Ulysse et les Roumains

I propose to go back in time and explore the theme of the tragic journey whereby Greece and Romania finally meet across time, weaving a string of memories that stretches from antiquity to the present day. The journey is that of Jewish Romanian writer Benjamin Fondane who left his anti-Semitic Romani...

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Main Author: Catherine Durandin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre d'Études Balkaniques 2014-05-01
Series:Cahiers Balkaniques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/ceb/4929
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author Catherine Durandin
author_facet Catherine Durandin
author_sort Catherine Durandin
collection DOAJ
description I propose to go back in time and explore the theme of the tragic journey whereby Greece and Romania finally meet across time, weaving a string of memories that stretches from antiquity to the present day. The journey is that of Jewish Romanian writer Benjamin Fondane who left his anti-Semitic Romania to write a long poem about exile in French entitled Ulysse. The tragic journey is that of Laetitia and Julien, who, after meeting by chance in December 1989 in Bucharest, were reunited by chance twenty years later in the same city, only to be separated by death when Julien was killed in a bomb attack in Constantza. Yet tragedy also generates powerful waves of tenderness and affection – the tenderness Julien’s mother feels for her son, torn as she is between lamenting and rebelling against death in an echo of all the tragic figures of the Mother from Andromaque to the universal Nanny. Here, Greek tragedy informs present-day Romania from Bucharest to Constantza as well as the terrible lament of those who mourn when death triumphs over love.
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spelling doaj-art-e4da8caa7dc3433183395c4aee903d512025-08-20T02:33:07ZengCentre d'Études BalkaniquesCahiers Balkaniques0290-74022261-41842014-05-014210.4000/ceb.4929Ulysse et les RoumainsCatherine DurandinI propose to go back in time and explore the theme of the tragic journey whereby Greece and Romania finally meet across time, weaving a string of memories that stretches from antiquity to the present day. The journey is that of Jewish Romanian writer Benjamin Fondane who left his anti-Semitic Romania to write a long poem about exile in French entitled Ulysse. The tragic journey is that of Laetitia and Julien, who, after meeting by chance in December 1989 in Bucharest, were reunited by chance twenty years later in the same city, only to be separated by death when Julien was killed in a bomb attack in Constantza. Yet tragedy also generates powerful waves of tenderness and affection – the tenderness Julien’s mother feels for her son, torn as she is between lamenting and rebelling against death in an echo of all the tragic figures of the Mother from Andromaque to the universal Nanny. Here, Greek tragedy informs present-day Romania from Bucharest to Constantza as well as the terrible lament of those who mourn when death triumphs over love.https://journals.openedition.org/ceb/4929LiteratureTwentieth centuryRomaniaRomanian literatureFondane Benjamin (1898-1944)
spellingShingle Catherine Durandin
Ulysse et les Roumains
Cahiers Balkaniques
Literature
Twentieth century
Romania
Romanian literature
Fondane Benjamin (1898-1944)
title Ulysse et les Roumains
title_full Ulysse et les Roumains
title_fullStr Ulysse et les Roumains
title_full_unstemmed Ulysse et les Roumains
title_short Ulysse et les Roumains
title_sort ulysse et les roumains
topic Literature
Twentieth century
Romania
Romanian literature
Fondane Benjamin (1898-1944)
url https://journals.openedition.org/ceb/4929
work_keys_str_mv AT catherinedurandin ulysseetlesroumains