NATIONAL CULTURAL IDENTITY, REGIONAL CULTURAL IDENTITY
Abstract: We have identified Romanian regional differences in the 17th-19th centuries: Moldavian aristocratism opened to the West and the Wallachian democratism opened to the Balkans.
Keywords: the first modernity, national identity, regional identity, aristocratism, liberalism
UNDERSTANDING AND MISUNDERSTANDING IN THE HISTORICAL AND LITERARY SPACE OF THE 27S. MIHAIL SEBASTIAN’S POSITION
Abstract: The structure of a generation is based on a series of events, states and facts, common to a particular space and to a well-defined period of time. Romania’s Young Generation of the 27s ends up being a representative cultural identity in the development of the inter-war literature. Mihail Sebastian’s position as a key representative of his generation, lucid, rationale and balanced spirit, is one that is opposed to the outlook which denies the value of rationalism and of the desire to live in adventure.
Keywords: generation, narrator, inter-war period, Criterion, novel, evolution, autochthon, identity.
ROLES OF THE POLISH, RUSSIAN AND ROMANIAN LANGUAGES IN THE POLISH DIASPORA IN MOLDOVA
Abstract: According to a survey, representatives of the Polish diaspora are mostly Russian speakers. 69% of the surveyed acquired Russian at home, while only 25.3% learned Romanian, and 22.9% - Polish, from their parents. Research on the declared knowledge of these three languages indicates the overwhelming predominance of Russian, known by all respondents, mostly on a very good and good level. The survey has shown that daily communication proceeds mostly in Russian, and the studied population has a positive or neutral attitude towards it. Russian is the first language for Polish people in Moldova. The level of Romanian language knowledge is much lower: 9.4% of respondents did not know the official language of the country of which they were citizens, and the respondents’ attitude towards the language is mostly neutral or negative. Responses indicated contact with Romanian in state institutions, everyday life, with family and friends and when communication in Russian was impossible. Polish was liked the most among the surveyed languages, and it is acquired mainly in courses of Polish as a foreign language and the speakers’ level is close to that of Romanian. According to responses, Polish was mostly used among other Poles in Moldova, in the Catholic Church and during trips to Poland.
Keywords: foreign language, mother tongue, multilingualism, native language, L1/L2/L3
THE SELF-TRANSLATION OF THE COLLOQUIAL DISCOURSE IN ROUMAINS DÉRACINÉS BY PAUL MICLĂU
Abstract: The focus of this study is represented by the selftranslation of the colloquial discourse in Roumains déracinés, the autobiographical novel of the Romanian writer of French expression Paul Miclau. As the writing of the novel was unfolding, the writer explored the idea of using the colloquial discourse as he practised it in his communication with his students while teaching Romanian for foreign students at the University of Montpellier, the Faculty of Letters and Humanities. The idea of employing this type of discourse arose out of the necessity of using spontaneous phrases in French without interfering with the nature of the language from an ethnological point-of-view. The phrases pertaining to the colloquial discourse are scattered throughout the novel which leads us to believe that the writer-translator made intentional use of this type of language in order to transfigure a surprising universe with a view to gaining the appreciation of the Francophone readership, a goal which the writer accomplished, as in 1996 he won the European Prize granted by Association des Écrivains de Langue Française for his original volume Roumains déracinés (1995). If the use of this type of discourse was possible in French, as it was close to the students’ jargon, things are quite different when it comes to its translation into Romanian; some phrases were translated into the Banat dialect, their rendering being difficult or even impossible.
Keywords: translator, writer, colloquial discourse, Banat dialect.
INDIRECT COLOUR TERMS IN A WORK OF VERBAL ART
Abstract: The present article is focused on colour terms in general and on their indirect variety in particular. Colour has already proved to be an indispensable part of the expression plane of a work of verbal art – being highly connotative, it abounds in various associations meant by the author. Direct colour terms have already been the subject of quite a few scientific studies; however, much too little attention has so far been given to the colour terms which denote colour indirectly – the so-called indirect colour terms which include the objects of extralinguistic reality: the names of flowers, precious stones, dyes and other objects which have a typical colour and immediately provoke the association with it. The aim of this article is to show most clearly that this variety of words denoting colour is no less expressive and meaningful in a literary text and, therefore, it deserves much more scientific attention than it has received. We thought it useful to include the texts of translation in our analysis in order to discover if the importance of the indirect colour terms occurring in the original is observed by translators and, thus, rendered in the resultant text.
Keywords: colour, indirect colour terms, expression plane, extralinguistic reality.
THE PERISHING BEING IN INITIATION JOURNEYS – THE JOURNEY BEYOND THE VEIL
Abstract: During time, man has been preoccupied with the topics of initiation journeys, of journeys beyond the veil, of Heaven and Hell. According to Jacques Le Goff, stories about journeys beyond the veil follow three traditions. One known Irish legend tells of St. Patrick, who visited the Inferno and the Purgatory. In twelve-century England, priest Adam Ros portrayed, in a poem, the journey of St. Paul to Hell. The myth of Orpheus also deals with this topic. Among the rare descendings to Hell mentioned by the Greek mythology, that of Orpheus becomes the most popular. Ulysses’ journey in Homer’s Odyssey can be also interpreted as an initiation journey, a form of knowledge of the world, but also a form of self-knowledge, a central path. The world beyond the veil appears as a universe outside time. The reason for the journey can be the knowledge of the world beyond the veil, a journey to the Lord in order to receive recompense or a journey for being given advice. Initiation journeys can also be followed in Virgil’s Aeneid or Dante’s Divine Comedy. Aeneas’s wish is that of descending into the Inferno to meet his father. A symbolical descending done to learn and to receive some advice. Dante’s Divine Comedy represents an allegorical view of the other world, as a path to salvation. The other world is an allegory and an image of this world; it is the history and the mystery of the soul. The Divine Comedy thus appears as a story of the soul, which, from form to form, identifies itself with God, pure intelligence, pure love, and pure act.
Keywords: initiation journey, descending into the Inferno, the other world, Aeneid, Divine Comedy
ONLINE IDENTITY AS A NARRATIVE PROJECT
Abstract: This paper focuses on the reinterpretation of online identity in the conceptual frame done by Giddens’ key terms “self-identity” and “reflexive project”. This rethinking of digital identity emphasizes the conscious, active, and introspective modalities in which an individual constructs and manages her or his identity using the digital tools. Thus, constructivism and symbolic interactionism underpin this investigation. The choices that new media offer introduce from the very beginning a sort of awareness about the project of virtual self-building. The differences that occurred between the early stages of the development of new media and the actual state of affairs in the digital realm impose some changes in the presentation of the self and in its conceiving. In this respect, the paper underlines some relevant developments and possibilities for the affirmation of the self, but, in the same time, presents some constraints and limitations that are visible in the current stage of new media. The problem of digital archive that should preserve the autobiographical narratives is the main example that I will develop, because the identityforming process is shaped by the narrative pieces that we select as representative for our image about ourselves. Thus, the understanding of the modalities through which people compose their digital self-narratives (writing, posting, or archiving) and use them in the self-knowing process describes a chain of action that is very valuable for the edification of our identity.
Keywords: archive, online identity, project, reflexivity, selfidentity.
SOUTH AFRICA REFORMED: SOCIAL CHANGES IN NADINE GORDIMER’S THE HOUSE GUN
Abstract: Published in 1998, The House Gun is Gordimer’s testimony of South African realities four years after the first democratic elections took place. It has been tagged in many ways; as “a courtroom thriller” (The Times), “a triumph (…) a passionate, multi-layered story of awakening” (Yorkshire Post), “an engrossing and deeply considered novel about violence and its consequences” (Esquire), “a work of exceptional caliber” (Sunday Times), or as a ”pro-tolerance novel” (Harpers and Queen). At its core, the novel is an attempt to lay bare and account for some of the problems South Africa was facing at that particular moment in time. By taking The House Gun as the point of reference, this papers aims at investigating the changes occurring in the South African social fabric and the new relationships established between blacks and whites.
Keywords: democracy, otherness, post-apartheid, racism
THE „LANGUAGE” OF CINEMA: FILM „GRAMMAR” AND VISUAL LITERACY
Abstract: Regarded as a “visual esperanto” transcending the barriers of national language, cinema is irrefutably a powerful means of communicating meaning, a language in itself, comparable to mathematics and music in its universality. Nonetheless, this language has its own peculiarities and it functions in a unique way, displaying its own “grammar”. Indeed, film may be said to have a grammar in the sense that there are certain conventions of shooting and editing that are often followed to determine particular emotional responses or to create the illusion of continuous action in time and space. As print-oriented literacy requires recognition of words and the patterns in which they are usually combined, so film literacy requires recognition of cinematic techniques. Our current paper sets out to investigate how the language of cinema works and to prove that, in order to adequately understand this type of language, we have to be both visually and aurally literate.
Keywords: cinema, film “grammar”, visual literacy
DOCUMENTARY ART FILM AS A EUROPEAN SPACE OF COMMUNICATION
Abstract: The author examines the mechanisms of the communicational process through the film dedicated to arts on the bases of the arguments of the domestic and European cinema. He substantiates that due to new techniques and technologies the process of communicating of spiritual values is facilitated – an important fact in the comprehension and assimilation of these values worldwide.
Keywords: communication, cinematic language, film of art, reinterpretation, spiritual identity, sign, stylistic device, symbolic language.
TRANSLATION AND GLOBALIZATION, OR HOW TO DECODE A TEXT AT THE TIME OF GLOBALIZATION ILLUSTRATION WITH A COLLECTION OF POETRY
Abstract: Between French and English, the English tropism is certainly present, but English shall not save the world. Without being Anglophobe or Francophobe, in the era of Globalization we should valorize the learning of the difference. The translation (and interpreting) may also be a channel, but is it necessary that it turns as deeply imprinted in the language and the thinking of the Other. A translation must be capable to rend this difference obvious not by means of language, but through culture. In the 20th century a number of issues arose regarding the translation related to languages that had several horizons. The globalization of the 20th century put more than ever groups and individuals of different languages in contact, increasing the number of translations of works and the theory of translation. To advance my comments on literary and poetic translation, I will use excerpts from a collection of translated poetry Ce soleil percera-t-il les nuages? of Najib Redouane (Montréal: Éditions du Marais, 2009) and its translation in English Will this Sun break through the clouds? made by Abby Heraud and Mary Mcgiven (Rome: Aracne editor, 2011).
Keywords: Globalization, translation, Language issues, Language policy, Cultural codes, Theories of translation, Translation attitudes, 20th century, Translating the poetry
FORCE DEMONSTRATION AND FORCE THREATENING – WAYS OF COMMUNICATION AMONG STATES AND GROUPS OF STATES
Abstract: Force demonstration is usually organized as a military parade. Military exhibition, military test of different weapon systems, military live exercises and military interventions are among other types of force demonstrations.
Force demonstration is a multipurpose action. One of the most common purposes of force demonstration in to send a message to international community about organizers’ military potential and possible consequences in case one of the international actors would like to engage in a military confrontation against organizers. Another purpose is to offer for transactions military technology.
Despite the official documents’ content referring to principles for international relations, threaten to force is quite often used for solving disputes among states.
It is too sad that many people and especially communities’ leaders had forgotten that violence gives birth to violence.
Keywords: force demonstration, force threatening,weapon systems, military confrontation, weapons, military exhibition/inventions, to engage, warfare means, strategies
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNITARY LAW AND THE INTERNAL LAW OF THE MEMBER STATES OF EU
Abstract: Communitary Law can implement its norms in the internal legal order of the member states, without being tofulfill certain formalities in order to integrate them into the internal legal norms..The communitary law has a direct applicability, regardless of its sources. As a result, it has a direct effect, in the sense, that it can create rights and obligations not only for the member states, but also for individuals.This characteristic of the Communitary Law to induce a direct effect is linked to the essence of the communitary legal order.Therefore, the direct effect of the Communitary Law consists of its capacity to create rights and concrete obligations for the physical persons and for the legal ones in the member states and their impossibility to resort to the communitary norms in front of the national legal courts and of the communitary organisms.The Court of Justice has also established that the secondary legislation creates a direct effect, like the primary legislation, being able to make use of the provisions included in the communiatry treatises in order to initiate an action in the Court.. Bringing motivation to this solution, the Court proved that the communitary legal order is a new legal, autonomous order whose subjects are not only the member states but also their resortisants.Being independent from the national law, the communitary law provides for individuals not only obligations but also rights resulting not only from an explicit assignment but also as being a correlative right of an obligation included in treatises alloted to member states.If the state does not fulfill the obligation imposed by the Communitary Law, its resortisants can invoke it in front of the legal national and communitary courts.
Keywords: communitary law, dirrect application, internal legal norm, communitary legal order, communitary objectives, the principle of priority, the principle of immediate application
FREEDOM AND THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT OF THE HUMAN BEING
On the 10th of December 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was approved by the United Nations, following of the Second World War.
The term “rights of men” was first used in the seventeenth century by the contemporaries of the English philosopher John Locke. The “Bill of Rights” (Déclaration des droits) of 1689 is one of the most important documents relating to human rights. Its ideas were reflected in the American Declaration of Independence (1776) and in the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789)....
THE ENERGY OF THE PRESS-THE MOST SPECTACULAR DEVELOPMENT AFTER 1989
„The press is the best instrument for enlightening the mind of man, and improving him as a rational, moral and social being.” (Thomas Jefferson)
I will proceed by quoting George Pruteanu: “Journalism is one the phenomena with the most spectacular development after 1989. „Spectacular” does not mean „perfect” as well. I would say that press and, generally speaking the media, have developed in a Romanian way, closely mirroring in their progress all the qualities and flaws of the boiling Romanian society, even with its peaks.” ...
