; poetry; Communism; subversion; irony;
The Critical Stakes of Poetic Derision in the Work of Matei Vișniec. This paper revisits the poetry written by Matei Vișniec during the communist period in order to prove that it can be read as a civil action against the totalitarian system. It relies on the examination of Vișniec’s deployment of a series of strategies of derision, such as allusions, irony, humor, or parables. The main purpose of this re-reading is to both emphasize the subversive character of the writer’s poetic work, a rather particular case in its ethical challenging of communist realities in relation to the postmodernist aesthetic program, and underline the idealism of an ironic poet in whose vision the writer is, above all, a professional disruptor of dogmata.
More...Keywords: world literature; literary world; worlding; world-system; peripheries;
Based on Said’s understanding of literature’s worldliness, Hayot’s concept of literary worlds, and Cheah’s interpretation of worlding, the article – itself an example of “traveling theory” (Said) – proposes to treat world literature in a “secular” perspective, i.e., as an asymmetrical world-system that conditions a transcultural and translinguistic semiosis of literary worlds. The literary world-system, which arises from and is dependent on and responsive to the modern world-system of capitalism (see Warwick Research Collective) channels interliterary exchange in a way that is homologous to the economic inequality between the centers, which are capable of accumulating surplus value, and the peripheries, which enable the global dominance of the centers by providing the market, labor, and resources for the goods produced or distributed by the centers.
More...Keywords: generation; generationality; literary history; postcommunism; intersectionality;
Generations, Contemporaneity, and Intersectionality in Literary History. While several traditional concepts of literary history, including literary periods, periodization itself, and genre, have been recently put into question and reframed in transnational, cross-temporal, and transdisciplinary ways, the notion of generation has received much less attention. At the same time, in various branches of cultural studies, and even more prominently in sociology, the problem of generations has taken center stage once again. In this article, the critic takes as her departure point Mihai Iovănel’s 2021 History of Contemporary Romanian Literature: 1990-2020 to discuss how the generational operator could be employed in post-Cold War literary history. Mironescu argues that a transversal and intersectional integration of generation into contemporary literary criticism could ensure a better understanding of intra- and transgenerational dynamics in terms of self-representations and group narratives, inclusions and exclusions, as well as gender and literary affiliations.
More...Keywords: transnational literature; national literature; migration; literary history; periodization;
Transnational Perspectives in The History of Contemporary Romanian Literature. Discussing literature from a global perspective requires a transnational view on the evolution and international integration of literature. Most recent World Literature studies imply such an analytic perspective when questioning the recognition of certain national literatures within the more developed ones. While using concepts such as “minor” or “major literature” or, more precisely, “central” or “peripheral literature,” attention needs to be paid, Prodan argues, when talking about the global acknowledgement of literature, especially of those literatures coming from “minor” and even isolated cultures. In The History of Contemporary Romanian Literature: 1990-2020, Mihai Iovănel proposes a thematic rather than a historical analysis of contemporary national literature with its periodized and temporal evolutions. The author includes, especially in the last chapter of his literary history, a transnational view of contemporary Romanian literature. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to analyse the way Romanian writers and their literary works are perceived by the critic as having “a transnational character.” Prodan also investigates how Iovănel succeeds in renewing critical strategies in literary historiography. Thus, this contribution is mainly dedicated to the last part of Mihai Iovănel’s History, which seeks out new strategies of transnational expansion of the spectrum of national literature, as the author also analyses the possibilities of a global integration and marketing of contemporary Romanian literature.
More...Keywords: Bessarabia; Country Council; deputies in the Country Council; Unification of Bessarabia with Romania;
The study deals with the topic concerning the first parliament of the province between Prut and Nistru (Bessarabia) – the Country Council during the period 1917-1918. New information and data related to the activity of the Country Council are presented: the setting up and the activity, the structure and composition of the management bodies, the most important decisions adopted during its activity period: 21 November 1917-27 November 1918, including the list of those 86 deputies who, on 27 March 1918 voted for the unification of Bessarabia with Romania. Moreover, we submit further information regarding the villages which delegated two or three deputies in the Country Council, but also the popularity of the Country Council and of the deputies among the population in Bessarabia, by calling the villages by the deputies’, streets’ names.
More...Keywords: state building; Transnistria; ideology; conflict; identity;
The present paper investigates the building of Transnistrian identity within the evolution of the territorial political entity to the east of the Dnieper. From its creation to the events following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the political entity moved through different stages. These have been approached chronologically within the paper. Each stage presented depicts both the political-administrative evolution as well as the ethnic and identity aspects in the region.
More...Keywords: Europe; security; Romania; 60s; 70s;
In 1975, at Helsinki, it was agreed that certain general principles should be observed in the relations between Western and Eastern Europe: good neighborliness, a peaceful climate, economic and cultural ties, human rights and so on. Romania signed the Declaration on the principles of mutual relations between the states participating in the All-European Conference, considering the Helsinki Final Act could provide the framework for all states to make a greater contribution to the settlement of the Continent’s problems, based on active cooperation.
More...Keywords: Rereading/Rewriting; Intertextuality; Hermeneutic; Memory Retrieval; Literature;
Defined as a literary testament, “Dreams from Bunker Hills” is the fourth novel of the so-called Arturo Bandini’s saga, the last literary work of John Fante and probably the most metaliterary one. This article is an attempt of critical rereading that should hopefully add some new insights to Fantian themes, in the light of recent theories of reading/rereading and interpretation. The significative literary genealogy of the author, which implies a meaning-making osmotic relationship between the (re)writing process, intertextuality issues and the retrieval of autobiographical memory fragments, will be then analysed in “Dreams” by integrating textual understanding and critical re-articulation.
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