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Michael Psellos’ Chronographia is renowned as one of the masterpieces of Byzantine historiography and literature in general, but it is only in the last few decades that his subjectivity is not condemned by modern historians. Nowadays it is regarded as valuable for revealing the author’s attitudes and objectives in writing the history, especially if one considers that from the eleventh century onwards historians tend to figure in their works, starting with Psellos himself. He is, with Anna Comnene, the most prominent author in this regard, and his autobiographical “insertions” are so numerous and scattered through the text at many levels, that it can be said that he himself is the central character of his historical work. Psellos’ descriptions of characters are exceptional, and no other Byzantine historian can compare with him in this regard. Since he considered that emperors were key figures in creating history and major political changes, the Byzantine eleventh-century rulers were, at least on the surface, central figures in his historical work as well. Therefore, this paper deals specifically with their descriptions as presented by Psellos via their physical appearance and specifically one aspect of their illnesses. The descriptions of the emperors’ illnesses in the Chronographia are the means of characterizing them in a more candid and subtle manner, namely showing whether or not they were worthy of the imperial position they occupied. Therefore, we do not find any in the portraits of idealized emperors — Basil II, Constantine and Michael Doukas — nor in those of the emperors who were disqualified in other ways — Romanos Diogenes, Michael V, and Michael VI. In the strongly negative portraits of Constantine VIII, Romanos Argyros and Constantine Monomachos, the descriptions of illnesses are very detailed and brutal, and their physical appearance is otherwise disregarded (or, as in the case of Monomachos, his malady is placed in stark contrast to his beauty at the very beginning of his reign), thus showing their unworthiness of the throne. Not even the emperors whom Psellos observed as mainly positive — Michael Paphlagon and Isaac Komnenos — are spared these descriptions, which are carefully and intentionally placed so that they are connected with their misdeeds and thus indicate the punishment for their behavior. The true meaning of the emperors’ illnesses in the Chronographia is further revealed with the metaphor of the illness of the Empire, which is placed near the end of the first part of the history. Psellos here presents the decline of Byzantium in the period he deals with in the Chronographia by using medical terminology and indicating that the emperors after the death of Basil II led “the body of the state” (to swma thj politeiaj) into a state of utter decline and sickness, although Isaac Comnenus tried to cure it, but he used the wrong measures that were too abrupt. In this way, Psellos gives us guidance on how to read his long passages on the maladies of the emperors.
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The paper deals with the autobiographical impulse in the Alexiad of Anna Comnene. We tried to analyze certain passages in order to show in which way Anna’s personal views influenced her description and presentation of certain personages. We will show how her elaborate portrayal is not a mere rhetorical exercise, but is intended by the author as both praise and a critique of the people who influenced her life, and encouraged or suppressed her ambitions. Apart from a physical description, which she used for the evaluation of moral character, and personal judgment, the important thing is the role she ascribed to certain personages. The most beautifully depicted and praised characters were, quite intentionally, the key figures in her struggle to defend her imperial right, of which she was deprived after the birth of John Comnenus. We also analyzed two extensive passages that openly show Anna’s never surpassed imperial ambition and malice toward her younger brother John. Those are narratives about her birth, followed by the birth of Princess Maria and Prince John, and about Alexios’ final days. In both stories, Ana Comnene depicts herself as the central figure of family love, emphasizing the emotional connection she established with her parents, especially Alexios, while still in her mother’s womb. At her father’s deathbed she represents herself as the child most committed to her dying father, without forgetting to give us a sarcastic hint about the emperor’s successor who had left the palace, in order to seize the throne. We have also discussed her silence about certain events, or personages, stressing in the first place, that she rarely mentions her brother John, and even when she does, she often juxtaposes him with the overwhelmingly praised Constantine Doukas, or Nicephoros Bryennios. We found some stylistic features that show in how many different ways theauthor appeared in her own text. We have considered just the possessive pronoun “emos” which she used extensively mentioning her father, mother, husband, and her beloved siblings (i.e. Maria and Andronicus). By using this pronoun, she put herself into the story, where she appears almost always, constantly stressing her connection with the protagonists, and especially the hero, which she mentions as “emos pater” in all cases, 92 times. In the end, we are still left with many more questions than answers. It is certain that Ana’s presence in her own story has to be examined much more deeply, and that quite often, passages and notes that appear in the first place as non-autobiographical reveal a great deal about her and slightly change the perception of the final aims of her work. Therefore, we openly ask what the aim was of such an endeavor as the Alexiad? Was it aimed to be a heroization of Alexios and the construction of an ideal ruler in a new imperial ideology, or was it the self-praise of his first-born child, that even in the days of the third Comnenian ruler refused to admit the ultimate downfall of all her ambitions?
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Keywords: Gagauz Republic; Moldova; territorial autonomy; Transnistria;
In December 1994, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova passed the Law on the Special Judicial Status of the Gagauz Yeri, formally ending a stand-off between the central government and the self-declared Gagauz Republic in the south of the country. The Gagauz were granted territorial autonomy covering almost the entire spectrum of domestic policy areas and were provided with a regional legislature and executive body. This peaceful solution was hailed as a “spectacular victory of reason” (Troebst 2001: 76), given the fact that the Republic of Moldova was engaged in a further conflict in the breakaway region of Transnistria. However, the effectiveness of an autonomy model primarily depends on its subsequent implementation and the consequences it has for the state as a whole (Protsyk/Rigamonti 2007:1). The aim of the present paper is to shed light on the success of Gagauz territorial autonomy by analysing its capacity to enhance Gagauz identity, as well as the extent to which it can be considered a (de-)stabilising factor for the Republic of Moldova. The first criterion appears to be relevant in the Gagauz context because the legitimacy of an ethnically-based territorial autonomy is related to the right of a national minority to pursue its own nation-building at sub-state level (Kymlicka 2001), whereas political elites in the region have been accused of being more intent on maintaining Soviet identity than promoting Gagauz nationhood (Nantoi 2009: 6). The second criterion involves examining if the territorialisation of Gagauz collective rights resulted in an increased secessionist potential. This risk has been voiced for all new democracies in Eastern Europe (Hughes/Sasse 2002: 9) and it has periodically been invoked by Moldovan analysts due to the Gagauz’ co-operation with Transnistrian authorities (Praporşcic 2008) and their demands for a federalisation of the Moldovan state (Gherasim 2010). At the same time, territorial autonomy is also viewed as having the potential of strengthening weak states with a multiethnic population (Kolstø 2001: 214) – a hypothesis that needs to be considered, especially since Gagauz experts underline the wish of their people to contribute to the unity of the country (Angheli 2009).
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Keywords: Post-communism;Romania;Memory;
As in many other former communist countries, a “competitive martyrdom” struggle erupted in Romania soon after the collapse of the former regime. By “competitive martyrdom” I understand the implicit or explicit attempt to exonerate the Romanian political community embodied by the state, or segments of that community, from either guilt or responsibility for having participated in World War II as a Nazi ally and from having perpetrated genocidal crimes against the Jews and the Roma. Coined by several scholars in the context of de¬bates around the extent, the limit or the desirability of emulating the alleged postwar denazification in Western Europe, competitive mar¬tyrdom is a complex issue, influenced not only by the immediate communist past and its treatment of the Holocaust in official history, but also, and above all, by socio-psychological factors linked to collective memory and to the social frameworks of the memory of specific groups within society. Furthermore, it entails also an international aspect, for the de-communizing polities strive to demonstrate their appurtenance to the democratic “international regime” and its values, but are obviously at pain when urged to confront collaboration.
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Keywords: philosophy of law; law; moral; normative; legal encyclopaedia; the right of society to punish.
In the last hundred years, starting with the year of the fulfillment of the forever dream - the union of all Romanians - and the exertion of our country’s sovereignty for the first time, both internally and externally, among the incontestable Romanian achievements in the fields of politics, poetry, prose, criticism, mathematics, medicine, philosophy and history, philosophers and jurists, prominent representatives of Romanian creativity, have made themselves noticed. The Romanian philosophers of law, during the period mentioned, were numerous. The space allocated to this study can not encompass all (or most of them). Through this paper, we want to highlight the ideas, conceptions, theories of the Romanian authors, their real contribution to the development and affirmation of the philosophy of law in the attempt to explain and evaluate the principles on which one of the major dimensions of human existence is based: the normative dimension (ethical and juridical). To the consistent questions about the basis, the role and the importance of the law in society, the Romanian authors have found relevant, well-reasoned answers. What is the Encyclopedia of Law? What is the relationship between the Encyclopedia of Law, the Philosophy of Law, and the General Theory of Law? What is the law? What is the relationship between norm and normativity? But between subjective right and objective right? Is it, as Jhering said, a kind of "Horn head" of the philosophy of law, the relationship between law and morality? What are the coordinates of the modern doctrine of punishment? These fundamental questions were answered, among others, by Alexandru Vălimărescu, Traian Ionaşcu, Petre Pandrea, Dumitru Drăghicescu, Eugeniu Speranţia, Mircea Djuvara.
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Keywords: Romanian Anti-Hungarianism; Roma in Romania;
Despite the difficulties that have beset Romania in its transition from communism to democracy, it boasts a most important success in interethnic relations. Few would have predicted, after the disastrous violence between Romanians and ethnic Hungarians in Tirgu Mures in 1990, that only six years later the ethnic Hungarian party would be a respected member of Romania’s governing coalition.The Project on Ethnic Relations was an active participant in bringing about this result, initiating the first discussions and negotiations between leaders of the preceding government and the Hungarian minority, and replacing confrontation with a pattern of dialogue that persists to this day. The achievement, however, is untested by time. With the year 2000 elections underway in Romania, ethnic issues are already being raised in the campaign.
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Objectives: - To present the main theoretical elements that apply in a company’s international marketing in the present globalization conditions - To form and develop competencies related to conducting the main international marketing activities (how to analyse and how to select a foreign market, how to take marketing decisions for foreign markets, etc.)
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Keywords: economy; agrarian policy; land market; property relations; agricultural association and cooperation; rural economy; rural development; land consolidation; Romanian agricultural economics; agricultural
The volume "Agricultural Policy Issues. Points of view" brings together the opinions of specialists in the field, that reflects the current situation and the stage of evolution of the romanian agricultural sector, as well as the problems encountered in achieving and implementing the economic and productive legal framework of great interest for agriculture and its modernization. This book is a broad scientific event, which treats responsibly the defining segments of the economy and agricultural policy, with emphasis on issues related to the architecture of ownership and exploitation structures, property relations, involvement of the agricultural sector in association actions and cooperation under the influence of new modernization and development strategies subject to the area of scientific debate of the academic and university personalities present at the event. The present research focuses on the perimeter of economics and agricultural policy, addressing important strategy points, which capitalize on the scientific knowledge of specialists and decision-making bodies that forms the pyramid of romanian society, whose opinion completes a set of synergistic actions for efficiency and development of agriculture in Romania. The indisputable value of the scientific materials included in the volume can be recognized by the very essence of the debate – the involvement of the act of knowledge in finding solutions and opportunities for solving problems that affect the natural economic course of agriculture.
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Keywords: educational system in Republic of Moldova; educational system in Transnistria;
The purpose of this study is not to analyze the good or bad parts of the two educational systems on both banks of the Dniester River, but to highlight the differences between them and, at the same time, to find certain points of tangency.
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Keywords: quarantine; literary topos; representation; translation; novel;
If the 20th century world literature is almost obsessively inspired by the phenomenon of disease and epidemic, in general, the discourse of the Romanian translation of novels in the ‘90s seems to be “contaminated” by the representation of quarantine, in particular. This peculiar fascination Romanian translators and readers hold for the idea of “quarantine” represents the focus of our study. Based on the information provided in different bibliographies, library catalogues, and other databases, we aim to review – in chronological order and with historical-literary implications – those novels translated into Romanian which thematize in their title the literary topos of quarantine. On the one hand, the recurrence of this motif gives us the opportunity to point out the various forms and functions it has within the listed novels and in literature. On the other hand, the up-to-date nature of this issue also allows us to configure an overview of the dynamics of the reading public’s literary taste, as well as of the circulation and reception of foreign novels in Romanian culture.
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please find in the » Introduction.pdf « a complete Table of Content for all annual issues of 1940
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Keywords: Hungarian literature; Franyo Zoltân; cultural construction; memorialistic imaginary;
Este greu să scrii despre Franyo Zoltân fără să rămâi vreme îndelungată în arhive. Memorialistica lui Franyo e înșelătoare, poate și fiindcă memoria noastră e înșelătoare : a trăit mult, a traversat epoci complicate, a fost prieten cu personaje contradictorii. De unii a fost abandonat, pe alții i-a părăsit el. Dar „abandonurile” nu sunt atât de numeroase încât să nu observăm că Franyo se simte întotdeauna bine lângă un altul - că respiră printr-un Celălalt pe care și-l asumă: a fost în preajma lui, La slujit cu credință. A fost în apropierea lui și îl cunoaște așa cum nu-1 cunoaște nimeni. I-a dat o voce nouă, un sens nou prin traducerile sale. Face și el parte din nemaipomenita existență a ilustrului. Poate vorbi pe larg despre Ady Endre, despre Rilke, despre Eminescu, despre Arghezi? I-a tradus în germană, în maghiară - a fost, pentru o clipă, Ady Endre, Mihai Eminescu, Tudor Arghezi ! S-a aflat, o perioadă, într-un orizont eminescian. Sau, cum spune Perpessicius : „Din Timișoara și într-o admirabilă tipăritură, cu textul românesc în stînga și cu cel german în dreapta, primim placheta în care dl Franyo a tipărit tălmăcirea Luceafărului. Darul e însoțit de broșura Zoltân Franyo, traducătorul poeților români : antologia Rumaenische Dichter, pe care editura Geniusz a avut bunul gând să o publice. Sunt strânse aici, de la majoritatea scriitorilor noștri, ecouri de presă în legătură cu truda și serviciile pe care dl. Franyo Zoltân le-a adus poeziei românești în frunte cu Eminescu și recitirea tuturor acestor mărturii și recunoașteri constituie una dintre rarele lecții de optimism ale ceasului de față. Cum nu mă pot opri mai mult, vă recomand entuziastul și comprehensivul articol pe care dl. Eugen Jebeleanu îl tipărea cu zece ani în urmă în coloanele României literare. E nu numai una dintre cele mai calde pledoarii, dar și cel mai prețios dintre atestatele pe care opera dlui Zoltân Franyo le-a smuls colegilor săi români”.
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Keywords: Balls; Weddings; Pastimes; Romania;
Când voiau să se mai distreze, să iasă din monotonia zilnică, oamenii din Banat, inclusiv șvabii, mergeau la baluri. Existau mai multe tipuri de baluri: balul meseriașilor, al pompierilor, balul mascat, balul secerișului, balul strugurilor, balul de Anul Nou, balul de Lăsatul Secului.
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Keywords: Central Europe; spirit; identity; politics; culture; literature; views;
Această selecție a fost realizată încercând de a schița o idee sau mai degrabă, de a surprinde un spirit, spiritul Europei Centrale. Am apelat astfel la textele marilor autori. Ei au desigur primul cuvânt. Fragmentele sunt alese deopotrivă din opere de ficțiune, memorialistice, eseistice sau programatice; Kakania romanescă a lui Musil, manifestul politic/cultural al lui Milan Kundera, memoriile înflăcărate ale lui Stefan Zweig. Un tablou compozit, susceptibil de a fi eclectic : opinii diverse, lansate în momente diferite, de pe poziții la fel de diferite. Premisa noastră este însă căfiecare dintre ei invocă de două ori Europa Centrală. O dată, ni se vorbește despre ea, ca obiect al reflecției sau al evocării literare, a doua oară, în spiritul ei, ca exponent al unei matrici culturale vagi, dar care poate conferi unitate acestei diversități.
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Keywords: Central Europe; culture; identity;
Problema unei culturi central-europene a intrat în actualitate la începutul anului 1989, cînd blocul vestic a conștientizat, atît politic, cît și intelectual, în mod serios faptul că politica de deschidere și reconstrucție a lui Mihail Gorbaciov va contamina toate țările central- -europene pe care Stalin și urmașii săi încercaseră să le controleze. Fiecare dintre aceste țari trebuia să-și determine cît mai curînd propriile fidelități și alianțe, dezvoltînd noi relații (pentru început) cu vecinii, Statele Unite și țările vest-europene, reexaminînd noțiunile despre Europa Centrală care dominaseră vremurile trecute. Ar putea o astfel de Europă Centrală, Mitteleuropa sau Mitropa forma o entitate determinata, conștientă de sine, în lumea noastră în continuă schimbare? Sau întregul concept este definitiv încețoșat de nostalgie?
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Keywords: Central Europe; politics; culture; identity; history; nation; afterword;
1. LECȚIA DE ISTORIE (I). Despre necesitatea altui Centru 2. IL UTOPIILE IMPERIALE ca vocație a Periferiei, între Periferie și Margine. 3. III. CUTIA PANDOREI (I). Temele tabu ale unei lumi blestemate 4. IV. CUTIA PANDOREI (II). Pentru o istorie alternativă a literaturilor Europei Centrale
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Keywords: cohesion crisis; liberal democracy crisis; Strategic Compass; Strategic Concept; strategic autonomy; Russian-Ukrainian war;
The present paper approaches the significant contextual aspects in which 2022 NATO and EU strategic revision process is taking place. The study premises that Russian unjustified military aggression on Ukraine and the subsequent security challenges for the European security environment are only the most recent, visible, and implicitly, attention catching ones, and that the background of the current strategic revision of both NATO and the EU is wider and marked by the succession of internal and external crises in the last decade. However, despite the need to approach all these challenges, Russian invasion of Ukraine has a key role in these organizations’ strategic revision, as it can be considered a wake-up call, an undeniable proof that both NATO and EU have to adapt their role in the regional and international security context. Through this rather descriptive approach, this paper is meant to bring to attention the complexity of the current international and regional context, shaping NATO and EU strategic revision. Also, we will argue that one of the main challenges that are to come after this revision will consist in dealing with NATO-EU relation in the best possible manner. In order to do so, the argumentation will be built departing from the general regional context, taking in consideration both internal and external trends, continuing with the origins and signification of NATO and EU strategic revision. This will be the basis on which we intend to reveal some of the challenges of NATO-EU relation and how this relation was impacted by the unjustified Russian military aggression on Ukraine. The argumentation capitalizes recent events with relevance for NATO and EU approach to security and is built on inputs from the level of population perception on NATO and EU, as well as from national foreign politics and trends specific to the organizations themselves. Given that this paper was written before NATO actually published its 2022 Strategic Concept, the author will mostly capitalize on EU’ s official documents and, implicitly, on EU’ s perspective. The study concludes that despite the highly conflict-prone context, there is also a favourable ground not only for the EU to progress in its military dimension but also for doing this in full coordination with NATO, avoiding duplications.
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