Making of Modern Romanian Culture: Literacy and the Development of National Identity

by Alex Drace-Francis

This book challenges the notion that Western ideas were essential to Romanian development. It is a fascinating story of how a national culture is born. This book provides a history of the development of literary culture and the printed word in Romania. How do literacy and the development of literary culture promote the development of a national identity? "The Making of Modern Romanian Culture" examines the development of both a literary tradition and institutions aimed at promoting literacy in Romania in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries - from Romanians under the control of the Austrian Empire in the eighteenth century to revolt in Romania under Tudor Vladimirescu in 1821 to Carol, the first King of Romania, crowned in 1881. Alex Drace-Francis combines analysis of education systems, book production, and the periodical press with case studies of key thinkers such as Mihai Eminescu, Ion Luca Caragiale and Titu Maiorescu to trace Romania's cultural and literary development. He offers a criticism of the idea that the 'penetration of Western ideas' was essential to modernism to place literacy and identity within both a Romanian and a global context.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Alex Drace-Francis is Associate Professor of Modern European Cultural History at the University of Amsterdam.

Reviews

[Roxana Chirilă · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nu sunt sigură că teza autorului stă în picioare, dar teza e relativ ușor de ignorat.

„Geneza culturii române moderne” face un lucru foarte, foarte mișto: compilează foarte multe date despre publicare, tipar, educație, școli, elevi, facultăți și cărți din Țara Românească și Moldova, cu câteva detalii și din Transilvania. Conține câteva citate interesante din epocă, punere în context, grafice, un pic de istorie, un pic de politică - fix ce trebuie ca să ai o imagine de ansamblu asupra lumii intelectuale.