Amours et politique ; les politiques de l’Amour : à propos de Popi de Teodor Scorțescu

In this paper, I would like to analyze the nouvelle Popi (1930) by Teodor Scorţescu (1893‑1976), an author unjustly forgotten in his country, in order to identify cultural relativism lessons emerging from a story with Greek subject told by a Romanian. The narrative relates a love affair on the backg...

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Main Author: Victor Ivanovici
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre d'Études Balkaniques 2017-11-01
Series:Cahiers Balkaniques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ceb/9608
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author Victor Ivanovici
author_facet Victor Ivanovici
author_sort Victor Ivanovici
collection DOAJ
description In this paper, I would like to analyze the nouvelle Popi (1930) by Teodor Scorţescu (1893‑1976), an author unjustly forgotten in his country, in order to identify cultural relativism lessons emerging from a story with Greek subject told by a Romanian. The narrative relates a love affair on the background of the great "National Discord" (Εθνικός Διχασμός), that is to say, the "fierce hate" which, since the World War I, had torn Greece, between supporters of King Constantine and those of the liberal leader Eleftherios Venizelos. A young Romanian, on business trip in this humiliated by defeat and shaken by revolutionary convulsions country, observes the raging political passions of his hosts, first with amused detachment, and then he learns to put it to use to seduce a beautiful Athenian woman and to drive away an annoying rival. The double posture of the narrator gives to Scorţescu’s story a double kind of profile. On the one hand, as a "study of manners", it may teach the Greeks the benefits to contemplate domestic things with the eyes of a stranger, and in this sense seems, relatively speaking, a "Persian letter" à la Montesquieu. On the other hand, Popi is also a "libertine" story that, with a little nod to Diderot, focuses on the art of make speaking a too quiet feminine "jewel".
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spelling doaj-art-64c14d539ce94ab4a346cb3ec7dc08bf2025-08-20T03:07:20ZengCentre d'Études BalkaniquesCahiers Balkaniques0290-74022261-41842017-11-014410.4000/ceb.9608Amours et politique ; les politiques de l’Amour : à propos de Popi de Teodor ScorțescuVictor IvanoviciIn this paper, I would like to analyze the nouvelle Popi (1930) by Teodor Scorţescu (1893‑1976), an author unjustly forgotten in his country, in order to identify cultural relativism lessons emerging from a story with Greek subject told by a Romanian. The narrative relates a love affair on the background of the great "National Discord" (Εθνικός Διχασμός), that is to say, the "fierce hate" which, since the World War I, had torn Greece, between supporters of King Constantine and those of the liberal leader Eleftherios Venizelos. A young Romanian, on business trip in this humiliated by defeat and shaken by revolutionary convulsions country, observes the raging political passions of his hosts, first with amused detachment, and then he learns to put it to use to seduce a beautiful Athenian woman and to drive away an annoying rival. The double posture of the narrator gives to Scorţescu’s story a double kind of profile. On the one hand, as a "study of manners", it may teach the Greeks the benefits to contemplate domestic things with the eyes of a stranger, and in this sense seems, relatively speaking, a "Persian letter" à la Montesquieu. On the other hand, Popi is also a "libertine" story that, with a little nod to Diderot, focuses on the art of make speaking a too quiet feminine "jewel".https://journals.openedition.org/ceb/9608RomaniaRomanian literatureRoyalistsFeminine "Jewel"Venizelos Eleftherios (1864‑1936)Scorţescu Teodor (1893‑1976)
spellingShingle Victor Ivanovici
Amours et politique ; les politiques de l’Amour : à propos de Popi de Teodor Scorțescu
Cahiers Balkaniques
Romania
Romanian literature
Royalists
Feminine "Jewel"
Venizelos Eleftherios (1864‑1936)
Scorţescu Teodor (1893‑1976)
title Amours et politique ; les politiques de l’Amour : à propos de Popi de Teodor Scorțescu
title_full Amours et politique ; les politiques de l’Amour : à propos de Popi de Teodor Scorțescu
title_fullStr Amours et politique ; les politiques de l’Amour : à propos de Popi de Teodor Scorțescu
title_full_unstemmed Amours et politique ; les politiques de l’Amour : à propos de Popi de Teodor Scorțescu
title_short Amours et politique ; les politiques de l’Amour : à propos de Popi de Teodor Scorțescu
title_sort amours et politique les politiques de l amour a propos de popi de teodor scortescu
topic Romania
Romanian literature
Royalists
Feminine "Jewel"
Venizelos Eleftherios (1864‑1936)
Scorţescu Teodor (1893‑1976)
url https://journals.openedition.org/ceb/9608
work_keys_str_mv AT victorivanovici amoursetpolitiquelespolitiquesdelamouraproposdepopideteodorscortescu