L’image du Grec dans l’œuvre de Panaït Istrati et Mateiu Ion Caragiale

This article wishes to reevaluate the image of the Greek in Romanian culture by using as an example the literary works of Mateiu Ion Caragiale (1885‑1936) and Panait Istrati (1884‑1935). The deep relationship between biography and fiction is, in the case of these two authors, a key to interpreting t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Alexandra Vranceanu Pagliardini
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre d'Études Balkaniques 2017-11-01
Series:Cahiers Balkaniques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ceb/9719
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Summary:This article wishes to reevaluate the image of the Greek in Romanian culture by using as an example the literary works of Mateiu Ion Caragiale (1885‑1936) and Panait Istrati (1884‑1935). The deep relationship between biography and fiction is, in the case of these two authors, a key to interpreting the ways in which the image of the Greek changes during the modern period. If during the xviiith and the xixth century the Greeks coming from Phanar were considered to be corrupt social climbers, in the works of P. Istrati and M. I. Caragiale we assist at a symbolical recovery of the influences coming from the Levant. The multicultural tradition of the gates to the Orient and of the harbors for the Orient became in their writings a source of literary inspiration and a part of the Romanian cultural heritage. Unlike the representation of the Orient by Romantic occidental writers, P. Istrati and M. I. Caragiale have an ambivalent point of view, which sees in the Levantine Friend an “exotic” and “another myself” at the same time.
ISSN:0290-7402
2261-4184