Bulletin of the “Lucian Blaga”

Transcription

Bulletin of the “Lucian Blaga”
Central University Library
PHILOBIBLON
Volume XII
2007
Cluj University Press
2007
Director:
Doru RADOSAV
Editors:
István KIRÁLY, Florina ILIŞ and Ágnes
KORONDI
Editor of the
English Text:
Scientific Advisors:
Translators:
Front Cover:
Sally WOOD-LAMONT
Florina ILIŞ (Criticism and Literary
Theory)
Gyöngyi ORBÁN (Hungarian Literature
and Literary Theory)
Doru RADOSAV and Ionuţ COSTEA
(History)
Enikő ŠKOLKA (Psychology and
Cognitive Sciences)
Sally WOOD-LAMONT and Ana Maria
CĂPÂLNEANU (Librarianship)
Kata RUSU and Ágnes KORONDI
arch. Tiberiu TRENEA
photogr. György TASNÁDI
The PHILOBIBLON Editorial Office welcomes manuscripts for publication!
Correspondence related to articles, etc. should be addressed to:
PHILOBIBLON
“Lucian Blaga” Central University Library
Str. Clinicilor nr.2
400006 CLUJ, Romania
Tel: +40-264-597092/137
Fax: +40-264-597633
E-mail: [email protected]
The Contents of the issues of PHILOBIBLON, and the Abstracts of the main
articles are available online at:
http://www.bcucluj.ro/philo/philo.html
The articles of this periodical are included in the EBSCO Publishing
products.
ISSN 1224 -7448
Contents
CULTURE, BOOKS, SOCIETY: ADRIAN MARINO AND HIS
HORIZONS
Mircea POPA, Adrian Marino or the Daemon of Erudition................. 11
Adrian Marino’s Last Pages................................................................. 24
Emilia-Mariana SOPORAN, An Active Friendship in the Realms of
Multiculturalism: Andrei Pippidi–Adrian Marino……………………. 42
Alex GOLDIŞ, The Ideological System of Adrian Marino…………... 59
Florina ILIS, Adrian Marino and the Idea of Literature from a
Hermeneutical Perspective……………………………………...…….. 70
Károly VERESS, On the Border of Text and Experience – About
Adrian Marino’s Hermeneutics…………………………………...…... 81
Rodica FRENŢIU, Tatakau Hikaku Bungaku. Adrian Marino and the
Militant Comparatism in Japan………………………………………. 115
Bujor PĂDUREANU, Das Phänomen des Agon bei Nietzsche.......... 128
Ovidiu PECICAN, A Patriarch of Militant Europeanism: Adrian
Marino………………………………………………………………... 162
Constantin M. POPA, Adrian Marino – The Impenitent Critic of
Ideas...................................................................................................... 173
Monica SPIRIDON, Under the Zodiac Sign of the Alternative…..... 189
Gábor GYŐRFFY, An Autochthon Alternative of Free Culture during
Communism………………………………………………………….. 195
István FEHÉR M., Idea and Tradition of Europe in the Light of Its Own
History......................................................................................................... 205
Doru POP, Liberty as a Profession…………………...……………... 229
5
István KIRÁLY V., Liberty and Truth – Fragments about the “Cavemyth”…………………………… ………………………………..... 236
Sidonia GRAMA NEDEIANU, The Catharsis of Going out into the
Street: Experiencing the 1989 Romanian Revolution………………... 251
LIBRARIANSHIP: HERMENEUTICA BIBLIOTHECARIA
Mircea ANGHELESCU, Adrian Marino and the Existential Library. An
Essay………………………………………………………...……….. 279
Felix OSTROVSCHI, A Different Discourse – Adrian Marino……. 284
Rozália PORÁCZKY, Hungarian Cultural History in the Second Half
of the 19th Century in Transylvania...................................................... 296
Gheorghe VAIS, The University Library of Cluj – 1906–1909…….. 307
Luminiţa TOMUŢA, Remodelling a Library – Remodelling
Mentalities............................................................................................ 352
Gabriela MORĂRESCU, 2005: a New Approach to Branch
Libraries…............................................................................................ 358
Mariana FALUP, Achievements and Perspectives in Library
Automation and Modernization…………………………………...…. 375
Carmen CRIŞAN, Using the Scientific Databases Subscribed to by the
“Lucian Blaga” Central University Library in the Year 2005…...…... 382
Alina Ioana ŞUTA, From the International Exchange of Publications to
the Exchange of Experience – a Polish Contact…………………...… 403
Costel DUMITRAŞCU, Bibliographic Information or Tracking the
Book in the Library…………………………………………………... 413
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS OF THE LIBRARY
Emilia-Mariana SOPORAN, The Adrian Marino Archive Collection of
the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library……………………… 419
6
Judit KOLUMBÁN, Exhibition of 16–18th Century Manuscripts in the
“Lucian Blaga” Central University Library, Homo Scribens: Memory
Culture and the Typology of Writing in the 16–18th Century……...… 428
MISCELLANEA
Ruxandra CESEREANU, Adrian Marino between Unit-ideas and
Zeitgeist………………………………………………………………. 437
Iulia GRAD, Jewish Philosophy: between Jerusalem and Athens….. 441
Raluca SOARE, A Man, a Book, a Library. Traian Brad – a Servant of
Books……………………………………………………………...…. 447
Ildikó BÁN, Lidia Kulikovski: Library Services for People with Special
Needs (Textbook for Librarians)……………………………………... 450
Ioana ROBU–Sally WOOD-LAMONT, The 10th Conference of the
European Association for Health Information and Libraries
(EAHIL)................................................................................................ 454
7
CULTURE, BOOKS, SOCIETY
ADRIAN MARINO AND HIS HORIZONS
Philobiblon – Vol. XII - 2007
Adrian Marino or the Daemon of Erudition
Mircea POPA
Faculty of Letters,
“1 December 1918” University, Alba Iulia
Keywords: professional, uomo universale, comparatist, road-finder and
opener, European values
Abstract
The paper presents Adrian Marino, the daemon of erudition, the uomo
universale in extinction. He was that type of erudite who lived at the
confluence of two or three cultures, and aspired towards the universal
Republic of Letters. He had fought for an open and dialogical culture,
though his aspirations towards culture had been rejected for more than a
decade by the interdiction of his signature right. Each of Adrian Marino’s
books from Viaţa lui Alexandru Macedonski, until the Biografia ideii de
literatură, and Pentru Europa put up in value the national potential of
literary ideology, the authentic signals of our Europeanisation. Marino
the comparativist and the ideologue was a voice that we needed, a
constructive civic spirit who always had in sight each stratum of society,
sailing over vast spaces the way he used to do in his literary works.
Adrian Marino, the renowned man of culture and the
outstanding comparatist unexpectedly passed away in Cluj on the night of
16 and 17 March in full creative power. He was a real phenomenon in the
domains of our literary criticism and history that substantially marked
Romanian literary life for a half century. In a period, when books were
written about party activists and about the literary stream of the
“Contemporanul” (magazine published by the socialist circle) Marino
demonstrated that our literature had an other side as well, and which
absolutely deserved to be explored and emphasized: symbolism,
modernism, avant-garde. Thus he revealed the European vocation of
Romanian literature along the Romanian presence in the international
value-circulation. In a period of suppression by the postulations of the
protochronist literature, by the suburban spirit of the Groapa and of
Morometian ruralism, Adrian Marino turned our face towards Europe,
revealing to us another model of our cultural mentality built up with such
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enhancement in Cahiers roumains d’etudes Littéraires through which we
attained another view on literature. For many the journal from Cluj
represented a genuine literary school, a model of literary manifestation
beyond serial novels and welcome criticism that dominated the literary
actuality of the period.
Settled down in Cluj after eight years of detention and other six
of house arrest, Adrian Marino was the author of a literary creation,
which together with the work of the members of the Sibiu Literary Circle
– who also returned after an long absence – had visibly influenced the
literary destiny of many creators, thus essentially contributing to the
opening of ideas which appeared at the horizon simultaneously with the
political loosening that scattered the mists of a smothering and obscure
proletarian culture. The expressive and stylistic refinement, the ample
circumscription of the problems were nourished by an elaborate and high
quality culture which fertilized new spiritual realms for example that of
the literary mentalities and ideas. Adrian Marino was a champion of
ideological criticism, of the comparativist approach, and of the literary
idea – a line launched in 1973 (with his Dictionary of the Literary Ideas
and the above mentioned journal which was edited by him in 1973–
1980). This was conceived as a kind of alternative option to the official
culture, for the stiffened officials of the age refused to offer him a
position worthy of his knowledge and competence. Later, it was him who
rejected the socialist charity and preferred working without “service
certificate” or, as he liked to declare, “I remained up to this very day an
entirely free professional”.
The comparativist phase was also sustained both by means of a
long series of study travels and by means of books attempting to bring the
West home to us, for “I in the first place wanted to study in foreign
libraries, to publish in another environment, arrested and imprisoned in
full intellectual growth, nipped in the bud.”
An entire sequence of travel journals, impressions and
commentaries were thus born, such as Ole Espagna, 1974, Carnete
Europene (European Notebooks), 1976, Prezenţe româneşti şi realităţi
europene (Romanian Presences and European Realities), 1978. This was
the time when he wrote his first book published in our country about
Mircea Eliade [Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade (The Hermeneutics of
Mircea Eliade), 1980], and another book about a French comparatist,
Etiemble (Etiemble ou le comparatisme militant, 1982). “Militant
comparatism” was a befitting characterization to him as well, for he
indeed militated for the renewal of tradition in the interwar period: “I
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wanted to start a tradition of Romanian theoretical studies, a completely
neglected territory before”. He used the contact with the western world,
his preoccupation with outdated texts and problems also as a method of
self-defense, of survival beyond daily realities. “I was practically living
in another world and another experience materialized through the books,
coins, ceramics and different objects, reminding me of famous games and
cultural monuments which were essential for me”. Work brought its wellearned retribution. His books were translated and published in France,
Italy, the United States, Japan, and his activity was remunerated with the
Herder Prize in 1985. However, he systematically refused any honour
from the Romanian state (the proposal of “Honorary Citizen” of Cluj, the
“doctor honoris causa” grade of the University of Cluj, and the
membership of the Romanian Academy). He understood that he was
meant to carry his cross until the end, because for many “I was and I
continued to be a political prisoner”, willing to demonstrate that there
was life beyond the institutional medium of a system that turned him into
a marginal character. In all these years he was working at home in
Rákóczi Street 72 (today Eremia Grigorescu 72), where during his
working hours he disliked being disturbed even by phone, which was
usually answered by his wife, Mrs Lidia Bote. This does not mean that he
was not an affable host to his friends and acquaintances, what is more,
many bookish people from Cluj found at him an open door, precious
advice, encouragement, and often books missing from the common
library network. He led a Benedictine life – the life of a “solitary” man.
He entitled his memoirs – which are to be published within five years
from his death – Viaţa unui om singur (The Life of a Solitary Man), and
preferred to turn his own personal space of living into a place of
European ideas and celebration of our culture.
With Adrian Marino a species in process of extinction dies out:
the type of uomo universale which lived at the confluence of two or three
cultures, and which aspired towards the universal Republic of Letters,
where every humanist of the age should have right of residence. He
permanently sought to bring Europe to us, if we could not reach it in the
period of communist terrorism where any contact with Europe was
frozen. He described countries and institutions of culture, characterized
the people he had known. He permanently fought for opening and
dialogue in culture, he, the person whose aspirations towards culture had
been rejected for more than a decade by interdiction of his right of
signature. When it was given back, he knew how to humiliate his
generation colleagues – former and more recent adepts of proletarian
13
culture – with his erudition, productiveness and tenacity for the creative
work. He was a phenomenon of which those in my generation had taken
full benefit. I visited him as many times as I could, as many times as I felt
the need to find a book, information, a piece of advice, encouragement.
A strange thing happened to Adrian Marino the critic. He made
his debut in literature in the period before the Second World War under
the patronage of George Călinescu, when the “divine critic” was
publishing the review Jurnalul literar (Literary Journal), which Adrian
Marino, student at that period used to read with devotion. The student
dared to address a letter to the master, which he encouragingly answered
to the post address of the editorial office: “Adrian Marino forget coyness.
Come and let us talk!” (No. 47/1939). Willing to follow the Lovinescian
example and launch a review for “those who come” (evidence that some
later succesful critics and poets had made their debuts here, such as Al.
Piru, G. Ivaşcu or Şt. Aug. Doinaş), Călinescu encouraged him and
protected him, and later on made Marino his assistant next to Al. Piru, G.
Ivaşcu and Dinu Pillat. Marino even made his doctoral dissertation under
his supervision in 1946, choosing as his research theme in disagreement
with the master’s inclination, who was then charmed by Eminescu,
exactly his most contested rival, Alexanru Macedonski’s Life (Viaţa lui
Al. Macedonski). The book could not appear until 1966, when his
detachment from the master – formally decided back in 1946–47, as an
answer to Călinescu’s servility towards the new power – was received
with open surprise by some of his collaborators and could be made
public. In a dialogue on the Călinescian inheritance Adrian Marino had
shown himself to be more on the side of Tudor Vianu and the detachment
gained more intensity with time. The few letters received from Călinescu
and preserved in Adrian Marino’s archive, published by us in the Tribuna
(The Tribune) review in 1996, did not yet indicate the rupture (though in
some letters sent to him by Al. Piru, some teasing tones can be detected
on the “Old Man’s” account, who used to put them to the prolonged toil
of proofreading his works). The program and the aspirations of the young
man can be seen in one of his rare public appearances, namely within the
conference text held in 1944 at a sort of student congress, where he spoke
About Literary Culture (Despre cultura literară). The text was published
in the same year in the student review U. Preocupări universitare (U.
University Preoccupations). In this he fixed some guidelines of a clearly
assumed program of study and activity: rigorous lecture, detailed
knowledge of the classical literature, profound and specialized school,
suppression of dilettantism and of undigested impressions, the assuming
14
of some objectives with encyclopaedic character. Seen from the angle of
his realizations the juvenile program of the young critic, Adrian Marino
was perfectly adapted to his lifestyle and performances. The young
student recommended a state of seriousness absolutely necessary for a
new fulfilment on the European value scale. He felt that his generation
must carry on the work began by Mircea Eliade’s generation and round it
up to another level. He did not consider that serial-novels and critical
impressionism would represent a solution, or that the Călinescianexacerbated imagery enthusiastically imitated by contemporaries –
jostling towards fragmentation and not towards the constructions of
synthesis – would be recommendable for the critical spirit of the moment.
Instead these partial enquiries he proposed far-reaching cultural
initiatives, with a conceptually dominated theoretic reflection, in a
context crossed by doctrinarian confrontations in which the life of the
ideas is placed in the foreground. The hermeneutic perspective,
comparativism, literary ideology in general, mentality studies, the
political and literary imaginary dominated his works. He often declared
that he was an “ideologue” and not a literary critic, a critic of ideas as it is
more adequate to say. He instinctively felt “I do not belong to «the
literary life», where I have always been a foreign entity, marginal, with
all the troubles, qualities and deficiencies of this difficult status. The men
of letters felt that I am not one of their species.” “We are still the victims
of the aestheticist prejudice” – he used to say, reason for which he openly
declared his separation from literary journalism, from peripatetic
formulations, intellectual prudishness, and he had thus chosen another
field of action for which he manifested the force and the enthusiasm of a
neo-paşoptist. With his pioneer calling he placed his activity into the
middle of other tides under other sailcloths, which could carry him far as
possible towards other more fertile areas. He was an equal dialogue
partner to the world’s great comparatists, with great creators of aesthetic
and ideological systems, and by following his letters we are surprised to
find that all literary values of the moment were keeping a fertile dialogue
with the “solitary” from Cluj. Seemingly isolated from his
contemporaries – more or less devoted servants of an official ideology –
Marino was connected to another system of norms and values based on
the idea of intransigence, on the superior ethics of writing. He never
ignored the document, the biographic source, namely the most precise
source (in time and place) of information, because in his opinion the age
of improvisations, quotes by ear, unfounded take-overs, with other words
the age of critical amateurism had reached its end, and he pleaded for the
15
documentation of the assertions with their exact sources based on
authentic documents, which were capable of correcting the errors of
approximation, the evaluating judgments, the stages of reception. He
considered both the ideological as well as the sociologic, anthropologic,
historical, literary and cultural context, a fact which often transfigured the
critical act into a clumsy, heavy-weight machinery. This was therefore
hard to control in its intimate functionality, as some contemporaries
believed it to be, for whom the hyperbolized development of an
enormous system of notes represented even the abolishment of the
genuine critical intuition.
Thus the critic delineated the object of his new preoccupation
regarding this issue: “The criticism of the literary ideas starts on the other
hand with the premise that the pleasure of analyzing a qualitatively
literary idea makes level with the analysis of literary texts, sometimes
even more superior and intense due to the profusion of intellectual
associations and connotations implied by it”. In his opinion this critical
direction was neither compatible with serial-novels and fragmentariness,
nor with the generally impressionistic act and the elementary
subjectivism. The critic had carried several campaigns on this theme and
had irritated many spirits. However, he kept his attitude and position
unaltered and sustained it with convincing scientific arguments, for each
of his works from the period following the declaration of his belief
evolved his point of view and turned it even more stable. It was also the
case of Critica ideilor literare (The Critique of the Literary Ideas) (1974),
a unique work of the kind in our literary historiography, where the
concept of “criticism of the literary ideas” received new connotations.
The delimitation from the past was more categorical not lacking the
attempt of retrieving some forgotten or lost senses, but also through
integration into a pre-existent system through a permanent process of
algorithms and rapport to the ideological context of the time. This
alteration of angles and various reference systems based on the careful
examination of the dialectics of opposites simultaneously presupposing
evolution and rupture made him approach the hermeneutic working
system, applied on other occasions as well.
This deep organic militarism permanently regards the situation
of Romanian literature within European currents of value – a fundamental
issue of his books. All over, where he talked about literary currents and
tendencies, the Romanian comparatist insisted upon the method in which
these currents had been born and configured on national scale, weaving
each time a deep network of interconnections, influences, similitudes,
16
convergences between the great literatures of the world and our literature.
What Wellek and Warren had forgotten to do was done by Adrian
Marino, conferring thus other dimensions to the precursory renewals of
the Avant-garde, as well as of Romanticism or Realism. Often the
immense crucible of the literary ideas, manifesting in the national space
was not only recurring, but it was also the bearer of new senses and
nuances, which often placed us in a favourable world context. Each of
Adrian Marino’s books from Viaţa lui Alexandru Macedonski, until the
Biografia ideii de literatură, and Pentru Europa put up in value the
national potential of literary ideology, the authentic signals of our
Europeanization.
However, Adrian Marino’s creational dimension has to be
measured from the perspective of the obtained results, of his books,
which recognize better than any speculation the preceding stages, and the
alterations and silt marked by time. These phases opened up, naturally,
with his Macedonskian writing phase. This phase was marked by the
elaboration of the monographs Viaţa lui Alexandru Macedonski (The Life
of Alexandru Macedonski) (1966), Opera lui Alexandru Macedonski
(The Work of Alexandru Macedonski) (1967), and the publication of
Opere I-VIII (Works I–VIII) (1966–1980), realized in collaboration with
Elisabeta Brâncuşi. This was a phase of systematic radiograph of the
period the inimitable poet wrote and lived in, a phase of plunging into the
profundity of Macedonski’s works, a phase not entirely abolishing
historicism, instead subjecting it to the stipulation of restructuring the
creative personality of the analyzed subject in rapport to a cultural
pattern: Macedonskianism being a way of existence determined
according to the conceptions on art and literature. It was the first wellarticulated biography of man and work, which corresponded to the inner
voice, as it was dealing with a complex personality with various faces,
but towards which he proved to have certain structural affinities. The
Macedonskian self-respect, idolatry, singularity, and the expansive
feature of the taken measures were continuously situated “à rebours”
compared with the contemporaries, the “wounded” withdrawal within the
frames of a singular programme, the wide range of preoccupations, the
ambition of becoming a European, rapid connection to the different
systems and currents of idea, sometimes even contrary to each other,
fanaticism, programmed defiance of the realities: all these made the
Macedonskian character a man of transition, a man exceeding his age.
The writer’s “rehabilitation” had been made by an exemplary method, by
revealing the real dimensions of a genial creator in permanent contrast
17
with his age. Marino’s books dedicated to Macedonski unquestionably
represented the most spectacular restoring to actuality of an unjustly
forgotten and misinterpreted Romanian writer.
The appearance of these writings with a twenty-year delay
occurred in a moment when the critic Adrian Marino was making his first
steps towards another type of comprehending literature. The sequence of
articles published in the Lumea (The World), review dedicated to the
Romanian Enlightenment, already attested the new orientation that he
was inclining towards: the criticism of the literary ideas. This phase was
directly inaugurated by the Dicţionarul de idei literare (The Dictionary of
the Literary Ideas) from 1973 and consolidated by the Critica ideilor
literare (The Critique of the Literary Ideas) (1974), Hermenetica lui
Mircea Eliade (Mircea Eliade’s Hermeneutics) (1980) and Hermeneutica
ideii de literature (The Hermeneutics of the Idea of Literature) (1987).
These books appeared on the market after some kind of initiation in
domain with Introducere in critica literară (Introduction to Literary
Criticism) (1968), Modern, modernism şi modernitate (Modern,
Modernism and Modernity) (1969), and Clasicism, baroc, romantism
(Classicism, Baroque, Romatism) (1971). Systematically following the
way in which the acceptations and invariants of the term of literature
were constituted, the author operated in a double system from the
beginning: terminological and significant, referring thus to philological,
cultural and historical arguments. First of all the “original frame” was
delimited in which the literary idea had been born, and its cultural circuit
had been established, because the idea as such could not be understood
inside its tradition and history. The term was drawn out of all its external
and encrusted meanings by the analysis of its etymologic, litterae and
gramata meanings by way of setting-up two oppositional groups –
written/oral, sacred/profane –, the dialectic of which determined the
establishment of a genuine mythology of literature as a sum of the books
and as a utopia of the library. The practiced hermeneutic approach, was
reiterated in other dimensions and parameters in the massive series of the
Biografia ideii de literatură (The Biography of the Idea of Literature), in
which all the sense-generating metamorphoses and reinfoldings related to
the harmonization endured by them in the reading process were repeated.
It is an international work, worthy of any research institute in the world
both through the entirely modern and actual theme, and through its
method. Each volume contains over one hundred pages of bibliography,
from which nothing worthy of attention is missing. If the first volume has
a rather introductive character, distinctly with theoretical debates, then
18
with the second, consecrated to the Century of Lights, we actually enter
into the mentality alterations and the enrichment of the concept in the 20th
century. The differentiating notes, the formative accents, moments of
crisis, and diversification are observed. Thus, if in the Century of Lights
the accent was placed more on “popularization”, now specialization and
elitism start to predominate, the rapport between the sacred and profane
literature changes in favour of the latter, and the cleavage between poetry
and other literary branches, as well as between written and oral registers
increases significantly. The chapter “Literature about Literature” is totally
remarkable by its excellent analysis of the tendencies from actual
criticism and through the significant conceptual explanations. The last
chapter “Classicizing of the Idea of Literature” discusses on both a
national and international scale the situation of books, libraries,
bibliographic and encyclopaedic instruments regarding literature. When
reading it, the reader becomes acquainted with the constructive and
informative efforts of the author.
The fifth volume comes with important reflections regarding the
six dominant concepts: national literature, universal literature, popular
literature, mass literature, subliterature and paraliterature. If the first
concepts are older, and have a past and evolution that can be tracked in
time, the last ones are creations of the 20th century when the diversity of
literary forms and reader types has multiplied. The terms are followed by
the author in all their complexity and acceptations in a hermeneutical
come-and-go, part-and-whole movement that highlight his analytic
qualities, in such a way that the domain of the history of literary ideas
now gains a new configuration. The method the author uses to record the
conceptual changes of meaning brought up by the totalitarian regimes,
especially the communist ones, which deliberately altered the meaning of
certain terms, for example “popular literature” gaining the meaning of
“literature for the people”. The author brings an essential contribution to
the elucidation of the notions of subliterature and paraliterature, the first
being opposed to the binomial distribution of major literature – minor
literature. The latter finding rapports to the mass-media system, comic
books, movie and television scripts, production for consume magazines,
etc., beginning to infest the traditional creation.
The critic of idea’s ambitious project conceived as a culmination
of a life-long activity finishes with the author’s intention to offer “a basic
reference point for critical and literary historical orientation and
valuation.” The sixth volume constitutes a well-thought and balanced
conclusion of the previously uttered points of view, in which many of the
19
concepts entered the crisis phase and needed to be reconsidered as well.
This is the same in the case of the concept of literature – too restrictively
defined by the reductionists, or too indulgently by the avantgardists –,
which also must be given back its original meaning. Beyond these
extreme forms and situations, the author searches viable points of view,
the secure ground for reinstalling the terms can only be the aesthetic
valorisation, discussing confidently the criteria of a good definition, and
with his accustomed methodological rigorousness and superior spirit of
synthesis lingering over each factor of the discussion, namely over the
cultural, ideological, aesthetical, historical, sociological, etc. criteria, by
abolishing the stereotypes, digressing discussions and common places.
The book signals all these mental mutations, takes sides, expresses his
position, creates a situation of mental comfort. His ideas in Epilog
(Epilogue) are especially noteworthy, being a kind of creed of the author
intransigently on duty for over six decades, a man devoted to writing and
to his great problems transforming him in into a front-liner, and into a
solitary long-distance runner.
Beginning with the year of the Romanian revolution the
preoccupations of comparativism underwent certain changes and
accommodations. We now perceive the critic’s new orientation, his new
definition in rapport with the mentality shifts that occurred. His proEuropean attitude increased by materializing in categorical journalistic
appearances, as well as in his active political engagement to the National
Democratic Peasants’ Party beside Corneliu Coposu, Doina Cornea, Ana
Blandiana (on the Civic Alliance line), or in the circles of the AntiTotalitarian Front, to which he gave structure and operational base. On
the other hand, the books that he opted for have an obvious politicalideological dimension. The first one was Pentru Europa. Întegrarea
României. Aspecte ideologice şi culturale (For Europe. Romania’s
Intergration. Ideological and Cultural Aspects) (1995), then followed by
Politică şi cultură. Pentru o nouă cultură română (Politics and Culture.
For a New Romanian Culture) (1996), Revenirea în Europa, idei şi
controverse româneşti, 1990–1995 (Return to Europe, Romanian Ideas
and Controverses 1990–1995) (1996), or even Cenzura în România
(Censorship in Romania), a small “introductory historical sketch” (2000),
a kind of introduction to a vast work, Cenzură şi libertate în România
(Censorship and Liberty in Romania) on which he worked until the last
moment and which was never finished. His point of view was nuanced in
the Sorin Antohi interview book Al treilea discurs. Cultură, ideologie şi
politică în România (The Third Discourse. Culture, Ideology and Politics
20
in Romania) published in 2001 by the Polirom Publishing House. This
book follows ruthlessly and by no parti pris the actual situation of
Romanian culture at that hour, the manner in which we positioned and
will position ourselves towards the changes occurring in the country. This
was actually initiated in Politics and Culture, where the starting point
was constituted by the situation of Romanian culture in the totalitarian
period, situation that marked ideologically and morally each generation
implicated in the development of the present day Romanian culture. The
frames of this situation are marked in various situations and aspects, and
the liberation from the past induced a significant exaggeration of the
political factor: “we are living a period of intensive politization of
Romanian society and culture, but things still have a predominantly
spontaneous, sometimes even fuzzy feature. A well-formulated, argued
politics of idea is what we are often short of” – stated Adrian Marino in
the introduction of the article “Literatură şi politică” (Literature and
Politics). He argued for firmer steps for the writer on the field of political
ideas, because the transition phase must also be a welcomed clarifying
and settling phase of society and of the cultural flux on other structural
basis. The line of continuity must reflect the resumption of our culture’s
tradition of resistance against the interference of the political factor and
against the distortion of applied aesthetics. The repudiation of any kind of
irrationalism and dogmatism, of accidental tendencies and nationalist
reminiscences represent actions of emergency regarding the elimination
of the disastrous effects of communist collaborationism. One's finding the
way out from the labyrinth has to be a test of individual experience, from
this results also the analysis of some specific cases: the Noica case, the
Mircea Eliade case, the Cetatea Totală (Total Fortress) case of
Constantin Dumitrescu, then the books of some insurgents of the type of
Andrei Pleşu, Mircea Dinescu, Alina Mungiu, Octavian Paler, Ioan Petru
Culianu, Horia R. Patapievici, Doina Cornea, Virgil Nemoianu, Matei
Călinescu, Andrei Cornea, Sorin Antohi and others, who directly attacked
the stringent problems of our society. The fundamental attitude towards
these phenomena was called by Adrian Marino “neo-paşoptism” and it
was discussed in the Sorin Antohi interview-book. This would be similar
to the “third discourse”, the one at the confluence between autochthonism
and Europeanism, between the isolation holding on to specificities and
European integration. “In my opinion – asserted Adrian Marino – it is
important for the present day Romanian youth to see that everything does
not start with 1989 or 2000, that there are local traditions of liberal
thinking and even of actions in the sense of some liberal ideas… I might
21
write a book, a message for Romania in the spirit of neo-paşoptism, but
for now I have other plans instead. I am talking to an alter ego and I am
making confessions in an unusual manner. I do not have anything to hide,
I am an extrovert temper, and I tell everything I have in my head. I
believe that after a period of inhibitions, of censorship and fear, of
isolation and of total Romanian muzzling, Romanians should start to
speak freely and openly.”
Such phrasings are to be met at each step in Adrian Marino’s
writings after 1989. He truly felt obliged to be actively present at the
democratization of the country, at the public debate, to step out in the
limelight and mobilize the conformist spirits petrified in their apolitical
attitudes, by the necessity of a more strenuous activity from the civil
society in order to establish another climate of feeling and thinking. His
signature can be traced in publications of a great variety, beginning with
Sfera politicii (The Sphere of Politics), Libertatea (Liberty), Mozaicul
(The Mosaic), Timpul (The Time), Tribuna Aredealului (Transylvanian
Tribune), Observatorul cultural (Cultural Observer), Dilema (The
Dilemma), 22, etc., where his fundamentally liberal, rationalist, neopaşoptist way of thinking comprehensively attacked all serious problems
of Romania, lashing the governing political class for its immorality and
immobility, emphasizing the dangers of stagnation in transitions. A firm
conscience, a persuasive and intransigent action style, a stable scale of
values, clear objectives are the essential elements of this tireless effort for
returning to normality, for the effacement of any shapes of
totalitarianism. Adrian Marino, who endured year after year obstruction,
moral misery, and the effects of “class-struggle” that induced him to
make his publishing debut at 44, was not merciful with the thick-headed
and pervert individuals supported by the communist system, for whom
the Lustration law should have been applied back in the first year of the
Revolution. In certain cases he felt the need of delimiting even from
Cioran or Noica, by not agreeing to the idea of “Romanians in delirium”,
with some brethren’s dark or exalted state of spirit, who lost the sight of
the final task. Intolerant towards himself and towards others, Marino the
comparativist and the ideologue was a voice that we needed, a
constructive civic spirit who always had in sight each stratum of society,
sailing over vast spaces the way he used to do in his literary works. His
house on Eremia Grigorescu Street in Cluj Napoca, stuffed with countless
books, files and notes was a House of ideas, a kind of free Institute, a
meeting point of meridians of freedom, competition and simulative
action. Now, when Romanian comparativism is flimsier than ever,
22
lacking personalities, the absence of Adrian Marino from the battlefield
of the ideas and from public literary life represents an enormous loss. We
miss him more and more, his encouraging, and guiding glance, and the
need for masters is growing acuter than ever.
23
Adrian Marino’s Last Pages 1
Keywords: idea of freedom, politico-social freedom, personal freedom,
freedom of press, democracy, civil rights, human rights, right to
revolution, natural law, absolutism, Enlightenment, French Revolution
Abstract: This article contains the last pages written by Adrian Marino
before he died. The study presents the evolution of the idea of freedom in
Transylvania in the first half of the 19th century. Investigating the
philosophical and political writings of scholars and thinkers like I. BudaiDeleanu, Moise Nicoară, D. Ţichindeal, Petru Maior, Gh. Bariţ etc. and
the several petitions addressed to the Habsburg emperors, Adrian Marino
outlines the way in which the basic ideas of the Enlightenment and of the
French Revolution were assimilated by the Romanian politicalphilosophical discourse.
Because of the absolutistic regime, civil and human rights (such
as the right to resistance, revolt and revolution) could not be discussed
and demanded in a way that would have threatened the socio-political
status quo. Therefore the entire discussion about political and social
freedom was projected into the abstract sphere of concepts, ideas and
purely theoretical systems. However, the notions and ideas debated
penetrated the Romanian political language and prepared the ground for
concrete political actions.
Politico-social freedom
By a concurrence of historical circumstances the idea of freedom went
through the most spectacular and fecund evolution in Transylvania in the
first half of the 19th century. From an abstract principle and an essentially
practical, speculative theory, the idea of freedom became a leading idea, a
forceful idea, a concept with practical, politico-social, direct and
immediate efficiency. It was, actually, the first concrete demand and
experience of freedom as an active socio-political principle in the
Romanians, a veritable historical event. At the same time it was the
centre of a constellation of adjacent meanings and the force that animated
them all. And if it was yet expressed prudently, with limits, this was due
to the same difficult historical circumstances. The idea of freedom could
1
Adrian Marino was working on a book on censorship. This is an excerpt from
this book.
24
not be expressed clearly and entirely because of the absolutistic regime
and the censorship, specific to the age. In spite of all these difficulties the
ideological progress of the idea of freedom was remarkable.
Personal freedom
On the level of the immediate social, pragmatic existence the freedom of
thinking, religion, verbal expression written or printed was reduced to the
essential and concisely defined idea of personal liberty. It was the most
concentrated, direct and immediately perceptible form of freedom. By
affirming, demanding and defending these ideas we are removed from the
area of theoretical abstraction into the domain of immediate social
realities. The idea of freedom, in this way, made the decisive leap
towards politics. 1 Respectively – to reduce everything to the essential –,
towards organized and legislated forms in a constitutional frame, with a
democratic system of government. If we accept that I. Budai-Deleanu
wrote the first version of his Ţiganiada (The Gypsiad) in the year 1800,
we observe that the Romanians from Transylvania began, for the first
time, to be aware of such new political ideas as “constitution”, “law”,
“democracy”, “citizen” etc., already from the beginning of the 19th
century. The ideological influence of the French Revolution was
immediate and contagious.
In this respect, Canto XI from Ţiganiada has central importance
from the point of view of the idea of political liberty. Freedom granted by
law is confirmed by a democratic constitution. The debate on the best
system of government proposes, very much in the spirit of the 18th
century, a compromising solution: “demo-aristo-monarchic” (“demoaristo-monarhicească”) (Ţiganiada, XI, 70). Somewhat differently
formulated, the idea can be found at Montesquieu (De l’Esprit des Lois,
XI, ch. VI), illustrating the counterbalancing of state-powers, at Baron
d’Holbach (Du Systèm social, I.II. ch. II) and others. It was the most
progressive view of the age.
The primary meaning was the elimination of class privileges and
the initiation of a democratic regime. In this spirit, Moise Nicoară (in a
text from 1819) assimilated the idea of “people” to “the poor”
(“sărăcimea”), respectively, to the majority of the population, which is
the basic principle of democracy: “By communities is understood neither
the clergy, nor the nobility but the people, the poor in fact” (“Prin
comunităţi nu se înţelege clerul, nici nobilii sau nemeşii, ci poporul adecă
1
D. Bojincă, Biblioteca românească (Romanian Library), III, 1830, p. 8.
25
sărăcimea.”). 1 And the “people”, respectively, “the poor” exercise their
power, respectively, their sovereignty within the democratic system by
deputies. The idea appeared in the same texts and context. The
Transylvanian political consciousness of the age took a step forward.
Evidently, the notion of law had already been known, formulated and
applied in the Austro-Hungarian Empire before, but in the form of
“letters patent”, “aulic decree”, “imperial decree” etc. These were the
expressions of the imperial will, more or less well-meaning, as in the
privileged case of Joseph II, within the limits of absolutistic authority. In
the same meaning the notion did not have – and could not have – a
democratic content.
We return once more to Budai-Deleanu, the first Transylvanian
ideologists to define the new content of the notion “law”. He asked for
“good and just laws” (Ţiganiada, XI, 51), meaning that “none should rule
without law” (“niciunul să nu stăpânească fără numai legea”) (XI, 206).
The turnabout was radical. The arbitrary supreme authority was
abolished, replaced with the truly “revolutionary” new principle: the
equality of “citizens” (the notion itself also appears, XI, 64, 65) before
the law, this being equal for everyone. It is one of the “general rights” of
“civic society”; these were considered to be fundamental by the same I.
Budai-Deleanu. 2 Freedom or “slobozenia” 3 was the first of these more
and more defined rights. The idea is very clear in Moise Nicoară’s
formulation: “Freedom and full will without any impediment to do what
the law allows one to do, as well as total freedom without any constraint
not to do what the law forbids” (“Slobozenia şi plină voie fără vreo
împiedecare a şi face ceea ce legea îi dă dreptul, precum şi slobozenia
întreagă fără nici o silinţă, a nu face aceea la ce îl opreşte legea”). 4
This definition of liberty – as well as its later developments –
had a specifically abstract, radical character, without any reference to the
immediate politico-social realities in Transylvania (as in the case of the
1
Cornelia Bodea, “Moise Nicoară (1784–1861) şi rolul său pentru emanciparea
naţional-religioasă a românilor din Banat şi Crişana” [Moise Nicoară (1784–
1861) and His Role in the National-Religious Emancipation of the Romanians
from Banat and Crişana], (doctoral dissertation) part I, p. 63.
2
Ion Budai-Deleanu, Scrieri inedite (Unpublished Writings), edited, introduced
and annotated by Iosif Pervain, Cluj-Napoca, Dacia Publishing House, 1970, p.
82.
3
This is an obsolete form for the word ‘freedom’ in Romanian. (Translator’s
note.)
4
Cornelia Bodea, op. cit., p. 93–94.
26
French Revolution), but this definition was not commented on or directly
referred to in contemporary situations and events. Because of this the
definition of freedom maintained its doctrinal purity without disturbing
the constituted politico-social order. This permitted the expression and
analysis of the idea, thoroughly, in conditions of purely theoretical total
freedom.
This was an important aspect as the analysis of the idea of
freedom inevitably showed lights and shadows, positive and negative
aspects. All the theoreticians of the idea of freedom from Transylvania
were fully aware of the fact that freedom is at the same time an
ambiguous and explosive reality, a constructive or destructive force,
according to circumstances. In a modern formulation, it is polyvalent,
polysemantic. It is a proof of real lucidity and objectivity. Freedom – we
are told – has, according to the circumstances, “good” and “bad” aspects.
For the pioneers of the idea, this clairvoyance was a remarkable truth.
Into the regime of total freedom, equivalent to bellum omnium
contra omnes (we may recall Hobbes and his Leviathan, 1651), the law
introduces a principle of order and, therefore, of general security. Its
absence transforms society into a field of generalized ferocity (in the 19th
century there would be talk about “social Darwinism”). D. Ţichindeal,
according to all indications, was the first Romanian author who signalled
this negative situation in his Filosoficeşti şi politiceşti prin fabule
moralnice învăţături (Philosophical and Political Thoughts by Means of
Moral Fables and Lessons) (1814): “Where freedom is greater, turbulence
is worse for freedom without wise laws and control is a ferocious beast.”
(“Acolo unde e mai mare slobozenie, acolo e mai rea turbarea căci
slobozenia fără de legile înţelepte şi stăpânire e sălbatecă fiară.”) 1 The
law introduces another important corrective into the relationship between
the individual, the “citizen” and state authority. The former can assume
the liberty not to obey the law. What is more: he can choose to bypass
superior regulations, orders or interdictions. Or, in D. Ţichindeal’s words,
he can have an “open and free way” towards the enlightened monarch. 2
He can address him directly, to complain about different transgressions.
And more than this, to remind him that he himself must respect the law
and should not change it arbitrarily. Although he referred only to church
regulations, Petru Maior invoked the principle that “not all authority is
1
D. Ţichindeal, Fabule şi moralnice învăţături (Fables and Moral Lessons),
edited and introduced by Virgil Vintilescu, Timişoara, Facla Publishing House,
1975, p. 486.
2
Ibid., p. 326.
27
free to renew the law” (“nu toată puterea are volnicia a face înoire în
lege”). 1 Bishop Bob, for example, had no right to ignore the canons. In
the most radical interpretation (Moise Nicoară), laws were recognized to
be “greater and more powerful than one side or the other, even than the
emperor or the priest” (“mai mari şi mai puternice decât o parte sau alta,
chiar decât împăratul sau popicul”). 2
The subversive potential of this amendment was considerable. It
opened a way for the theoretico-ideological legitimation of revolt. For the
first time in Romanian political thinking, the right to revolution was
proclaimed and justified at the same time. The situation is extremely
significant from the perspective of the history of ideas. Because of the
absolutistic regime political freedom and the right to resistance, revolt
and revolution could not be openly demanded. Therefore the entire
discussion was projected into the abstract sphere of concepts, ideas and
purely theoretical systems. They could penetrate and circulate at the
height of an absolutistic regime because of the great prestige of the
enlightenment ideology, illustrated by famous philosophers, authors and
works, intensely translated. To this was added the policy of the
“enlightened despotism”, of Josephinism, realised by important reforms,
being in a great measure reflected in the language. The great notoriety of
the American and then of the French Revolution followed by the
republican and Napoleonic wars, having political effects of primary
importance, reached Transylvania too, as we have seen. The immediate
political sense covered and overshadowed the ideological sense of events
and direct influences. But, in a historical perspective, the new political
ideology spread over and conquered, step by step, the field. It was the
essential ideologico-political event in Transylvania in the first half of the
19th century.
It is instructive to follow the career made by the idea of
revolution in the Transylvanian society of the age. The notion penetrated
quickly and can be discovered almost everywhere: in chronicles, petitions
presented to the monarch, newspaper articles (beginning with the third
1
Petru Maior, Istoria bisericei românilor atât a cestor din coace, precum şi a
celor din colo de Dunăre (The Ecclesiastical History of the Romanians Living on
This and the Other Side of the Danube), Buda, 1813, p. 325.
2
Cf. Emanuel Turczynski, De la iluminism la liberalismul timpuriu. Vocile
politice şi revendicările lor în spaţiul românesc (From the Enlightenment to the
Early Liberalism. The Political Voices and Their Demands in the Romanian
Region), Bucharest, the Publishing House of the Romanian Cultural Foundation,
2002, p. 130.
28
decade) etc. In an absolutistic context this circulation – at first sight – is
paradoxical. But if we look attentively, we observe that the subversive
force of the idea was confined, prudently, only to allusions, the direct
references to immediate political situations being carefully avoided. Not
always, however. In the founding manifesto of the Society for the
Cultivation of Romanian Language (April 1808) great “messianic” hopes
were placed in a revolution: “If an unfortunate revolution humiliated us,
one more fortunate may raise us”. 1 So it was perceived as a veritably
forceful idea. Moise Nicoară (1819) had the same conviction. Revolution
in spe gives an explanation and, at the same time, a more [illegible word]
solution to the politico-social crisis: “These evils cannot be cured unless
by revolution and revolt” (“Răutăţile acestea nu se pot vindeca decât prin
revoluţie şi răscoală”). 2 We may remember that Nicolae Stoica of Haţeg,
a traditional chronicler, used the word “revolt” (“rebelie”) as well.
Meanwhile political language evolved: it was permeated by ideology and
adapted to the contemporary western vocabulary.
The word evolved from “turbulence” (“tulburare”), “rebellious
against the state” (accusation made against Şincai 3 ), against the politicosocial order, from being at the impulse of civic and political
disobedience, to the supreme sacrifice in the name of freedom. Freedom
(slobozia) was the basic motivation, evident echo of the French
Revolution. The idea had already appeared in Ţiganiada, XII, 115, by
demanding the right: “Either to freedom or to death” (“Ori la slobozie sau
la moarte”). Then it assumed the form of a popular movement and
enthusiasm as in Andrei Mureşanu’s poems, Un răsunet (An Echo)
(1839), Glasul unui român (The Voice of a Romanian) (1843). The idea
was made national in order to become the expression of the famous
French device, liberty, equality, fraternity, which got generalized; 4 in
order to become, in February 1848, a non-violent, but radical change of
the entire legal order of the society. A very explicit text belongs to Gh.
Bariţ. His essential preoccupation to clear up all confusion related to the
1
Cf. Mircea Popa, Aspecte şi interferenţe iluministe (Enlightenment Aspects and
Interferences), Timişoara, Western Publishing House, 1997, p. 205.
2
Cornelia Bodea, op. cit., p. 75.
3
Gheorghe Hou, “1796 Ancheta lui Gheorghe Şincai acuzat de rebeliune” (1796
The Inquiry in the Case of Gheorghe Şincai Accused of Rebellion), Vatra (The
Hearth), VI, 56, 1976, p. 581.
4
George Bariţ, Scrieri social-politice (Socio-Political Writings), study and
anthology by Victor Cheresteşiu, Camil Mureşan and George Em. Marica,
Bucharest, Political Publishing House, 1962, p. 190.
29
term itself is to be remembered. This proves that for many people the
notion was still doubtful and compromising (1848).
“First of all, let us explain the term revolution thoroughly. When
we say revolution [revolution: evident proof of French influence – our
note] we are far from understanding this as bloody revolts, frightening
turbulences, civil wars, repelling the state into anarchy. God forbid!
Revolution means none of these, on the contrary; this word is understood
only as a total change of those laws and governments, which could not
be suffered anymore because of their injustice oppressing peoples who,
though groaning under them, were not able to shake them off unless by a
miracle…” 1
Until this stage of conceptual clarification, still elementary, the
idea of revolution had gone through several stages. It had been the object
of some analysis, summary at first, but more and more conclusive. It had
been explained and justified by invoking a right little known and
cultivated as yet, the right to revolution. Arguments had been brought up
in the favour of this right, whose content widened quite quickly. It
became at the same time civil, politic and democratic. The accent shifted
more and more towards the ideas like individual, man, citizen,
democracy, equality. This was an important ideological moment: for the
first time Romanian political consciousness began to assimilate and to
demand the liberty of an alternative political right, besides, beyond or
against the constituted legal order.
Human rights
If, in 1785, a Dutch newspaper sympathising with the uprising led by
Horea, Cloşca and Crişan (also defended by the future Girondist
revolutionary J.-P. Brissot 2 ) demanded the abolition of serfdom in the
name of “the sacred rights of mankind”, the same rights were to be
claimed by the Romanians from Transylvania as well. The memorandum
submitted to the emperor Leopold II in March 1971, known as Supplex
Libellus Valachorum, opened a new way for an entire series of petitions.
They illustrated tacitly a fundamental right come into use, that of
addressing petitions and reclamations to supreme state authorities. The
1
George Bariţ, op. cit., p. 127–128.
Pompiliu Teodor, “L’esprit de la révolution démocratique; J.-P. Brissot et la
revolt de Horea”, Cahiers Roumains d’Études Littéraires, 2/1977, pp. 30-43;
formerly: Nicolae Edroiu, Răsunetul european al răscoalei lui Horea (1784–
1785) [The European Echo of Horea’s Uprising (1784–1785)], Cluj, Dacia
Publishing House, 1971.
2
30
bureaucratic structure of the Habsburg Empire favoured this predemocratic practice. Being, first of all, the expression of some deep
interior unrest, but also the ideological reflection of the French
Revolution then in full development, Supplex Libellus Valachorum,
signed by “the clergy, nobility, military and citizen class of the whole
Romanian nation from Transylvania”, had its ideological base clearly in
the Enlightenment. This fact can also be explained by the intellectual
formation of its new animators: Samuil Micu, Ioan Piuariu Molnar, Iosif
Meheşi, Petru Maior, Gh. Şincai, Petru Pană and others. Each of them
was extremely receptive to the idea that in addition to historical rights
existed the rights of the “civil society” in general. This is why “both the
rights of each man apart and of the community of citizens” (“drepturile şi
a omului fieştecăruia deosebi şi a însoţirii cetăţeneşti”), in the sense of
juribus civilis, as it was written in the Supplex, was referred to. 1
In the Latin version, printed by Piuariu Molnar in 1791 at Iaşi as
a fictive place, human and civil rights were announced as: jura et
simplicita, tum hominis, tum civis jura. Both expressions sanctioned the
first Romanian formulation of the (French) Declaration from 1789, being
understood according to its spirit and its letter. It had enjoyed a certain
audience since then and it had been largely spread in the progressive
Romanian circles having ideological preoccupations. This proves that
“civil rights” were not talked about only in the Supplex, but in other
petitions of the age as well, that from 1st March and 12th September 1791,
where there were demanded insistently “the creation of the civil
community” (“izvodirile însoţirii cetăţeneşti”), “the essential rights due to
the community of citizens” [“cuviincioasele conţivilitaşului esenţial(e)
drepturi”] etc. A supplication from 1st July 1792 formulated once more
some demands for the Romanians “as equity and justice demands” (“după
cum cere echitatea şi dreptatea”). A. Papiu Ilarian was therefore not
wrong when he wrote, in 1869, talking about Gh. Bariţ’s works and ideas,
that the Romanians from Transylvania “claimed alone in the east of
Europe [that year – our note] the human and civil rights”. Unfortunately,
1
D. Prodan, Supplex Libellus Valachorum. Din istoria formării naţiunii române
(Supplex Libellus Valachorum. From the History of the Formation of the
Romanian Nation), new revised and enlarged edition, Bucureşti, Scientific and
Encyclopaedic Publishing House, 1984; Supplex Libellus Valachorum or the
Political Struggle of the Romanians in Transylvania during the 18th Century,
Bucharest, Publishing House of the Academy of the Socialist Republic of
Romania, 1971.
31
the history of ideas had not been cultivated in Romania in order to
contextualize and emphasize this principle.
The mentioned memorandum from 1792 was unsuccessful;
however, the idea upon which it had been based did not die. On the
contrary, it circulated intensely, being revived and reconfirmed even at
the height of the Napoleonic era when “human and civil rights”, without
being theoretically denied, had practically been suppressed in their
country by the emperor’s authoritarian regime. But in the outside the
principle always radiated and I. Budai-Deleanu in Ţiganiada (XI, 49)
noted doctrinairely: “All the people who are in this world are born alike;
neither does their nature differentiate them at their birth. Therefore,
according to their nature they all are the same and they all have the same
rights.” (“Oamenii toţi câţi sunt pe lume se nasc asemenea; nici firea din
sineşi îi osebeşte la naşterea lor. Aşa dar din fire toţi sunt de potrivă şi
toţi au aceleaşi drepturi.”) In his turn, in 1814, in his Fabule (Fables)
(112), D. Ţichindeal wrote: “Sacred justice demands that everyone should
be given his due” (“Sfânta dreptate cere ca fieştecăruia să i se de ce i se
cuvine.”). In 1815, the same Ţichindeal submitted petitions to Emperor
Francis I, in his capacity as (the order is totally significant) “man, citizen,
priest and subject” (“als Mann, Bürger, Priester und Unterthan”). He also
invoked “the most sacred right to self-defence” (“Das geheiligste Recht
der Selbstvertheidigung”). The notions had entered, as we can see, in the
language of the age and our enlightened writers were not afraid to use
them before the authorities.
The invoked firmness inscribed a date into the ideological
consciousness of the age. For the first time a fundamental political
principle had a thought-out formulation, expressed in all its
consequences. A new idea in pure, abstract, absolute state made its
apparition. It initiated an innovative conception of the relationship
between individual and state, between laic, rational, individual
conscience and dominant religious mentality. The breach was
considerable and without precedent in Romanian history. It is almost
amazing to learn that I. Budai-Deleanu expressed this notion very
categorically at the end of his life, about 1818: “Man’s natural rights can
be prescribed by no positive law… Any law has to be just first of all… It
is unjust to deprive someone of his freedom, of his civil and political
existence.” (“Drepturile naturale ale omului nu pot fi prescrise prin nici o
lege pozitivă... Orice lege trebuie să fie în primul rând dreaptă... Este
32
nedrept să răpeşti altuia libertatea sa, existenţa cetăţenească şi politică.”) 1
A shift can be observed from the generally speaking “anthropological”
notion of “man” to the notion of humanity; a moral and social category as
well as a new notion, which appeared in the Romanian ideological
vocabulary of the age. It was invoked by Aron Budai “the spirit of this
age praised for the humanity, which demands that everyone should be
given his right” (“spiritul acestui veac lăudat pentru umanitatea care cere
ca fiecăruia să i se dea dreptul său”). 2 For Moise Nicoară – with the same
conviction – there was no other guarantee for respecting justice: “Without
which all human and imperial laws are only illusions.” (“Fără de care
toate legile omeneşti şi împărăteşti sunt numai amăgiri.”) From here
originates “justice, resistance to oppression, the right to petitions”
(“dreptatea, rezistenţa la opresiune, dreptul la petiţie”) 3 and others. We
do not pretend to have made a complete inventory of the texts, which
eulogized “human rights”. But all indices lead to the conclusion of a
principle unanimously accepted (in this ideological sphere), of a veritable
axiom. To mention a concluding example: even an honest spirit, a rigid
theologian as Timotei Cipariu subscribed to it. He cited with eulogy on
several occasions “human rights”. He mentioned – who would have
expected? – even the “Jacobins”. 4 The regeneration and enrichment of
the politico-ideological vocabulary is evident.
Natural rights
We were going through a period of quick and radical modernization of
the ideological language, a process which directly enriched the national
language. A new notion, specific to the 18th century, penetrated suddenly:
the law of nature. It was invoked as fundamental argument in the
legitimation of human rights in the two essential interpretations of the
age: the Montesquieu phase (De l’Esprit des Lois), “necessary rapports
which derive from the nature of things” (Voltaire can be mentioned too
1
Ion Budai-Deleanu, De originibus populorum Transylvaniae. Despre originile
popoarelor din Tranilvania (On the Origin of the Peoples of Transylvania), edited
by Ladislau Gyémánt, introduced by Ştefan Pascu and Ladislau Gyémánt,
annotated and translated by Ladislau Gyémánt, Bucharest, Encyclopaedic
Publishing House, 1991, I, p. 320.
2
D. Prodan, op. cit., p. 387.
3
4
Mircea Popa, Timotei Cipariu. Ipostazele enciclopedismului (Timotei Cipariu.
The Aspects of Encyclopaedianism), Bucharest, Minerva Publishing House,
1993, pp. 56, 67.
33
writing in the Dictionnaire philosophique: “natural law independent of all
human conventions”); and the scientistic phase: natural causes, causeseffects scientifically studied in the sense of the German definition:
Naturlehre.
Thus the first Romanian writers of the Enlightenment began to
assimilate it too, the first one being Gh. Şincai in Învăţătură firească spre
surparea superstiţiilor norodului (Elementary Education Designed to
Erase People’s Superstition). The science of nature or the “natural
teaching” (“învăţătura firească”) is “the teaching that speaks about the
populations, powers and things of the ages” (“învăţătura care vorbeşte
despre populaţiile, puterile şi lucrurile timpurilor”). 1 A translation and
adaptation of I. H. Helmuth’s book, Volksnaturlehre zur Dämpfung des
Aberglaubens (several editions published between 1786 and 1800),
Şincai’s text, penetrated by an evident polemic spirit, unfortunately,
remained unpublished. Petru Maior was also familiar with the idea; he
used the notion of “natural right”. There was a different situation in the
case of Samuil Micu’s adaptation, Filozofia cea lucrătoare a rânduielilor
dreptului firei (Practical Philosophy of the Order of Natural Law)
(printed in Sibiu, 1800). “By «natural law» is meant that teaching...
through which natural laws or those laws, which are showed by our mind
concerning the desire for good things and the avoidance of bad ones, are
arranged” (“Prin «dreptul firei» se înţelege acea învăţătură...prin care
legile cele fireşti sau celea ce ne arată mintea despre poftirea lucrurilor
celor bune şi despre fugirea de cele rele se ticluesc.”) 2 Nature is
submitted to a double observation: the objective study of natural
phenomena and the moral exigencies of natural common sense. The wind
of the conception of the “naturally good man”, widely spread as well,
also appeared [I. Budai-Deleanu, Ţiganiada, VI, 31 “good nature” (“firea
bună”)]. Step by step, the notion of “nature” became more and more
discursive, polemic, politicised. Its assimilation, more and more extended
and intense, became a veritable commonplace of the age.
The fundamental interpretation was permanently political,
therefore polemical, vindicative, defensive (justification of individual
rights), but also offensive (against the laws which ignored these rights or
which were repressive). However, the different contexts in which “natural
1
Gheorghe Şincai, Învăţătură firească spre surparea superstiţiilor norodului,
Bucharest, Scientific Publishing House, 1964, p. 67.
2
Cf. Lucian Blaga, Gândirea românească în Transilvania în secolul al XVIII-lea
(The Romanian Thought in Transylvania in the 18th Century), in Opere (Works),
12, Bucharest, Minerva Publishing House, 1995, p. 116.
34
rights” were invoked introduced new nuances and specifications,
permanently actualizing them: a Supplex from 1st March 1791 referred
directly to “natural justice” (“dreptatea firii”).
There was a conviction that such an argument would soften the
severity of the authorities and would guarantee individual freedom. This
was a typical ideal and illusion of the Enlightenment. Another hope was
that it would be transformed into a legal principle and actually formulated
as a concrete law. For D. Ţichindeal “natural goodwill” (“fireasca
omenie”), “natural law” (“legea cea firească”) was a central notion,
recognized and proclaimed prior to and superior to any “civil” law. The
distinction opened a way for the contestation of the actual “imperial”
political legislation: “natural law… is much older, wiser and more perfect
than civil law and this (is) the eternal law” [“legea cea firească… cu mult
mai bătrână, mai înţeleaptă şi mai perfectă iaste decât legea cea
cetăţenească şi aceasta (este) legea vecinică”]. It guarantees individual,
natural rights, and its is superior to any “privilege”: “that each and every
person to be esteemed as he should and ought to be and as he deserves”
(“ca toate şi fieşte care să se preţuiască atât cât trebuie şi i se cuvine şi e
vrednic”). 1 Moise Nicoară had the same thoughts in a text which may be
termed at least nonconformist, actually being subversive, an Appeal
addressed to Emperor Francis I (1819): “Everyone should be given back
his natural right, which he had before the Empire, in order to be able to
defend himself strongly against oppression, persecution and injustice.”
(“Dee-se tot insului înapoi dreptul firesc sau al naturii, care l-a avut
înainte de Împărăţie ca să se poată apăra după puterea sa de asupriri, de
gonimir şi nedreptate.”) 2 There was at the same time the conviction that
such an argument would soften the severity of the authorities and would
guarantee the individual freedom. This was a typical ideal and illusion of
the Enlightenment. Another hope was that it would be formulated into a
law principle and actually into a concrete law. This expectation had not
been fulfilled at that time. But at least nothing hindered its study in a
university course, as in Damaschin Bojincă’s course, Despre diritul
persoanelor (On Civil Law) (1834). 3 Simion Bărnuţiu would resume the
discussion in the university lectures he held at Iaşi.
1
D. Ţichindeal, op. cit., p. 393.
3
Nicolae Bocşan, „Cursul de drept al lui Damaschin Bojincă (1834)” (Damaschin
Bojincă’s law course), in Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai, 23, 1978, Historia 4,
pp. 23–31.
2
35
Political freedom
The ground is cleared for highlighting and evaluating the most important
principle of the politico-social consciousness of the age: political
freedom. This is all the more important as it represented a veritable
leading idea, an exemplary paradigmatic formula for the entire
ideological ensemble of the discussed period. Its status was the more
specific, the more exemplar as the objective conditions – the entire
historical context of the age – allowed only a purely abstract, entirely
theoretical reflection and definition, far from any direct practical
implication. In an absolutistic regime, even if tolerant in some aspects,
political freedom could not be considered unless as a pure abstraction, as
an eminently theoretico-ideological principle. This conferred clarity,
rigour and efficiency to the idea, but purely demonstrative, because all
such formulas met with the political restrictions of the age. Freedom was
admitted as an essential natural right, but not as an inspirator of new
politico-social institutions, immediately applicable, which may disturb or
change the existing order.
Other innovative ideological principles, enounced for the first
time in Transylvania had the same abstract, purely theoretical status –
inoffensive on the immediate socio-political level, with great
consequences in the long run. The idea of progress, typical for the 18th
century Enlightenment, with prolongations into the next century, was
interpreted extensively in a liberal sense: “Through progress and
freedom” (1844). 1 This was an important and daring innovation in an
absolutistic regime. The same is true about “crime against humanity” (E.
Murgu, 1840), 2 the radical accusation of the infringement of human
rights, ideology getting affirmed in this period. The moment was
emblematic for the entire evolution of the politico-social thinking of the
age: from the theory of natural right to the liberal doctrine.
The most important aspect of this evolution was that free
expression was politicized and openly claimed, officially sanctioned,
legalized. The idea was implicit in all the articles written in the defence
of free expression and formerly surveyed.
The freedom of press
The radicalization was progressive. The most conclusive formulas
occurred beginning with the fourth decade: “Press must be free”
1
Emanuel Turczynski, op. cit., p. 197.
Eftimie Murgu, Scrieri (Writings), edited and introduced by I. D. Suciu,
Bucharest, Encyclopaedic Publishing House, 1969, p. 21.
2
36
(“Tiparul terbuie să fie liber”) (Gh. Bariţ, 1845). The moment was
important. It consecrated effectively the passage from the ideological
principle to the text of law, in the purely theoretical perspective, for the
time being, of some new constitutions. The new stage was equivalent to a
true change of the politico-social regime. The equally important
distinction between “ecclesiastic” laws and laic laws (respectively civil,
political, laic ones) dated from this same period. Religious dogma lost
ground before laic principle. The most conclusive example of this change
of mentality was offered by T. Cipariu, otherwise sever and rigid
clergyman. He rose to Gh. Bariţ’s defence and affirmed that a “journalist”
can express such an idea “only where press is free” (“numai unde e presul
liber”). Essentially, free press is the expression of the freedom of personal
will [(“each man should follow the way he likes best”) (“meargă tot omul
pe calea care-i mai place”)]. 1 It is the basic principle of any liberty and,
according to modern terminology, of liberalism.
In spite of all the historical relativism of political ideas
(especially in an underdeveloped culture), it can be asserted that the
transition from the affirmation of free will to that of political will took
place in Transylvania beginning with the second decade of the 19th
century. The situation is equivalent to the transition from natural rights to
democratic [(“civil”, “laic”) (“cetăţeneşti” “mireneşti”)] rights,
respectively to the discovery of the idea of constitution. In the strict terms
of the age Petru Maior spoke of “nature, mother of all, who commands
that the understanding and will of every man should be fulfilled”
(“natură, mama tuturor, care porunceşte a se deplini înţelegerea şi voinţa
fieştecăruia om”). 2 Budai Deleanu continued this idea and formulated it
in democratic spirit. In the Ţiganiada (X, 62, 63) he associated the idea of
“natural rights” (“drepturi fireşti”) with that of “democratic laws”
(“legilor democratice”); important direct influence of the French
Revolution.
Romanian civil consciousness may never have been penetrated
by more numerous abstract, universal, fundamentally subversive
principles – beyond any preoccupation with deep and extensive
assimilation – than in the “democratic laws”. Even “civil rights” fall into
this category. And these were the direct expression of “mankind”
(“neamului omenesc”), a leap into universality in which Romanian
1
Mircea Popa, op. cit., pp. 47, 210.
Petru Maior, Scrieri (Writings), critical edition edited by Florea Fugariu,
preface, chronological table by Maria Protase, Bucharest, Minerva Publishing
House, B.P.T., 1976, II, p. 242.
2
37
consciousness participated; not only through I. Budai-Deleanu, but also
through D. Ţichindeal, D. Bojincă, Moise Nicoară (and we are not
convinced that the list is complete). D. Ţichindeal was a great apologist
of the consciousness of mankind: “Listen to the voice of humanity”
(“Ascultaţi glasul omenirii”). He was convinced that “what is better for
all people, and not to one person alone; only that is useful for the entire
mankind” (“ce e mai bine pentru toate noroadele, decât pentru un singur
norod, singur aceia a neamului omenesc de comun folositoriu”). 1 He was
not alone, of course. D. Bojincă invoked in the same sense “the liberty…
of all man” (“libertatea tuturor oamenilor”). 2 The implicit or explicit
subject of this principle was that the Romanian people should not be an
exception to the general rule. Therefore all should develop, logically, by
way of direct consequence. It was for the first time that an acute political
controversy of great European actuality was taken over on the highest
level of abstraction in the Romanian countries as well. All the principles
of political freedom had, in the same way, an identically high degree of
generalization. All the invoked principles fell under the widely
circulating general formula of: “the rights of both man and civil society”
(“drepturile atât ale omului, cât şi ale societăţii civile”).
It is evident that the entire theoretical substantiation and
organization had a specific aim in the circumstances of an absolutistic
age: the promulgation of a law or constitution which should accord rights
to the Romanians. Meanwhile they formed an outlaw category, a
discrimination they could not accept. This was proved by the fact that the
idea of “justice” had already been present and insistently underlined in all
the petitions and the supplexes addressed to the Habsburg crown since the
previous century. The first one was the Supplex from 1804: “For the
burdens of the People never speak of joy. But lightening the People’s
difficulties and giving them justice is the basis of sovereignty.” (“Pentru
că greutatea Norodului niciodată nu vesteşte bucurie. Dar uşurarea şi
dreptatea Norodului iaste temeiul stăpânirii.”) 3
The painful lack of a law or a constitution that would have
defined and guaranteed the rights of the Romanians explains the
insistence on – we could even say the obsession with – the thought that
the idea of “justice” was being infringed. The most typical example may
be I. Budai-Deleanu. He invoked “justice” in his literary work, the
1
D. Ţichindeal, op. cit., pp. 44, 90, 128.
D. Bojincă, op. cit., p. XCVIII.
3
D. Prodan, Încă un Supplex Libellus românesc, 1804 (Another Romanian
Supplex Libellus, 1804), Cluj, Dacia Publishing House, 1970, p. 81.
2
38
Ţiganiada [version B. 9–14: “Placing in power all his rights” (“Punând
tot dreptul în putere”)], as well as in his ideologico-historical studies: “a
nation has no right to harm another nation” (“un neam nu are dreptul să
pricinuiască vătămarea altui neam”). 1 The idea that Romanians would be
only… “tolerated” in Transylvania was rejected for the same reason. 2
The answer to the question asked by Gh. Bariţ in 1846, Ce este barbaria
(What Barbarism Is), was “the club-law” (“dreptul pumnului”) and
“clerical anathema” (“anathema popească”). 3 There are two major
obstacles against justice and political freedom. Justice cannot be obtained
unless in liberty. The two notions therefore intermingle. This was the
answer of the age to the essential question, conclusion of the entire
thinking and assimilation process of a political principle: Is liberty useful
or not? 4 The answer was naturally in the affirmative; with the
specification that an “indigenous” reflection of the idea of political liberty
should be initiated as an accompaniment. Because this idea was less
known at that time, an attentive survey was necessary.
In a transitional period of great ideological interaction the
motivation of justice and implicitly that of political freedom, inevitably,
had different sources. Some of them were even contradictory. The
theological argument still maintained its authority: “Does not the
wakening voice of God, nature and mankind resound that the free man
should not oppress his likes… when the sacred voice of freedom and
justice resounds all over the enlightened world” (“Nu răsune oare glasul
deşteptător al lui Dumnezeu, al naturii şi al omenirii ca omul liber să nu
apese pe semenul său... când în toată lumea luminată sună sfântul glas al
libertăţii şi dreptăţii”) (1842). 5 Afterwards, the argument became simpler,
was “laicized” and Moise Nicoară invoked only “the unwritten law
present in everyone’s heart” (“legea nescrisă, dar prezentă în toate
inimile”). It is prior to all human laws; it is a “primitive”, “natural” law,
urging the human being to oppose “the usurpation of his rights”
1
Ion Budai-Deleanu, De originibus populorum Transilvaniae, I, pp. LIV–LV.
Al. Ciorănescu, Opera istorică a lui Budai-Deleanu (Budai-Deleanu’s Historical
Works), Bucharest, Monitorul Oficial (Official Monitor), 1938, p. 106.
3
Texte privind dezvoltarea gândirii social-politice în România (Texts on the
Development of Social-Political Thinking in Romania), Bucharest, Academic
Publishing House, 1954, p. 259.
4
(C. Negruzzi), Elemente de dreptul politic după mai mulţi autori de un filoromân (The Elements of Political Law after Several Authors by a PhiloRomanian), Braşov, in Ioan Gott’s press, 1846, p. 72.
5
D. Prodan, Supplex Libellus Valachorum, p. 142.
2
39
(“uzurparea drepturilor sale”). 1 According to the seducing, idealized view
of the age, it had a radical, absolute aspect, typical to any firm adhesion
of principles. However, experience corrected this exalted vision.
Compiling some sources of the age, Samuil Micu retained also
the idea that freedom must be regulated, limited in order to reach an
acceptable practical stage of national and social existence: “… In order
that practice and freedom should remain, the good must many times be
diminished for the benefit of all people” (“… Ca să se ţie practica şi
slobozenia de multe ori trebuie ca binele în folosul tuturor oamenilor să
se împuţineze”). 2 The explication was given by D. Ţichindeal, shortly
afterwards, in a simple and direct language: “Freedom without wise laws
is a wild beast” (“Slobozenia fără de legile înţelepte e sălbatecă fiară”). 3
This implies restrictions and exigencies, regulations of principle defined
by a democratic constitution. This is (or would be) its fundamental
justification. A new, innovative, “revolutionary” notion, initiated at the
height of an absolutistic regime. It was the most characteristic aspect of
the age: the appearance of some new, radical, purely abstract political
concepts. Political freedom is, essentially, constitutional or it does not
exist.
Against this background, the idea of political freedom – central
ideal of Romanian civic consciousness – unfolded thoroughly and with
all its energy. It was derived from the invocation of the mentioned
fundamental, constitutional principles, as well as from an immediate
politico-social exigency, imperatively felt. First of all, the right to free
expression was demanded, and therefore the right to defence, protest and
reclamation as well, this being the first important manifestation of
political freedom. All the petitions of the age, the different supplex-es
were inspired from and supposed the invocation of this right to protest,
direct confrontation with state authority by insistent and repeated
allusions. Things went as far as violent insubordination, armed revolt.
Horea’s uprising (1784) was inspired from these principles. A
proof to this is its international echo, the propagandistic support
displayed by the contemporary theoreticians of the right to revolt. The
best-known, the Girondist J.-P. Brissot de Warville was very explicit,
especially in his text from 1785: Seconde lettre d’un défenseur du peuple
concernant l’émigration, et principalement sur la revolt des Valaques où
l’on discute à fond le droit de revolt du peuple (Dublin–Paris).
1
Lucian Blaga, op. cit., p. 164.
3
D. Ţichindeal, op. cit., p. 131.
2
40
Favourable or neutral echoes were also identified in the English press and
the German newspapers and magazines from Transylvania. 1 The idea that
natural rights may confront or even contest state authority – a generally
little-known fact – was present in Samuil Micu’s first philosophicalpolitical writings. He has the notion [Legile Firei... (Natural Laws...),
1800] that the “Emperor’s” powers can and must be limited when they
are “against natural law or against the law of God” (“împotriva legii
fireşti sau împotriva legii lui Dumnezeu”). 2 In a passage [Învăţătura
metafizicii (The Doctrine of Metaphysics), § 65], which seems to have
been introduced as an allusion, it was specified that “the people rise up
against the emperor” (“norodul se scoală împotriva împăratului”) when
this “becoming terribly wild, falls upon the people’s goods and life”
(“sălbătăcindu-se cumplit, tăbăreşte în averile şi în viaţa norodului”). 3
The perturbation of the public (“obşteşti”) tranquillity and peace
originates from here. The – decisive – argument was taken over from the
1791 Supplex. The rights of the Romanians were openly acknowledged
and it was stated the inevitable succession of their “rebellion” (“rebeliei”)
in the case “the emperor does not give justice” (“împăratul nu face
dreptate”). 4 Naturally, the idea became radical in the ultimate stage. The
right to revolt was justified, in identical terms, also by Moise Nicoară in a
text from 1819. 5 These are the well-attested Romanian beginnings of the
idea of revolution. 6
1
Nicolae Edroiu, op. cit., pp. 54, 108, passim.
Lucian Blaga, op. cit., p. 120.
3
Samuil Micu, Scrieri filozofice (Philosophical Writings), introduced by
Pompiliu Teodor and Dumitru Ghişe, Bucharest, State Publishing House, 1966, p.
102.
4
D. Prodan, op. cit., pp. 52, 89.
5
Cornelia Bodea, op. cit., pp. 56, 57, 306–307.
6
An overall view, Adrian Marino, “Începuturile ideii de revoluţie” (The
Beginnings of the Idea of Revolution), Lumea (The World), III, 25, 17 June 1965.
2
41
An Active Friendship in the Realm of Multiculturalism
Andrei Pippidi - Adrian Marino
Emilia-Mariana SOPORAN
“Lucian Blaga” Central University Library,
Cluj-Napoca
Keywords: correspondence, exchange of books, culture, history,
literature, article writing, Cahiers
Abstract
The paper presents an elevated exchange of letters and ideas of two
outstanding personalities: the historian Andrei Pippidi and the ideologue
Adrian Marino. Their productive connection unfolds in the following
letters. As it appears from the content of these epistles there is a long
collaboration between them on cultural scale through the permanent
exchange of ideas and information, of articles and books on the basis of
“trust, appreciation, sympathy, cooperation and personal interest taken in
each other”.
The correspondence of Romanian and foreign cultural
personalities is also included amongst the documents of the Adrian
Marino archival collection – collected and classified attentively and
patiently by the great literary critic himself, and donated to the “Lucian
Blaga” Central University Library in Cluj-Napoca. “The letters have the
great advantage of allowing you at the same time to remain isolated and
sociable, organized and adapted to various situations; polite and distant,
expeditious and efficient with economy of time, gestures and means, in
permanent contact and still intermittent, selective and widely available”. 1
From his rich correspondence entrusted for lecturing, we bring
to the attention of those interested, the letters addressed by the historian
Andrei Pippidi, a remarkable personality of contemporary Romanian
culture, to the literary critic Adrian Marino. As it appears from the
content of these epistles there is a long cultural collaboration between
them through the permanent exchange of ideas and information, of
1
Adrian Marino, Prezenţe româneşti şi realităţi europene. Jurnal intelectual,
(Romanian Presences and European Realities. Intellectual Diary) Iaşi, 2004, p.
81.
42
articles and books on the basis of “trust, appreciation, sympathy,
cooperation and personal interest taken in each other”. 1
Andrei Pippidi is a specialist in the history of the Middle Ages
and of the Modern era. As a researcher of the Southeast European Study
Institute he had the possibility of thorough documentation by analyzing
the documents from the archives of other countries (England,
Switzerland, France, etc.). Access to new information regarding foreign
relations of Romanian countries have helped him to explain and to
engage in European history some aspects of Romanian society from the
Middle Ages and form the period of the Modern. Due to the
elaborateness of his refined style and historical knowledge, Andrei
Pippidi has become one of those “friends” whom Adrian Marino
considers accomplices of his own success: “success is in great measure
the result of some friendships and personal relations (…) without
efficient, functional relations, good relationships with the press and
publishing houses, active friends of our culture, hardly anything is
possible”. 2 This fact is confirmed by various historical and bibliographic
information from the beginning of their correspondence. Hence the
attention manifested by Mr. Marino when he thanked him by naming him
in the preface of his last book Libertate şi cenzură în România, (Liberty
and Censorship in Romania) is also worthy of note.
In the transcription of his letters we kept the author’s
punctuation and orthography, as well as the lines under some parts of the
texts that were considered necessary in order to highlight some particular
significations. For the optimal understanding of his texts by the large
public he appealed to supplementary explanations presented in the form
of notes, obviously necessary for the two conversing persons.
Additionally the telephone number of Mr. Pippidi has been censored. All
the letters sent by Andrei Pippidi to Mr. Adrian Marino have been
transcribed and preserved in the Adrian Marino archival collection of the
“Lucian Blaga” Central University Library in Cluj-Napoca.
1
2
Ibid., p. 80.
Ibid., p. 79.
43
11
Bucharest, 14th January 1977
Dear Mr. Marino,
I received your letter with immense pleasure and the delay of the
answer is caused by nothing else but the time of reflection that it
requested. I am equally joyful for the chance of wishing you at my turn
many and productive years, as well for the honour that you are according
me by appealing to my collaboration for one of the future numbers that
you are publishing. This number could not be other than the 2/1979, and
the subject that I am allowing myself to propose would be Morlaques et
Valaques, contributions à l’étude d’un thème littéraire du XVIIIe siecle. It
is about an interesting “ethnographic” description of Romanians, an
exotic people, comparable to those savage populations on the American
continent that were discovered in one of the editions of the biographies of
a Herzegovinian heyduck, translated from Italian to French and then to
English. At the origins of this curious text stands the notorious Viaggio in
Dalmatia by Fortis. 2 I consider that the presentation of Romanians as
“bons sauvages” is significant for highlighting the approach of European
Enlightenment towards us (for not saying it the other way around!).
Therefore I would be grateful if you would let me know the time
you allot me for writing this article, of course with the condition that you
agree with the proposed subject.
I do not know if it is necessary to commit myself on the issue of
the reviews as long as I do not possess any information regarding the fate
of the one I sent you last year (Cantemir).
My cordial regards,
Andrei Pippidi,
1
“Cahiers. Corespondenţă română, 1978”, (Cahiers. Romanian Correspondence,
1978), “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library, Archive stock Adrian Marino,
Marino Fd. 24, p. 41.
2
Alberto Fortis, Viaggio in Dalmazia, 2nd vol., Venice, 1774.
44
21
Dear Mr. Marino
Being asked by Mr. Professor Berza 2 to write a review for your
journal, I allow myself to send the enclosed pages. Sorry for the delay. Is
the intention of publishing an appreciation about “Daco-Romania” still
actual? I also have the impression that the material turned out to be too
long, but only in these circumstances does a discussion make sense.
Thanking you for your – I’m hoping – kind interest that you
shall give evidence of when seeing these pages, please accept the
assurance of my greatest respect,
Andrei Pippidi,
33
Dear Mr. Marino,
I am in hurry to assure you that your preoccupation is needless.
When I accepted to submit an article, I already knew that I was going to
Paris (at the end of this month), a journey that I do not make often, but
which this time shall probably last until June. The main part of the
material is already assembled – only a few corrections remained to be
done, among which the one that you had the kindness to suggest at B. N.
– the article shall arrive on 1 May. Is it too late? In this case I could
suggest sending it to you in the course of April. I am aware of the
importance of the remarks that you are asking from me, and I hope the
answer shall satisfy you. On my return I intend to come to Cluj for a few
days: I very much hope to have the opportunity of meeting you then.
Thanking for your best wishes that you accompany me on the
beginning of a road that I am looking forward to with great excitement.
Please accept the assurances of my devoted feelings and my cordial
greetings,
Andrei Pippidi
1
“Cahiers. Corespondenţă română, 1977” (Cahiers. Romanian Correspondance,
1977), “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library, Archive stock Adrian Marino,
Marino Fd. 19, p. 57.
2
Mihai I. Berza, Romanian historian, specialist in the history of the Middle Ages
(1907–1978).
3
“Cahiers. Corespondenţă română, 1978”, “Lucian Blaga” Central University
Library, Adrian Marino Archival stock, Marino Fd. 24, f. 42.
45
41
Bucharest, 18 September 1978
Dear Mr. Marino,
I do not know how to ask for your apologies for the nuisance
that the delay of the article has caused you. The truth is that I should not
have made any commitment before having the article written. On my
departure I only knew approximately how and about what I was going to
talk. I wrote it in Paris, but later than I expected, around April-May, it
turned out long (26 pages!) and I awaited my return, tarried with two
more months, thus until August, to give its final shape. The “child” is
called Naissance, renaissances et mort du Bon Sauvage: à propos de
Morlaques et de Valaques. It is more than I said it would be. The
unknown text about Romanians from 1778, to which I attached an other
one about the customs of the Dalmatian Morlachs after the memories of a
Napoleonic officer. This text is nothing but an alleged reason for certain
reflections on the literature of travelogues and of fiction inspired by the
Southeast of Europe in the period of the Renaissance until the nineteenth
century, though the Enlightenment gains the widest prominence. I do not
imagine that it can enter either in the number that we (oh dear!, I’m
ashamed!) agreed on, nor in some other (it is too long, isn’t it?) But I
would like you to believe me that I did not let myself be taken away by
other temptations, that you so well know. I minded my business instead
and managed to accomplish in my tarrying other things as well. Of
course, I discovered documents of an overwhelming number and variety.
Allow me to blandish you with some from this abundance and to put at
your disposal, if and when you want, the Caterina Macedonski-Leboeuf’
letters to Barutel from 1889–1895. Possibly you know them. They are
amusing: gossip, recollections of her father, the general, very copious
confessions and this characterization of Alexandru: “Mon frère est
journaliste et poete trés discuté de son temps, parce qu’il a su s’atléres la
hamé de tous par ses satyres (sic!). Il a écrit du mal du Roi et de la Reine,
ensuite du bien et comme ça ne prenait pas, encore du mal, mais a part
ces poésies qui veulent être decadentes, il a de trés belles nuits.
Malheuresment, lui écrit en roumain” (that is, not in French like her!)
Silly things…
1
Cahiers. Corespondenţă română, 1977, “Lucian Blaga” Central University
Library, Adrian Marino archive stock, Marino Fd.19, p. 43.
46
I saw your book in the libraries in Paris and I congratulate you.
Another subject that I would be happy discuss with you is the episode of
the encounter of the Knight Oliveira with Marie-Elisabeth de
Bonffremont and her husband, the Prince Radu Cantacuzino. But first,
forgive me and write me a few words so that I know what I should do
with the article.
Please accept, respected Mr. Marino, the assurances of my
highest consideration,
Andrei Pippidi
51
Dear Mr. Marino,
I had a hesitation at the moment of dating this letter, not only
because I do not know, indeed, which day it is, but also due to the fact
that I anticipate my delay again. Indeed, you are waiting for the titles that
I would propose in exchange for the books that you benevolently and
confidently offered me. It was not an easy option and the list remains
open. However, not for the reason that my library would be short of
works about the eighteenth century, Enlightenment, etc., but because I
find it hard to detach myself from them.
Here it is, provisionally, a list from which you can choose, not
two, but three or more volumes because I believe that it still does not
match exactly the value of those that I owe you.
1. J. Bronowski and Bruce Mazlish. The Western Intellectual Tradition
(1963), a useful synthesis of ideas from Leonardo to Hegel.
2. French Popular Imagery (1974), more than a 145 p. exposition
catalogue, since beside an introduction by Jean Adhémar and the copious
commentaries it comprises very suggestive reproductions for the history
of popular culture.
3. Gino Damerini, Caterina Dolfin tron (Milan, 1929), biography, slightly
obsolescent tone of a “femma de lettres” from the eighteenth century, but
interesting for the Venetian atmosphere and with a documentary appendix
containing letters.
4. J. Segond, Le problème de génie (Paris, 1930), book that could on no
account leave a literature theorist and aesthetician disinterested.
1
“Corespondenţă internă, 1979”, “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library,
Adrian Marino archive stock, Marino Fd. 99, p. 117.
47
I repeat, if you happen to have some of them, I can suggest other
books as well.
Elena Siupiur writes with ardour, only that as Penelope, she
unravels everything that she has woven, which does not mean that you
will have to wait ten years. She read the final version of my first pages
yesterday.
I encountered Miss Holban the other day and I will call on her
again. I am sure that she will hand you a nice article.
It remains for me, respected Mr. Marino, to thank you again for
the friendly reception and give my respectful homage to your lady.
Accept the assurances of my devoted sentiments,
Andrei Pippidi
61
20 Mai 1979
Dear Mr. Marino,
It seems to me that life seldom gives us the opportunity to cause
pleasure to our fellows. I consider thus a favourable junction that it befell
to find books, which should be useful to you, though in a smaller measure
than the valuable edition of the Porphyirogenitus.
I also thank you for the excerpt. The article, beside the satisfaction that I
suppose each reader feels, it has offered me that other, more bitter one of
seeing the fatal effects of (late) Enlightenment in Romanian culture:
theatre censorship from Alexandru Şuţu 2 until today.
Mrs. Holban was amazed not to find Cahiers on the shelf in the
Academy Library. I would like to mention for those who would like to
listen this omission of the Bianu 3 epigones. Mrs. Siupiur does not stop
writing except when she reads on the phone, about two-three pages of her
work. In a few days it will be ready. The other collaborators are all right?
Out-ils pondu leurs oeufs d’or?
I am very delighted with the book of the Polish fellow.
Please accept, dear Mr. Marino, the assurances of my devoted
sentiments,
Andrei Pippidi
1
Idem, p. 128.
Alexandru Şuţu, ruler of Moldova between 1801–1802 and of Muntenia in
1802, 1806, 1818–1821.
3
Ion Bianu, philologist, bibliographer and literary historian (1856–1935).
2
48
71
Bucharest, 26 November 1979
Dear Mr. Marino,
I too have, like many others, a weakness: when I have to write a
letter that is unpleasant for me or for the addressee, I let time go by, in the
hope that who knows why, I might be absolved from this obligation. So
for more than a week, your letter has been lying as a scolding on my
worktable (one way of expressing: this desk is covered with a heap of
books and journals, as always when I am in the middle of a writing a
study). I am even sorrier for this delay as it is befitting for me to thank
you for the publishing of the study on the “Morlachs”. The issue is very
good the way it is, though I am afraid it would not have been of a lower
level without the “Morlachs”.
Now, concerning the next issue, the one with the “Journeys”. In
September, when I thought I could keep my word I was very busy with
the completion of my doctoral dissertation, and your absence from the
country has encouraged me! Since then I am continuously held up and
retained by another obligation: the plan study, with an unyielding
resonance, an exhaustive research about the library of the Mavrocordats, 2
about the Eastern and Byzantine sources of the Phanariot culture. The
truth is that until the end of the year I cannot do anything! I read
Baczko, 3 but it would be unfair to make a superficial review to such a
wonderful book.
Then what do I propose? Either I return the book so that you have
it at hand, and for the presentation of the Foreign Travellers you address
directly the Editors of the collection (Mrs. Holban, Gh. Snagov, 28, or
Dr. Paul Cernovodeanu, the “N. Iorga” Institute of History, Aviatorilor
Boulevard, 1). The latter shall certainly be willing to do it: he is also the
author of the book Societatea feudală românească văzută de călători
străini (sec. XV–XVIII), [Romanian Feudal Society Seen by Foreign
Travellers (15–18th century)] from 1973. Or you wait until January. The
third solution would be for you to cancel the two reviews, at least for the
1
“Cahiers. Corespondenţă, 1979”, “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library,
Adrian Marino archive stock, Marino Fd. 29, p. 14.
2
The name of a Phanariot family distinguished in the history of the Ottoman
Empire, Wallachia, Moldavia, and modern Greece.
3
Bronislaw Baczko, Polish writer (b. 1924).
49
summary of the thematic issue. The other for Baczko’s book shall find a
place in another context later too.
Please believe me I am desolate to put you in such a mess, I
imagine that any delay starts to become annoying, therefore in order to
get your answer sooner, I allow myself to give you my phone number,
XXXXXX, and the one from the Institute – the Secretary’s Office
507290 (here, daily after midday). Once again, I apologize.
Accept please, with my respectful homage for Mrs. Marino, my
ashamed, but not less cordial greetings,
Andrei Pippidi
81
Bucharest, 6 December ’79
Dear Mr. Marino,
I accept your decision. Come what may, it remains for the
upcoming month.
I am waiting for an answer from Mrs. Anghelescu (the last time
that I inquired after her she was in hospital!) about the copyrights. Will
the extracts be ready until January?
Accept please, the assurances of my cordial, devoted sentiments,
Andrei Pippidi
92
Bucharest, 31 January 1980
Dearest Mr. Marino,
In November I promised: “in January”. And January it is (still),
so I am posting you in about ½ hour the review – discussion –
commentary. I attempted to make something other than a usual
bibliographic presentation, urged by the esteem that I bear for the journal
that will publish me (right?), as for the work itself. The praises spring
1
Ibid., p. 15.
“Cahiers. Corespondenţă, 1980”, “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library,
Adrian Marino archival stock, Marino Fd. 34, p. 16. On this letter Mr. Adrian
Marino made the following note: “Ana Spaleru 15 A Buc. I”.
2
50
from my true conviction that we have a good work for 100 years in the
travelogue collection. What should I do with the Utopia? How long can I
keep it? If you could shift the review for the next number…
I did not get the extracts from the Good Savage. Really, it is a
pity, why? I reckon the answer: typography, etc. Surely you do not have
any blame.
Please accept, thus with delay, my best wishes for your good
health in a prosperous year. I attach my cordial respects to Mrs. Marino,
With devoted sentiments,
Adrian Pippidi
10 1
Bucharest, 21 February 1980
Dear Mr. Marino,
I did not instantly answer – as I should have – your last letter,
which arrived almost at the same time with the expected extracts, a
double occasion of thanking you. Are you ready to oblige me once more?
I hesitated to address you this request, not venturing to confide the
pleasure that the news caused me, about Lionello Sozzi and Jaques Proust
expressing a favourable opinion about my article. But after giving it a
second thought, I believe I can be forgiven – at my age – for my rejoicing
over such appreciations. I even need them in order to convince myself
from time to time that I too can do something good. Thence I allow
myself asking you to transcribe, only for my personal use, the benevolent
words of your correspondents. It happens that, from the two colleagues
whom I offered the first extracts, one did not read it until today, and the
other has found it “weak”. I have been thus rather discouraged when I
received from you the assurances of other, more enviable echoes.
Best wishes,
Andrei Pippidi
1
“Corespondenţă internă, 1980”, (Internal Correspondence, 1980), “Lucian
Blaga” Central University Library, Adrian Marino archive stock, Marino Fd. 100,
p. 33.
51
11 1
Bucharest, 8 May 1981
Dear Mr. Marino,
Today I received the first sign of your return into the country
(Welcome!) and I hurry to send you the book you borrowed me as you
have the delicacy of saying “from some time”. I am blushing! Not talking
then about the shame of not being able to write the promised review…
On the other hand I do not know whether the Cahiers shall continue to
appear. Anyway, I have seen the proof-correcting, due to Mrs.
Anghelescu’s kindness, who is yet again very hard to find without a
telephone.
Also related to the reconstitution of your library, I was expecting
an answer after I have sent you Hommes et idées du Sud-Est européen. 2 I
considered it better for you to find it on your return. If it somehow got
lost, please ask my friend, Mihai Gherman, at the Cluj Academy Library,
who has anyway four copies in his custody, or you can wait for my first
visit, which will not be delayed too much, because at the end of this
month or at the beginning of the next month I will have to arrive to Cluj
in order to defend my Doctoral Dissertation. I will have then the pleasure
of writing a new dedication to the volume, with the same devoted
sentiments,
Andrei Pippidi
12 3
Dearest Mr. Marino,
Here it is, finally, the Xerox-copy of the much-searched article. Is
it worth or not the trouble, you will decide. But honour is saved: I
1
“Corespondenţă internă, 1981”, (Internal Correspondence, 1981), “Lucian
Blaga” Central University Library, Adrian Marino archive stock, Marino Fd. 101,
p. 77.
2
Andrei Pippidi, Hommes et idées du Sud-Est européen à l’aube de l’age
moderne, Bucharest, Paris, 1980.
3
“Corespondenţa română”, (Romanian Correspondence), 2000, vol. II, “Lucian
Blaga” Central University Library, Adrian Marino archive stock, Marino Fd.
425/2, p. 67.
52
managed to find the volume only at the library of the Theological
Institute.
I did not receive the acknowledgement of the package posted
about ten days ago to your address. It is my book, recently appeared in
Iaşi, in which many texts – older and more recent – are collected. It might
still be on the road...
Please accept, dearest Mr. Marino, the cordial assurances of my
best thoughts,
Andrei Pippidi
13 1
Bucharest, 6 December 2000
Dearest Mr. Marino,
Exactly, when I started to worry, I received your letter, in about
two hours when I called you to inquire whether you received my book.
Meanwhile I assume that you have also received my article from the
“Raze de lumină” (Sunbeams). Even if you do not need it anymore, you
will find that I did everything I could do to be at your service.
In order to answer your questions, Ţurlea’s book N. Iorga în viaţa
politică a României 2 (N. Iorga in the Political Life of Romania), is an
assiduous book. I can say that I have supervised each page of the text and
the author had then my collaboration as a former university colleague and
as an honourable – as I considered then – person. Afterwards it was
embarrassing to see his degrading metamorphosis, that I have denounced
him myself in “22” breaking publicly and definitely every relation with
him. Much weaker is the work of Titu Georgescu Nicolae Iorga împotriva
hitlerismului (Nicolae Iorga against Hitlerism), 3 also because of the
moment of its writing (however, it has a good preface written by M.
Berza). Both books can be read for the conflict of Călinescu regarding the
suspending of Neamul Românesc (Romanian Nation). I believe that you
have Scrisori către Catinca 4 (Letters to Catinca), the publication of my
1
„Andrei Pippidi”, “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library, Archival stock
Adrian Marino, Marino Fd. 449, p. 1.
2
Petre Ţurlea, Nicolae Iorga în viaţa politică a României (Nicolae Iorga in
Romania’s Political Life), Bucharest, 1991.
3
Titu Georgescu, Nicolae Iorga împotriva hitlerismului (Nicolae Iorga against
Hitlerism), Bucharest, 1966.
4
Nicolae Iorga, Scrisori către Catinca 1900-1939 (Letters to Catinca 1900–
1939), Bucharest, 1991.
53
grandparents’ correspondence, which in a chapter refers to the grim
atmosphere of suspicion by the police during the regal dictatorship.
Concerning the “Constitution” of Constantin (not Nicolae)
Mavrocordat published in “Mercure de France”, the bibliography is very
rich. I would start with Gh. I. Brătianu, Două veacuri de la reforma lui
Constantin Mavrocordat, (Two Decades from the Reforms of Constantin
Mavrocordat), A.A.R. in S.I., s. III, T. XXIX, 1947 (pp. 435–443 contain
the French text itself). Another guiding mark is the study of Şerban
Papacostea, La grande charte de Constantin Mavrocordato (1741) et les
reformes en Valachie et en Moldavie, in Symposium. L’époque
phanariote, Thessaloniki, 1974, pp. 365–376. There is another special
article about this propagandist publication in France, facilitated by
Desfontaines 1 Abbey, one of Voltaire’s adversaries, in R.E.S.E.E. 2
around 1980, not in 1981, XIX, 4: is Anne-Marie Cassoly, Autour de
l’insertion dans le “Mercure de France” de la “Constitution” de
Constantin Mavrocordato. Finally I would add Remus Niculescu,
Portretul unui domn din epoca luminilor: Constantin Mavrocordat, văzut
de Jean-Etienne Liotard 3 , (The portrait of a ruler from the age of the
Enlightenment) in Studii şi cercetări de istoria artei, (Studies and
Researches of Art History) s. Plastic Art, T. 41, 1994, p. 43–54. There is
another tiny volume by Florin Constantiniu, Constantin Mavrocordat, 4 a
biography written for the series of rulers at the Editura Militară.
Depasta 5 was one of the Greek adulators for the Greeks. The
French translation of the hrisov had another public in target.
I like to think that what preoccupies us is before the elections
that cannot be, anyhow, other than disastrous. But my father, in August
1944, was at Sinaia translating the Eleaţi, a perpetually enviable example.
Please accept, dear Mr. Marino, our best wishes for the oncoming holidays. Happy New Year!
Andrei Pippidi
1
L’abbé Desfontaines, French writer (1685–1745).
R.E.S.E.E. = Revue des études sud-est européennes.
3
Remus Niculescu, Portretul unui domn din epoca luminilor văzut de JeanEtienne Liotard (The Portrait of a Ruler as seen by Jean-Etienne Liotard), in
S.C.I.A.-A.P., 1994.
4
Florin Constantiniu, Constantin Mavrocordat, Bucharest, 1985.
5
Petru Depasta the Peloponnesian, erudite Greek chronicle, established in the
Romanian Countries, physician in the court of Constantin Mavrocordat.
2
54
14 1
Bucharest, 25 January 2001
Dearest Mr. Marino,
Why do I write to you, despite the hazards of the post that you
warned me of, when I could transmit on the phone as well my thanks for
the review – brought in as a gift for the beginning of the weekend – that I
have just read? Because when addressing you, I feel the need for
solemnity. I would like that the expression of my gratitude for those
understanding and benevolent words that you wrote about my book to
remain somehow fixed.
You remember – however, I could never forget – that you gave
me the accolade to my doctorate 20 years ago. The two volumes that you
had given to me remained in a special place in my library (Constantine
Porphyrogenitus 2 in the best edition, rarity, being even very handy at that
current moment). The solidarity that you are declaring to me after two
decades is especially precious to me. We are in good terms: of course, my
friend Vlad, whose loss I cannot console myself of, Constantiniu,
naturally, though it is impossible for me to understand his admiration for
Ceauşescu and Antonescu, Boia rather superficially – I do not know Mr.
Voicu, and I do not think that he is a historian. I am glad that you liked
the images about Lăcusteanu 3 (it is due to my father who had put this
book, 4 which he liked, into my hand).
You have accurately recognized in the passage regarding Sabina
Cantacuzino, 5 a pro domo allusion. Finally, I could not have wished for a
more attentive reader who is more considerate and more willing to
declare his affinities.
Please, accept once again my best wishes and for a long life,
equally sincere also after so many years. Please pass on these greetings to
your wife.
Andrei Pippidi
1
“Andrei Pippidi”, “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library, Adrian Marino
archival stock, Marino Fd. 449, p. 2.
2
Byzantine emperor, 1000 B. C., author of the famous treaty De administrando
imperio.
3
Grigore Lăcusteanu, senator and Romanian officer (1813–1883).
4
Grigore Lăcusteanu, Amintirile colonelului Lăcusteanu (The Memories of Col.
Lăcusteanu), Bucharest, 1933.
5
Sabina Cantacuzino, Romanian writer (1863–1941), daughter of I. C. Brătianu
and wife of physician Constantin Cantacuzino.
55
15 1
Dearest Mr. Marino,
Thank you for the good words on Alina’s book. I shall let her,
tell you what pleasure she had while reading the article from the
“Observator”.
I started to search for information about Leonte Radu. Being
“piqué” (stung as one could say) I tried to reply to the trust that you
always had in me. What did I find then?
The text of the System, that is of the basic documentary, is
Hurmuzaki, supl. I to vol. VI, p. 82–96.
The only article dealing with him is the one by Valerian
Popovici 2 (a sad figure of the Iaşi University from the Stalinist period).
Some new data about the confederative conspiracy, in the volume
Lucrările sesiunii generale ştiinţifice din 2–12 iunie 1950, (Works of the
General Scientific Session from 2–12 June, 1950) Bucharest, Ed. Acad.,
1951, p. 1993–2000.
A commentary appears at Platon, Moldova şi începuturile
revoluţiei de la 1848, (Moldova and the Beginnings of the 1848
Revolution), Chişinău, ed. Univeristas, 1993, p. 141–143. He emphasizes
the fact that L. Radu and the scribe N. Ene, had not done anything but
transcribed the documents. These belonged according to Radu’s
declarations to the owner from Văleni, to the Agha Alecu Roset, and their
content would not have been known (flagrant contradiction!). what is
more, our man insinuates that, “if other, bigger houses were searched,
much uglier papers would be found”… The year is 1839. The appellation
“confederative conspiracy” deals with the intention of building a
confederation Moldova-Muntenia-Serbia, with a hereditary foreign
prince, after the Western model “such as in Europe”.
At Traian Ichim, Alecu Russo. Cîteva date nouă cu privire la
viaţa şi familia lui, (Alecu Russo. Some New Data Regarding His Life
and Family) extracted from “Viaţa Românească”, (Romanian Life),
[1923], p. 25, is a reference to the boundaries of the estate from
Horniceni of the “divested equerry Leon Radu”. The article is very
interesting because it contains the list of the inventoried books at the
death of Alecu Russo, his personal library. The quote allows us to
1
2
Ibid., p. 3.
Valerian Popovici, historian (1908–1967).
56
understand that Leon Radu emigrated after the conspiracy had been
revealed, or he was exiled.
I was curious to see General Radu Rosetti’s opinion on Alecu
Roset, the Rosetti Family, I, Bucharest, 1938, p. 134–136, born in 1795,
died in 1837, buried in the Tălpari church from Iaşi, son of Constantin
and of Anastasia Beldiman, married Profira Miclescu. He has been a
permanent maverick, a restless and fiery spirit, always in conflict with the
esquires and the Russian consul. If it is to believe L. Radu, the project of
the constitutional reformation already exists “with a year or more”
preceding the death of Rosetti, thus in 1835–1836. It is very possible that
Radu had blamed the dead man, so that he will not be called to account
for it. Two from the Alecu brothers, though clerics, the bishop Veniamin
and the abbot Ghenadie have actively taken part in the political life of the
period. Veniamin and another brother, Scarlat have taken part at the
revolutionary movement of 1848.
Here it is a brief orientation in the subject matter. It was a
pleasure for me to be at your service.
With the most affectionate salutations,
Andrei Pippidi
P.S. My apologies for the delay. There is always a story with our
correspondence. I gave it to Alina to post it, but meanwhile she went
abroad, I retrieved it with difficulty.
16 1
MERRY CHRISTMAS
and a
very HAPPY NEW YEAR
These are Alina’s and my wishes for You and the esteemed
Madam. In order to assure you of our best wishes, we added a work that
will, possibly, be of use when writing the opus about censorship. A sign
of friendly solidarity, on the threshold of a New Year, which we wish
will be full of happiness and equally good.
Andrei Pippidi
1
“Andrei Pippidi”, “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library, Adrian Marino
archival stock, Marino Fd. 449, p. 4, Greeting card.
57
17 1
The angel comes to bring “the miraculous news” and the affectionate
thoughts of Alina and me. I have not yet seen Sorin’s last book about
which you write in “România literară” (Literary Romania) (or “22”, I do
not remember where I saw it), but I believe the difference is in the chosen
interlocutor, who of course has the same stimulant verve.
Happy New Year. Merry Christmas.
Anderi Pippidi
18 2
Bucharest, 2 April 2001
Dearest Mr. Marino,
Here are other signs of respectful affection from Alina – not to
mention, shared by me. For now I am busy with the lecture of Antohi’s
dialogues. Naturally I sympathize with both speakers.
Around here, we too have our entertainment. At a contest for the
Director of the Iorga Institute I had as an adversary the politician Scurtu,
Presidential Counsellor, who gave me four votes out of 5.
Please accept Alina’s and my best wishes,
Andrei Pippidi
1
“Corespondenţa română”, 2001, vol. II, “Lucian Blaga” Central University
Library, Adrian Marino archival stock, Marino Fd. 430/2, p. 56, illustrated
postcard.
2
“Corespondenţa română”, 2001, vol. I, “Lucian Blaga” Central University
Library, Archival stock Adrian Marino, Marino Fd. 430/1, p. 46.
58
The Ideological System of Adrian Marino
Alex GOLDIŞ
MA Student
“Babeş-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca
Keywords: idea of Europe, militant action, Enlightenment, paşoptism,
Europe as an ideological model, post-revolutionary Romania,
encyclopaedism, “cultural resistance” or literary resistance,
reconstruction of the public space
Abstract
The paper is an attempt to demonstrate the fact that the return of the
theoretician to Enlightenment and “pasoptism” 1 represents in fact a return
to polyvalence and to the multifunctionality of the concept of Europe.
The main theories formulated by Adrian Marino’s ideological works can
also be read as an evolution of “Europe” from the state of possibility
towards a specific political concept. Generally Europe becomes a grid, an
ordering scheme of Romanian space, in the measure in which the author
confesses that his preoccupation regarding the “way in which the
Romanian spirit and culture grasp and assimilate this reality in
expansion”.
1. The Idea of Europe
The central theme that crosses like a red line the complete works
of Adrian Marino – from literary theory creations to journals or
ideological writings – is, as the author calls it himself “the idea of
Europe” (my italics). Adrian Marino’s insistence is not incidental
regarding the fact that Europe is in the first place an idea. The author
confers it a highly personal theoretical content. Even if not particularly
enunciated, this fact, Europe, appears as a source irradiating all the
systems constructed by Adrian Marino. An idea of force, a concept of
maximum efficiency that prepares a wide range of other distinctions.
Thus, before discussing all the main theories formulated by Adrian
1
Paşoptism, paşoptist – Romanian terms denominating the ideology of the
participants of the 1848 Revolution in the Romanian countries and the
representatives of this ideology.
59
Marino’s ideological works, we must elucidate the term “Europe” with its
area of semantic extension.
Firstly, an evolution or at least a variation of the term “Europe”
can be recognized in the work of Adrian Marino. If in his journals he
rather spoke about an intellectual Europe seen through an aesthetic lens,
in his works of comparatism – Etiemble ou le comparatisme militante
(1982), Comparatism şi teoria literaturii (Comparativism and Theory of
Literature) (1998) – Europe gains a more palpable ideological content. A
bluntly politicized Europe, gained from the abstract sphere of the idea is
to be found only in the volumes appearing after 1989. However, the
militant aspect is obvious right from his very first writings, but this
content has been kept in a latent state. Otherwise the author often
manifests against aestheticism or against the theories that make
abstraction of the ideological perspective. The development of Marino’s
writings can also be read as an evolution of “Europe” from the state of
possibility towards a specific political concept.
Hence it follows that Europe is not an abstract, a priori idea, a
purely ideological construction, but a living, combative reality. It
represents in the words of the author “by excellence an ideology and an
active political idea, affirmed openly and without inhibitions”. 1
Superficially seen or from a height, the concept of Europe promulgated
by Adrian Marino may seem paradoxical. It is used both in contexts
denoting the universal as in particular or actual situations. Only that in a
fragment from Carnete europene (European Notebooks), Marino signals
and explains this semblant ambiguity. Referring to the conditions of
promotion of a writer’s work on “universal” scale, the author remarks: “I
deliberately avoid the content of the word “universal”, which cannot have
the particular, immediately verifiable content that I intend to express.” 2
Therefore, at the very moment when he talks about a Europe under the
sign of the universal or of the general, Marino keeps in sight a welldefined system of relations. In this context I consider it appropriate to
relate a dichotomy that the author often actualizes: it is the one between
the absolute values (postulated by G. Călinescu or by E. Lovinescu) and
the values in use. The universal which Marino refers to would be one of
1
Adrian Marino, Pentru Europa – Integrarea României. Aspecte ideologice şi
culturale (For Europe – The Integration of Romania. Ideological and Cultural
Aspects), Iaşi, Polirom, 1995, p. 13.
2
Idem, Carnete europene – Însemnare a călătoriilor mele făcută în anii 1969–
1975, (European Booklets – Record of my Journeys in the Years 1969–1975)
second edition, Bucharest, Noul Orfeu, 2003, p. 108.
60
circulation, in which the works are integrated in a larger European
context opposed to the “absolute universal”, self-sufficient, autarchic of
the aesthetic. Furthermore Marino is one of the first Romanian
personalities who constantly and systematically emphasize the fact that
“it must be meditated on the material, quantitative, constant and
systematic fact of success.” 1 The “absolute” of Marino is not poetical or
abstract, but practical and militant: “I believe that I belong to a form of
culture where truth is however possible” notes the author.” 2
However, in Marino’s arguments the gradual ascension of
Europe on the scale of the universal is interesting. In Pentru Europa (For
Europe), the ideologue retraces a history of the idea of European
literature. 3 If for the creators of this expression a militant universalist
connotation has been involved, then in the 19th century, in the academic
circles its meaning is restricted to a pure theoretical and descriptive
acceptance. With all these in addition to Etiemble or Wellek, the
theoretician believes that we are dealing with a double universalization of
the term: from East to West (in the sense in which oriental literatures also
start to be encompassed), but also from the literary towards the universalhuman. Through these two processes of extension the “universalist and
intrinsic vocation of European literature” is also recovered. In this
excellent theoretical demonstration in steps, Marino however avoids a too
abstract sense with no theoretical covering: “We do not wish to claim a
utopian universal competence, but only to think constantly about
literature in the context of universality.”
Further, within the frame of Marino’s writings, the concept of
Europe is strewn in a large series of reflections. From an imagological
perspective, for example, for Romanians there exists a “financial Europe”
that “gives all the time”, and this overshadows a “spiritual Europe of
rights and liberties”. 4 The ideologue is preoccupied with the image of
Europe in the Romanian conscience, regardless of it’s appearance as a
“wonderful, incredible land” or, on the contrary as a “as a general
synonym for foreignness”. Generally Europe becomes a grid, an
ordering scheme of Romanian space, in the measure in which the author
confesses that his preoccupation regarding the “way in which the
Romanian spirit and culture grasp and assimilate this reality in
1
Ibid., p. 42.
Ibid., p. 56.
3
Idem, Pentru Europa – Integrarea României. Aspecte ideologice şi culturale.
4
Ibid., p. 22.
2
61
expansion”. 1 I shall attempt to demonstrate the fact that the return of the
theoretician to the Enlightenment and “pasoptism” represents in fact a
return to polyvalence and to the multifunctionality of the concept of
Europe: in the first half of the 19th century this turns into mentor, trainer,
public opinion, honour board, awarding commission, authority that
decides in all essential cultural, social and political problems of the
Romanian nation”. 2 The volume Libertate şi cenzură în România 3
(Liberty and Censorship in Romania) is a history of Romania from the
perspective of Europeanism with its main branches: liberalism and
democracy.
I believe in fact, that the subtle oxymoronic formula – “to bring
Europe home” (italics mine) – succeds in granting the complete degree of
complexity of the European idea at Adrian Marino: the fight for Europe
does not level with the combat for obtaining the familiar, the common,
that which is already ours. Though we have actually never stepped out
from Europe, we are in the position of fighting more than ever for its
idea. The actualization of the European idea presupposes thus a rememorization, or what is more, a process of anamnesis (in the Platonic
sense), that to re-actualize a latently existing reality in the Romanian
historic conscience. When he proposes to retrieve “the Romanians’
tradition of the idea of freedom”, 4 the ideologist unavoidably assumes the
role of the national memory archivist.
2. Encyclopaedism as a historical solution
After 1989, the problem of memory is becoming more acute
with the degree of “the hermetic isolation from Europe by the totalitarian
system of Romania and of the entire Soviet block”. 5 Along democracy
and liberalism, the European idea enters in shadow for a period of fifty
years, though it maintains some factors of continuity inasmuch as – in
Marino’s opinion – “Romanian literature has never completely and
radically left Europe”. 6 Starting from a few observations of Alina
Mungiu, the ideologist makes some rather interesting observations, which
stand in fact on the basis of his entire political reflection after eighty nine:
1
Ibid., p. 107.
Ibid., p. 177.
3
Idem, Libertate şi cenzură în România – Începuturi (Liberty and Censorship in
Romania – Beginnings), Iaşi, Polirom, 2005.
4
Ibid., p. 7.
5
Idem, Pentru Europa, cit. ed., p. 42.
6
Ibid., p. 53.
2
62
after the totalitarian regime, Romania is confronting a trauma of identity:
“isolated and torn apart from his future, the new Romania does not
recognize itself in the old one”. 1 What is more, Marino formulates a few
constant themes which place the new Romanian world in a stadium of the
beginnings: the absence of a democratic tradition, of the theoretical
synthesis and of political science. In this context of a Romania without
his past and without the idea of future, the process of anamnesis
definitely gains weight. Furthermore, in one of his journals the ideologist
directly connects the idea of rememorizing to the one of synthesis:
“Rememorizing in my opinion has no less than one very positive,
determinative aspect; it permanently compels to summary and synthesis
to classification and organization”. 2 The only solution in the case of a
state the recent memories of which have been erased is the recovery of
the lost time through the encyclopaedism of memory of certain exemplary
historical moments. Because it does not have any recent memories about
democracy and Europe, the Romanian will have to reflect on the manner
in which he shall approach these on the different stages of its evolution.
Marino pleads thus for the particularity of the aesthetic culture in
rapport with the West. If Europeans can focus on specialized and
fragmentary studies, the East can only prefer, for now, a global
knowledge through which he might recover the lost time and to integrate
within “the sphere of the essential references” 3 .
The (post)totalitarian world and the period of Enlightenment are
theoretically overlapping each other in the system of Adrian Marino. In
very different contexts in more than a hundred and fifty years historical
distance, the ideals of the two Romanias – the paşoptist and the
communist – meet. This fact is directly and repeatedly expressed by the
ideologue: “A reviewer of my book Etiemble ou le comparatisme
militant, otherwise a very eulogizing review, has a single regret: the
influences of the Enlightenment. He did not realize that in 1981–1982,
amid the golden age of the restrictive period, the appraisal of free
communication, of the universal fortress of letters, of cosmopolitism or
others, represented – at least in intention – an act of independence, if not
anti-totalitarian spiritual resistance”. 4
1
Adrian Marino, Politică şi cultură - Pentru o nouă cultură română (Politics and
Culture – For a new Romanian culture), Iaşi, Polirom, 1996, p. 192.
2
Idem, Carnete europene, cit. ed., p. 55.
3
4
Ibid., p. 61.
63
Thus, between paşoptism and the post communist world there is
an enormous historical chasm “predominantly nationalist and forever
anti-European”. 1 Actually, pointed out Adrian Marino, the communist
system was more like a continuation of the anti-European conception
regarding the state and the mistrust towards the European idea. The
process of abandoning the liberal ideas and Europe goes back to the
representatives of the Junimea 2 organization and to the theory of
Maiorescu on the theory of “forms without essence”, then passing
through “superjunimism” 3 and the extreme nationalism of Nae Ionescu.
The totalitarian system only brought forward the isolationist tendencies
of the Romanian thinking estranged from the paşoptist ideal.
The journals of Adrian Marino are nothing but oblique forms of
discussing European realities: “I used to write journey books as well and
I considered – sometimes – from a superior naivety – that I could bring
Europe home”. 4 In Evadări în lumea liberă (Escapes into the Free
World), the ideologue can openly confess the fact that “journals have in
the first place a very precise ideological and polemic meaning”. 5
Accordingly, for an ideologue Europe is a project thought through and
assumed – both theoretically and existentially – on multiple levels. Then
again, the nature of the journal is altered in order to uphold the
ideological project of its author. In almost every journey book, Marino
insisted on a few expressions as “intellectual journal”, “anti-literature” or
“anti-tourism”. In writings impregnated by such powerful ideological
significance, any kind of aesthetic cheapness or tourist frivolity is
programmatically rejected. Not less are the journey fragments escapes
from a platitudinous, anti-denotative discourse of hollow claptraps so
peculiar to the totalitarian system. Marino rejected literature and the
stylistic ornament for the simple reason, because, in the totalitarian
1
Ibid., p. 34.
Organization founded in 1863 in Iaşi under the rule of Alexadru Ioan Cuza by a
group of young intellectuals willing to give another course to Romanian culture
and literature. The political program of this association shall be subordinated to
the cultural one. The Junimists have fiercely criticized the 1848 revolution, which
they considered an imitation of the French model. They were not against changes
or western culture, but insisted on the fact that changes had to be made slowly, in
a pace that could be followed by the Romanian society. (Translator’s note.)
3
Ibid., p. 146.
4
Ibid., p. 31.
5
Idem, Evadări în lumea liberă (Escapes into the Free World), Iaşi, European
Institute,1993, p. 6.
2
64
Romania, literature was tightly connected with illusion and lies. The
thirst for Europe is also the thirst for the lost referentiality of discourse.
On the other hand culture for the author was a “vast abstract
encyclopaedia”, 1 “any journey presumes a special hermeneutics”, 2 while
the modern man is defined as the “man of the ideas in motion”. 3 The
famous concept of “values of circulation” is probably the main reflex of
this vision of culture as spatial extension. The volume Prezenţe româneşti
şi realităţi europene (Romanian Presences and European Realities)
contains even an interesting journey taxonomy from the point of view of
the traveller’s knowledge level”. 4
In the post communist period Marino symptomatically
abandoned the journey fragments. An entirely different discourse was
required here in this world freshly emerged on the surface of history.
There were two modalities of action and implicitly two stages that these
writings give evidence of: a “battle of ideas” and “militant writings” were
firstly required, which had to familiarize the wide public with the
concepts of Europeanism, liberalism and democracy. We are speaking of
an “indispensable preliminary phase” of definition and of popularization
followed then by “historiographic studies”. 5 The ideologue was in one
person an arbitrator of the new public space and a researcher trying to
documentarily explore the democratic tradition of Romanian culture. The
two approaches: one facing actuality, the other turning towards the past,
both originating from the same encyclopaedic imperative. For a
staggered Romania, which suddenly remained without its history, the
continuous re-stabilization with its past was crucial. Or, as we have
shown, remembrance was an important factor of synthesis and
encyclopaedism in the system built by Adrian Marino.
1
Idem, Carnete europene, cit. ed., p. 47.
Ibid., p. 30.
3
Ibid., p. 9.
4
“…in function of the thirst of knowledge of the traveller: 1. the one who does
not know a thing ... and cannot travel; 2. the one who knows something, but
cannot travel; 3. the one who cannot travel, but does not know a thing; 4. the one
who can travel and understands – the most rare species.” (Adrian Marino,
Prezenţe româneşti şi realităţi europene. Jurnal intelectual, Bucharest, Albatros,
1978, p. 31.).
5
Idem, Pentru Europa, cit. ed., pp. 5–7.
2
65
2.1. The program of actuality
Adrian Marino’s ideological books which would illustrate the
“preliminary phase” of the pro-European politics are in spite of their
fragmentariness, real maps of concepts. Even if not projected like a
system, they are inevitably organized into a very coherent program.
For Europe or Culture and Politics are genuine radiographs of
the post-revolutionary world in the measure in which they are discussing
all the major issues of Romanian society. Created by assembling some
previously published fragments, the books inevitably contain a series of
repetitions; however, this “baroque style” implying permanent
recurrences with nuances – was convenient to Marino. 1 The ideologue
involuntarily handled the great themes of the “new world”. In his political
articles Marino started from the premise that he was dealing with another
social-political reality that had to be restructured and re-ordered. The
ideological “morning” of paşoptism was related to communism from this
aspect as well. Thus the ideologue had the obligation to reconstruct the
“meaning of words” by delimiting the old concepts from the new ones.
Adrian Marino perfectly understood that any revolution is primarily equal
with a semantic revolution.
Therefore, the theoretician placed new expressions in the
Romanian discourse, as “cultural resistance” or literary resistance,
decomposing with utmost attention and circumspection each ambiguous
mechanism that these notions deal with. In Culture and Politics Marino
proposed right under that determined impulse which characterized him a
taxonomy of social resistance in the communist Romania. The general
conclusion of this analysis was a cautious and a circumstantial one: “In
such cases of great dilemma and doubt, there are only – as a matter of
fact – strictly individual and unique answers and solutions”, 2 Marino
concluded after the examination of the “Noica case”. Ambiguity is the
main coordinate of the public conduct in the totalitarian space. Generally,
the commentaries of the ideologist excel at the explanation of the social
and psychological mechanisms of communism: from the myth of the
“irreversible situation” and to the writer’s schizoid condition – all these
being exact labels of the totalitarian community. Marino was also a very
good diagnostician in the sense that he identified the most acute diseases
1
“I am not at all embarrassed by being defined as a Baroque spirit; in any case, I
like insistent, rhythmical, easily obsessive returns, in architectonic
superimposure.” (Idem, Carnete europene, cit. ed., p. 12).
2
Ibid., p. 101.
66
of the post-communist world: “a guilty conscience of (pseudo)
collaboration and a false conscience of (pseudo)resistance”. 1
Through his entire publicist activity after December 22nd, Adrian
Marino indicated himself the arbitrator of the European idea. The
reconstruction of the public space became the ideologue’s main
preoccupation, which he saw as totally deformed by the communist
repression. The break-down of dictatorship left behind “an amorphous,
indifferent, undecided, morally and civically underdeveloped society”. 2
Accordingly, the public domain in a wider sense was the domain of
predilection of the militant action. Marino underlined the necessity of the
switch from the role of the individual (or “mass man” expression set
about by Hannah Arendt) to the role of the citizen. The development of a
political scientific reflection had an important role in the process of
constructing a middle class opened towards the liberal values according
to Adrian Marino. The ideologist congratulated, encouraged and guided
all those studies that attempted to scrutinize the problems of the new
society – he commented on political scientists such as Alina Mungiu,
Sorin Antohi, Stelian Tănase or Dan Pavel. Actually these volumes
inaugurated in Marino’s conception “the most original chapter of culture
after 1989”. 3 Apoliticality, the flight from assuming a precise ideological
position was the gravest problem of thoise involved in social activities in
Romania. The observations regarding the intellectual’s role in the new
policy are also very precise, though it must be mentioned that his
predilect space is the opposition – “it is hard to conciliate the analytical
spirit with political partisanship”. 4 In this context Marino identified the
two political camps that argued their legitimacy in the Romanian postrevolutionary opposition: the radicalism of the old generation of political
prisoners was in this context the competitor of the new generation’s
relativism and pragmatism. 5
2.2 The historiographic project
The only solution in the amnesia-phenomenon caused by the
totalitarian system – as we have seen it – was encyclopaedism as a form
of memory transposed into synthesis. The volume Libertate şi cenzură în
1
Ibid., p. 115.
Ibid., p. 156.
3
Adrian Marino, Cultură şi politică, cit. ed., p. 120.
4
Ibid., p. 152.
5
Ibid., pp. 153–155.
2
67
România 1 was thus the direct expression of an encyclopaedism
transformed into act, a symptom of the memory in action. Marino’s
historiographic project can be likened to the platonic anamnesis
inasmuch as the latter denotes an a priori knowledge of ideas, which only
need to be re-actualized. They have existed since the beginnings of
Romanian thinking, only that they have been shadowed by different
political and cultural phenomena.
The last volume of Adrian Marino therefore has an expressive
active and polemic sense, a reaction to the rightist and leftist ideology:
“between these two compact groups, centrist Romanian culture remained
fragile, intimidated, isolated, without great actualized traditions” 2
asserted the ideologue in one of the articles replicated in Pentru Europa.
Due to the militant sense of the project, when one is reading Libertate şi
cenzură în România must take into consideration Adrian Marino’s other
political positions as well. When the ideologue returned to the origins of
the idea of liberty, he did not accomplish an act of free historical
encyclopaedism, but he enterprised an action of strict actuality for the
Romanian debates. Enlightenment was brought back into the actuality
not just in order to exemplify the meaning of a tradition, but especially in
order to offer a living example. The multiple parallelisms of the
Enlightenment and the (post)communist situation illustrate this. The most
valorous chapters in Libertate şi cenzură în România, are those that put
into debate common dilemmas of Enlightenment and totalitarianism. The
fragments on the liberalization of press – being otherwise the richest in
information, signalling that the author insisted upon this issue – represent
in fact new extensions of latent meanings of the condition of Romania in
the 1980s. Adrian Marino’s ideological work is a history with many
openings towards the recent history of communism.
The study is also interesting from another point of view, Adrian
Marino’s poetics. If up to this point the author’s favourite theme had been
Europe, then Libertate şi ideologie (Liberty and Ideology) was equivalent
with a “return to the homeland”. 3 The researcher could culturally return
home, if in this “home”-term the idea of Europe began to articulate
increasingly. Marino’s work is essential for the Romanian culture in the
measure in which Enlightenment and paşoptism are not viewed from an
aesthetic but from an ideological angle. The researcher even testified
1
Adrian Marino, Libertate şi cenzură în România. Începuturi, Iaşi, Polirom,
2005.
2
3
Ibid., p. 8.
68
certain “voluptuousness” in his proposal of alternative hero-models for
the Romanian culture (evaluated thus from an ideological angle). On the
other hand, Marino subtly argued the fact that the actions/writings of
Enlightenment and paşoptism had in fact no aesthetic finality. The
prolonged obsession of Romanian culture to literarily valorize these
writings actually represents nothing but an error of reception.
Despite the title of the book, I believe that this time too Europe
was the subject that confers specificity and relief to Marino’s
historiographic project. Its images and situations were so intense within
the ideology of the Enlightenment that it succeeder in including other
categories as well such as liberty, democracy or laicization. The
fragments in which the researcher approximated the birth of the idea of
Europe in the Romanians’ supra-conscience give evidence of great
subtlety. The first “form without essence” – thus the first reflexive
division of Romanian society, was equal with the discovery of a
“grandiose but empty Europe”. 1 If in the West Europe had been formed
organically, in the Romanian states, it “represented only a model and an
ideological ideal” – went on the researcher. The configuration of Europe
as an ideological model was equivalent with the first shift of paradigm,
with the first step towards freeing itself from the traditional society (“to
be effectively for the first time contemporary with history” 2 ).
Subsequently I would say that Europe for Adrian Marino in
Libertate şi cenzură în România was a political supra-reflection in Claude
Lefort’s manner (“the politician is an auto-representation of society”).
The Romanian society gains a precise liberal and democratic orientation
only in the moment when it perceives the distance towards Europe (when
this latter appears as a “mirage” – the researcher himself used the word).
The modern political organization will be oulined when society does not
correspond to itself anymore, when it is predisposed to a work of thinking
upon itself. Thus, for Marino, Europe was exactly the grid, the scheme
which systematically imposes the reflection of Romanian society upon its
own identity.
1
2
Ibid., p. 136.
Idem, Pentru Europa, cit. ed., p 167.
69
Adrian Marino and the Idea of Literature from a Hermeneutical
Perspective
Florina ILIS
Cluj-Napoca
Keywords: hermeneutics, methodology of hermeneutics, literary
criticism, hermeneutics of the idea of literature, hermeneutical model,
preconception, hermeneutics of religious ideas, literary hermeneutics
Abstract
Adrian Marino, trying to impose hermeneutics upon Romanian literary
criticism, developed a new methodology of hermeneutics and a real
critical system. The study analyses this system, comparing Marino’s
hermeneutics to the systems of such outstanding hermeneutists as
Heidegger or Schleirmacher. Being very well acquainted with the
hermeneutical tradition, Adrian Marino elaborated a kind of synthesis of
the hermeneutical interpretation methods and techniques, but he also
developed a method of hermeneutical analysis for the texts of literary
theory, thereby inventing a new discipline, the hermeneutics of the idea
of literature.
Already in 1974, when he was publishing Critica ideilor literare
(The Critique of Literary Ideas), Adrian Marino had formulated a very
precise idea about hermeneutics. As a true pioneer of the new method of
treating literary texts, he endeavoured to impose this upon Romanian
literary criticism, opposing it, as a method of study, to the imprecise,
subjective and vague style of the impressionistic criticism, as well as to
the historicist style of Positivist criticism. An entire chapter from the
Critica ideilor literare was dedicated to hermeneutics as a method of
understanding and interpreting the literary text. True to his principle of
elaborating from the beginning an adequate methodology, that should
help him afterwards in enterprising the act of criticism from positions as
objective as they could be, Adrian Marino proceeded in the same way
with the hermeneutical method as well. Before applying it concretely, he
defined it in different studies, developing a “new methodology” able to
sustain his theoretical measures: “As far as we are concerned, we intend
70
to bring back hermeneutics to the centre of literary studies through the
development of a new methodology (italics mine), radically different from
all the methods of the actual Romanian criticism. […] It should constitute
at the same time an attempt of contribution to the general theory of
contemporary hermeneutics.” 1 Then, with the pride of a person who is
looking upon a well done work, Adrian Marino, far from remaining in
this contemplation of the solidity of the science that he has just
elaborated, urged others also to try its efficacy and offered, in
Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade (Mircea Eliade’s Hermeneutics), an
example of analysis through which “the new method of hermeneutics”
functions in conformity with the severest critical demands. But Adrian
Marino had already been emphasizing – since the Critica ideilor literare
– that his new method cannot be applied by anyone and, still less by
someone situated outside the critical understanding of the ideas:
“Therefore not any critic can study any idea. In the case of the literary
ideas he must have – under any form – the vocation of ideas, of
ideological imagination, the critic of ideas being a veritable creator of
ideas (italics mine).” 2 For the critic of ideas or the creator of ideas
employed in this “adventure of ideas” the interpretative process does not
stop when the idea has been experienced or interiorized, but it continues
with a complex process of “objectivization”, the act of participation at the
life of the idea taking place in the form of a “dialectical process of
cognition”, process observable at the level of a well configured
theoretical system. Adrian Marino managed to build such a theoretical
system, constructed as a “model”, elaborating the methodological
principles necessary to any analysis of hermeneutical nature. In spite of
the clarity with which he systematically expounded his ideas, the
direction, which he had outlined for the criticism of literary ideas,
unfortunately did not find a too fertile field in the Romanian literary
landscape, already under the critical tradition established by Călinescu.
On the other hand, what Adrian Marino succeeded in – and this fact
remains incontestable – was the “audacity” with which he managed to
draw the attention of the Romanian criticism to Mircea Eliade’s
hermeneutics 3 , clearing thus the way for other studies about the
Romanian scholar exiled in the Occident. Furthermore, and this was even
1
Adrian Marino, Critica ideilor literare, Cluj-Napoca, Dacia Publishing House,
1974, p. 234.
2
Ibid.
3
The French translation of Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade was published at
Gallimard in 1981.
71
more important in those times, he managed to place him in a Romanian
philosophical tradition, even if not an explicitly hermeneutical one, but
one presenting all the data for such a development. Thus Mircea Eliade
was situated, for the first time in the post-war period, in “the family of
Romanian spirits”, the same family as Lucian Blaga, Constantin Noica
and Mircea Vulcănescu.
We shall try to analyze the critical system imposed by Adrian
Marino upon the Romanian literary criticism, observing especially in
what measure the hermeneutical method, conceived as a hermeneutics of
the literary idea, expresses in its most authentic sense one of the most
profound ways of interpreting and understanding the literary text. The
systematic project – its essential directions had already been discernible
since the paper Introducere în critica literară (Introduction to literary
criticism) written in 1968 – elaborated by Adrian Marino, was developed
into a real critical system in the course of the following years when one
after the other appeared: Modern, Modernism, Modernitate (Modern,
Modernism, Modernity) (1969), Dicţionarul de idei literare (The
Dictionary of Literary Ideas) (1973), Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade
(Mircea Eliade’s Hermeneutics) (1980) and, in 1987, Hermeneutica ideii
de literatură (The Hermeneutics of the Idea of Literature). These are only
the essential works included in this critical project. The systematic
application of the concepts belonging to the criticism of literary ideas
developed by Adrian Marino appears most thoroughly expressed in his
six-volume work, Biografia ideii de literatură (The Biography of the Idea
of Literature) (1991–2000).
Insisting upon the idea, that “the hermeneutical method” should
not be applied mechanically and in any case, Adrian Marino was aware of
the fact, that in order not to fall into the trap of a rigid interpretative
frame, external to the analysed literary idea, there is need of an “internal”,
“progressive” investigation, that should form a “passage” 1 towards the
real essence of the literary ideas. This approach, which presupposes the
existence of a centre and a circle of significations constitutive to the idea,
derives from a theme well known to philosophical hermeneutics, the
theme of the circle, a theme expressed first by Schleiermacher and
developed, later on, by M. Heidegger. Schleiermacher described – while
formulating one of the basic rules of hermeneutics, which presupposed
the understanding of the whole from the part and of the part from the
1
Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica ideii de literatură, Cluj-Napoca, Dacia
72
whole – a certain need of identification on the interpreter’s part with the
author of the text. 1 Heidegger on the other hand tried, first of all, to
consolidate an epistemological foundation for the hermeneutics of poetic
interpretation. Defining existence in metaphorical terms, as being
necessarily “interpretative”, even “hermeneutical”, Heidegger assented,
that in this philosophical context, art and literature become one of the
highest forms of cognition of human life. 2 Schleiermacher’s idea that the
whole should be recovered from the part and the part from the whole,
taken over also by Heidegger, was also defined by Adrian Marino in a
kind of programme text of the hermeneutical method, the Herméneutique
et lecture simultanée, published in Cahiers roumains d’études littéraires:
“Il est évident que toute lecture systématique va du tout á la parties et de
la parties au tout, du niveau historique actuel de la totalité aux éléments
historiques composants, ramenés en bloc devant l’esprit investigateur.” 3
But with Adrian Marino, the sense of divination, which the interpreter of
a text must possess in order to be able to reach the author’s “internal and
external life”, did not present a sine qua non condition of the
interpretation, when there was no difference between the historic and the
actual level. In order to avoid the trap of any kind of metaphysical
interpretation, hazardous in that age, Adrian Marino endeavoured to
confer an image as “objective” and “scientific” as possible to the
hermeneutical method in comparison with other analytical methods of
literary ideas and texts. Without neglecting, however, these philosophical
perspectives, for the hermeneutics of the idea of literature Adrian Marino
devised a specific system of interpretation, which was built into a
veritable hermeneutical model, whose functioning initially presupposes a
preconception (Vorassetzung, présuposé), a term borrowed from the
Heideggerian philosophy. Unless considering beforehand this notion a
kind of central motive of the method 4 elaborated by Adrian Marino, the
theoretical scaffold, upon which the critic of ideas constructs his analysis,
loses its whole coherence. Different however from Heidegger’s thought,
1
F. Mussner, Histoire de l’herméneutique, Paris, Les Editions du CERF, 1972, p.
22.
2
Felix Martinez Bonati, Hermeneutics Criticism and the Description of Form, in
Interpretation of Narrative, Edited by Mario J. Valdés and Owen J. Miller,
Toronto, Buffalo, London, University of Toronto Press, 1976, p. 80.
3
Adrian Marino, “Herméneutique et lecture simultanée”, in Cahiers roumains
d’études littéraires, nr. 4, 1977, p. 34.
4
73
where the cognition of the world is conditioned and substantiated
existentially, Adrian Marino’s approach, where the preconception
functions in a logical, ideatic system, conceived the cognition of the
world as having a strictly objective sense.
Before undertaking any analysis of Adrian Marino’s work
method, a specification is necessary: this method of interpretation is not a
schematic frame that might be applied mechanically in the case of any
literary phenomena. On the contrary, even inside Adrian Marino’s
thought there is, for example, an essential difference between the
hermeneutics of religious ideas, practised by Mircea Eliade and the
literary hermeneutics. These two, dealing with structurally different
phenomena, lead to the construction of diverse methodologies of
interpretation. Secondly, although the method of hermeneutical
interpretation and understanding described by Adrian Marino leads to the
idea that the method of investigation itself functions in “circles”, in
reality this operates simultaneously in directions that presuppose distinct
levels in the hermeneutical process. If the hermeneutics of religious
ideas, promoted by Mircea Eliade presupposes that the impulse to
“decipher, discover signs and significations” 1 should also acquire an
ontological status, even if “essentially objective, textualized and
historicized”, 2 then the hermeneutics of the idea of literature appears as
“the theory, method and practice of correct text interpretation and
understanding”. 3 In addition the ontological content attenuates for the
benefit of some textual practices, which liberate the hermeneutical
process from any kind of aprioristic determination.
Aware of the fact that, analysing Mircea Eliade’s hermeneutics,
the religious phenomenon requires also an approach less favoured in the
communist era, Adrian Marino, with a thorough sense of objectivity, tried
to define the hermeneutical process practiced by the historian of religions
in a “scientific” manner. Thus, Adrian Marino thought – following the
direction proposed by Bultmann and Gadamer –, Mircea Eliade regarded
the act of interpretation as being more than an “understanding” of the
sheer data of the text. He underlined, moreover, the necessity to
understand the “inner” significations, by an “ontological” transposal into
the “original” state of the text or, in the present case, of the studied
1
Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade, Cluj-Napoca, Dacia
2
Ibid., p. 48.
3
74
religious phenomenon. Describing this aspect, slightly suspicious of
mysticism, Adrian Marino did not hesitate to ask himself the question, in
what measure the hermeneutist’s “participation” at the “original” state of
the text – doubled by the effort of re-creation, as a “creative transposal” –
“borders on or is apt to be confused with a kind of spiritual experience” 1 .
But the answer, in Mircea Eliade’s case, by no means led towards what
was considered to be the direction followed by Schleiermacher, Dilthey
and, later on, by Paul Ricoeur, for whom the process of understanding the
religious phenomenon should be doubled by an act of “mystical”
experience. On the contrary, Adrian Marino expressed, here as well, a
point of view of his own towards a kind of “intellectual receptive
euphoria”; euphoria, which was presupposed by “the vital and existential
plenitude of cognition and understanding”. 2 For Adrian Marino the
explanatory system of Mircea Eliade’s hermeneutics was not causal, but
“ontological and existential”.
If the hermeneutics of religions operates with certain ontological
signifiers, literary hermeneutics – having its origin in the older
philological tradition of interpreting the sacred texts – remains in a
literary area according to Adrian Marino’s conception. Being very well
acquainted with the hermeneutical tradition, from F. D. E.
Schleiermacher to Dilthey, from Heidegger to H. G. Gadamer or from R.
Bultmann to Paul Ricoeur, Adrian Marino proposed to himself a kind of
synthesis of the hermeneutical interpretation methods and techniques, but
developing by the concrete application of these upon the “idea of
literature” a methodology which originated from an essentially personal
view, totally different from the practice of literary hermeneutics having as
a single objective to recognize the author’s meaning and intention.
Because there was no such method of hermeneutical analysis for the texts
of literary theory, Adrian Marino invented one, discovering, in the case of
the hermeneutics of the idea of literature “a new reading system”.
Essentially, this new system of understanding and interpreting the literary
ideas aims at “deciphering, clarifying and interpreting the explicit and
implicit meanings of the idea of literature in an organized and significant
way”. 3 The hermeneutics thus elaborated “operates at a double level:
terminological and semantic”. 4 Therefore, there is no allusion to the
ontological sense of the hermeneutics of the idea of literature in this
1
Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade, op.cit., p. 67.
Ibid., p. 68.
3
Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica ideii de literatură, op.cit., p. 15.
4
Ibid.
2
75
equation. As Adrian Marino conceived it, this “new hermeneutics”
creates its own methodology and its own analytical techniques, being
situated on a different level of interpretation than literary hermeneutics, a
missing level, which had however to be “invented”. “Inventing” a new
system of interpretation, Adrian Marino elaborated a new science, a
criticism of ideas, which, however, unfortunately, was not adopted by
other literary historians and critics in the Romanian area. If interpretation
is one of the essential principles on which this hermeneutics is built, the
objective of interpretation can only be “the correct understanding of
literary ideas”. The notion of “interpretation”, essential in hermeneutics,
forms one of the constitutive conditions of the hermeneutics elaborated
by Paul Ricoeur. If, however, with Paul Ricoeur the double role of
hermeneutics has to manifest itself first as “the reconstitution of the text’s
inner dynamics”, and then as “the restitution of the work’s capability to
project itself outwards”, 1 the interpretation functioning as a complex
ontological process, with Adrian Marino the detachment from the
ontological background is more than evident. This is mostly due to the
differentiation of the studied object, as it could be seen, Adrian Marino
himself differentiating clearly between the study of literature as literature
and the study of the idea of literature in formation. In order to succeed in
his research, Adrian Marino offered himself the luxury to create, starting
from the traditional elements of hermeneutics, a separate discipline
whose object of study should be one alone, and inevitably, unique.
Aware of the fact that it is difficult to understand the
hermeneutics of the idea of literature without a methodology as explicitly
described as possible, Adrian Marino elaborated a detailed “system of
interpretation”, formulating accurately the mechanisms of the
interpretation and understanding of the idea of literature. In Adrian
Marino’s view both interpretation and understanding, as basic functions
of the hermeneutics of the idea of literature, implied an “objective sense”,
the logical and causal character of the relationship between interpretation
and understanding, generating a research method with three phases. The
three research phases of the idea of literature unfold related to the double
level (terminological and semantic) in which this kind of hermeneutics
operates. If the first phase – “the recuperation of the whole historical
tradition” – can be incorporated to the terminological level, the other two
– “the hermeneutical inductions and deductions”, as well as the last, “the
1
Paul Ricoeur, Eseuri de hermeneutică (Essays in Hermeneutics), Bucureşti,
Humanitas, 1995, p. 29.
76
re-projection of these inductions-deductions upon the analysed meanings
of the idea of literature” 1 – appear at the semantic level. The
interpretative system of the idea of literature presupposes specific
interdependent contexts, aided by which Adrian Marino analyzed the idea
of literature in the spirit of a hermeneutical model that advances
circularly through certain cycles of interpretation. This evolves from that
which the historian of ideas calls the original background – that is from
the etymological basis of the idea of literature – towards the genetic and
auto-destructive stratum – that is towards the inner mechanisms of the
production of literature, but also towards the mechanisms which
undermine the idea of literature itself. The strata or levels that form the
hermeneutical model succeed one another according to the inner logic
imposed by the demonstration of the interpretative analysis aimed at the
idea of literature: original stratum, cultural stratum, quantitative stratum,
specific stratum, heteronymic stratum, hierarchic stratum and genetic
and auto-destructive stratum.
Adrian Marino analyzed the concept of literature according to
this model, which functions in successive interpretative strata, following
the sinuous route of an “ascendant spiral”. Through this analysis he
demonstrated the fiability of his interpretative model in a convincing
way. Relying on an almost exhaustive documentation of the scientific
domain, the critic advanced with an enviable theoretic assurance through
a vast domain of investigation that was often hard to analyze in the
historical context from which the written testimonies were missing. But
the infallibility of his investigation system was verified especially before
these obstacles hard to surmount. Defining oral literature in relation to
the written one, as well as sacred literature in relation to the profane one,
was only one of the difficulties. Beyond the rigour and the
methodological qualities of the hermeneutical model configured by
Adrian Marino, what is really impressive in Hermeneutica ideii de
literatură, but also, later on, in the massive Biografie a ideii de literatură,
is the rich documentary and bibliographic material he studied, as well as
his extraordinary capacity to synthesize and abstract the analyzed literary
processes.
From all these points of view, the volumes on the criticism of
the literary ideas, published by Adrian Marino between 1968 and 2000,
have three polemic directions. A first polemic direction had already been
acknowledged and implicitly assumed by Adrian Marino starting with the
1
77
volume Introducere în critica literară, published in 1968. In its preface
the critic situated himself on polemic positions with regard to the
dilettantism displayed by the criticism of the age: “[...] the present book
proposes a resolute way out from improvisation and dilettantism, which
does not mean in the least that it issues invitations to pedantry and
bookishness”. 1 Otherwise, the moderate critical spirit, the distance from
any kind of excess characterizes Adrian Marino’s entire opera,
constituting the red thread of his criticism. On the other hand, being
situated on a polemic position with regard to the dilettante criticism of the
age, as well as to the obsolete language of the Romanian critical tradition,
from Maiorescu and Gherea to Lovinescu and Călinescu, Adrian Marino
took a step of great intellectual courage in 1968. He militated for the
renewal of the critical methods of analysis by a re-evaluation of critical
concepts, and, implicitly, for the actualization of the critical discourse to
the new currents of modern criticism asserted in Western European
culture. One could already see at that time too that the Romanian critic
intuited: the chance of Romanian literary criticism would be to “get
synchronized” with European criticism. He sustained later on as well, that
it is necessary to “deprovincialize” Romanian culture. He did this in a
period of total intellectual fossilization, in 1987, in the Preface to
Hermenutica ideii de literatură. True, however, to his principle of
originality in aesthetic judgments, Adrian Marino hastened to underline
that the analytic instruments of modern European criticism cannot be
borrowed mechanically and without being beforehand assimilated,
confronted and synthesized according to the principles of one’s own
analytic method. 2
The second polemic direction of Adrian Marino’s critical work
appertains to the methodological idea pursued by him during his entire
career. This “ideal” expressed the critic’s conviction, that beyond any
subjective mark, literary criticism can become a systematic discipline,
based on objective concepts and practices, creating its own analytical and
interpretative methods. Moreover – Adrian Marino sustained – in order to
consolidate this option for method steps should be taken to constitute an
encyclopaedist direction in Romanian culture. The conviction, that the
essential instruments by which the status of a culture is established are
represented by the encyclopaedic or the synthetic and reference works,
constituted one of the main lines of thought for Adrian Marino. He
1
2
Adrian Marino, Introducere în critica literară, op.cit., p. 6.
Ibid., p. 9.
78
developed the same idea much later in Politică şi cultură (Politics and
Culture), when – the communist censorship having disappeared – he
could analyze it from the point of view of the relationship between
culture and the complexes that the Romanian culture developed in the
course of the years, being unable to surpass them. From this point of
view, the last chapter from Politică şi cultură, O nouă cultură română (A
New Romanian Culture) and especially the last subchapter represents a
veritable process of conscience of the Romanian culture in its totality.
But far from being in accord with the actual spirit of the age, which
denounced without trying to find solutions for the problems which were
raised, Adrian Marino, in his own usual active and militant spirit,
analyzed the complexes of Romanian culture with extraordinary lucidity,
also trying, for the first time after 1989, to outline energetically some
future directions of development, directions that would allow the
Romanian culture to assert itself in the European circuit of values. 1
Another important aspect of the programmatic measures
undertaken by Adrian Marino is the fact – already underlined in the
Argument – that by the problematization of the Romanian culture, not its
personality and originality is questioned, for that must be preserved, but
mainly the forms in which culture is organized and the ideological
motivation of these forms. 2 Thus regarded, the integration of Romanian
culture in Europe is no more a problem of essence or content, but one of
form, which refers first of all to the cultural organizational structures, and
only in the second place to the manifestational expressions of culture that
need to be synchronized with the similar manifestations from the rest of
Europe.
Thirdly, the polemics Adrian Marino was engaged in do not aim
at the surface and they are not simple critical exercises that go against the
autochthonous wave, but, beyond the firmness with which the critic
expresses his principles, these polemics are penetrated with an active,
militant spirit, a spirit which Marino maintained even in his later books,
which analyzed political ideas. Far from having virulent accents, his
militantism originated from exclusively cultural principles; however it
was not situated in the secure domain of theoretical-ideological
neutrality. 3 If, however, during the years of the communist period,
1
Adrian Marino, Politică şi cultură. Pentru o nouă cultură română (Politics and
Culture. For a New Romanian Culture), Iaşi, Polirom Publishing House, 1996, p.
334.
2
Ibid., p. 198.
3
79
Adrian Marino’s militantism was rigorously maintained in the cultural
sphere, in the period immediately following the year 1989, the critic of
ideas manifested himself freely, assuming entirely the militant side of his
active spirit, disinhibited, open to dialogues without complexes with the
great European cultures.
Adrian Marino’s critical work, though elaborated in the course
of several decades, presents a thematic and conceptual coherence hard to
equal in Romanian literature. Initially, when Adrian Marino engaged
himself in the direction of idea criticism, his approach had a purely
cultural character, being embedded in the literary sphere. As he advanced
in his investigations, deepening the “abstract” character of the ideas, the
critic enlarged his sphere of interests, including in it cultural areas
complementary to the literary domain, but which, in the theoretical
analysis, helped to express a complex perspective upon the studied
phenomena. Thus, the hermeneutics of ideas meant for Adrian Marino
more than a critical method for evaluating and re-evaluating literary and
religious ideas, according to a pre-established methodological program. It
allowed him, moreover, to develop a systematic discipline offering
interpretative solutions in the most complex situations.
No doubt, Constantin M. Popa was right to affirm in one of the
first monographic works dedicated to Adrian Marino, that through the
hermeneutical model he conceived, the critic of ideas realized “our third
critical system after Mihail Dragomirescu and Mircea Eliade.” 1
1
Constantin M. Popa, Hermeneutica lui Adrian Marino (Adrian Marino’s
Hermeneutics), Craiova, Aius Publishing House, 1993, p. 56.
80
On the Border of Text and Experience
– About Adrian Marino’s Hermeneutics –
Károly VERESS
Faculty of History and Philosophy,
Department of Philosophy,
“Babeş-Bolyai” University, Cluj
Keywords: hermeneutics, literary hermeneutics, textual exegesis,
method,
signification,
sense,
interpretation,
comprehension,
hermeneutical circle, objectivity, archaic man, metaphysical way of
existence, archaic ontology, linguistic medium, text, universality, the
conflict of interpretations, hierophany, symbol, religious experience
Abstract
The study deals with Adrian Marino’s scientific activity developed in the
domain of hermeneutics in the 1970s and considered to be trailblazing in
the Romanian culture under the intellectual circumstances of that age.
The paper is based on Marino’s works written about Mircea Eliade’s
hermeneutics and about literary hermeneutics. It focuses on two main
aspects of this hermeneutical achievement. On one hand it tries to
investigate critically whether Marino’s basic hypothesis can be verified.
This hypothesis stated that, in Mircea Eliade’s works written in the
domains of history of religions, anthropology of religion, phenomenology
of religion – works which explore the historical forms, cultural
configurations and semantic contents of the universal religious
mythology and symbol system – one can in fact discern the outlines of a
universal hermeneutical conception that may be compared with
Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. On the other hand our study
makes an attempt to show all the deficiencies and limits of Marino’s
hermeneutical view which arose from his structuralist view and his
epistemological-methodological approach. Having compared the essential
points of the problems investigated by Marino with Eliade’s statements as
well as with Gadamer’s and Ricoeur’s relevant ideas, the present study
concludes that Marino’s characteristic misunderstandings related to the
hermeneutical conception arose exactly from the hermeneutical situation
which served as a medium for his investigations and, in fact, these
misunderstandings have proved to be hermeneutically fertile.
81
The necessity of hermeneutics
Adrian Marino dealt with the questions of hermeneutics in two
comprehensive, monographic studies in the first half of the 1980s. His
book entitled Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade (Mircea Eliade’s
Hermeneutics) published in 1980 was followed by another work,
Hermeneutica ideii de literatură (The Hermeneutics of the Idea of
Literature) in 1987. 1 By writing these two works and the preliminary
studies connected to them, the author undertook an attempt of great
importance: to introduce a hermeneutical view to the Romanian literary
theory, more widely to the Romanian intellectual culture.
Marino considered – in agreement with Constantin Noica’s
remarks and reflections – that in Mircea Eliade’s works in the history of
religions and the anthropology of religion an intellectual tradition
different from the prevailing epistemological view of modernity had been
revived: the hermeneutical tradition, which on the whole was not alien
from the heritage and mentality of Romanian culture. Thus, to investigate
Eliade’s hermeneutical achievement in the intellectual horizon of the
Romanian culture does not imply an outward attitude. It means to
position oneself into a hermeneutical situation where significations may
occur during a unified process in the horizons of religious historical
investigations such as Eliade’s and of the “Romanian hermeneutical
tradition”, mutually open to one other. 2
This conception fitted in the leading Romanian intellectuals’
emancipatory effort, which became a programme in the second half of the
19th century and strengthened anew in the critical periods of the 20th
century: the effort to put an end to the provinciality of Romanian culture
1
Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade, Cluj-Napoca, Dacia
Publishing House, 1980; French translation: Paris, Gallimard, 1981; Adrian
Marino, Hermeneutica ideii de literatură, Cluj-Napoca, Dacia Publishing House,
1987.
2
Alluding to Hans-Georg Gadamer’s basic idea according to which “during the
process of comprehension a true fusion of horizons takes place” [cf. Hans-Georg
Gadamer, Igazság és módszer. Egy filozófiai hermeneutika vázlata (Truth and
Method. The Outline of a Philosophical Hermeneutics), Budapest, Gondolat,
1984, p. 217.], Marino quoted one of Constantin Noica’s diary notes referring to
the fact that in the Romanian intellectual tradition instead of speaking about
Eliade’s hermeneutics “one can rather speak from inside Eliade’s hermeneutics”
(„a vorbi întru hermeneutica lui Eliade” – cf. Jurnal de idei (The Diary of Ideas)
(VII). Cronica, 1978/29). He referred to an intellectual similarity and
correspondence in which the hermeneutical act comes to life so to say naturally.
Cf. Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade, pp. 18–19.
82
and to connect this to the universal intellectual circuit. For Marino, this
endeavour was connected with the attempt to rethink the theoretical
horizons and methodological bases of literary critical thinking. 1 He
thought that in order to offset positivism a new method of textual
analysis, criticism and interpretation was needed. The reconstruction of
Mircea Eliade’s hermeneutics was a suitable new theoretical background
for the realization of this programme, since it could be considered as a
“second” Romanian “critical system” in the “deprovincialization” process
of the Romanian critical thinking and culture. This reconstruction could
establish a “Romanian hermeneutical tradition”. 2 According to Marino
this was possible because Eliade’s researches in the history of religions
laid the foundations of an organized and systematic interpretative
reflection which – since every hermeneutical pursuit is an open process –
also integrated the most important previous hermeneutical achievements.
Several constituents of Eliade’s hermeneutical results achieved in the
domain of the religious history and connected with the interpretation of
myths and symbols seemed to verify this idea: Eliade’s hermeneutical
investigations were based on texts, they approached texts by means of
texts, which were separated and could be interpreted according to strict
rules and schemes; his interpretations, based on the interplay of the part
and the whole, were open to the perspective of totality; in the course of
his investigation he did not speak about something, but – with Noica’s
words – he spoke amid something, that is: he did not objectify the
investigated religious phenomena, but positioning himself into and
standing in the historical course of the religious experience he explored
its inner, organic meaning relations; during his investigations he was all
the time conscious of his historicity and he presented historic reality in
the act of comprehension where one may experience how significations
occur and exist. 3
1
See Adrian Marino’s systematic works referring to this: Introducere în critica
literară (Introduction to Literary Criticism), Bucharest, Tineretului Publishing
House, 1968 (in Hungarian: Bevezetés az irodalomkritikába, Bucharest, Kriterion
Publishing House, 1979); Critica ideilor literare (The Critique of Literary Ideas),
Cluj-Napoca, Dacia Publishing House, 1974; German translation 1976; French
translation 1978.
2
Cf. Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade, pp. 20, 21, 22. Later on
Marino himself wrote that the main aim of Mircea Eliade’s Hermeneutics was to
enforce, or even discover, revive the hermeneutical tradition in the Romanian
culture. Cf. Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica ideii de literatură, Preface, p. 5.
3
Cf. Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade, pp. 16, 17.
83
Marino approached his own achievement too in this
hermeneutical context. According to the preface of the Hermeneutica lui
Mircea Eliade he considered this work a “hermeneutical book” written in
the spirit of hermeneutics and using hermeneutical methods, since – in
accordance with Eliade’s principles – this book was also based on the
analysis and interpretation of texts and it strived continuously to discover
the signification of the studied texts and to place these significations in a
wider contexts. Thus Marino was right to regard his undertaking as a
hermeneutics focusing on Mircea Eliade’s hermeneutics. 1
Adrian Marino’s other great hermeneutical achievement, the
work entitled Hermeneutica ideii de literatură had a similar approach. It
developed a literary hermeneutics, a hermeneutical idea of literature. In
this book the author completed a rather long investigation process; he
discussed in a more detailed manner the problems he had already treated
in some introductory and experimental studies published by him in this
domain in Romanian, German and English. Marino defined this work as
an attempt to think about and describe literature in a new, unusual way; a
definite attempt to define and interpret literature – investigated in its
complexity and its ramifications – in a new perspective and according to
a specific method. This was an attempt to analyze literature thoroughly,
to discover all its main and secondary meanings and all the explicit and
implicit connections between these significations. 2 His starting point was
that literature is litera, letter basically and in its essential aspects and that
the “literal” interpretation of literature has always been favoured in the
cultures with a hermeneutical tradition. This had no equivalent in the
approaches to literature to Marino’s knowledge in his time. Because of
this, to prescribe to the readers a new reading method which required the
re-creation of the literary work during the reading process was not
without risks and methodological difficulties. The reader had to learn, to
“acquire” the hermeneutics operating in this new method, and he/she
could “criticize” only after having acquired this knowledge. For this
reason he constructed his conception as a hermeneutics aimed at the
hermeneutics of literature. His work was conceived as a monograph with
encyclopaedic amplitude. The different parts were studied in relation to
the systematic totality of literature in this book. The concise synthesis of
the studied material was included in a hermeneutical continuum which
appeared as an open process progressing towards the more and more
1
2
Cf. ibid., p. 9.
Cf. Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica ideii de literatură, Preface, p. 5.
84
perfect, deep and comprehensive understanding of literature. This was
based on the new source interpreting method and on the cohesion of the
argumentation. 1
Why did Marino consider all these important in the intellectual
and cultural context of his researches? In this case also, as in his
investigations referring to Eliade’s hermeneutics, Marino took into
consideration that the hermeneutical approach occurred in a culture with
“European” and “universal” bases and coordinates, in which, however,
this kind of approach was somewhat unusual and several points of
support were required for its consolidation. The lack of the hermeneutical
tradition was associated on the one hand with the indifference shown
towards it, on the other hand with the aversion to it manifested on the
level of a publicity lacking absorption in study and serious counterarguments. Marino, however, firmly believed in the possibility of an
“original” Romanian literary hermeneutics. This was not some typically
utopian plan, but the inner organic system of requirements of the literary
culture which suggested that it could not be renewed and it could not
develop without the ideas, principles, basic investigations and special
solutions appertaining to the new approach and without the radical
deprovincialization involved by these. 2
The application of hermeneutics
The study of religious symbols and myths, as well as the critical
investigation of literary phenomena meant for Marino both the realization
of the hermeneutical process and – through the exploration of the
phenomena’s hermeneutical nature – the possibility to create and develop
his own hermeneutical conception. It is important that studying Eliade’s
works in religious anthropology and history Marino noticed and
demonstrated the latent hermeneutics inherent in Eliade’s texts which
permeated his conception. But it is similarly important that a specific
interpretation of hermeneutics, characteristic to Marino, operated in this
investigation. It is quite an interesting question: what did Marino mean by
hermeneutics and how did he interpret this while he was making efforts
to introduce a hermeneutical tradition to the Romanian culture? In
Marino’s case too, the essence of the hermeneutical pursuit was justified
by the fact that his own conception of hermeneutics took shape while he
was outlining Eliade’s hermeneutics.
1
2
Cf, ibid., pp. 6, 7.
Cf. ibid., pp. 7–8, 8.
85
Marino revealed many features in Eliade’s oeuvre which seemed
to justify the statement according to which Mircea Eliade and Constantin
Noica were “the first Romanian hermeneutists”. 1 According to him,
Eliade had discovered a series of hermeneutical processes during his
investigations, which had been formulated theoretically by Gadamer and
Ricoeur parallel to him. Naturally, he acknowledged that Eliade did not
strive to elaborate a philosophical conception of hermeneutics. He rather
developed his hermeneutics on the grounds of “empiricism”, by means of
hermeneutical intuition and reflection related to the investigation of
empiric phenomena and in the course of direct and authentic
communication with the “texts”. He took for a starting point the texts
written in different cultures and historical periods and, through them, the
direct encounter with the essential hermeneutical situation: the necessity
to explain and interpret texts. This kind of approach made Eliade’s
hermeneutics devoid of speculations, concrete, technical, almost
“philological”. Thus the hermeneutics practiced by Eliade was connected
to the Schleiermacherian tradition, but actually it encompassed all the
hermeneutical processes from the interpretation of biblical texts to the
universal mythological exegesis. 2
According to Marino, in Mircea Eliade’s work we can discover a
hermeneutics being in the process of formation, constructed in actu as the
progressing process of textual exegesis. This remark was associated with
an observation differing from the traditional ideal of method and referring
to “a non methodical” approach. According to this Eliade’s hermeneutics
was guided neither by dogmatic principles, nor by methodological
preconceptions. Instead it was characterized by the work in progress
“method”; it followed the methodological principles elaborated in
interaction with the occurring problems. These principles went hand in
hand with the problems and they were continuously specified, completed
and actualized. Marino pointed out that through this spontaneous,
“empirical” hermeneutics the inner structural organization and the
ontologically well-founded character of the hermeneutical process were
also really revealed. 3
We find the same ideas about the central role of the texts and
about the lack of method in Marino’s works discussing the literary
hermeneutics. He believed that literary hermeneutics was a specific
hermeneutics applied to literature. Hermeneutics, from this point of view,
1
Cf. ibid.
Cf. Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade, pp. 25, 26.
3
Cf. ibid., pp. 26, 28.
2
86
remained the theory, method and practice of the “correct” interpretation
of texts, mainly literary texts. The primariness of the text conferred a
solid philological basis for the hermeneutical activity connected with
literature; this activity was aimed at the discovery, reading and
interpretation of texts; the need of documentation and interpretation was
organically connected with the texts. Because of this – according to
Marino – literary hermeneutics was often mistaken for “philology” and
“textual commentary”. However, in this case no pre-defined
methodological rules were applied, but rather an inner method operated.
As the final outcome of this inner method it was demonstrated how
literature in the totality of its textual formulations analyzed and
interpreted itself. 1
Marino’s view on hermeneutics
Having said all these we can now ask the question: what did
Marino mean by hermeneutics? What kind of hermeneutical conception
can be reconstructed in Marino’s case if he outlined the hermeneutics of
religion and literature in this way?
Following Marino’s hermeneutical investigation we observe that
he used the term “hermeneutics” in a double sense and this carried a
conceptual duality too. On the one hand he meant by this term an
intellectual attitude which basically differed from the epistemological
pursuits of the cognitional tradition characteristic to modernity both in
what regards its theoretical horizon and its methodological basis. On the
other hand he meant by hermeneutics the interpretative-cognitional
practice in which the semantic contents and meaning relations of
religious symbols and myths, respectively of literary works of art were
truly revealed. Therefore Marino considered hermeneutics to be that
insight and investigation in the process of which he explored the
hermeneutical content of the researches in the history and anthropology
of religion such as Eliade’s, respectively the hermeneutical content of the
philological and interpretative activities performed on literary texts. But
the practical process which was explored – namely Eliade’s interpretative
investigation of the sacred symbols and myths, respectively the readers’
reception of literary texts – was also considered to be hermeneutics.
It is not difficult to recognize in these two directions of activity
the duality inherent in the hermeneutical tradition which characterized the
entire history of hermeneutics previous to the apparition of philosophical
1
Cf. Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica ideii de literatură, pp. 11, 12.
87
hermeneutics: on the one hand hermeneutics was the system of rules on
which the interpretation of texts was based, it was the methodology of
interpretation; on the other hand it was the practice of text interpretation,
the exegesis. This duality was present in Marino’s conception of
hermeneutics when he considered that hermeneutics on the one hand is
the “art”, the “method”, the “science” of deciphering the religious or any
kind of significations; on the other hand it was an exegesis aimed at
everything from the texts and symbols of a concrete, particular religion to
a universal mythology including the culture of each people and each
historical period. 1
However, the duality referred to produced a difference too, in
which the characteristics of Marino’s conception of hermeneutics were
really revealed. In Eliade’s case the methodological component was
included in the empirical plane of the exegesis and it was formed
according to the current inner conditions and necessities of the
interpretative process. In Marino’s case – regarding Eliade’s
hermeneutics and later on literary hermeneutics – this methodological
component took the shape of an independently organized and
theoretically elaborated system, detached from the interpretative practice.
In other words: hermeneutics was re-epistemologized on a theoretical
level by Marino, it assumed once again the features which the practical
hermeneutical process tended to supersede. Thus the “hermeneutics” of
hermeneutics actually was the epistemological attitude – elaborated in
detail and systematized, trying to bring a new approach – towards that
living hermeneutical process which had been discovered by Eliade during
his investigations, respectively which took place while the reader-receiver
interpreted literary texts. This was not changed by Marino’s unique
realization that the idea of a “universal hermeneutics”, related to
1
Marino emphasized two main directions in Eliade’s hermeneutics: 1.
hermeneutics as the creation and tradition of the signification of sacred texts, the
investigation trying to reveal the signification of the ultimate reality determined
by these texts; 2. the investigation method of these significations, the
methodological efforts made in order to present the religious values of the
different historical ages. Cf. Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade, p.
30. The first definition connected Eliade’s hermeneutical investigations to the
hermeneutical tradition of the exegesis of sacred texts which survived in the
biblical hermeneutics. The second extended these investigations towards a
methodological direction, (re)incorporating hermeneutics in the epistemological
paradigm.
88
Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics, had taken shape in Eliade’s
religious historical and anthropological investigations. 1
Eliade’s hermeneutics
Let us examine which were those components and
characteristics in Eliade’s investigations in religious history,
phenomenology and anthropology due to which Marino – based on
Eliade’s several allusions regarding this matter – thought of and
investigated this intellectual achievement as a hermeneutics operating on
an empirical level.
According to Eliade’s basic idea, man is a homo semnificans, a
being who fills the world he lives in with significations. The lack of
significations is an anti-human state. Man’s basic way of existence is to
subsist in world full of significations. This has already appeared on the
level of the archaic consciousness. Significations arose as if
“spontaneously” in the primitive consciousness. They neither sprang
from the “physical” world nor had a “genetic” origin; they were the
organic “creations” of the mind, the products of the language.
Consciousness conferred original and organic significations to the
phenomena. The human mind cannot function without creating and
discovering significations. Man settles and becomes aware of his place in
the cosmos on the level of primary reflection and contemplation through
these phenomena. From this perspective the whole intellectual life of
humanity is a comprehensive depot of significations, a global
hermeneutical storehouse. 2
The significations are concentrated into signs and symbols and
the mythologies formed by these. The world is revealed as a language,
the living process of meaning formation, a cosmos carrying complexly
articulated significations. The mythological and symbolic language
preceded language as a means of expression and communication. Its signs
carry original significations which have a magical, prophetical or
metaphysical signification. Each encounter with them is anamnesis-like,
1
Marino emphasized that it is a wrong statement that Eliade’s hermeneutics dealt
only with myths and symbols. Actually, it carried the premises of a philosophical
hermeneutics. Eliade himself pointed out – Marino wrote – that he was always
interested in the elaboration of a universal “hermeneutical method” and not of a
personal philosophical anthropology. Cf. ibid., pp. 31, 31–32.
2
Cf. ibid., pp. 43, 46, 48.
89
a recollection of the original signification and a recalling of it from the
depth of memory. 1
The original signification is necessarily hidden because it refers
to existence as the transcendent ultimate truth encompassing and
sustaining all that exists. It transmits deep, hermetical truths related to
existence. Because of this the archaic mentality connected with the
original significations was mysterious, enigmatic; every disclosure
related to them required an initiation. Hermeneutics is in fact the
extension, the consequence of this attitude. To bring to the surface the
original signification referring to the “absolute reality” is possible only by
getting in touch with the sacred. 2 In this respect hermeneutics is actually
the inherent and spontaneous creation of the mind. 3
Eliade considered that this primeval spiritual state an archaic
ontology was concealed in the semantic contents of the documents of
cultural and religious ethnography which informed us about and that it
revealed itself in the course of the meaning disclosing investigation. The
“secrets” inherent in these semantic contents require exploration,
deciphering, consequently a hermeneutics in the case of the modern man
too. This can be elaborated as an interpretative investigation which
confronts us with the original significations forgotten, neglected,
deformed in the modern age, therefore requiring interpretation. The
hermeneutics constructed in this way can be practiced as a humanist
discipline whose source and basis is the existential ontology rooted in the
archaic unity of the transcendental and the experimental, the sacred and
the profane, and which refers human existence to the ultimate reality. 4
The difference between sense and signification
Taking Eliade’s hermeneutics as a starting point Marino
considered that the sign and the semantic content of the text were
organized on two levels in the hermeneutical process. This was suggested
by the differentiation between the terms “sense” (sens) and
“signification” (semnificaţie). Sense is the general aim of a text, its basic,
essential, comprehensive semantic content. Signification is some possible
“connotation”, “semantic” interpretation of the essential sense. 5 Marino
thought that this idea was analogous with the differentiation between
1
Cf. ibid., p. 44.
Cf. ibid., pp. 39, 40.
3
Cf. ibid., p. 47.
4
Cf. ibid., pp. 45, 48.
5
Cf. ibid., p. 38.
2
90
sense and signification introduced by Paul Ricoeur: the sense of the text
is formed by its “inner relations and structure”, the signification is the
text’s “realization in the reading person’s own speech”. The text has a
semiological dimension through its sense and it acquires semantic
dimensions through its signification. 1
Though Marino tried to approach his ideas on Eliade’s
hermeneutics to Ricoeur’s conception of hermeneutics, this analogy
turned out to be in fact only apparent. Marino’s definition of sense
combined the two “meanings” of sense almost unobserved: the
conception of the direction sense and substantial sense. We approach the
meaningful text on the basis of one of these two sense-conceptions. In the
two cases we regard the text either as an achievement which opens,
positions the interpretative process in the direction of certain
significations or as a creation with a particular semantic content. In
Marino’s view – it seems – signification wad related to the latter senseconception and it can be defined on this basis as possible “connotations”
of some sole deep sense unravelling during an external interpretative
process. Sense is deep, internal, unique and unchanged; signification is
superficial, external, divers and varied.
On the other hand in Ricoeur’s work the sense of the text was
the direction opened and carried by the text. The intention of the text (and
this is not equivalent with the author’s intention) operates and the text
communicates something in this direction. The text, which became
independent of the author and the reader in the sense, is at its own self,
which means that sense is the selfhood of the text. The sense is carried by
the deep semantics manifesting itself during the structural analysis. On
the other hand, signification is the actuality of the text created in reading,
the realization of the text as a text in the relationship with its environment
and its audience – as a text which is itself and the reader’s “own speech”
at the same time. 2
1
Cf. Paul Ricoeur, Mi a szöveg? (What Is the Text?), in: Idem, Válogatott
irodalomelméleti tanulmányok (Selected Studies in Theory of Literature),
Budapest, Osiris Publishing House, 1999, p. 27.
2
Cf. ibid., pp. 28, 29. Marino’s idea about the relationship between sense and
signification contained another contradiction rather difficult to solve, the
problematic relationship between the permanence and changeability of the
signification: on the one hand the signification of the text is identical with the text
itself and repeatable, on the other hand it changes in the course of its
representations. Regarding this we may refer to E. D. Hirsch’s point of view to
which Marino too made some references. Hirsch’s viewpoint is an intermediary
91
between Ricoeur’s and Marino’s view, the latter being a simplified, schematized
version of the former. (Hirsch, differently from Ricoeur, focused on the author
instead of the text.) According to Hirsch’s statement, the word “signification” has
two distinct meanings: “There is a difference between the signification of the text
(which does not change) and the present day signification of the text (which
changes). The signification of the text is that which the author wanted to signify
by using certain linguistic symbols. Having a linguistic character this signification
is collective, which means that it is identical with itself and it can be reproduced
in more than one consciousness. Since it can be reproduced, it is always the same,
no matter when and where someone understands it. Nevertheless, each time this
signification is constructed its signification for the person who constructs it (its
significance) is different.” One can notice that for Hirsch “signification” meant
sense, while he substituted the denomination signification for “significance”. Cf.
E. D. Hirsch: Gadamer értelmezéselmélete (Gadamer’s Interpretation Theory), in:
Tibor Fabiny (ed.), A hermeneutika elmélete. Második rész (The Theory of
Hermeneutics. Second part), Ikonológia és műértelmezés 3 (Iconology and
Interpretation 3.), Szeged, 1987, p. 395. However, the concept “significance”
introduced by Hirsch also contained a semantic component which went beyond
the accepted semantic meaning of “signification”: he mentioned significance as
“the significance of signification referring to the present situation”. Cf. ibid. In
another study he explained the reference to the “present situation” by the
“explanation of the signification”, the “ars explicandi”, namely the actual sense of
the exegesis. This contained, besides that which the exegetes of the Bible called
interpretation – What does the given text signify? –, also that which we
traditionally know by the name of application, which is significance: What is the
use or value of the text in question, what is its signification that can be applied to
our particular situation? The sole signification, the interpretation whose aim is to
explore the sense of the text, to understand its signification forms at the same
time the necessary basis “for the infinite number of tasks of the application”. Cf.
E. D. Hirsch: Régi és új a hermeneutikában (Old and New in Hermeneutics), in: A
hermeneutika elmélete. Második rész (The Theory of Hermeneutics. Second part),
p. 433. Therefore Hirsch referred here to the roots of the organic connection
between interpretation and application inherent in the exegetical practice. Such a
unity of interpretation and application is a natural concomitant of the Eliade-like
hermeneutics conceived as a universal mythological exegesis. However, the entire
problem of application unfortunately was left out from Marino’s reconstruction of
Eliade’s hermeneutics, though the basic principle of the Gadamerian
philosophical hermeneutics formulating the unity of interpretation–
comprehension–application drew the attention to this question and Marino
himself referred to this principle on several occasions from another direction.
Marino operated with a semantically contextualized unity of interpretation and
comprehension which prevented Eliade’s hermeneutics from going beyond the
limits of the text and description.
92
The terminological difference between sense and signification
pointed out by Ricoeur is essential. Signification is not identical with the
modus(es) of the sense as Marino’s formulation suggested. In fact the text
has a sense as regarded in itself, while the text actualized in the reader’s
speech carries significations. It is a further question how the
significations are connected to the sense of the text, this being the
question of interpretation.
The problem of interpretation
With reference to the problem of interpretation Marino tried to
answer two interrelated questions.
As regards the problem of signification the “hermeneutics”
conceivable as interpretation seems to be inexhaustible. In different
interpretative contexts the same sense manifests itself as the multitude of
simultaneous, interrelated significations open to further interpretations.
Under these circumstances the question occurs: on what is the certainty of
interpretation based?
Moreover, Marino thought that the real task of interpretation
was not to associate to the sense different significations, but to trace the
multitude of significations back to an obvious or hidden, but anyway
“true”, “primary”, “original” sense. How can the interpretation establish a
connection between the multitude of significations and the unity of
sense?
These questions actually carry hidden premises.
The first one – the ontological postulate of interpretation –
presented itself to Marino’s idea of interpretation directly from Eliade’s
hermeneutics: each signification carries the absolute certainty of a basic,
unalterable revelation. The hermeneutical interpretation restores,
recreates and displays this ultimate reality which is the ontological basis
of the signification each time; the certainty of interpretation originates
from the display of this reality. 1 Interpretation is not simply the
acquisition of signification, but the display and reconstruction of the
reality revealed in the signification; it is a process progressing from the
signification to the reality forming its basis.
The second question – the hermeneutical postulate of
interpretation – is related to the nature of comprehension as seen by
Marino inspired by Eliade’s view in this too.
1
Cf. Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade, p. 52.
93
Marino could not detach himself from the epistemologicalmethodological habits connected with the notions and practice of
cognition even while problematizing comprehension. He regarded
comprehension in general hermeneutical terms as the ultimate object of
interpretation. He thought that we reveal and interpret significations in
order to “understand” them. According to this, comprehension is the
ultimate and main aim of the hermeneutical act, the termination of the
interpretative process. 1 But in fact the process of comprehension takes
place in the course of the interpretation; its internal semantic content is
unravelled, brought to light in the multitude and variety of significations.
Interpretation does not lead to comprehension by a logical, discursive
way; instead comprehension develops and happens in its fullness during
the interpretation. Marino himself admitted this unity of interpretation
and comprehension which interpenetrate and complete one another. He
referred to Gadamer’s and Ricoeur’s idea of comprehension in order to
support this. 2 But it is problematical how Marino saw the way in which
the unity of interpretation and comprehension can be realized.
The problem of comprehension
Marino – despite his references to philosophical hermeneutics –
regressed compared to the philosophical hermeneutical conception of
comprehension when he accepted the classical idea according to which
hermeneutics is the artistic doctrine of understanding texts. This
regression can be explained by the fact that in Eliade’s case the question
of comprehension occurred as the particular problem of understanding
religious phenomena. Thus the problem of comprehension became for
Marino – based on Eliade – the question of discovering the implicit and
explicit semantic contents of the texts (documenting religious
manifestations). 3 Because of this comprehension seemed to be
conceivable from the direction of its connections with the cognitive
process. Marino realized as well that cognition in itself did not
necessarily mean comprehension. The structure of comprehension was
1
Cf. ibid., p. 53.
Gademer: “The concept of comprehension [...] is not a concept of method...”;
“Comprehension is an existential characteristic of human life itself”;
hermeneutics is not the doctrine of “the art of comprehension”; “...comprehension
and interpretation are one and the same thing after all”; “Interpretation is the
executive form of comprehension”. Cf. H.-G. Gadamer, op. cit., pp. 188, 190,
272.
3
Cf. Adrian Marino, op. cit., p. 54.
2
94
nearer to intuition and revelation. 1 According to this realization, it was
necessary – in order to clarify the notion of comprehension – to move
from the direction of the cognitive process towards the process of living.
The semantic content of the religious text carries the revelation of the
ultimate reality. The comprehension of the text’s signification means on a
basic level to apprehend, experience and explore this revelation
intuitively. In this basic sense comprehension is existential
comprehension, by its means man finds his essential place in the cosmos,
the everlasting existential and sense unity between man and cosmos is
restored. 2
The conception of comprehension outlined as the connection
between revelation and intuition naturally offered the possibility for
Marino to situate the problem of comprehension into a perspective
opened by the Heideggerian-Gadamerian existential ontology. According
to this, comprehension is the way of existence of the Dasein.
Comprehension means for man to exist in a basic, essential way. 3 But
this momentary approach towards the philosophical hermeneutics was
combined with a more important regress in Marino’s works. Since
Marino – based on Eliade – thought with reference to the relationship
between comprehension and existence that an existential life-relation is
established with the object of understanding in the comprehension
process and this always requires a certain degree of “feeling”,
“subjective” approach and “participation”. 4 The comprehension of a
religious text’s semantic content is based on some kind of existential
1
Cf. ibid., p. 56.
Cf. ibid., pp. 58, 59.
3
Cf. ibid., p. 60.
4
Marino also indicated that the conception of comprehension with an existential
basis carries in fact a methodological option, since there were two schools, two
opposite trends in contemporaneous history of religion and religious
hermeneutics: a) the one – marked by R. Otto’s, C. G. Jung’s and K. Kerényi’s
works – returned to the spirit of positivism and subordinated comprehension to
causal interpretation; its representatives thought that any causal, scientific
interpretation was reductionistic, the interpretative process and the
comprehension was concluded by the exhaustion of the problem; therefore
comprehension operated as a reductive interpretation; b) the other – to which
Eliade’s investigations belonged – constructed an ontological, existential
interpretative system and not a causal one; its representatives believed that the
significations were inexhaustible because of their polyvalence; therefore
comprehension could not be finished, it always went on and it could be amplified
through extensive interpretation. Cf. ibid., pp. 62, 63.
2
95
reciprocity. On the one hand the interpreter has to place himself into the
religious man’s spiritual position of existence, into his dispositions which
generate significations; he has to participate in these. On the other hand
the he has to transmit these semantic contents in the spirit of
“congeniality”, to receive them into the intimacy of his particular
existential situation, to interiorize and acquire them subjectively. 1 In this
terminological context Marino placed back the conception of
comprehension – which had an existential basis and opened towards
philosophical hermeneutics – into a former stage of the hermeneutical
tradition, the context of Schleiermacher’s and Dilthey’s terminology. He
placed it against a psychological and philosophical background based on
the ideas of “congeniality” and identification-experiencing-acquiring(re)creation. That Marino tried to outline the essence of comprehension
through the semantic content of the Latin term comprehendere and the
importance he attributed to intention in the act of understanding seems to
prove this. 2
The relation between interpretation and comprehension
The comprehension idea based on the revelation-intuition
relationship also shows how Marino thought that the unity of
comprehension and interpretation can be realized. Referring to
Schleiermacher, Gadamer and Ricoeur, Marino believed that
hermeneutics achieves its aim if the internal, deep, often hidden sense of
texts and actions is discovered in the content of significations. 3 This
1
Cf. ibid., pp. 63, 64, 65.
The term comprehendere expresses that comprehension is the interiorization of
the sense; to understand a text means to draw it into your way of existence (comprend), to make it the part of your own world. “In order to understand this [other]
world interiorly we have to live it anew.” Cf. ibid., pp. 65, 66. Marino indicated
that the original meaning of comprehendere was close to the English verb to
realize: to realize, to apprehend, to form a notion about it, to acquire it
intellectually, which implies the re-discovery of the problem, its personal recreation. This process is an intellectual and a sympathetic, a rational and an
existential connection at the same time. Cf. ibid., p. 67. Moreover, the act of
comprehension requires the exploration of the original senses and intentions, the
exploration of significations in statu nascendi. The original authorial “intention”
or the intention of the text is primary, determinant in what we realize, re-create in
our own world. The aim of comprehension is: to understand the author better than
he understood himself. Cf. ibid., pp. 69, 70, 71. This latter idea explicitly refers to
Schleiermacher’s comprehension idea.
3
Cf. ibid., pp. 41, 42.
2
96
actually means that the intuitive comprehension is unfolded, made
explicit. Comprehensive thinking, identifying itself intellectually with the
relative content of the intuitively experienced situations, develops
interpretatively this content and expresses it in symbolic, cosmological,
metaphysical terms. Thus interpretation reorganizes the unstructured,
undifferentiated act of intuition into a structured, clear, rational system of
sense relations open to intellectual approach and comprehension. Here
the interpretation does not establish an external, discursive logical
relationship between the sense of the given text or life situation open to
the ultimate reality and its revelations created in the multitude of
significations, but it discloses the experienced unity of sense and
signification(s). It connects the sense with the significations by
developing and converting the undifferentiated connexion inherent in the
intuitive unity of comprehension into structured sense relations.
Therefore interpretation has an existential basis just like comprehension.
This also shows that interpretation is not connected with comprehension
only externally, but in fact it is the comprehension structured and made
explicit in its concepts and content.
While discussing the relationship between interpretation and
comprehension, Marino emphasized continually the problem of
interpretation. He dealt with the questions related to comprehension too
expressly from this direction. This can be explained by the fact that –
though he often referred to Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics – he
mainly focused on the hermeneutical problem of the text and this was
discussed in detail by Ricoeur. Thus he agreed with Ricoeur that
hermeneutics is “the science of interpretation” and that “real
hermeneutics” is the interpretation applied to a particular text. 1 From this
point of view Marino too believed that Ricoeur’s interpretationhermeneutics was closer to the spirit of Eliade’s hermeneutical
investigations than Gadamer’s comprehension-hermeneutics.
The objectivity of interpretation
The way in which Marino discussed all those hermeneutical
“categories” for which Eliade’s investigations provided a basis proves the
inconsistency of Marino’s hermeneutics conception. He was ever
searching for new principles and categories to base his reconstruction of
Eliade’s hermeneutics on and he elaborated several methodological
premises in order to establish the objectivity of interpretation. Because of
1
Cf. ibid., p. 32.
97
this he studied a series of methodological terms and tried to force them
into the frame of a hermeneutical view by reinterpreting and redefining
them. These terms in fact did not originate from the essence of a
hermeneutical attitude; they rather extended the methodological horizon
of the structuralist, system-centred investigations to the hermeneutical
investigations too. The following category pairs are such terms:
morphology and typology, system and structure, part and whole,
induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis. By explaining these
expressions Marino made great efforts to unify the epistemological and
hermeneutical approaches. This inevitably led to the epistemologization
of hermeneutics which thus became estranged from its own essence. Such
hybridization could only be sustained if he permanently represented the
essence of the hermeneutical attitude as the carrier of a new
methodological ideal. This suggested at the same time that hermeneutical
investigations have a dominantly methodological character. This
suggestion seems to be proved by the fact that Marino developed Eliade’s
hermeneutics from Eliade’s own conception of religious history,
phenomenology and anthropology and he did not confront it with a
detailed, universalized hermeneutical conception. In this way the
characteristics of Eliade’s approach inevitably left their mark on Marino’s
conception of hermeneutics. This is the most obvious in the case of the
objectivity of interpretation.
Marino was greatly interested in the issue of the objectivity of
interpretation. Eliade’s basic idea, that the transcendent, the essential, the
true and ultimate reality coincides with the primeval, the absolutely
primordial, is revealed to the greatest extent. Therefore every
interpretative-comprehensive investigation can only achieve its aim
effectively, it can only reveal the real sense of the phenomenon, if it
succeeds in tracing the sense back to its ultimate basis of reality. This
also implies that the present experience, the actual reading of the text is
taken to refer to a sacred and archaic past. Marino showed from Eliade’s
investigations that the hermeneutical effort has a regressive and
“maieutic” character, its aim is to adopt, to actualize the archaic attitude.
He proved this with propositions taken from Eliade.
According to Eliade, every interpretation starts out from a
“centre” and is organized around it. The primeval moment is the fixed,
stabile “centre” of comprehension. The phenomena are always revealed
in a double form during the interpretative process: on the one hand in
their historical multiplicity, on the other hand in their unity with their
98
primeval source of existence. 1 Eliade thought at the same time that the
past can be revealed and acquired only in the coordinates and structures
of the present. He perceived the hermeneutical act as mediation between
the past and the present. Tradition is the elongation, living continuation
of the past in the present. The hermeneutics urged by Eliade is integrated
into this tradition. To be the interpreter contemporary of the religious text
in this respect means to situate oneself and to be standing continuously in
the alternation of the regressive-progressive, anticipative-retrospective
perspectives. In this play of perspectives the signification system of the
interpreted phenomenon meets and is identified with the interpreter’s
system elaborated by the interpreter in order to explore and understand
this signification system with its help. 2 The two systems are conformed
to one another according to the principles of some kind of “hermeneutical
coherence” in their interpretative relationship. This explains to us why
Marino thought possible – while reconstructing Eliade’s hermeneutics –
to reconcile the semiotic and structuralist methodological principles and
terminological frames with the hermeneutical investigations. 3
1
Cf. ibid., pp. 116, 150, 152.
Cf. ibid., pp. 130, 144, 148, 149.
3
We are thinking of such statements: typization is itself a typically hermeneutical
operation; the model, the pattern suggests that the sense is inscribed in its own
archetype; the synchronic character of morphological typologies and
classifications requires atemporality; comprehension presupposes a synchronic
reading of the interpreted phenomena and not a diachronic one, some kind of
“synchronization” – we may add – of the past and the present in the interpretative
process. Cf. ibid., pp. 80, 81, 82. In this same context we can understand why
Marino was so much interested in the problem of the “hermeneutical coherence”
which carries some inconsistency of methodology and view. It is problematic
how the continuously evolving play of interpretation built of differences and
inconsistencies can be reconciled with the demand of logical consistency. But
Marino emphasized that the aim of Eliade’s hermeneutics was to reveal the basic
connections of significations, the structure, namely the coherently structured
whole. Cf. ibid., pp. 82, 83. The “hermeneutical coherence” here refers to the
internal systematic organization of the text, the latent coherence of the structural
connections which determine this organization. For the interpretation starts out
from the premise that every hierophany presupposes a complex system of
statements referring to the ultimate reality and the interpretation has to reveal this
system. Cf. ibid., pp. 84, 85.
Marino
transferred
the
methodologized
structuralist-hermeneutical,
epistemological-hermeneutical hybrid view obtained from the reconstruction of
Eliade’s hermeneutics to the literary hermeneutics too later on. He operated with
a literary hermeneutics whose aim was to discover, reveal and interpret the
2
99
In this way Marino thought to find a steady basis for the
objectivity of the interpretation in the fact that the interpretation aiming at
real comprehension reveals and establishes an organic relationship
between the multitude of significances created in the semantic dimension
of the text and the intellectual centre these significations are based on. At
the same time it connects the present of the interpretative process with the
primordial reality revealed as referential content in the interpretation.
Marino believed that Mircea Eliade’s whole hermeneutical work was
based on an essential principle: comprehension cannot be achieved
without revealing the primordial moment, without the eternal return to
the “origin” of the phenomena. 1 It seems that by this Marino supported a
methodological demand with an ontological argument: interpretation is
objective if it reveals and restores the metaphysical unity characteristic to
the archaic man’s and the religious modern man’s way of existence; the
metaphysical unity carried by the semantic content of religious symbols,
myths and rites and of the different hierophanies connected to them. In
other words, the objectivity of interpretation is guaranteed if the semantic
content of the existent religious documents can be matched to a reality
they are giving information about.
But in reality this problem is much more complex.
The archaic man
The different religious documents, texts, hierophanies, which
can be studied by the historians of religion, if the positivistic
epistemological models are laid aside and they are seen in a
hermeneutical perspective, prove to be not just some descriptions
informing us about men’s way of living in past ages, or about ancient
societies’ archaic way of existence. Eliade himself emphasized too on
every occasion that the archaic man did not live his life independently of
these religious contents. And these were not only settled on him step by
explicit and implicit senses of literary texts in an organized and systematic
manner and on a double level, the level of terminology and the level of
signification. According to Marino, this hermeneutics can be realized as a selfregulating interpretative system – a kind of hermeneutical model –, which ensures
the necessary conditions for understanding literature and art in general. This is
achieved by combining the principle of the literal, close and objective reading of
the literary work with the preliminary comprehension, “knowledge” referring to
the nature of “literature”. Cf. Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica ideii de literatură,
pp. 13–21.
1
Cf. Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade, p. 112.
100
step as a spiritual level in the course of his life, they recurred and were
left as a heritage to subsequent ages. Eliade stated explicitly in the
introductory lines of his book entitled The Myth of the Eternal Return that
the archaic metaphysical conceptions did not always receive a theoretical
linguistic form, though the semantic content of the different myths, rites
and symbols carry a metaphysical system consisting of coherent
statements referring to the ultimate reality. The point is that the
metaphysical position revealed by the semantic content of these
documents organically belonged to the archaic man’s attitude towards the
world and existence. It was materialized and it manifested itself in the
most basic, common and profane elements of one’s behaviour as action
even there and then when words had not yet been enough to express it. 1
The archaic man lived in a particular metaphysical interpretation of the
world while this world interpretation had always existed in his actions
and relationships; it manifested itself spiritually in this natural process of
interpretation and existence, it became structured and conscious in the
semantic content of linguistic and textual formations. These spiritual
formations organically belonged to the archaic man’s existential process
and to his interpretation of existence as his existential awareness. They
themselves supported and carried this interpretation of existence, they
shaped this attitude towards existence through its sense and thus they
were the parts and the participants of the existential happening.
In this context one must ask the question: who was the archaic
man, the homo religiosus? What kind of image had Eliade about him?
The difference between the archaic and the modern man is not
that the former connected his everyday life processes with the primordial
existential basis, while the latter does not do this. The difference consists
of the fact that the archaic man acted as the carrier and the representative
of a different way of existence than the modern man. Amid his uncertain,
endangered and accidental circumstances of life he was tormented by a
continuous existential thirst, all his actions were marked by his striving to
maintain and consolidate his connection with existence, that is with the
sacred, the ultimate reality. His rites, myths and symbols not only inform
us about this, they are rather the organic participants and shapers of this
way of existence. He succeeded in maintaining continuously and
renewing from time to time his connection with existence by their means.
In this relationship the archaic man lived his existence in an organic unity
1
Cf. Mircea Eliade, Mitul eternei reîntoarceri (The Myth of the Eternal Return),
in: Idem, Eseuri (Essays), Bucharest, Scientific Publishing House, 1991, p. 13.
101
with the eternal, the universal, no matter how accidental his existential
state was. In contrast with this, the modern man, being thrown into the
world and having a relative existential security, lives in a state of
forgetfulness of being through which he loses his organic connection with
the cosmic existential dimensions of universality and eternity in the
particular life situations of his finite, historical way of existence.
Religious experiences offer some possibility to the modern religious man
to experience the archaic man’s way of existence. The basic difference
between the archaic and modern man’s way of existence consists of the
fact that while the archaic man’s way of existence carried and represented
a metaphysical interpretation of existence, the modern man’s way of
existence is without metaphysics and thus it is not organized in terms of a
unified and comprehensive interpretation of existence.
The metaphysical way of existence
Why was the archaic man’s way of existence metaphysical? By
reading Eliade’s texts attentively, one can realize that this was not so
because of a substantially ontological grounding. The metaphysical
aspect did not lie in the fact that the sacred as ultimate reality, as true
existence ensured the firm basis of the everyday existence for the archaic
man. The metaphysical aspect was not given by means of the sacred, but
it was ensured through the myth and the rite. The archaic man’s existence
received its metaphysical dimension from the fact that the myth and the
rite formed it and not from it being based on the sacred. And the essence
of this form was that it held the phenomena of the profane, everyday life
in organic unity with the sacred, the reality and existence. 1 The
metaphysical way of existence in its internal, essential form is not
different from the non metaphysical one. This internal form structures
this mode of existence in such a manner that the particular experiential
moments of life can be experienced in organic unity with the existential
dimensions open to universality and eternity. The myth, the rite, the
symbol and the hierophany carry this kind of existential formulation; to
have a metaphysical way of existence means to be living in the meaning
relations of these existential moments which structure and formulate
experience.
Let us resume the discussion of the meanwhile suspended issue
and let us investigate what the objectivity of interpretation means in this
1
Eliade often emphasized that the “form” in which some profane, experiential
moment became real, sacred, connected with existence was given by the myth or
the rite. E.g. cf. ibid., p. 19.
102
context. What we said above may suggest that it refers by no means to
the operation of such a referential relationship as Marino intimated.
Namely, objectivity is not achieved by retracing the multiplicity of
present significations to the unity of sense of an ancient, primordial
existential base. The interpretative process does not mean, even
figuratively, a backward movement in time, it does not realize some kind
of return to the primordial existential state, and it does not endeavour to
restore the archaic unity in the modern man’s existential circumstances.
The archaic is valid and valuable not because it was some kind of perfect
state of ancient times past for ever, but because it is the way of existence
of the universal: the metaphysical way of existence and existential
interpretation in its case have the same essential, inner form, the same
structural character, the same meaning relations in the most different
historical forms, hierophanies, myths and rites of the primitive religiosity.
And a hierophany is universal not because it represents the sacred as a
comprehensive and ultimate reality in the experiential, but because it
carries this interrelatedness and unity of the sacred and the profane in its
inner, essential form. 1 Thus, in this sense, there is nothing to return to,
and there is nothing to restore. The interpretation is objectivity when it
reveals the universal form which carries and represents the basic
structures of existence and it connects the multiplicity of significations
with the unity of the essential form. This requires that the “prehistoric”,
1
In his famous Traité Eliade stated explicitly too that every hierophany carries
and reveals the paradoxical coincidence of the sacred and the profane, existence
and non-existence, the absolute and the relative, the eternal and the changeable.
What is paradoxical in this, is not the manifestation of the sacred in stones or
trees, but the fact that it manifests itself, namely that the encounter of the two
ways of existence takes a form, and that the unity (one-ness, unity of existence
and sense) of this form becomes more important than the difference of the “totally
different” (Rudolf Otto). Cf. Mircea Eliade, Tratat de istorie a religiilor (Treatise
on History of Religions), Bucharest, Humanitas, 1992, p. 38. Eliade also stated
here that the only difference between the appearance of a hierophany in a
religious system and the interpretation and investigation of its semantic content is
the difference of the “form” and the “formula”. The hierophany as the form which
carries the unity of existence and sense manifests itself independently of any other
interpretation. The form is visible, which means that it shows the interrelatedness
and unity (the being-together and unity of opposite essences) concretely as sense
on itself. Thus its natural state is to be always in interpretation, even before we
begin to interpret or reveal it. The way in which the analytic descriptive language
of verbal hermeneutics formulates the interrelated unity in statements in the
course of the interpretation differs from this concrete manifestation.
103
to which the concrete, the particular (the peculiar) and the historic refer,
should not be considered as the ancient preliminary, but as the universal.
This reflexive and speculative horizon of universality gives the true sense
of the historic. Modernity tore apart this original unity of the
metaphysical way of existence by this making the metaphysical contents
of existence empty. The modern man is forced to live in a nonmetaphysical existential form in which the particular and the universal,
the concrete and the abstract seem to refer to one another only outwardly,
by means of methodological and technical constructions. According to
Eliade’s hypothesis, the modern man’s religious experience can create
some connections between the two ways of existence. Because of this the
nostalgia after the primordial states of ancient times does not cherish the
modern man’s wish for reversing history, but it rather supports his efforts
to enforce the authentic forms of the true religious experience.
The linguistic medium
The archaic man’s metaphysical way of existence and the
modern man’s non-metaphysical way of existence basically differ in their
form. Form is the inner system of connections, the structuring medium
which organizes the elements of existence into meaning relations, in other
words: converts them into texts. The two ways of existence essentially
differ in the mode of formulation. They are differently spoken of when
described and even their self reflexive statements are dissimilar. The
myth, the rite, the symbol are organized as a medium, as a textual
universe carrying, shaping and representing the metaphysical way of
existence not by means of its reference, but through its linguistic form. In
this linguistic medium the particular existential elements and universal
sense aspects are brought to unity. And in this the experiential, linguistic
and spiritual reflexivity and speculativeness – which shape and carry this
medium – form the “primordial” content of sense and unity of form
which are revealed by the significations created on the different semantic
levels and to which the interpretative efforts, directed towards
significations, can be traced back. Thus it is proved that the interpretative
text – in case it speaks correctly, that is objectively – narrates always
what the myth, the rite and the symbol are about. It organizes into a
system of statements the meaning relations represented and revealed by
the myth, the rite and the symbol as experienced life forms. Therefore it
can be justly asked whether the investigations in the history and
anthropology of religions, which open hermeneutical perspectives, are
really important for the modern man because they inform him about the
104
metaphysical constructions of an archaic, primordial reality; or rather
because they interpretatively open the textual universe of the myths, rites
and symbols carrying metaphysical constructions and the meaning
relations of this textual universe towards the modern man’s life and
textual universe. Therefore, from a hermeneutical point of view, the result
of a correct interpretation and comprehension is more than to reveal the
essence of the religious experience. Such interpretation means to place
the interpreter intellectually into the sense creating process in which the
speculative, metaphysical unity of experience is restored. Instead of
changing our knowledge about the religious experience, this
interpretation rather modifies our attitude towards it.
The circle of comprehension
With reference to the objectivity of interpretation Marino also
discussed the issue of the circularity of the interpretative process. He
demonstrated in connection with Eliade that comprehension is always
based on previous understanding and that the exegesis presupposes
anticipation directed to the meaning relations. He agreed with Eliade that
we comprehend what we are predestined to understand by our learning,
our cultural attitude as well as by the experienced historical moment. 1
Marino realized that the circularity of comprehension actually
takes place as the interplay of the opposite logical and experiential
moments of the interpretative process, as a continuous pendular
movement between intuition and reflection, induction and deduction,
analysis and synthesis, part and whole, past and present, the sacred and
the profane. But neither in this case could he disregard the logicalepistemological limits of the methodological approach to hermeneutics.
Exactly in connection with the study of the hermeneutical circle becomes
evident that the limits of this approach restrict the entire hermeneutical
problem of the interpretation and comprehension to the terminological
sphere of cognition.
Marino’s discussion of the hermeneutical circle as the question
of “hermeneutical cognition” is another example to the hybridization of
the epistemological and hermeneutical approach. He investigated how the
hermeneutical cognition following the movement of the hermeneutical
circle – which seems to be a logical tautology – proceeds. Can some new
information be created in the interpretative process if only that which
appears in the conclusion was comprised in the premises? Combining the
1
Cf. Adrian Marino, Hermeneutica lui Micea Eliade, p. 110.
105
logical model with the historicity inspired by Eliade Marino believed that
the solution of the problem was that, though the premise of
comprehension is always given, the hermeneutist’s attitude however is
always predetermined by the specific spiritual and historical situation and
his previous understandings of the interpreted issue derived from this
situation. 1 Thus the circular motion of the interpretation begins always
differently in the case of each concrete return to the same sense element.
However, – due to the limits of his approach – Marino did not perceive
that the hermeneutical attitude does not allow asking in earnest the
question whether a linear, progressive movement exists in the process of
interpretation-comprehension. It is true that in the same process of sense
creation we can perceive and follow the ever progressive motion of
interpretation which goes beyond the revealed and understood meaning
relations. But the relationship between the two different acts of
comprehension – even if they are the two different re-interpretative
phases of the same meaning relation – cannot be described as
progression, since each new comprehensive process leads in fact to a
different and not a better understanding. 2
The limits of interpretation
Having studied the numerous problems related to the objectivity
of interpretation according to the above mentioned view, Marino
perceived the limits of interpretation. He believed that all the factors
related to the existential, cultural and historical conditions of the
interpretative-comprehensive process make the interpretation subjective.
Therefore, the question whether objective interpretation exists or not
cannot be answered unambiguously in the affirmative. The hermeneutical
interpretation is objective between the boundaries set by its object:
objectivity depends on the documents, their sense and semantic contents.
But as seen from the direction of the context of the interpreter and the
1
Cf. ibid., pp. 110, 111.
This problem is clarified by Gadamer in connection with the statement that
comprehension is more than the reproduction of a finished work; it is a creative
attitude itself. “Comprehension – Gadamer said – in fact is not a better
understanding either in the sense of a greater amount of positive knowledge
resulted from clearer notions or as the advantage of awareness over the
unawareness of creation. It is enough to say that we understand otherwise when
we comprehend at all.” H.-G. Gadamer, op. cit., p. 211.
2
106
interpretative act this objectivity becomes subjective. This holds true vice
versa as well: the interpreter’s subjectivity also becomes objective. 1
As we have seen so far, due to his approach permeated by
methodological habits of a structuralist and epistemological character,
Marino considered it natural to raise the question referring to the
objectivity of interpretation. But it did not occur to him whether the
questions raised within the dual terminological domain of objectivity and
subjectivity have any relevance at all for the true hermeneutical attitude.
The reason why this question was not usually asked must be sought not
only in the limits of Marino’s approach but also in the fact that he tried to
build his basic statements related to Eliade’s hermeneutics on Ricoeur’s
conception of hermeneutics.
Whenever it was necessary to confront Eliade’s hermeneutics
with a more universal hermeneutics, Marino considered Ricoeur’s
hermeneutics to be handier than Gadamer’s. The former preserved and
continued to develop many elements of the semiotic and structuralist
antecedents of the hermeneutical attitude as well as of its methodological
commitments. Thus Marino considered the question of the objectivity of
interpretation worth to be studied thoroughly because he attached
importance to the manner in which Ricoeur differentiated between
“objective” and “subjective” interpretation. He saw in this the fulfilment
of two conditions quite important for the success of the hermeneutical
investigations.
The first is related to the fact that, it seems, Ricoeur managed to
find a criterion which, if applied, guarantees the objectivity of
interpretation in each case. Its essence, according to Marino, is that the
interpreter has to place himself continuously into the interpreted text’s
reference domain, respectively into its specific horizon opened from here.
This means – in Hirsch’s words – that he has to use the inherent and
original perspective, excluding any other point of view or perspective. 2
The other condition is related to “the conflict of interpretations”.
Eliade’s religious historical studies also reveal that the history of
religions is also the history of different and conflicting interpretations at
the same time. Approaches differing from one another as regards their
direction and their point of view reveal the operation of the principle
stating the polyvalence of interpretations which results in the conflict of
interpretations. In order that the hermeneutical investigation may be
1
2
Cf. Adrian Marino, op. cit., pp. 201, 204.
Cf. ibid. p. 34.
107
successful, it also becomes necessary to harmonize the great variety and
different validity of the interpretations. This goes hand in hand with the
hierarchization of interpretations, the inclusion of the new interpretations
in one of the traditional interpretation types. Marino believed that the
Ricoeurian criterion of the objectivity of interpretations could have a
decisive role in the conflict of interpretations too. 1
The secret of the text
Let us compare now the question of the objectivity of
interpretation – raised in connection with Ricoeur – with Ricoeur’s own
discussion of this problem.
Returning to the Ricoeurian differentiation between the text’s
sense and signification, this reveals that Ricoeur did not differentiate the
subjective and objective interpretation in the sense Marino alluded to. In
fact the problem of the objective interpretation is not raised as the
question of the text’s reference, the question of the relationship between
the text and the world. Ricoeur separated the problem of the objective
interpretation from the acquiring of the text in the reading process, a
subjective interpretation. The reading process, even if it is adjusted to the
text’s intensions, preserves much from the psychological dimension of
the interpretation practiced and perceived as acquiring (Schleiermacher,
Dilthey, Bultmann). According to this psychological dimension the
reader’s manifestation connects another text – which actualizes the text in
the direction of its context and its audience – to the text, in which the
interpretation of the text is extended towards the reader’s selfinterpretation. The reader, trying to understand the text, in fact creates his
own text which helps him to understand himself better or in a different
way. This holds true only if we regard the text itself too as the medium of
the author’s self-interpretation and self-comprehension. But the
interpretation should not stop at this psychological process, because the
text’s essence and sense does not consist of its being the mediator and the
interpreter of the authorial intention. Ricoeur emphasized the
hermeneutical importance of the structural analysis because he
considered that structural analysis can reveal the text’s deep semantics,
that meaning relation which holds together and unites the text from inside
and which enforces the text’s own intention (independent from the
writer’s) and articulates the content communicated by the text itself. The
text according to its “intention” or “will” draws us into its own sense
1
Cf. ibid. pp. 35, 36, 37.
108
direction, it “wants” us placed in the same direction as itself, in the
meaning relation carried and opened by it. 1 Therefore the objective
interpretation is not directed to the text from the outside, but it is an intratextual interpretation, namely the self-interpretative act of the text, which
interprets itself as a meaning relation having a well-determined direction.
That, which happens as the objective interpretation, is in fact performed
in the text “as the work of the sense directed to itself”. The text’s natural
way of existence is the continuous (self-)interpretation. 2 We, as
interpreters, can do nothing else than participate ourselves as well in this
self-interpretative process of the text. 3 In this respect to interpret means
“to choose the mental path opened by the text, we start on the road the
text took”, namely we place ourselves in the text’s sense direction and we
go on with it. 4 In such cases the text interpretation, namely the
“hermeneutist’s speech” is “a repetition which revives the speech of the
text”. 5
Ricoeur’s idea of the objective interpretation consists of two
important elements: on the one hand it reveals the secret of the text, the
real situation that the text’s actual way of existence is to be in a
continuous self-interpretative state; on the other hand Marino’s thought,
according to which the objective interpretation would be realized by
placing oneself into the text’s referential plane, is corrected. At the same
time the Ricoeurian approach to the problem of the text is really related to
Eliade’s idea which we have discussed in connection with the archaic
man and his metaphysical way of existence.
Ricoeur’s text conception actually reveals the text’s true
existential state, its metaphysical way of existence. The continuous
(self)interpretation, the reflexivity and speculativeness which accompany
this as well as the particular existential contents placed into a universal
1
Cf. P. Ricoeur, op. cit., p. 29.
Cf. ibid. p. 32.
3
This Ricoeurian thought is similar to Gadamer’s conception according to which
“the concept of the text as the central category of the linguistic structure can be
defined only if we take the concept of interpretation as our starting point. For the
concept of the text is characterized by the fact that it manifests itself only in
harmony with the interpretation and setting out from this – as the actually given
and that which is to be understood.” H.-G. Gadamer, Szöveg és interpretáció
(Text and Interpretation), in: Bacsó Béla (ed.), Szöveg és interpretáció,
Cserépfalvi’s edition, s. a., p. 24.
4
Cf. ibid., p. 32.
5
Ibid., p. 33.
2
109
horizon are together the criteria of the metaphysical way of existence.
The secret of the text is condensed into the paradoxical aspect that,
though the text is always about “something” and this “something” is
always revealed as a “world” by means of the text – and as the reference
of the text –, the sense of the text does not originate from this in reality,
but from that essential, inner and universal form which holds in an
organic unity the world (as the referential content of the text) and the text
(as the manifestation of the world). The text is in fact realized as the
interrelatedness of these particular circumstances – the world as content
and the text as a well defined system of signs – and the horizon of
universality. The text’s inner meaning relation (as the particular world
which forms the reference of the text) and the organic unity of the
universal horizon opening in the text (as form) manifest themselves on
the text itself as form independently from any other interpretation. The
text speaks of a particular world, but speaking of it in a universal
linguistic context and an open interpretative horizon it appears in its
context as a text having sense before anyone would start to read it.
Consequently, the objective interpretation can be realized not by placing
ourselves into the referential plane of the text, but by revealing the text’s
metaphysical way of existence; by partaking and participating in that
continuous self-creating and self-building interpretation of existence and
of the world which is the text’s natural way of existence as a continuous
interpretative process. The text grants us the joy of creation and not the
experience of being thrown into the world. But undoubtedly, if the
interpretation places itself correctly into the text’s sense direction, it
discovers in its referential plane that which the text would really like to
communicate: the ontological frame of a world is outlined in the text’s
metaphysical horizon. In these cases the text’s meaning relations are
opened to a (possible) reference and not a (real) reference determines the
directions of the sense.
A text which lacks its metaphysical horizon and the specific way
of existence characterized by continuous interpretation is not a real text
anymore. It is only a system of descriptive statements connected with the
described object according to outward rules.
The power of the symbol
In this context it is worth discussing another problem raised by
Ricoeur when adopting Eliade’s symbol conception. This problem, while
revealing the nature of that linguistic context into which Marino placed
Eliade’s whole hermeneutics, corrected in some measure the
110
methodological alienation which occurred between this linguistic context
and textual universe as well as the living spirit of hermeneutics;
alienation resulting inevitably from Marino’s epistemological, semiotic,
structuralist approach. We are referring to the problem of the double
meaning. This is not identical with and cannot be reduced to the duality
of sense and signification discussed in detail before.
Ricoeur – referring to Elide’s discussion and allusions related to
cosmic symbolism from the Traité – showed the essential characteristic
of the symbol which is the condition of linguistic completeness. The
linguistic completeness is created by the relationship between sense and
sense, where one sense is placed inside the other. The symbol’s way of
existence is based on the interconnectedness of two senses. “The symbol
is determined – Ricoeur wrote – in a double sense as it is connected to
something and with something. On the one hand it is connected to the
primary, literal, perceptible phenomena of the symbol: this creates the
obscurity. On the other hand the literal sense is connected with the
symbolic sense inherent in it; I call this the symbol’s revelatory faculty.
The symbol has power due to this – despite its obscurity.” 1
Ricoeur’s formulation reveals that what we stated with reference
to the myth, the rite, the hierophany and the text, holds true for the
symbol too: it is an internally formed, organic essential unity, meaning
relation. However, it requires special attention. In the symbol the
particular sense horizon of a sensory-experiential component is
interconnected with the universal sense horizon of an intellectual
component. Thus the sensory-experiential component does not remain
purely concrete and particular, but it acquires a sense horizon in which it
becomes open towards universal meaning relations; as a sense it
surpasses its existential particularity. Its obscurity originates from here.
But something similar happens in the opposite direction too: the universal
and abstract intellectual sense acquires an experiential sense horizon in
which it becomes open towards the concrete particular meaning relations,
it manifests itself in the sensory-experiential. The symbol’s revelatory
faculty originates from here. The symbol can be reduced neither to the
one nor to the other meaning relation, but it is based on the inward
interconnectedness and unity of form of the two. Its inner cohesion is
created by structural unification of the particular and universal meaning
1
P. Ricoeur, Az interpretációk konfliktusa, in: Fabiny Tibor (ed.), A
hermeneutika elmélete. Első rész. (The Theory of Hermeneutics. First part.)
Ikonológia és Műértelmezés 3. (Iconology and Interpretation 3.), Szeged, 1987,
pp. 210–211.
111
relations open to one another. The symbol requires special attention
because of the nature of this unification. For this is more than the
interconnectedness of forms as we have shown in the case of the
hierophany or of the text, this is a special way of existence in which the
two meaning relations dwell in one another. The particular and universal
meaning relations penetrate one another reciprocally, they reveal and
interpret one another. The symbol is determined because the experiential
meaning relation interprets the universal one, while the universal
meaning relation interprets the experiential one. One is the other’s
interpreter in Peirce’s sense. Namely, that the meaning relation revealed
in the one is the component of the other and vice versa. Without this
neither the particular, nor the universal meaning relation would separately
have the fullness of sense carried by the symbol by means of their unity.
The power of the symbol originates from this.
All this shows that the linguistic medium revealed by the symbol
is not only determined, but it is a complete language at the same time. 1 It
includes the experiential particular and the universal, the sensory concrete
and the abstract intellectual components at the same time. It cannot talk
about the one without speaking of the other too. It cannot speak of the
sensory without representing it in the universal horizon and as carrying
the universal. And it cannot speak of the universal without revealing it as
something belonging to and present in the sensory. It lends a
metaphysical dimension to the particular experiential sense and an
existential dimension to the universal sense. Consequently, the symbol’s
existential structure is more than the hierophany or the metaphysical way
of existence of the text. The obscurity of the symbol is the metaphysical
obscurity, but its revelatory faculty is the existential openness. Therefore
the symbol does not only speak, it speaks to me. In addition to the
particular experience speaking in the language of the universal meaning
relations in the symbol, the universal sense speaks to me in the language
of my particular existence. In this sense we can tell that the symbol’s way
of existence is determined, confined and it is a complete way of existence
at the same time: a way of existence characterized by metaphysical and
existential unity. The man living in the symbol’s linguistic medium can
only be the whole man with his entire experience.
1
Cf. ibid., p. 211.
112
Observations and hopes
Finally, we must make two observations regarding Marino’s
hermeneutical investigations.
The fact that Marino’s hermeneutical efforts – despite their
unquestionable scientific expertise and seriousness – did not achieve their
aim in the investigation of religious phenomena – which, by their nature,
almost voluntarily offer themselves to interpretation – must have been
due to the “hermeneutical situation” Marino made his investigations in.
In the intellectual context of the 1970s and 1980s this was shaped as a
situation whose terminological and methodological horizon was not yet
really hermeneutical. Marino tried to interpret, understand and apply
hermeneutics relying on the epistemological preliminarity structures of a
non-hermeneutical situation and in its semiotic, structuralist and
methodological horizon. Thus it is no wonder that this interpretation was
often done in a non-hermeneutical manner. Despite this, even those
essential points and moments when Marino misunderstood and
misinterpreted hermeneutics in a non-hermeneutical manner proved to be
real hermeneutical deeds and events due exactly to the hermeneutical
productivity of misunderstanding.
Our second observation is closely related to the former. The
point of view offered by the indicated situation gives a characteristic
starting point and a determined direction to Marino’s investigations
referring to Eliade’s hermeneutics. Marino – due to an intellectual habit
arising from the structuralist approach – placed the text into the centre of
his hermeneutical investigations, and he followed the guidelines offered
by the tradition of textual hermeneutics. Thus he proceeded in Eliade’s
case too as if he had had to deal with texts in Eliade’s hermeneutics as
well. In this way he did not realize or did not attach sufficient importance
to the fact that in Eliade’s hermeneutics to progress in the textual
exegesis meant to progress to the living religious experience as to a
hermeneutical experience. 1 Whereas the real essence and greatness of
Eliade’s hermeneutics lay in the fact that it outlined and discussed the
religious experience as a hermeneutical experience. The text, the symbol
1
We can prove with several quotations that for Eliade the religious experience
was the starting point and the true domain of interpretations realized as
hermeneutical achievements; e. g. he wrote related to the identification of the
existential moments of cosmic and human existence: “Let us try to understand
that man’s existential situation for whom all these identifications are not just mere
thoughts, but lived experiences.” Mircea Eliade, A szent és a profane (The Sacred
and the Profane), Budapest, Europe Publishing House, 1987, p. 155.
113
and the mythology appeared as the linguistic medium of the religious
experience in this process; a linguistic universe in which the religious
experience is revealed as world experience. If we survey this
development from the point of view of the Gadamerian philosophical
hermeneutics, we may be witnesses to the “empirical” realization of a
“universal hermeneutics” in Eliade’s oeuvre. And it is not impossible that
the Gadamerian hermeneutics’ universal linguistic aspects will be
outlined for us in the linguistic medium of the symbol and the myth.
But if we pay attention to the fact that the meaning relations
revealed in the interconnected metaphysical and existential structures of
the symbol and the myth can start speaking as philosophical thoughts too
in the context of intellectual-linguistic universality, reflexivity and
speculativeness, then we can finally conjecture that the real inheritor of
the archaic tradition is not the modern man’s present day religious
experience, but rather the philosophy of the future.
114
Tatakau Hikaku Bungaku.
Adrian Marino and the Militant Comparatism in Japan
Rodica FRENŢIU
Faculty of Letters,
Keywords: Adrian Marino, Japanese literature, “world literature”,
comparative literature, militant comparatism, René Étiemble,
universality, internationalism, cosmopolitanism, universalism
Abstract
The paper presents the Japanese translation of Adrian Marino’s book
Étiemble ou le comparatisme militant, the first book of Romanian literary
criticism translated in Japan. At the same time the basic issues related to
comparative literature in general and in particular in Japan are also
presented. The new comparativist science elaborated by René Étiemble,
proposed a new humanism without boundaries, oriented towards a unity
of attitudes, preoccupations and ideas, which will certainly be
predominant in the 21st century. The proposal of “universal literature”
seems to be a great opening of horizons. This includes the literature of
every nation from West and East, both the Oriental and the Occidental
literature. This theory adopted by Marino too, suggested that only
comparative literature could fully understand the complex relationship
between the different cultures.
Forsaking Eurocentrism, opening up to the Literature of the
world, without value-appreciations dictated by a supreme hierarchic
centre, the ideological implication of the comparativist research, its direct
confrontation with the social and political, undoubtedly implies the
opening towards universality. The new comparativist science proposed
by René Étiemble, a research domain situated beyond the positions of the
academic, positivistic and historical erudition, draws all the literature of
the world, from East to West, to the attention of the branch study, each of
them having the occasion to actively take part in the round table initiated
by the “new type of comparativist”.
A lucid mind of his age, an attentive spirit to the changes of his
age, Adrian Marino reacted strongly to the change of the comparativist
115
research proposed by Étiemble, which reached a period of crisis, a fact
noticed already in 1958 by René Wellek and reaffirmed in 1995. 1 Adrian
Marino acknowledged the French scholar’s merits resulting from the
difference of horizons, of mentality and work style as compared to his
branch colleagues and considered him the only one able to lay the
foundations of a renewed, combative comparatism. Marino dedicated a
volume, the first of its kind, to this specialist in comparative literature,
and connoisseur of oriental languages. The work entitled Etiemble ou le
comparatisme militant was pubished published by the Gallimard
Publishing House in Paris in 1982. It contained the Romanian scholar’s
opinion about the afore mentioned issue: “La différence d’esprit,
d’horizon, de mentalité et de style de travail entre Étiemble et le reste du
comparatisme, ou – plus exactement – la plupart de ses collègues est donc
considérable. Il importe de le préciser d’entrée: d’une part pour marquer
l’apport original de cet esprit non conformiste; de l’autre, pour nous
expliquer certaines positions en cul-de-sac du comparatisme actuel.
Étiemble donne à ses cours et à ses interventions un tour très souvent
polémique; il n’hésite pas à prendre parti sur les problèmes politiques et
idéologiques les plus brûlants; il veut infléchir le comparatisme vers des
prises de position concernant les nouveaux rapports idéologiques et
autres (Ouest-Est, Tiers Monde, États-Unis, Union Soviétique, Chine,
etc.); bref, il rêve d’un comparatisme mis à jour, complètement rajeuni,
combatif. Son militantisme idéologique, culturel, littéraire est donc
fondamental; le comparatisme lui-même n’est que l’une des applications
possibles.” 2 The book on the militant comparatism of Étiemble, written
by a Romanian author has not only been received well by the public but
also by the branch publications in France and outside France. It was
reviewed in the Times Literary Supplement, 3 Gazetta de Lausanne, 4 La
Libre Belgique, 5 Rivista di Letterature moderne e comparative, 6 World
Literature Today 7 and then translated into other languages. 1
1
See Charles Bernheimer, Introduction. The Anxieties of Comparison, in:
Charles Bernheimer (ed.), Comparative Literature in the Age of Multiculturalism,
Baltimore and London, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995, pp. 2–17.
2
Adrian Marino, Etiemble ou le comparatisme militant, Paris, Gallimard, 1982,
pp. 12–13.
3
Issue 10 December 1982.
4
Issue 7 August 1982.
5
Issue 3 August 1982.
6
Issue 2/1984.
7
Issue 1983.
116
Adrian Marino’s book defending energetically the principle of
“world literature”, of the East–West and Occident–Orient literary
relations, of the free literary communications, of the equality between
literatures, was published by the Keisô Shobô Publishing House in Tokyo
in October 1988, under the title Tatakau Hikaku Bungaku (Militant
Comparatism). It was translated by Hiroshi Watanabe and Nobuhiro
Satô, the former being specialist in French literature and translator of
several works such as Comparative Literature by H. Frentz and N. P.
Stallknecht, What is Comparative Literature by P. Brunel, C. Pichois and
A. M. Rousseau, Faith and Literature by Philip Tratford, the latter
specialist in Japanese literature.
The volume of the Romanian author was introduced to the
Japanese, as a work penetrated by the univeralist perspective introduced
to the study of comparative literature at that time by Étiemble, the creator
of the “Connaissance de l’Orient” collection, founded in 1956, under the
auspices of UNESCO and Gallimard, where several Arab, Chinese,
Japanese, Indian, Persian, Vietnamese etc. masterpieces had been
published. René Étiemble, nicknamed “the terrible child of French
comparatism”, already proposed the repudiation of the historic
perspective in comparativist analyses in Comparaison n’est pas raison
(1957), translated in Japanese by A. Shiga, under the title Hikaku
Bungaku no Kiken – Hikaku wa Rinarazu. 2 The French scholar
considered both conservationism and nationalism noxious factors in the
study of the cultural-literary phenomenon, and that only the liberation
from the constraints of a rigid system of interpretation can facilitate the
creation of a comparativist type that would militate for a new humanism.
The Japanese translators recognized in the Postscript to the Japanese
version Adrian Marino’ sympathy for the “militant comparatism of
Étiemble”, but observed at the same time “the original ideas of the author
as a theoretician and a literary critic” 3 . On the other hand, the two
Japanese translators expressed their gratitude to Adrian Marino in the
name of science for the debate proposed by the book also in their
1
See Adrian Marino, Corespondenţă (Correspondence), in: Manuscripts –
Adrian Marino Collection 416, “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library, ClujNapoca.
2
“Hikaku Bunka Kenkyû, Tokyo Daigaku Kyôyôgakubu Kiyô” (The Bulletin of
Comparative Literature of Tokyo University), IV, 1963.
3
Adrian Marino, Tatakau Hikaku Bungaku, Translated in Japanese by Hiroshi
Watanabe and Nobuhiro Satō, Tokyo, Keisō Shobō Publishing House, 1988, p.
212.
117
personal correspondence with the Romanian author. They mentioned that
this research widens the theoretical horizon of understanding and
interpretation of the one interested in the issues of compared literature,
completing its speciality bibliography. Nobuhiro Satô directly thanked
the Romanian comparatist: „Cette excellente oeuvre-ci nous a éclairé sur
l’état présent du comparatisme et ses problèmes. Je vous remercie des
bienfaits de la science.” 1 Professor Hiroshi Watanabe expressed his wish
to read the last edition of the Romanian specialist’s volume,
Comparatisme et théorie de la littérature (1988, P.U.F., Paris). He
acknowledged that, though his students found the text “quite difficult”, he
read the Japanese translation together with them, 2 trying to understand
the depths of the new type of comparatism.
The Japanese publication of Adrian Marino’s book, Etiemble ou
le comparatisme militant has also its anecdotic part. The translation was
made without first informing the author, who learned about the apparition
of the book through Isamu Taniguchi, Professor of the “St. Andrew”
University in Osaka, literary theoretician, aesthetician and semiotician,
the Romanian critic had corresponded with for over a decade. Having
participated at the Summer Courses organized by the Bucharest
University in 1974, Isamu Taniguchi was familiar with the Romanian
works of literary criticism. He read Iordan, Ivănescu, Coşeriu and
Marino. He was so impressed by the latter’s work, Dicţionarului de idei
literare (Dictionary of the Literary Ideas), 3 that he contacted its author,
asking his permission to translate the Critica ideii de literatură (The
Critique of the Idea of Literature) in Japanese. However, the project was
not finished after all, despite the fact that some of Marino’s letters allude
to the fact that in 1979 there was even an agreement in this sense between
the Dacia and the Jiritsu-Shobo Publishing Houses. Thus Adrian Marino
was announced “to his amazement” by Isamu Taniguchi about the
appearance of a Japanese translation of the book published by Gallimard.
Marino in his turn informed Étiemble who informed Gallimard about the
illicit edition of the book. On 1 December 1988 Adrian Marino recieved a
message from the Parisian publishing house’s employee responsible for
the copyright problems related to foreign authors’ works that they had
received no requests from Japan for the translation of the book. An
1
Idem, Corespondenţă, in: Manuscripts – Adrian Marino Collection 419: 40,
“Lucian Blaga” Central University Library, Cluj-Napoca.
2
Adrian Marino Collection 419: 56.
3
Adrian Marino, Dicţionarului de idei literare, Bucharest, Eminescu Publishing
House, 1973.
118
investigation was launched, and finally the error is discovered –
surprisingly fast. The Tuttle Mori Agency from Tokyo confused two
volumes by the Romanian author: Etiemble ou le comparatisme militant,
published by Gallimard, and Comparatisme et théorie de la littérature,
published by Presses Universitaires de France. And as the Japanese
usually do not quote the complete title, it had taken a while for those at
the P.U.F. to realize, that actually it was about the book published by
Gallimard. 1
The volume signed by Adrian Marino, Etiemble ou le
comparatisme militant was appreciated by the two Japanese translators as
an “energetic work, discussing the true way of existence of Modern
Comparative Literature, based on Etiemble Theory of Literature which
was founded on a worldwide point of view.” 2 The translation had
additionally, compared with the original, an index, and a last page which
introduced the translators, the publishing house and contains the
copyright indications etc.
The Japanese version of the book in question was signalled in
the Tosho Shinbun (Book Review) 3 and in Hikaku Bungaku
(Comparative Literature Review), 4 being welcomed by the reviewers. 5
One of this chronicles, entitled The Rejection of Eurocentrism. An Actual
and Substantial Literature (Yôroppachûshinshugi o kyozetsu.
Konnichiteki katsu gutaiteki de ikita hikaku bungaku ga), signed by Eiko
Imabashi, insistently remarked the new path proposed by Étiemble in the
study of comparative literature, a research perspective that had already
gained followers among such as the Romanian comparatist. According to
the study, the valorization of all cultures, de-metropolization, the
equivalence of values according to a universal system of values shall
regenerate the comparativist studies, having beneficial influences upon
the researches of this kind in Europe and Japan.
The issue of România literară (Literary Romania) published on
14 December 1989, commented on the Japanese reviews and even
republished a fragment from them, namely the one that attempted to
understand why a Romanian comparatist opted for this kind of approach
to comparative literature: “We also believe that the opinions promoted in
1
See Adrian Marino Collection 419: 2–11.
English translation by Isamu Taniguchi, in the Adrian Marino Collection 419:
45.
3
Issue 619/3, XII, 1988.
4
Issue 28 November 1988.
5
See Adrian Marino Collection 419: 48.
2
119
this book by Mr. Marino originated from the particular historical
conditions which resulted in the exclusion of the East-European area (to
which he belonged) from the Western system, in spite of its European
conscience.” Adrian Marino explicitly acknowledged the truth of this
statement after a few years, at the 13th Congress of the “International
Association of Comparative Literature” (1991), organized in Tokyo,
where he even presented a communication in this sense: “European” and
“World” Literature: A New Comparative View, Proceedings... The study
of comparative literature as an “academic discipline” did not respond to
the requirements of the age. From the perspective of a “new
comparativist spirit, other objectives are imposed, other aims are to be
followed in this domain of research, which can so smoothly cross the
frontiers between nations. Comparative literature can no longer remain
neuter towards the ideological, or indifferent towards the political and the
social. The research proposed by this science needs to transform from a
positivist one, from a simple analyser of facts as “sources” of influence,
the circulation of literary themes, etc. into an implicated, militant one that
serves the East–West relations through a board of disciplines with interest
for anti-nationalism, anti-Eurocentrism, anti-imperialism, anticolonialism,
internationalism,
cosmopolitanism,
universalism,
cooperation, free communication. All these are undoubtedly pleading for
a new humanism and a new positivism: “Here are, then, a number of
themes that overtly or covertly contest the official communist ideology.
We have mentioned this episode only as an illustrative instance of the
new comparativist spirit that has been taking shape in the East – in our
case in Romania – under totalitarian conditions. In the space where we
lived, or, better said, survived.” 1
“It is the first book of Romanian literary criticism that was
translated in Japan, an absolute premiere in every sense”, confessed
Marino about Etiembe ou le comparatisme militant in a letter addressed
to the Cultural Attaché of the Embassy of Japan in Bucharest, 2 adding
that until 1989, he had been the only comparatist from the East European
countries, who was translated in Japanese. Naturally this caused a great
stir in Romania too. In the România literară 3 an article appeared with the
title O carte românească de literatură comparată în Japonia (A
1
Adrian Marino, “European” and “World Literature”: A New Comparative View,
in: Proceedings of the XIIIth Congress of the International Comparative
Literature Association, Tokyo, ICLA’91, 1991, p. 301.
2
Adrian Marino Collection 419: 2.
3
Issue XXII, 10, 9 March 1989.
120
Romanian Book on Comparative Literature in Japan), signed by Iulia
Mugescu. The Curentul (The Current) 1 also consigned the event through
the article Critic român tradus în Japonia (Romanian Critic Translated in
Japan), where the recent publication of Adrian Marino’s work abroad was
considered as being “indeed spectacular”. In the Luceafărul, 2 A. Silvestri
noticed in the article Proiecte ale unui “nou comparatism” (Projects of a
"New Comparatism”) the entrance of Romanian thoughts into the world
circuit: “The Romanian point of view in the universal dialogue of ideas is
more and more interesting.” The Utunk (Our Way) 3 published the
material Marino – Japánul (Marino in Japanese). Neither did the review
Convorbiri literare (Literary Conversations) overlook this moment, it
published Viorel Cacoveanu’s article Succese ale criticii literare
româneşti (Successes of Romanian Literary Criticism). This author
discussed again the issue in the Steaua magazine 4 under the title Tradus
în Japonia (Translated in Japan) where he noted: “A Romanian author
living in Cluj-Napoca, published in Paris and translated in Tokyo…
Concealing, or more exactly controlling his emotions, Adrian Marino
confesses that ‘it has been a total surprise!’ ”
The background of the volume’s Japanese translation was one
that was opened at the end 19th century and the beginning of the 20th
century by Tsubouchi Shoyo, Shakespeare’s translator in the Meiji period
(1868-1912). In conformity with the spirit of the age of “modernization”
which was in quest of the “European model” 5 , Professor Tsubouchi used
Macaulay Posnett’s book, Comparative Literature published in 1886 as a
bibliographic source for his course of comparative literature held at the
Waseda University, Tokyo. However, years passed until the period when
– after the World War II – Japan emerged completely from its cultural
isolation, which characterized her during the period of the war, and
adopted an “open” attitude towards the world. In 1948 The Japan
Comparative Literature Association (JCLA) was founded, and from then
on, the researches sought to find Western influences in Japanese
literature, a highly contrastive attitude with that from the time of the war,
1
Issue LX, 5996, March–April 1989.
Issue XXXII, 40, 7 October 1989.
3
Issue 6/1989.
4
Issue XL, 3/1989.
5
Cf. Yoshihiro Ohsawa, Beyond Centrism and Regionalism: Comparative
Literature in Japan, in: Comparative Literature Worldwide: Issues and Methods,
Vol. II, Montevideo, ICLA, 2000, p. 37.
2
121
when the distinguishing features of the Japanese culture were only
emphasized. 1 The time had come for revising the theoretical problems
raised by this discipline, for “expanding” the concept of the literary text,
laying thus down the basis of comparative literature in Japan. The branch
specialists became aware what a wide horizon they were required when
encountering the different cultures. They were not allowed to be
nationalistic and nor could they be indifferent towards other cultures,
which led to an apparent and temporary impasse for the Japanese
comparatists: “Japanese comparatists often feel themselves torn between
the need to employ a multicultural approach and a desire to preserve their
own cultural identities. This inner conflict surfaces in the different roles
comparatists play: at home, they focus on the universal aspects present in
their native literatures. Abroad, they emphasize the significance of their
cultural heritage.” 2
René Étiemble proposed a solution to this crisis, also signalled
by the Japanese researchers. Étiemble, who talked about the “new
humanism” and “universalism”, who wrote about Chinese and Western
poetry, and who followed Y. Kagami and Lewis W. Bush who published
Japanalia, Reference Book to Things Japanese in Tokyo, in 1937,
brought in his turn – among other writings – contemporaneous
confessions on the “insinuation” of Europe and America in Japan. 3
Carrying on the French scholar’s ideas, Adrian Marino
completed the definition given in 1969 by Owen Aldrige to comparative
literature in his collection of essays Comparative Literature: Matter and
Method. For Aldrige the object of study of this discipline would be a
national literature compared to another/other national literature(s):
“Briefly defined, comparative literature can be considered the study of
any literary phenomenon from the perspective of more than one national
literature or in conjunction with another intellectual discipline or even
several”, 4 adding to it the dimension of the psychological, historical and
sociological context. The specialist’s attention is reoriented towards the
relation of literature to history, society and to itself. The consequences
would be most beneficial. Methodologically and theoretically 5
1
Ibid. p. 39.
Ibid. pp. 42–43.
3
See René Étiemble, Japanalia, In Romanian translation by Tea Preda, in:
“Secolul 20” (The 20th Century), 1972/6–7, pp.146–150.
4
Apud Charles Bernheimer, op. cit., p. 3.
5
See Adrian Marino, Où situer la “litterature universelle”?, in: Cahiers roumains
d’études littéraires, 1975/3, pp. 64–81.
2
122
comparative literature would step out from an exclusive geographical
localization, becoming “worldwide”, while the historical category –
inevitably subject to evolution and development – would expand towards
“universality”. Space and time tend to expand and superpose, to
transform into a unitary cultural knowledge, without guaranties of any
kind. The comparative literature proposed by the “new comparatist” can
testify in this sense: “... the new comparatist perspective proposes a new
humanism without boundaries, oriented toward a unity of attitudes,
preoccupations and ideas, which will certainly be predominant in the
twenty-first century. So tomorrow’s world will not be ‘cosmopolitan’, but
universal, in the plain sense of the term.” 1
“Do I have the right to speak about these cultures to which I do
not belong?”, 2 Am I entitled to speak about a culture that I do not belong
to? – the comparatists ceaselessly wonder. In the same order of ideas,
could one preoccupied with universal literature but born in a certain
cultural horizon, understand completely the difference, for example,
between the relation towards the model in the Occident, where the new,
the original is primary, and in the Orient, where what has already been
said is emphasized, and the real threat is not to be “traditional”?! 3 Or how
could the fact be interpreted that the terms of “lyric” and “narrative”,
having a long history in Europe, are recent terms in China, and how could
the fact be explained that the Chinese “fu” cannot be translated to any
European language?!
The difficulties signalled by the specialists are multiple and
various. Only a “universal literature”, “reviewed”, interpreted as a
“dynamic concept” with an open content and signification, permanently
enriching, joined to the changes of the age could cover the conception
and definition of this research domain. The “temporal (historical)
comparatism”, doubled by the “geographical” one could redefine what
Goethe called Weltliteratur, opening itself up to universality. According
to Marino: “La littérature universelle prend ainsi des allures et des
dimensions (vraiment) mondiales. Elle est constituée par ‘l’ensemble des
littératures nationales’, de ‘toutes les littératures, vivants ou mortes, dont
nous avons gardé des traces écrites, ou seulement orales, et ce, sans
1
Adrian Marino, “European” and “World Literature”, op. cit., p. 307.
Charles Bernheimer, op. cit., p. 9.
3
Cf. Earl Miner, Some Theoretical and Methodological Topics for Comparative
Literature, in: Poetics Today, Vol. 8, 1987, No.1, pp. 124, 128.
2
123
discrimination langagière, politique ou religieuse’. Expression d’un
véritable oecuménisme littéraire.” 1
This might also explain why the book on Étiemble was
translated to Japanese, the author confessed. 2 A book that appeared at a
large Western publishing house, in which an eulogy is made to the East–
West relationships, to the Far Eastern, “exotic”, literature, including the
Japanese, could not let pass unnoticed such a great oriental culture as the
Japanese, now interested in the international exchange of ideas in various
fields. “The present work which discusses so pertinently the actual
problems of comparative literature – admit the translators in the
Postscript – contains precious suggestions for the future of comparative
literature in Japan. We engaged into this translation with the conviction
that it contains stimulating suggestions for the future study of
comparative literature in Japan. We hope that this book shall be useful in
the jump that comparative literature has to make in order to become a
new science, corresponding to the requirements of the age.” (“Hikaku
bungaku no konnichitekina mondai o senei ni ronjite iru gencho ga, waga
kuni no hikaku bungaku kenkyû no shôrai ni taishite mo jûyôna jisa o
fukumu mono de ari, nihon hikaku bungakukai e no shigekitekina teigen
to nari uru ni chigai nai to kakushin shite yakushutsu o kokoromita.
Honsho ga, jidai ni fusawashii atarasii gakumon to shite no hikaku
bungaku no hzaku ni yakutateba saiwai de aru.”) 3
The Postscript in what follows the chapters of the book are
succinctly presented, the translation of the titles being true to the letter
and the spirit of the original: Echianburu no hihantekisentôshugi (Le
militantisme critique d’Etiemble); Tôzai kankei (Relations Est-Ouest);
Hankokkashugi (Antinationalisme); Yôroppa chûshinshugi ni kôshite
(Contre l’européocentrisme); Teikokushugi oyobi shokuminchishugi ni
kôshite (Contre l’impérialisme et le colonialisme); Kokusaishugi,
sekaishugi,
fuhenshugi
(Internationalisme,
cosmopolitisme,
universalisme); Shokankei. Kôryû. Kyôryoku. (Relations, échanges,
coopération); Jiyûna komyunikçshon (Communications libres); Atarashii
1
Adrian Marino, Réviser la littérature universelle (I), in: Synthesis, no. VIII,
Bucharest, The Publishing House of the Academy of the Socialist Republic of
Romania, 1981, p. 200.
2
See Monica Gheţ, „Comparatismul militant” – un început de „globalizare”,
(Militant Comparativism – a Beginning of Globalisation), Interview with Adrian
Marino, in: Observator cultural (Cultural Observer), 2003, no. 186, 16.09–22.09.,
p. 6.
3
Adrian Marino, Tatakau Hikaku Bungaku..., p. 214.
124
hyûmanizumu ni mukete (Pour un nouvel humanisme); Atarashii
hikakubungakusha ni mukete (Pour un nouveau comparativiste). The
chapter Tôzai kankei is especially emphasized in the Postscript of the
translation. Passages from the original text are quoted in it stating that the
literature of the different nations is equal in value (“the classical Chinese
literature is not inferior to the masterpieces of American or European
literature”). Some of these quotations refer to the influence – this time
operating in the opposite direction – of the Oriental culture upon the
Western one (“the Noh theatre has renewed the methods of dramatic
composition in Europe and America”), suggesting that only comparative
literature could fully understand the complexity of the different relations
and influences between cultures: “In fact the complicated problems
occurring between East and West, that is between the Asian and
European peoples, can only be clarified by comparative literature. (“Jissai
“higashi” to “nishi”, tsumari ajia to yôroppa no bungaku oyobi ryôsha no
kankei ga motarasu fukuzatsuna mondai o akirakani dekiru no wa hikaku
bungaku o oite hoka ni nai.”) 1 The Japanese translators also noticed that
the multiple points of view, applied by the author of the book while
discussing his theme, are approachs, which often seem to be tributary to
the ideological. However, – the Japanese experts also added – taking into
account that we are talking about a researcher belonging to the EastEuropean space, this fact seems to be natural. 2
Though not at all a novelty, it happens also today that some
voices consider universalism a disguised form of Eurocentrism. 3 Thus
they attempt to demonstrate that such concepts as “humanism”, “liberal
democracy” and “universality” belong exclusively to Western cultures,
being impossible to operate with them in some other culture: “... these
categories, normally conceived to be essential, universal, and abstract as
to be applicable to non-Western cultures, are actually socio-culturally and
historically specific to the (modern) West.” 4 In this way the fact of
comparing literatures to each other can lead through its negative side to a
form of imperialism. In his turn, Adrian Marino 5 saw this possibility of
interpreting universality as a potential destroyer of the specific of a
1
Ibid., pp. 213–214.
Ibid., p. 213.
3
Takayuchi Yokota-Murakami, Don Juan East/West. On the Problematics of
Comparative Literature, Suny Series: “The Margins of Literature”, New York,
State University of New York Press, 1998, pp. 164–168.
4
Ibid., p. 155.
5
Cf. Adrian Marino, Où situer la “litterature universelle”?, pp. 67–68.
2
125
national literature; however, exacerbated nationalism may make
impossible the meeting of a culture with another. The comparatists’
attention was attracted again by this paradox some decades later,
registering and analyzing once again the eternal crisis of comparative
literature: “The more literatures you try to compare, the more like a
colonizing imperialist you may seem. If you stress what these literatures
have in common – thematically, morally, politically - you may be
accused of imposing a universalist model that suppresses particular
differences so as to foster the old humanist dream of man’s worldwide
similarity to man. If, on the other hand, you stress differences, then the
basis of comparison becomes problematic, and your respect for the
uniqueness of particular cultural formations may suggest the
impossibility of any meaningful relation between cultures.” 1
The debates on the definition of “world literature”, and on the
object that comparative literature should study continue, the discussions
having already some results. While an article 2 published in the second
half of the past century noticed how slowly the signification of the word
“world” in the phrase “world literature” shifted from “western” to
“western+oriental”, today a comparison between the Japanese novel
Murasaki Shikibu Genji Monogatari (Tale of Genji) and Proust’s À la
recherche du temps perdu is no longer surprising, as it is supported by the
comparativist researches, for example, Donald Keene’s researches
dedicated to Japanese literature. The comparatist’s necessary work
instruments, such as literary encyclopaedias, (Encyclopaedia of
Literature) or the bibliographic collections (Bibliography of Comparative
Literature, The Guide to Comparative Literature) at the present already
contain a great variety of materials, including the masterpieces of
universal literature: “Gilgamesh, the Panchatantra, the Arabian Nights,
the Bhagavadgita, the Noh plays, Chinese poetry, the Tale of Genji,
Kalidasa’s Sakuntala, the Wisdom of the East Series Hafiz of Shiraz, the
Jakata, All Men Are Brothers, and Monkey.” 3 Thus they approached
much that, which Adrian Marino called the “ideal library”. 4 The
“multicultural” canon had won the case. On the one hand, the diversity of
the world’s literary production is taken into account, however, on the
1
G. L. Anderson, “Cathay and the Way Thither”: Oriental Literature in the World
Literature Program, in: The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 40, 1956, No. 6
(Oct.), pp. 316–318.
3
Ibid., p. 317.
4
Adrian Marino, Où situer la „litterature universelle”?, p. 66.
2
126
other hand, it is important that this literary production should be
representative for each culture, suggesting thus the intrinsic relationship
between literature and the culture it represents.
No doubt, the issue raised by the comparativist research is far
from being solved through simple anthologies or compendiums of
universal literature: “I do not think – some specialists state – that the
cultivation of multilingualism and multiculturalism alone would solve the
problems faced by comparative literature simply because multilingualism
and multiculturalism are already part of comparative literature’s
constitutive, disciplinary features.” 1 However, “universal literature”
seems to open up many horizons as it includes all literature from the
West and from the East, the Oriental and the Occidental ones. I have
always considered – revealed Adrian Marino 2 – that this conception is the
real base of “free communications” (from an ideological point of view)
and of the definition of “comparativist literature” (from the perspective of
literary theory).
The comparativist’s task has become to revalorize literature
along its two coordinates, its individuality and its political and social
implications. “One of the major tasks facing literary scholars today is a
renewed articulation of the value of literature which respects both its
individual, subjective aspects – among them, the sensual pleasure of
verbal craftsmanship; the delightfully inconsequential play of reality and
illusion; the temporary liberation from time and the entry into what
Maurice Blanchot calls the space of one’s own death – and its social and
political implications and imbrications.” 3 The comparativists – Adrian
Marino seemed to conclude in every page in which he discussed “militant
comparativism” – are ready to assume this task based on their knowledge
on the construction and operation of literature in different cultures. In this
era of “multiculturalism” and “globalization” (the “militant
comparativism” which I had theorized once, stated the Romanian
researcher at some time or other, 4 cultivated a beginning of globalization
“avant la letter”) the literary comparatists’ dilemmas seem to have found
an answer to the questions that they generated.
1
Rey Chow, In the Name of Comparative Literature, in: Charles Bernheimer
(ed.), Comparative Literature in the Age of Multiculturalism, Baltimore and
London, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995, p. 109.
2
Monica Gheţ, op. cit., p. 5.
3
4
Monica Gheţ, op. cit., p. 6.
127
Das Phänomen des Agon bei Nietzsche
(The Phenomenon of the Agon at Nietzsche)
Bujor PĂDUREANU
PhD Student, Albert Ludwig Universität,
Freiburg
Keywords: Agon, Nietzsche Friedrich, Greek Philosophy, competition,
festivity, art
Abstract
Contrary to the world-as-play, the Agon is above all an existential
phenomenon that is characterized by the human presence. The agon
differentiates itself from conflict in that it takes place according to rules
and develops as horizon in the dynamics of victory. Its origin brings with
it an existential modification of existence in general, inasmuch as play is
the general way of life for Greek society. The tight-knit coalescence
between agon and poetry shows, for instance, its deep affiliation to Greek
cultural form. The agon is regarded by Nietzsche as a self-evident path of
philosophy for the Greeks, and it is from himself also in the modern form
further practiced. The agon moves in the same direction as the world-asplay, and lies in an analogy with it – although both are very different
from one another. In this constellation of regarding the world as play and
the life principle of the agon, the phenomenon of art develops by the
Greeks, and the tragedy itself will be a part of this constellation.
128
Motto:
„Eifernder stämme bewerb /
einigte tempel und spiel /
Und keine weisheit bis heut /
hat dort die Gründer vertieft.” 1
Reference to Adrian Marino
Who has ever been forced to doubt his age is only a step from
questioning the ages themselves, and who has understood the
transitoriness of ages, the corruption of institutional hierarchies,
ideologists’ chronic disease, the narrow partiality of any political party,
the short-sightedness of nationalisms, for that person an individual road
seems to be the only way for avoiding any kind of danger. However, even
individuality survives its sickly self-dependence only if it creates itself
beyond its own self in gestures, words, acts, signs, thoughts, works and
values. Such a transfigured individuality – contemporary to the gestures,
words, acts, signs and works, which are continuously in dialogue – was
Adrian Marino, his ethos requiring from any individual to let himself
measured only in the dispute of values and not otherwise. He reached
through his writings the existence that exists, but instead of an Olympian
behaviour, a detached wisdom and a disinterested or sterile “generosity”
he had a totally different attitude: the old master in the world of his
fellow citizens. Instead of dictating – in his retirement – his ‘last wisdom’
into books, he entered the arena of disputes; he became an active militant
of a party, but without letting himself be reduced to its interests. He
performed institutional activities, but without abusing the ‘order’ of any
hierarchy. Passionately he let himself be drawn into disputes on the
public good, disputes many times already lost; however, he was not
discouraged by the fact that he had been ‘defeated’. He was often on the
border of the ridiculous, but without being afraid of being laughed at,
without being afraid of not being understood. When he had truth to tell,
he stepped out and told it with the naivety of a Greek citizen who cannot
be stopped by anything in uttering his truth, but who respects his auditor.
In the eyes of the Byzantine world surrounding him, his image rather
resembled Don Quixote than Cervantes, but all who had to understand
could understand that he was in fact both Cervantes and Don Quixote
together – the author, in order to utter freely his thoughts, took the shape
1
Stefan George IX, 13 Hyperion
129
of Don Quixote, his character. After distance had dried the emotional
vapour of facts and disputes, the calligraphy of his lesson became clearer
and clearer; it rewrote, in fact, the ethos of contest and worldly trust
between individuals and values which had been the original paradigm of
the Greek beginning, and which, whenever the European question is
asked, is proved to be true.
*
1.1 Der allgemeine Gedanke des Agon
Der Gedanke des Agon entspringt in Nietzsches Philosophie aus
seiner Auseinandersetzung und seiner Begegnung mit der griechischen
Welt. 1 Nietzsche, der Philosoph und Philologe, hat 1872 eine
philologische Studie mit dem Titel Homers Wettkampf verfasst, in
welcher er den Wettkampf-Gedanken nicht nur philologisch, sondern
auch aus einer tief philosophischen Perspektive heraus gedacht hat. 2
1
„Die fruchtbarste und eigentümlichste Idee, unter der Nietzsche das
Griechentum betrachtet, ist die des Agon.” (Kurt Hildebrandt, Nietzsches
Wettkampf mit Sokrates und Plato, 1922, S.7)
2
Die Kombination der Philologie und Philosophie in Nietzsches früherer Zeit
zeigt sich exemplarisch in der Entstehungs-Geschichte des Gedankens des
Wettkampfs bei Homer. Ernst Vogt hat in seinem Aufsatz Nietzsche und der
Wettkampf Homers, in: Antike und Abendland 11, 1965, S. 103-113 diesen
Gedanken ausführlich aus der philologischen Perspektive bearbeitet. Die erste
Station in der Untersuchung des Wettkampfs konkretisiert er in der Erarbeitung
des Aufsatzes Der Florentinische Tractat über Homer und Hesiod, ihr Geschlecht
und ihren Wettkampf, aber auch dieser Text findet seinen Anfang noch in seiner
Studentenzeit: „Nietzsches Beschäftigung mit dem ‚Certamen’ reicht weit zurück.
Im Juli 1867 hielt der damals zweiundzwanzigjährige Student in dem auf eine
Anregung Ritschls hin entstandenen Philologischen Verein zu Leipzig, zu dessen
Gründern Nietzsche zählte, einen Vortrag ‚Der Sängerkrieg auf Euböa’. Das
Thema ist ganz offensichtlich im Anschluss an den Untertitel des 1846 in
Dresden uraufgeführten Tannhäuser formuliert, doch weist die Untersuchung im
übrigen keinerlei Einfluss Wagners auf, sondern gibt sich bewusst philologisch.
Sie zielt darauf ab, die geltende Ansicht, die Erzählung vom Wettkampf Homers
und Hesiods sei ein ‚splendidum mendacium’ der alexandrinischen Grammatiker,
in ihren wesentlichen Punkten zu erschüttern. Insbesondere wendet sich
Nietzsche gegen eine mythisch-allegorische Deutung des Wettkampfs, die der
Neigung der Zeit entgegenzukommen suche, indem sie ihn als den symbolischen
Ausdruck des Kampfes zweier verschiedener Kunstrichtungen, einer homerischen
und einer hesiodeischen, fasse. In ausgesprochenem Gegensatz dazu geht es ihm
darum, durch das Rankenwerk von Legenden zu einem historischen Kern der
Erzählung vorzustoßen.” (Ernst Vogt, op. cit., S. 105) Vogt erfasst die wichtigen
130
Allerdings referiert er oft über den Wettkampf in allen Schriften aus dem
Kreis der Geburt der Tragödie, ebenso in späteren Werken und dem
Nachlass, insofern kann man sagen, dass der Agon Gedanke sein ganzes
Werk durchzieht. In seiner philosophischen Rhetorik verhält sich
Nietzsche selbst zu anderen Philosophen in der Form des philosophischen
Agon. Nietzsche sieht das Agonale im ganzen Spektrum des griechischen
Lebens aufgehen, insofern es sich als konstitutiv für die griechische Welt
beweist.
Das Phänomen des Agon in der griechischen Kultur wurde von
J. Burckhardt 1 in seinem Werk Griechische Kulturgeschichte gründlich
thematisiert. Burckhard erörtert das agonale „Prinzip” als einen
originären Zug der griechischen Kultur. Burckhard denkt den Agon als
den Urgrund der griechischen Kultur; zugleich fasst er die griechische
„Existenz” derartig auf: „die Agone verlangen das Ganze Dasein.” 2
Nietzsches Position steht Burckhardts Perspektive sehr nah, unterscheidet
sich jedoch gleichzeitig von dieser in dem Sinne, dass er den Agon in
eine philosophische Ebene rückt und in Analogie mit dem Welt-Spiel des
Schlussfolgerungen dieses Aufsatzes zusammen: „Das Ergebnis seiner
Untersuchung ist für Nietzsche, „dass der historische Hindergrund des Âgõn gut
bezeugt ist, der Âgõn selbst aber von den ältesten Zeiten griechischer
Geschichtsschreibung an ein wirkendes Element ist”. (Ernst Vogt, op. cit., S. 107)
Nietzsches Aufsatz ‚Der Florentinischen Tractat über Homer und Hesiod, ihr
Geschlecht und ihren Wettkampf’, erscheint in Rheinisches Museum, Band 25
(1870) und 28 (1873). Am 25. Juli 1872 schreibt er in einem Brief an Rohde: “Ich
habe einen Entwurf zur nächsten Schrift unter den Händen, genannt ‚Homers
Wettkampf’. Du magst immer lachen über die Unermüdlichkeit meiner agonalen
Betrachtungen; diesmal kommt etwas heraus.” (KSB 4, S. 35) Dieses Detail zeigt
seine Beständigkeit darin den Gedanken des Wettkampf zu verfolgen, auch wenn
er ihm selbst nach der vernommenen philologischen Kritik ironisch vorkommt.
Was aber philologisch nicht ganz vollbracht scheint, wird philosophisch weiter
vertieft. Der Text Homers Wettkampf, steht in einer logischen Reihe, welche
Nietzsches Untersuchung über den Gedanken des Wettkampfs zusammenlegt.
„Mit anderen Worten: An dem im ‚Certamen’ geschilderten Wettkampf Homers
und Hesiods hat sich Nietzsches Auffassung von Funktion und Bedeutung des
Agonalen innerhalb der Welt des frühen Griechentums entwickelt.” (Vogt,1965,
S.112) Dieser Aufsatz bildet nur die ersten Ergebnisse, von welchen Nietzsches
philosophischer Gedanke des Wettkampfs sich weiter entwickeln wird.
1
Der koloniale und agonale Mensch, in: Jakob Burckhardt, Griechische
Kulturgeschichte, Band 4, München, 1977. Nietzsche war mit Burckhardt
vertraut; obwohl er erstmals 1875 das Buch von Burckhard las, ist zu vermuten,
dass es zwischen beiden zu diesem Thema Meinungsaustausch gab.
2
(Op. cit., IV/ S.118)
131
Heraklit setzt, wodurch eine neue philosophische Dimension gewonnen
wird. Der „agonale Instinkt” durchzieht die griechische Welt von Homer
bis Sokrates, der im philosophischen Dialog „eine neue Art Agon
entdeckte”. Bemerkenswert ist die Vielfältigkeit des Agon im gesamten
kulturellen Spektrum, die Nietzsche betrachtet: der Wettkampf der
Dichter, der Musische Agon, der olympisch-sportliche Agon, der
philosophische Dialog bei Platon als Agon; der erotische Agon
(Symposion), Sokrates und die neue „Art Agon”, „eine Variante [im]
Ringkampf zwischen jungen Männern und Jünglingen”, der politische
Agon und der Agon vor Gericht.
- „Der Wettkampf! Und das Aristokratische, Geburtsmäßige, Edle bei den
Griechen! Es kämpfen keine Individuen, sondern Ideen mit einander.”
(KSA 7, 396) 1 ;
- „Die antiken Mittel der Erziehung: der Wettkampf und die Liebe.”
(KSA 397);
- „Der Wettkampf vor Gericht.” (KSA 7, 400);
- „Der Dialog der Tragödie aus dem Wettkampf entstanden.” (KSA 7,
400);
- „Die Götter-Wettkämpfe” (KSA 7, 400);
- „Dann der Wettkampf in dem Staat bei den im Kultus in der Erziehung
in der Kultur (Plato und Sophisten)” (KSA 7, 4001).
1. 2.1 Der „Ursprung” des Wettkampfs
Der Agon offenbart seine lebendigen Wurzeln schon in der
homerischen Dichtung. Unter dem Namen Homer begegnen und trennen
sich zwei Welt-Perspektiven, die Nietzsche mit den Begriffen der vorhomerischen 2 und nach-homerischen Welt bezeichnet. Im nach1
Nietzsche wird unter Angabe der Band- und Seitenzahl zitiert nach: Kritische
Studienausgabe (KSA), hrsg., v. G. Colli und M. Montinari, München
/Berlin/New York 1980
2
„Nietzsche gliedert die „ältere hellenische Geschichte” in vier antagonistisch
aufeinander bezogene „Kunststufen”:
Dionysisch I: (eigentlich vor-dionysisch); Zeitraum: indefinit (vorhomerisch);
illustriert durch Titanenkämpfe und orientalisch-barbarische Rohheit (Sakäen,
etc.), Weisheit des Silen;
Apollinisch I: Zeitraum: (10.-8. Jh.); illustriert durch homerisches Epos und
olympische Religion;
Dionysisch II: Zeitraum: 7. Jh. (?); illustriert durch Eindringen des
Dionysoskultus, Entwicklung des Dithyrambus;
132
homerischen Zeitabschnitt als Wendepunkt entspringt der Wettkampf,
welcher, eigentlich ebenso für Nietzsche wie für Burckhard, als
nachhomerische Phänomen besteht. Die Entstehung des Wettkampfs ist
ein langer Prozess, der sich in der künstlerischen Tätigkeit spiegelt, aber
sich als selbständiges Phänomen zunächst nur in der Polis entfalten wird.
„Die Lust am Wettkampf ist jedoch keineswegs das
wesentlichste Merkmal der homerischen Welt, erst später in der Polis
wird es alles Tun und Denken beherrschen.” 1 Es ist ein wunderbarer
„Zufall”, dass der Anfang der großen Dichtung und der Anfang der
agonalen Lebensform bei den Griechen zusammen fällt! Im Gegensatz
zum „Begriff der modernen Humanität”, der eine „Abscheidung” des
Menschen von der Natur sieht, erfasst Nietzsche keine radikale Trennung
zwischen den „natürlichen” Eigenschaften und jenen, die als eigentlich
„menschlich” bezeichnet werden, sondern er ist der Auffassung, dass
beide „untrennbar verwachsen” seien, insofern sie als „edelste Kräfte”
den „unheimlichen Doppelcharakter” der Natur in sich tragen. Hier spielt
Nietzsche auf die Kategorien apollinisch und dionysisch an. Wichtig ist
die Behauptung, dass diese beiden Kategorien apollinisch und dionysisch
die Existenz von der Natur bis in die hochstilisierten menschlichen
Gestalten durchwalten und als Kunsttriebe den Weg vom Chaos zur Welt
entwerfen. In der vor-homerischen Zeit bleiben wir noch in dem
schreckliche Boden dieses Prozesses.
Unter unseren Augen entfaltet sich die „Welt des Kampfes und
der Grausamkeit”. Das Werden zeigt sich in seiner rohen Erscheinung.
Das Bild des „humansten Menschen” scheint uns abgründig, indem es
„einen Zug von Grausamkeit, von tigerartiger Vernichtungslust an sich”
aufweist. Hinter der homerischen Welt liegt etwas, was den
künstlerischen Blick Homers nur verklärt aufscheinen lässt, das ist das
Dasein der „schlimmen Eris”, das noch sehr weit vor der „guten Eris”
entfernt ist. Nietzsche stellt die ganze Homerische Welt, die eine
gedichtete Welt ist, unter einen phänomenologischen Verdacht; er geht in
umgekehrter, enthüllender Richtung vom Gedicht zur Realität, wo er die
Wurzel der hellenischen Welt sucht. Man stellt sich die Frage: „Was aber
liegt, als der Geburtsschoß alles Hellenischen, hinter der homerischen
Apollinisch II: Zeitraum: 6. Jh. (?); illustriert durch dorische Lyrik (Pindar) und
dorische Architektur (Tempel); Apollon-Religion (Delphi).” (Barbara von
Reibnitz, Ein Kommentar zu Friedrich Nietzsche, „Die Geburt der Tragödie aus
dem Geist der Musik” Stuttgart/Weimar, 1992, S.152)
1
Renata von Scheliha: Vom Wettkampf der Dichter. Der musische Agon bei den
Griechen, Amsterdam, 1987, S.
133
Welt?” Der Philosoph antwortet: „Nur in Nacht und Grauen, in die
Erzeugnisse einer an das Gräßliche gewöhnten Phantasie. Welche
irdische Existenz spiegeln diese widerlich-furchtbaren theogonischen
Sagen wieder: ein Leben, über dem allein die Kinder der Nacht, der
Streit, die Liebesbegier, die Täuschung das Alter und der Tod walten.
Denken wir uns die schwer zu atmende Luft des hesiodischen Gedichtes
noch verdichtet und verfinstert und ohne alle die Milderungen und
Reinigungen, welche, von Delphi und von zahlreichen Göttersitzen aus,
über Hellas hinströmten: mischen wir diese verdickte böotische Luft mit
der finsteren Wollüstigkeit der Etrusker; dann würde uns eine solche
Wirklichkeit eine Mythenwelt erpressen, in der Uranos Kronos und Zeus
und die Titanenkämpfe wie eine Erleichterung dünken müßten; der
Kampf ist in dieser brütenden Atmosphäre das Heil, die Rettung, die
Grausamkeit des Sieges ist die Spitze des Lebensjubels. Und wie sich in
Wahrheit vom Morde und der Mordsühne aus der Begriff des
griechischen Rechtes entwickelt hat, so nimmt auch die edlere Kultur
ihren ersten Siegeskranz vom Altar der Mordsühne.
Hinter jenem blutigen Zeitalter her zieht sich eine Wellenfurche
tief hinein in die hellenische Geschichte. Die Namen des Orpheus, des
Musäus und ihrer Kulte verrathen, zu welchen Folgerungen der
unausgesetzte Anblick einer Welt des Kampfes und der Grausamkeit
drängte – zum Ekel am Dasein, zur Auffassung dieses Daseins als einer
abzubüßenden Strafe, zum Glauben an die Identität von Dasein und
Verschuldetsein. Gerade diese Folgerungen aber sind nicht spezifisch
hellenisch: in ihnen berührt sich Griechenland mit Indien und überhaupt
mit dem Orient.” (KSA 1, 786) [Meine Hervorhebung]
Die homerische Welt ist von natur-dionysischen Mächten
durchwaltet; Die ewige Lust am Werden und die Lust am Krieg und
Vernichten gehören zusammen; Kämpfen und Siegen in Zerstörung, in
einer Welt, in der nur „der Streit, die Täuschung, das Alter und der Tod
walten”. Nietzsches Blick auf das bloße Bild der Triebkräfte im Kampf
und zu Zerstörung ist ein Blick auf die Wurzel des Lebens. Wenn er
schreibt, „Kampf und Lust des Sieges wurden anerkannt”, dann bedeutet
das, dass diese Grundfassung des Lebens zum Ausgangpunkt des
„griechischen Genius” wird. Zwischen dem „bloßen” Dasein und der
gedichteten Welt ruht der große Künstler Homer und mit ihm die
ursprüngliche Kunst; „Der apollinische Homer ist nur der Fortsetzer
jenes allgemein menschlichen Kunstprozesses” (KSA 7, 397). Diese
„reale” Welt erscheint im homerischen Epos als gedichtete Welt, die
134
durch „künstlerische Täuschung” schön wirkt, insofern bloßes Dasein
und verklärte Realität zusammen die Welt bilden.
„In dieser werden wir bereits durch die außerordentliche
künstlerische Bestimmtheit, Ruhe und Reinheit der Linien über die rein
stoffliche Verschmelzung hinweggehoben: ihre Farben erscheinen,
durch eine künstlerische Täuschung, lichter, milder, wärmer, ihre
Menschen, in dieser farbigen warmen Beleuchtung, besser und
sympathischer.” (KSA 1, 785) [Meine Hervorhebung]
Homer erweist sich für Nietzsche als der paradigmatische
Künstler schlechthin, der zugleich einen Namen für das ursprüngliche
Phänomen der Kunst 1 vertritt; seine Kunst ist als „vollkommener Sieg
der apollinischen Illusion zu begreifen.” (KSA 1, 38)
1. 2.2 Hesiod und die Gute Eris - die Göttin des Streits
Zwischen Kampf und Wettkampf besteht ein „ethischer”, d. h.
ein existentieller Unterschied, der seine Quelle in einem Lebens-Sprung
im Ganzen hat! Was ich Lebens-Sprung nenne, zeichnet sich als ein
Sprung in eine andere Lebensansicht aus. Die Auffassung vom
Wettkampf unterscheidet sich vom Kampf zunächst dadurch, dass der
Kampf selbst immer mit Zerstörung verbunden ist, aber der Wettkampf
stellt sich in den Horizont des Sieges, und er ist ein Spiel, das durch feste
Prinzipien geregelt ist: im Wettkampf gibt es keine Tötung, keine
endgültige Zerstörung. Die Erscheinung des Wettstreites als Lebensform
spiegelt eine ganz andere, eine gewandelte Welt, im Vergleich zu der
Welt die im Kampf gespiegelt wird. Wie es geschieht, dass der Kampf
sich in einen Wettkampf umwandelt, bleibt uns ein Rätsel. Nietzsche
interpretiert diesen Sprung als eine Antwort des „hellenischen Genius”
auf das bloße, fragwürdige Dasein. Was immer diese „Antwort” bedeutet,
können wir genauer verstehen, wenn wir diesen Gedanken in Analogie
mit dem Gedanken der Kunst bei Nietzsche bringen.
Wir fügen noch eine Stelle hinzu, wo derselbe Gedanke
aufgefasst, zum Vollzug kommt, nämlich in Die Geburt der Tragödie,
wenn Nietzsche zum Verhältnis Kunst-Naturwirklichkeit überlegt, dass
die Kunst „ein metaphysisches Supplement 2 der Naturwirklichkeit” an
1
„Der feste Punkt, um den sich das griechische Volk kristallisiert, ist seine
Sprache. Der feste Punkt, an dem seine Kultur sich kristallisiert, ist Homer. Also
beidemal sind es Kunstwerke.” (KSA 7, 506)
2
„Denn dass es im Leben wirklich so tragisch zugeht, würde am wenigsten die
Entstehung einer Kunstform erklären; wenn anders die Kunst nicht nur
Nachahmung der Naturwirklichkeit, sondern gerade ein metaphysisches
135
der Naturwirklichkeit ist; das bedeutet, dass die Kunst gegenüber der
Naturwirklichkeit als etwas Neues auftritt, deren Überwindung eigentlich
ist; aber dadurch, dass sie sich „neben” die gegebene Naturwirklichkeit
stellt, wird sie selbst zur „Naturwirklichkeit”, obwohl sie als Kunst
entspringt und zunächst nur als Kunst besteht. Zwischen der gegebenen
Naturwirklichkeit und der qualitativ neuen ‘Naturwirklichkeit’, welche
sich als Kunst zeigt, liegt eine große Differenz. Aus der Perspektive der
Kunst entsteht eine andere, veränderte Wahrnehmung der
Naturwirklichkeit; Vermöge der Kunst gewinnt der Mensch eine andere
Position gegenüber der Naturwirklichkeit, und mit dieser neuen Position
bildet er eine neue Naturwirklichkeit, welche man als eine verklärte
(metaphysische) Naturwirklichkeit bezeichnen kann.
Die Kunst wirkt dadurch, dass sie die Naturwirklichkeit zu
verklären imstande ist; deshalb ist die Kunst ein Weg die
Naturwirklichkeit zu verändern und zugleich für den sich in der Kunst
hingebenden Menschen eine Möglichkeit zu vollenden. Ein ähnlicher
Gedankenvollzug liegt in der Aussage, dass der Wettkampf die
„Antwort” des griechischen Genius ist. Gegenüber der grausamen
Existenz der homerischen Zeit, wo „die Täuschung, das Alter und der
Tod walten”, wo der „Ekel am Dasein” „als abzubüssende Strafe”
verfasst ist, wo des Menschen Dasein und seines Lebens Sinn durch „den
Glauben an die Identität von Dasein und verschuldet sein” in Frage
gestellt wird (und vernichtet), entdeckt er aus diesem Leiden heraus die
andere Seite des Kampfes, die Gute Eris; auf ihr schafft er einen Weg des
Sieges und der Schönheit, der die Welt verklärt und aus dessen Lichte der
hellenische Genius des Wettkampfs entspringt. In der Begegnung
zwischen Mensch und Dasein bringt der Mensch eine „Antwort” und
einen neuen Weg mit sich, welcher der Agon, und als solcher zu einem
innenwohnenden Bestandteil der griechischen Welt wird: Beide wachsen
zusammen! 1
Möglicherweise ist Nietzsches Interpretation plausibel, wenn er
behauptet, dass man den Agon nicht von etwas anderem, z. B. von
Kampf ableiten kann, aber man muss auszeichnen, dass man
gewissermaßen die ganze griechische Kultur im Horizont des Agon
deuten kann.„Der Kampf und die Lust am Siegen wurde anerkannt“ aber
Supplement der Naturwirklichkeit ist, zu deren Überwindung neben sie gestellt.”
(KSA 1, 151) [Meine Hervorhebung]
1
«La forme de l`Âgõn est inhérent à lésprit grec.» Jacqueline Duchemin,
LÀGON dans la tragédie grecque, Paris 1945, S. 235.
136
„der hellenische Genius hatte noch eine andere Antwort auf die Frage
bereit „was will ein Leben des Kampfes und des Sieges?” und gibt diese
Antwort in der ganzen Breite der griechischen Geschichte.” (KSA 1,
785-786)
Der Sprung vom Kampf zum Wettkampf wird zu den Antworten
den griechischen Genius gedacht, und als existentielle Form des
griechischen Lebens gebildet. Um dieses auf einem anderen Weg zu
zeigen: Nietzsche appelliert an den ethischen Begriff der Eris von Hesiod,
der von „zwei Erisgöttinnen […] auf Erden” ausgeht.
„Die eine Eris möchte man, wenn man Verstand hat, ebenso
loben als die andre tadeln; denn eine ganz getrennte Gemüthsart haben
diese beiden Göttinnen. Denn die Eine fördert den schlimmen Krieg und
Hader, die Grausame! Kein Sterblicher mag sie leiden, sondern unter dem
Joch der Noth erweist man der schwerlastenden Eris Ehre, nach dem
Rathschlusse der Unsterblichen. Diese gebar, als die ältere, die schwarze
Nacht; die andre aber stellte Zeus der hochwaltende hin auf die Wurzeln
der Erde und unter die Menschen, als eine viel bessere. Sie treibt auch
den ungeschickten Mann zur Arbeit; und schaut einer, der des
Besitzthums ermangelt, auf den Anderen, der reich ist, so eilt er sich in
gleicher Weise zu säen und zu pflanzen und das Haus wohl zu bestellen;
der Nachbar wetteifert mit dem Nachbarn, der zum Wohlstande hinstrebt.
Gut ist diese Eris für die Menschen. Auch der Töpfer grollt dem Töpfer
und der Zimmermann dem Zimmermann, es neidet der Bettler den Bettler
und der Sänger den Sänger.” (KSA 1, 787)
Die Zweideutigkeit der Eris gilt als Voraussetzung für die
Existenz der guten und schlechten Eris, aber beantwortet noch nicht,
warum die schlechte Eris zur guten Eris geworden ist. Der apollinische
Trieb ist der Trieb zu gestalten und zu transfigurieren, seine Kraft ist der
Sieg des Lebendigen über die Kräfte der Vernichtung. Der „agonale
Instinkt” schafft den Sieg des Lebens und bändigt den „Tiger” der
Vernichtung. „Wunderbarer Prozess, wie der allgemeine Kampf aller
Griechen allmählich auf allen Gebieten eine díkh anerkennt: wo kommt
diese her? Der Wettkampf entfesselt das Individuum: und zugleich
bändigt er dasselbe nach ewigen Gesetzen.” (KSA 7, 402)
Ohne das Argument der „ethischen” Eigenschaft ist es nicht
möglich den Wettkampf zu begreifen, wobei anzusehen wäre, dass
„ethisch” nicht in Sinne eines „moralischen Imperativs” zu verstehen ist,
sondern vielmehr als eine „Art” zu leben, ein Ethos im Sinne des
Heraklit-Fragments 119, oder im Sinne der Gerechtigkeit. Nietzsche
spricht von einer „anderen Ethik”, welche mehr der „Schlimmen Eris”
137
zugehört, welche durch den Wettkampf eine Horizontveränderung
erfährt: sie wird zur „guten Eris”. „Und nicht Aristoteles allein, sondern
das gesamte griechische Altertum denkt anders über Groll und Neid als
wir und urteilt wie Hesiod, der einmal eine Eris als böse bezeichnet,
diejenige nämlich, welche die Menschen zum feindseligen
Vernichtungskampfe gegen einander führt, und dann wieder eine andere
Eris als gute preist, die als Eifersucht Groll Neid die Menschen zur Tat
reizt, aber nicht zur Tat des Vernichtungskampfes, sondern zur Tat des
Wettkampfes. Der Grieche ist neidisch und empfindet diese Eigenschaft
nicht als Makel, sondern als Wirkung einer wohltätigen Gottheit.” ( KSA
1, 788) [Meine Hervorhebung]
In einer sauberen Logik gedacht, kann man sagen, dass der Neid
ein Vollzug des „göttlichen Neid[es]” sei, denn das Göttliche neigte
immer zum Sieg. Die direkte Schlussfolgerung ist, dass der Wettkampf
zu Ehren der Götter vollzogen wird und der Sieger als ein Günstling des
Gottes betrachtet wird. Sieger und Besiegte befinden sich zugleich im
Horizont des Spiels, das ein göttliches Spiel ist.
1. 2.3 Götter und Menschen Spiel
Götter-Spiel und Menschen-Spiel hängen zusammen, obwohl ein
Sterblicher niemals die Götter zum Wettkampf herausfordern dürfte.
Damit ist noch einmal bestätigt, dass der Wettkampf immer gerechten
Regeln folgt; er ist zugleich Spiel und Gerechtigkeit. Wenn ein
Sterblicher die Götter zum Wettstreit herausfordert, dann beginnt er eine
Akt der Hybris! Hybris bezeichnet die „Überschreitung der dem
Menschen gesetzten Grenzen”; in unserem Fall ist der Frevler der
Mensch, der sich mit den Göttern gleich zu stellen anmaßt. Wenn der
Mensch das tut, dann muss er die schrecklichsten Strafen der Götter
ertragen. „Diese Vorstellung entfremdet ihm nicht etwa seine Götter:
deren Bedeutung im Gegentheil damit umschrieben ist, daß mit ihnen der
Mensch nie den Wettkampf wagen darf, er dessen Seele gegen jedes
andre lebende Wesen eifersüchtig erglüht. Im Kampfe des Thamyris mit
den Musen, des Marsyas mit Apoll, im ergreifenden Schicksale der Niobe
erschien das schreckliche Gegeneinander der zwei Mächte, die nie mit
einander kämpfen dürfen, von Mensch und Gott.” (KSA , 788) [Meine
Hervorhebung]
Die Götter spielen nicht im menschlichen Sinne. Gleichwohl
scheint für die Menschen der Götter Tun ein „Spiel” zu sein. Ihnen dünkt
nur ein Spiel zu sein, was für den Menschen ungeheuer, schrecklich,
unmöglich ist. Aus der Perspektive des Gottes scheint der Mensch
138
„kindisch”: „Der Mann heißt kindisch vor Gott wie der Knabe vor dem
Mann.” (Heraklit B 79) Doch der Mensch darf die Götter nicht
provozieren, weil es ihm nicht ansteht sich mit den Göttern (den
übermenschlichen Mächten) gleich zu stellen. Im Gegenteil betrachten
und genießen die Götter den Wettkampf der Menschen. Göttliches und
menschliches begegnet sich im Ereignis der Agone 1 in einer einzigartigen
griechischen Mischung; in dem Fest Ereignis werden durch die neuen
Wettkämpfe die gestorbenen Helden gefeiert und der Sieger des
Wettkampfes erfreut die Götter. Die Eris in ihrer „guten” Seite
ermöglicht den Wettkampf und „der göttliche Neid” bringt ihn weiter auf
den Weg der Sieges: Aber der Kampf ist noch nicht als gerechter
Wettstreit gestiftet.
1. 3.1 Der Künstlerische Agon
Der Kampf ums Dasein wird durch die Dichtung in einen freien
Kampf transfiguriert, überwunden, und aus dieser Perspektive zeigt sich
der Wettkampf als ein verklärter Kampf. „Der Dichter überwindet den
Kampf ums Dasein, indem er ihn zum einem freien Wettkampfe
idealisiert...” (KSA 7, 398) Die Dynamik der griechischen Dichtung und
der Wettkampf wachsen in einem lebendigen Dialog miteinander; die
Dichtung transfiguriert den Kampf, und durch das Wettspiel wird der
Dichtung dem Welt ihre Siegesgestalt verleihen. In dieser Weise beweist
sich der musische Agon als ein ausgezeichneter Teil des „allgemeinen”
Agon, insbesondere weil, wie man zeigen kann, der Dichter zunächst wie
im Wettkampf „voran” „geht” und „de[n] Kampf um [das] Dasein
[überwindet] indem er ihn zu einem freien Wettkampfe idealisiert”, „er
erfindet die Sprache, er differenziert”; und zweitens, wie „die
Entscheidung im agon”, „macht uns mehr zum Dichter”.
“Die homerische Frage. Künstler und Publikum. Das
Individuum: der differenzirende apollinische Trieb, Formen und damit —
scheinbar — Individuen schaffend. Der apollinische Homer ist nur der
1
„Der Anlass für die Spiele. In epischer Tradition finden a. [Agon] bei
Bestattungsfeierlichkeiten für Helden statt, und Â. Êpitáfioi werden für diejenigen
in Athen gehalten, die im Krieg fielen (Arist. Ath. pol. 58), in Sparta (Paus.
3,14,1) und im übrigen Griechenland, auch in Etrurien und Rom. Religiöse
Feierlichkeiten schlossen a. ein, und besonders Â. mousikoi als einen Hauptteil.
Die Bewerber, die nach der Vollkommenheit des Geistes und des Körpers
streben, erfreuen die Götter. Die bevorzugte Stellung und die Vorrechte der
Athleten in späteren Zeiten beruhten auf dem Glauben, dass sie die Lieblinge der
Götter seien.” (Der Neue Pauly, Band 1, S.137-138)
139
Fortsetzer jenes allgemein menschlichen Kunstprozesses, dem wir die
Individuation verdanken. Der Dichter geht voran, er erfindet die Sprache,
differenzirt. Der Dichter überwindet den Kampf um's Dasein, indem er
ihn zu einem freien Wettkampfe idealisirt. Hier ist das Dasein, um das
noch gekämpft wird, das Dasein im Lobe, im Nachruhm. Der Dichter
erzieht: die tigerartigen Zerfleischungstriebe der Griechen weiß er zu
übertragen in die gute Eris. Das Volk Apollo's ist auch das Volk der
Individuen. Ausdruck der Wettkampf. Die Gymnastik der idealisirte
Krieg. Das Staatenprinzip vornehmlich die Eris kleiner göttlicher
Kultussphären.” (KSA 7, 398) [Meine Hervorhebung]
Das Schaffen des Dichters ist „jener allgemein menschliche
Kunstprozess”, der die Verhältnisse zum Dasein verändert: er sieht jetzt
ein „Dasein im Lobe, im Nachrum”. Im Gedicht wird der Sieg und der
Sieger gefeiert. Der Sieg bringt etwas Neues ins Dasein. Und dieses Neue
gehört zum Apollinischen Prinzip, nämlich, der Sieger zeigt sich als die
erste Konfiguration des Individuums. Wenn dem Musterbild der
dionysisch und apollinisch auf dem Spüren gehen, dann entdecken wir im
Wettkampf die apollinischen Kräfte des Sieges, und in der Spannung des
Streits finden wir die dionysischen Kräfte einverleibt. Zunächst bedeuten
die Regeln des Wettkampfs eine Einschränkung, aber durch seinen
offenen Weg (Möglichkeit) zum Sieg wird die Lust am Leben auch
gesteigert.
Die Regeln sind nicht nur bloße Formen der Begrenzungen
sondern sie stellen das Leben und die Welt in eine andere Perspektive,
bringen eigentlich ein neues Ethos. Im Unterschied zum Kampf, dessen
Ausgang auf die einen Seite die Vernichtung und auf die andere Seite
den Lebensjubel der Sieger stellt, stellt der Wettkampf sich ganz in den
Horizont des Siegers, insofern auch der Besiegte sich ihm unterstellt.
Sieg und Sieger werden zu etwas Allgemeinem, werden als neues Gestalt
der Welt gefeiert. Mit jedem neuen Wettkampf triumphiert die Dynamik
des Spiels im Horizont des Sieges. Was immerfort lebt ist das Spiel als
der Weg der Sieg-Dynamik. Der Wettkampf verleiht dem menschlichen
Dasein immer wieder die Sieg-Gestalt als Horizont. Im Geiste dieses
Ethos werden die Heroen und die großen Individuen der griechischen
Kultur erscheinen. Das Feiern der Götter durch den Sieg der Kunst wird
zu den höchsten Zuständen der griechischen Städte, in denen die Poesie
und die Tragödie blühen werden. Der Sieger bezeichnet den „höchsten
Menschen” und er wird als solcher gefeiert; er stiftet einen
Menschentypus, der zum Maßstab wird! Aber das ist nicht ein
„ästhetisches”, sondern ein „universales” Urteil; das zeigt, dass die
140
Dichtung in ihrem Ursprung keine „ästhetische”, sondern eine
Weltgestalt ist. „Der Dichter als Lehrer des Wahren. Symbolische
Deutung, weil er durchaus recht behalten soll. [...] Das Urtheil im
Wettkampfe ist nicht ästhetisch, sondern universal. [...] Der Dichter wird
beurtheilt als „höchster Mensch”, sein Lied als wahr, gut, schön. Die
Homer-Lieder das Resultat von Wettgesängen. Auch die des Hesiod. Ein
Sänger der der Ilias, wie der der Odyssee. Die Namen Homer und Hesiod
sind Siegespreise.” (KSA 7, 395) [Meine Hervorhebung]
Nietzsches Gedanke, dass der Dichter als „Lehrer des Wahren“ 1
auftritt, bezeichnet den griechischen Anfang und hat ein großes Gewicht
in der Gesamtheit seiner Philosophie. Dass der künstlerische Prozess
einen allgemeinen Wert hat und nicht von anderen Werten (Theorie oder
Moral) abzuleiten ist, insofern erzeugt sich im künstlerischen Prozess
selbst ein neuer Ethos und dichtet sich eine Weltperspektive. Die
Dichtung „erzieht”, sagt Nietzsche, aber der Agon erzieht auch, und
beides gehört zur griechischen Paideia. Zwischen Agon und Dichtung
ereignet sich etwas ganz Neues, dessen Ursprung nur in der Begegnung
von Dichtung und Agon zu denken ist. Der Agon wirkt auf die Dichtung:
„Die Entscheidung im agon ist nur das Geständniß: der und der macht
uns mehr zum Dichter: dem folgen wir, da schaffen wir die Bilder
schneller. Also ein künstlerisches Urtheil, aus einer Erregung der
künstlerischen Fähigkeit gewonnen. Nicht aus Begriffen. So lebt der
Mythus fort, indem der Dichter seinen Traum überträgt. Alle
Kunstgesetze beziehn sich auf das Übertragen. Aesthetik hat nur Sinn als
Naturwissenschaft: wie das Apollinische und das Dionysische.” (KSA 7,
396) [Meine Hervorhebung]
“Die Schulen, und der Wettkampf als Voraussetzung der
Künste.” (KSA 7, 400) Der Dichter schafft durch die „Übertragung” eine
neue Weltperspektive, welche in dem Horizont der Kunst und des Sieges
zugleich ruht; er erzieht zum Wettkampf, und durch den Wettkampf wird
immer wieder ein neuer Genius gefördert. Was eigentlich in dieser
Umwandlung vom Kampf zum Wettkampf geschieht, ist ein
existenzieller Sprung! Es wird ein neues Ethos gestiftet, und dieses Ethos
schafft eigentlich eine neue Weltgestalt.
1
Auch Hölderlin vertrat in seinen Aufsätzen diesen Gedanken, wenn er die
Poesie die „Lehrerin der Menschheit” nannte: „Die Poesie bekömmt dadurch
eine Höhere Würde, sie wird am Ende wieder, was am Anfang war – Lehrerin der
Menschheit.” Hölderlin, in: Sämtliche Werke, 1015; auch Platon sagte, dass
Homer der Lehrer aller Griechen war.
141
1. 3.2 Der Agon und die Tragödie
Die Erscheinung der Tragödie geschieht selbst in der Dynamik
des Agon. Die Aufführungen von Tragödien, Komödien und Satyrspielen
gehören zu den großen Ereignissen der griechischen Welt. Die Tragödien
wurden anlässlich der großen Feste gespielt 1 . In diesem Sinne waren die
Tragödien die ursprünglich wahre Art zu Feiern. Auf der anderen Seite
treten die Autoren der Tragödie in Wettstreit gegeneinander. Der Weg
zum Publikum geht über den Wettkampf, der unter dem Namen des
Musischen Agon bekannt ist.
„Die Aufführungen von Tragödien, Komödien und Satyrspielen,
bei denen die Dichter und später auch die Schauspieler um den ersten
Preis wetteiferten, waren bis um Ende des 5. Jahrhunderts auf Attika
beschränkt und mit dem Dionysoskultus verbunden. Man bezeichnete sie
mit dem Namen der Feste, an denen sie stattfanden oder nannte sie
zusammen mit den Wettkämpfen der Dithyramben-Chöre die
Dionysischen Agone.
Seit dem 4. Jahrhundert verbreitete sich diese Art der Agone
über die gesamte griechische Welt. Sie gehören als fester Bestandteil zu
fast allen größeren hellenistischen Festen; sie wurden nicht nur im
Zusammenhang mit dem Dionysoskult, sondern auch anderen Göttern zu
Ehren abgehalten, zum Beispiel für Zeus, Apollo, für die Musen, die
Chariten, für Serapis, und hießen nun zumeist `die skenischen Agone`
(agones skenioi).” (Renata von Scheliha, S..61-62) 2 [Meine
Hervorhebung]
Der Musische Agon als ein Weg, Kunst zu schaffen und zugleich
als Wettstreit ist tief in die Kunst der Tragödie einbezogen. Nicht nur,
dass es keinen anderen Weg außer dem Agon gab, auf welchem man
Dichter (Autor) einer Tragödie werden konnte, sondern beides: Tragödie
zu schreiben und sich im Wetteifer mit anderen Tragödienschreibern zu
messen gehörten essentiell in den Bereich des Schaffendenprozesses.
1
„Zwei Feste sind für die musischen Agone von besonderem Interesse, da sie mit
dramatischen Aufführungen verbunden waren: die Großen (oder Städtischen)
Dionysien, das Hauptfest der Stadt Athen, das im attischen Monat Elaphebolion
(März/April) abgehalten wurde, und die Lenäen im Monat Gamelion
(Januar/Februar). Beide Frühjahresfestes wurden mit dem Einsetzen der
Vegetationsperiode zu Ehren des Wien- und Fruchtbarkeitsgottes Dionysos
gefeiert.” ( Bernhard Zimmermann, Die Griechische Komödie, 1998, S.17)
2
„Die erste Aufführung einer Tragödie fand an den von Peisistratos gegründeten
Städtischen Dionysien statt, im März-April des Jahres 534 v. Chr., dem Monat,
den die Athener Élaphebolion´ nannten.” (von Scheliha,1987, S. 63.)
142
„Der Wettkampf unter Künstlern setzt das rechte Publikum voraus.”
(KSA 7, 402) Deutlicher gesagt, im Wettkampf begegnet der Dichter
einem „Publikum”, das kein Leser oder nur Zuhörer ist, sondern ein
„Publikum von Dichtern” ist, letzteres ist aufgefordert und von sich aus
bestrebt, die Dichtung mitzudichten. Das Publikum nimmt aktiv am
schöpferischen Prozess teil dadurch, dass es dem Dichter auf dem Weg
der dichterischen Phantasie folgt und zugleich diese Phantasie mitvollzieht. Der Wettkampf der Dichter bringt nicht von Anfang an das
Kunstwerk als Sieg mit sich. Nachdem mehrere (3Tagödien oder
5Komödien) gespielt werden, wird der Sieger gewählt. Nur der Dichter,
dessen Kunstwerk vor dem Publikum und mit dem Publikum die anderen
Kunstwerke besiegt hat, darf sich als Sieger betrachten. Man kann nicht
Autor werden ohne Sieger zu sein. Um richtig zu verstehen, was
Nietzsche denkt, wenn er sagt, dass das Urteil kein „ästhetisches” Urteil,
sondern ein „universales Urteil” ist, müssen wir möglicherweise noch
einmal versuchen, den ganzen Prozess des Tragödienspiels zu
veranschaulichen. 1 Die Tragödie wurde grundsätzlich immer gespielt, d.
h. gesungen und nicht gelesen; der Chor singt und bewegt sich im
Rhythmus eines graziösen Tanzes. Die Bilder und die Metaphern
schweben vor den Augen der „Zuschauer”, insofern der “Zuschauer” die
Sprache der Dichter mit-vollzieht und an dem gesehenen Ereignis
teilnimmt. Nietzsches Satz, „Der Dichter nur möglich unter einem
Publikum von Dichtern.” (KSA 7, 395), mag ungewöhnlich klingen, aber
er spricht zutreffend die „Verwandtschaft” zwischen Dichter und
Publikum aus. Zwischen dem Publikum und der Tragödie liegt keine
moralische, theoretische oder ästhetische Optik (im modernen Sinne),
sondern das Publikum singt mit dem Dichter und verhält sich zu dessen
Tragödie wie der Künstler zu seinem Werk.
Was der Dichter aus seiner Fantasie geschaffen hat, wiederholt
der „Zuschauer” durch sehen, hören und Mitdichten. Man kann die
gespielte Tragödie nicht verstehen, ohne dass sie gleichzeitig von dem
Zuschauer mitgedichtet ist. Zwischen Publikum und Dichtung vermittelt
keine andere Instanz als der gemeinsame künstlerischen Vision. Das
„Publikum” besteht nicht aus passiven Zuschauern, die das Spektakel als
künstliche Inszenierung, wahrnehmen und interpretieren; es wäre für das
Publikum der Tragödie nicht möglich gewesen das Spiel zu verstehen,
ohne sich ganz auf das Spiel einzulassen. Die Gestalt der Dichtung geht
1
In ihrem Buch Vom Wettkampf der Dichter * Der Musische Agon bei den
Griechen, CASTRVM PREG, Amsterdam, stellt Renata von Scheliha eine sehr
anschauliche und überzeugende Beschreibung des Musischen Agon dar.
143
in der Rivalität nicht mit der Realität auf, sondern sie entspringt als die
Weltgestalt als solche überhaupt. Im dichterischen Schaffen entspringt
die Welt im Ganzen, sie wird als solche wahrgenommen und erlebt,
insofern sie nur als gedichtete zur Erscheinung kommt.
Die Welt wird nicht in eine reale und irreale eingeteilt. Die
„Realität” ist selbst mythisch. Der Zuschauer hat keinen „kritischen”
Abstand, fällt kein theoretisches Urteil und zieht keine moralischen
Schlussfolgerungen; er sieht das Spiel nicht als „Spektakel”, sondern als
Geschehen, als Ereignis, in das er mit einbezogen ist, in das er
schöpferisch mit-eingeht; er selbst verweilt in dem Spektakel. Das
bedeutet allerdings nicht, dass es in der Tragödie keine Ethik, keine
reflektierten Gedanken oder keine ästhetischen Werte gäbe; jedes der
erhaltenen Stücke kann das Gegenteil beweisen; aber es handelt sich bei
ihm nicht um selbständige Werte, aus deren Perspektive man die
Kunstwerke beurteilen könnte; die Kunst scheint auf dem Weg der
Fantasie, und im künstlerischen Prozess erst wird die Welt gestaltet, sie
orientiert sich also nicht an anderen Werten. Sie hat kein Paradigma, weil
sie sich selbst als Archetypus entwickelt. Die Tragödie ist nicht von
„außen” zu betrachten. Der Zuschauer steht vom Anfang an ganz im
Bann des Spiels der Tragödie. Für die Griechen bringt die Tragödie die
Kunde über das Schicksal der Stadt. Jeder fühlt sich von der Tragödie
angesprochen und jeden spricht sie (die Bühne) an. Der künstlerische
Prozess ist ein allgemeiner Prozess, wo sich Dichter und Publikum
begegnen, und so ereignet sich der künstlerischen Welt Gestalt.
„Ein phantasiereiches Publikum. Dies ist gleichsam sein Stoff,
den er formt. Das Dichten selbst nur eine Reizung und Leitung der
Phantasie. Der eigentliche Genuß das Produziren von Bildern, an der
Hand des Dichters. Also Dichter und Kritiker ein unsinniger Gegensatz –
sondern Bildhauer und Marmor, Dichter und Stoff.” (KSA 7, 791) Die
Begegnung Künstler - Publikum fand in dem gespielten und zusammen
fantasierten Werk statt, und wurde von verwandten „künstlerischen
Fähigkeiten” ermöglicht. „Also ein künstlerisches Urteil, aus einer
Erregung der künstlerischen Fähigkeit gewonnen. Nicht aus Begriffen”
(KSA 7, 395) [Meine Hervorhebung]
Was Nietzsche unter dem „künstlerischen Urteil” versteht, ist im
Unterschied zum „theoretischen Urteil”, dass es erstens zum
kunstschaffenden Prozess gehört und zugleich „universales Urteil”, d. h.
ein allgemein gültiges Urteil ist, weil das Publikum eigentlich die
Tragödie niemals außerhalb ihres Bereiches versteht.
144
1. 3.3 Der Wettkampf und der künstlerische Prozess
Der Wettkampf und der künstlerische Prozess sind untrennbar
miteinander verflochten; nur auf dem Weg des Wettkampfs wird bei den
Griechen jemand zum Künstler; was in der Erziehung geübt wird, wird
im Wettkampf praktiziert. Eine Atmosphäre der Rivalität herrscht in der
literarischen und philosophischen Welt der Griechen.
„Misstrauisch-eifersüchtig traten die großen musikalischen
Meister, Pindar und Simonides, neben einander hin; wetteifernd begegnet
der Sophist, der höhere Lehrer Altertums, dem anderen Sophisten; selbst
die allgemeinste Art der Belehrung, durch das Drama, wurde dem Volke
nur erteilt unter der Form eines ungeheuren Ringens der großen
musikalischen und dramatischen Künstler. Wie wunderbar. „Auch der
Künstler grollt dem Künstler!” Und der moderne Mensch fürchtet nichts
so sehr an einem Künstler als die persönliche Kampfregung, während der
Grieche den Künstler nur im persönlichen Kampfe kennt.” (KSA 1, 791)
Im Wettstreit stellt der Dichter sein Werk in der Öffentlichkeit der Polis.
Das Vertrauen in die Offenheit der Stadt bestimmt die Grundfassung
jedes Bürgers; der Dichter will der erste Dichter seiner Stadt werden; eine
weltliche Vertraulichkeit waltet in dem ganzen Verfahren – Dichter zu
werden, deswegen ist der Wettkampf für die Griechen der
ordnungsgemäße Weg für jemanden, der “die Lust am einzeln Wirklichen
jeder Art und wollen es nicht verneinen“ 1 hat.
1
„Kritik der Entwicklung. Falsche Annahme einer naturgemäßen Entwicklung.
Die Entartung ist hinter jeder großen Erscheinung her; in jedem Augenblick ist
der Ansatz zum Ende da. Die Entartung liegt in dem leichten Nachmachen und
Äusserlich-Verstehen der großen Vorbilder: d.h. das Vorbild reizt die eitlern
Naturen zum Nachmachen und Gleichmachen oder Überbieten. Die Kette von
einem Genius zum andern ist selten eine gerade Linie: so zwischen Aeschylus
und Sophocles keineswegs. Es lagen eine Masse Entwicklungswege nach
Aeschylus noch offen; Sophocles schlug einen von ihnen ein. Das
Verhängnisvolle aller grossen Begabungen: sie reissen mit sich fort und veröden
um sich, wie Rom in einer Einöde liegt. Viele Kräfte, embryonisch noch, werden
so erdrückt. Zu zeigen, wie überwiegend auch in Hellas die Entartung ist, wie
selten und kurz das Grosse, wie mangelhaft (von der falschen Seite) geschätzt.
Wie steif müssen die Anfänge der Tragödie bei Thespis gewesen sein! d.h. die
Kunstmäßigen Nachformungen der urwüchsigen Orgien. So war die Prosa erst
sehr steif im Verhältnis zur wirklichen Rede. Die Gefahren sind: man hat die Lust
am Inhalte oder man ist gleichgültig gegen den Inhalt und erstrebt Sinnesreize des
Klanges usw. Das Agonale ist auch die Gefahr bei aller Entwicklung; es überreizt
den Trieb zum Schaffen. - Der glücklichste Fall in der Entwicklung, wenn sich
mehrere Genie's gegenseitig in Schranken halten. Ob nicht sehr viele herrliche
145
Der Sieg im Agon erfordert nicht wie im Kampf die Zerstörung des
Gegners und seines Wertes, sondern der Sieg befördert die
Hervorbringung eines neuen Werkes. Durch diese Förderung des
Wettkampfes sind der Agon und der künstlerische Prozess nicht mehr zu
trennen; beide tragen zum Erscheinen der neuen Werke bei.
1.3.4 Das „Verhältnis des Wettkampfs zur Conception des
Kunstwerkes” 1
Die Radikalität Nietzsches Konzeption über das Kunstwerk und
über das Kunstschaffen zeigt sich am eindeutigsten, wenn das Verhältnis
zwischen der Erscheinung des Kunstwerks und seiner „Umwelt” gefragt
wird. Zunächst präsentiert Nietzsche den Unterschied zwischen antiker
und moderner Perspektive in Bezug auf das Phänomen der
Kunstwerkerscheinung. „Und der moderne Mensch fürchtet nichts so
sehr an einem Künstler als die persönliche Kampfregung, während der
Möglichkeiten im Keime erstickt sind? Wer würde z.B. Theocrit noch zu seiner
Zeit für möglich halten, wenn er nicht da wäre? Die grösste Thatsache bleibt
immer der frühzeitig panhellenische Homer. Alles Gute stammt doch von ihm
her: aber zugleich ist er die gewaltigste Schranke geblieben, dies gab. Er
verflachte, und deshalb kämpften die Ernstern so gegen ihn, umsonst. Homer
siegte immer. Das Unterdrückende der grossen geistigen Mächte ist auch hier
sichtbar, aber welcher Unterschied: Homer oder eine Bibel als solche Macht! Die
Lust am Rausche, die Lust am Listigen, an der Rache, am Neide, an der
Schmähung, an der Unzüchtigkeit – alles das wurde von den Griechen anerkannt,
als menschlich, und darauf hin eingeordnet in das Gebäude der Gesellschaft und
Sitte. Die Weisheit ihrer Institutionen liegt in dem Mangel einer Scheidung
zwischen gut und böse, schwarz und weiss. Die Natur, wie sie sich zeigt, wird
nicht weggeleugnet, sondern nur eingeordnet, auf bestimmte Culte und Tage
beschränkt. Dies ist die Wurzel aller Freisinnigkeit des Alterthums; man suchte
für die Naturkräfte eine mässige Entladung, nicht eine Vernichtung und
Verneinung. – Das ganze System von neuer Ordnung ist dann der Staat. Er war
nicht auf bestimmte Individuen, sondern auf die regulären menschlichen
Eigenschaften hin construirt: es zeigt sich in seiner Gründung die Schärfe der
Beobachtung und der Sinn für das Thatsächliche, besonders für das TypischThatsächliche, was die Griechen zur Wissenschaft Historie Geographie usw.
befähigte. Es war nicht ein beschränktes priesterliches Sittengesetz, welches bei
der Gründung des Staates befahl. Woher haben die Griechen diese Freiheit? Wohl
schon von Homer; aber woher hat er's? – Die Dichter sind nicht die weisesten und
logisch gebildesten Wesen; aber sie haben die Lust am einzeln Wirklichen jeder
Art und wollen es nicht verneinen, aber doch so mässigen, dass es nicht alles todt
macht.” (KSA 8, 79) [Meine Hervorhebung]
1
KSA 1, 791
146
Grieche den Künstler nur im persönlichen Kampfe kennt. Dort wo der
moderne Mensch die Schwäche des Kunstwerks wittert, sucht der
Hellene die Quelle seiner höchsten Kraft!” (KSA 1, 790) Im Unterschied
zur modernen Ästhetik, welche den Prozess des Kunstschaffens
theoretisch betrachtet wie in der Auslegung der Romantiker das
Verhältnis des Subjekts (Genius) mit dem Absolut, und der Künstler in
ein ursprünglich-theoretisches Verhältnis mit dem Begriff der Schönheit
und der Wahrheit gesehen wird, ist bei Nietzsche die Kunstschaffung aus
der Perspektive des Künstler-Phänomens gedacht, und freilich wird der
Künstler im seiner lebendigen Leibhaftigkeit aufgefasst. Der
künstlerische Prozess geschieht im Streit der verschiedenen Kräfte – im
Neid auf das Große und mit Eifer am Werk: es ist ein Wettkampf
zwischen dem Künstler (Einem) und anderen Künstlern (Vielen), oder
zwischen vielen und „einem Genie” 1 .
Das Künstler-Dasein 2 , das in sich widerstrebende Kräfte trägt,
das in seiner Tätigkeit die Dynamik des Willen zur Macht sichtbar macht,
und dessen Schaffens-Sinn in dem Horizont des Weltspiels liegt, zeigt
sich gegenüber dem anderer Künstler in einem ständigen Wettkampf. Die
erzieherische Bedeutung des Wettkampfs ist für den Künstler und für den
Philosophen unverzichtbar: „Nur der Wettkampf machte mich zum
Dichter, zum Sophisten, zum Redner!” (KSA 1, 790) Die agonale Kunst
bewegt sich auch nach ihrer Entstehung in der Welt der Kunstwerke
selbst jenseits des „Subjekts” Künstler in einem Streit der Werte; der
Künstler setzt sich, insofern er seine Kunstwerke in diesen
unpersönlichen Bereich der Kultur stellt, selbst in ein größeres Spiel, in
dem sein Werk jenseits von ihm weiter spielt.
1. 4.1 Der Agon als allgemeines Lebensprinzip
1
„Das ist der Kern der hellenischen Wettkampf-Vorstellung: sie verabscheut die
Alleinherrschaft und fürchtet ihre Gefahren, sie begehrt, als Schutzmittel gegen
das Genie - ein zweites Genie.” (KSA 1, 789)
2
„Das Phänomen „Künstler” ist noch am leichtesten durchsichtig: - von da aus
hinzublicken auf die Grundinstinkte der Macht, der Natur usw.! Auch der
Religion und Moral! „das Spiel”, das Unnützliche, als Ideal des mit Kraft
Überhäuften, als „kindlich”. Die „Kindlichkeit” Gottes, paîV paízon.” (KSA 12,
129)
147
Der Agon ist bei den Griechen ein allgemeines Lebensprinzip 1
geworden, und eine entscheidende Art sich zum Dasein zu verhalten,
ohne welche die ganze griechische Kultur 2 schwer zu begreifen ist! Die
Rolle des Agon in der griechischen Welt wurde auch von Jakob
Burckhardt in seiner Griechischen Kulturgeschichte als das
durchwaltendes „Prinzip” der griechischen Paideia erfasst. „Das tägliche
Leben von Jugend auf, die Agora, die Gespräche, der Krieg usw. taten
das übrige zur Ausbildung des einzelnen. Es entstand eine Existenz, wie
sie auf Erden weder vorher noch nachher noch anderswo vorgekommen
ist: Alles vom Agon durchdrungen und beherrscht und ausgehend von
dem Grundfundament, dass durch das Erziehen (paideúein) alles zu
erreichen sei,...” [Meine Hervorhebung] 3
Dass der Wettkampf von den Griechen innerhalb der
allgemeinen Erziehung praktiziert wurde, ist nicht nur ein Beweis, dass
der Wettkampf ein Ethos hat, sondern auch, dass der Wettkampf der beste
Weg des Einzelnen zum Selbst ist. Im ursprünglichen Sinne der Erziehung
ist der Wettkampf ein Stimulationsmittel, darüber hinaus unterbindet er
die Herausbildung eines einzigen Genies. „Das ist der Kern der
hellenischen
Wettkampf-Vorstellung:
sie
verabscheuet
die
Alleinherrschaft und fürchtet ihre Gefahr, sie begehrt, als Schutzmittel
gegen ein Genie ein zweites Genie.” (KSA 1, 798)
Und das ist nicht nur eine spezielle Erziehung, sondern
Nietzsche nennt sie die „hellenische Volkspädagogik”. „Sie scheinen zu
glauben, dass die Selbstsucht d.h. das Individuelle nur das kräftigste
Agens ist, seinen Charakter aber als „gut” und „böse” wesentlich von den
Zielen bekommt, nach denen es sich ausreckt. Für die Alten aber war das
Ziel der agonalen Erziehung die Wohlfahrt des Ganzen, der staatlichen
Gesellschaft. Jeder Athener z.B. sollte sein Selbst im Wettkampfe soweit
entwickeln, als es Athen vom höchsten Nutzen sei und am wenigsten
1
„L`Âgõn donc est un fait constant qui sà affirme de plus en plus dans l´histoire
littéraire du V-e siècle. Chaque genre lui garde un caractère original. Mais il
existe partout, dans l’éxamen philosophique comme au cours des procès devant
les tribunaux, dans lèxposé historique comme au centre de la comédie ancienne.
Il répond, de tout évidence, à une tendance profonde de lèsprit grec. »
(Jacqueline Duchemin, LÀGON dans la tragédie grecque, Paris 1945, S. 37.)
2
„Nehmen wir dagegen den Wettkampf aus dem griechischen Leben hinweg, so
sehen wir sofort in jenen vorhomerischen Abgrund einer grauenhaften Wildheit
des Hasses und der Vernichtungslust.” (KSA 1, 791)
3
Burckhardt Jakob, Der koloniale und agonale Mensch, in:, Griechische
Kulturgeschichte, Band , 1977, S. 116
148
Schaden bringe. Es war kein Ehrgeiz in's Ungemessene und
Unzumessende, wie meistens der moderne Ehrgeiz: an das Wohl seiner
Mutterstadt dachte der Jüngling, wenn er um die Wette lief oder warf
oder sang; ihren Ruhm wollte er in dem seinigen mehren; seinen
Stadtgöttern weihte er die Kränze, die die Kampfrichter ehrend auf sein
Haupt setzten.” (KSA 1, 790)
„Jeder Grieche empfand in sich von Kindheit an den brennenden
Wunsch, im Kampf der Städte ein Werkzeug zum Heilen seiner Stadt zu
sein: darin war seine Selbstsucht entflammt, darin war sie gezügelt und
umschränkt.“ (KSA 1, 790) Der Gedanke des Agon als die
vorherrschende Lebensstimmung im Gesamtbild der Griechen, ist von
Nietzsche auch in seiner Schrift Die Philosophie im tragischen Zeitalter
der Griechen erfasst, hier bewegt sich aber die Präsenz des Agon im
Dialog mit dem kosmischen Streit und der ewigen Gerechtigkeit.
„Alles geschieht gemäß diesem Streite, und gerade dieser Streit
offenbart die ewige Gerechtigkeit. Es ist eine wundervolle, aus dem
reinsten Borne des Hellenischen geschöpfte Vorstellung, welche den
Streit als das fortwährende Walten einer einheitlichen, strengen, an ewige
Gesetze gebundenen Gerechtigkeit betrachtet. Nur ein Grieche war im
Stande, diese Vorstellung als Fundament einer Kosmodicee zu finden; es
ist die gute Eris Hesiods, zum Weltprincip verklärt, es ist der
Wettkampfgedanke des einzelnen Griechen und des griechischen Staates,
aus den Gymnasien und Palästren, aus den künstlerischen Agonen, aus
dem Ringen der politischen Parteien und der Städte mit einander, in's
Allgemeinste übertragen, so daß jetzt das Räderwerk des Kosmos in ihm
sich dreht. Wie jeder Grieche kämpft als ob er allein im Recht sei, und
ein unendlich sicheres Maaß des richterlichen Urtheils in jedem
Augenblick bestimmt, wohin der Sieg sich neigt, so ringen die Qualitäten
mit einander, nach unverbrüchlichen, dem Kampfe immanenten Gesetzen
und Maaßen. Die Dinge selbst, an deren Feststehen und Standhalten der
enge Menschen- und Thierkopf glaubt, haben gar keine eigentliche
Existenz, sie sind das Erblitzen und der Funkenschlag gezückter
Schwerter, sie sind das Aufglänzen des Siegs, im Kampfe der
entgegengesetzten Qualitäten.” (KSA 1, 826) [Meine Hervorhebung]
Nietzsche sieht die Dynamik der ganzen griechischen Welt im
Horizont des Wettkampfs! Nicht aus einer Theorie oder einem
moralischen Imperativ ist die griechische Größe entstanden sondern aus
dieser lebendigen Dynamik, aus dem künstlerischen Genius – dem Ethos
des Wettkampfs. Warum hat der Wettkampf nur bei den Griechen eine
solche Vollendung bewirkt? Das ist eine andere Frage! Aber wir können
149
feststellen, dass er bei den Griechen zur prägnantesten Lebensform
überhaupt geworden ist. Jede neue Generation wird in der Paideia der
Wettspiele erzogen und reicht die Fackel weiter, die in der Hand der
Sieger ununterbrochen brennt: „Jeder Hellene gibt die Fackel des
Wettkampfes weiter; an jeder großen Tugend entzündet sich eine neue
Größe.” (KSA 1, 788)
1. 5.1 Der Agon in der Philosophie
In der philosophischen Reihe der griechischen Welt war Heraklit
der erste, der durch seinen Gedanken vom spielenden Kind, pais paizon,
ein neues und transfiguriertes Weltbild des Alles Geschehen eröffnet hat.
Dieser große Gedanke bleibt durch seine denkerische Spannung noch
unvergleichlich. Auf der anderen Seite wächst das Phänomen des Agon
mit dem griechischen Dasein zusammen und wird zur
gestaltungsgebenden Kraftquelle des griechischen Lebens überhaupt.
Daher werden sich die nachkommenden Philosophen mehr oder weniger
in dem Strom des agonalen Phänomens bewegen, das die ganzen
Lebensstrukturen umfasst. Der Wettkampf als allgemeine Lebensform
der Griechen wird vom Philosophen in der philosophischen Weise
praktiziert und als philosophischer Weg weiter vertieft. In dieser Weise
bewegen sich die Philosophen selbst, leben und lernen die Philosophie
auf dem Wege des Wettstreits: Sophisten streiten auf der öffentlichen
Bühne, Sokrates entwickelt die Dialektik als eine „Art Ringen“ und
Platon wird, nach seinem Eingeständnis, nur durch den Eifer des
Wettkampfs zu Platon.
1. 5.2 Sokrates und der Wettkampf
Die Welt aus der Perspektive des Spiels zu betrachten, das heißt
für Nietzsche erstens, das Weltgeschehen als göttliches Spiel zu
interpretieren und zweitens, die Philosophie selbst in den Horizont dieses
Spiels zu stellen. Der Agon ist die Art, in der die Philosophie den
spielerischen Sinn der Welt vollzieht (transfiguriert). Wenn die
Philosophie ihren agonalen Modus aufgibt und das Agon nicht mehr
reflektiert, dann stellt sie sich außerdem dem Vollzug des Spiels, sie wird
dekadent oder pervertiert sich, sie wird zur Moral, und sie wird die
absolute Wahrheit beanspruchen. Aus dieser Perspektive sieht Nietzsche
Sokrates einerseits in enger Verbindung mit dem Agon, andererseits nicht
weniger Sokrates’ Identität betreffend, Sokrates’ Umwandlung des Agon
und damit dessen Philosophie zu einer moralischen (theoretischen)
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Wissenschaft. Diesen zweiten Schritt des Sokrates kritisiert Nietzsche
und nennt als eine Perversion 1 der Philosophie selbst.
Es gibt keinen anderen Philosophen, der so präsent in der
Paideia-Welt der Jugendlichen 2 , war wie Sokrates. Nicht nur als in das
dialektische Denken einleitende Autorität sondern auch als Mitspieler
und in das Spiel Bringender, und als Spiel Macher erobert er die
Jugendwelt. Als „Fechtmeister” und „großer Erotiker” wird er in Athen
zu einer großartigen Gestalt. „Ich habe zu verstehn gegeben, womit
Sokrates abstossen konnte: es bleibt um so mehr zu erklären, dass er
fascinirte. – Dass er eine neue Art Agon entdeckte, dass er der erste
Fechtmeister davon für die vornehmen Kreise Athen's war, ist das Eine.
Er fascinirte, indem er an den agonalen Trieb der Hellenen rührte, – er
brachte eine Variante in den Ringkampf zwischen jungen Männern und
Jünglingen. Sokrates war auch ein grosser Erotiker.” (KSA 6, 71) [Meine
Hervorhebung]
Die Faszination des Sokrates ist ein wichtiges Element seiner
erotischen Philosophie. Wenn hingegen Sokrates das Spiel des erotischen
Dialogs in „Ernst” umwandelt, dann wird er damit „dekadent”. „Sokrates
war der Hanswurst, der sich ernst nehmen machte: was geschah da
eigentlich?” (KSA 6, 70) Der absolute „Ernst” der Moral bedeutet für
Sokrates zu glauben, „dass das Denken, an dem Leitfaden der Causalität,
bis in die tiefsten Abgründe des Seins reiche, und dass das Denken das
Sein nicht nur zu erkennen, sondern sogar zu corrigiren im Stande sei.”
(KSA 1, 99) Dadurch begibt Sokrates gerade Gegenteil, was Nietzsche
durch des Heraklits Mund, allen Philosophen empfiehlt, das Spiel nicht
als „Ernst”, nicht „moralisch” zu interpretieren: „es ist ein Spiel, nehmt's
nicht zu pathetisch, und vor Allem nicht moralisch!” (KSA 1, 832)
Sokrates, der „erste negative Philosoph” (KSA 7, 399) nimmt als
1
„Sokrates ist ein Moment der tiefsten Perversität in der Geschichte der
Menschen.” (KSA 13, 289)
2
„...er ging in den Tod, mit jener Ruhe, mit der er nach Plato's Schilderung als
der letzte der Zecher im frühen Tagesgrauen das Symposion verlässt; um einen
neuen Tag zu beginnen; indess hinter ihm, auf den Bänken und auf der Erde, die
verschlafenen Tischgenossen zurückbleiben, um von Sokrates, dem wahrhaften
Erotiker, zu träumen. Der sterbende Sokrates wurde das neue, noch nie sonst
geschaute Ideal der edlen griechischen Jugend: vor allen hat sich der typische
hellenische Jüngling, Plato, mit aller inbrünstigen Hingebung seiner
Schwärmerseele vor diesem Bilde niedergeworfen.” (KSA 1, 91)
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pathetischen „Ernst”, als Moral, was eigentlich ein ursprüngliches Spiel
sei.
1. 5.3 Platon und seine Wettkampferfahrung
Platons agonaler Weg in der Philosophie ist viel komplexer als
das sokratische Modell, welches sich auf der einen Seite auf den
„Schauspieler” und auf der anderen Seite auf den „Moralisten” begrenzt.
Platon ist für Nietzsche ein großer Künstler-Philosoph: er kombiniert das
Spiel der Erotik mit der künstlerischen Perspektive, seine Dialektik ist
eine „künstlerisch” gedichtete Dialektik, aber „in der Form des
geistreichen Gesprächs” praktiziert. Der Wettkampf Weg und
künstlerische Hervorbringung bildet zugleich die Genialität der Dialoge
Platons. Sokrates ist ein großer Schauspieler und ein „Meister des
Wettkampfs”, aber erst Platon wird in seinen genialen Dialogen, als
Schriftsteller, zum Spielschaffenden. Er lädt in seinen Dialogen jeden
wettkämpfenden Philosophen der vorsokratischen Philosophie, jeden
Sophisten, Dichter, Mediziner, Politiker, Rhetoriker, ein aufzutreten.
Sokrates, Protagoras, Alkibiades, Aristophanes, Pausanias, Hippias
u.s.w., sind alle großen Figuren, welche seine Dialoge beleben. Er
inszeniert alle verschiedenen Richtungen der Philosophie, welche schon
in der Philosophie vor ihm vorhanden war, indessen bringt alle in eine
ununterbrochene Konkurrenz.
Ein unendlicher Agon zieht sich durch sein ganzes Werk, in dem
er zugleich Wettkämpfer und Künstler und damit immer der große
„Spieler” ist. „Das, was z.B. bei Plato von besonderer künstlerischer
Bedeutung an seinen Dialogen ist, ist meistens das Resultat eines
Wetteifers mit der Kunst der Redner, der Sophisten, der Dramatiker
seiner Zeit, zu dem Zweckerfunden, dass er zuletzt sagen konnte: „Seht,
ich kann das auch, was meine großen Nebenbuhler können; ja, ich kann
es besser als sie. Kein Protagoras hat so schöne Mythen gedichtet wie ich,
kein Dramatiker ein so belebtes und fesselndes Ganze, wie das
Symposium, kein Redner solche Rede verfasst, wie ich sie im Gorgias
hinstelle - und nun verwerfe ich das alles zusammen und verurteile alle
nachbildende Kunst! Nur der Wettkampf machte mich zum Dichter, zum
Sophisten, zum Redner!” (KSA 1, 790) [Meine Hervorhebung]
1. 5.4 Eros, Agon und die Philosophie
152
Der Wettkampf 1 ist für Platon nicht nur ein Weg, um Philosoph
zu werden, sondern auch ein Weg, auf dem die Philosophie selbst sich
vollendet: „Philosophie nach Art des Plato wäre eher als ein erotischer
Wettbewerb zu definieren.” (KSA 6, 127) Zunächst bedeutet das, dass die
Philosophie ihren Ur-Sprung im erotischen Spiel hat. „Plato geht weiter.
Er sagt mit einer Unschuld, zu der man Grieche sein muss und nicht
„Christ”, dass es gar keine platonische Philosophie geben würde, wenn es
nicht so schöne Jünglinge in Athen gäbe: deren Anblick sei es erst, was
die Seele des Philosophen in einen erotischen Taumel versetze und ihr
keine Ruhe lasse, bis sie den Samen aller hohen Dinge in ein so schönes
Erdreich hinabgesenkt habe. Auch ein wunderlicher Heiliger! – man traut
seinen Ohren nicht, gesetzt selbst, dass man Plato traut. Zum Mindesten
erräth man, dass in Athen anders philosophirt wurde, vor Allem
öffentlich. Nichts ist weniger griechisch als die Begriffs-Spinneweberei
eines Einsiedlers, amor intellectualis dei nach Art des Spinoza.
Philosophie nach Art des Plato wäre eher als ein erotischer Wettbewerb
zu definiren, als eine Fortbildung und Verinnerlichung der alten
agonalen Gymnastik und deren Voraussetzungen… Was wuchs zuletzt
aus dieser philosophischen Erotik Plato's heraus? Eine neue Kunstform
des griechischen Agon, die Dialektik. – Ich erinnere noch, gegen
Schopenhauer und zu Ehren Plato's, daran, dass auch die ganze höhere
Cultur und Litteratur des klassischen Frankreichs auf dem Boden des
geschlechtlichen Interesses aufgewachsen ist. Man darf überall bei ihr die
Galanterie, die Sinne, den Geschlechts-Wettbewerb, das „Weib” suchen, man wird nie umsonst suchen…” (KSA 6, 127) [Meine Hervorhebung]
Nietzsche findet die Quelle der platonischen Philosophie in den
fundamentalen Lebens- und seinen Triebstrukturen, aus denen „eine neue
Kunstform des griechischen Agon, die Dialektik” entsteht. Und das zu
verstehen, muss man über die „schriftlichen” Werke Platons
hinausschauen. Zunächst bleibt der Eros für Platon eine Quelle seiner
Philosophie, und die Philosophie, im Sinne Platons, auch wenn sie sich
über das erotische Spiel durch Verstand und Idealität durch seine
dialogische Struktur erhebt, verlässt niemals den Bereich des erotisch
idealisierten Wettbewerbs. In dieser Perspektive ist auch das
philosophische Werk nichts anderes als die Liebe zum (er-)zeugen:
1
„Homer, in der Welt der hellenischen Zwietracht, der panhellenische Grieche.
Der Wettkampf der Griechen zeigt sich auch im Symposion, in der Form des
geistreichen Gesprächs.” (KSA 8, 67) [Meine Hervorhebung]
153
Zweitens ist die Dialektik, obwohl sie ein reiner Erkenntnisweg zu sein
scheint, eine reine Methode, so lange sie sich in Dialogform bewegt, sie
ist von den Wettkampf dem erotische Drang nicht zu trennen. „Zuletzt ist
es die mesquine Thatsache, daß der agonale Instinkt alle diese geborenen
Dialektiker dazu zwang, ihre Personal-Fähigkeit als oberste Eigenschaft
zu verherrlichen, und alles übrige Gute als bedingt durch sie darzustellen.
Der antiwissenschaftliche Geist dieser ganzen „Philosophie”: sie will
Recht behalten.” (KSA 3, S.330)
Das agonale Prinzip zu erfassen, wie Nietzsche das tut, bedeutet
nicht unbedingt, die Sophisten zu verteidigen und die platonische
Philosophie zu bekämpfen. Der Philosoph bleibt auch im philosophischen
Agon Philosoph, und der Sophist bestätigt sich, gerade als Sophist,
hauptsächlich wenn er im Dialog bleibt. Die Bekämpfung der Sophisten
durch Sokrates bedeutet nicht unbedingt die Bekämpfung des
Wettkampfs, jedenfalls nicht, so lange man im Dialog und Wettstreit dies
tut.
Der Wettkampf der Rhetorik bei Sophisten und die Dialektik im
Dialog bei Platon gehören aus Nietzsche Perspektive zusammen. „Der
Kampf der Wissenschaft Sophisten Die Sophisten sind nichts weiter als
Realisten: sie formuliren die allen gang und gäben Werthe und Praktiken
zum Range der Werthe, - sie haben den Muth, den alle starken Geister
haben, um ihre Unmoralität zu wissen… Glaubt man vielleicht, daß diese
kleinen griechischen Freistädte, welche sich vor Wuth und Eifersucht
gern aufgefressen hätten, von menschenfreundlichen und rechtschaffenen
Principien geleitet wurden? Macht man vielleicht dem Thukydides einen
Vorwurf aus seiner Rede, die er den athenischen Gesandten in den Mund
legt, als sie mit den Meliern über Untergang oder Unterwerfung
verhandeln? Inmitten dieser entsetzlichen Spannung von Tugend zu reden
war nur vollendeten Tartuffes möglich - oder Abseits-Gestellten,
Einsiedlern, Flüchtlingen und Auswanderern aus der Realität… alles
Leute, die negirten, um selber leben zu können - Die Sophisten waren
Griechen: als Sokrates und Plato die Partei der Tugend und Gerechtigkeit
nahmen, waren sie Juden oder ich weiß nicht was - Die Taktik Grote's zur
Verteidigung der Sophisten ist falsch: er will sie zu Ehrenmännern und
Moral-Standarten erheben - aber ihre Ehre war, keinen Schwindel mit
großen Worten und Tugenden zu treiben…” (KSA 13, 332)
1. 6 Nietzsche - Denker innerhalb der Kunst des Agon
Nietzsche selbst zeichnet sich aus als ein Denker innerhalb der
Kunst des Agon: “Ich kenne keine andre Art, mit grossen Aufgaben zu
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verkehren als das Spiel: dies ist, als Anzeichen der Grösse, eine
wesentliche Voraussetzung.” (KSA 6, 297) Aber schon in seinen früheren
Schriften waltet überall eine allgemeine agonale Atmosphäre.
Dementsprechend merken wir den Kampf der Disziplinen zwischen
Wissenschaft und Kunst, den Kampf der Mystik mit der Wissenschaft,
zwischen Wissenschaft und Weisheit, danach gibt es Kampf zwischen
Kunst und Zivilisation, usw.
- „Der Kampf zwischen Kunst und Wissenschaft” (KSA 7, 59);
- „Kampf der Mystik mit der Wissenschaft” (KSA 7, 132);
- „Der theoretische Genius als Vernichter der hellenischen apollinischen
Kunst” (KSA 7, 133);
- „Kampf dieser beiden Formen der Kunst” (KSA 7, 133);
- „Mächtiger Kampf der Civilisation gegen den Geist der Musik.“ (KSA
7, 285);
- „Diese höchste Bildung erkenne ich bis jetzt nur als Wiedererweckung
des Hellenenthums. Kampf gegen die Civilisation.” (KSA 7, 385);
- „Der Kampf des Wissens mit dem Wissen!” (KSA 7, 427);
- „Der Philosoph. Betrachtungen über den Kampf von Kunst und
Erkenntniss.” (KSA 7, 452);
- „Kampf im Philosophen.” (KSA 7, 453);
- „Kunst. Begriff der Kultur. Kampf der Wissenschaft.” (KSA 7, 550);
- „Philosophen (Kampf gegen die Religion) - Phaedo. Historiker (Kampf
gegen das Mythische) - Thucydides.” (KSA 7, 754);
- „Wie ist der Kampf Plato's gegen die Rhetorik zu verstehen?” (KSA 8,
104);
- „Kampf zwischen Leben und Erkennen” (KSA 8, 115);
- „Heraclit. Kampf gegen den Mythus” (KSA 8, 119);
- „Wissenschaft und Weisheit im Kampfe.” (KSA 8, 97);
- „(Kampf des Heraclit gegen Homer und Hesiod, Pythagoras gegen die
Verweltlichung, alle gegen den Mythus, besonders Democrit)” (KSA 8,
104).
Sein eigenes Denken liegt innerhalb der Agon-Dynamik, er
selbst hat seine philosophische Richtung als „umgedrehte[n]
Platonismus” (KSA 1, 199) bezeichnet, und seine erste Schrift, Die
Geburt der Tragödie aus dem Geist der Musik, charakterisiert er als antimodern 1 . Seine Betrachtungen gegenüber der Gegenwart bleiben
1
„Diese Schrift ist antimodern: sie glaubt an die moderne Kunst, sonst an nichts,
und im Grunde auch nicht an die moderne Kunst, sondern an die moderne Musik,
und im Grunde nicht an die moderne Musik überhaupt, sondern nur an Wagner…
155
„unzeitgemäß” (KSA 8, 304) und selbst er nennt sich unzeitgemäß: „Ich
bin darin auch heute noch, was ich war -„unzeitgemäß.” (KSA 11, 557)
Sein Weg in der philosophischen Arena bildet die Verhältnisse ein es
fortdauernden agonen Netzgewebes.
Die Setzung der Philosophie in den Horizont des unendlichen
Agon, oder anders gesagt in ein fortdauerndes Gespräch bildet Nietzsches
spezifische Ansicht über die Philosophie in seiner geschichtlichen und
zugleich in seiner gegenwärtigen Perspektive. Die Vielfältigkeit der
philosophischen Richtungen entsteht und wird im Geist des Agon
erhalten. Der Philosoph misst sich mit seinesgleichen, indem auch der
Wettkampf immer ein Spiel zwischen Gleichen ist: Heraklit kämpft
gegen Homer und Hesiod, Platon mit Protagoras, Nietzsche misst sich
mit Sokrates und Platon, usw., insofern die Dynamik des Denkens
niemals unter die Tyrannei eines einzigen Genies geraten wird. Dies hat
weitere wichtige Wirkungen auf die Philosophie selbst: in dem Werk
eines Denkers oder in der Tradition der Philosophie können keine
übernatürlichen Gedanken, d. h. dem Mensch zugehörigen Gedanken
oder „Ideen” überdauern, die sich nicht immer wieder an einem anderen
Denker messen ließen. Im Wettkampf zwischen den Menschen kann
Unmenschliches (Übernatürliche) nicht überdauern. Weil es keine
endgültige Weltansicht geben kann, muss sich jeder große philosophische
Gedanke im offenen Gespräch immer neu beurkunden.
1.7 Der Wettkampf und das Welt-Spiel
Nietzsche hat sehr früh eine Beziehung zwischen dem WeltSpiel-Begriff des Heraklit und dem Wettkampf gesehen, aber die Frage
bleibt nun: Wie verhält sich das Phänomen des Agon zu dem WeltspielGedanken? Wie wird die Beziehung zwischen dem Gedanken des
kosmischen Spiels und dem existentiellen Phänomen des Agon erfasst?
In seinem Nachlass gibt es mehrere Stellen, in denen Nietzsche
verschiedene Zusammenhänge zwischen Heraklits Weltspiel und
Wettkampf zu erschließen versucht.
- „Heraklit. Verklärung des Kampfs. Die Welt ein Spiel.” (KSA 7, 399);
- „Begriff des Wettkampfs aus Heraclit zu entwickeln.” (KSA 7, 400);
- „Heraklit` Verklärung des Wettkampfs.” (KSA 7, 407);
Und im Grunde vielleicht nicht einmal an Wagner, es sei denn faute de mieux.”
(KSA 13, 227)
156
- „Das künstlerische Spiel des Kosmos. Heraclit.” (KSA 7, 421);
- „(Der Wettkampf. Heraclit.).” (KSA 7, 422);
- „Heraclit. Cosmodicee der Kunst.” (KSA 7, 526);
- „An Heraklit Wettkampf. Spiel.” (KSA 7, 530);
- „Heraklit: apollinisches Ideal, alles Schein und Spiel.” (KSA 7, 540);
- „Heraclit. Wettkampf. Spiel.” (KSA 7, 547).
Obwohl zwischen den beiden Gedanken überall Ähnlichkeiten
vorhanden sind, stellt Nietzsche nicht von Anfang an ein festes
Verhältnis zwischen beiden fest, sondern er versucht eine flexible
Ähnlichkeit zu zeigen, welche zugleich verbündet und differenziert.
„Heraklit beschreibt nur die vorhandene Welt.” (KSA 1, 832) Das
Phänomen des Agon und der Gedanke des „kosmischen Spiels” gehören
zu der „vorhandenen Welt”, insofern Nietzsches Provokation und
zugleich die Zurückhaltung in philosophischen Formulierungen über den
Zusammenhang beider seine denkerische Welt Ansicht spiegelt, dass er
nicht einfach ein Intellektuell gemäß Verhältnis auf die Sache übertragen
will, sondern zunächst die Sache selbst eine eigene Richtung und
Bedeutung in der Selbstbewegung zeigen lassen will. „Der Honig ist,
nach Heraklit, zugleich bitter und süß, und die Welt selbst ist ein
Mischkrug, der beständig umgerührt werden muß. Aus dem Krieg des
Entgegengesetzten entsteht alles Werden: die bestimmten, als andauernd
uns erscheinenden Qualitäten drücken nur das momentane Übergewicht
des einen Kämpfers aus, aber der Krieg ist damit nicht zu Ende, das
Ringen dauert in Ewigkeit fort. Alles geschieht gemäß diesem Streite,
und gerade dieser Streit offenbart die ewige Gerechtigkeit. Es ist eine
wundervolle, aus dem reinsten Borne des Hellenischen geschöpfte
Vorstellung, welche den Streit als das fortwährende Walten einer
einheitlichen, strengen, an ewige Gesetze gebundenen Gerechtigkeit
betrachtet. Nur ein Grieche war im Stande, diese Vorstellung als
Fundament einer Kosmodicee zu finden; es ist die gute Eris Hesiods, zum
Weltprincip verklärt, es ist der Wettkampfgedanke des einzelnen
Griechen und des griechischen Staates, aus den Gymnasien und
Palästren, aus den künstlerischen Agonen, aus dem Ringen der
politischen Parteien und der Städte mit einander, in's Allgemeinste
übertragen, so daß jetzt das Räderwerk des Kosmos in ihm sich dreht.
Wie jeder Grieche kämpft als ob er allein im Recht sei, und ein unendlich
sicheres; Maaß des richterlichen Urtheils in jedem Augenblick bestimmt,
wohin der Sieg sich neigt, so ringen die Qualitäten mit einander, nach
unverbrüchlichen, dem Kampfe immanenten Gesetzen und Maaßen. Die
Dinge selbst, an deren Feststehen und Standhalten der enge Menschen-
157
und Thierkopf glaubt, haben gar keine eigentliche Existenz, sie sind das
Erblitzen und der Funkenschlag gezückter Schwerter, sie sind das
Aufglänzen des Siegs, im Kampfe der entgegengesetzten Qualitäten.”
(KSA 1, 826)
Der homerische Wettkampf und Heraklits Gedanke, dass „Die
Welt ein Spiel” sei, bilden sich in einem Zusammenhang wie zwei
analoge Gedanken. Aber was heißt, dass das Welt-Spiel analog zum
Agon ist? Zunächst müssen wir verstehen, was für Nietzsche eine
Analogie bedeutet und danach, warum die beiden Gedanken eine
Analogie bilden. Eine Analogie bringt in Vergleich zwei ähnliche
Gedanken oder Phänomene, welche viele gleichartigen Eigenschaften
zeigen, aber doch unterschiedlich bleiben. Ein Analogieschluss
funktioniert nicht nach dem Prinzip Ursache-Wirkung, bzw. dass eins
vom anderen verursacht wird, oder eins vom anderen abgeleitet werden
kann. Nietzsches philosophischer „Begriff” der Analogie unterscheidet
sich von der mathematischen Analogie. Für Nietzsche besteht die
Analogie zwischen verschiedenen Phänomenen in ihrer Ähnlichkeit und
nicht in ihrer Gleichheit. Eine Gleichheit wäre eine Übertagung von der
mathematischen Analogie auf den philosophischen Bereich, d. h. eine unphilosophische Nivellierung. Wenn es so ist, welche Rolle spielt dann
eine solche Analogie? Durch Vergleichen kann man verwandte
Eigenschaften entdecken; auf ein sichtbares Phänomen kann man ein
andere, wenige sichtbares Phänomen, deuten und verstehen. Im
„Vergleichen” sind zwei verschiedene Bereiche 1 zur Deutung gebracht,
einer entspricht dem anderen.
Dadurch erhalten verschiedene Phänomene, die eine große
Ähnlichkeit miteinander verbindet, eine gemeinsame Richtung. Erfassen
wir die dreifache Analogie zwischen 1. dem Wettkampf, 2. dem Dialog
in der Tragödie oder „die Wechselrede zwischen dem Held[-en] und dem
Chorführer” und 3. dem „dialektischen” Dialog in Platons Werk. „Der
Dialog ist bekanntlich nicht ursprünglich in der Tragödie; erst seitdem es
zwei Schauspieler gab, also verhältnismäßig spät, entwickelte sich der
1
Ein zutreffendes Beispiel für den „entsprechenden” Charakter der Analogie ist
der folgende Aphorismus aus Nietzsches Nachlass: „Jede Religion hat für ihre
höchsten Bilder ein Analogon in einem Seelenzustande. Der Gott Mahomets die
Einsamkeit der Wüste, fernes Gebrüll des Löwen, Vision eines schrecklichen
Kämpfers. Der Gott der Christen - alles was sich Männer und Weiber bei dem
Worte „Liebe” denken. Der Gott der Griechen: eine schöne Traumgestalt.” (KSA
8, 28)
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Dialog. Schon vorher gab es ein Analogon in der Wechselrede zwischen
dem Helden und dem Chorführer: aber hier war doch der dialektische
Streit bei der Unterordnung des einen unter den anderen unmöglich.
Sobald aber zwei gleichberechtigte Hauptspieler sich gegenüber standen,
so erhob sich, einem tief hellenischen Triebe gemäß, der Wettkampf und
zwar der Wettkampf mit Wort und Grund: während der verliebte Dialog
der griechischen Tragödie immer fern blieb. Mit jenem Wettkampf wurde
an ein Element in der Brust des Zuhörers appellirt, das bis dahin als
kunstfeindlich und musenverhaßt aus den festlichen Räumen der
dramatischen Künste verbannt war: die „böse” Eris. Die gute Eris waltete
ja von Alters her bei allen musischen Handlungen und führte in der
Tragödie drei wettkämpfende Dichter vor das zum Richten versammelte
Volk. Als aber das Abbild des Wortzwistes aus der Gerichtshalle sich
auch in die Tragödie eingedrängt hatte, da entstand zum ersten Male ein
Dualismus in dem Wesen und der Wirkung des Musikdramas. Von jetzt
ab gab es Theile der Tragödie, in denen das Mitleiden zurücktrat,
gegenüber der hellen Freude am klirrenden Waffenspiel der Dialektik.
Der Held des Dramas durfte nicht unterliegen, er mußte also jetzt auch
zum Worthelden gemacht werden. Der Prozeß, der in der sogenannten
Stichomythie seinen Anfang genommen hatte, setzte sich fort und drang
auch in die längeren Reden der Hauptspieler. Allmählich sprechen alle
Personen mit einem solchen Aufwand von Scharfsinn, Klarheit und
Durchsichtigkeit, so dass für uns wirklich beim Lesen einer
sophokleischen Tragödie ein verwirrender Gesammteindruck entsteht. Es
ist uns als ob alle diese Figuren nicht am Tragischen, sondern an einer
Superfötation des Logischen zu Grunde giengen. Man mag nur einmal
vergleichen, wie ganz anders die Helden Shakespeare's dialektisiren: über
allem ihren Denken, Vermuthen und Schließen liegt eine gewisse
musikalische Schönheit und Verinnerlichung ausgegossen, während in
der späteren griechischen Tragödie ein sehr bedenklicher Dualismus des
Stils herrscht, hier die Macht der Musik, dort die der Dialektik. Letztere
dringt immer übermächtiger vor, bis sie auch in dem Bau des ganzen
Drama's das entscheidende Wort spricht. Der Prozeß endet mit dem
Intriguenstück: damit erst ist jener Dualismus vollständig überwunden, in
Folge totaler Vernichtung des einen Wettkämpfers, der Musik.” (KSA 1,
546) [Meine Hervorhebung]
Man kann sehen, wie anders als mathematisch und geometrisch
Nietzsche denkt. Innerhalb der Dynamik der lebendigen Kultur
entwickeln sich ganz anderen Formen als im abstrakten Denken. Diese
dreifache Analogie zeigt eine dreifache „Gegensätzlichkeit”: 1. Der
159
Wettkampf bezieht sich auf die Lebensdynamik: die beiden Rivalen, die
am Anfang als Wettkämpfer „gleich“ sind, erleben (ertragen) durch das
Spiel eine Existenz-Umwandlung; einer wird zum Sieger und der andere
zum Verlierer, und diese Umwandlung gehört zum Spiel. Das Ergebnis
gilt nach den Spielregeln bis zum nächsten Wettkampf. Dann fängt das
Spiel von vorne an. Der Wettkampf hat einen allgemeinen Charakter,
insofern findet er in verschiedenen Bereichen seine Anwendung. 2. Der
in der Tragödie 1 entfaltete „tragische” Gegensatz lässt sich nur durch
eine ekstatische Lebensbejahung überwinden. 3. Der philosophische
Dialog ist ein Kampf der Ideen. In der philosophischen Debatte der Ideen,
die zugleich Kampf und Spiel ist, wird eine Idee als falsch und eine
andere als wahr bewiesen. Das Verfahren des Erkennens und Denkens
stellt die beiden „Konkurrenten” unter die Perspektive des siegreichen
(wahren) Gedankens. Auch der „Verlierer” nimmt Anteil an der Wahrheit
des Siegers. Auch wenn wir zwischen Sophistik und Dialektik
unterscheiden wollen, können wir die Dialektik selbst unter der Optik des
Agon interpretieren. Wenn Nietzsche die Genealogie des Dialoges aus
der Perspektive des Wettkampfes denkt, will er zeigen, dass seine Urform
zur Lebensform gehört, in welche der „agonale Trieb” einverleibt ist und
die keinen erkenntnis-theoretischen, sondern einen existentiellen
Ursprung hat. Der Wettkampf als Lebensform erträgt die Analogie mit
dem Kampf der Ideen. Aus der Perspektive des agonalen Phänomens
gesehen sind das „kosmische Spiel” und der Wettkampf zwei
verschiedene Sachen, die jedoch zugleich bestimmte Ähnlichkeiten
haben, die es ermöglichen, beide als eine Analogie zu begreifen. Das
bedeutet nicht, dass wir den Wettkampf aus dem Welt-Spiel ableiten
können, und auf der anderen Seite, dass sich der Wettkampf nicht auf das
Welt-Spiel gründet.
Der Agon und das kosmische Spiel sind beide Spiele, welche
sich nach einer „inneren Ordnung” in einem spontanen Vollzug ereignen,
aber während das kosmische Spiel ein Spiel ohne Mensch ist – ein Spiel
der Natur –, wird der phänomenal-existentielle Agon immer vom
Menschen gespielt, und baut sich auf als eine Weise des Menschen in der
Welt zu sein. Zwischen der Betrachtung des „kosmischen Spiels” und der
Teilnahme am Agon des menschlichen Daseins liegt eine tiefe
Gemeinsamkeit: beide folgen derselbe Richtung des Weltgeschehens –
der Spiel-Dynamik. Paradoxerweise sieht der Betrachter im kosmischen
Spiel ein Spiel, das ohne Mensch geschieht; und der Wettkämpfer spielt
1
„Das Tragische als Spiel.” (KSA 7, 548)
160
immer selbst in dem Agonspiel, entweder als Sieger oder als Verlierer.
Also zeigt sich die Ähnlichkeit nur insofern, als zwischen beiden
Gedanken auf unterschiedlichem Wege eine unüberwindbare Differenz
besteht. Der Agon ist vielleicht die Antwort des Menschen zu dem
kosmischen Spiel, er ist sein Weg, oder sein Bekenntnis als Mitspieler; er
ist eine Nachahmung oder eine Darstellung, ein Natur-Spiel, in dem sich
der Mensch selbst als Spieler stellt! Die verschiedenen Interpretationen
des agonalen Phänomens, unterzeichnen sein analoges Verhältnis zum
kosmischen Spiel, das sich in und mit seiner Differenz dennoch in der
Konstellation Weltspiel bewegt.
Der Wettkampf hat seinen Ursprung im „agonalen Instinkt” und
das Welt-Spiel in Heraklits „künstlerischer” Weltbetrachtung. Analog
gesehen hängen die beiden Gedanken zusammen, und in derselben
Analogie bleiben beide unterschiedlich. Der Vollzug des Spiels im
menschlichen Leben ist der Weltbetrachtung als Welt-Spiel nicht fremd,
aber findet im Welt-Spiel auch keinen „metaphysischen” Grund. Der
„Grund” des Welt-Spiels bleibt uns genau so wie der „Grund” des
Wettkampfes verborgen, oder besser gesagt, bleibt uns „abgründig”. Das
Spiel hat keinen Grund. Auf der anderen Seite gibt es zwischen den
beiden Phänomenen keine Ursache-Wirkung Beziehungen und überhaupt
keine „abstrakten” Beziehungen. Zwischen dem Welt-Spiel und dem
Agon liegt trotz aller Ähnlichkeiten eine unüberwindliche Kluft. Jenseits
dieser Kluft, in der Analogie, begegnen sich beide in einander
korrespondierenden Erscheinungsformen, die sich als diskontinuierliche
Ähnlichkeit interpretieren lassen. Der Sinn der analogen Darstellung ist es
das zu zeigen, was beide Gedanken als gemeinsame Richtung haben das Spiel. Die diskontinuierliche Ähnlichkeit ist eine phänomenale
Ähnlichkeit, in welcher wir denselben Sinn erkennen. In dieser
Konstellation der Weltbetrachtung als Spiel und des Lebensprinzips des
Agone entwickelt sich das Phänomen der Kunst (Tragödie) bei den
Griechen, und die Tragödie selbst wird ein Teil dieser Konstellation sein.
161
A Patriarch of Militant Europeanism: Adrian Marino
Ovidiu PECICAN
Faculty of European Studies,
Keywords: European integration, pro-Occidental, paşoptism, civicalliberal, democrat, militant spirit
Abstract
The paper delineates the personality and work of Adrian Marino, a person
with spectacular and protean character leading a marginal but febrile and
authentic intellectual life, who made the attempt of remodelling a
historical party, and set himself to the construction of a Transylvanian
periodical essential for the democratic debate. A character neither
popular, nor comfortable: the democratic ideologue proposing orientation
towards the European Union not only on the scale of Romania’s foreign
alliances but also as a model of civilization.
1. Europe in our country
The resurrection of Europeanism as an ideology in the postcommunist Romania was accomplished in a villa in the centre of ClujNapoca, in the library of a great scholar – old in age, but not in spirit – in
the years after the 1989 revolution. 1 At that time – after a two-year period
when Ion Iliescu and his entourage believed that the autochthonous
revolutionary verve could be satisfied by a Gorbachevist government of a
Perestroika-Glastnost type – the arrest of the last president of the URSS,
his ill timed release, and the dissolution of the communist colossus from
the East, in 1991, threw the Romanian government into a persistent
confusion for the oncoming years. The voice which could be heard by
1
The texts gathered here under a common title appeared independently during the
preceding year in the cultural reviews Steaua, Idei în dialog and, respectively,
Apostrof. One of them was published in English in the scientific periodical Studia
Europaea. Connected with one another, these texts gain a new relevance, reason
for which we have brought them together here in order to emphasize their
complementarity. Despite this fact, the author is aware that they can hardly reveal
the complexities of the man of culture Adrian Marino whose work we have
always admired discreetly but consequently.
162
anyone who wanted to listen, proposing the natural orientation towards
the European Union – not only on the scale of Romania’s foreign
alliances but also as a model of civilization – was the voice of Adrian
Marino. Through a series of articles, studies, essays and answers to
investigations, Marino, who was a literary critic and a hermeneutist of
encyclopaedic orientation until then, elaborated, between the years 1991–
1994, that which was to become the content of the first Europeanist
manifesto-book in Romania after the communism. Due to a fortunate
coincidence, Silviu Lupescu editor at the European Institute from Iaşi,
inaugurated his new publishing house, Polirom, in 1995 exactly with the
volume Pentru Europa. Integrarea României. Aspecte ideologice şi
culturale (For Europe. Romania’s Integration. Ideological and Cultural
Aspects). Moreover, this book seems to be also the last one published
during Adrian Marino’s lifetime; its second edition – revised and
completed – has recently appeared in order to celebrate a decade since the
establishment of the Polirom Publishing House.
This decade was enormously important for Romania and for the
autochthonous ideas related to Europeanism whose patriarch was Adrian
Marino. Meanwhile, the Democrat Convention 1 came to power in 1996
and this oriented the country firmly towards the EU and NATO. From
this point on, due to Adrian Marino’s ideas – whose prophetic content
was incomprehensible for the previous government – the pro-Occidental
political orientation became the objective faithfully followed by all
responsible public forces and by every realist opinion leader. However,
none of the official leaders hastened to acknowledge the historical merits
of the thinker from the Grigorescu district in Cluj-Napoca. A bitter irony
of fate, the Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party – in the name
of which he underwent long years of detention and house arrest – coming
to power did not requires Adrian Marino’s services as a first line
dignitary, as it would have been proper and wise to do. On the contrary,
the tribulations from this party made the scholar to return more bitterly to
his daily schedule of meditation on his notes and books, resulting in his
six-volume construction Biografia ideii de literatură (The Biography of
the Idea of Literature). However, in the meantime a publishing house
1
The Democrat Convention won the Romanian elections in 1996 and their
candidate Emil Constantinescu became president. The main purpose of the
Democrat Convention was to form an effective opposition against the alldominating National Salvation Front, a political force made up mostly of former
second and third rank communists, which assumed leadership of the country after
the 1989 revolution. (Translator’s note)
163
from Craiova published the precious completion of Pentru Europa (For
Europe), the anthology of the Romanian post-war Europeanist thinking
Revenirea în Europa (Return into Europe). With generosity and
phenomenal perspicacity – considering the myriads of publications that
appeared after December 1989 –, Adrian Marino traced, copied and
collected between the covers of this volume some of the most important
texts written by Romanian authors urging that we should join the EU and
the European list of values.
As I had been conducting a course of “European idea” at the
Faculty of European Studies since the establishment of the Faculty in
1994, I was eager to include the two books – as soon as they appeared –
into my list of compulsory readings, delighted to benefit from the results
of Adrian Marino’s efforts to re-establish a tradition of our own which
had formerly been represented by other illustrious voices as well. Thus,
these books have become the basic bibliographical landmarks for the
Europeanist generations formed at the university in Cluj. By the initiative
of the philosophy professor Andrei Marga, the rector of the university at
that time, the faculty had the privilege of inviting Adrian Marino to
accept an award of excellence on 13th of January 1997. On this occasion
he delivered a lecture in front of a full conference hall. The fully earned
praises uttered by Andrei Marga, Nicolae Păun and by the author of the
present paper expressed the publicly assumed awareness of the value that
Adrian Marino represented for the community from Cluj, for Romania,
and for the founding of the actual Europeanism in our country.
The real emulation aroused by the books and public
interventions of the father of our Europeanism was also mirrored in the
book-production of the intellectuals from Cluj regarding the European
issue. The fact that Marino included in the second edition of the volume
entitled Pentru Europa (For Europe) a bibliography of the domain,
exempts me from the obligation of repeating the most significant titles. In
this context I wish only to make a confession: the second part of my
volume Europa, o idee în mers (Europe – a Progressing Idea), contains a
short anthology, significant as an attempt of reconstructing the landscape
of our Europeanism from the inter-war period. It was inspired by the
model given in Adrian Marino’s anthology, which took into account the
contributions from the next stage. I tried to create a work which would
complete Marino’s book by reclaiming an occulted tradition from
between the two World Wars. Far from keeping away from such an
endeavour, the writer promptly commented it in the press in a
comprehensive manner.
164
Unfortunately, such a febrile and authentic intellectual life,
enormously stimulated by the personal example of the scholar – then in
his seventies – could not overcome some marginality unless through
some angry outbursts, generating debates. Although he was recognized
by the writer generation of the eighties, he was elected the honorary
leader of ASPRO (The Association of Professional Writers from
Romania), and reviews of the capital – from 22 to Cuvântul – published
his writings, Marino never assumed the central role that he deserved
through his work. The appreciations received from civil society
organizations – the award of the Faculty of European Studies, “BabeşBolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca; the ASPRO award; honorary member
of the “Pro Europa” League – indicate where the reception of Adrian
Marino’s cultural contribution was the promptest and accomplished on
the highest level. Furthermore, I would allow myself to say that this is the
most important forum, for in this space less submitted to official
“modelling” and to the idiosyncrasies of the paper gods of the day took
place the unreserved contact with the vigorous work of the thinker.
As I have – beginning with 1990 – discreetly witnessed the
scholar’s last fifteen years of life, I can only underline my astonishment
that his ebullience roused at each of our meetings. Talking fast, with
baroque gestures, modulating his voice through inflexions impregnated
with the most diverse connotations – in a Călinescian manner, prolonging
the vowels and even touching high tonalities –, Adrian Marino was a
spectacular and protean character. He made the attempt of remodelling a
historical party, and he set himself to the construction of a Transylvanian
periodical, essential for democratic debate, but mainly he tried to embody
a new personage, neither popular, nor comfortable: the democratic
ideologue of an age which was democratic by construction and which
pretended to be post-ideological.
Today we realize that he succeeded in this metamorphose as
well. Leaving this life, Adrian Marino – the late assistant of Călinescu,
the late Gulag prisoner, the late literary critic and ideologue of our
Europeanness – left behind a vast and complex cultural inheritance,
whose value is difficult for us to estimate at present due to its amplitude
and import.
2. The Marino-Grigurcu dialogue on the European integration
Now, when Adrian Marino has taken leave of us passing into the
pages of the history of our contemporaneous culture, arrives the hour of
the first balanced evaluations of this enormous thinker of the age that we
165
are living in. The preliminaries of such estimation have already
happened. One of the first persons who reflected on the ideas sketched by
Marino in his books and essays spread by reviews was Gheorghe
Grigurcu. His volume În jurul libertăţii (Around Liberty) 1 contains two
significant texts in this order of ideas. Both are polemic commentaries on
the positions illustrated by the author of the manifesto-volume Pentru
Europa (For Europe). 2 Their review justified in the first place by the
sagacity and pertinence of observation, also has the gift of more clearly
highlighting the accents of the ideas of the Europeanist Adrian Marino.
In the essay Orient versus Occident? (East versus West?), 3
Gheorghe Grigurcu observed that the juxtaposition of the two horizontal
extremes of the European continent and civilization, made by the thinker
from Cluj for methodological and stylistic reasons in order to contrast the
discrepancies of the two ways of being European, was not necessarily
adequate. “East and West represent two at least apparently conflicting
impulses of Romanian history.” 4 By this definition Grigurcu placed the
coordinates of our historical development in an idealist, spiritualist
horizon, which almost subsumable to a psychoanalysis of civilization.
Thus, he shifted the discussion on a scale of mega-tendencies which
Marino, the adept of a militant attitude and style, moving exclusively in
the sphere of ideas and referring continuously to pragmatic-factual
reference points, 5 did not consider opportune to attend. He preferred to
define Europe as active ideology and politics, 6 programmatically placing
in parenthesis the ineffable aspects, factually hard to demonstrate,
eventually having metaphysical relevance. Proceeding in this way,
neither of the two authors was wrong; but they did not meet either. The
one preferred to recover the potential unexploited – and even
incriminated – by the other, namely the entire – speculative – scheme of
mechanisms and structures that delineate the manifestations of a
spirituality configured otherwise than the one exhaustible within the
terms of the rational. The other assumed the rigor to speak only of that
which can be proved and of the facts which can be measured by means of
the spirit. We are situated at the meeting point of Enlightenment with
Romanticism, so to speak, in the cultural space crossed by philosophical
1
Gheorghe Grigurcu, În jurul libertăţii, Iaşi, Timpul Publishing House, 2002.
Adrian Marino, Pentru Europa, second, enlarged edition, Iaşi, Polirom, 2005.
3
Pp. 138–144.
4
P. 138.
5
Adrian Marino, Pentru Europa, p. 10.
6
Ibid., p. 11.
2
166
sensibilities such as Giambattista Vico’s, Herder’s, Goethe’s as well as of
other precursors of the orientations that the 19th century was to germinate.
While Marino seemed to be a last adept of the Enlightenment –
metamorphosed, however, into a “paşoptist” inspired by the idea of a
Europe united around the democratic idea based on the radiant
equilibrium of reason –, Gheorghe Grigurcu, who as a lyrical author
could not be unfamiliar with the tremor of the “invisible”, had something
from Hölderlin’s and Novalis’ unappeased appetency towards the
glamour of the classic antiquity remodelled by some sort of totalizing
sensibility. In the text which I have referred to before, Gheorghe Grigurcu
was criticizing the restrictive perspective “characteristic to the
Enlightenment based on the image of an exclusively rational,
administrative, thrifty Europe”. Likewise, in the second text I mentioned,
entitled “Cum putem fi europeni” (How Can We Be Europeans?), 1 he
became much more explicit. The recurrent European Enlightenment – he
said – must be subjected to a critical examination, being characterized by
an “exclusively rationalist discourse that abolishes irrational values:
religion, metaphysics, myth, revelation, the sentiment of tragic, metaphor,
style, etc. namely – creation.” This discourse would hide “the most vivid,
deep and fertile side of the European spirit, the aspect of humanity related
with the absolute.” Forsaking this, integration is limited. Thus we place
ourselves “on the line of a sterile average, of an administrative-cultural
moderateness, encyclopaedically desolate.” The danger would be an
“excess of convenience under which contrarieties smoulder and seeds of
reserves are concealed which will ruthlessly rise up at a given moment”. 2
Rightist culture is also European, expressing values specific to
Europe. One must take into consideration values such as “«mysticism»
and the «nebulous» and the «irrational» and the «experiencing» and
«authenticity» and the «nationalist-intuitive» reflection, without
necessarily being… anti-European, since they manifested themselves in
Europe, in concordance with other tendencies and orientations from other
parts of the continent.” 3 Grigurcu asked himself: “Why should we resort
to a unilateral impoverished Europeanism? Why should we not enhance
the concept with everything that would belong as a value, without
prejudices and aprioristic schemes, to its sphere? Why should we
consider its natural, specific components obstacles?” 4
1
Pp. 163–174.
P. 164.
3
P. 169.
4
P. 170.
2
167
In this way – in Gheorghe Grigurcu’s opinion – Adrian Marino
would mock exactly the “basis of creation and of spiritual life.” The critic
from Târgu Jiu recommended as a remedy the substitution juxtaposition
for complementarity. Whether we like it or not, interferences – otherwise
advantageous – take place anyway. Along the gradual westernization of
the Eastern elite, proclaimed by Marino, the reverse process should also
be seen (“an inhalation of the Eastern spirit, in the spiritual sense, under
the sign of metaphysics and of creation”).
Gheorghe Grigurcu was right in all these. Any diminishing of
the entirety of impulses and manifestations of a Europe in full ebullience
– not, as it was once believed, touched by an irremediable crisis of values
– remains a partial one. However Solomonic might such a judgment
seem, Adrian Marino was not mistaken either. After a century when most
of Europe’s mistakes had been caused by irrationalism, mystical spirit,
and mythologies fuelled by a passéist enthusiasm and an ideologically
manipulated
visionariness,
after
different
combinations
of
authoritarianism and dictatorial tendencies, to prefer a directly and openly
assumed clear rationalism together with a democratic scale of values
became a priority in any case. According Grigurcu, Marino, being
attached to a materialist and pragmatic Europe, was in fact situated in a
symbolic horizon (because synthetic and dichotomic, expressing
everything through one and not through a diversity of features). However,
from all this, the impoverishment of the European model might result.
The central culture, conceived as a solution by Marino, might soon gain
“a centralist atmosphere… monopolist, breaking polycentrism.” 1 At my
turn, I would however not equate the hunt for ideas and the didactic
mission of an enlightened rationalism – as the one practiced by Adrian
Marino – with materialism. As to the mediation between the extremes of
thinking through a formal pondering and through the attachment to the
values of a centrist moderation, we are far, for the moment, from a
possible installation of a tyranny of the petit bourgeois spirit against
which the artistic avant-garde rose once (shifted later in several cases
towards fascism or communism).
Grigurcu formulated punctual objections regarding both the
West and East. If the desecration of the West seemed to be for him a
partial truth, he was positive that neither Russian culture can be excluded
from the European spirit. The critic of boundless Europeanism was not
wrong, the West keeps intact – or at least seems to be apt to reconstitute –
1
P. 174.
168
an attention towards the sacred that seemed to be decreased in the 20th
century on a few sections. Nevertheless, the laicization of the state, a
certain anticlerical and agnostic tradition present on the level of western
political culture in last two decades is unquestionable. Today it proves to
be vigorous enough so that the forging of the new communitarian Europe
should not obsessively depend on the religious confession, and political,
juridical or economical criteria becoming more important in joining the
EU.
What regards Russia, this “other Europe”, which carries on the
Byzantine ecumenist projects in a sense and embraces plenty suggestions
coming from the Asian horizon, if none contests her Europeanism, on the
other hand the Europeanization process can be continued. There are other
obstacles as well in front of a conjunction between Russia and the West;
and they should be discussed separately. Inaugurated in Romania by P. P.
Carp and then continued by Nae Ionescu and D. Gusti, the discussion
deserves to go on due to its particular interest for our geopolitical
evolution.
For the time being I would only say that the debate on European
themes between Adrian Marino and Gheorghe Gricurcu deserves to be
recorded as an invitation to a lucid discussion on the most significant
tendency of the Romanian public life in the post communist period.
3. Adrian Marino’s lights
In Adrian Marino’s book Politică şi cultură. Pentru o nouă
cultură română (Politics and Culture. For a New Romanian Culture) 1 the
present-day reader shall undoubtedly recognize right from the (sub)title a
manifesto signed by the leading critic of the first post-communist decade.
Frankly speaking, hard as one may look around, there is no such a book
in – not at all insignificant – book-production of that period. Neither Ion
Bogdan Lefter’s and Gheorghe Crăciun’s endeavours of elaborating
theories on the margin of literary criticism of the eighties and of other
active contingencies on the active market, nor the excellent literary duels
of Gheorghe Grigurcu, nor other endeavours are equal to the wide
horizons without complexes and the directness lacking complaisance of
the diagnoses and of Marino. What makes the reading of the pages into
an indispensable exercise of the free and powerful spirits is, however, the
short-circuiting tension transmitting the author’s interior rush in settling
1
Adrian Marino, Politică şi cultură. Pentru o nouă cultură română, Iaşi, Polirom
Publishing House, 1995.
169
his accounts with a political era short in cultural achievements, the
feveverish invitation to the crusade aimed at the reconquering of national
dignity in culture.
As the author states in the preface, the book was conceived in
order to continue another volume of essays, not less programmatical. We
are speaking about Pentru Europa. Integrarea României. Aspecte
ideologice şi culturale (1995), which together with Politică şi cultură
constitutes a diptych of Romanian civic and cultural prosperity in a
paradigm of occidentalist syncronism and of critical over-taking, without
concessions, of tradition as a premise to the commitment in great creative
efforts with lasting results. As the author himself qualifies it, it is “a book
fundamentally critical towards the past, profoundly implicated in the
immediate reality and energetically oriented towards the future.” From
this methodical reference to the three temporal modes the rigorous and
systematic spirit of evaluation and projecting is discernible. Marino does
not commit the mistake of so many other confreres of converting one in
the other or of interchanging these. For him the past does not become a
substitute for the present, nor – any the less – for the future. He neither
mistakes the ensuing with the actual moment in an operation so dear to
the utopians. The preparation of future through a good anchoring in the
present, mediated by the selection of the values of the past by means of
reason constituting a valid critical judgment – here it is a program so
much anti-impressionist and coherent, as it is revolutionary in its own
way. Aware of the trump cards of such a position, Marino asserts: “The
actual Romanian culture has a prime necessity for this kind of books as
well, as «personal» as possible. Nonconformist and combative. Welldocumented and proved with arguments. As supple as possible in the
debate of ideas, but intransigent in conclusions. Free, honest, wellintentioned thinking, expressed until the end and without complexes.”
Indeed, by so many characteristics few from the contributions of the last
fifteen years manage to stand against even in part. Even so, they exist and
should not be under-estimated. And on some instant someone might
create a list and discuss them, offering thus the image of a brave
mountaintop in its relative isolation… Marino even proposes his own list
effective around the year 1995. In its content are names like Andrei
Pleşu, H.-R. Patapievici, Alina Mungiu, Gabriel Andreescu, Andrei
Cornea, Sorin Antohi, Stelian Tănase, Dan Pavel. When the other articles
and essays or interviews and answers to the questionnaires scattered by
Adrian Marino through the reviews of the 1995–2000 period was
published, it became clear that the list had changed: some of the
170
mentioned ones leaving it, other newcomers completing it. Just a few
examples, one from the first, the other two from the last category: while
Andrei Pleşu who ran in direct conflicts with the author commented in
this study and was left out, the name of Marta Petreu and probably of
Ruxandra Cesereanu or of the historian Marius Oprea completed –
without exhausting – the anthology from the preface of Politică şi cultură
(Politics and culture).
The situation from that time has changed in any other aspects as
well. Many have grasped the quasi-aphoristic idea of the essayist that “a
project can always be amended and improved. A non-existent project
makes place only to vacuum and total sterility. Only ideas pull us out –
essentially – from nothingness and sub-history.” The idea of
premeditating a track from the end of which to condense the affluence of
revelation of the itinerary through a manifestation in reality of the
invisible object from the intimacy of your imaginative and perseverant
way of thinking is not always a certitude in the life of the surrounding
institutions and characters. But it is certain that at least sometimes, due to
the clearness of formulation and of its classic ostentation, Marino’s
thought has reverberated in the consciences reflecting from these
throughout actions.
There is much truth and intuition also in the view that “…in the
actual state the ideological text – in order to be thoroughly accessible to a
medium level as high and as large as possible – needs to be more than a
mere newspaper publication, but less than an academic study…”
Formulation is a precaution from the panoply of the Enlightenment
practiced by Marino and ironized by others. It would have been perhaps
otherwise if the “Enlightenment” identified here would have benefited by
other readings than the historian ones – which circumscribe only the 18th
century, and seldom the first part of the following decade” – or the
philosophical ones in the line of Habermas. There are countries like
Denmark, where right in the moment I am writing these, the educational
policies identifying the entire life as a map of permanent and diversified
instruction on ample popular dimensions, give incredible results. But
there Gruntvig is not seen as an outdated 20th century personality and the
thought of a golden mediocrity is not instantly qualified either, without
reflection, worthy of contempt, geniality remaining what it is: just a
happy exception. The entire logic is turned over, the solitude sacralized
by the encounter with the great performance being in contrast with the
scheme of a spiritual elevation along the others. Thus instead the
brilliant’s glitter, the diadem is celebrated, the opponent of the unique is –
171
salutary and through the chances of affirmation that it offers to many –
the gearing, the system. And not least of all, the upsurge that generates
competition ceases to be egoist and self-celebrating, being replaced by
generosity and openness.
I never tire of saying: through the concentration of attitudes and
thoughts of great goodwill, perfectly reasonable in superficial context,
exalted, passéist and to a certain degree rather sensationalist and
irrational, Adrian Marino becomes – and has become – a kind of a civicliberal prophet and a democrat intransigent, biting and sagacious. Sooner
or later, someone shall doubtlessly claim his legacy so hastily deserted by
spirits of seeming affinity.
172
Adrian Marino – The Impenitent Critic of Ideas
Constantin M. POPA
Editor in chief of the review “Mozaicul”,
Craiova
Keywords: critic of ideas, paşoptism, “the third discourse”,
Europeanism, censorship, comparative literature, literary criticism,
hermeneutic tradition, popular literature
Abstract
The paper presents the evolution of Adrian Marino’s work from the
monographic volume about Alexandru Macedonski to the impressive six
volume literary encyclopaedia, The Biography of the Idea of Literature.
An uncompromising personality, Adrian Marino was irreversibly
attracted to the concepts of plurality, tolerance, democracy and he never
abandoned the critical spirit. As a critic of ideas he analyzed the
Romanian literary critical, political and cultural tradition and tired to
shape its present and future course according to his liberal and neopaşoptist ideals.
Adrian Marino’s oeuvre is essentially significant through its
multiple layers of reference, and through the spiral of its evolution, with
all the levels and articulations disciplined by the inexhaustible
exploration of the “basic intuitions”.
The two volumes comprising the “Macedonskian monographic
system” (Alexandru Macendonski’s Life and Work) had been devised
before the traumatic experience of the “Gulag” and were published after
1965. These volumes represent a compact literary historical synthesis in
which the biographic “interpretation” attempts to sketch the moral
portrait on a strictly documentary basis and a striving towards
exhaustiveness.
The author’s natural appetence for defining structural antinomies
(the impossibility of reconciliation between reality and dream in the emirpoet’s consciousness), for discovering the ideological principle which
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governed Macedonski’s spirit (paşoptism) 1 , for the method of
delimitations and concentric references on the level of ideas (aesthetic,
political-social, philosophical, etc.) could already be observed in these
early works, but the dismissal of the temptation to follow Călinescu’s
aphoristic formulation was also present in them.
The scholar would continue to seek his own ways, which assure
him the independence and freedom of thinking. The Întroducere în critica
literară (Introduction to Literary Criticism) is more than an academic
treaty. It is a work of critical creation experimenting the technique of
quotes, of “sedimentary reading”, each proposition being richly
illustrated with representative references to both Romanian and foreign
works. This was a subtle way to indicate the need for “new, multilateral,
large, specialized” information in the isolated circumstances of the
Romanian intellectual. The syncretism of the Marinian style was
prefigured in this work; the enumerative structure of sentences described
by Sorin Alexandrescu in terms which denominated the excess: “what
you expected to be reserved, controlled, symmetrical, now turns into a
baroque arborescence, the general outlines are dissolved in the details, the
original work becomes the biography of the work. 2
Adrian Marino, fascinated by Baltasar Gracián – whom he
confessed to have temperamental affinities with – and his Oráculo
manual y arte de prudencia, manifested himself as an essayist of the
alternative complementarity. Indeed, his “travel”-books ¡Olé! España,
Carnete Europene (European Notebooks), Prezenţe româneşti şi realităţi
Europene, (Romanian Presences and European Realities), Evadări în
lumea liberă, (Escapes into the Free World) are, above all, documents of
insubordination and protest against the abnormalities generated by an
oppressive, totalitarian government. Dominantly polemical (liberation
from the “Dinicu Golescu-complex”), these books have an explicit
ideological meaning. The governing idea of these febrile, both descriptive
and analytical confessions is not culture – as one might think at first sight
–, but freedom. Freedom as a mental state. “To have a physical and
intellectual space at your disposal, this is freedom”, Adrian Marino
wrote. To find the “free world” again, but also to find internal freedom; to
1
The ideology of Revolutions of 1848 in the Romanian countries, aiming at the
modernization and Europeanization of Romanian culture, paşopt meaning
patruzeci şi opt, that is forty-eight. (Translator’s note)
2
“Un european: Sir Adrian Marino” (A European: Sir Adrian Marino), In:
Identitate în ruptură, (Identity in Rupture), Bucharest, Univers Publishing House,
2000, p. 112.
174
liberate yourself from any kind of inhibition, to communicate and show
solidarity with the western spirit on the threshold of a century in a “united
Europe” are ideas, obsessions, themes which must also be understood as
acts of resistance to the forms of isolation, autarchy, dirigisme, levelling,
amateurism and improvisation characterizing Romania in the last few
decades.
¡Olé España, reprinted in 1995, remained an exciting confession
of these intense struggles. The inevitably bookish contact with the Iberian
space was completed with experiences searched for in the social and
human sphere. Marino used to dive under smooth surfaces. His favourite
milieu was always a closed space (although he did not avoid the crowded
streets, the exuberance of market places, in a word, the rhythm of
everyday life): a hotel room, the reading room of the library, the home of
an acquaintance, the solemn interior of a museum. The eye attentively
records the mechanisms of everyday existence without being greatly
surprised; the course of life is dominated by the discipline of culture. In
contrast with this vital stability is the tension full off expectation; the eye
discovers the precise intention in the accidental gesture, the cowardice
under the deceptive mask of conformism and it transforms the glide on
the smooth surface of appearances into a sharp descent into the depth of
things.
Past and present are connected through the continuity of
reflection, through the power of resistance, through the loyalty towards
oneself. Ingenious dialogues in a passionate tone reveal – beyond a strong
vitality – an acutely vulnerable, lively responsiveness irradiating
everything related to the actual course of the world and its problems.
Although the author did not intend it so, his personal diary
turned into “literature” instantaneously, the “essay” becoming alterity
exactly through the enthusiasm of participation, through the exemplarity
of the reactions, and through the authenticity of perception, in this case –
as we have stated – essentially ideological. Giving account of the “things
one has seen” implies assuming the full responsibility of a free
conscience.
Particular existence was metamorphosed into meditation and
“text”. No matter how “personal”, this expressed nothing but an inquiry
after the sense of actuality, an orientation in the everyday life
fictionalized in this way. Despite his intentions, the protagonist became a
character after all. He could not evade the “autobiographical pact”. The
spirit of Spain entered him with its aridity and grandeur, with its
asceticism and full pomposity. Established in an almost abstract space of
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dissociations, Adrian Marino – who is in fact a moralist –, praised the
Spanish gravity and seriousness, observing adequately: “the Spaniard
does not have a symbolist vocation. He does not study the nuances, does
not accept half-measures and he always carries his things through.” This
assertion – polemicizing subsidiarily with our endemic superficiality and
irresponsibility – defines in fact this Romanian intellectual, who was
among the firsts who recognized in this country that succeeding and
gaining competence and a Romanian personality on a European level,
means “fighting, first of all, through yourself and for yourself”. Unlike
Julien Green, Adrian Marino could say at any time: he was exactly the
man of the journal he wrote.
Julien Benda in La Trahison des clercs demanded detachedness
and superior wisdom of the intellectual, qualities which should give
weight to his words. Assuming his singularity represented for Adrian
Marino his ontological condition itself. He acknowledged no “mentor”,
and did not consider himself the part of any institutional system. He did
not follow a particular direction, though he invented – as we shall see – a
tradition for himself. He had his own ideas and wisdom, his favourite
books and personalities, his myths. He had the reputation of an
uncomfortable personality, though he did many good deeds. His humane
side is completely revealed in the “duplex” Al treilea discurs. Cultură,
ideologie şi politică în România. Adrian Marino în dialog cu Sorin
Antohi, (The Third Discourse. Culture, Ideology and Politics in Romania.
Adrian Marino in Dialogue with Sorin Antohi).
Without being very numerous, books of conversation (the type
Alexandru Paleologu – Stelian Tănase, Petru Dumitriu – Eugen Simion,
Adrian Severin – Gabriel Andreescu, or Vladimir Tismăneanu – Mircea
Mihăieş) essentially belong to the autobiographical discourse, and can be
associated with the trend imposed in the Romanian literature of the last
decade: the trend of confessions. The availability for dialogue in Adrian
Marino’s case became an opportunity to interpret the experienced reality,
and especially to promote – as a challenge – a set of principles, themes,
crucial points, and virtualities belonging to his neo-paşoptist orientation.
His interlocutor, Professor Sorin Antohi, the one who had launched the
formula “the third discourse”, made this expression into a systematic
ideological construction placed under the sign of the alternative. He
instinctively resisted the temptation of monopolizing the conversation
(how harmful this temptation can be we have seen in the case of the
Liiceanu – Cioran “duplex”), accepting the dialogue as an intercessory
exercise.
176
The biography of Adrian Marino [Autoportret cu societate,
(Self-portrait with Society)] is the history of permanent redefinition,
perpetual entrenching in the armour of his work, overwhelming for those
who intend to question his bibliographic existence. Directly, colloquially,
following plain sincerity, the solitary scholar revealed his intellectual
identity marked by appetence for the criticism of ideas – a yet marginal,
“exotic” domain, taking into consideration the traditional Romanian
preoccupations. Present in the public sphere, after 1989, the literary
hermeneutist validated the conscience of civic duty through direct
implication into social and political life. Disappointments, disgraceful
moments, adversities appeared. This also explains why the strategies of
recrimination were resorted to. They became relevant not as much in
particular situations (Mr. Alecu, this “Maurice Chevalier of the Romanian
essay” suspected to have “just lectures, but not studies”), but more in the
general horizon of ideas, which in the spirit of the “third discourse”
denotes – “positive detachedness”.
Marino observed and bluntly reported the ambiguities, errors,
betrayals and infamies of his age. His experiences (from the homo
captivus to the homo viator) mostly free of the dross of resentments
passed over the contingent and retrieved exemplarity. The turns of the
dialogue, natural and unavoidable in a debate (resonant but also retaining
the beneficial aggressiveness of a case that requires to be communicated)
regarding “Romania and the West”, the aspirations of the present day
Romanian culture or the relationship between society and politics were
supervised by a rigorous, rational authority which imposed coherence in
the name of the main idea: “the third discourse”. On the other hand, each
chapter is followed by an analytical summary, speaking of its wideranging and poignant approaches. Here are some conversational
“themes”: “From Thracians to Romanians: the Persistence of
Deficiencies”, “Resistance through Culture?”, “A Professional”,
“Rejecting the Hierarchies”, “The Marino Archive”, “The Gaol: a Liberal
Spirit between the Legionaries and the Communists”, “Can G. Călinescu
Be Translated?”, “«Culturally Colonized». Romanian Encyclopaedic
Traditions”, “Foreigners’ View about us”, “Professional Relationships
with Foreign Researchers around Étiemble”, “The Noica «School»
Initiatory Groups. Compromise and Collaboration in Communism”, “Life
in Cluj”, “Our Political Class”, “The Myth of Master Manole in a
Folkloric Reservation”, etc.
Adrian Marino was irreversibly attracted to the concepts of
plurality, tolerance, democracy, never deserting the critical spirit. Rarely
177
did his way of thinking offer the surprise of subjective evaluations (the
“irremediable” regionalism of the society in Cluj, the “modern versions”
of the paşoptist heroines, the obduracy of invoking undeserved
friendships), because the majority of the hypotheses of the projective
scenario project were aimed at the categorial, the duration and the
efficiency of the transposition into act.
The analysis of the Romania from that time was equivalent to an
ideological reading, having as coordinates “the profound bolshevization
of the Romanian nation”, the mediocrity of our political class, “the
national defects”, the role of intellectuals and of civil society, the fate of
the political prisoner and the negative image of a “culture of publicists
and poets”. All these were acknowledged to be “obsessions” of the
rationalist’s existence, who simultaneously pleaded for a Romanian and a
European future, for the creative emulation, respectively for a nonepigonic, and firmly edified culture without complexes. To connect your
name to great syntheses, to reference works, was the message of Adrian
Marino, the critic of ideas to the new generation: “Young publicists, do
write articles, but, in the same time, focus also on two-three fundamental
problems, which you would like to solve! There are several extremely
interesting issues in Romanian culture which deserve your attention.
Study the sources, enter the libraries, and do not confine yourselves to the
commentary of the latest book published! Unfortunately, newly published
books need presentation for reasons of advertising. However, criticism
cannot be made only through literary chronicles focusing on the present.
Literary criticism does not operate like this in western countries!” The
“Manifesto” to the youth has obviously a grave tone, but also a tinge of
compliant quixotism, both characteristic to the elaborator of ideas.
The third discourse contained a neo-paşoptist ideological
message which had as an aim to put an end to Romania’s isolation by
giving up the servile attitude towards the West as well as the nationalist
and protochronistic autochthonism. We have the possibility to build a
country due to the fact that – as Catherina Durandin said – “in Romania
the 1848 Revolution has not been finished even to this day”. Adrian
Marino’s liberal creed is obvious and it belongs to a larger context. The
question of European integration dominated the movement of ideas in
these years, and expressed essentially the awareness – as much as there is
– of our identity.
Adrian Marino was probably the most suitable person to survey
the present through an ideological approach also within the field of
political science. He accomplished a construction in which Europeanism
178
appeared as a highly complex notion, Revenirea în Europa (Return to
Europe), along with Pentru Europa (For Europe) and Politică şi cultură
(Politics and Culture), elaborating a corpus and clearly expressing his
ideological program. The author remained the same from one book to the
other, steadily maintaining his options and attitudes. Therefore, as these
options and attitudes were quite numerous and profound, we can talk
about the existence of a consequent creed.
Revenirea în Europa (Return to Europe) proposed a structural
ideological outlook upon a set of European political ideas characteristic
to the Romania of the 1990–1995’s in its most pregnant aspects. These
were sometimes exaggerated and full of controversies, but they always
maintained their actuality, due to their enormous importance.
Anthologizing the texts of the over eighty authors who expressed their
opinion in the European question, Adrian Marino set up a genuine debate
in the five sections of the book (“What is Europe?”, “Romania and the
European Integration”, “Romania Between East and West”, “Pros and
Cons for the European Idea”, “Romanian Actions for Europe”) the
protagonist of which turned out to be Romania instead of Europe. For the
emergency of the Euro-Atlantic integration was, indeed, an absolute
priority. Obviously, in about fifty years, one can read the pages of this
volume as an ideological novel and be seduced by the ingenuity of
“direction”, by the acuity of “editing”, which did their utmost to maintain
permanently the tension of ideas. Everything became literature and
Adrian Marino knew this the best. However, today the actions must be
viewed in their immediate context.
Unavoidably, the selected texts, opinions are unequal in quality.
Besides important names, occasional or totally obscure publicists appear
as well. In their texts rigorous analysis was substituted for slogans and
emotional attitudes. Nevertheless, the book as a whole remains all the
more significant, being the document of Romanian public opinion, of the
reactions to the European idea.
Romania’s status is controversial, polemically argued, and the
pros and cons were balanced by the author of the book who remained
objective, listening to each party. This fact does not mean that his
position is eluded or ambiguous. On the contrary, it is firmly asserted:
“Though I declared myself openly – and a long time ago – a convinced
and resolute partisan of Romania’s European integration on every level, I
am not hindered by this to see at the same time, with widely open eyes
the surrounding reality: the difficulties of our country’s European
179
integration are especially high.” 1 This is an invitation to a professional,
systematic, radical analysis – basically an invitation to normality. It is a
superior ideological measure that reveals the morality of the thinker, a
model for any authentic intellectual situated in a fluid and still equivocal
political milieu. The critic of ideas was aware of the risk he took, but, at
the same time, he was also aware of the therapeutic value of the harsh
lucidity able to produce fundamental changes. The return to Europe
means the reaffirmation of a usurped belonging (“irrevocably RomanianEuropeans with a double spiritual-cultural inheritance and identity) and
the (economical, political, social, cultural) reintegration of our country
into the European system of institutions and values.
We should not forget an extremely important fact: Adrian
Marino is not a politician, but a political scientist, a thinker, a
theoretician. The issues of Romania, liberty, democracy, liberalism are
the parts of a vast research program. 2
Censorship is a subject belonging to this program and it does not
comply with any superficial or comfortable game of the historical or
morphological dimensions. On the contrary, having flirted with the
dogmatic pedantries, bureaucratically increasing very quickly, virulent,
exclusivist and institutionalized by equivalent gestures, censorship
sacrifices to its greed new and new victims by sealing a tenebrous pact
with the religious or worldly power. Instead of guarding the purity of
ideas, it watches with perverse mystic fervour over the stability of an
inclement tyrannical authority, which feels the threat of mutinous
thinking – emblem of a fantasizing and humble liberty.
This was the milieu of Adrian Marino’s new project of idea
criticism, prefigured by the volume Cenzura în România. Schiţă istorică
introductivă, (Censorship in Romania. Introductory Historical Sketch).
This “colonist”, who – as it was brilliantly said by Monica Spiridon –
cultivated, enclosed and parcelled out the austere and arid field of ideas
on his own, forcing it to bear fruits, was trying to rediscover the ways of
the “freedom of thought and expression”, which had been continuously
repressed by the more or less totalitarian prohibitions, deforesting,
through the luxurious branches of some inextricable theoretical
implications, the autochthon tradition of a long resistance to oppression.
The “Introduction”, claiming the importance of the undertaking, fixes the
1
Adrian Marino, Revenirea în Europa, Craiova, Aius, 1996, p. 195.
See Cristian Preda, „Contra – cultura neopaşoptistă” (“Contra – Neo-paşoptist
culture”), in: 22, no. 16, 2001, p. 13.
2
180
coordinates of the future ideological edifice, undoubtedly ambitious,
integrative and polemic.
The historical projection of the forms of censorship operating in
the Romanian space highlights on the one hand the essential similarities
with the “captive thought” in Europe, and on the other hand, the specific
particularities.
The “beginnings” of censorship were related to religion in our
country. Twenty years after the establishment in the Catholic countries of
the famous Index librorum prohibitorum, it was applied in Transylvania
as well – the “heretic” books being strictly controlled in the case of the
Jesuit College from Cluj (1579). The orthodox version of censorship was
based on a Slavonic index translated around the middle of the 17th
century under a more than significant title, Cărţile cele mincinoase, pe
care nu se cade a le ţinea şi a le citi drept credincioşii Hristiani (The
untruthful books, that are not befitting to be kept and to be read by true
Christians). Its aim was to fight against the Catholic and Protestant
proselytism.
The first list of banned publications to be made up on Romanian
territory was elaborated in the 18th century in Transylvania (thus the
Batthyaneum Library from Alba Iulia was purged). The Romanian
“samizdat”, considered to be “extremely dangerous” by the Habsburg
authorities as it propagated the ideas of the French Revolution, appeared
also in this century. In an age when the restrictive mentality is getting
harsher, in Moldova and in Walachia the climate of illuminated
absolutism had a favourable impact as the monopoly of clerical
censorship was abolished; though this did not mean the liberalization of
book trade. However, didactical materials were free to publish.
The restrictive nature always represents the nucleus of the
various particular historical configurations that censorship takes on. “The
19th century – the author remarked – is in all respects decisive for the
theory and practice of censorship in the Romanian countries, for the
grandeur and decadence of these repressive forms of European
importance and actuality.” 1
It is worth mentioning that in Transylvania the spirit of
organization and control had methods of extreme intolerance and
harshness. Adrian Marino recorded some paradigmatic cases for the “law
of progressive aggravation from the centre to periphery”. Censors
1
Adrian Marino, Cenzura în România (Censorship in Romania), Craiova, Aius,
2000, p. 25.
181
revealed an excess of zeal towards Gheorghe Şincai or Petru Maior. The
latter was put into the ambiguous situation of “censored – censor” and
was compelled to obey the servitude of an unenviable profession.
The institution of censorship underwent radical changes and
oscillating dynamics in the Romanian countries, where under the Russian
occupation and with the introduction of the Organic Regulations (1831–
1832) censorship turned into a “natural” instrument of political power. As
an analyst, Adrian Marino enumerated the characteristic traits of an
intransigent, police-like system of supervision: bureaucracy and
centralization, “vigilance”, the use of some procedures which would
make a career (elimination and modification of titles, words, entire
passages, banning of entire books, drawing up “black lists”, the
appearance of “informers”, withdrawing from “circulation”). As it
appears, this was an arsenal of means and a repressive language, which
were generally present after 23 August 1944. Other important moments
in the evolution of censorship were the Revolutions of 1848 and the
union of Moldova and Walachia in 1859. A “press law” appeared, and
simultaneously the first press trials in the Principalities were started. (C.
D. Aricescu, B. P. Hasdeu, Al. Macedonski, G. Panu etc.). Freedom of
expression was considered to be a right, and in 1884 I. C. Brătianu
declared press to be the “fourth power in the state”.
The 20th century was characterized by absurd incongruities as
regards the expression of the idea of freedom. Censorship would become
the regime of shameful, occasionally criminal inequities, induced by wars
and dictatorships. One can reflect upon the first trial of
“collaborationism” (1919) Ioan Slavici, A. de Herz, Dem Teodorescu and
Tudor Arghezi being accused; or upon the scandals provoked when
writers such us Geo Bogza, Felix Aderca, H. Bonciu or Mircea Eliade
were accused for writing obscene, “pornographic” texts (in Eliade’s case
the novel Domnişoara Christina [Miss Cristina] being labelled as such!).
In such cases the political connotations are obvious.
A separate chapter evokes the new structures of totalitarian
censorship in two equally noxious forms: fascist-Antonescian and
communist. The methods of communist censorship – inspired by the
soviet model – improved in accordance with the ideological imperatives
of the epoch and as the policy of the unique party changed. Adrian
Marino described the Romanian writers’ special attitudes to censorship,
outlining eight typical situations in gradual order, from the “deletion” of a
passage, a chapter, a poem from a volume, to the loss of the right to
signature or the total and final ban of some authors.
182
The theoretician could not overlook the works which reflect
upon and classify censorship as a historical manifestation, successively
actualizing the stricter and stricter criteria and norms of repression. In this
sense the typology proposed by Matei Călinescu was appreciated. This
typology is speculatively built on three levels: pre-censorship (“which
includes the totality of pressures on an author, its most important aspect
being self-censorship”), censorship (“official, repressive, censorship in
the traditional sense of the word”) and post-censorship (“the unhappy
conscience of the «approved» author, who blames himself”).
In this pioneering work following the destiny of the Book in
conditions of ideological, political and – in our days – economical
aggression, there is no room for details. The alert narration, the “dry,
informative, summarizing” style are able to configure a hardly studied
phenomenon. We have yet to speak about the chapter dealing with the
insidious forms of censorship in the period following the Revolution of
1989, which is essential, as tension of experience, to the future
construction attempting to demonstrate the “historic tradition of the idea
of liberty” in the Romanian culture as a form of opposition to the
“initializing, guru, «Upanishad»”-type teachings, and, in general, to any
dogmatic-traditionalistic exaggeration.
Though tempted by the confrontation with the act of
deconstructing a theoretical model, in our opinion the “oriented” search
of the amplitude of a comparative-integrative knowledge about culture
can be much more advantageous; without this it is impossible to
understand the Romanian cultural personality. Because, we must admit,
Adrian Marino remains the great critic of ideas creating a new
hermeneutical system based on the comprehension of literature as a
critical history of literary ideas, essentially convergent with the
preoccupations to place the Romanian literature within European and
universal coordinates. His intention rests on an extremely original
synthesis of structural, hermeneutic and model theory (Peter Wunderli)
elements.
“Elements” of a hermeneutic thinking (interpretative event and
exigency of “comprehension”) characterize the author of the Dictionarul
de idei literare (Dictionary of Literary Ideas), both in the period of
critical re-evaluations when he re-read the Opera lui Alexandru
Macedonski (The Work of Alexandru Macedonski), and in the prestigious
comparativist syntheses Littérature roumaine. Littératures occidentals.
Rencontres, Étiemble ou le comparatisme militant and Comparatisme et
théorie de la littérature. The latter, written in French, published in 1988
183
by the “Presses Universitaires de France” and translated into Romanian
ten years later 1 continued the attempt to renew the comparativist science
launched in Étiemble ou le comparatisme militant, proposing as a
substitute for traditional positivism – evidently in crisis – a genuine
theoretical orientation, destined to ensure real autonomy for the discipline
in conformity with the idea of the universality of literature. The change of
perspective was thought “from within” and it belonged to a “reformist”
action that had protagonists such as René Étiemble, René Wellek, or
more recently Haskell M. Block, Guy Lafleche and others. The centre of
Marino’s theory was the concept of the invariant: “The invariant imposes
the definition and illustration of the permanent, of the essential and
through this of the universality of literature. It is the key-element of
theoretic comparatism”, concluded the author. 2
Thus, through the establishment of comparativist poetics,
comparative literature was separated from the sphere of canonized
literary criticism and history. It became an independent field of study,
with a precise object and a specific method.
Adrian Marino tried to prevent the inherent misunderstandings,
confusions, complexes, objections and criticisms provoked by this
undertaking, uncomfortable for the conformist, dogmatic, frivolous
spirits. The bibliographic apparatus – we shall talk about it below –
impressive through its dimensions and comprehensiveness exceeds the
usual extent of a system of references, of a single “file” of problems
being rather the “documentary infrastructure” of the hermeneutic
approach in this veritable organon for the use of comparatists. We must
underline the use of the mechanisms of the preconception, and of the
adequate reading techniques. For the “comparative method” claimed by
the “new paradigm”, can operate effectively only if it adopts a
hermeneutical epistemology. If the definition of comparative literature
and poetics is based on the existence of universal literature consisting of
each nation’s literature, small and large, (the Goethean Weltliteratur),
which is identical with literature itself – as Marino claimed –, then the
deciphering of general significations presupposes “simultaneous
reading”, the inductive-deductive examination of the literary field, the
analysis of facts indispensably being followed by a final synthesis.
Besides, a comparative study requires: that the texts should be analyzed
depending on the correlation between part and whole; a typological
1
2
Adrian Marino, Comparatism şi teoria literaturii, Iaşi, Polirom, 1998.
Ibid. p. 66.
184
approach; the valorisation of the model; that the indications of analogy
and similarity, as well as the re-actualized method of parallels and
comparison should be used; a phenomenological description; and finally
the “crucible” of verification, all the more efficient, as the coherence and
clarity of the scheme and of the hermeneutical “circuits” are more
obvious. The focal point of the work is a possible definition of
comparative literariness. On theoretical level the problem of literariness
(the “aporia” of literariness) is formulated in the following way: “Let us
admit that the ensemble of national literatures, in other words, universal
literature forms a single world literature, which is in fact mistaken for
literature. Thus literature becomes a total, general and structurally
uniform reality, being the spatial and temporal dimension of literariness.
It forms a «system», whose «model» shall become the model of
literariness. 1
Expressing the very same neo-paşoptist program, this book, a
true rarity in our culture in lack of a significant tradition of literary
theory, ends with a credo: “A literary «universality» specifically
localized in time and space and formulated with all the possible
«personality». This is and remains our essential objective.”
Adrian Marino’s hermeneutics, beside the Dictionary and his
works of comparative literature is configured in Hermeneutica lui Mircea
Eliade (Mircea Eliade’s Hermeneutics) (the reconstruction of an
empirical model), Hermeneutica ideii de literatură (The Hermeneutics of
the Idea of Literature) and Biografia ideii de literatură (The Biography of
the Idea of Literature). This works approach pollemically the modern
hermeneutical formulations, namely Hans-Georg Gadamer’s Wahrheit
und Methode, Paul Ricoeur’s Le conflit des intérpretations, or Emilio
Betti’s Teoria generale della interpretatione. Certainly, the number of
references is enormous; in Adrian Marino’s case the ritual of erudition is
fascinating; the critical references being more than a simple “base”, they
are an essential section of the argumentation.
Marino’s “idea books” must be connected with the wish to
liberate criticism from the tutelage of positivism and impressionism, and
to make it into a relevant discipline including both “exegesis” and its
historical integration into comprehension itself (Wirkungsgeschichte).
More simply, the historical life of the idea of literature (The Biography)
consists of its textual development in different languages and cultural
contexts. It offers the historic documentary raw material which can be
1
Ibid., p. 212.
185
verified. The Hermeneutics had the role to interpret this material, to
observe the recurrences, to arrange them into “models”. The Biography
offered a domain of observation; The Hermeneutics detects a sense, an
interior “logic”.
Adrian Marino was in quest of his family of affinities and
correspondences (with the confessed intention of integration) establishing
a Romanian hermeneutical tradition. It was an act of retrieval, which
implied access into the areas of primordial depths, into the world of
hyerophanies, in order to decrypt “meanings” and “significations”
through the precursors’ capacity of metaphoric, symbolic or cosmogonic
thinking. The “invention” of a hermeneutic tradition was based on
autochthonous initiatives, such as: Trilogia cunoaşterii (The Trilogy of
Knowledge) by Lucian Blaga, Dimensiunea românească a existenţei
(The Romanian Dimension of Existence) by Mircea Vulcănescu,
Nostalgia paradisului (The Nostalgia of Paradise) by Nichifor Crainic,
Devenirea întru fiinţă (Becoming in-to Being) Constantin Noica, and the
Mircea Eliade’s works, “initiatory” sources for any elaboration of an
interpretative structure.
Before turning into a system of incorruptible geometries,
Marino’s hermeneutics was par excellence creative due to its openness.
The “system” permanently formulated and reformulated itself in
a process of superior adjustment of thinking to “behaviour” and practical
experience. The ontological represented a perpetual “initial point”, the
starting point of an undertaking that affected the whole life of literature
and required the “being” of the idea on multiple levels, aspiring towards
the same objective: the accomplishment of a model.
The six volumes of The Biography of the Idea of Literature, a
really encyclopaedic work, are developed on two axes: one which
accumulates and systematizes the conceptual formation through
definitions of literature having a biographic character, and another
etymologically oriented, having as an aim to clarify the invariants of the
same idea. In the dispute of the “quasi-metaphysic essentialists” with the
“pragmatic functionalists”, Marino proposed the nominalistic solution
based on the textual reality of the notions defining literature.
The “ages” of the idea of literature are submitted to a spectral
analysis beginning with Antiquity, a globalizing and universalistic period,
followed by the Middle Ages and Renaissance, when the polarity of
sacred/profane determined the use of some more and more differentiated
acceptations of literature, then the Baroque, the Enlightenment (the
ideologization of literature took place), the 19th century, a century of
186
rupture, in which the “meanings of the idea of literature become
divergent and the differences explosive”, and finally, the 20th century
being marked hereditarily by the crisis of the idea of literature.
The apparently arid space of definitions seems to be endangered
– after the routes of literary ideology have been walked over – by the
temptation of easily symmetrical oppositions and of comfortable
dichotomies. This, however, is out of the question. The suspected –
premature and conspiratorial – relaxations are disproved by the polemic,
implacable, lively pulse of the construction. Let us dwell on the
discussion referring to the concepts of national literature and universal
literature, being in a particular tension due to the complexity of the
ideological, politic, social and cultural context characterizing the 20th
century. If the evidence that national identity is given in the first place by
linguistic identity is generally accepted, difficulties arise as regards the
theoretical reflection due to the ambiguities generated by a dynamic
reality, tributary to political interferences (exacerbation of nationalism).
Therefore, some traditional concepts must be radically reformulated, “the
«national» soliloquy tending more and more to be replaced by the
«international» dialogue”. The appearance of a new type of writers, who
assumed a double identity – national and supranational –, illustrates the
most important changes in the 20th century literary consciousness. The
author convincingly demonstrates that one can simultaneously be
“Romanian”, “European”, and “universal”.
The analysis of the present time literary phenomenon outlines –
among other aspects – two representative situations: the substitution of
Euro-centrism for polycentrism (“polysystem theory”) and the
questioning of institutionalized canons.
Adrian Marino made another assertion that sounded like heresy:
just like the concepts national and international literature, the idea of
popular literature had an important, spectacular evolution. It evolved
from the traditional “folkloric” meaning to acceptations defined through
the ideas of mass literature, subliterature and paraliterature. With these
we enter again a virgin field, since there are no anterior Romanian
references that are worth remembering.
Referring to literature, society and ideology, the critic of ideas
explained the appearance of mass literature, a new concept “historically
dated, product of the generalization of the 20th century mass society.” Its
essential characteristics would be: the amount of literary production, its
great success and wide-ranging audience. The value of a book is
equivalent with its spreading and advertising (Robert Escarpit). People
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talk more and more about the “industry of literature”, “market”,
“business”. Literature is a specific commercial product, and the book
becomes “merchandise”. Submitted to standardization and exploited in
the media, mass literature has become a diabolical ideological and
propagandistic instrument “praised as a form of manipulation of great
«revolutionary» effectiveness on the one hand, and criticized as an
instrument of alienating the masses on the other hand.” 1 The
development of mass culture and the increasing role of media probably
mark, with all their incalculable consequences, “the most profound
«cultural revolution» of the 20th century.”
The idea of literary value being in crisis official concepts have
been repudiated and substituted with negative notions. Thus we face the
formation of a new reality dominated by subliterature, paraliterature,
antiliterature; a phenomenon which, accepted volens nolens, presupposes
that “inferior” literary genres are rehabilitated, hierarchies become
relative, and the literary art receives a new status.
The first and only literary encyclopaedia in our culture is
finished with a big question mark generated by the statement according to
which as we cannot talk about the entropy of literature, “one can talk
about non-literature, anti-literature too only in purely theoretical,
speculative, hypothetical terms which cannot be verified in the
immediate, current reality of literature”. 2
1
Adrian Marino, Biografia ideii de literatură, vol. V, Cluj-Napoca, Dacia
2
Adrian Marino, Biografia ideii de literatură, vol. VI, Cluj-Napoca, Dacia
188
Under the Zodiac Sign of the Alternative
An Aest(ethic)al Alternative Model
Monica SPIRIDON
Faculty of Letters,
Department of Communication and Public Relations,
University of Bucharest
Keywords: alternative, idea of literature, comparative literature, culture
and politics, militancy, utopia, Republic of Letters
Abstract
Adrian Marino’s life and scientific activity seems to have been marked by
the zodiac sign of the alternative. He elaborated a challenging
encyclopaedic construction dealing with the notion of literature (The
Hermeneutics of the Idea of Literature, The Biography of the Idea of
Literature, The Dictionary of Literary Ideas) and adopted an alternative
method for the study of comparative literature. Being an adept of
alternatives and relativistic thinking, he defied the uniformity and
authoritarian character of the communist regime and managed to become
an independently thinking professional.
Though a great scholar, Marino considered important not to
neglect activity for the sake of theory: he endeavoured to reconcile
culture and politics trying to reform both and emphasizing their
complementarity. His oeuvre had both a militant and a utopian aspect.
His works, outlining a pro-European and pro-democratic system
of values, made him a true citizen of the Republic of Letters of his age.
In the course of time we have become accustomed to regard
Adrian Marino as a devotee of far-reaching critical projects. Methodically
built on the basis of theoretical hypotheses solid as ferro-concrete, and
finalized with an enviable effectiveness, these projects seemed to
contradict the ethnic fatality of the abandoned, unfinished wall. 1 The
1
Allusion to the Romanian folk poem, Monastirea Argeşului (The Monastery on
the Argeş River) narrating the story of the architect Manole, the builder of the
monastery who had to sacrifice his wife walling her into the church in order to
finish the beautiful building on a place where an unfinished and abandoned wall
stood before. (Translator’s note.)
189
hermeneutist strived to accomplish a challenging encyclopaedic
construction comprising various fields and dealing with the nebulous
notion currently called by us literature and with its dynamics in European
culture [Hermeneutica ideii de literatură (The Hermeneutics of the Idea
of Literature), Biografia ideii de literatură I-VI (The Biography of the
Idea of Literature I-VI), Dicţionar de idei literare (The Dictionary of
Literary Ideas)]. Drawing into its gravitational field a sequence of
independent studies with different atmosphere, the monograph on
Etiemble (Etiemble et le comparatisme militant), contributed to the
reanimation of comparative literature studies in a moment when this
discipline was emerging with difficulty from a long lethargic period.
Finally, he elaborated a massive synthesis focusing on Mircea Eliade
[Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade (Mircea Eliade’s Hermeneutics)]. This
gathers the heteroclite intellectual data about a protean and controversial
character in a convincing case study.
In parallel with the daily work on large ‘academic building
sites’, during the era of communist dictatorship, Adrian Marino published
– under the frivolous disguise of some journey-notes – fragments from
what seemed to be a systematic subterranean meditation on the condition
of culture in the present world. After 1990, two revelatory volumes
confirmed such a supposition, displaying the missing details of the figure
on the carpet. They completed the perspective by contextualizing the
ideas of the man of letters Adrian Marino, adding to it an explicit
intellectual credo.
Seen globally and retrospectively, Adrian Marino’s writings
emphasize the basic options of a critic, for whom the ultimate aim of
literature is always beyond literature itself in the cultural and the
ideological. From a more general point of view, the convergent
orientation of Adrian Marino’s cultural heritage is striking. The way in
which this heritage was devised and formulated illustrates alike a model
of the Alternative. I mean that in Marino’s system of values, the
alternative way became the legitimizing principle.
One of the most dangerous consequences of the totalitarian
conception is that the power must always have the last and decisive word
in all domains. According to Adrian Marino, relativistic thinking,
alternatives and dilemmas are among the most dangerous adversaries of
the totalitarian spirit. The intellectual’s natural opposition to the terror
gains the aspect of tenacious action, beginning with alternative options to
the canons and the norms in use; not a sterile, disintegrating refusal, but
an edifying solution which changes opposition to deeds.
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What else is, basically, the criticism of the idea of literature, the
way in which the author of the Hermeneutics and the Biography projected
it? Let us admit that in the beginning even the severest literary
theoreticians might have considered the view of this work eccentric. It
was persistently pleading for heretic hypotheses and was justifying
unacceptable reforms.
Its aim was to make us admit, for example, that the literal has an
original ascendancy over the literary. To make us find comfort in the idea
that the aesthetic is only an accidental and late aspect of literariness. To
make us consider the most daring campaigns for the renewal of creation
through belligerency a simple selective actualization of the virtualities
already inventoried in the genetic matrix of the notion of literature.
Finally, as if all these did not suffice, it would make us admit that our
everyday literature is not the privileged chapter of culture. And where the
situation seems to be like this, we plunge into the pathologic; more
precisely, into the disease – endemic to our culture – of abusive
literarization of some autonomous neighbouring domains.
If we change perspective turning to the field of comparative,
literature, we shall discover the same paradigm of the alternative. Adrian
Marino was among those who insistently proposed a radical reform in
this domain. His counter-offer suggested the replacement of the shortsighted traditional positivism with a theory-centred orientation with
nominalistic nuances. This would mean to abandon the hunt for
influences and instead to identify the universals, the recurrences, the
speculative topoi with intensive circulation. Therefore he supported here
an ecumenism able to overturn the meaning of the frustrating polarity
central/peripheral and to transform culture into a market of values with
free circulation in any direction.
We could continue to enumerate the domains placed by the
intellectual Adrian Marino under the Zodiac Sign of the Alternative. It
would eventually extend from the direction of culture towards life.
Even Adrian Marino’s – now definitively rounded – biography
opposed the universe of communist concentration camps, and did not
allow itself to be assimilated by it. The former inhabitant of the
autochthon Gulag, who after detention received a bounty of house arrest
in Bărăgan, found a way of defying the official path that should have
been followed. Adrian Marino made a career as a professional, in the
strictest literal meaning of the word.
It is to be noted, however, that the advocate of the alternative did
not lose sight of the inherent risks: “Since we did not intend to offer an
191
idyllic picture of the aspects of the actual Romanian culture, we do not in
the least mean to idealize the alternative culture – declared the author at a
given moment. Its original vice or sin is ambiguity.”
The above mentioned danger is rooted in the synonymy between
the principle of the alternative and a concept which can be and is
manipulated – through its nature – in opposite directions: the absolute
theoretical and practical freedom. In the communist society, but
unfortunately also in the Western consumer democracies the principle of
liberty was sometimes skilfully manoeuvred to the point when people
turned against it. What is more, protests always have a double edge, as
they can be retrieved, moderated, reduced to stereotypes, to clichés and –
why not? – they can be transformed into saleable goods. (I would add that
no one understood this mechanism better than a theoretician of the avantgarde such as Adrian Marino.)
Another constant of Adrian Marino’s system of thinking was the
equation postulated between the cultural and the political. Continuing for
a moment the former order of ideas, it can be said that the alternative
“Culture or Politics?” (obsessive in our culture) is replaced by an
alternative complementarity between the cultural and the political.
Moreover, it requires a concerted reform of both terms.
In Adrian Marino’s opinion the reinvention of Romanian liberal
democracy would be the number one political problem. In this respect the
intellectual from Cluj had an exhaustive programme within his reach. I
am going to stop only at some of his important results. Among these, the
normalization of the political vocabulary, firstly through the
rehabilitation of certain terms, demonized by communism, such as
bourgeoisie, middle class, private property, capitalism, privatization, free
market, stock-market, bankruptcy, etc. (Political semantics is an
indispensable instrument for diagnosing the state of facts everywhere in
the world. In France, for example, The Structure of the Political
Vocabulary is being published for each decade, in order to take the
ideological temperature of the moment). It is also to be noted that the
reform suggested by Adrian Marino in the 90’s, referred not only to the
discourse of power, but equally that of the opposition as well. Maybe this
latter one in the first place, as it was still timorous, hesitating, and marked
by taboos. As ever, verbal stereotypes betray automatisms of thinking: in
the case of one wing the statist mirage, the myth of egalitarianism, the
Hegelian-Marxist hypothesis of the so called conformity to law
(“zakonomernost”) of communism etc; in the case of the other wing, the
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small influence on reality, marked by the older generation’s inopportune
nostalgias as well as their stiff and vain rigorism.
In Adrian Marino’s view, in order to become truly effective, the
political life should be based on balance and upon a perfect cooperation
between idea and action, between the abstract speculation and the
particular act. The dramatic incompatibility postulated – because of
different, not always innocent, reasons – between culture and politics can
be rescinded by elevating abstraction to the level of action in both
spheres. Thus culture can become a guide and an instrument of politics,
and to know an aspect of to do.
Here we discover the moulding connection, which explains the
options of a hermeneutist, comparatist, critic, political essayist, in a word
of an intellectual such as Adrian Marino. His faith in the pragmatic
dignity of theory constrained idealism and militancy to cooperation. In
his books the productive fusion and confusion between the logic of the
manifesto and of utopia is always striking.
At first sight the militant side is perhaps more obvious than the
other, and it is occasionally indicated by emphatic signs. Let us
remember the militant epithet attributed to Mircea Eliade’s hermeneutics
and Etiemble’s studies in comparative literature; or the programme of
cultural action hardly hidden in the critique of the notion of literature and
in the narration of its biography. He manifests himself impetuously only
in the volumes of the Biography published after 1990 – especially in the
volume demystifying the so called Marxist aesthetics. One of his essay
volumes is called Pentru Europa (For Europe). The subtitle of the other
is Pentru o nouă cultură română (For a New Romanian Culture).
In comparison with its militancy, the utopian line of Adrian
Marino’s work somehow remains hidden. Though – I only confess it now
– when I first learned about the project of an analysis of the idea of
literature elaborated thrice (Hermeneutics; Biography; Dictionary) I
found it very enthusiastic and… quixotic. Adrian Marino’ essay, Don
Quijote a greşit adresa (Don Quixote missed the address) is revelatory in
this sense. It starts out from a book by Octavian Paler and tries to explain
the triumph of Mitică over Don Quixote in the Carpathian-DanubianPontic space.
In short, utopia represents for Adrian Marino the invigorating
belief in the active force of ideas and even that of the illusion: and this in
any domain from politics to literary theory or inversely. How would the
utopian fortress – Adrian Marino had undoubtedly been dreaming about –
actually look like? Politically and socially it would be a stable Romania,
193
based on a vigorous capitalist economy and on an enterprising
bourgeoisie, where the active intellectual personalities with civic vocation
are to be found in a modern party: urban, resolutely pro-democratic and
pro-European, with an economical conception free of any leftism. The
intellectual-ideological illusions will be abandoned only then. “Utopia?
Complete historical visionarism with a liberal character? Or reverie,
however, in the sense of history?” – put the rhetorical question the author
himself.
In their spiritual version the reveries of Adrian Marino
materialize in a sui generis Republic of Letters. Originating from the
antiquity, having a great career during the Enlightenment, this expression
metaphorically denotes a community and solidarity of scholars from all
over the world, symptomatically qualified by Adrian Marino as:
“spiritual, brotherly, strong, independent, critical and militant, capable of
determining currents of opinions, scales of value and international
cultural reputations.” Adrian Marino has always been sufficiently close to
and distanced from the objects he explored, so that the clear evaluation of
Romanian culture that he constantly and tenaciously projected proved to
have profound affective and moral implications.
Seen in the horizon of the longue durée, the intellectual from
Cluj, who has recently passed away, left behind a lifework which
undeniably confirms his status as a distinguished innate citizen of the
Republic of Letters.
194
An Autochthon Alternative of Free Culture during Communism
Gábor GYŐRFFY
PhD Student, Babeş-Bolyai University,
Cluj-Napoca
Keywords: daily resistance, freedom within the system, “third Romanian
culture”
Abstract
The work of Adrian Marino, written mostly during the communist period,
sets an example of cultural independence from the political power. It is an
individual solution that undermined the anti-intellectualism promoted by
the perfidious institutional circles of those times. His ideological works
published after 1989 are confessions about the relationship between
culture and power in the communist era: they present an alternative
approach to the situation of Romanian literature under the totalitarian
regime.
The relationship between politics and culture, as regards the
subjection of cultural life to political interests, entered a specific
dimension in 20th Century Europe as a result of the emergence of right
and left totalitarian ideologies. Control upon human communication,
almost total restriction of freedom of expression, doubled by a
propaganda which tended to reshape and uniformize the way of thinking
of the entire society – these are the characteristics of the regimes which
succeeded to redress the course of history in a significant part of the
continent towards giving up on all conceptions regarding individual
liberty.
Romania was the scene of both totalitarian experiences, the
fascist as well as the communist, in a period when the influences of a
professional coercion apparatus had taken on the most aggressive and
violent forms. The communist experience, which lasted for more than
four decades, was constituted in Romania through a system in which the
state party managed to maintain control not only over society, but also
over culture until the last minutes of its breakdown. The situation of
literature – patronized if promoting the ideology of the political party,
tolerated to certain limits and often banned when overstepping the
195
imposed line – faithfully reflects the condition of the Romanian
intellectual in the communist period, as well as the various forms of the
relationship between politics and culture.
Adrian Marino belonged to the category of cultured men who
rejected any collaboration with the regime and who repudiated any kind
of dialogue by way of which he would have recognized the official
culture. His cultural-ideological formation made him preserve his
spiritual independence, made him search for a modality of cultural
survival in the period of communist totalitarianism, when two alternatives
seemed to exist: “silence, failure, isolation, stepping out from actuality,
thus being definitively sentenced to sterility, to literary suicide”, or the
option of accepting compromise and adaptation. 1
In Adrian Marino’s case, the solution of the dilemma manifested
in the rejection of the official doctrine, but at the same time also in the
desire to create in a world in which basic cultural values were being
destroyed, and in the attempt to find those fissures in the system which
would facilitate the communication of ideas reflecting the European
liberal tradition. Adrian Marino made his debut at eighteen in the
Jurnalul literar (Literary Journal) magazine; a graduate of the Faculty of
Lettres from Iaşi and Bucharest, he obtained his PhD degree in 1946 with
the dissertation entitled Viaţa lui Alexandru Macedonski (The Life of
Alexandru Macedonski), a work that appeared only in 1965 due to the
interdiction of publishing. He was arrested in 1949 for “illegal” activities
within the circles of the National Peasant Party University Youth
organization and imprisoned for eight years, after which he underwent six
more years of house arrest in Lăteşti village, Bărăgan.
After the traumatizing experience of freedom deprival and his
rehabilitation in 1965, Adrian Marino realized the emergence of a literary
life conceived according to the official hierarchal criteria, based on
mentality, style, language and a scale of values which were not to his
liking. In the period after 1948 socialist realism and party literature had
been imposed as the sole models for creation, thus art became totally
subordinated to political interests. Despite the given conditions, Marino’s
activity reflects a consequent insubordination to the political power,
which he achieved to build and preserve throughout the entire communist
period, as he recalls: “The most difficult thing in a totalitarian regime is
to maintain a permanently normal and equal behavior, to remain as
1
Adrian Marino, Politică şi cultură (Politics and Culture), Iaşi, Polirom, 1996, p.
80.
196
consequent as possible, not only to revolt once openly [...] There is,
however, another type of “heroism” as well: the heroism of
insubordination, of protest and of continuous implicit – I would say daily
– “resistance”, of non-conformism, of exiting the dressage and totalitarian
triteness, of breaking and defying the mental and propagandistic clichés.
[…] Not to be under any circumstances in the service of power, not to be
a literary servant.” 1
Adrian Marino had assumed the role of a spokesman of
autochthon culture, even if his cultural experiences in the seventies
during his travels to the West would have offered the alternative of exile.
His ideal of freedom within the system expressed hope for the possibility
of taking an alternative itinerary – other than exile or collaboration with
the regime –, despite the restriction on the free circulation of ideas, the
cultural deadlock and the ideological pressure, which turned the
independent act of creation into a gesture of insubordination. This
aspiration shall be confirmed in his works, which express independence
of spirit and professional freedom in the age of supervised culture.
His conception about literary creation in communist Romania is
based on his belief in the existence of a literary alternative, a “third
Romanian culture”, which is different from the culture of exile and
diaspora, as well as from the officially accepted, propagandistic culture
serving the political power: “it did exist then, though I cannot prove this
fact: an alternative Romanian culture. For me this is something
fundamental. It is not true that the entire Romanian culture was leveled
out. […] Indeed, it had mostly been so, but there existed a minimal layer
of intellectuals, that was totally different.” As a representative of this
third power, less known throughout the country, Adrian Marino delimits
in his study entitled Situaţia culturii române actuale 2 (The Situation of
the Present Romanian Culture) the essential features of an independent
Romanian culture, which is politically uncommitted and creates as freely
as possible within the limits imposed by the regime.
At the same time he also mentions the existence of a silent
conflict – growing more and more acute in the eighties – between the
cultural leadership and the real creators attempting stubbornly to
withstand the “plans, hierarchies, mediocrity and arrogance of the cultural
black coats of the age.” 3 The more rigid the system became, the more
1
Adrian Marino, Evadări în lumea liberă (Escapes into the Free World), Iaşi,
European Institute, 1993, pp. 5–6.
2
The study was written in 1982, being included in the volume Politică şi cultură.
3
Adrian Marino, Politică şi cultură (Politics and Culture), p. 54.
197
uncertain it grew on the inside; there were whole series of complicities,
simulations and tacit tolerances, which reduced the shocks coming from
above. Dissociating himself from the official culture and striving to
elaborate a parallel structure, Marino had attempted in fact to accomplish
a cultural utopia, the keystones of which lay in his external relations. His
publications in France, Italy and Japan, his books on literary ideas,
hermeneutics, literary theory and comparatistics appeared only due to
personal initiatives and relations, without the implication of the state or of
any Romanian publishing house. 1
The attempt to draw up a lucid evaluation of the social
psychology from the period of dictatorship, based on the distinction
between official and alternative culture, returns systematically throughout
his works. The chapter dealing with this issue in the volume Politică şi
cultură (Politics and Culture) is an x-ray of the main features that define
the two types of culture 2 . The essence of official culture is the firm
ranking in a closed circuit of values promoted by the communist regime
with the assistance of some typical institutions of the centralized state, all
of them placed in pyramidal structure, from the Ministry of Culture, the
Romanian Academy, the Writers’ Union down to the publicist and
editorial system. All these institutions depend on the state budget through
a blackmailing mechanism, which in fact was the control-lever upon
culture. At the same time, Marino does not hesitate to assert that some
control mechanisms were likewise adopted by those rising to political
power after 1989 by means of introducing the political decision factor
into cultural life.
The ranking system typical to the totalitarian regime brings forth
a monopoly of the literary opinion, which regards itself definitive and
inexpugnable. In the Romanian communist world, similarly to other
communist regimes, the literary-cultural hierarchies were copying –
theoretically at least – the political hierarchies. The authoritarian system
created its own values, the essence of which was political adherence and
fidelity, that came to replace literary value – a factor considered
unessential. On the other hand, another phenomenon interfered, i.e. the
absence of a valid differentiation of values: those being members of the
same creative union and serving the same regime, those who accepted the
pact with the regime were all consecrated by the official hierarchy of
values. Hence, no delimitation existed between the status of being a
1
Adrian Marino, Pentru Europa (For Europe), 2nd edition, Iaşi, Polirom, 2005, p.
107.
2
See chapter “Official culture, alternative culture”, pp. 256–299.
198
member of the Writers’ Union and being simply a “writer”, which
category would belong to a special radical system of values. Once he
entered the circuit, the writer accepted his role of a state clerk, whose
advancement on the hierarchic scale depends on the “continuous
balancing between public acceptance of the dogma and perception of
immediate reality, the ability to assume self-censorship perfectly […]
feigning ideological commitment and loyalty to the party.” 1
Consequently, in concordance with his belief in alternative
culture, which is the expression of an independent literary conscience,
Marino refused to fit in the system: he did not accept the cultural
functions ensuing from the status of an “official writer” and avoided
subjection to any institutions and ideologies. Therefore he did not benefit
from the rewards and personal advantages granted through the “sinister”
institution of the Literary Fund that became a means of coagulation of the
official literature. He did not accept membership in the Romanian
Academy even after 1989, because in his opinion it represented the
continuation of the soviet-type institution that was modeled at the end of
the forties.
Liberty as a state of spirit, as a personal experience and a
confession is reflected in his travel journals with ostentatiously European
titles, written after his visits in West European countries. 2 The explicit
ideological meaning in the substratum of the texts expresses constant
insubordination to any limits imposed on the freedom of thinking. The
system of perception of the free world is radically opposed to the
totalitarian homogenizing tendencies, thus the latter are uncovered
through implicit comparisons transmitting liberal messages of solidarism
with the European values.
However, maintaining his lucidity towards western culture,
Adrian Marino rejected the idea of its unconditional superiority,
attempting a “permanent undermining of the latent admiration, a
continuous demystification of the consecrated masterpieces and values, a
lucid refutal from within of the great myths and hierarchies” 3 . Coming in
contact with the so called free cultures, Marino searched in their
substance for those universal constant factors embedded in European
1
Adrian Marino, Politică şi cultură, p. 272.
¡Ole! Espana (1974); Carnete europene, (European Notebooks) (1976);
Prezenţe româneşti şi realităţi europene, (Romanian Presences and European
Realities), (1978); Evadări în lumea liberă (Escapes into the Free World), (1993).
3
Adrian Marino, Carnete europene, Bucharest, Noul Orfeu Publishing House,
2003, p. 32.
2
199
tradition, which are independent from an arbitrary hierarchy. These he
interpreted according to an atemporal, generally valid reference system.
Consequently, his journals correspond to a cultural program which aims
to accumulate essential values in a continuous, systematic, and selective
way. During the isolation of the Ceauşescu era Marino endorsed the
necessity of encyclopedism, of a totalizing way of thinking, meant to
compensate the intellectual unevenness in rapport to a West that had
reached the stage of narrow specialization. This cultural program with a
large perspective rejected the actual political situation, that of a country
under communist dictatorship, and it dispersed the “myth of the
irreversible situation” according to which communism would be in power
for ever, thus reaffirming the belief in a culture liberated from the
constraints of political power.
Unable to express his radical anti-communist and anti-Marxist
ideas openly, Adrian Marino found moral salvation by taking refuge in
such free forms of creation which were tolerated in that period. Literary
criticism, such as comparatism and theory of literature, had actually been
disguises of idea criticism, which was itself a means of breaking out from
the imposed canons. 1 The historical perspective of Critica ideiilor
literare (The Criticism of Literary Ideas) or Biografia ideii de literatură
(The Biography of the Idea of Literature) was the only way to connect to
the corresponding European ideas: “I practiced comparative literature and
theory of literature […] as a form of intellectual survival – evokes
Marino. Do not forget, that I came from where I came and I had to make
myself supported and tolerated within the publicistic limits of the age.
[…] For me it was a way of coming out of isolation. For me comparatism
was a method of breaking the ice, of stepping out into the world, of
defying censorship in somewhat semi-legal, semi-illegal ways and, at the
same time, it was a method of expressing myself freely.” 2
However, not even these works of Marino avoided the attacks of
those in control of the literary scene: during the meeting of university
professors of philosophy in 1980, Pavel Apostol launched a violent attack
against the study Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade (The Hermeneutics of
Mircea Eliade), which appeared the same year and was immediately
1
See Sorin Alexandrescu, Un european: Sir Adrian Marino, (A European: Sir
Adrian Marino), in: Idem, Identitate şi ruptură. Mentalităţi româneşti postbelice,
(Identuty and Rupture. Romanian Post-war Mentalities), Bucharest, Univers
2
Adrian Marino la optzeci de ani (Adrian Marino at Eighty), Echinox, vol. I,
2001, pp. 243–254.
200
translated into French at the Gallimard publishing house. He accused the
author of betraying Marxist ideas and promoting idealism and mysticism.
The journal Cahiers roumains d`études littéraires, published at
the Univers publishing house, represented another form of free
manifestation and another way of finding a fissure in the system of
censorship, of supervised literature, a way of profiting from the favorable
conjunctures in order to impose the spirit of free literature. This was the
first Romanian journal of literary studies of European standards, edited in
a foreign language. It was founded and edited by Adrian Marino between
1973 and 1980, the decade of the communist “cultural revolution”, the
period when cultural relations with the western world were abruptly
broken off. However, being a periodical collection of studies, the
magazine was tolerated by the political power in its endeavor of creating
a positive image from an international perspective. This operation would
not have been successful without the collaboration on different levels of
complicity of certain people in decision-making positions. The magazine
was practically unknown within the country, being regarded as suspicious
by the doctrinaires of official literature, and having therefore a restricted
area of circulation. Nevertheless, it was welcomed abroad and it enjoyed
great prestige among international comparatists, being the only Romanian
magazine at that time which had an individual box at the National Library
in Paris. 1
Regarding the forms of pressure that literary creation had been
subjected to in the communist era, as well as the methods of rejecting the
official propagandistic literature, immediately after the downfall of
communism Adrian Marino delineated an analysis of the relationship
between power and culture from the perspective of the “literary
resistance” – a term which expanded later into the concept “resistance
through culture”. 2 Attempting at the same time an examination of
personal and collective conscience, Marino proposed a definition grid for
the concept of literary resistance, meant to cover the complex realities of
the age.
1
See Al treilea discurs. Cultură, ideologie şi politică în România. Adrian Marino
în dialog cu Sorin Antohi. (The Third Discourse. Culture, Ideology and Politics in
Romania. Adrian Marino in Dialogue with Sorin Antohi), Iaşi, Polirom, 2001, p.
27.
2
Written in 1991, and 1995, both studies were published in the volume Politică şi
cultură, (Politics and Culture), (1996), entitled Rezistenţa literară, (Literary
Resistance), (pp. 21–27), as well as Rezistenţa prin cultură, o problemă deschisă
(Resistance through Culture, An Open Problem), (pp. 28–40).
201
His typology distinguishes between passive resistance, which is
tacit and lacks the assumption of declared political or ideological
commitments, and active resistance, which presumes explicit denial of
collaboration, of accepting the totalitarian order. Because of the necessity
to re-evaluate the concept of literary resistance objectively, Marino drew
attention to the tendencies to mythicize and idealize this notion and
specified four defining aspects that characterize it: the free critical spirit
manifested in the systematic rejection, elusion and impugnment of
official norms, dogmas, directives and hierarchies; the usage of an
independent critical language other than the “wooden language” of
official criticism; the circulation of liberal literary values; the introduction
of non-canonic literary themes. Within the frame of the same theme,
although without the intention to offer an exhaustive synthesis of the
existing manifestations of cultural resistance – impossible to achieve due
to the absence of a complete file on these –, Adrian Marino presented a
classification of the forms of resistance from literature “written for the
drawer” to texts smuggled out of the country and collaboration with
publications or radio stations considered dangerous by the regime.
Adrian Marino’s ideological works are based on the definition of
certain structural antinomies, which developed around particular key
concepts. The discussion of the relationship between power and culture
recurs in his works on censorship and freedom of expression. The first of
these, Cenzura în România. Schiţă istorică introductivă (Censorship in
Romania. An Introductory Historical Sketch), was intended to be a
survey on the essential phases and aspects of the evolution of censorship
from its beginnings to the 20th century – a study that served as the basic
version of the Romanian chapter from the vast encyclopedia entitled
Censorship: A World Encyclopedia, edited by Derek Jones in 2001.
The study defines itself as part of the program of idea criticism
and it reveals the forms of censorship in Romania, the similarities with
the corresponding European practices, as well as the specific
particularities. Beginning with the religious censorship of the Middle
Ages, the author records the moments which marked the permanent
antagonism between the freedom of expression and “captive thinking”:
the secularized censorship of the Enlightenment in the 18th century, the
movement of resistance and the repressions from 1848, the press regime
after the unification of Moldova and Wallachia. A historical retrospection
on the control of publications in Transylvania is also presented.
The chapter discussing the 20th century deals with the two
manifestations of totalitarian censorship: the fascist and the communist
202
one. Despite the fact that the practice of censorship was born back in the
ancient times, nothing equals the severe control based on the Soviet
model and the development of its methods after the 23rd of August, 1944.
Throughout the course of time the ideological background of the
repressive interventions underwent essential modifications, which were
often sudden and inopportune, culminating in the official dissolution of
the profile institution in 1977, which brought on the instauration of
arbitrariness regarding the control of publications and self-censorship.
The methods practiced by the communist regime are reflected by the
specific relationship of the Romanian authors with the institution of
censorship. Eight typical situations are presented and ranked according to
what extent the text was meddled with, from taking out a paragraph, a
chapter or a title to banning an author’s work completely. 1
As a matter of fact, Adrian Marino’s own experience is
demonstrative in this respect: he was banned and deprived of his right of
signature for two decades; consequently, Viaţa lui Alexandru Macedonski
(The Life of Alexandru Macedonski), which was announced to be
published in 1946, appeared only in 1965; the article Decadentismul
(Decadentism) from Dicţionarul de idei literare (The Dictionary of
Literary Ideas, 1973) suffered multiple interventions; the chapter entitled
Autonomia literaturii (The Autonomy of Literature) was taken out from
the volume Hermeneutica ideii de literatură (The Hermeneutics of the
Idea of Literature, 1987), although it appeared in fragments under
improvised titles in the magazine Transilvania, without mentioning the
word “autonomy” – rigorously interdicted in that period. The complete
text was published only abroad, in an Italian version.
In the last years of his life, Adrian Marino had preoccupations
prevalently related to ideology. The project which began with the sketch
about censorship was continued in Libertate şi cenzură în România.
Începuturi (Liberty and Censorship in Romania. Beginnings), which
represents in fact an extension of the study over a complementary theme,
namely, the history of the liberal ideology within the Romanian domain.
Intended as the opening volume of a synthesis about the freedom of
thinking, this writing encompasses a period of time from the beginnings
to the first decades of the 19th century. The next two volumes, which
would have presented the consolidation of the liberal ideology after 1848
and the confrontation between liberalism and the rightist and leftist forms
1
Adrian Marino, Cenzura în România (Censorship in Romania), Craiova, Aius
Publishing House, 2000, pp. 70–81.
203
of totalitarianism, were not finalized due to the author’s death in March
2005.
The work of Adrian Marino, written mostly during the
communist period, sets an example of cultural independence from the
political power. It is an individual solution that undermined the antiintellectualism promoted by the perfidious institutional circles of those
times. His ideological works published after 1989 are confessions about
the relationship between culture and power in the communist era, they
present an alternative approach to the situation of Romanian literature
under the totalitarian regime.
204
Idea and Tradition of Europe in the Light of Its Own History
István FEHÉR M.
Department of Modern and Contemporary Philosophy,
“Eötvös Loránd” University, Budapest
Keywords: European tradition, historical determination, united Europe,
European values, philosophy, Herder, “europäische Republik”, Kant’s
vision of Europe, Rorty, globalization, Gadamer, reflexive discussion,
Hegel, freedom, Marxism, secularized eschatology, Heidegger, Husserl,
European crisis
Abstract
The paper gives a short panorama of the tradition and philosophical
history of the idea of Europe. It presents different phases of the
discussion about Europe – discussion that usually emerged in the periods
of radical social-political re-arrangements, crisis or insecurity of the
European values – from Greek culture, through Bayle’s République des
Lettres or Kant’s and Hegel’s writings, to Postmodern philosophers such
as Gadamer, Heidegger and Rorty who had to face the problems that
occurred after the geographical, political unification of Europe in the
1990s.
The study raises the questions: What does the concept of Europe
mean? Where was it born, and what are the perspectives for it? What are
the characteristics of European culture? On what principles has the
European Union been built? It argues that Europe and philosophy
organically belong together, for Europe itself can be regarded as a
philosophical idea.
I.
Theoretical discussions on Europe or on some specifically
European tradition – as any kind of theoretic discussion independent of
its subject matter in general – are mostly characterized by being
influenced by their given historical context. The motivational background
and the general tone of the disputes vary throughout the ages. The very
fact that we are talking today about Europe, about specific European
values or traditions is surely the result of specific historical conditions.
The disappearance of Europe’s Yalta-division occurring at the end of the
205
eighties brought as a historical event within reach the perspective of
Eastern and Western Europe joining together, and gave new impulse, in
the following decade, to the unification-process that had already been
active in Western Europe for decades. Consequently, the approaching
perspective of Europe unifying and united, raised, in the middle of the
unification process, a number of issues with renewed topicality; not in the
last place the question related to the idea of the unifying Europe–an idea
not necessarily geographically intended. After Europe seemed to become
geographically united the question arose whether there was anything else
beside the geographical element common to this area now being unified?
Until this very day, the discussion about Europe has undergone
different phases. Thereby it generally emerged in periods of radical
social-political re-arrangements, crisis or insecurity regarding values
claimed to be specifically European. In the following I shall briefly refer
to some phases of this dispute.
II.
The idea of the unity of Europe’s is not new: we can encounter it
in different ways and different contexts throughout the history of Europe.
This idea comes predominantly to the fore in the age of Enlightenment.
One of its characteristic representations is the notion of the republic of
learned men, scholars and erudite persons, namely the République des
Lettres conceived by Bayle, which was meant to connect scholars from
different countries and really maintained the contact between the majority
of European intellectuals of the age. Herder spoke about a “European
Republic” (“europäische Republik“) in this context. He thought that “in
Europe the totality of learned men constitutes a state of their own” 1 .
These scholars, he argued, “form a chain of interconnected links
throughout the progress of time”, “some kind of an invisible church, even
in those places where they have not heard about each other at all. The
common spirit of the enlightened and enlightening Europe is
inextinguishable”, sounded his optimistic prophecy. 2
Enlightenment, however, was more than a concern of learned men.
It did not remain a mere intellectual movement. “Apart from all these,
Enlightenment aimed at chieving a complete reform of social conditions and
1
Johann Gottfried Herder, Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit,
hrsg. von Heinz Stolpe, Berlin und Weimar, Aufbau, 1965, Bd. 2, pp. 260, 40.
2
Johann Gottfried Herder, Briefe zur Beförderung der Humanität, hrsg. von
Heinz Stolpe in Zusammenarbeit mit Hans-Joachim Kruse und Dietrich Simon,
Berlin und Weimar, Aufbau, 1971, Bd. 1, p. 81.
206
human life.” It “emerged with the claim to lay anew the foundations of
social-communal existence by surpassing the theological-religious
backgrounds, in the effect of promoting public welfare through commerce
and agriculture, through the improvement of judicial affairs and the
consolidation of infrastructure. […] Enlightenment was a comprenhensive,
all-European phenomenon, […] and ultimately it can only be interpreted and
analyzed in a cross-European context”. 1
Against this background it is no surprise that a scholar, a “learned
man” such as Immanuel Kant – in fact one of the greatest minds of the
Enlightenment – attempted to conceive of “the whole of Europe” as a
“single federal state”, not merely on a cultural, but on a political level as
well. 2 Kant called “such a union of different countries a permanent statecongress”. 3 At the same time he confined its jurisdiction within welldefined limits by restricting it in this way: “Nevertheless here a congress
represents an arbitrary and at all times dissolvable meeting of different
states and not a constitution-based connection (such as in the case of the
American states) [...].“ 4
As can be seen, Kant manifestly supported the idea of Europe as
“a single federal state”, but disagreed to a large extent about its
constitutional establishment. His disagreement follows from reasons of
principle. According to him, a constitution had only sense in association
1
Richard von Dülmen, “Ende der ’selbtstverschuldeten Unmündigkeit’: Das
Zeitalter der Aufkärung”, Idem, Kultur und Alltag in der Frühen Neuzeit., Bd. 3:
Religion, Magie, Aufklärung, München, 1994, 212. See Europa. Ein historisches
Lesebuch, hrsg. Wolfgang Behringer, München, 1999, p. 169. (Italics are mine:
F.M.I.)
2
I. Kant, Die Metaphysik der Sitten. Erster Teil. Metaphysische Anfangsgründe
der Rechtslehre. Des öffentlichen Rechts zweiter Abschnitt. Das Völkerrecht, §
61. Kant, Werke in zwölf Bänden, Werkausgabe, (hereafter: WA), hrsg. von
Wilhelm Weischedel, Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1977, Bd. 8, p. 475. In
Hungarian see: Az erkölcsök metafizikája (The Metaphysic of Morals), in: Kant, Az
erkölcsök metafizikájának alapvetése. A gyakorlati ész kritikája. Az erkölcsök metafizikája, (Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. The Critique of Practical
Reason. The Metaphysics of Morals), transl. Berényi Gábor, Budapest, Gondolat,
1991, p. 459. (Italics are mine F.M.I.) This perspective defined in Kant’s view the
“majority of ministers in the European courts” “in the first half of the 16th
century at the meeting of the general orders of society held in Hague” (ibid.).
3
Cited from the German Edition, p. 474, see in the cited Hungarian edition p.
458.
4
Cited from the German Edition, p. 475, see in the cited Hungarian edition p.
458.
207
with one single state, understood in terms of one “moral person”.
Whereas an “alliance of nations” was not far from Kant’s federalist
perspective, a “state of nations” most certainly was. 1
1
See Kant: Zum ewigen Frieden. Ein philosophischer Entwurf, A 7; WA, Bd. 11,
p. 197. In Hungarian: Kant, Az örök békéről (Perpetual Peace), transl. Mesterházi
Miklós, in: Kant, Történetfilozófiai írások (Writings on Philosophy of History),
Budapest, Ictus, 1996, p. 258. “It is a society of men whom no one else has any
right to command or to dispose except the state itself. It is a trunk with its own
roots. But to incorporate it into another state, like a graft, is to destroy its
existence as a moral person, reducing it to a thing; such incorporation thus
contradicts the idea of the original contract without which no right over people
can be conceived.” (Italics are mine F.M.I.) Cf. A 28 (ibid., 208. hg. resp. quoted
Hungarian transl., 269.): “Second definitive article for a perpetual peace “The
Law of Nations Shall be Founded on a Federation of Free States”; – Peoples, as
states, like individuals, may be judged to injure one another merely by their
coexistence in the state of nature (i.e., while independent of external laws). Each
of them, may and should for the sake of its own security demand that the others
enter with it into a constitution similar to the civil constitution, for under such a
constitution each can be secure in his right. This would be a league of nations, but
it would not have to be a state consisting of nations. That would be contradictory,
since a state implies the relation of a superior (legislating) to an inferior
(obeying), i.e., the people, and many nations in one state would then constitute
only one nation. This contradicts the presupposition, for here we have to weigh
the rights of nations against each other so far as they are distinct states and not
amalgamated into one.” (Italics are mine: F.M.I.). Above all, we should act on
Kant’s doctrinal consideration: “The idea of international law presupposes the
separate existence of many independent but neighbouring states. Although this
condition is itself a state of war (unless a federative union prevents the outbreak
of hostilities), this is rationally preferable to the amalgamation of states under one
superior power, as this would end in one universal monarchy, and laws always
lose in vigour what government gains in extent; hence a soulless despotism falls
into anarchy after stifling the seeds of the law. Nevertheless, every state, or its
ruler, desires to establish lasting peace in this way, aspiring if possible to rule the
whole world. But nature wills otherwise. She employs two means to separate
peoples and to prevent them from mixing: differences of language and of religion.
These differences involve a tendency to mutual hatred and pretexts for war, but
the progress of civilization and men's gradual approach to greater harmony in
their principles finally leads to peaceful agreement. This is not like that peace
which despotism (in the burial ground of freedom) produces through a weakening
of all powers; it is, on the contrary, produced and maintained by their equilibrium
in liveliest competition.” (62; ibid., 225 hg., resp. 285. hg.; Italics are mine:
F.M.I.).[The English translation of the excerpts from Kant’s text is taken from the
following site:
208
III.
Europe’s unification process was initiated after the Second World
War under the influence of recent atrocious historical experience and
inheritance and, in order to prevent wars and ensure peace in the future,
unification was set in motion in terms of an international economic
process. Indeed, economic and political instances remained its promoters
and carriers up to this day. In opposition to the Enlightenment, there can be
no question here of the simultaneous unfolding and development of some
ideological movement with the re-founding of communitarian existence.
“The starting point was inherent in the economic sphere, where the
marketing processes develop their dynamics.” 1 Could it be possible – we
may ask here – that, in spite of the collapse of communism that had
meanwhile taken place, the thesis (claimed to be outdated and regarded as
having been settled for good) according to which existence precedes and
determines consciousness, or, in our case, the economic basis precedes
and determines legal and political super-structure, has not fully lost its
validity? This question may legitimately be asked especially if we direct
our attention upon the process running parallel with the unification of
Europe, namely, the process of globalization assimilating the entire
planet; globalization that “establishes beyond the traditional national
control of markets, an international control as well”, while it “is
becoming more and more emancipated [...] from under political
regulation and is globally expanding.” 2
Richard Rorty, one of the leading philosophers of our days,
wrote that if the “formation of hereditary castes,” begun in the eighties,
“continues unimpeded, and if the pressures of globalization create such
castes not only in the United States but in all the old democracies, we
shall end up in some kind of an Orwellian world” – in a world in which
„there may be no supranational analogue of Big Brother, or any official
creed [...]. But there will be an analogue of the Inner Party – namely, the
international, cosmopolitan super-rich”–, while the job of intellectuals
like Rorty himself „will be to make sure that the decisions made by the
Inner Party are carried out smoothly and efficiently”, to keep „the proles
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/kant/kant1.htm (The translator.)]
1
Rüdiger Bubner, “Was wird aus der Verfassung Europas?“ (in Eine Verfassung
für Europa, 2. aktualisierte und erw. Auflage, hrsg. K. Beckmann, J. Dieringer, U.
Hufeld, Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2005, p. 97).
2
Rüdiger Bubner, Polis und Staat. Grundlinien der Politischen Philosophie,
Frankfurt/Main, Suhrkamp, 2002, p. 171.
209
quiet”, and „to keep up the pretense that national politics might someday
make a difference.” 1 Rorty goes on to make the point somewhat further:
„It is no comfort to those in danger of being immiserated by globalization
to be told that, since national governments are now irrelevant, we must
think up a replacement for such governments.” Although the nation-state
has ceased to be „the elemental unit of capitalism,” it nevertheless
„remains the entity which makes decisions about social benefits, and thus
about social justice.” 2 In his latest book that appeared at the millenary
turn, Rorty has brought up the question again. He says here that „the
central fact of globalization is that the econemic situation of the citizens
of a nation state has passed beyond the control of the laws of that state.
[...] We now have a global overclass which makes all the major economic
decisions, and makes them in entire independence of the legislatures, and
a fortiori of the will of the voters, of any given country. The money
accumulated by this overclass is as easily used for illegal purposes [...] as
it is for legal ones. The absence of a global polity means that the superrich can operate without any thought of any interests save their own. 3
In his study discussing features common to the New Testament
and the Communist Manifesto, Rorty claims that both texts teach us the
susceptibility to inequality, and nourish our trust in the future. Both want
to encourage us. They are „expressions of hope” and do not aim at
putting forward claims to knowledge. Christianity and Socialism – both
denote the same subject matter, therefore an idea such as “Christian
socialism” sounds almost as a pleonasm: “nowadays you cannot hope for
the fraternity which the Gospels preach without hoping that democratic
goverments will redistribute money and opportunity in a way that the
market never will.” 4
IV.
Even if we put aside its relation to globalization, the fact cannot be
doubted: the realistic emerging perspective of Europe’s geographicalpolitical unification as a historical development has brought on the
question: is there beyond the geographical element something else that
1
Richard Rorty, Achieving Our Country. The William E. Massey Sr. Lectures in the
History of American Civilization, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press,
1998, pp. 86f.
2
Ibid., p. 98.
3
Richard Rorty, Philosophy and Social Hope, London – New York: Penguin Books,
2000, p. 233.
4
Ibid., pp. 201ff. quote p. 205.
210
keeps this land together? In what way should we view the idea of
Europe? The idea that – due to political changes – seems to have taken
the place of the word “West”, which had similar connotations at the
beginning of the century. And which, as soon as it appeared, was
surrounded by perplexity.
In his article entitled “Vom Wort zum Begriff” from 1995,
Hans-Georg Gadamer – reflecting on the history of our century – states
the following: “Today the word West does not sound as modern as it used
to in my youth when Oswald Spengler was actually declaring its decline.
Nowadays people speak rather about Europe instead, however in this
respect no one actually knows how and what it will be; we only know at
best how we would like it to be.” 1 The extent to which the changes
initiated by the political processes influenced people’s minds is well
displayed in Gadamer’s opening address at the 1989 Heideggersymposium in Budapest: “The first significant step we are taking today,”
he said, “consists in the fact that an awakening Europe becomes absorbed
in conversation with herself.” These words mirror the hermeneutical
conception of Europe as an unfinished and unfinishable conversation
with itself, a conversation which is continuously striving towards
infinity. 2 A conversation is obviously something polyphonic, with many
interlocutors; and the different voices – criticizing, complementing each
other, and arguing with one another – do not merge into a monolithic
element.
The perplexity in Gadamer’s voice is far from being a
coincidence. This can be explained to a considerable extent by the abovementioned claim that this process has economical-political origins, its
ideological background and motivation is rather obscure or opaque.
Therefore investigation is all the more important.
The last phase of the debates regarding Europe, as has
previously been claimed, started to develop around the early nineties.
1
H.-G. Gadamer, “Vom Wort zum Begriff. Die Aufgabe der Hermeneutik als
Philosophie” (1995), in: Gadamer Lesebuch, hrsg. J. Grondin, Tübingen, Mohr,
1997, p. 100.
2
H.-G. Gadamer, “Grußwort an das Symposium“, in: Wege und Irrwege des neueren
Umganges mit Heideggers Werk. Ein deutsch-ungarisches Symposium, ed. I. M.
Fehér, Berlin, Duncker & Humblot, 1991, p. 16.; in Hungarian: “A szümpózium
köszöntése” (Welcoming the Symposium), in: Utak és tévutak. A budapesti
Heidegger-konferencia előadásai (Right and Erroneous Ways. The Lectures of the
Budapest Heidegger Conference), ed. Fehér M. István, Budapest, Atlantisz, 1991, p.
20.
211
Around that time, from among the numerous publications and editions on
the theme of the European unification, the works presenting the issue
from an intellectual-cultural point of view were fairly frequent. However,
in the second half of the nineties the number of these writings – as well as
the enthusiastic-optimistic tone chareacteristic of themir approach –
started to drop significantly.
One of these works was the volume The History of the Idea of
Europe edited by Kevin Wilson and Jan van der Dussen. In its preface the
editors drew up the following questions: What kind of Europe are we
building and why? What is the relation between this new Europe and the
European history and experience? Are there specifically European
values? Is there some kind of a coherent recognizable European identity?
What does Europe mean, and what does it mean to be European? In
order to answer all these questions it may be useful for us to turn towards
the European history, in order to find in it a sort of European-ness.1 In the
following I am going to present some essential propositions of this book.
First of all it is essential to remind of the fact that the idea of
Europe has actually emerged after the French Revolution – this confirms
what I mentioned under point II. In the preceding period we could only
talk about Europe in geographical terms. It was associated with the idea
of freedom in the Greek culture, with Christianity in the 15th century,
with the politics of the balance of power in the 16th, and it was
interconnected with the notion of civilization in the 18th century. This
idea of Europe, articulated along the notions of freedom, Christianity,
civilization, sometimes vanished for centuries. We can speak about its
more permanent presence only in the past two centuries. The notion of
the European cultural history as an idea arises in the early 19th century.
All the different political and religious currents of the early 19th century
(reactionaries and conservatives, Catholics and Protestants, liberals and
democrats) created their view concerning Europe’s historical
development, with which different requirements and ideals were
associated. Thus the ideals of freedom and Christianity were projected
back into the distant past and were subjected to elaborate examination,
while civilization became more or less a synonym for progress. 2 Let us
remind here, only in relation to Christianity, of Novalis’s famous work
entitled Die Christenheit oder Europa, which begins with the following
1
The History of the Idea of Europe, eds. K. Wilson, Jan van der Dussen, London &
New York, Routledge, 2nd, revised edition, 1995, (first ed.: 1993), p. 9.
2
Pim den Boer, “Europe to 1914: The Making of an Idea”, in: The History of the
Idea of Europe, p. 14.
212
lines: “Those were beautiful, lofty times when Europe was a Christian
land, when one Christendom inhabited this humanly fashioned part of the
world; one grand common interest bound the most distant provinces of
the wide spiritual realm”. 1 Reading these lines we can recognize the
typical Christianizing, past-oriented romanticist world of the early 19th
century. The expression “Europe”, as indicated in The History of the Idea
of Europe, is not to be found in the Bible. 2
It is worthy to add some complementary thoughts to the
argumentation of The History of the Idea of Europe. Firstly, it is notable
that not only Romanticism, but also contemporary German idealism
connected European spiritual life to the Christian idea, putting the accent
in Christianity upon the thought of the freedom of the individual
identified with her intellectual, spiritual essence. For Hegel, philosophy is
the result of the intellect, of free thinking, 3 and “the particular aspect” of
philosophy “is coeval with the particular aspect of those people, in the
circle of whom it appears, with their constitution, government, ethos,
social life, […] and religion.” 4 Philosophy is the conceptually manifested
self-consciousness, or the gaining self-awareness, of world history; this
latter culminating in the German Christian world that emphasizes the
independence and internal freedom of the individual. As such, it
presupposes the basic nature of culture: freedom of thought does not exist
without political, religious-conscientious freedom, and without being
aware of the infinite value of the individual.
In his lectures on the philosophy of history, Hegel emphasizes
this distinctive feature: “European humanity […] appears by nature as the
freer” he writes: “the principle of the freedom of the individual […]
became the principle of the European state life”. 5 Although the
“European spirit has spent its youth in Greece”, the “phase of intimacy
1
Novalis, Fragmente und Studien. Die Christenheit oder Europa, hrsg. C. Paschek,
Stuttgart, Reclam, 1984, p. 67.
2
3
Hegel, Előadások a filozófia történetéről (Lectures on the History of Philosophy),
transl. Szemere Samu, I. vol., Budapest, Academic Publishing House, 1977, vol. I. p.
21.; cf. pp. 37. ff.
4
Ibid., p. 59.
5
G.W.F. Hegel: Előadások a világtörténet filozófiájáról (Lectures on the Philosophy
of World History), transl. Szemere Samu, Budapest: Academic Publishing House,
1979, p. 191.
213
[…] is missing at the Greeks”. 1 “The principle of Christian religion is the
subjective insight”. 2 “Man will only become real as a spiritual being, if
he overcomes his naturalness.” 3
Freedom of religion and conscience, citizen autonomy, the
independence of thinking, its being-by-itself, as well as individuality as a
value in itself: these conceptual elements complexly intersect one another
according to Hegel. The freedom taht Hegel has in mind does not
overlook the general; that is, it is not seen to coincide with what is
arbitrary, uncontrolled or unmotivated. In this respect Hegel – in spite of
all the otherwise existing and not at all irrelevant differences –
fundamentally is connected to Kant. For Kant freedom made sense and
significance only in regard to morality; freedom torn away from morality
did not receive any special attention from Kant. 4 Moreover: Kant – being
the philosopher of the community of citizens respecting each other and
who are obedient to the commonly adopted laws – only took a scornful
notice (if he noticed it at all) of freedom uncommitted to ethics and
reason, as well as of freedom that is above the laws of man: this is
1
Ibid., pp. 412., 573.
Ibid., p. 609.; cf. also ibid., p. 640.
3
Ibid., p.650.
4
I shall only mention two characteristic examples. When in his main work, in the
Critique of Pure Reason Kant introduces the concept of freedom, he writes the
following: “If we grant that morality necessarily presupposes freedom [...] as a
property of our will; [...] and if at the same time we grant that speculative reason has
proved that such freedom does not allow being thought, then [...] freedom, and with it
morality, would have to yield to the mechanism of nature.” (Kritik der reinen Vernunft, B XXII; see A tiszta ész kritikája, transl. Alexander Bernát and Bánóczi József,
Budapest, Academic Publishing House, 1981, p. 19.; new publ. transl. Kis János,
Budapest: Ictus, 1995, p. 41. English translation by Norman Kemp-Smith
http://hermes.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Philosophy/Kant/cpr/02pref-b.htm) It appears that
Kant is exclusively interested in freedom as the condition of morality. In other words,
Kant is in fact interested in morality; and in freedom only because morality is
impossible without freedom. See also in the Critique of Practical Reason: “Freedom,
however, is the only one of all the ideas of the speculative reason of which we know
the possibility a priori [...], because it is the condition of the moral law” “[...] had not
the moral law been previously distinctly thought in our reason, we should never
consider ourselves justified in assuming such a thing as freedom.” (see Kant, Az
erkölcsök metafizikájának alapvetése. A gyakorlati ész kritikája. Az erkölcsök metafizikája, transl. Berényi Gábor, Budapest, Gondolat, 1991, p. 106. English translations
by Thomas Kingsmill Abbott
http://www.4literature.net/Immanuel_Kant/Critique_of_Practical_Reason/.)
2
214
nothing but “lawless freedom”, “the freedom of combat”, “rudeness”,
“degradation of humanity”. 1
If for Kant morality means that we subject ourselves to the
moral law and thus it involves subjection, fulfilment of obligations,
duties, then this was accepted also by Hegel in his own way. He went so
far as to state: “freedom is only possible through obedience”. 2 This kind
of obedience was at the same time very much distinguished from blind
submission. “In such obedience man is free,” he wrote articulately
coming back to the issue of freedom, “because particularity is obedient to
generality. Man himself has a conscience and therefore he must be free to
be obedient”. 3
It has become of use to speak about European culture as a
culture crucially (positively or negatively, but in any case) determined by
the Jewish-Christian tradition. And it might also be relevant to refer here
to the fact that atheism is and remains to be a specifically European
phenomenon; it could only emerge on the base of Christianity. Man’s
domination over nature and the subjection of nature is also a project with
biblical origin. Max Weber has shown essential parallels between
Protestantism and the spirit of capitalism. In European culture despite all
kinds of secularization the Jewish-Christian tradition remained to be of
fundamental importance. People could turn into atheists or become
religiously disinterested: the habit, the mentality, the morality, outlook
upon life and the philosophy of life (with or without the transcendent
grounding) show common features. In opposition to the static-cyclic time
perception of Greek and Oriental cultures and religions, the lineareschatological time perception, as well as ideas such as: the uniqueness
and non-repetitive character of history, the importance of individuality,
the infinite value of the individual/individual soul (immortality of the
individual soul), human equality (the equality of man in front of God and
later on in front of the law) and man’s freedom (his having been created
1
Kant, Az örök békéről (Perpetual Peace), transl. Mesterházi Miklós. In Kant:
Történetfilozófiai írások (Works on Philosophy of History), Budapest, Ictus,
1996, p. 270.: “When we see the attachment of savages to their lawless freedom,
preferring ceaseless combat to subjection to a lawful constraint which they might
establish, and thus preferring senseless freedom to rational freedom, we regard it
with deep contempt as barbarity, rudeness, and a brutish degradation of
humanity.” (Italics are mine: F.M.I.); also cf. ibid., p. 273. English translation from
http://socsci.colorado.edu/~parisr/PS4173/Kant.htm.
2
Hegel, Előadások a világtörténet filozófiájáról, p. 573.
3
Ibid., p. 705.
215
to be free to choose between right and wrong) are by all means distinctive
features of the Christian tradition. This tradition defined European culture
at the core and permeated it even where history in secularized forms
aimed at some worldly target, or where – like, e.g., in the case of the
French Revolution – the ideas of equality and freedom (ideas otherwise
also rooted in the Christian idea of fraternity) came to be expressed in a
sharply reinterpreted judicial-political form. The industrial revolution, the
natural sciences, the technical development, the prosperity of free
commerce, individualism, liberalism, positivism, the thought of
progression, have often been indicated – and sometimes without any
praise or enthusiasm – as phenomena inherent in and intrinsic to the
Jewish-Christian tradition or of secularized forms of this tradition. The
numerous historical manifestations of utopian socialism, Marxism and
social democracy – as the offspring of the early Christian idea of equality
– do not represent an exception either; on the contrary, they thoroughly fit
into this tradition. Inasmuch as these were combined with atheism, antireligiousness, the reason lay less in objections as to the subject matter
than in the way of comportment. This as was the case for example with
Marxism which opposed religion mainly on grounds of ideologycriticism, namely the role which religion played in the politicalideological justification of the actual social order. Marxism can be
regarded as the manifestation of the early Christian social-communistic
idea, and it cannot be fully understood without tracing it back to the
Christian context 1 – first of all to eschatology. The motivation of the
component of religion-criticism is unequivocally the apologeticideological function of religion. Marx did not want to terminate the
(Hegelian) philosophy identified with religion; he rather wanted to carry
it out. Marxism is a secularized eschatology and as such is part and parcel
of European-Christian thought. Marx inquired after the realization of the
civilian-Christian ideas; his dispute was carried out against the
background of the same ideas. He did not argue with the ideas, he was
rather concerned with they way they have come (or have not come) to
fruition; in any case, he was also animated by these same ideas. The
Marxist (earthly) realm of freedom is the radicalization of Enlightenment
thought of human freedom and equality; and both notions date back to
Christianity. Man was created free by God, as the outstanding figure of
renaissance Platonism Pico della Mirandola has vividly explained in his
1
Bertrand Russel discovers quite detailed correspondences between the two (see A
History of Western Philosophy, London, Allen and Unwin, 1947, p. 383.).
216
work entitled De hominis dignitate; man’s dignity lies in the fact that man
– in opposition to other creations which have a predetermined place in the
order of creation – is endowed with free will regarding his place and fate.
Belonging to, and commitment to, the cultural heritage of the JewishChristian tradition and its secularized version has been – and still is – a
tacit ingredient of the idea of Europe.
V.
The name of Europe as a continent falls into the obscurity of the past. In
the 5th century B.C. Herodotus wrote that he did not know why the world
was thought to be made up of three parts and that these three continents –
Asia, Africa and Europe – bore women names. Such division of the world
goes back to ancient times. In Greek mythology, Europe is the daughter
of a Phoenician king. Zeus falls in love with her, changes into a bull,
takes her to Crete, takes up human shape and begets three sons from her.
The rape of Europe became one of the favourite recurrent themes of
literary creations and visual art works, starting from the Greeks through
the Renaissance and Baroque up to the modern times.
At the end of the 19th century the enhancing crisis of liberal
culture created some kind of a European consciousness, European
identity in the sense that scholars realized this culture was endangered
and was approacing a crisis. The debate on the issue of Europe broke out
at the turn of the century with the participation of thinkers such as F.
Nietzsche, G. Simmel, Ortega y Gasset, Paul Valéry, E. Husserl, M.
Heidegger. 1 The crisis of liberal culture and the trauma of World War I
gave rise to new approaches, projects and searches for solutions. Among
these we must emphasize Friedrich Naumann’s Central-Europe plan that
maximally revived the conceptions of idealism and people’s rights to
autonomy. In Naumann’s view, the constrained Germanization of the
Central-European nations was definitely damaging, harmful, and useless.
He was exemplarily tolerant towards the various nations and ethnicities.
He even praised Jews for transmitting and teaching the correct approach
to good cooperation in business and work. The Jews and the smaller
nations, noticed Naumann, have fought loyally in war and therefore
deserve respect. He went as far as suggesting or presuming a kind of a
Central-European identity. 2
1
2
Peter Bugge, “The Nation Supreme: The Idea of Europe 1914–1945”, in: The
History of the Idea of Europe, p. 92.
217
The History of the Idea of Europe does not reach ultimately a
definite, unitary conclusion. Europe – if it can be defined at all – may be
described as something that is "unity in diversity". Europe always appears
as the continent that never submitted to any one ruler, as the continent that
has never been content with final truths and steadily continued to question,
make researches and to debate: Europe remained self-critical, obtaining thus
a unique dynamism. Europe’s basic paradox is that it does not contain some
exclusively European essence. 1
At this point it is worth returning to Gadamer’s views. The above
presented idea that Europe has never been reunited under the rule of a single
ruler or dominated by a single religion or ideology was emphasized in
Gadamer’s writings in the last two decades. In a lecture held in 1985 –
before the political changes –, which was characteristically entitled Die
Vielfalt Europas, Gadamer reminded: “Only in Europe are such intellectual
activities as science, art, religion and philosophy differentiated. Who can tell
whether Tsuang-Tse or any other Chinese sage, was a religious man, a
savant, a thinker or a poet?” 2 Gadamer returned to the same thought in a
lecture held in the early nineties saying that in fact it is purely arbitrary
whether we denominate the conversation between a Chinese sage and his
disciple philosophy, religion or poetry. 3 He has also equally accentuated
Europe’s multilinguism in both these lectures. In the former he
emphasized the natural languages and the natural language communities
according to his hermeneutical perspective, considering the emergence of
a universal language undesirable. In the latter he commented critically
upon the answer which a responsible director in the East-German
provinces gave to the question, “What language should be thought in
schools?” The answer sounded: “Nothing’s easier – computer
language!” 4
Even if Gadamer has emphatically referred to the
characteristically European difference of the intellectual activities, to the
autonomy of science, art, religion and philosophy from one another, he
nevertheless reminded us in his former lecture that philosophy is closely
1
Ibid., p. 11.
H.-G. Gadamer, Die Vielfalt Europas. Erbe und Zukunft, Stuttgart, Robert Bosch
Stiftung, 1985, p. 14.
3
H.-G. Gadamer, “Europa und die Oikoumene“, in: Europa und die Philosophie,
pp. 67–86., here p. 68. See the reprint in Gadamer, Hermeneutik im Rückblick.
Gesammelte Werke (herafter: GW) Bd. 10, Tübingen, Mohr, 1995, pp. 267–284.
4
Die Vielfalt Europas, p. 30; “Europa und die Oikoumene“, in: Europa und die
Philosophie, pp. 78f.
2
218
interconnected with our European civilization. For philosophy, in the
widest sense of theoria, is a collective term for science as such. Even
Newton’s famous work, which made him the father of modern physics,
even this work had the title Philosophiae naturalis principia
mathematica, i.e. the mathematical principles of natural philosophy –
reminded Gadamer. In our Western culture philosophy was connected to
science from the beginning. “This is the novelty that resulted in the unity
of Europe”, and which, proceeding from the scientificculture that had
come into being in Europe, determined in several important respects in its
irradiance the situation of world civilization up to this day, said Gadamer
in the middle of the eighties. 1
Gadamer’s claim that despite any subsequent separation and
differentiation, philosophy and culture organically belong together in the
process of European culture has a long and honourable tradition.
Gadamer’s own mentors – Husserl and Heidegger – had also variously
formulated this claim. The idea that Europe and philosophy organically
belong together, that Europe’s exclusive differentiating characteristic is
philosophy, 2 and that therefore Europe’s essence is constituted by
philosophy, is strongly articulated within the life-work of both thinkers,
even if their method of defining philosophy shows characteristic
differences from time to time. Both Husserl and Heidegger were inspired
by the historical moment. In accordance with the intellectual climate of
the interwar period, similarly to the numerous diagnoses of this period,
they both expanded on Europe’s deepening crisis, and searched for a way
out. In a certain way, it is Europe’s salvation that is at stake for both of
them.
The attempt to return to the origins is generally the sign of a
crisis; and it is motivated by the wish to pursue, re-discover the
endangered, basically threatened, and disrupted identity. In the Letter on
Humanism written directly after the World War II, Heidegger states the
following: “But the western world is not thought of here just regionally as
the Occident, as distinguished from the Orient, not merely as Europe, but
rather world-historically in terms of its intimacy with the source (of the
Western world).” 3
1
Die Vielfalt Europas, p. 13.
See for example “Europa und die Oikoumene“, in: Europa und die Philosophie, p.
67 : “Philosophy was absolutely created in Europe”.
3
“Brief über den »Humanismus«“, in: M. Heidegger: Wegmarken, Gesamtausgabe,
Bd. 9, hrsg. F.-W. von Herrmann, Frankfurt/Main: Klostermann, 1976, p. 338.:
“Allein auch das Abendland ist nicht regional als Occident im Unterschied zum
2
219
That Europe’s exclusive distinctive characteristic is philosophy,
may be expressed in the fact that Europe itself can be regarded as a
directly philosophical idea. The typical example here is Husserl, who in
his 1935 lecture entitled “Philosophy and the Crisis of European Man”
was urged by the experience of progressing crisis to explore the
“philosophical-historical idea of European man”. 1
It will be useful to quote somewhat longer from Husserl’s
investigations: “We may ask,” Husserl wrote “ ‘How is the spiritual
image [geistige Gestalt] of Europe to be characterized?’ This does not
mean Europe geographically, [...] as though European man were to be in
this way confined to the circle of those who live together in this territory.
[...] Clearly the title Europe designates the unity of a spiritual life and a
creative activity – with all its aims, interests, cares and troubles, with its
plans, its establishments, its institutions. [...] ‘The spiritual image of
Europe’ – what is it? It is exhibiting the philosophical idea immanent in
the history of Europe (of spiritual Europe). To put it another way, it is its
immanent teleology, which, if we consider mankind in general, manifests
itself as a new human epoch emerging and beginning to grow”. 2
“Spiritually Europe has a birthplace. By this I do not mean a geographical
place, in some one land [...]. I refer, rather, to a spiritual birthplace in a
nation or in certain men or groups of men belonging to this nation. It is
the ancient Greek nation in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. In it there
grows up a new kind of attitude of individuals toward their environing
world. As a consequence, there emerges a completely new type of
spiritual structure, rapidly growing into a systematically rounded cultural
form that the Greeks called philosophy. Correctly translated, in its
original sense, this means nothing but universal science, science of the
world as a whole, of the universal unity of all beings. [...] In the
Orient gedacht, nicht bloß als Europa, sondern weltgeschichtlich aus der Nähe zum
Ursprung“ (Italics are mine: F.M.I.). (English translation by Miles Groth.
http://www.wagner.edu/departments/psychology/filestore2/download/101/Martin
HeideggerLETTER_ON_HUMANISM.pdf)
1
E. Husserl, “Az európai emberiség válsága és a filozófia” (Philosophy and the
Crisis of European Mankind), in: Husserl, Válogatott tanulmányai (Collected
Works), Budapest, Gondolat Publishing House, 1972, p. 323. (All the quotations
from this work are taken from Quentin Lauer’s English translation.
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/husserl_philcris.html)
2
E. Husserl, “Az európai emberiség válsága és a filozófia”, p. 329.
220
emergence of philosophy in this sense, a sense, that is, which includes all
sciences, I see [...] the original phenomenon of spiritual Europe.” 1
Europe’s philosophical-historical idea, the idea of the spiritual
Europe urged Husserl to probe into the origins of this idea. This he
localizes within the new orientation created by the Greeks: philosophy.
Philosophy means a theoretical comportment, living for the truth, through
which “a new kind of supranational condition could arise”. 2 Two years
before Husserl’s lecture, Heidegger in his rectorial address had similarly
claimed that “[...] the beginning of our spiritual-historical existence [...] is
the departure, the setting out [Aufbruch], of Greek philosophy. Here, for
the first time, Western man [der abendländische Mensch] rises up, from a
base in a popular culture [Volkstum] and by means of his language,
against the totality of what is and questions and comprehends it as the
being that it is. All science is philosophy, whether it knows and wills it –
or not. All science remains bound to that beginning of philosophy. From
it science draws the strength of its essence, assuming that it still remains
at all equal to this beginning.” 3 As we can see, Heidegger, similarly to
Husserl, connects philosophy to sciences, tracing philosophy back to the
Greeks. (In the latter respect it is plausible to assume the retroaction of
Heidegger’s thoughts to the old Husserl.)
Beside these basic parallels, some rather significant differences
also emerge between Husserl and Heidegger, to which it will not be
useless to refer. According to Husserl “the European crisis has its roots in
a mistaken rationalism”; he thought that “the form of development given
to ratio in the rationalism of the Enlightenment was an aberration”, which
resulted in “what has become for man an unbearable unclarity regarding
1
Ibid., p. 332.
Ibid., p. 351. I attempted to investigate the questions regarding Europe’s “spiritual
image” against a more detailed historical background in my study entitled “»Die
geistige Gestalt Europas« – was ist das?“; see Von der Idee zum Konvent. Eine
interdisziplinäre Betrachtung des europäischen Integrationsprozesses, hrsg. J.
Dieringer, S. Okruch (Andrássy-Schriftenreihe, Bd. 3), Budapest: s. a. [2005], pp.
17–33.
3
“A német egyetem önmegnyilatkozása” (The Self-Asserion of the German
University), in: M. Heidegger, Az idő fogalma. A német egyetem önmegnyilatkozása. A rektorátus (The Concept of Time. The Self-Assertion of the German
University. The Rectorate) 1933/34, Budapest, Kossuth Publishing House, 1992,
p. 63. (English translation from the following edition: Gunther Neske and Emil
Kettering (eds.), Martin Heidegger and National Socialism, New York, Paragon
House, 1990. http://www.eco.utexas.edu/~hmcleave/350kPEEHeideggerSelfAssertion.pdf )
2
221
his own existence and his infinite tasks”. According to Heidegger the
aberration, or deviation, had been committed much earlier, by the Greeks.
Heidegger grasped this also as a kind of forgetting, but differently from
Husserl. It was for him not a self-oblivious rationalism, or the selfoblivion of rationalism, but the forgetting of being: man had forgotten the
Being. Husserl had placed his trust in some kind of renewed, some new
kind of rationalism, rationalism which underwent a (transcendental
phenomenological) self-awareness. However, this could not become a
way out for Heidegger. On the contrary: the concepts of ratio and
rationalism required a critical re-examination ensuing from their
fundaments. But in spite of this not at all irrelevant difference, there is
another common trait relating the two thinkers to each other. Husserl
tended to think that his philosophy could only operate against the crisis
and in the service of a spiritual rebirth. He envisaged his philosophy “in
the form of a science whose scope is universal, wherein an entirely new
scientific thinking is established in which every conceivable question,
whether of being, of norm, or of so-called 'existence', finds its place.” 1
Similarly, Heidegger’s own intellectual efforts – despite all his reserve
towards the Husserlian rhetoric regarding scientism, intellectual
teleology, or rationalism and spirit –, the renewed questioning concerning
the meaning of being carried, in his self-understanding, the hope of a
solution. According to the old Husserl a philosopher is a clerk responsible
for mankind. 2 Similarly, in the thirties Heidegger talked about the
“preservation of the beginning of Western knowledge in the Greek
World” and “in keeping with this, the responsibility for the Western
world.” 3 At the same time, contrary to Husserl – and his emphatic, but
mainly powerless rhetoric –, Heidegger had few illusions regarding the
power of philosophy to influence history, to save or at least to shape
Europe. 4
1
E. Husserl, “Az európai emberiség válsága és a filozófia”, p. 365.
Cf. Die Krisis der europäischen Wissenschaften und die transzendentalen
Phänomenologie, § 7, Husserliana, Bd. VI, hrsg. W. Biemel, Den Haag, Nijhoff,
1954, p. 15.
3
A rektorátus 1933/34. Tények és gondolatok (The Rectorate 1933/34. Facts and
Thoughts), in: M. Heidegger, Az idő fogalma. A német egyetem önmegnyilatkozása. The rectorate 1933/34, p. 83.
4
See “Europa und die deutsche Philosophie“, p. 33.; Einführung in die Metaphysik,
Tübingen, Niemeyer, p. 6. On the other hand, Husserl scourged as a genuine
missionary “the incredulity in the human mission of the West” (“Az európai
emberiség válsága és a filozófia”, p. 367.)
2
222
VI.
After World War II the debate on Europe settled. The heated discussions
of the beginning of the century and of the interwar period had been
dominated by the convulsions of European history and by awareness of
the crisis. Oswald Spengler dramatically prophesied the decline of the
West. For Husserl the alternative was: “The crisis of European existence
can end in only one of two ways: in the ruin of a Europe [...], fallen into a
barbarian hatred of spirit; or in the rebirth of Europe from the spirit of
philosophy [...].” 1 Heidegger at the beginning of his lecture held in 1936
in Rome spoke in a similar tone about a “naked either-or”: “Europe’s
salvation or Europe’s destruction [Zerstörung]”. 2
The debate on Europe was re-opened at the beginning of the
1990s. Contrary to the general and dramatic character of the former
debate, the renewed discussion was characterized by an encouraging tone
and the hope that Europe would soon be unified. This change was due to
the favourable historical developments that preceded and made possible
the new debate: European division was terminated, the antagonistic
political blocks ceased to exist. This time the conditions encouraged
optimistic tone and trust in the future
They might have done so, though, in the long run. By contrast,
the hopes regarding a unified Europe were soon to be surrounded by an
atmosphere of insecurity and perplexity which began to spread. The
repeatedly mentioned fact that the unification process was governed by
economic-political-judicial factors and that it lacked ideological content
had played a significant role in this failure. In his mentioned lecture held
in the early eighties Gadamer expressed the hope that “Europe’s unity is
more than a merely power-political [machtpolitisch] issue”. From a
contemporary perpective one cannot simply dismiss the concern,
according to which the European economic-political processes, within
this the developments around the European constitution, might lead to
“the despotism of a future world domination disguised in a theory of
1
“Az európai emberiség válsága és a filozófia”, p. 366.
M. Heidegger: “Europa und die deutsche Philosophie“, in: Europa und die
Philosophie, p. 31. See also “Wege zur Aussprache“, in: Denkerfahrungen, hrsg. H.
Heidegger, Frankfurt/Main: Klostermann, 1983, p. 16. (“Rettung des Abendlandes“),
pp. 20f. (“drohende Entwurzelung des Abendlandes“, “Erneuerung des
Grundgefüges abendländischen Seins“).
2
223
human rights”. 1 Such concern is supported by Kant’s federalist views that
reject universal monarchy. 2
The unification that has been taking place is in any case far from
the characteristics of Christian-German spirituality, which were so
important for Hegel. Hegel had acknowledged the claim to “satisfy the
finite needs”, 3 and as is known, he was among the first thinkers who
focussed their attention upon the latest developments of Anglo-Saxon
political economy, and made a basic account of them. He even reserved a
place apart for it under the name “civil society” in his Philosophy of
Right. “But this branch,” emphasized Hegel, “concerns the particular; but
exactly in the particular there are no immanent boundaries. Here the
accumulation of wealth and refinement can become excessive” 4 . The
civil society “does not eradicate the inequality between men [...] evolved
by nature”, on the contrary, it deepens it more, and “develops it into the
inequality of wealth, and moreover to the inequality of intellectual and
moral education.” 5 “If the civil society operates unhindered, then its
industry and population is continuously increasing […]: on the one hand
the more and more wealth is accumulated. On the other hand peculiar
work becomes more and more isolated and limited, and this results in the
increasing dependence and misery of the class attached to this working
method”. 6 In Hegel’s view, all these wrongs should be amended by the
state. This state, however, the nation state, becomes nowadays more and
more overshadowed by the process of expanding globalization, so that
finally, as it seems, it practically “decays.” The eminent role attributed to
the state evokes, of course, the totalitarian distortions of the 20th century.
This role, together with the importance of the universal perspective of the
world spirit – the state being presented as the earthly incarnation of the
world spirit –, is apt to question Hegel’s topicality in this respect.
Nevertheless, this observation would not do justice to Hegel in the last
1
Rüdiger Bubner, Polis und Staat. Grundlinien der Politischen Philosophie,
Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 2002, p. 184.
2
See above, in the places referred in note 1. p. 208. I have discussed the topic
somewhat more in detail in my obseervations related to R. Bubner’s study quoted
in note 1. p. 209.: “Die Verfassung und das Volk Überlegungen im Anschluß an
den Aufsatz Rüdiger Bubners” (see Eine Verfassung für Europa, hrsg. K.
Beckmann, J. Dieringer, U. Hufeld, Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2005, pp. 107–117).
3
Hegel, Előadások a világtörténet filozófiájáról, cited edition, 101.
4
Ibid. See also Jogfilozófia (Philosophy of Right), §191.
5
Jogfilozófia, § 200.
6
Jogfilozófia, § 242.
224
resort, since what he did was to call attention to a question which had not
been resolved to this very day. Hegel’s importance lies rather in the
enforcement of the communitarian view (this is carried on in the presentday debates by the so-called communitarian standpoint), in emphasizing
the importance of historicism and traditions.
VII.
After this short review, I would like to consider the issue more closely:
what does the concept of Europe mean for us; is there something that we
might define as a European tradition – for instance, the universalism of
natural law, constraint of rational argumentation, human dignity,
religious tolerance, participatory or representative democracy –, or were
these made to be an European heritage only by euro-centric history of
ideas that had begun with the Enlightenment?
Instead of some “substantive” answer, I would rather sketch a
consideration that could be called methodologist. European tradition is a
reflexive, reflected tradition, it is conscious of itself as a tradition, and
thematizes this issue. Considered more closely: the very moment we are
asking “is there any tradition that sets a standard for us?” – is there, or is
there not? and if there is, which one, and in what sense? –, the simple fact
of asking this question testifies to the fact that our relation to the tradition
has ceased to be a naïve, matter-of-fact relation; it is no longer
unproblematic, unreflected. 1 By simply asking the question, the naïve,
thoughtless identification is done away with (or it has always already
been done away with). 2 The discipline mainly concerned with tradition –
the essence, vivacity, transmittal of tradition, the connection to or the
detachment from it 3 –, is called hermeneutics. It is antidogmatic and
pluralistic because it asserts that tradition and above all the interpretation
1
Concerning this question see further details in my study “A megtört tradíció. A
hagyomány létmódja idegenség és ismerősség között” (The Broken Tradition. The
Condition of Tradition between Familiarity and Unfamiliarity) (Protestáns Szemle,
LXIII, 2001/2-3, 61–75.).
2
“A historical consciousness is inherent in our understanding of Christian
tradition, just as in the understanding of the classical Greeks. What binds us to the
great Christian-Greek tradition, though this might be a living tradition: is the
awareness of otherness – being aware of the fact that we no longer belong to it –
that defines us all.” (Gadamer: GW, Bd. 2, p. 122.).
3
“It may belong to the essence of tradition that it exists only when acquired by
someone, however, it is an essential feature of man that he can break and criticize
tradition [...].” [Igazság és módszer (Truth and Method), transl. Bonyhai Gábor,
Budapest, Gondolat, 1984, p. 17.]
225
of tradition is endless (and at the same time that the interpretation of
tradition is of great importance). It is the doctrine or rather the habit of
mutual understanding and endless, continuous dialogue. According to
hermeneutics there are no interpretational monopoles, hegemonies, and
that similar to the way there is no first word, in like manner there is no
last one in the infiniet series of interpretations as well as discussions. 1 It
is an approach, having as a point of departure the self-critical position,
according to which the other party may be right. 2 Suppose we identify the
European tradition with any item of the enumeration – universalism of
natural law, constraint of rational argumentation, human dignity, etc. – or
with any further concepts: we should realize that we do in any case do
interpreting (or even more: have always already done interpreting). We
have in one way or another fixed in what sense we understand the notions
of the universalism of natural law, the coercion of rational argumentation,
and the others. We have to do so by claiming: European tradition is
constituted for me by such and such values, and the latter have such and
such menaning (here and now, for me).
1
See Gadamer GW, Bd. 2, p. 478. (= Igazság és módszer, p. 388.); GW, Bd. 8, p.
408.
2
See Gadamer: GW, Bd. 10, p. 274.: “The art of understanding is above all things
the art of paying attention. In addition to this we must be open to the possibility,
that the other may be right.” [Die Kunst des Verstehens ist sicher vor allen
Dingen die Kunst des Zuhörens. Dazu gehört aber auch noch, daß man offenläßt,
ob nicht der Andere recht haben könnte.] Cf. Jean Grondin: Von Heidegger zu
Gadamer. Unterwegs zur Hermeneutik. Darmstadt: WB, 2001, p. 106.: “The core
of his hermeneutics is that the other may be right – emphasized Gadamer in the
last few years. According to this, hermeneutics is the art of being able to accept
that we are wrong.” [“Die Seele seiner Hermeneutik, hat Hans-Georg Gadamer in
den letzten Jahren immer wieder betont, bestehe darin, dass der andere Recht
haben könnte. Die Hermeneutik sei gewissermaßen die Kunst, Unrecht haben zu
können”]. See Grondin: Hans-Georg Gadamer. Eine Biographie, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, 1999, 354, 371.; idem, Einführung in die philosophische Hermeneutik,
Darmstadt: WB, 1991, 160. [in Hungarian: Bevezetés a filozófiai hermeneutikába
(Introduction to Philosophical Hermeneutics), transl. Nyírő Miklós, Budapest,
Osiris, 2002, p. 174.): “The possibility that the other may be right is the soul of
Hermeneutics.” – For the particularly hermeneutical disposition “there is no
higher principle than being and remaining open for discussion. But this always
implies that we acknowledge beforehand that our discussion partner may be right
or even superior to us.” (GW, Bd. 2, p. 505.) No dialogue, discussion “is possible
if either partner considers himself to be in a superior position”. (GW, Bd. 2, p.
116.) In this feature appears what may be called the democratic comportment of
hermeneutics par excellence.
226
“The humanist tradition is the tradition that we must turn back
to”, 1 writes Gadamer, and humanism and its different forms – Antique,
Renaissance, Modern and Postmodern –, and in addition to this, the ideals
of education, civilization, and edification (Bildung) and their
configurations may beclaimed to form the basis of the hermeneutical
tradition. (This statement can also be assumed to be a “weak substantive”
answer.) For what is at issue for interpretation, or for the tradition of
interpretation, is that in addition to extending our knowledge, we also
perform an act of self-interpretation, whereby we ourselves undergo a
change and become different. Without this character European tradition,
and along with it art and its role in human life, would sink into a not
necessarily barbarian, uncouth tradition, but anyway into a tradition
lacking culture. Without this the community of scholars spanning over
nations and ages, Bayle’s République des Lettres and its interpreting
successors and late descendants would similarly not obtain their rights.
And this would be, as Richard Rorty expressed it in his influential work,
“the termination of discussion”, “resulting form this, the freezing of
culture” and finally “man’s dehumanization” 2
We had better not have illusions, anyway. And it is no need for
us to use great words either. If we look at the above enumerated values of
European tradition – the universalism of natural law, coercion of rational
argumentation, human dignity, etc. –, and amplifying this list we add to it
the tradition of interpretation, and then, wanting to cast an eye upon
reality, we open up the newspaper in order to find out from it what is the
essence of Europe, of the European Union, we find the headline of the
leading article in the foreign policy column saying: “EU: Fight for the
Money”. This may have a sobering effect on us. 3 – From this article we
can find out for instance, that an “important internal fight is going on
between and around the members of the German-French-British ‘leading
trio’ [...]: when these three agree, the other member states have nothing to
do.” – Well, yes, we may recall: in the ancient Roman Empire also there
were wealthier and poorer provinces. And of course, in the centre of the
empire the rich had a greater influence.
Viewed from this perspective of live reality, all the differences
among universalists of natural law, rational argumentators, the adepts of
human dignity or the members of the community of interpreters are being
1
Igazság és módszer, p. 36.
R. Rorty, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. Princeton, Princeton University
Press, 1979, p. 377.
3
Népszabadság, 2003, July 30, p. 3.
2
227
put in their true light and thereby simultaneously pushed into the
background–they fade simply away in the perspective of what there is.
228
Liberty as a Profession
Doru POP
Faculty of Political, Administritative and
Communication Sciences,
Department of Journalism,
Keywords: freedom, liberty, “ideological Centre”, liberalism, pluralism,
humanism, Europeanism, opened dialogue
Abstract
A “history of Freedom” in Romanian culture is not possible without a
history of understanding the roots of intolerance, dogmatism and
aggressive isolationism in our recent past. Adrian Marino managed to
give freedom and liberty a consistency far deeper than the mere
ideological compatibility. A practitioner of a „liberal profession”, Marino
assumed this role of not being employed by the State as an ontological
statement, not just as an attitude towards the Communist regime, or as a
social ideal. Throughout his entire life Adrian Marino practiced three
great Freedoms and dedicated all his intellectual efforts to them: the
freedom of conscience, the freedom of expression and the freedom of
thinking, all of them more than utopian ideologies, but difficult to realize
in a peripheral culture like the Romanian one. For Marino freedom is
based on a liberal (read it critical) model for the conscience, opposing any
kind of fundamentalism.
When I first met Adrian Marino in 1991 I was „a young
intellectual rising star”, and I was about to leave Romania for the first
time, going to France for a comparative literature scholarship, and I was
looking forward to getting from this meeting – with a thirsty desire to
broaden my horizon – a professional safe conduct, an academic ointment.
But Marino accommodated me in his house, in a somewhat colloquial
way – there were the last minutes of the BBC news report at five – and he
told me straight away (and I remember I was quite shocked at the time):
„he wasn’t, isn’t and never would be on the payroll of any public
institution in Romania”. Later, on several occasions (that took place in
the same way) when we met, he told me, repeated and confirmed that this
229
was one of his social gestures that he was most proud of, that of always
having been a practitioner of a „liberal profession”. Marino assumed this
role of not being employed by the State as an ontological statement, not
just as an attitude towards the Communist regime, or as a social ideal.
As for any manifest Enlightenment ideologue, freedom also
meant for Marino the liberation from all sources of mysticism, the
presupposition of a critical, secular and public rationality, the
acquiescence of the most profound consequences of personal liberties.
The desire to evade the „canons”, especially religious canons, explains
why Marino was so constantly virulent against all the signs of the
Romanian „mystical philosophy”. His critique of Noica, Cioran or Nae
Ionescu was based on this deep-seated affiliation to a certain kind of
freedom, a freedom that despises any proliferation of obedience. For
Marino cultural figures like Ţuţea or Noica were to blame for their own
lack of respect for freedom, liberalism and pluralism and not simply for
their cultural value.
Still, in 2005, “one side” of the Romanian cultural press
virulently attacked Adrian Marino, an old and sick man, isolated in his
home, in his self-assumed exile in Cluj. This furibund attack came from
an intellectual group that evolved around some of the disciples of Noica,
and the assailment that did not cease even after the death of the renowned
comparatist. Remarkably, this was just the tip of the iceberg of a more
profound conflict existing in the Romanian culture, before, during and
after the Communist period.
This is a continuous war between two main ideological streams
that generated two types of intellectuals in modern Romania – one, based
on the so called values of the local Zeitgeist and one aiming to integrate
European values and models. If we were to follow Marino’s position on
the topic, the evolution of the Romanian culture is to be understood along
two major intellectual lineages. On the one hand there is the group
“descending” from a narrow, “localism” oriented perspective, built on a
Romanian self-centred standpoint. The other envisions a Romanian
culture based on European core standards and principles. In this sense,
Nae Ionescu and his latter disciples were merely a product of a long line
of intellectuals going back to the prevarications of the “founding fathers”
of nationalism. Moreover, it is no secret that Nae Ionescu was “The
Cultural Master” for Eliade, Cioran and Noica. And, as shown by
Marino, following this intellectual genealogy, Noica was closer to
Ceauşescu’s national-communism by praising and using nationalism in
his intellectual praxis, than to any European axioms.
230
It is a historical fact that Noica was the “coach” of Gabriel
Liiceanu and Andrei Pleşu, both virulent judges of Marino’s cultural
place in the contemporary Romanian literature. Needless to say that since
Marino was amongst the few who dared to criticize the Noica model, the
public execution of Marino by the “Păltiniş” disciples can be seen as a
“witchcraft trial” of unparalleled proportions.
This was just an example of what Marino called “Noica’s
negative effect”, but transgressing the biographic dimension of this fact,
the consequences of the inheritance of the Romanian “autochthonous
bucolic philosophy” are more malignant than this. Marino was inherently
against any sort of local pride, of national bias – himself being less of a
Romanian, or for that matter a Transylvanian, than a European. His overt
cultural purpose being that of open dialogue – not with the local culture,
but rather one of cross-cultural relevance – he belongs to the very small
group of protesters, of radical cultural eccentrics, of marginals who
wanted and succeeded in acquiring “Western culture”, without joining
any “spiritual churches” of local resonance.
Marino has transparently explained his rejection of the Noica &
Eliade models. 1 Due to the fact that communism has generated a type of
intelligentsia that was a “docile instrument for propaganda”, the writers
and the intellectuals of that epoch have become “employees, bureaucrats
and civil servants” of the regime. Both Noica and Eliade have shown that
their willingness to cooperate with the communist regime was deeper
than necessary. Marino uses the example of Noica, who proposed to his
students to consider him as a “Marxism trainer” and thus has imposed a
personal example of a way of “resisting” the communist ideology by
means of a personal network, based on double language, dissimulations
and, finally, an acceptable “agreement” with the Devil.
Marino’s central objection to Noica’s line of thought comes
from interpreting the following dictum of the “last modern philosopher”.
Noica is noted to have told his “disciples” that “happiness has many
tastes and communism has given me the best of them”. 2 This, being
obviously a double meaning expression, is nonetheless for Marino an
example of applying a Marxist perspective on freedom, conceived as a
“need of conscience”. For a pedagogue of urban dialogue and civil
criticism this was a natural rejection.
1
Adrian Marino, Politică şi cultură. Pentru o nouă cultură română (Politics and
Culture. For a New Romanian Culture), Iaşi, Polirom, 1996.
2
Quoted by Marino, ibid., p. 86.
231
For Marino freedom is based on a liberal (meaning critical)
model for the conscience, opposing any kind of fundamentalism,
superficiality and disdain for the individual. As he himself recounts, after
he was released from prison (and later founded Cahiers roumains
d'études littéraires) he has followed another path of “cultural resistance”,
one of alternative ideas, that of a literary rebel and of a bizarre cultural
specimen. Marino was against all the “Maurice Chevaliers” of local essay
writing (albeit of liberal origins), against the journalistic dimension of a
“Balkan literature” and against all the manifestations of false
“spiritualism”, of the “dissimulated orthodoxy” in our culture. The
private versus the national, the individual against the institutions
supported by the State, freedom opposed to the practices of joining one
group or another, globalism as a form of rejecting the pressure of
localism, critical attitude towards concepts and ideas, in contrast with all
the manifestations of “belletrist criticism” – these were his key concepts.
In this respect, comparatism and literary theory were the
acceptable forms of “cultural survival” for him, the main goal of such a
standpoint being to follow and achieve an ideal, and finally, to gain
European relevance for his works. As he claimed in his criticism of Noica
and his followers, the two main shortcomings of their perspective on
culture and society were not inherent to their work, but were in fact the
fundamental disbelief in democracy and the utterly anti-Western and antiEuropean side of such approaches. Romanian culture cannot have
European relevance if the “West” is blamed for all the defects of
Capitalism and if “the Europe of butter” is opposed to a “spiritual
Romania”. Marino states that this kind of “westwards criticism” has
produced only “messianic black coats” like Steinhardt, Ţuţea or Noica,
and suggests that “we don’t need mystical prophets anymore” or “tragic
existential feeling”, but “durable creations in all the fields of
knowledge”. 1
So the key concept that Marino has promoted in order to
counteract this pernicious trend was “neo-paşoptism”; in other terms, a
“new culture” based on a systematic approach to social or literary
phenomena, more theoretical, with deep roots in critical thinking. This
was his personal example – no matter what his subject or his work
objective was. Marino postulated for himself a project builder role; he
was a careful researcher and a thorough reviewer of cultural phenomena.
He was described as the last encyclopaedic, not only for the Romanian
1
Ibid., p. 230.
232
“Literary Republic”, but also for the European literature and culture.
Obviously, he remains one of the last Illuminists and the absence of any
trace of backwardness and of autarchy, the integration of his books and
ideas in the global dialogue are proofs of the success of such an effort.
But he was also a militant, stating that there is a social need in the
Romanian politics of culture for projecting European values in their
rightful place and destroying the myth of an “autarchic, prosperous
Romania”. Putting the sign of equality between Europe and “foreignness”
is the most malignant cultural gesture, which generates the most
detrimental after-effects.
Marino was against any form of cultural imposture, and even
when he was working with cultural concepts, with the history of ideas or
when he was following his latter call, that for political studies, the
attitude of the non-affiliated worker remained declared and programmatic
for him. Comparative literature as a cultural practice was for Marino, as it
is obvious from the standpoint of his study Etiemble, 1 a highway for “free
cultural exchange”. By 1995 he gave up literature for ideology, and his
studies were focusing more and more on one central idea: freedom.
Needless to say that the overt partisan attitude of the examiner is never
counterbalanced by the academic sobriety and the equanimity of
intellectual discourse.
In the end Marino transformed his own life into an institution of
freedom, being a model not just on the cultural level, but also on the level
of personal social relevance. Marino was against the “culture of
fragment”, that has characterized Romanian intellectuals since the
creation of the modern state, he believed that a “delirious, exalting and
contradictory” Romania (proposed by Cioran) has to be replaced by a
culture dominated by “honesty, morals and order”.
Although the idea of freedom in Romania might seem a paradox
in itself, a perfect oxymoron, still Adrian Marino managed to give
freedom and liberty a consistency far deeper than the mere ideological
compatibility. In his last work 2 Marino finds ways to explain not only the
roots of these concepts, but he discovers something of an oddity, the
sources of these concepts in Romanian history of ideas.
Freedom – and this is Marino’s main argument – is closely
connected with two strong ideas and ideological concepts:
„Europeanism” and „Paşoptism”. Naturally, only a civic culture and a
1
Idem, Etiemble ou le comparatisme militant, Paris, Gallimard, 1982.
Idem, Libertatea şi cenzură în România. Începuturi (Freedom and Censorship in
Romania. Beginnings), Iaşi, Polirom, 2005.
2
233
civil society can become sources of European integration in his view, for
this is the only method to overcome the “nationalist, ethnic and antiEuropean ideology” which developed in the post World War I Romania.
His standpoint? He claimed the priority of the ideological centre.
Marino explains his preference for this “ideological Centre”
with the argument that both the Left and the Right “cultures” have had
negative consequences in the late 20th Century. 1 The centre is
characterized by “axiological balance”, liberalism, pluralism, humanism
and Europeanism, based on human rights and civic responsibility, while
the other two alternatives are either centralist and homogeneous, or
violent and non-ethical.
Marino speaks of three grand Freedoms, those that he has
practiced his entire life and those he dedicated all his intellectual efforts
to: the freedom of conscience, the freedom of expression and the freedom
of thinking, all of them more than utopian ideologies, but difficult to
realize in a peripheral culture like the Romanian one. The free thinking he
practiced and exercised in his work has its roots in a 1799 formula:
„every individual is free to think... as he is able to” („tot insul e slobod a
gândi... după cum se pricepe”). At the bitter end of freedom
(„slobozenie”) there is to be found – for the Transylvanian writers of the
18th Century (and later on for Marino himself) – the moronity
(„dobitocenia”). How does Marino translate the moronic cultural attitudes
– mostly found in the political and social writings of our time? They are
to be recognized in the “Mioriţa” dimension of Romanian writers. The
free man is, inherently, the man who does not depend on anything, the
man who has discovered the freedom from any forms of constraint
(social, political or cultural). The model Marino followed needs to be
understood in this respect. The critical posture and the critical spirit must
be the necessary and compulsory guarantee for all the freedoms of the
individual. Questioning these principles is an utter manifestation of the
intolerance for Freedom with a capital letter.
Finally, as he revealed is his brief study on censorship, 2 all
forms of Censorship and intolerance (self censorship, economic
censorship, ideological pressures and so on) are nothing but
manifestations of perverting social and cultural realities. A “history of
1
See idem, Pentru Europa. Integrarea României. Aspecte ideologice şi culturale
(For Europe. The Integration of Romania. Ideological and Cultural Aspects), Iaşi,
Polirom, 1995.
2
Idem, Cenzura în România. Schiţă istorică introductivă (Censorship in
Romania. Introductory Historical Sketch), Craiova, Aius, 2000.
234
Freedom” in Romanian culture is not possible without a history of
understanding the roots of intolerance, dogmatism and aggressive
isolationism in our recent past. And for such an effort the presence of one
personal example may not be enough.
235
Liberty and Truth
– Fragments about the “Cave-myth”–
István KIRÁLY V.
Faculty of History and Philosophy,
Department of Philosophy,
Motto:
“Whatever happens with historical human
beings comes in each case from a decision
about the essence of truth that happened
long ago and is never up to humans alone.”
Martin Heidegger 1
„Philosophy is destined to deal with the
Deepest and most disturbing questions.
It would hardly survive, if they were
definitively solved.”
József Hajós 2
Keywords: truth, liberty, cave-myth, essence of truth, search for truth,
paideia, aletheia, openness, language and philosophy, poetic language,
hermeneutics of natural sciences, scientific truth
Abstract
This study, related to Plato’s cave-myth, attempts to open up the meaning
and existential importance of the essence of truth by focusing on the
interdependence of liberty and truth. It points out that the essence of truth
is liberty and vice versa, the essence of liberty is truth, for without the
1
Martin Heidegger, Plato’ Doctrine of Truth. English translation by Thomas
Sheehan, in: Martin Heidegger, Pathmarks, ed. William McNeill, Cambridge,
UK, and New York, Cambridge University Press, 1998, p. 182. (The motto in the
Hungarian version of this study was taken from the following edition: Martin
Heidegger, “Platón tanítása az igazság lényegéről”, in: idem., Útjelzők, Budapest,
Osiris, 2003, p. 224.)
2
József Hajós, “Ötlések” (Ideas), in Színkép – A Romániai Magyar Szó
Melléklete (Spectrum – The Supplement of the “Hungarian Word of Romania”),
28–29th June, 2003, p. A.
236
liberty and openness of search there can be no (artistic, scientific or
philosophical) truth at all. Far from giving a final definition of this
relationship, the paper illustrates the way in which these two essential
components of human life constantly refer to, question and open up one
another, showing that, according to the Heideggerian motto: “Whatever
happens with historical human beings comes in each case from a decision
about the essence of truth that happened long ago and is never up to
humans alone.”
1.
One may wonder why is it that we, human beings are always
inclined or even “compelled” to think about and grasp notions like truth,
good, beauty etc. only in contrast with their conceptual counterparts:
untruth, evil, ugliness etc. These conceptual opposites constantly refer to
one another, and eventually they prove to be continuously interlinked,
each notion of these pairs indispensably requiring its counterpart.
The question asked above does neither refer to how the
mentioned oppositions are divided for example in a “proper” or a “nonproper” way… nor does it try to find or discover a way to surpass
somehow “dialectically” the polarities. The question’s aim is to make
understandable the interdependence of the opposites as opposites, and
above all to throw light on the ontological source where we may possibly
find their origin too.
Therefore those roots would be interesting, from which and from
where springs the intermediarity – and not the commonness,
commonality – of the opposites: truth and falsity, truth and untruth;
opposites which belong together, moreover are interdependent. These
roots later on decide the counterparts’ historical fate.
But this source, of course, is probably deeper and beyond any
kind of “theory of science”, epistemology or logical formalism. For, as
Martin Heidegger formulates as well: such a question actually refers to
the essence of truth.
According to the “title” these fragmentary sentences would treat
however “liberty” as well as “truth”, wouldn’t they? Moreover the title
states the relationship “between” them with an “and”, that is, exactly as
“and”. But what does really mean – first of all and actually – to treat/to
think about “liberty”? And, likewise, what does it mean at all – again first
of all or in the first place – to regard “truth”?
237
However, if we really consider all these questions – as
questions! –, we may immediately find out that to think about “liberty”
actually means to investigate – for its own possibilities – the “truth”
related to it, respectively, together with and by this investigation to
operate “truth” in a very essential sense!
And if we have considered this as well, then it may probably
occur that we cannot in fact “treat” truth otherwise than as the operation
and “assertion” of liberty itself; operation and assertion divided in a
determined way and very much asserted!
In this way it may strike the eye from the beginning that the
“and” present in the main title is not a simple “conjunction” – which
therefore would “serve” for connecting some notions “with” it 1 –; on the
contrary: it is the problematising-thematising connecting-name of the
interconnected intercommunication of liberty and truth.
Therefore, according to all these, “Liberty and Truth” in the title
tells that liberty and truth belonging to one another do belong historically
to our own selves or our existence – and through this – to existence in
general too, as specifically our own existential possibilities, as question,
respectively as provoking difficulty.
According to these: we would belong to our (existential)
possibilities as belonging to ourselves in the expressed question/case of
liberty and truth; we would belong to existence – and existence to us as
well – placed into these notions and “contained” by them in an
accentuated and questioning way…
We have heard for a long time and frequently: truth is the
benefactor and ally of liberty. It is also frequently said that, on the
contrary, being in the possession of truth often ensures the domination
over others… And also that: truth exactly liberates! It may not be
accidental that nowadays the renamed and “operationalised” collective
name of liberty(s) is “justice” 2 …
We obviously often hear that: neither liberty is boundless
arbitrariness, nor truth is absolute or everlasting… That is, liberty is
delimited by non-liberty or the sham-liberty of arbitrariness and truth is
1
Say: we connect – and this actually always remains an external connection – a
problem of “speciality” (liberty), belonging to the domains of “political
philosophy”, “moral philosophy”, or “philosophy of law”, with another
“speciality” problem (truth), this time an “epistemological” one.
2
There is here a pun that cannot be rendered in English. In Hungarian “justice” is
derived from the same stem as “truth”.
238
delimited by untruth, falsehood and the historicity of truth. In other
words: these make the two notions “relative”.
Truth and liberty bear – usually with a reconciled dejection – the
not quite meaningful attribute of relativity rather in relation to
themselves, their own imperfection and not in relation with one another.
Consequently they relate to – more precisely they are compared to – one
another as being “relative”; obviously this relationship is “relative” as
well…
Therefore when, all of a sudden, Heidegger thought of showing
the essence of truth as being expressly and definitely in liberty, in the
essence of liberty, this has not really caused an uproar. 1 For, between the
many relative things everything always finds its similarly relative place
shortly and easily. That is to say: it gets lost.
It is therefore a question, whether truth and liberty can be
defined at all as relation(s)/relationship(s), respectively attribute-like
state(s), or they rather are – in a more profound sense – the existence-like
divisions of belonging to one another, respectively of belonging to (the)
existence.
2.
The tale of Plato’s allegory of the cave is about education,
according to its main theme, or, to be more precise, about the paideia. 2
Meanwhile and to the same extent the myth is about truth as well, and, as
it can be proved, about liberty, too...
For here education is outlined as the “art of bending the soul”,
which – captivating the entire soul – orientates the abilities and “organ”
present in everyone’s mind towards the Idea of Good. By this it makes
able for the soul to contemplate the being and the being’s brightest core,
moreover to reside perseveringly at this core from now on.
However, the paideia here clearly outlines the absorption in
truth and at the same time it outlines this also as absorption in liberty!
Actually there is more than this. Here truth and liberty are not only
devised as being in some kind of eurhythmic parallelism; they are
presented as being interlaced, interwoven, the one supposing/questioning
1
It has caused by no means as much uproar as for example the Heideggerian
thought of the aletheia, notion connected also with the issue of truth.
2
See Plato, Az állam. Részletek (The Republic. Excerpts), selected, introduced
and annotated by Sándor Pál, Budapest, Gondolat Publishing House, 1968, pp.
194–198.
239
the other, and/but at the same time they increase and complete one
another.
Nevertheless, the cave myth – at least seemingly – presents and
narrativizes liberty as a kind of “condition” for truth, more precisely as its
“milieu”. The people chained since their childhood at first are at the
mercy of those who, using the firelight from behind the scenes, confine
their perception to the illusory truths of the shadow world. On the other
hand (their) liberty – namely (their) liberation from the chains, which is
quite casual and it does not depend on the chained persons themselves or
it has an “educational” (paideuticos) aim – will practically be an
“appropriate” milieu for truth. Later on the liberated individuals
encounter the beings and get to know them “in” this environment, this
cognitive process being actually orientated toward truth.
At first, of course, the search for truth is not directed towards the
things themselves, but towards the light. In the beginning this is the
firelight, then, gradually, it becomes the “true” light, that of the Sun.
Only in sunlight things appear in their truth; all that is truth and true or,
on the contrary, is shadow, illusion and falsehood is compared to it and
measured by it.
True enough, in the myth liberty itself consists at first only in the
possibilities to turn round, to move… This, however, is a decisive bearing
as regards the matter of truth. For this only has made clear that, though in
the cave some things can be regarded as being true without this liberty –
that means, while being chained –, there is not and there cannot be at
all any actual truth without freedom!
There is not and there cannot be truth exactly because one does
not – cannot – turn round and “move”. That is to say, because there is not
and there cannot be: search for truth!
Here therefore liberty belongs to, or – and this is probably even
more important – is interweaved with truth in the first place as the
possibility and prerequisite of the search for truth. Without coexistence
with liberty there can be no truth at all; may this truth be defined,
conceived and asserted as “rightness”, “appropriateness” or even as
aletheia, as unconcealment.
This therefore means that when we search for truth in a certain
fundamental sense we are already “at” truth. For without this search no
“knowledge”, “truth” etc. can be born, can exist or, if it does exist, it
lacks all sense. But it is also clear that the name of this searchingly
existing-in-truth, being-in-truth is no other than: liberty!
240
The “search for truth” – more narrowly, “specifically” called
“cognition”, or even “investigation”, that is: the search for knowledge – is
not merely an accidental or external prerequisite of truth, but it is
precisely its constant source, component and definite coefficient. Without
this probably there is no “truth” at all that can be obtained.
Therefore liberty – as the being-in-truth constituted together
with the search for knowledge and truth – is at the same time precisely a
continuous (internal) “component” of truth as well. On the contrary, for
example the stupidity of “omniscience” consists exactly in the fact that
such a person “could know everything”, however, he could never know
that he “knows” at all. For “to know” one needs exactly to experience the
knowledge of not-knowing that is constituted only during the search of
truth. And this is not characteristic to the “omniscient” person. For he
necessarily always knows everything ab ovo… Otherwise he would not
be called “omniscient”. The situation is the same with the immortal too:
such a person “does never die”, but meanwhile he never lives a moment
at all.
Consequently things like “truth” and “liberty” exist only in and
through the existence of that finite – mortal – being, which, exactly
because of this, has a relationship full of risks with existence…
Of course, the situation is the same with “falsity”, too. “Falsity”,
untruth also acquires its meaning and its (dangerous) weight only in and
from the being-in-truth constituted in and through the search for truth.
However, all this indicates that being-in-truth is not simply outlined in
the mere opposition with untruth, but it appears as real being-in-untruth.
But this is far from referring us to some conceptual or other kind
of “dialectic”; it rather sends us to a more profound openness. Namely,
the openness of search!
The search and the openness that is constituted and outlined
through it and in it – therefore asserted, articulated and never without a
direction – give on the one hand the weight of liberty and its real
“ontological” dimensions, on the other hand its relevance related to truth.
Of course, this holds good vice versa as well.
Therefore the question arises: is there something like that which
is usually called “one’s own truth”, “self-truth” or “truth according to
one’s own conviction” etc.? For each of these expressions actually means
that far from asking the question referring to the essence of truth we close
or suspend this same inquiry! In the same way we would suspend
communication by using “private languages”. For, when Pilate asks
Jesus, “What is truth?”, in fact he receives no answer because the
241
question has no “room” or “space”. Not only because the question of
“truth” is asked during the trial of a prisoner, but mainly because the
inquiry is made in the atmosphere of already decided, formed and
outlined convictions etc. In what regards the belief that the so-called
“self-truths” are harmless for one another – this harmlessness also
“constituting plurality” –, it would probably be better to consider that as
much as Pilate contributed to Jesus’ death, so much contributed Jesus’
conviction to the destruction of Pilate’s Roman Empire. 1
However, “truth” is not to be found where knowledge, already
formed convictions, “epistemological” evidences or petrified beliefs
exist, but only where and when the question referring to/searching for the
essence of truth can work and is working. Consequently truth exists
where liberty is working as well; that is, where liberty can be asked and
can happen with regard to (the) truth.
Therefore the question referring to the essence of truth actually
is the question of that liberty with and through which truth exists and
works; that is: through which the question of liberty itself is
problematised, more precisely thematised in its weight related to truth.
In other words: the essence of truth – leading through and back
to the essence of liberty – is in fact the explicit inquiry that constitutes the
essence and structure of liberty itself. How else would/could (the) liberty,
(the) truth and (the meaning of) existence find each other in interrelation?
If, however, – and how else could it possibly be? – the strength and
weight
of
the
questionable/questioning
interconnected
intercommunication of liberty and truth really penetrates to the point of
the meaning of existence, then probably the problem of truth is bound to
the being too – and not only to the “ideas”, “knowledge” and assertions
“formed about it”. And bound it is like that which “correctly” and
“adequately” “corresponds” to it.
1
I cannot agree for example with Mihály Vajda who does not place the so-called
“self-truths” into a historical – more precisely existential historical – context and
dimension. For in this context it could become clear that the “truths” which have
not been or allegedly cannot be converted into doctrines – like the teaching of
Jesus – how easily “acquire” their dogmas, and that they do not function merely
as a (private) “way of life” in these cases. See: Mihály Vajda, Igazság és/vagy
szabadság (Truth and/or Liberty) in: idem, Nem az örökkévalóságnak – Filozófiai
(láb)jegyzetek [Not for the Eternity – Philosophical (Foot)Notes] Budapest,
Osiris, 1996, pp. 78–83.
242
3.
The question inquiring after the essence of truth essentially may
not even refer to the quidditas and the qualia-s of truth. Therefore it does
not (merely) ask what the epistemological or pragmatic criteria of truth
consist of or the parameters by which decisions can be made relating to
truth. For all these questions are – essentially – “secondary” for the
inquiry referring to the essence of truth. That is, they are ab ovo and
“implicitly” standing in the – always historical! – questionability or in the
process of decision making that concerns the essence of truth.
It is another matter whether their inquiry of all times knows
about this standing-in and takes this into consideration or, whether it
really and explicitly questions it... For example the “almost three
thousand years old” truth of the Pythagorean theorem, that can easily
seem “eternal”, consists of the fact that its validity has been confirmed
and outlined anew since then by repeated questioning. The situation is
the same in the case of Euclidean geometry as well...
The “permanence” or “definiteness” of truth consists only of
this. The truth of the so called “analytical truths” or tautologies too is
revalidated only by the history of successive generations of finite and
mortal “rational beings” without which validation they would have no
sense at all. For mathematics, physics or formal logic cannot be imagined
without the history of the successive lives of mathematicians, physicians
and logicians as well as their mutually inspiring works that re-question
one another and offer new proofs. 1
This means that truth actually is and happens only when and
where the question referring to the essence of truth opens up and is kept
open as well – at least according to possibility and horizon – in an
explicit questioning.
The question opening to the essence of truth has another name as
well: liberty! For neither “truth”, nor “liberty” are some kind of “notions”
waiting and longing yet for their “perfect” definition. On the contrary,
they are questions and problems that instead of being defined
1
This is the actual ontological relevance of the probably right assertion – which
can be considered a descriptive assertion – that the immediate essence of
communicating/transmitting scientific truths (this may also be called the
pedagogy of scientific truths) consists in demonstration. That is: each and every
scientific truth is questioned and – if it seems valid once more! – proved anew
each time when communicated. It is essential that more is “handed over” on these
occasions than the “additional” knowledge or “information” surrounding the
formal or objective content or the “demonstrations” of the theorems, formulas etc.
243
must/should rather always be asked – in a way that the question referring
to the one may open up to the other as well.
4.
Three years after the publication of Being and Time, in 1930, in
a lecture entitled On the Essence of Truth – considered a turning point in
his oeuvre – Heidegger re-examines the problem of liberty. Here thought
strives towards the essence of truth. On this road – probably not
accidentally at all – it encounters liberty.
Of course, it is not unusual to seek the essence of truth in liberty.
But this is so not only “from the point of view” of truth, but that of liberty
as well. Thus it becomes clear ab ovo and again that liberty is not just
some “state” that is given to us or not (and if it is given, then obviously it
is constantly “limited” etc.). Liberty actually has an existential character,
it is characteristic to one’s existence.
Having a relation-like attitude towards the being supposes that
one should be situated in the openness. This is the basis of all assertions
related to which the “epistemological” problem of “rightness” – of
“truth”, “falsity”– afterwards constantly occurs. But even the possible
“rightness” and “wrongness” of the assertions originates from that
openness in which the assertion can be brought at all to its right “state”,
“form”. The rightness thus achieved is built on the possibility and
accomplishing of those corrections that can only be made on the basis of
openness, respectively as openness.
Therefore, we must be open ab ovo to the urgings of such a
correction, for only thus the question of “rightness” or “wrongness”,
occurring related to the assertions, may have some consequence at all… 1
In other words: liberty here (as well) will become the essence of
truth as something that actually is the basis, source, exponent, coefficient
of the “interior” possibility of truth. 2 We are able to form correct
judgements – more precisely to form “judgements” at all –, only if
meanwhile we are and remain free to let that something to be and to
manifest itself “as something”. And if, related to all these, we reckon with
the possibility of being right or wrong – continually correcting
1
With reference to this see also the paper entitled Állítás (asszerció), kérdezés és
tagadás (Assertion, Questioning and Denial) from the volume István Király V.,
Kérdő jelezés [Question(ing) Mark(ing)], Bratislava, Kalligram, 2004.
2
See: Martin Heidegger, Az igazság lényegéről, in: idem, Útjelzők, Budapest,
Osiris, 2003, pp. 173–193.
244
“ourselves” too – in a way that suits the weight of the question being at
stake.
Therefore truth and liberty refer to one another, but they do this
in a basic sense and way which already urges the modification of the
essence of both truth and liberty. Liberty is revealed to be “letting-be”
(Sein-lassen), letting the being to – possibly – reveal itself in the
openness in its unconcealment as a – possible – self-self.
Truth will become aletheia (unconcealment), while liberty will
be a letting-be openness to existence which exists while it lets be, which
depends on possibilities and is divided in these – and it is not some kind
of “characteristic” or “state”.
“To be free” therefore means to be open to the
manifestation/appearance of unconcealment and to the quite selfconcealing guidance of this, while one is in the problematic and weighty
concealment. Consequently, it means that one must be open to one’s
endeavour to let-oneself-be!
Therefore and repeatedly: liberty is not some characteristic of
humans, on the contrary, – if we need to think here in property relations –
actually the human being is the one “owned” by liberty. 1
5.
In this way, of course, truth transcends that, which is usually
regarded the subject and domain of epistemology and logic as
“cognition”, respectively “science”. For thus one can realise that for
example works of art or more generally art have their own truth. And this
is not an indifferent or secondary truth at all.
For how could we people actually face for example such things
like the truth “related to” ungratefulness or avarice, if not by the means of
Shakespeare’s Iago or Balzac’s Gobseck? And in what “judgements” or
“assertions” “is placed” the truth of these works of art?
Truth, however, can only transcend the narrower and more
“special” existentiality of “cognition” – meant as studying and
specifically outlined – in an existentially and horizon-like way. It can
obtain a world-like importance, only if it exists and happens always in a
common essentiality with liberty.
However, what differentiates to some extent typically the
various – scientific or literary-artistic etc. – “texts” is that they exist
within the language. The language essential to these texts has an
1
Ibid.
245
ontological character, belongs to the historical world and is well
articulated. This manifests itself while one is “merely reading” the texts.
The language of the literary work of art is specific and of
distinguished importance because “the poetical evocative power of
language created by sound as well as meaning is intimately interwoven”.1
This interconnectedness cannot be superseded and is ever valid. In this
respect literary texts are “eminent” texts for Gadamer too.
Contrary to this, for example philosophical texts are
characterised by a certain “intermediarity”. For these essentially
“operate” with notions. Because this they cannot achieve the unity of
sound and meaning characteristic to the work of art. However, they are
bound to language as well – this being a constantly essential aspect for
them. This is why the “eminence” of the relationship between
philosophical texts, respectively philosophy and language consists in the
fact that their words and texts perpetually surpass, transcend themselves.
Because of this, philosophers actually – or: consequently – have
no “texts” at all. And even if there are such things, they essentially are the
soul’s continuous historical conversation with itself that cannot be ended
– thus “progressing towards infinity”. (As conversation, philosophy is –
from a different direction, but – as “near” to the essence/existence of
language, connected to existence in general, as poetry, which, beyond
having a certain meaning, is identical with that which it means…)
According to this, poetry is not conversation, or it is – would be
– that, which in the final, completed work is only the – one – end of
conversation. Indeed, philosophy could not survive if it were like this…
In a well defined and historically divided western tradition all
this appears as a kind of miserable “imperfection” of philosophy. This
does not merely – and in the first place – mean that words become
degraded and worn out during their theoretical “use”, but that they are
“imperfect” from the beginning. This is because they are merely and
excessively: human words.
Contrary to this – according to Gadamer’s hermeneutics – the
“divine” word is perfect; because it is “one alone”. Obviously, in the case
of poetic word “perfect” has a different meaning, namely: its formulation
is final. A poem simply cannot be written “with other words”…
1
See: István Fehér M., József Attila esztétikai írásai és Gadamer hermeneutikája
– Irodalmi szöveg és filozófiai szöveg (Attila József’s Writings in Aesthetics and
Gadamer’s Hermeneutics – Literary Text and Philosophical Text), Bratislava,
Kalligram, 2003, pp. 164, 166.
246
According to me, this means that, related to the formulation of
poetic words, all “understanding by itself” is impossible. That is, poetry,
maybe in contrast with other texts, always and ab ovo – and not only as
the consequence of temporal distances etc. – claims the efforts of a
hermeneutical interpretation; it demands application, the self-changing
challenges of making the text one’s own.
As Heidegger puts it, poetry always and essentially urges us to
dialogue by this. To a dialogue in which precisely the conversation of
poets and thinkers may prove the most important and the most existencelike from the perspective of the subject, language, conversation and its
importance…
But in what else does the significance of poetry’s perfection
consist, if not in the fact that it orientates man – as a contrast – towards
(his) language as a constantly emerging want of language and existence?
Therefore it can be asked, whether philosophy has really some other
“task”, related to which we could regretfully state, that it has no adequate,
specific language of its own… 1
Contrary to this, divine word, is “one alone”, as we have seen it.
This does not mean that there is only “one piece” of it, for God talks quite
a lot in the Bible. It would/could rather mean that this word contains the
“whole thing” at once and as a whole. Compared to this, of course,
human word is “imperfect”. That is, it is dependent on logic, grammar,
etymology, language theory etc. and even hermeneutics… In other words:
divine word may be considered a word that has no language at all,
respectively it has no need of such a thing – at least it seems so. The
special problem, however, is in this case as well that this word is
addressed to man, who, on the other hand, has to struggle continuously
with the multitude of words and their meanings in his language/languages
– if only because the disposition made at Babel.
Consequently: “even being dependent upon conversation is the
sign of imperfection and finitude.” 2 This, naturally, cannot happen with
God… Gods – besides many other things – do not philosophize, but,
maybe, they only present man with philosophy; and – at least according
to Aristotle – this is their most important (good) deed.
According to this, however, there would be no sound reason for
us to complain that we are constrained to practice philosophy, or even
hermeneutics etc. For: only because divine word is without language, and
1
2
Cf. ibid., p. 181.
Ibid., p. 183.
247
poetical language is definitive, a challenging and even unavoidable
opportunity presents itself, an opportunity to “elaborate theories”… and
of course to practice philosophy/hermeneutics as well. For only these
have to/are able to undo themselves and transcend themselves
continuously – in dialogue –, while moving in the directions of truth and
liberty, which are always and historically opened or opening to
possibilities (and always dangerous).
6.
But even (natural-)scientific discovery will be pointless within
the historical and linguistic situation outlined above unless “it
subordinates itself to the hints of this situation and answers these by
interpreting the conjectures formulated in them.” 1 So it becomes more
and more clear that – in relation to natural sciences – the “place” of truth
is not in assertion or verification, but rather in the real, living scientific
discovery itself. 2 And this has not, after all, psychological,
“epistemological” or “epistemological-methodological” character,
respectively importance, but ontological one.
This is why we should here mention that nowadays the
“hermeneutics of natural sciences” is being outlined once again, a
hermeneutics that efficiently reaches back to the Diltheyian, Husserlian
and most importantly to the Heideggerian tradition. The philosophicalhermeneutical value of such efforts cannot be overrated. For – either
admittedly or unadmittedly – they tend to make acknowledged and to
undertake the otherwise elementary fact that natural sciences are probably
“cultivated” by the same Being-here (Dasein) – as its own and not at all
secondary or indifferent way of existence –, which operates in the case of
“spiritual sciences”, religions/theologies listening to divine words or all
the arts and technical or political “professions”; and, of course, in the
case of philosophy.
Therefore, as
long
as
we
“hermeneutically”
or
“phenomenologically” distinguish “the thing itself” according to the ways
by which it manifests itself, is made accessible – that is, according to the
“methods of the exact natural sciences”, the “methods of spiritual
1
Theodore J. Kisiel, A természettudományos felfedezés hermeneutikája (The
Hermeneutics of the Natural-Scientific Discovery), in: Tibor Schwendtner, László
Roppolyi and Olga Kiss (eds.), Hermeneutika és a természettudományok
(Hermeneutics and Natural Sciencies), Budapest, Áron Publishing House, 2001,
p. 102.
2
Ibid., p. 91.
248
sciences” etc. – (though many of these aspects are acceptable and
important), we actually neglect the “more essential” aspect that for us
“things” can only appear – as meanings – together with the risks of their
manifestation… And this, of course, is valid in the case of natural
sciences, as well as it is related to the other ways of existence of the
Dasein, which are always specifically divided. Moreover, it is their
essential, fundamental aspect – which, however, was hardly made
explicit.
Therefore it is totally wrong to consider Heidegger’s “critique of
– natural and social – science” as referring merely to science. On the
contrary: his critique of science – leading to the critique of “metaphysics”
and more generally to the critique of “philosophy”– actually widens and
deepens to a polemos of existential history. In other words: it becomes
the – in its essence entirely factic – critique and actual challenge of the
“fate” of existential history…
Since, for example: “Mathematics is a human science as well as
other sciences… and we need to count only because we are temporally
finite beings.” 1 Consequently, not even Heidegger’s reflections aim to
simply undo or suspend for example all the results/convictions related to
the “criteria” of truth; and still less to give new “criteria” to science.
Heidegger only reflects on the essence of truth and in this he
loosens up/liberates or re-questions all former cogitation about the
essence of truth. He does not say that science does its job wrongly,
respectively, that it forms wrong statements and propositions about
wrongly presented facts. He only asks questions referring to the sense
that determines the place, “role” and perspectives of science in existential
history. And he asks, of course, whether these questions can be answered
or not “within” the confines of science itself.
For, when we ask these questions, it is revealed that the
“correctness” of assertions – including scientific assertions as well – is
made possible only by the openness of the relation constituted,
respectively divided by these questions, more precisely by the
investigation itself, “and that, which makes this correctness possible, can
claim the essence of truth by a more genuine right.” 2
Although hereby the idea, that assertion is the only or the true,
the essential “place” of truth, proves to be false, this does not mean that,
1
See: Oskar Becker, Măreţia şi limitele gîndirii matematice (The Greatness and
the Limits of Mathematical Thinking), Bucharest, Scientific Publishing House,
1968, pp. 168–169.
2
Martin Heidegger, Az igazság lényegéről (On the Essence of Truth), p. 179.
249
in this way, assertions are ab ovo “untrue”, or that some truth or even the
essence of truth does not abide in them as in “places”… It means that “all
this” “is within the assertion”, but truth/the essence of truth is not
confined only to this. Meanwhile the assertion itself, respectively the
possibility of its correspondence to “objects” is actually based on the
openness of the attitude divided precisely by the assertion itself. This
openness of attitude, after all, proves to be exactly (the) liberty.
Therefore, if we say that the essence of truth is liberty – and here
“essence” probably is not understood as a “pure” generality distilled to a
flavourless, colourless, odourless state – this means exactly the opening
up of the questioning investigation and the questioning and questionable
relation in the openness – as the actual and real existential history of the
dependence-on-existence brought into Being-here.
Moreover, indeed: “Whatever happens with historical human
beings comes in each case from a decision about the essence of truth that
happened long ago and is never up to humans alone.” 1
1
Martin Heidegger, Platón tanítása az igazság lényegéről (Plato’s Doctrine of
Truth), p. 224.
250
The Catharsis of Going out into the Street:
Experiencing the 1989 Romanian Revolution ∗
Sidonia GRAMA NEDEIANU
PhD student
Keywords: the anthropology of the 1989 revolution, liminality, 1990
testimonies, revolution as lived and as narrated
Abstract
The violent event of the 1989 Romanian revolution was experienced both
as transforming and traumatic. Using vivid, synaesthesic testimonies on
those days, the paper highlights the liminality of the revolution-as-lived,
its symbolic dimension, the existential dilemmas and the harsh reflexivity
triggered then, while critically examining narrative patterns of the
revolution-as-told.
Motto:
“The year of 1989 has given me back my true identity.
I sharply realized which world I have been living on.
Adrian Marino ∗
The bloody violence of the 1989 founding event of Romanian
post communist democracy was experienced both as transforming and
traumatic. The violent death until the dictators’ fall had a sacrificial
dimension, whilst that provoked afterwards was a legitimizing death.
∗
This paper was presented at the EASA (European Association of Social
Anthropology) Conference, Bristol, UK, 2006, within the panel “Everyday life of
revolutionary movements”.
∗
(In translation: “Anul 1989 mi-a redat adevărata identitate. Mi-am dat seama
exact pe ce lume trăiesc.”) Adrian Marino in a dialogue to Sorin Antohi. Al
treilea discurs. Cultură, ideologie şi politică în România. (The Third Discourse.
Culture, Ideology and Politics in Romania), Iaşi, Polirom, 2001, pp. 36-38.
251
Ultimately, the physical and psychical violence of the revolution
dramatically legitimized the new leaders who came to power.
This paper develops an ethnographic analysis, based primarily
on 1990 testimonies of some people from the capital who went out into
the streets at that time. It tries to capture the dramatic atmosphere of the
street revolutionary movement, as well as to reveal recurrent themes and
patterns in the narratives on revolution, since the revolution as lived and
as told are inextricably intertwined. It stresses the highly liminal character
of the revolution as experienced, and its symbolic dimensions, spreading
light on the existential dilemmas and the harsh reflexivity triggered then
by the momentous of December 1989. By focusing on the symbolic
dimensions of the revolutionary experience, this account on the
revolution as lived would like to offer a closer, more empathic view on
what is analytically called the mass mobilization or popular revolt, as one
of the key factors and a distinct phase in a revolutionary process.
How did people experience those days of revolution? What
made them revolt and put their life at stake? How did they perceive the
abrupt moment of rupture between a world which collapsed and another
one which was to be imagined? How did they face violent death, the
unknown, the great hopes and fears? Whilst desperately trying to liberate
themselves from an overwhelming past by exorcizing it, what was the
future they imagined like?
It seems that such essentially new experiences in one’s life were,
at that time, instinctively expressed through rituals and symbols. A time
of deep crisis, the revolution instantly revived old recurrent historical
myths, which were subsequently manipulated for political use. This was a
time when people dramatically revaluated their whole life, a moment
which turned into a crucial autobiographical point of reference, of before
and after 1989.
Despite the deep meanings of those experiences, subsequently,
even highly comprehensive accounts or descriptions of the revolution
have tended to leave them apart or just to mention them in passing. 1
1
For instance, in a recent competent and comprehensive analysis of the 1989
Romanian Revolution, the British historian, Peter Siani Davies, refers also to the
revolutionaries’ state of mind by describing it in terms of mass behaviour, as
homogenous crowd driven by destructiveness and adrenaline. „Charged with
adrenaline and freed from traditional constraints, after years of numbing tedium,
the ordinary Romanian began to play an active role in the unfolding events. (...)
The most obvious way of showing commitment to the revolution was joining the
huge mass on the streets.”) Peter Siani Davies, The Romanian Revolution of
252
Moreover, in the making of collective and social memory(ies) of the
revolution these aspects are becoming more and more faded. Actually,
they tend to be silenced. Even though flashes still persist in the
participant’s memories, they are barely scattered through the clusters of
narratives on the revolution which have been socially produced during
more than a decade and a half elapsed since the events. This is the reason
why implicitly I also urge here to situate historically (culturally and
socially) every testimony or account we work with or provoke as
researchers, because the work of memory which refines in time the
significances of the past, might also bury them deeply beneath different
circumstances and current political interests. 1
Sketches of the revolution ‘as it happened’
In order to contextualize our discussion I would like to remind
you of some background information on the events of December 1989,
by providing an overview on the Romanian revolution as a linear,
chronological reconstruction of the events. 2 Nonetheless, there is an
inherent ambivalence of the term ‘history’, meaning both ‘what
happened’ and ‘that which is said to have happened’, which fluidly
overlaps the socio-historical process and the knowledge of that process,
namely the story, or the narratives on that process. 3 And inevitably, any
historical and anthropological account on a past event plays actually on
this ambivalence between the events as happened, as remembered and
narrated.
December 1989, Cornell University Press, 2005, p. 116, 117. On a contrary, this
paper aims at subverting such a simplistic interpretation of the revolution in the
streets, by revealing its complexity and depth as a phenomenon, and the
dimensions which the official discourse on the revolution have systematically
silenced during this span of time.
1
I have developed this idea in the article Sidonia Grama Nedeianu, „Memory
Features of the 1989 Romanian Revolution: Competing Narratives on the
Revolution”, in: Oral History and (Post)socialist Societies, Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht Unipress, Freiburg, 2007, under printing.
2
The brief reconstruction of the events we propose here is primarily based on
central and local newspapers and draws mainly on the inquisitive description
made by Stelian Tănase, a Romanian journalist and political analyst, in his book
The Miracle of the Revolution, while some aspects were clarified or nuanced from
oral sources.
3
Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past. Power and the Production of
History, Boston, Beacon Press, 1995, p.22.
253
As it is probably known, alongside the historical changes that
swept across Central and Eastern Europe in 1989 – which political
analysts labelled as anticommunist, peaceful revolutions – the Romanian
revolution seemed to be an exceptional one, because of its violence and
the slow pace of radical political and social reforms, which have been
only hesitantly initiated since then. The physical and psychical violence
engendered by the turmoil of those events, the obscurities of some
aspects of the revolution that have remained unexplained, and the highly
elusive question of who should bear responsibility for most of the victims
have led, inevitably, to difficult memories.
The revolutionary situation arose on December 15, 1989, in
Timişoara, a multicultural city on the Western border of Romania. There,
from an initial silent gathering of some protestant believers to sustain
their pastor, László Tőkés, who was to be disciplinarily removed by the
local authorities, on account of his political critique (concerning the
Hungarian minority problems), the events turned rapidly and intensively
into a mass anti-dictatorial revolt. It finally transformed into a genuine
revolutionary movement since, in spite of the fiercely bloody repression
of the army forces against the population vehemently protesting in the
streets, it culminated on December 20 with the establishment of a new
local political organization, the Democratic Front, based at the Opera
House of Timişoara, and having a political program proposal. That was
the day when the Army had to withdraw from the streets, partly
fraternizing with the mass protestors, and when Timişoara was declared
the first Free city in Romania. Despite the strong informational blockade,
the news about Timişoara managed to spread informally throughout the
country. 1
On December 21, the President Ceauşescu ordered an official
meeting to manipulate again the nationalism and to publicly condemn
what he had defined in terms of ‘antinational, fascist and terrorist
actions’, which were organized by ‘the reactionary, imperialist,
irredentist, xenophobic circles, and the foreign intelligence services’, in
order to ‘destroy the independence and sovereignty of our socialist
country’. 2 There was a fatal breach in the contrived public demonstration,
1
Some of these aspects were very much clarified through oral sources, namely interviews and
informal discussions with revolutionaries from Timişoara at different moments during my
fieldwork since 2000.
2
‘Camarade Nicolae Ceauşescu’s speech at the radio and television’, in Scânteia,
the Organ of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, 21
December 1989, p.1.
254
broadcast live by the National Television, when an unexpected scream
and, afterwards, voices shouting ‘Timişoara, Timişoara’ interrupted his
speech, giving a signal to the country that something was about to
happen. People from several cities throughout Romania and from the
capital took the risk of going out into the streets, in spite of the officially
declared ‘state of emergency’. They were protesting against the cruel
dictator, who eventually proved to be ironically frail. A more or less
similar evolution of events occurred then in Bucharest, as well as in other
main cities in Romania, such as Cluj, Arad, Sibiu, Tg. Mureş, etc.
Next morning, on December 22, 1989, in the capital of the
country, after a dramatic night with barricades and violent confrontations,
columns of protestors from the industrial area of the city flowed to the
centre. The news that the Minister of Defence, Vasile Milea, had
committed suicide fostered the army’s fraternization with the people.
While the crowds were assaulting the Central Committee of the
Romanian Communist Party, the Ceauşescus fled by helicopter from the
terrace of the official building, which had been surrounded by
revolutionaries. That was the de facto end of the dictatorial regime. 1
The day of December 22 could be also considered a distinct
phase in the evolution of those historical events because the
legitimization of the new political power emerged in the revolution began
then, as performed through the live broadcast of the Free Romanian
Television. 2 The power nucleus was formed primarily by former highranking communists, dissidents from inside the communist party,
representatives of the army and the administration. Some of the
opponents to communism, the most well-known and appreciated figures,
had also been courteously invited to join the newly established political
body, CFSN (Council of the National Salvation Front), to ensure its
symbolical capital and reinforce its legitimization. Even though the two
fugitive dictators were actually captured after several hours that very day,
1
Stelian Tănase, Miracolul Revoluţiei (The Miracle of the Revolution),
Bucharest, Humanitas, 1999, pp. 269, 273.
2
A comprehensive analysis of this dramatic process of legitimization of the new
political leaders is part of the analysis on the Romanian Revolution Live
Broadcast, belonging to the National Television Archive, which I previously
published as part of my BA thesis, Sidonia Grama Nedeianu, Revirimentul
simbolurilor in revolutia romana din decembrie 1989 (The Sudden Change of
Symbols in the Romanian Revolution from December 1989), Caietele Tranziţiei
1, 1997, pp. 102–106.
255
the Romanian Television Live kept silence on that, maintaining an
incredible suspense that lasted until the evidence of the dictators’ death
was proved by a videotape that was broadcast on December 26. A day
before, on Christmas day, in the barracks of Târgovişte, where the
dictators had been arrested for several days, an emergency military
tribunal had charged them with genocide and sentenced them to death
after an improvised trial that lasted 55 minutes. Their execution took
place immediately. 1
From December 22, the day of the first live broadcast of the
revolution and the constitution of the National Salvation Front, until
December 26, the dictators’ execution broadcast, the psychosis of the
terrorists, as a ubiquitous threat of unidentified elite shooters, terrifyingly
monopolized the public. All in all, the physic and psychic violence
inflicted the following heavy casualties: 1107 dead and 3352 injured
people, which includes 162 dead and 1107 injured victims before
December 22 (those were victims of Ceausescu’s repression), and 942
dead and 2245 injured individuals after the day of the dictators’ forced
departure (victims of the terrorist psychosis). These sad figures mean that
‘the manipulation produced more victims than the repression.’ 2
As regards the end of the revolution, which is always
problematic, one could assert that the revolutionary situation was almost
over at the end of the year, when everyday life attempted to enter a
normal pace, even if echoes of the turmoil of events still resounded. On
the other hand, from a political point of view, one might conventionally
consider as a short-term end of the revolution (as its first political
outcomes), the date of the first free elections, May 20, 1990, with the
overwhelming victory of the National Salvation Front, and Ion Iliescu,
the main political protagonist of the revolution, being elected president. 3
1
Tănase, op.cit., p. 272.
This remark was made by a controversial protagonist of the revolution, the
Minister of the Army, an old nationalistic communist, Nicolae Militaru, who was
appointed by the new president, Ion Iliescu, after Milea’s suicide. It was
published in the central newspaper Adevǎrul, 22 December 1994.
3
The National Salvation Front (NSF), the first political body of the revolution,
and its leader, Ion Iliescu, in spite of the fact that it was only provisionally
established in order to cope with the vacuum of power, and to prepare the first
elections, subsequently participated in elections, monopolizing therefore the
symbolic capital of the revolution; hence its overwhelming victory in the 1990
elections as well as the subsequent ones under Iliescu’s leadership (even if it
changed the name several times).
2
256
Despite this apparent unanimity, the entire period was marked by
violence and vehement political contestation of the new political power
(the interethnic conflict from Tg. Mureş, March 15–20, 1990, and the
continuous protests in the University Square, in April 22–June 13, 1990,
which were bloodily stopped by the ferocious “mineriade”). On the other
hand, in the long run, it seems that, in the public debate, the end of the
revolution has not come yet, since even on its 15th commemoration there
were public discourses claiming that ‘the revolution had to continue’. 1
Revolutionary experience as liminality
Now, beyond a conventional historical reconstruction of the
events (a kind of surgery of the facts as ‘they happened’, from the
multitude of narratives on what happened, which, admittedly, is far from
being easy or unproblematic), an ethnographic account would shed light
on rather different aspects. The analysis of such a founding historical
event is more likely to emphasis the process of ‘reordering worlds of
meaning’, 2 which that moment provoked, or might be merely a pretext
for ’plunging into the midst of existential dilemmas of life’. 3
Therefore, speaking about the Romanian revolution it means
more than labelling it as an abruptly violent end of a dictatorial (neostalinist) regime, and a slow and painful transition toward liberal values
and market economy.
What highly characterized the experience of that event
(especially the revolutionary situation that lasted until the end of the year)
as a radical change and rupture at many levels might be well described in
terms of ‘liminality’. 4 From a political point of view, the revolutionary
1
Cf. my fieldnotes ‘The revolution has to continue’ was a recurrent statement in
the official discourses of revolutionaries representatives from Timişoara, within
the program of the 15th commemoration, in which I took part as a participant
observer. That was a multi-sited fieldwork on the commemoration of the
revolution in Timişoara, Cluj and Bucharest, 15-22 December 2004, which was
published as an article: Sidonia Grama, ‘In Between Spaces of Remembering and
Sites of Memory. The 15th Commemoration of the Romanian Revolution in
Timişoara’, in: Philobiblon, vol. 10–11, Cluj, Cluj University Press, 2006, pp.
310–314.
2
Catherine Verdery, The Political Lives of Dead Bodies, New York, Columbia
University Press, 1999, p. 33.
3
Clifford Geertz, The Interpretations of Culture, New York, Basic Books, 1973,
p. 29.
4
Victor Turner, The Forest of Symbols. Aspects of Ndembu Ritual, Ithaca, Cornell
University Press, 1967.
257
time as a period ‘betwixt and between’ 1 a no longer existing order and a
not yet established one, opened ‘a potentially unlimited series of
alternative social arrangements’; ’In this gap between ordered worlds,
almost anything may happen’. 2 There is something as a melting pot
which refines different ideas, projects, social expectancies.
Consequently, the particular trajectory that the Romanian events
took towards the new social and political order did not simply happen
within – what political analysts and politicians call – a ‘vacuum of
power’. The new socio-political configuration was not, therefore,
‘ineluctable’ as the official political discourse likes to claim.
The concept of liminality thoughtfully reconsiders the transition
between worlds or status. It is no longer a negative term marking an
absence, like the above mentioned political term, or even as other
anthropologists have described it: as no man’s land, of timelessness, and
where nothing happens. 3 On the contrary, liminality refers to a
dramatically intense period with benign and malign potential as well; ‘a
realm of pure possibility whence novel configurations of ideas and
relations may arise’, 4 ‘a realm of primitive hypothesis, where there is a
certain freedom to juggle with the factors of existence’, 5 ‘a stage of
reflection’. 6
To empathically describe the revolution as lived, a researcher
should scrutinize particular testimonies which still encapsulate those
genuine experiences, filling the interstices of the multitude of accounts on
revolution largely produced in the public space, with competing, multi
vocal meanings.
Such samples of testimonies are those gathered at the beginning
of January 1990, by a group of ethnologists from Bucharest which had
the idea to go out in the streets and record eyewitness testimonies. 7 At
that time echoes of those traumatic events still resounded, while in
1
Victor Turner, Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors, Ithaca, Cornell University
Press, 1974.
2
Ibid., p.14.
3
Edmund Leach, Culture and Communication, Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, 1974, p. 34.
4
Victor Turner, The Forest of Symbols, p. 97.
5
Ibid., pp. 105–106.
6
Ibid., p. 105.
7
The witness’ testimonies were published in a valuable volume of oral histories:
Irina Nicolau (coord.), Vom muri şi vom fi liberi (We Shall Die and We Shall Be
Free), Bucharest, Meridiane, 1990.
258
everyday life, a sort of normal pace was to be found. That was a period
when the street continued to be a public arena, a stage on which the
anticommunist character of the revolution (previously silenced or, at
least, very feeble in 22 December 1989) was getting more vocal and
radicalized. In the mean time, on the international mass media arena, the
‘miracle of the Romanian revolution’ turned to be suspiciously
questionable. 1
The narratives produced then, even if do not excel in providing
sheer factual information that a (positivist) historical reconstruction of a
past event might seek, are still invaluable sources. There are plenty of
metaphors in these narratives, which encapsulate mythical elements of
the memory as a ‘special clue to the past, as windows of the making and
remaking of individual and collective consciousness’. 2 For, ‘an event
lived is finished, bound with experience. But an event remembered is
boundless, because it is the key to all that happened before and after it’ 3 .
The specific moments the narratives refer to, are: the beginning
of the revolt in Bucharest, since the dictator’s fateful meeting on
December 21, the night of the cruel repression, the fraternisation of the
army in 22, and flashes of the next days until the end of the year and the
beginning of the new one. Within these accounts one can find vivid,
almost synaesthetic descriptions of the atmosphere in the streets,
collective gestures, patterns of interactions, and moreover, precious
insights into very personal experiences and inner conflicts. Tracking
down metaphors within testimonies, I hereby propose an account of the
revolution-as-lived, as a polyphonic text which preserves a richness of
voices, hesitancies and searching for meanings. 4
1
The book was launched in a context in which the previous positive and rather
exhilarating international echoes of the dramatic Romanian revolution had turned
into an opposite scepticism and negativism. It was the period when the media
coverage of the events and the huge disinformation involved became an issue of
debate among journalists and political analysts, especially in the French media.
See, for instance, Michel Castex, Une mensonge gros comme le siecle. Roumanie,
histoire d’une manipulation, Paris, Albin Michel, 1990.
2
Raphael Samuel and Paul Thompson, The Myths We Live By, London,
Routledge, 1990, p. 21.
3
Apud. Walter Benjamin, in: Alessandro Portelli, The peculiarities of oral
history, History Workshop 12, 1981, p. 175.
4
The longer excerpts I use in this paper are also fragments of the interviews
published in Irina Nicolau, op.cit.
259
Breach and crisis
On the 21st of December, the moment of the national television
broadcast of the meeting in Bucharest was experienced as a breach, as
signalling the end and the simultaneous beginning of something
indefinite but hoped for. There was an acute sensation of ‘Now! Now!; It
has to happen!’; and ‘the impression that everything was over then’, as
well as, recalling later, that ‘everything began then’ 1 . After the shouting
heard in the street and the interruption of the broadcast, ‘I ran away; I
said to myself, oh, guys, it’s over, they have caught fire; and I rush into
the metro station to catch the train quickly, to get there’ 2 .
The perception of time precipitated into an extremely intense
rhythm and a compulsion of going out there, in the streets, arose. Even
though one may say that going into the streets has always been a rather
banal form of protest, especially in democratic countries, at that time, in
Romania, after almost half a century of totalitarianism, this act of protest
meant far more. It became a crucial, existential choice and a catharsis.
Since 21st of December, the city centre of Bucharest turned into
an axis mundi, magnetically attracting an increasing number of people.
Day and night, there was an ongoing pilgrimage, while time had been
suspended. That was the prime arena of the revolution.
Gradually, the urban space achieved completely new social and
psychological dimensions through different forms of space appropriation
and configuration, patterns of interaction, and new forms of
communication. Thus, instinctively rushing into the street, immediately
after that particular signal of breach when the situation was still
extremely risky and reversible, people gathered together (re)discovering
the exhilarating feeling of community and the temptation of liberty:
‘We began to shout: We want liberty!; Without violence!; Timisoara, […]
we knelt; […] and everything was beautiful: friends, acquaintances, we
kissed each other, we hugged each other, joyfully’( worker, 27 years old);
[In the University square, a lot of people, with a flag with the emblem
cut off]: ‘Then, I began to cry, we met each other, everything that we
couldn’t say openly so many years, to tell instantly…I think it was a sort
of shock’(students, 22 and 27 years old)
At the narrative level, the frenetic, breathtaking quality of that time is
expressed through short, elliptical sentences.
Yet, there had been a spectre of the Timişoara bloody repression
in the air, making the atmosphere both tense and exhilarating. On behalf
1
2
Irina Nicolau (coord.), op. cit., 15-17.
Ibid. p. 18, worker 27 years old.
260
of the dead of Timisoara, people in the street knelt, lit candles, prayed,
staying in circles, instituting islands of sacredness. The urban space was
controlled and strictly delimited by military forces. Barriers of riot-shield
bearers blocked the main crossroads to the city centre. The potential for
confrontation between the protestors and the military forces led to a
dynamic of space appropriation by different form of delimitations: from a
symbolical belt of carnations on a bridge, inviting to non-violence, to
proper barricades and escalation of violence. ‘Our barricade’ and ‘theirs’;
the space markers reflected the us/them dichotomy. However, these
borders were many times trespassed, as ritual attempts to convert the
hostility of the situation into a non-hostile one, since ‘the crossing of
frontiers and thresholds is always hedged about with ritual’. 1 Therefore,
some of the people in the street, mostly youngsters, approached the
soldiers in a friendly and humorous manner:
‘Those who were the most courageous went to the first line [to the USLA
troops] and gave them cigarettes; they told them: actually we are staying
here to take your shields and to sledge on them.’( Photographer, 20 years
old)
Since then, a ritual of giving had been gradually instituted, carrying
different meanings and symbolic effects in ‘maintenance or alteration of
social relationships’ 2 , primarily between soldiers and population.
Other protestors had forced the soldiers to face reality and to
realize that the people in front of them were neither hooligans, nor
foreign agents or enemies, as Ceausescu’s official discourse had labelled
them, but they were likely to be their own friends or relatives. Virtual
kinship relations had fostered, therefore, an identification of those
involved in a sheer illegitimate confrontation. The mystified definition of
the situation had been thus challenged:
‘In front of a USLA barrier, well built soldiers, in their military service;
people ask them, the classical questions: don’t you have brothers at home,
don’t you have parents, how can you do this?; one of them with a very
tough face, was utterly overwhelmed, he turned back and went away;
there was a group of people who were insistently asking him: man, look at
us, I might be your brother, I might be your chum, perhaps we had a beer
together.’ (Student, 27 years old)
These types of questions became very common, as attempts to
personalize the relationship, and moreover, as a powerful form of
1
Edmund Leach, op. cit., p. 35.
Raymond Firth, Symbols: Public and Private, Ithaca NY, Cornell University
Press, 1973, p. 402.
2
261
questioning the military forces’ consciences 1 . Even after several scenes
of violence had happened, there was still a bizarre mixture of intermittent
hostility and non-hostility between the demonstrators and the military
forces, until the beginning of firings and the bloody repression from the
night of December 21 to 22.
‘The tanks have demolished the barricade, people have burnt our barricade
[…] after a while, people have already spoken with them, amicable
relations; on tanks they spoke with them like at a picnic: How are you?
They were smoking, one could move freely… [when he came back in the
square, after midnight] there were beer and candies in a lorry, the cars
were burning, that yellowish light, with beer… it was like in a Latin
revolution, I said, man, it is exactly our style … [until] they began to fire,
those are firing, so this is not a game any more’ (Worker, 27 years old)
Paradoxically, the accounts of that night, as a moment of high crisis –
when tanks crashed barricades and protestors, hundreds of people were
killed and even more wounded filled the hospitals – are not accurately
recalled; the facts are mixed up, a lot of images are juxtaposed.
Moreover, that moment seems to be avoided in most of the testimonies
recorded in 1990. Even if the interviewees were explicitly invited to
speak about the moment of firings, they described it in a fatalist key, by
indefinite, vague or confusing terms to refer to the repressive forces they
confronted that night:
‘Barricade at Dalles, barricades of armoured cars; beyond them terrorists,
here us […] at the Inter[continental], a tank is crashing the barricade;
through the hole made those have entered and are beginning to fire at
people; Who was shooting…? Who might have been…?’(Students, 27,
and 22 years old)
What is striking in this account is the use of the term terrorists. The term
itself made history in the Romanian revolution context, having highly
ambiguous and slippery semantics. It was firstly used in Ceausescu’s
discourse to define the revolt from Timişoara, labelling the street
1
These aspects of identification and personalization of the relationship between
soldiers and population at that time might have now a particular relevance in the
context of the revolution trials. In spite of the face to face relations in the street,
even after more than a decade from those events, some of the army officers put
into trial for the casualties of the revolution up to December 22, claimed that they
had been misinformed that protestors were foreign agents; or there is a tendency
to affirm that people in the street were mostly hooligans and drunkards. I noticed
these tendencies also when I participated in several sessions of the trials of the
revolution from Cluj, in April–May 2001.
262
protestors in these terms 1 , to be subsequently took over, after
Ceausescu’s fall in 22 December, by the new (political and opinion)
leaders of the revolution and publicly launched at the television, in order
to define the highly elusive enemy of the Revolution (always in capital
letters). And, at that stage of the revolution, it had powerful and
damaging effects, as we will see later. Therefore, bearing in mind the
chronology of the events, in the witnesses’ recollection about the night of
21 December, the moment of confrontation with the repressive forces, the
very term of ‘terrorists’ seems to be premature and dissonant. At the
narrative level, it was obviously used retrospectively, from a perspective
charged with subsequent grasps of the events. For the memory is never a
mere reproduction of the past events, but a re-construction from the
present; as Halbwachs put it, ‘the mind reconstructs its memory under the
pressure of society’. 2
In spite of the face-to-face encounters between protestors and
the repressive forces, the 1990 testimonies systematically avoid the
identification of those military forces involved in the repression. As a
narrative strategy, they were impersonally and pejoratively called ‘ăia’
(them). In the context of the beginning of 1990, soon after the entire
odyssey of the Romanian revolution had been meaningfully
accomplished, – namely after the glorious fraternization of the army and
the common fight against the ubiquitous threat of ‘terrorists’ as the
common enemy –, one hardly might admit that the same victorious army
was previously involved in the bloody repression. This has been one of
the many difficult memories related to the Romanian revolution,
extremely painful and uneasy to cope with. Such avoidances meant a sort
of relief from flagrant cognitive dissonances.
From fratricide to fraternisation
Therefore, most of the testimonies tend to silence the moment of
confrontations during the night of December 21. The accounts jump
indistinctly to the day of 22 of December which is recalled as ‘a proper
day for doing a revolution’, the frenetic day of the Army fraternisation
1
Officially, the events from Timişoara were defined in Ceauşescu’s speech from
21 December 1989 in the following terms: “actions with terrorist character,
organized and provoked in close relations with reactionary, imperialist circles”.
“The Army was attacked by terrorists groups” (in: Scânteia, December 21, 1989,
p. 1.)
2
Maurice Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, Chicago and London, The
University of Chicago Press, 1992, p. 51.
263
with the protestors. Again, the compulsion of going down to the centre
meant a kind of magnetic fascination. In the morning, after the traces of
the previous repression being insistently cleaned, there was a transient,
tense incertitude and fear in the air. This state of mind had influenced and
shaped patterns of collective behaviour and social interactions.
‘On the second day, the second amazing fact, it was at the crack of dawn,
I was going again to the city centre. Groups of people were going in the
same direction, people didn’t say anything, we were looking at one
another […] people tried to pretend that they were going to work, it means
that old fear,[…] and the moment when we gathered together in a greater
number, we suddenly began to shout; we had seen that we were many, all
of us we had actually come on the same purpose, people were coming
from everywhere; we began to talk with the soldiers; ‘’The Army is with
us!’’ We were shouting from everywhere; the terrorists, – I call terrorists
those antiterrorist-fighters, with helmets and shields, for they were the
most frightening – the terrorists were running away’. (Students 27 and 22
years old)
At that very moment of high reversibility, shouting ‘the Army is
with us’ was not a mere slogan, but an invocation, a performative
utterance 1 meant to produce the envisaged effects. All the ritualised
approaches to the army (through ritual giving, identification, humour)
had ultimately, symbolical effectiveness: 2 the army fraternized with the
people. 3 What is more, during the whole revolutionary process, the
performative utterance ‘The army is with us!’ has developed in time
different meanings and connotations, depending on the different stages of
the revolution. Thus, until December 22, this invocation had fostered the
Army fraternization with the street protestors, afterwards it was
intensively chanted in the public squares to reinforce this achievement,
and also, it was invoked as a sort of protection against the frightful
unknown terrorists and the confusing rumours which spread around.
After the end of the revolutionary situation, at the beginning of the 1990,
when for the first time the role of the army in the repression was more
vocally put into questions, the slogan “The Army is with us!” became
1
See J.L. Austin, How to Do Things with Words, Oxford, Oxford University
Press, 1976.
2
See Claude Levy Strauss, Structural Anthropology, New York, Basic Books,
1963.
3
The pressure of the crowds in the street, as well as the news of the Army
Minister ‘suicide’ – all these on the background of the profoundly irreversible
changes in Central Europe – had definitely influenced the decision at the high
level of the army to disobey an almost defunct regime.
264
politically instrumentalized in order to dissuade the attempts to search for
those responsible for so many victims, both in the repression of the
uprising and after the state breakdown.
Undoubtedly, the ‘fraternization’ was crucial to the fate of the
revolution. I would consider it not only as a particular moment or turning
point in the loyalty of the army but more broadly, as a process and a gap
at many levels of society. Abruptly or gradually, it represented a shift of
world visions and attitudes, both at the institutional and private level.
Within the state institutions the attitudes towards this change
ranged from the state of expectancy of those who, throughout the period
of changes, beginning with the Timisoara revolt up until that day, had
been cautiously (or cowardly) expected to see what would happen with
that ambiguous and reversible situation and only then they
opportunistically hurried to expressed their loyalty to the revolution; to
the radical shift, which occurred literally over night, as in the attitude of
the repressive forces. From fratricide to fraternization, the case of the
Romanian army is paradigmatic.
In other repressive institutions 1 , as the political prison, Jilava,
where protestors had been arrested in 21 December and spent the night
there, dramatic shifts, with a touch of grotesqueness, occurred:
‘At Jilava it had been hell: only whimpers and roars, the investigation […]
they treated us awfully until 12 pm when they began to ask: how do you
feel? [on the 22 of December, being released] the chief of the prison:
“from now on will be good both for us and for you; now be gentlemen,
ladies first.’’ Many girls, having bruises, crying, they waved kisses at us.
Those executioners, during the night, had shifted completely…’
(Ethnomusicologist, 67 years old)
In the meantime the 22nd of December, the day of fraternization meant an
explosion of joy and solidarity, which revived a profound sense of
community, between soldiers and people, even a state of communitas, as
‘the quick’ of human interrelatedness’. 2 Again, a reinforced ritual of gifts
1
Shifting attitudes at institutional level and especially in the Securitate and
Militia remain to be explored further. At that time, Securitate played a very
ambiguous and covered role. Until December 22 the Interior Minister forces were
more visibly involved in arresting the protestors and in supporting form the
second line the military forces in charged with the repression in the streets.
Moreover the Securitate representatives were also involved in secretly filming the
entire evolution of the events. At the beginning of 1990, when the trials of the
revolution opened, few representatives of the Interior Minister were sentenced
only for their involvement in illegal arrestment of the protestors.
2
Victor Turner, The ritual Process, Chicago, Aldine, 1969, p. 127.
265
had conveyed then meanings of thankfulness and hopes. There were
unforgettable moments, whose stories still preserve the highly emotional
atmosphere of those days
[Beyond the Royal Square people were shouting] “The Army is with us!”
These ones had put down their guns; general enthusiasm, ecstasy; they lit
a cigarette, relaxed […] people invaded them, they got up on the tanks,
throwing food, oranges to the soldiers; I burst into tears; it bursts me even
now; people were kissing the soldiers, hugging them; Well, this is the
story.’ (Worker, 27 years old)
An old world had succumbed; a new one was to emerge. In the ‘betwixt
and between’, social metaphors of both ‘dissolution, decomposition and
growth and transformations 1 had emerged. Rituals of destroying, as well
as a cluster of discourses attempting to mark and to organize the new
world, proliferated then in the public sphere. The crowds who ascended
the building of the former Central Committee of the Romanian
Communist Party (CC), a former forbidden space, ‘began to throw, to
break, to tear the party’s emblems; as it usually happens in a
revolutionary time’. ‘At a certain moment everybody rushed to speak;
[…] it was crazy, all kinds of proclamations’ (Worker).
For the revolution meant also a breach at the discursive level.
The previous overwhelming wooden language of the communist ideology
was shattered. The long lasting silence and fear imposed in the
totalitarian period made people feel a sudden compulsion to speak frankly
and freely, to express publicly their thoughts, and to become vocal, even
if very difficult to articulate a new natural language.
On the other hand, in the confusing struggle for power, two main
alternative spaces of discourses were at stake: the balcony of the former
CC, at the Palace Square (the place where Ceausescu used to hold his
contrived speeches had been reconverted), and the television. They
became symbolic places, forums of discursive practice. The highly
contradictory and competing discourses, the performative utterances
conveyed there, information and misinformation, proclamations, and
abundant rumours spread over, barely configured a desperate attempt to
order in the vacuum left by Ceausescu’s fled. Actually the chaos of the
transition to an undefined new world was totally reflected there.
Going out into street as an existential choice
From the very beginning, on 21 of December, going out into the street
was essentially a matter of choice. Many people made it, either
1
Victor Turner, The Forest of Symbols, p. 99.
266
instinctively or after a long, painful deliberation. The tense alternative to
go out or to stay home was ultimately a crucial existential choice.
Consequently, the street – as an open space, dangerously exposed, a
space of risk-taking and contestation of political regime – versus the
home – as a closed space of fear, of escaping reality – became the
symbolic dimensions of the city. That opposition admitted a third
possibility: the pavement as a limbo, a transitory space of insecurity,
anxiety, and indecision. Surprisingly, the symbolic dimension of the
street has been a recurrent theme in the realm of narratives of the
revolution. The tense perception of space still persists as flash-bulb
memories, not only in the 1990 testimonies, where it is overwhelmingly
recalled, but also in more recent narratives. 1 While at the individual level,
going out in the streets was a transforming experience, as a collective
action it had political efficacy.
‘The way to the demonstration had been the most terrible moment in my
life.’(Students)
‘And then I ran away…I ran away from home into the middle of the
world, to the Intercontinental. For such a long time I’d wanted to go out,
to shout; I had been feeling embarrassed…[…] but that very day I went
out: at the rear lines, to the middle, on the lateral, then even in the first
lines, in the front of that cordon at the Intercontinental […] Once Liiceanu
said: “there are people guilty by silence, guilty by avoidance, and guilty
by participation”…so, I went out then …’(Ethnomusicologist, 65 years
old)
‘I went out there, to the Inter, because some friends of mine had told me
that people were dying there’ (an amateur photographer, 20 years old)
Confronting these kinds of testimonies one can see different ages, slightly
different deep motivations, but the same need to be there, in the middle of
the world, where violent death had transformed the ordinary space of the
city into a sacred space. For some of the mature people who had spent
their adulthood in the midst of totalitarianism, going out in the street was
a sort of therapy for long lasting internalised fear, for complicity and
culpability. Being there, facing death and experiencing solidarity might
have been ultimately, a ritual of expiation. Although there was an
1
There are several participant’s testimonies from Cluj or from Bucharest that I
recorded since 2000 which clearly recall, as in a slow motion picture, the
psychological implications of the moment of stepping down from the pavement to
the street, a moment perceived as a highly irreversible decision: ‘and when I
stepped down I felt like there would be no return’ (Doru Maries, interview 2006
Bucharest). Ultimately, these kind of gestures made a difference in terms of
people’s agency and mass mobilization.
267
awareness of this profound meaning, some people found it painfully
difficult to make a decision. Being in between seems to be a distinct state
of mind, correlated with certain categories of age and gender, objectified
in attitudes and behaviour, and visible in spatial configurations:
‘On 21st of December, there was a sea of youngsters who were howling,
shouting slogans; we, the middle generation, were howling, crying,
kissing; we were not going to the midst of the street, we were in an
intermediate position, between the endangered street and the institute
where we could have sheltered; we were somewhere in between.’ (Art
historian, 40 years old)
The option of going out in the streets or staying home tended to be
gendered, as well. While men were supposed to make up their minds to
go and fight, women were expected to stay home or to go back to their
hometowns to tell the story of the street. To trespass this stereotype was
even more difficult:
‘And men had a sort of glorious hallo and they were discussing with each
other how to send us back… go back at least you to tell; I didn’t want to
go back home.’(Student)
In the tense feeling of not being able to overcome an inner constraint, a
woman felt that she might be partly absolved by delegating men to go in
the street:
‘The boys had left home about 2 or 3 times, you have the impression that
you calm down a bit, that you give them something and they leave with it,
so that you are absolved by a half of the guilt. It seemed to me that it was
the essential moment of your life as human being; I was desperate, I had
been living a terrible desperation. (Art historian, 40 years)
There was a time of reflexivity, of harsh evaluation of one’s entire life. In
the highly charged psychological dimension of the urban space at that
time, going back home turned into an introspective questioning of the
meaningfulness of life. Ultimately, for everyone, no matter of age,
gender, profession, being there had an existential value:
‘I will never be able to make up for lost time the fact that I hadn’t been
there, that evening; you can’t make up for it even if you die.’ (Student, 26
years old)
However, the Romanian revolution as a popular revolt has a distinct
generational feature: it was called a ‘youngsters’ revolution’. Besides its
political use in the official discourse, that had a deeper significance as
subjective experience. Those who instinctively went out in the street were
mostly adolescent and young people between 17–30 years old. Their
enthusiasm, bravery or unconsciousness was so contagious that made
many other people follow them. And nowadays, if one goes to the
268
Heroes’ Cemetery, one observes that most of the graves there bear those
young people’s names.
Going out into the street and facing death meant overcoming
fear. This word appears frequently in the accounts. There were even
slogans insistently shouted in December 21 and 22: ‘We are not afraid
anymore!’
The fear experience was gendered and generational; it was
cultural, therefore. Different types and strata of fear were experienced
then. The young people’s fear was rather ‘a physical fear, like that of an
animal, [felt] when people died by us’. 1 Whilst some middle aged people
faced that ‘old fear’ which they had known very well for such a long
time, a fear with embarrassing and paralysing effects, the internalised
fear, as a significant feature of the totalitarian system. Fear was in the
background of everyday lives. Those days revealed it painfully. Most of
them recognized it, some of them had tried hard to cope with, but not
many of them managed to overcome it. Subsequently, from 22 December
onwards, a new pervasive fear arose in the social drama of the revolution:
It was ‘the great fear’ of terrorists – very much like that of the French
revolution, brilliantly described by Lefebvre. 2
That liminal time of crisis fostered a harsh awareness and
reflexivity. In the adult participants’ testimonies (and moreover in other
types of public discourses), at that time mea culpa discourses, feeling of
shame, embarrassment, culpability for their long passive complicity with
the dictatorial regime were expressed. For many people, the younger
generation’s revolt was exemplary. Definitely, when the youngsters went
out attracting other people to fill the streets, they made possible the
radical, long time expected, yet unpredictable, even unthinkable change.
They brought much-needed relief for the almost unbearable feelings of
culpability, which the adult generation had experienced. For them that
was a rite of delegated expiation.
[question] ‘What your mother told you about leaving home?’ –‘My
mother herself sent me there […]. I remember that she gave me, at
Christmas, something which demolished me… a note: “Now, whatever I
would told you would be too little. Thank you!” (Students)
1
Irina Nicolau (coord.), op. cit., 8.
See George Lefebvre, The Great Fear of 1789. Rural panic in Revolutionary
France, English translation, London, New Left Books, 1973.
2
269
Myth of the father, evil, terrorists
Within the social imaginary realm of the revolution other
metaphors and myths are encapsulated. It was said that those who then
revolted and died were mostly the so called “Decreţeii”, the generation
born in ’68, a period of a coercive communist pro birth policy, with
devastating perverse effects on women’s and families’ lives. 1
[question]‘Who made the revolution?; ‘- The children did it; the million of
children from ‘68. They obliged mothers to make children and now my
kid is disabled …’
In that time of crisis and angst, of violence and death, the spectre of the
myth of the father arouse insidiously in the social imaginary of those
days, and, like any other powerful myth, it was highly ambiguous. As
known, the propaganda of Ceausescu’s extravagant personality had long
time promoted him as a beloved father, while, in the meantime
Ceausescu’s politics tyrannically decided on the birth of children against
women’s will. In a recent book on anthropology of the end of political
authority, John Borneman states that ‘the death of authority figures such
as father or leaders can be experienced as either liberation or loss’. In the
same psychoanalytic clue, I would rather say that the experience of such
mythic authorities’ loss is essentially dual, liberation and loss,
exhilaration and devastation. The (secular) charisma of the leaders which
embody the myth of the father plays actually on this duality. Times of
crisis and angst, of violence and death, the myth of the father became
salient. It was reflected also in graffiti and slogans, since Ceausescu was
called at that time ‘the kids’ executioner’, while on the walls were
scratches like: ‘Daddy, how bad you were’; Yet on their execution day,
Elena Ceauşescu addressed the soldiers who tied their hands ‘my kids’,
and subsequently, within the terrorist phase of the revolution, among the
rumours spread about those elusive enemies, versions of the orphans
brought up by the Ceausescu’s and, therefore, fanatically loyal to them
even beyond death 2 , were intensively conveyed.
1
In the framework of socialist paternalism and instrumentalization of women’s
body, the abortion was banned through the decree 770 from 1966, a policy that
led privately to “bitter memories”. See Gail Kligman, The politics of
reproduction. Controlling Reproduction in Ceausescu’s Romania, University of
California Press, 1998. The generation of children born after that year are called
popularly ‘decreţeii’, and it is said that they made the revolution.
2
See, for instance, The Observer (ed.), Tearing down the Curtain, London,
Hodder &Stoughton, 1990, p. 137.
270
Within the economy of that phase of the revolution, the myth of
the terrorists was one of the most powerful and effective political
symbols of the revolution. 1 Closely connected with the televised stage, it
played a crucial role in the social drama of the revolution. Here I would
like to stress its tremendous duality in terms of effects, since any
powerful symbol ‘is a double edged instrument’, 2 both benign and
malign. On the one hand, the fear of terrorists devastatingly produced
more victims after the dictators’ fall, than the repression itself; on the
other hand, it successfully legitimated the new political power. Besides
these, it had also some positive perverse effects, since in everyday life, as
reflected in testimonies, the great fear of terrorists shaped special patterns
of interaction.
When the television monopolized both the making and the
representation of the revolution, becoming then its prime arena, instead of
the street, those two social spaces complementarily interrelated. The
television broadcast became a new compulsive attraction, as ‘people were
panicking if they weren’t in front of the TV sets to find out everything’. 3
It became the new axis mundi. In the streets people joined around TV and
radio sets which were brought up to the windows. Moreover, the
television insistently and confusingly launched messages asking people to
form a life hedge around it, to protect the vital institution against possible
terrorist attacks. Day and night exhaustingly watching the Revolution
Life Broadcast and sharing tremendous emotions and confusions became
a new form of participation in the (tele)revolution. Even if mediated or
illusory, that was a cathartic involvement in the making of those
historical events. Undoubtedly, at that stage, the Romanian revolution
was purely a media event, as a performance with shamanizing social
1
In a paper that I’ve already mentioned I developed the idea that the tense
polarity of the myth of the Saviour and the myth of the terrorists had a crucial role
in legitimising, on the stage of the television, the new political power emerged in
the Romanian revolution. The study was based on a content analysis of the first
life broadcast of the Romanian Free Television, on December 22, 10.50 p.m.
(Sidonia Grama Nedeianu, Revirimentul simbolurilor in revolutia romana din
decembrie 1989, 1997.)
2
Raymond Firth, Symbols: Public and Private, Ithaca NY, Cornell University
Press, 1973, p. 367.
3
Irina Nicolau (coord.), op. cit., p. 111.
271
effects. 1 Since all the messages conveyed by the television were eagerly
absorbed, it became an essential vehicle of rumours on terrorists.
Even at the beginning of the next year, when the climax of the
events had already passed, echoes of the fear of terrorists still resounded
in every day life. Narratives about terrorists were an inextricable mixture
of sheer facts and extravagant fantasies, of personalized as well as
impersonal accounts, of credulity and scepticism. Stories on previous and
current experienced fears of terrorists were told with apprehension and
(self) irony, as well. It was said that terrorists ‘were seen jumping from
eight levels block of flats and immediately after landing they were
running away’; ‘being shot they were instantly disappeared in a sort of
thick smoke’ 2 . More ‘earthly’ accounts told about a web of ‘underground
tunnels from were they got out in the night to fire at population’; they had
very ‘sophisticated weapons, very high-tech which they could deeply
hide before dying’ and that they were ‘drug addicted’. 3 Irrationality,
ubiquity, mastering the vertical and the underground world as well, acting
in the dark, the terrorists had, therefore, all the malefic ingredients of a
political myth recurrently arisen in crisis times 4 .
As always, rumours about terrorists were also spread by the
word of mouth through concatenations of persons. Consequently, at that
time, other forms of social relations were shaped, rumours on terrorists
dramatically damaging social relationships in every day life, and
paradoxically establishing new ones.
On January 1990, at the beginning of the new year and a genuine
new world, the Orthodox Christian world recently revived within the
former official atheistic Romania – as everywhere in the post socialist
Eastern Europe where a revival of religious beliefs and revised status of
its institutions flourished 5 –, there was a religious feast, popularly called
‘Boboteaza’, involving blessing of the waters as a sacred ritual. Amazing
rumours were spread then: it was said that ‘the holy water (aghiazma)
was poisoned in the church’, so that people were warning those who had
taken holy water to throw it away; it was also said, ‘at television, that
1
In these respects, the Romanian revolution life highly matches the definition of
a media event as describe by Daniel Dayan–Elihu Katz Media Events. The Live
Broadcasting of History, Harvard, Harvard University Press, 1992.
2
Irina Nicolau, op. cit., p. 129.
3
Ibid., 129–30.
4
This is the myth of malefic conspiracy described by Raoul Girardet, Mythes et
mithologie politiques, Paris, Ed. Du Seuil, 1996.
5
Katherine Verdery, op. cit., p. 32.
272
bullets were found in the ritual food for the dead memory (coliva), as
well as in other traditional food that people offered and shared at that
time’. These rather ridiculous statements triggered at that time a sinister
sense of desecration and devilry.
A pervasive suspicion dramatically altered the social relations
and the former sense of community that people had recently experienced.
The ritual of gift, so symbolically effective in the previous phases of the
revolution was now ruined. Stories of people who got sick because
somebody had offered them spoilt or even poisoned food proliferated.
Soldiers were now cautiously refusing food offerings or asking those who
offered to taste it before; at the entrance in the metro stations there were
harsh controls even on personal items as lipsticks and deodorants. An
oddly new and old wave of suspicion and distrust seemed to infect again
the social relations in Romania, as it had been so long in the communist
period. Paradoxically those late echoes of the recent great fear of
terrorists, which all Romanians had been experiencing since December
22, had also some positive, cohesive effects. In that highly contradictory
context, a sense of local community was reinforced. In the communist
blocks of flats from Bucharest as well as across other cities of Romania
people formed teams to protect the blocks entrances against possible
terrorists. Day and night, young and older dwellers spent tiresome hours
protecting their neighbours on their watches. On the background of
pervasive suspicion, a rather hilarious confusion occurred. Even if later
on the facts were recalled and interpreted as such, at that time they were
taken for granted and perceived as extremely serious. It meant a form of
civic involvement, a personal contribution to an attempt at the restoration
of order. Moreover, even the more or less involuntary rumourmongers,
who cautiously warned their acquaintances of all kinds of unbelievable
dangers, had thus reinforced a new kind of sociability. The fear spread
then – like the Great Fear of the French Revolution, which seemed to be
in many respects a sort of déja-vu of the Romanian Revolution – had
been both damaging and cohesive. Ultimately, the myth of terrorists
configured a much-needed social cohesion against a common, even if
elusive enemy.
Time(s) of reflexivity
I would say that, at the beginning of January 1990 there was a
first wave of collective reflexivity on the dramatic events recently
experienced. Perhaps they meant the first exercises of distancing and
disenchantment. Random discussions recorded on the street at that time
273
reflected, on the one hand, the collective attempts to crystallise meanings
of those events, and on the other hand, emerging forms of discourse
through which those meanings could be cast publicly. An insidious
feeling of disappointment was in the air. People became apprehensive
about the possible restoration of communism, as the old communists
presence in the new political structure was overwhelming. What was
hoped and experienced as a definitive rupture with the past, a radical
change, proved to be only a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It is likely that a
certain degree of disappointment might be rather common in the
aftermaths of revolutions, as they are by definition, liminal periods of
open possibility. Later on, within the endless turmoil of social and
economic transition and confusing politics, people gained a grasp of a
tragically absurd situation: ‘They have died in vain!’
The landscape of collective memory has inevitably changed
since then. A decade later when I entered this field, other social interests
were at stake: the social identity of revolutionary acknowledged officially
by revolutionary certificates, and the long lasting trials for the crimes of
the revolution have slightly turned the public memory of revolution into a
battle field. Thus, testimonies have been used to fulfil these aims which
are far from being politically neutral. By claiming authenticity, asserting
the status of victims or heroes, and false and genuine revolutionaries,
memories on revolution became therefore institutionalized, as public
scripts of revolutionary experiences intensively shaped by the narrative
genres they belong to. The debates generated since then triggered rather
negative connotations of the revolutionaries, which the public eye has
seen either as victims or as sheer impostors and profiteers1 .
Among different genres of narratives on revolution, even the
oral history interviews I conducted since 2000 onwards, barely preserved
those symbolic elements of revolutionary experience as revealed in the
1990 testimonies. That is why I am taking care to carefully situate them
1
A diagnosis on the social identity of revolutionary I attempted in Sidonia
Grama, ‘Social Interests and Revolutionary Identity in the Romanian Revolution
from December 1989’, in: E. Magyary Vincze, P. Mândruţ (coord.), Performing
identities, Renegotiating Socio-Cultural Identities in the Post-Socialist Eastern
Europe, Cluj, Publishing House of the European Studies Foundation, 2004.
The idea of the institutional genres of narratives on the revolution and a
description of the public discourses on revolution I developed in a paper given at
the International Conference of Oral History, Freiburg, 2005. (Sidonia Grama,
‘Memory Features of the 1989 Romanian Revolution: Competing Narratives on
the Revolution’, 2006, forthcoming.)
274
within the realm of narratives on the revolution, as previous layers of
reflectivity in the making of collective memory.
Ultimately, they might simply speak about the human propensity
to revolt, to be – as Foucault put it – ‘outside history and in history,
because everyone stakes his life and his death. (…) And that is how
subjectivity (not that of great men, but that of anyone) is brought into
history, breathing life into it’. 1
1
Michel Foucault, ‘Useless to revolt?’ in: James D. Fabian (ed.), Power,
Essential Works of Foucault 1954-1984, London, 2002, pp. 450–452.
275
LIBRARIANSHIP
HERMENEUTICA BIBLIOTHECARIA
Adrian Marino and the Existential Library
An Essay
Mircea ANGHELESCU
Faculty of Letters,
Department of Romanian Literature,
University of Bucharest
Keywords: library, books, travel, initiation, ritual gestures
Abstract
Travel had a double function for Adrian Marino. On the one hand it
meant a kind of escape from the abstract world of ideas, a mingling with
people and a contemplation of everyday life on the streets of the great
European cities. On the other hand it was an intellectual pilgrimage to the
famous libraries of these cities, an initiation to some old and venerable
spiritual centres where the quasi ritual meeting between man and book
took place.
Several works written by the eminent Romanian scholar speak
of the experiences he made abroad and describe his geographical and
intellectual itineraries and the encounter with books and libraries during
these journeys.
For Adrian Marino travel seemed to answer two imperious
commandments: a utilitarian and dominant one, which was the need of
documentation for his erudite works, full of references; and a
compensating one, almost in contrast with the former, the need to get out
from the rarefied, almost abstract universe of ideas and the need to
socialize. This escape was all the more relaxed and personal as the
exception was rarely practiced, outside his usual routes, as is the case
with other travellers who allow themselves in such moments different
types of vacations, gastronomic or other. During these diversions from
the usual he preferred to penetrate the crowds and to observe directly all
kinds of people, his favourite place for such an adventure being the street.
However, beyond the informational bulimia, never entirely
satisfied; beyond the need of a system in which the lack of a stone from
the building, the lack of information unbalancing harmony and causing
279
an almost physical suffering; beyond the need to get out from among
writing notes in order to rest anonymously in the midst of crowds and of
the places frequented by them; beyond all these there is a point – actually
a universe – where the two experiences meet and cohabit: the library. For
the library is more than a scientific store necessary for any intellectual at
least from time to time if not every day. It is the place where entities
communicate, the book manifests its humanity and individuals manifest
themselves most advantageously, in communion with the condensed
spirit, enciphered in a book. This is why the library is the marketplace,
the forum of the castle. Here the scholar can become acquainted, better
than anywhere else, with the image of the whole, both in the books
themselves and in the way in which they are collected, organized and
used: “I was used to experience the pulse of great foreign cities in public
libraries. I began to find some routine in this direction.” 1
The library, as Marino’s testimonies indicate, is more than the
place where the researcher can find the source he is looking for. It is the
symbol of all these noble quests, the source, the matrix of cultural activity
itself: “These libraries – Adrian Marino speaking about the famous
Bodleian Library – ensure the permanence and dignity of culture as they
are fundamental forms of creation and spiritual life. Getting to know
them is equal to an initiation, a return to the sources, to an act of
regeneration.” Elsewhere, in Coimbra, Portugal, the library of the old
university, the “renowned library” built by Joao V (“the wealthiest king
in Europe in that period”) impresses by its opulence and baroque richness
and the visitor wonders with apparent naivety “how is reflection possible
in this decor which exalts and humiliates” and whether “it is possible to
work today in such an overwhelming environment”. It is in fact the same
route which the monumentality and harmony of the complex imprints; the
complex where substance becomes spirit, where the abundance of values
and art does not degrade the spirit, but elevates the matter to the values of
the spirit: “the profound sensation – he told at the end of his visit – is as a
real initiation, a ritual penetration into a space of laic sanctity.” 2
Visiting libraries is a noble obligation, but at the same time a
passion as well, having even morbid accents as any real passion; for the
long relationship and its intensity implies a possessive attitude, a texture
of relations that can be transferred to the sphere of great loves, which are
1
Adrian Marino, Carenete Europene, (European Notebooks), Cluj-Napoca, Dacia
2
Adrian Marino, Prezenţe româneşti şi realităţi europene (Romanian Presence
and European Realities), Bucharest, Albatros, 1978.
280
real and ideal at the same time. Hence rise the reproaches, suspicions,
dissatisfactions that confer another temperature and another attitude in a
place where, as nowhere else, Adrian Marino felt “at home”, as he said
somewhere. Everything is done in the spirit of emotion (“Avidity and
impatience. In such moments my inner trepidation is enormous.”) and
admission to a library, a public space after all, produces emotion. The fact
is projected on a cultural scale and acquires initiatory significations:
admission to the British Museum acquires the dimensions of “a small
event, a genuine moment of my spiritual existence: the long-awaited
entrance into some celebrated cultural precincts, solemn and imposing,
efficient and hospitable, grave and discrete. Nobody knows me, nobody
is concerned with me. Have I been admitted to the library? I feel that I
obtained a series of rights all at once”. 1 On the strength of these rights,
pretensions grow. “The National Library, my great passion in Paris, has
exasperating aspects too: a huge, noisy bustle and – first of all – the (at
least apparent) chaos of catalogues.” 2 In Lisbon the access is difficult,
“reading operations are rather laborious, with all kind of bureaucratic
precaution measures, with many signatures and visas. Only three request
forms are accepted at a time.” 3 In Madrid he worked at the National
Library and stated that “In a country of approximations and relativity, the
card indexes of the library cannot be very precise either... because of an
evidently erroneous card I requested a volume at Investigadores three
times, not without irritation” 4 etc.
In fact, the background against which this entirely special
relationship between author and library evolves had already been defined
in the Carnete europene with a coherence that indicates a long and
mature meditation upon the subject, no doubt existential for the author.
The pretext is a book exhibition, but the commentary exceeds the frame:
“all vital, material and spiritual acts of humanity had and have a book as
their prolongation... Culture and civilization are by definition bookish.
Humanity is essentially bookish. It cannot be other for it receives its
dimensions and a permanent and transmissible content only from the
books.” And both the frustrations and the compensations are concentrated
in this same universe and they function without fissures – probably –
because this universe contains the other: in this domain he projects “all
1
Prezenţe româneşti şi realităţi europene , op.cit., p. 226.
Carnete europene, op. cit., p. 88.
3
Prezenţe româneşti şi realităţi europene, op. cit., p. 158.
4
Adrian Marino, Evadări în lumea liberă (Escapes to the Free World), Iaşi,
European Institute, 1993, p. 27.
2
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my aspirations and repressions, all my nostalgias and enthusiasms.
Having been separated from and lacking a certain museum and library for
a long time, I make a real orgy, a frenetic and enthusiastic bath... For me
this is life, the true way of living.” Consequently, he performs the
ritualistic gestures of inauguration and, therefore, of taking possession.
By these gestures he exorcises and liberates himself of all the suffering
and constraint of the years of detention, forced residence, enslaving
surveillance. He does not free himself of their physical, material
expression, but of their reflection in the infinite world of the spirit whose
symbol is, the book, moreover: the periodical, the changing, hesitant,
volatile, but preparatory side of the book. Thus, he said in a passage that
can be easily psychoanalyzed and in which each of us can recognize
himself, “I collect books and periodicals all of which I know very well I
would not be able to read, but I cut their pages with regularity. By this
symbolic act I pay homage to them, I integrate myself, I try to maintain a
permanent connection with my world, with the movement of literary
ideas from everywhere, to show solidarity to their destiny.” And it is only
natural to be so, as “the writer’s true and fundamental form of activity
and expression is the writing, the text, the work, the library book.” 1
This attitude, which surveys the library from an aesthetic
perspective and, at the same time, mythicizes it deliberately, and which
enciphers its ideals and beliefs in a defining metaphor, does not entirely
cover the meanings of the respective object: it is, concomitant with what
we have said above, a simple but indispensable space of trial as well. As
travel, “the library” (entering the library, deciphering and taming it,
taking possession of it etc.) is an ambivalent space, the characteristic
place where the fusion of spirits lost in books is realized and also a route
of initiation, a formative way, a real propaedeutics to the professions of
reader and author. It was not accidental that Adrian Marino made most of
his observations and characteristic statements regarding the library in
these travel accounts: for him, and not only for him, travel is a book and
the two experiences are truly valorized only when they overlap. The
bookish aspect of his accounts, assumed with humour by choosing
subtitles such as that of the Carnete europene from 1976, “notes of my
journey” etc., is only a logical consequence of a submission to the object:
the travel is a documentary investigation, a turning up of previous
readings, even of imaginary ones, while frequenting the library, searching
among index cards and covering a subject bibliographically is naturally a
1
Carnete europene, op. cit., p. 26.
282
periplus full of pitfalls, unknown things and discoveries that configure a
new world.
283
A Different Discourse – Adrian Marino
Felix OSTROVSCHI
Cluj-Napoca
Keywords: Adrian Marino, documentation and scientific research centre,
Constantin Noica, internal and international personal correspondence,
individual reading notes, manuscript works
Abstract
The present material would like to presentation briefly the newly
established “Adrian Marino” documentation and scientific research centre
opened in the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library from ClujNapoca. In this article we tried first of all to outline some biographical
reference points from the life and scientific activity of Adrian Marino,
who donated the collection bearing his name. Then we tried to delineate
the main elements which form the bibliographic collection, starting with
the books and arriving at the personal dossiers which contain either the
internal or the international correspondence Mr Marino had with different
personalities of the age, then his reading notes and manuscript works,
most of them already published. What we wished to underline in this
paper was the importance of this area; as area intended rather to the
scientific research rigorously based on the unique materials existing in
this collection, than to individual reading. We hope that this material will
serve as a starting point for some valuable future research.
To find a suitable title for a certain material has always seemed
more difficult for me than to prepare the material itself. This always has
to be... we everyone knows how without sinking into deontological
speculations. The work published in 2001 which contains the dialogues
between Adrian Marino and Sorin Antohi, having the title The Third
Discourse. Culture, Ideology and Politics in Romania justifies its title in
this way: “In order to reduce everything to the essential, the aim of the
formula is to exceed the relationship of adversity by finding a solution of
collaboration and synthesis between the two fundamental orientations of
the Romanian culture: autochthonism and Europeanism”. A definition
and title, I think, suggestive for everyone. The present material received
284
the title A Different Discourse – Adrian Marino because we shall also be
searching for a new formula in it, renouncing both the temptation of
homage and mainly that of partial and malevolent criticism. We do not
know whether the formula is correct and whether it will lead to the
anticipated reaction. Maybe it is more important to present the additives
brought to this experiment – Adrian Marino’s personality, the space that
bears his name in our library and last but not least the “Adrian Marino”
collection.
Adrian Marino was born in Iaşi on 5 September 1921. In 1941–
1943 he studied at the Faculty of Letters there. In 1943–1945 he
continued his studies in Bucharest. 1939 was the year of his debut as a
publicist in Jurnalul literar (The Literary Journal). In 1947 he defended
his doctoral dissertation in literature entitled Viaţa lui Alexandru
Macedonski (The Life of Alexandru Macedonski). After only two years,
in 1949, he was arrested because he participated in the Illegal study circle
of the Peasants’ Party members university students. After eight years of
political imprisonment he was deported to the Bărăgan, being forced to
reside between 1957 and 1963 in the village Lăteşti. After these difficult
years of deportation he settled down in Cluj. His first volume, Viaţa lui
Alexandru Macedonski was published in 1966 and it was rewarded with
the prize of the Romanian Academy. He had a laborious activity as a
literary critic and historian, collaborating with numerous Romanian and
foreign periodicals, publishing at the same time a series of books both in
Romania and in foreign countries. From among his works we can
mention: Opera lui Alexandru Macedonski (The Work of Alexandru
Macedonski) (1967), Introducere în critica literară (Introduction to
Literary Criticism) (1968), Modern, modernism, modernitate (Modern,
Modernism, Modernity) (1968), Dicţionar de idei literare (Dictionary of
Literary Ideas) vol. I (1973), Carnete europene (European Notebooks)
(1976), Prezenţe româneşti şi realităţi europene (Romanian Presence and
European Realities) (1978), Hermeneutica ideii de literatură (The
Hermeneutics of the Idea of Literature) (1987), Evadări în lumea liberă
(Escapes to the Free World) (1993), Politică şi cultură. Pentru o nouă
cultură română (Politics and Culture. For a New Romanian Culture)
(1996), Cenzura în România. Schiţă istorică introductivă (Censorship in
Romania. Introductory Historical Sketch) (2000), Al treilea discurs.
Cultură, ideologie şi politică în România (The Third Discourse. Culture,
Ideology and Politics in Romania) (2001).
Of course, to characterize Adrian Marino’s personality either in
private life or as a scientist is a quite difficult task for us, if not
285
impossible. This is why we appealed to a subterfuge, selecting from his
texts some fragments in which he characterizes himself. “I am not a
Thracian, though my family has on my father’s side ancestors from the
South of the Danube, and I think we are of Macedonian origin. A
hypothesis, anyway, quite plausible.” 1
“[...] I, who was formed in a society of another type, I, who at 27
years was put in prison, I was already formed – for better or worse. I had
a different notion about society, a different conception about social
realities, a different idea about writers. Secondly, as I had not found my
place in the communist society, I had no impulse to make a career. I must
tell that in the beginning it was extremely hard. Extremely, extremely
hard. Economically. But, step by step, being more productive, I was able
to resist. In the beginning I was so poor that can you see these shelves? –
my wife, Lidia Bote had to borrow three thousand lei from a cousin to
make some shelves for me. [...] At the same time, this protected me from
serious compromises. They could not tighten the screws on me, I have no
texts to be sorry for. You won’t find me in the summary honorary
volumes, where, if you cast a glance – and I think you have already done
so –, you will find many persons from the ‘good’ world. I repeat I do not
belittle them. They had to save their positions, departments, well, their
hierarchies and their official honours lists” Adrian Marino reminded us in
the same work.
“I neither pose as the patriarch of Romanian literature, nor think
of myself as a ‘lighthouse’ of Romanian literature. I have no pretensions
for honorary periodical numbers; I do not ask for anything. However, I
ask for something else: I ask that the status of the free and independent
writer in Romania should be recognized, as I belong to an alternative,
liberal and independent culture, which believes in individual initiatives,
believes in the middle classes, in economical independence.” 2
“I am, if you like, a little bourgeois, plain, lacking completely
the tragic sentiment of life, I have no spiritualistic experiences. [...] I am,
as you can see, a totally ‘mediocre’, ‘average’ personality. Therefore
1
Adrian Marino, Al treilea discurs. Cultură, ideologie şi politică în România.
Adrian Marino în dialog cu Sorin Antohi (The Third Discourse. Culture, Ideology
and Politics in Romania. Adrian Marino in Dialogue with Sorin Antohi), Iaşi,
Polirom Publishing House, 2001.
2
Adrian Marino, Prezenţe româneşti şi realităţi europene. Jurnal intelectual
(Romanian Presence and European Realities. Intellectual Diary), Iaşi, Polirom
286
there is a fair chance that some will like me, others will consider me an
object of insulting irony and the majority of people will profoundly
dislike me”, we find in the same work.
“Without conceiving literary life in an idyllic or sentimentalfraternal way, it does not seem exaggerated to me to wish for a collegial,
correct environment, respecting a minimal code of honest behaviour. I
regret that my personal experience has not confirmed these expectations
which I still consider to be minimal and legitimate. I cannot believe in a
‘literary life’ where the dominant note is envy, careerism, intrigue,
‘machinations’, lack of collegiality, serious impoliteness. Anyone feels
the need of an elevated ambience, certain solidarity and real
communication, a moral support in difficult moments, which I, a real
misfortune, did not have. Two aspects irritate me in particular, and not
only me. In the so-called ‘literary life’ there is little work done and
sometimes nothing at all.
There is too much bohemianism, too much time is lost and there
are too many disordered lives. And the talk of these circles is far too
much influenced by material preoccupations and star-like attitudes, too
insistent open scene applauses. Writing – maybe a prejudice –
presupposes discipline, concentration, tenacity, some kind of asceticism
and creative isolation. The pleasure of speaking and writing, are two
contradictory ‘pleasures’, as Maiorescu already indicated it. Constructive,
serious deliberation is one thing, empty verbal formalism another.
Enthusiasm, zeal, dedication and abnegation, and not disgust, cynicism
and individualistic egoism define the true spirit of letters. In some circles
to discuss literary theories, programmes and messages unfortunately
becomes a strident, if not ridiculous preoccupation. In exchange, there are
plenty of intrigues, cancans, combinations, material preoccupations. In
direct opposition with these negative phenomena I firmly believe in the
superiority of organized work done with concentration, tenacity,
stubbornness; a work inevitably obscure on long periods, but having a
great final benefit.
In exchange, this refuge in study and work tears you away from
the infected atmosphere of a ‘literary life’, where you can find only
deception, bitterness and humiliation, and it gives you back to your
vocation and spiritual being. Indeed, you are no longer a pleasant fellow
of life, a nice fellow for X and Y, but you become a man of books, of
study and, what is more, simply an honest man. And – curiously! – the
more you withdraw from the ‘literary life’, the more you gain other
sympathies and other adhesions in other spheres, on other levels, which
287
open to you new horizons and offer you other compensations and
satisfactions. But whoever thinks that this spiritual lifestyle is
comfortable, he/she is much mistaken. This lifestyle often consists of
awful worries, of terrible interior contractions and seisms, of bitterness,
repressions and mortal defeats, of truly silent pains, of the sentiments of
some atrocious injustices and horrible ungratefulness, which humiliate
you deeply and bring you to the brink of fury, despair and revolt. You are
only a step from the catastrophic explosion. This life is dramatic, not
tragic, and sometimes I knew it...”
“I only claim, if I may say so, some pseudo-‘futurist poem’. As I
am always waiting for something, something new, I am a modern man
who projects everything in the future, not in the past. My specific state of
mind is a dynamic waiting, anticipation stimulated by an increasing and
accelerating potential speed of realization. Therefore I am permanently
obsessed with the future ‘departure’, since all my spiritual life is
projected and orientated towards the future. This is why I was able to
leave behind my past (in all its aspects) so easily and for good. It was –
objectively – often unpleasant, full of injustice and suffering, but –
subjectively speaking – I have forgotten it definitively and irrevocably.
Should I recall it? It would mean to go through all that suffering anew. I
always look forward and I wait everything, including all that regards me,
only from the future, the great future.”
“Patriotism also means, among other things, – my definition, I
repeat, is far from being complete – to build as solid and fundamental, as
enduring and monumental as possible. Patriotism implies resisting and
defeating the temptation of empty rhetoric, superficiality, improvisation,
approximation, sinister bungling which I detest and combat as well as I
can in my little sphere of activity. That such an inconvenient attitude
becomes here and there ‘disagreeable’, sometimes even ‘odious’, it is an
inevitable fact. We have to pay this price if we are fighting against
facility, against the saving of appearances, imposture and intellectual
bluff, against ease, which would constitute an inevitable norm of conduct
‘at the Gates of the Orient’. To build rigorously a study, a book, a
periodical, a library – apparently an activity ‘out-of-date’, but permanent
by its results – presupposes a lot of privations and humiliations, an almost
continuous mortification.” 1
Dan Chiachir in a letter sent on 14 November 1987 wrote to
Marino: “To think freely and sincerely – even to make mistakes
1
Ibid.
288
sometimes; inevitably – it was Nae’s advice that I wanted to realize. [...]
We need Your opinion: you and I know that there is no critical opinion of
higher instance. [...] I have seen that You are a realist and disinterested
person. Not in the sense – or under the aspect – of a man who has nothing
to loose – a bitter Balkan-like state of mind –, but in the sense of
intellectual attitude.” 1
Adrian Marino passed away in March 2005; in December 2005
the work Libertate şi cenzură în România. Începuturi (Freedom and
Censorship in Romania. Beginnings) was published post-mortem.
In what follows let us try to describe the new space created in
the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library where the “Adrian
Marino” Collection can be consulted. Situated on the second floor of the
mentioned library, the room bears the name of the donor of the collection
has 32 seats. Having been totally renovated and furnished with new and
modern furniture, the reading room has been being used since October
2005. Because of the importance of the collection students are allowed to
visit the room only for the consultation, under supervision, of the “Adrian
Marino” book collection. And if we mentioned the book collection, it
must be said that it contains at the present time approximately 1700
volumes processed and placed on the shelves. The other few thousand
volumes will be added to these as soon as they are processed too. The
volumes of book, received through donation, already entered the library
stacks in the 1990s. However, the majority of the books entered in the
last two years. Here – and anywhere else whenever there is an occasion –
we have to underline and appreciate Miss Florina Iliş’s contribution, who,
as well as being the coordinator of this centre of documentation, selected
the volumes personally and even transported the majority of them. We
would also like to thank Mrs Lidia Bote (Mr Adrian Marino’ wife), who,
though she is of an advanced age, helped us to carry the suitcases (lent to
us by her) with the donated books, protected us against the occasional
attacks of the dogs from the courtyard and kept us in a good humour with
her jokes and her energy of life. The great modesty of these two ladies
should not prevent us from expressing our appreciation and gratitude.
And as we try to describe the interior of the room, we must
remark that on the walls there are important stages of Adrian Marino’s
life, immortalised in photographs, framed and placed chronologically
(childhood, return from detention, deportation, his workshop etc.). We
1
The letter is to be found in the dossiers of “personal correspondence”, “Adrian
Marino” Collection, “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library – Cluj-Napoca.
289
have even created two mini-exhibitions. In one show case there are
different prizes received by Mr Adrian Marino during his life in
appreciation of his scientific activity. In the second one we placed a part
of the stamp-collection, which was put at our disposal by Mrs Lidia Bote
and which we tried to arrange thematically.
I have said somewhere above that the access of students to this
room is somewhat restricted because of two interrelated reasons. On the
one hand, we wished to create a space for the use of PhD-students and
young researchers (young does not necessarily refer to the age), as the
rooms used by them had already become quite crowded. On the other
hand, we wished that the newly furnished room might be more than just a
reading room: a documentation and scientific research centre. And I am
going to explain why.
Besides the undeniable importance of the book volumes, the
“Adrian Marino” collection contains other documentation sources as
well, which can serve as the base of a rigorous scientific research at any
time. Let us present only some of these sources. I would like to specify
once again, those materials we present are only a few of the whole
collection, but I think they will be sufficient for arousing curiosity and
intellectual desire. So we can find in these dossiers (there are a few
hundred) various documents already processed from the internal and
international correspondence to the elements of Mr Adrian Marino’s
personal archives. Somewhere at the end of this paper I will also give
some examples of these dossiers. Similarly, this collection also includes
the manuscripts of Mr Adrian Marino’s works, corrected and annotated;
manuscripts which may offer ways for other scientific researches. Last
but not least we should mention the boxes containing the cards with his
reading notes – with quotations, notes and bibliographic references –
which always remain an information source for any research intended to
be rigorous. “In the period when I was a member of the International
Committee for Comparative Literature I had a quite vast correspondence
with foreign writers which I placed entirely in the Central University
Library from Cluj. It is a unique documentary collection in the country
with all kinds of legal and illegal correspondents. There are so many
dossiers that it is easy to find interesting texts in them. For example, my
correspondence in two stages with Ioan Petru Culianu. One from the socalled good period of Mircea Eliade and a much more delicate stage from
the period when abroad an anti-Eliade campaign began to take shape,
290
related to his past with orientations towards the Legionary Movement and
totalitarianism.” 1
The mere existence of the reading notes in the form they were
donated to the library is an example of profound and more than serious
scientific work. These notes collected during a lifetime of research work
prove that the method of compilation – as a so-called scientific method –
used so much these days is perennial. By making available and using this
collection in future research we hope to get rid of what Adrian Marino
called “the temptation of empty rhetoric, superficiality, improvisation,
approximation, sinister bungling”. Having so many original sources of
information united in the “Adrian Marino” collection, this space is
intended to be first of all a documentation and scientific research centre.
I promised above to present in detail, with examples, the content
of some dossiers. Taking somewhat at random one of the dossiers having
for theme “internal correspondence” we find:
1.) A letter received from Lucian Boia, dated from 10 June 1999:
“As regarding the experience you have gone through it can only
emphasize the brightness of a career and a life-work which succeeded in
asserting itself in spite of all the adversities.”
2.) A letter received from Dorel Vişan on 17 May 1999:
“As an attitude towards the lack of attitude I propose a Symbolic March
of Protest... our march is intended to be a respectable, sensitive cultural
action.”
3.) Easter greetings from 1999 sent by the president of Romania and
signed by Emil Constantinescu.
4.) A letter from Paul Cornea, Bucharest, 23 March 1999, which also
contains an invitation to a colloquium:
“You will be received with warm regard and respect by all participants. I
think everyone in our small circle has the highest esteem for you because
all the things you have done for the Romanian culture and because all that
you represent.”
5.) A letter from Ruxandra Cesăreaanu, sent on 16 January 1999:
“Please accept my thanks for all the theoretical help you have given to me
and for the patience you have showed in advising me to take the bull by
the horns regarding my theme.” In the postscript we find Ruxandra
Cesăreanu’s signature as “nicknamed by you, I think, Countess Bathory.”
6.) A letter from Smaranda Vultur in 1999:
1
Al treilea discurs, op.cit.
291
“We are always glad when you are present in public life because this
gives us some confidence and some courage in these baffling times.”
All these letters contained by this dossier are the witnesses of
some past years, sources for the reconstruction of some troubled times for
the literary activity, documents of collaborations and diversions from the
Romanian cultural circle. As an example we can mention the few dossiers
referring to what Adrian Marino named “the Noica case”. These contain
newspaper articles, other materials and correspondence. Respecting their
content we can read that in September 1992 issue of the Carnet literar
(Literary Notebook) an article signed by Adrian Marino announced:
“Lately 112 dossiers of manuscripts and documentary materials entered
the manuscript collections of the Central University Library. The “Adrian
Marino” collection (internal correspondence) contains all the letters I had
received from Constantin Noica.” Here we can also find letters, which
were published by Mr Adrian Marino in different literary reviews too,
such as the Carnet literar:
– a letter received from Constantin Noica on 10 December 1976, sent
from Bucharest:
“Thank you warmly for the book you sent so quickly. I shall read it with
the interest always aroused in me by a scholar having your learning and
openness. I consider you at the present moment one of the, let us say, first
five scholars of the country.” [...]
– a letter sent by Constantin Noica from Păltiniş, dated from 25 January
1977:
[...] “In what direction are you going? [cynical question that can be found
also at the end of Marin Preda’s novel, Moromeţii]. I am interested in
your scholarly destiny. Mine is being solved in a «metaphysics», under
whose pains I stay and write in my seclusion.”
– a letter sent to Păltiniş on 19 April 1987, in which Noica answered
Adrian Marino’s invitation to the presentation of his book Hermeneutica
ideii de literatură (The Hermeneutics of the Idea of Literature) in Sibiu:
“So I participate gladly at the ceremony but I must decline the
opportunity to speak before the public at this event; for this I apologise.
[...] Being – in a strange way – timid before a small public. Before a large
one I have fewer problems. But between friends I shall know what to say
about the interest I have for your activity.”
Thus with a small scientific interest and with the help of these
materials we can reconstruct a part of the communist mould swallowed
by the writers of that period: censorship and exhaustion, the dulling of the
elites’ mind, the claustrophobia of the literary space. Naturally, each
292
researcher will know what to use from this material in order to shade
his/her study. The last examples concluding this marathon – intended to
arouse scientific interest for the presented collection – would be those
dossiers which contain Mr Adrian Marino’s political activity in the Antitotalitarian Forum and in the Christian-Democratic National Peasants’
Party (PNŢCD).
“Coming back to the Anti-totalitarian Forum, I realized that the
world was not preoccupied by such problems. We were even robbed,
ransacked; the technical equipment, the computers we had had were
simply purloined by a certain individual. I have only awkward memories
about the Democratic Totalitarian Forum. However, it represented
something: an embryo, I repeat, a first coagulation form of the opposition
in Romania. This can be seen in the seven dossiers which I entrusted to
the Central University Library from Cluj. In the dossiers there are all
kinds of manifestos, lists of the democratic forums from the country,
adhesions, letters, threats, abuses, receipts, everything you want, but they
are not classified too well. The dossiers belong to a documentary
collection I founded in the Central University Library, the “Adrian
Marino” Documentary Collection. At the present time it has already four
hundred dossiers. It is a collection – I think – unique in the country, of
ideological, political, cultural and literary documentation, writers’
correspondences etc.” 1 These dossiers contain:
1.) Newspaper articles:
– October 1991, article from Dreptatea (Justice) announcing that
Adrian Marino had been appointed to the leading committee of the
PNŢCD;
– article from 3 September 1992 in which Adrian Marino
declines the offer to stand as a candidate for the elections from 27
September 1992;
2.) There are dossiers containing Adrian Marino’s personal political
activity:
– newspaper articles which show Adrian Marino’s participation
at the manifestations held in August 1990 on the Freedom Square;
– in an article published in the local newspaper Adevărul în
libertate (Truth in Freedom) on 18 December 1990 we find attacks
against the Civic Alliance and the Anti-totalitarian Forum: “The Civic
Alliance and the Anti-totalitarian Forum cannot guarantee for the
Romanian people by the undemocratic measures they use that the
1
Al treilea discurs, op.cit.
293
democratic principles and the law and order will be respected.” [...] “The
actual acts which destabilize the country delay the adoption of the Land
Law and of the Constitution, constituting a potential danger for the
territorial integrity of Romania.”
These are some reminiscences of considered language and behaviour
from the press of the age.
3.) other materials such as:
– the first national convention of the Civic Alliance;
– badges and invitations to different socio-political
manifestations;
– the programme sketch of the Culture and Art Department of
the National Peasants’ Party (PNŢ), having Adrian Marino as a
coordinator; the text was published in the newspaper Dreptatea on 6
November 1990;
– the manifesto of the PNŢCD addressed to the workers;
– constitution project elaborated by the PNŢ in March 1991;
– different documents which mirror the intestine battles and
internal divergences inside the PNŢ:
– electoral posters;
– election lists either with the proposed candidates or with those
who finally stood as candidates.
Thus, with the help of these materials, it is possible to present the agitated
state of mind, the cataracts which affected the multitude – a vague term,
indeed – of Romanians immediately after the events from 1989.
Any material, any presentation has good parts and, of course
imminent risks. We assume the responsibility both for the former and
mainly the latter ones. However, this presentation was not intended to be
exquisitely profound from a scientific point of view. We only wished to
present – and the time will show whether we succeeded or not – the
valour of a great personality of the Romanian culture, who created and
donated a valuable collection for/to Romanian researchers. We hope we
have aroused the interest for valuable and profound researches, so few in
the present day Romania. And I believe that it would be the most suitable
to finish with another fragment from among Mr Adrian Marino’s
thoughts.
“But do not forget that I have an immense handicap, I am a
permanent social marginal. I have never had an editorial, university or
academic position. Therefore everything is transmitted by the means of
published materials, to the measure in which these books reach certain
readers. But I have neither velleities, nor possibilities to be a ‘school
294
leader’. In ’89 my friend, Paul Cornea, Deputy Minister of Education at
that time, appointed me as a consultant professor to the University of
Cluj. The Faculty of Letters sent the nomination to the Senate, to the
Rector’s Office where it ‘got lost’. Well, how can I feel for a city, a
faculty behaving like this? Because this I interrupted every relationship
with the University. [...] I am treated with much contempt. Otherwise I
also have the sentiment that I belong to ‘another’ culture. Thanks to the
help of my wife I got over many shocks. Cluj is not my city. Here I have
a second ‘forced residence’! Fortunately, there is an oasis of civility and
intellectualism – the Central University Library from Cluj. [...] I must say
that I have made a will to the benefit of the library in Cluj, according to
which immediately after my death they should come and take my entire
library. I do not want my books to be sold to second-hand bookshops by
my grandchildren, relatives and so on.” Expressing our thanks for the
flattering appreciation we hope that we shall be able to maintain this
“oasis of civility and intellectualism”.
In an article published in Tribuna (The Tribune) periodical in
December 1992 Adrian Marino said: “I am more convinced than ever
before that the critical spirit, such as that of the 18th century
Enlightenment’s, is summoned to resist at any time and anywhere all the
possible myths, fanatic views, fetishizing and censorship. Be they
whatsoever. [...] We are for the freedom of research, against any
interdiction of any kind. Irrevocably and at any risks. Everything and
everyone falls under criticism. We are for the freedom of the mind, of
analysis, of research. Let us not lose it once again.”
295
Hungarian Cultural History in the Second Half of the 19th Century in
Transylvania
Hungarian Periodicals and the Hungarian Cultural Heritage in
Transylvania
Rozália PORÁCZKY
Cluj-Napoca
Keywords: history of Transylvania, history of the Hungarian people,
history of the Hungarian culture, periodicals
Abstract
Against the background of the capitalist economic structures and in the
historical context of the second half of the 19th century, Transylvania and
the social-cultural activities of its population present a varied, very
complex image. The studied material shows the special role the
periodicals played in the second half of the 19th century as they modelled
people’s view on the world and society, on culture and science, they
changed mentalities, and also identified, made known and diffused the
elements which constituted the cultural heritage of the different
nationalities. Each nationality made efforts to collect, preserve, valorise
and diffuse these values among the readers, considering that this cultural
heritage, meaning national identity as well, was a national responsibility.
The cultural-political role of the category of intellectuals was extremely
important, as they became the motive power for the evolution and
modernization of society, while the cultural institutions, the existing
secondary schools and universities became the centres of scientific and
cultural activities.
Against the background of the capitalist economic structures and
in the historical context of the second half of the 19th century,
Transylvania and the social-cultural activities of its population present a
varied, very complex image destined to arouse the curiosity of the
researchers interested in this period.
In what follows we shall discuss some aspects, which we
consider remarkable and which were outlined as the result of our studying
296
the chosen material: periodicals published in Transylvania in the second
half of the 19th century.
The material at our disposal, an abundant periodical collection,
shows, in an obvious manner, the special role the periodicals played in
the period discussed by us. They modelled people’s view on the world
and society, on culture and science; they changed mentalities, and also
identified, made known and diffused the elements which constituted the
cultural heritage of the nationalities living side by side in Transylvania at
that time. Each nation tried to get acquainted with, to protect and to
enrich its own heritage by any means in order to realize its national
objects. The ideals of national justice and independence became a creed
in this period, without which the people living in the respective age could
not imagine their future. The development of the culture generating
institutions made these ideas more efficient and dynamic.
The intellectuals’ cultural-political role was much more
important than one might have thought according to their numerical
proportion, since they wished to become and remain the motive power for
the evolution and modernization of society in this period.
Having analyzed the profession and social class of those who
edited and wrote into the important periodicals, which had an evident
cultural impact, it is revealed that some of them belonged to the
aristocracy, the nobility and the clergy, while the majority was
represented by intellectuals without a solid economic base: journalists,
professors – usually working in local secondary schools –, museologist,
archivist, librarians, lawyers etc. One thing seems to be certain: those in a
modest material situation had not had access to the journalistic, cultural
and scientific life yet. Basically, irrespective of the differences, we
discover – if we analyze the origin and the ideas of each writer or the
evident exceptions – that the main orientation was determined by the
dominant ideologies of the age.
Skimming through the columns of the periodicals we could
observe that, in a period in which scientific activity had just began to
develop and was not yet vigorous enough, many historians,
ethnographers, men of letters etc. began their carrier later, having worked
in other domains at first. Thus, beside professional historians, people
trained in other fields also wrote historical works, also some noblemen
without an occupation found in history an enticing – but also somehow
obligatory – intellectual activity. Many of these made important
discoveries in the field of historical researches and, though they had had
no professional training, the necessary knowledge being acquired through
297
private study (in some cases the study methods taking rather peculiar
forms), their strong wish to enrich their national culture urged them to
investigate the past, even if they were not professionals. Their
contribution is evident and worth taking into consideration as regards the
preservation of the Transylvanian cultural heritage.
The Hungarian intellectuals from Transylvania, showing great
diversity with respect to their studies, were able to assimilate the
achievements of middle-class culture and science. Besides contributing to
their diffusion, they even developed them on the basis of autochthonous
realities. The communication with Western cultural and scientific centres
was facilitated by the fact that many scholars had studied in Western
European universities.
We believe that it was not a specifically Transylvanian
phenomenon that the great cultural institutions – as in the case of
Hungarian scientific life the Transylvanian Museum Society for example
– or the secondary schools with a great tradition, as well as the university
of Cluj became centres of scientific and cultural activity, places where the
most important scholars of the age met systematically. These spiritual
workshops offered a fertile ground for their ideas and the development of
their talents in different domains.
The activity of the persons who had an important role in the
political and cultural life, as well as the increasing thirst for culture
breathed new life into the scientific life of the Age of Reform. 1 Scientific
and cultural societies, as well as the Hungarian Academy made great
efforts to put an end to the isolation of scientists.
Many participants gathered also at the meetings of the
Transylvanian Museum Society. The Hungarian nobility of Transylvania
supported the national efforts with money and influence, some of its
representatives (Imre Mikó, Zsigmond Kemény, Domokos Teleki)
initiating activities for the development and preservation of the national
culture. “They are the pride of the nation: they are the eternal watchers in
the night, they urge those awake on to work by their deeds, they rouse the
sleeping ones” 2 and “Those noblemen who do not work with us we do
1
Important period in the history of Hungary before the Revolution of 1848
(1825–1848) marked by the introduction of a series of political, economic, social
and cultural reforms. (Translator’s note.)
2
„A nemzet büszkesége; ők az éj örök virrasztói, tettel kiáltják az ébrenlevőket
munkára, serkentik az alvókat.”
298
not count among ourselves” 1 – affirmed Imre Mikó, threatening these
persons with exclusion from the Hungarian nation. 2
The cultural heritage of a people usually can be estimated on the
basis of the marks left by human activity on the environment. These offer
us information on the life and activities of people from different ages and
the development of artistic and technical abilities in the course of time.
The cultural heritage is also connected with national identity and the
national responsibility of preserving the existing monuments,
archaeological and architectural sites as well as cultural environments.
In our opinion the concept of cultural heritage should also
contain some aspects met in the subjective way in which a people thinks
about its own ethnical identity (the sentiment of patriotism) and the many
ideas and feelings expressed in literary, scientific or popular creations.
In the second half of the 19th century the inclusion of national
history into the universal development became a requirement in
Transylvania too. To search for the origin of the nation, was a general
research direction, specific to the age related to national pride and
ambition. Historical sources were continuously collected and published.
Thus, in the Hungarian press often appeared writings on the origin,
language 3 and history of the Székelys. 4 Hungarian history, mainly if it
appeared as a motif in the history of arts, was a matter of pride. 5
1
Erdély története (The History of Transylvania), III, Budapest, 1986, p. 1610.
Ákos Egyed, Falu, város, civilizáció. Tanulmányok a jobbágy felszabadítás és a
kapitalizmus történetéből Erdélyben. 1848–1914 (Village, Town, Civilization.
Studies on the History of Capitalism and the Emancipation of Serfs in
Transylvania. 1848–1914), Bucharest, Kriterion Publishing House, 1981, p. 292.
3
Gyulafejérvári Füzetek (Bulletin of Alba Iulia), 1862, II, pp. 1–29.
4
“The Székely nation is the direct descendant of those Huns who founded the
European Hun Empire under Attila. After the downfall of this Empire it was
possible for some thousand Huns to survive in that part of Dacia which we call
today the Székelys’ land. While those opinions and statements which deny the
Hunnic origin cannot be maintained” (“A székely nemzet azon húnok egyenes
maradéka, kik Attila alatt az europai hún birodalmat alapiták, ennek összeomlása
után nem volt lehetetlen néhány ezer húnnak Dacia azon részében, melyet ma
székely-földnek nevezünk megmaradni, mikor is a kritikát nem állják ki azon
vélemények és állítások, melyek a székelyek hún eredetét el akaraják odázni”), in:
Gyulafejérvári Füzetek, 1861, I, pp. 39–66. See also in: A Székely Nemzeti
Múzeum Értesítője (The Bulletin of the Székely National Museum), 1891, II, pp.
75–275.
5
Keleti Virágok (Oriental Flowers), 1889, I, no.5, pp. 177–196.
2
299
Besides the historical sources, legends and historical tales were
often used as a theme by the authors of historical articles published in
periodicals, their role being to give a stimulating example for the young
generations (for example: Count András Szentkereszti’s sword preserved
in the museum of the Calvinist secondary school in Târgu-Mureş, sword
sent by the English as a sign of gratitude for the count’s heroic deeds in
the battle from 25 April 1794; the tale narrating how the Székelys
obtained their charter of liberty under the reign of King Matthias
Corvinus; 1 King Matthias’ visit in the Cluj; 2 the legendary fighter in the
Roşia Montana mountains, Ecaterina Varga; 3 the character of Hungarian
warriors who had lightning in their eyes, were excellent horsemen, armed
with swords, bows, maces from head to toe, had muscles of steel, their
movement being tempest, their anger: death 4 ).
It is to be remarked the fact that the historians of the age, besides
being interested in the evolution of public life, also wished to educate the
new generations in the spirit of the love of native country and nature. The
writers of the age had as an important aim to help their readers in getting
to know the historical and geographical aspects of their country. The
letter form – seeming the most convenient – was used to present the
geological evolution and the description of the geographical aspects, as
well as the flora and fauna of the country. 5
The most interesting writings on the geography of Transylvania
were published in the specialist journal Erdély (Transylvania) edited by
the Transylvanian Carpathian Society. The articles described, among
other things, Lunca Mureşului – this article being followed by
illustrations (this being a rarity in the press of the age) –; they evoked the
1
“nec habet aliquis dominorum plus, nec servorum minus – de libertate”, in:
Marosvásárhelyi Füzetek (The Bulletin of Târgu-Mureş), 1858, I, no. 1, pp. 87–
92.
2
Keleti Virágok, 1889, I, no. 5, pp. 110–127.
3
4
“Mindeniknél kard, ij, buzogány, meg puzdra, Vas izmuk a vérten majd
keresztül duzzad; Mozdulások: vihar, a haragjuk: halál, Jaj annak ezerszer, a ki
utjokba áll!” In: Marosvásárhelyi Füzetek, 1896, no. 1, pp. 45–47.
5
Gyulafejérvári Füzetek, 1861, I, pp. 7–37. See also: “I am so bold to ask you to
walk arm in arm with me [...] in search of the most interesting regions of our
beloved and beautiful country and if I ask you for this tour, I hope you will be
susceptible for the beauties of nature” (“fel merem szólitani kegyedet, velem
karöltve [...] buvárkodni, forrón szeretett szép hazánk érdekesb tájékain, s ha
felhivám e természetrajzi körútra mivelt szellemének, reméllem fogékony kedélye
sem marad el”), in: Marosvásárhelyi Füzetek, 1860, II, no. 5/6, pp. 307–376.
300
curative, hydrotherapeutic and balneotherapeutic effects of the wateringplaces of Transylvania or of the mineral springs, insisting upon the
necessity of commercializing them more intensely. They also encouraged
the efforts made to improve the balneal tourism and, implicitly, the
autochthonous economy. 1 These presentations usually functioned as
advertisements. The spas of Sovata, Jigodin, Jabeniţa, Homorod, Szejke,
Şugaş, Tuşnad, the springs in Biborţeni, Bodoc, Borsec, Corund, the
sulphurous cave in Turia, the Saint Ann Lake 2 were presented in detail.
The spa of Vâlcele was described by several articles being the oldest and
most appreciated watering place, having already existed in the seventh
decade of the 18th century. 3 Its balneal character could be compared to
that of the similar health resorts from St.-Moritz, Rippoldsau, Reinerz,
Elster, Franzensbad, Schwalbach, Spa, Pyrmont. Natural rarities are
mentioned too: the Split Stone, the Jews’ Table 4 or the edelweiss. 5
Besides geography, the history of Transylvania was also a
frequent subject in the columns of the Transylvanian periodicals and it
was considered important for the readers to get acquainted with it too.
Different themes and personalities were discussed going through the
different phases of Transylvanian and Hungarian history. The inherited
traditions and the specific local conditions were highlighted attempting to
find plausible explanations for the treated phenomenon. Readers were
probably interested in town histories (such as of Cluj), the problem of the
census in the Székely region or the figure of the 1848 revolutionary, Pál
Vasvári.
Archaeological discoveries occupied an important place in the
reviews. This showed that specialists were interested in and preoccupied
with spreading the results of their researches in order to diffuse the values
of the cultural historical heritage. Excavation results had central import in
these periodicals. Scientifically accurate articles presented for example
the discovery of Roman coins on the bank of the river Aghireş in the
1
Erdély (EKE) [Transylvania (TCS)], 1892, I, no. 1, pp. 10–14, 14–18, 41–44.
Erdély (EKE), 1892, I, no. 4, pp. 108–116, 148–149, 169–173.
3
“Vâlcele became an important watering place in the seventh decade of the
previous century” (“a múlt század hetedik évtizedében lendült fel Előpatak, mint
fürdő”, in: Erdély (EKE), 1892, I, no. 8/9, pp. 307–313, 321–325.
4
“Két természeti ritkaság” (Two Natural Rarities), “I. Maladinkő (Hasadtkő)” (I.
Split Stone), “II. A Zsidó-asztal” (II. Jews’ Table), in: Erdély (EKE), 1892, I, no.
10, pp. 387–389.
5
Erdély (EKE), 1892, I, no. 10, pp. 391–393.
2
301
Turkey oak forest on the Great Mountain near Ilieni 1 or the beautiful
Calvinist church in Pădureni (Mureş County). This latter study contained
a drawing on and the architectonical scheme of the building and the
reproduction of three fragments of mural. 2
A special place was accorded to the history of culture and to
archaeological studies. To study archaeology, the auxiliary science of
history, became an important task for intellectuals. 3 The old murals from
the 13–15th centuries in the churches of Derj, Pădureni, Chilieni,
Ghelinţa, Biborţeni in Covasna County, Filea, Mărtiniş, Crişeni in
Hargita County, Sâncraiu de Mureş, Sântana de Mureş, Ulieş and Găleşti
in Mureş County were presented and described in detail. The authors
asserted that any object preserved from the past was the proof of an old
culture and it represented the conditions of private and social life in that
age. 4 Memories must be preserved with piety irrespective of the nation
they belong to. The interest for the historical development of mankind
must be constant, the task of contemporaries being to collect, protect and
administrate those relics and, in the case of historical monuments, to
immortalize them in drawings. 5 The decorative elements used on the
1
A Székely Nemzeti Múzeum Értesítője, 1891, III, pp. 3–8.
A Székely Nemzeti Múzeum Értesítője, 1891, II, pp. 276–290.
3
“Seeking out old churches in the Székelys’ land, I shall bring to light the murals
found on their walls and I shall save them from decay. Generally, archaeology is
one of the auxiliary sciences of history and its practice must be one of our
significant tasks from a cultural point of view” (“a székelyföldi régi egyházakat
felkutatva, az azok falain talált falképeket napfényre hozom s azokat az
enyészettől megmentem. Általában a régészet azon tudományok egyike, melyek a
történelem segédforrásait képezik s melynek ápolása kulturális szempontból
egyik kiváló feladatunkat kell, hogy képezze”), in: A Székely Nemzeti Múzeum
Értesítője, 1891, II, pp. 33–74.
4
“Each relic confers a data on the living conditions of the past partly from a
familial, religious point of view, partly from the point of view of society, state
organization, legislation and culture in general” (“mindenik reliquia egy-egy
adatot szolgáltat a hajdankor életviszonyaihoz, részint családi, vallási, részint
társadalmi, államszerkezeti, törvénykezési s általábam kulturális szempontból”),
in: A Székely Nemzeti Múzeum Értesítője, 1891, II, pp. 33–74.
5
“From the point of view of our general culture we must be interested in
everything related to the gradual development of mankind, this is why we have as
a task not only to protect antiquities, but also to collect them, arrange them
according to the scientific requirements of our age and to immortalize in drawings
the monuments exposed to decay” (“Minket az általános müvelődés
szempontjából mindannak érdekelni kell, mi az emberiség fokozatos fejlődésével
összefüggésben áll, miért a régiségeknek nem csak megóvása, hanem azok
2
302
ceilings and altars of churches (in Delniţa, Şumuleu-Ciuc, Tărceşti,
Căpeni, Inlăceni, Moacşa and Sâncrăieni), on embroideries of religious or
worldly objects, on ceramics and furniture speak of the nation’s culture
and history. 1
Some issues connected with the history of religions (Unitarian,
Calvinist), the mission and the role of the Church in solving the social
problems or the autonomy of the Roman Catholic Church were in the
centre of attention too. 2
Ethnology and the folklore were quite frequent themes in the
periodicals of the age which published the texts of some Székely
folksongs, 3 studies on the Easter folk customs and the ornaments used on
painted Easter eggs, 4 on the analysis of the wandering gipsies’ signalling
system 5 or on some ethnological aspects. 6
The press of the age abounded in discourses or studies which
tried to descry the importance and the role of literature in people’s life.
The aim of an appropriate education was to develop the latent talents of
the young generation and to encourage them in autodidactic activities. 7
With this end in view the reading societies and literary circles were
founded. The works of literary criticism evoked the nation’s great
precursors Ferenc Kazinczy, István Széchenyi, Bertalan Szemere, Gábor
Döbrentei, Kristóf Kerszturi, Péter Bod, János Apáczai Csere, Ferenc
Toldy, Pál Kócsi P., Sámuel Gyarmathy, György Aranka and Imre Mikó.
They also analyzed the former generations’ literary activity and the most
important representatives of the Hungarian culture and literature. Literary
translations became a permanent preoccupation for the men of letters.
Literary texts were translated from English, French, Persian, German,
gyüjtése, azok korszerü rendezése s az enyészetnek kitett műemlékek rajzban való
megörökitése is feladataink közé tartozik”), in: A Székely Nemzeti Múzeum
Értesítője, 1891, II, pp. 33–74.
1
A Székely Nemzeti Múzeum Értesítője, 1891, II, pp. 33–74.
2
Gyulafejérvári Füzetek, 1890, III, pp. 1–13, 1–15.
3
Korány, 1861, pp. 26–27; 1863, p. 116.
4
A Székely Nemzeti Múzeum Értesítője, 1902, III, pp. 32–77.
5
Erdély (EKE), 1892, I, no. 1, pp. 38–41.
6
Erdély (EKE), 1892, I, no. 7, p. 300.
7
“Allow us, dear reader, to tell you in a few words what has encouraged us to this
endeavour. The aim of rational education is to help the pupils start their
independent activity by developing their innate talents.” („Engedd meg kedves
olvasó, hadd mondjuk el pár szóval, mi bátoritott minket e vállalatra. A józan
nevelés czélja a növendékekben eredetileg meglevő tehetségeket kifejtvén
önmunkásságba indítani”), in: Korány, 1863, pp. III–X.
303
Romanian 1 (Edgar Allan Poe, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Alexander
Humboldt, Heinrich Heine etc.). It will be possible to translate natural
scientific works into Hungarian successfully when more studies in this
domain will have been published in Hungarian language and the readers’
knowledge will have reached the adequate level. 2
Several articles evoked prominent personalities and presented
their works with the aim of instructing the readers. Thus we can read a
translation made by Miklós Wesselényi from a text on the philosophy,
psychology and perception of time or a ballad on Brutus written also by
Miklós Wesselényi, 3 a short story by Elek Benedek 4 or a letter by
Kelemen Mikes written on 25 March 1760. 5
A quite “fashionable” literary genre was the travel diary. Most
of them described journeys in Italy, the itinerary being impressive:
Trieste, Venice, Verona, Milan, Bibliotheca Ambrosiana, Certosa, Turin,
Genoa, Livorno, Pisa, Messina, Naples, Giardini, Taormina, Catania,
Etna, Syracuse, Palermo, Monreale, Monte Pellegrino, Vesuvius, Capri,
Caserta, Rome, Vatican, Frascati. 6 The travel diary seemed to be a
literary genre preferred more by women writers, and if the author was a
man the difference of style was evident. 7 For example Gábor Kemény’s
analytical and critical style is striking as compared with the one used by
Juliska Lázár or Mariska Biela. Thus, Kemény acknowledged the
usefulness of travelling, stating that one can learn much in the course of a
journey. All the travellers acknowledged that the development of the
means of transport had a beneficial effect upon the progress of industry,
economy and commerce. The development of these means also had a
beneficial effect upon culture as it made easier the distribution of books
1
Keleti Virágok, 1889, I, no. 5, pp. 17–25, 45–79, 101–109, 227–236, 245–271,
384–388.
2
“When we shall have a natural scientific literature, when the reader will have the
possibility to reach the present day level of natural sciences: the time for
translating the «Cosmos» into Hungarian will come too.” („Majd ha
természettudományi irodalmunk lesz, ha az olvasó magyar irodalmi termékekből
is eljuthat a természettudományok mai szinvonalára: eljővend a «Kosmos»
magyarraforditásának ideje is.”) In: Marosvásárhelyi Füzetek, 1858, I, no. 1, pp.
42–57.
3
Korány, pp. 64–75, 102–104.
4
5
Marosvásárhelyi Füzetek, 1860, II, no. 5/6, pp. 425–435.
6
Gyulafejérvári Füzetek, 1862, II, pp. 121–258.
7
A „Teleki Blanka”Kör [...] Kis Emlékkönyve (The Small Album of the “Teleki
Blanka” Circle), 1896, IV, pp. 5–13.
304
and it helped people in developing their aptitudes and abilities as well as
facilitated their travels. Gábor Kemény regarded the things experienced
in Italy with critical eyes. He found the Italians loud, which remark was
also connected with his participation at the Roman carnival full of
burlesque scenes and figures. He criticized the Roman emperors’
ambition of establishing institutions for “infamous amusement”,
affirming that if they had loved the people that much, they would not
have established so many places of entertainment and would not have
given “dangerous toys to the child” (gladiator games). 1 He mentioned
three famous cemeteries, the vault of the Scipio family, the library, the
antique and some modern sculptures, the Egyptian and Etruscan museum,
the art gallery. He was delighted with Raphael’s Stanze and
Michelangelo’s Laocoon. He also praised the antique Hellenic culture.
The old Greeks, Gábor Kemény stated knew very much, expressing
refined thoughts, feelings and passions in works of art. For Gábor
Kemény the antique Greek culture was a flourishing one, being similar to
the period of virile maturity. Those who travel, he stated, do not have the
time to direct their attention towards the people living in the visited place,
towards the citizens and the members of the society in question, though a
traveller eager for knowledge should also be interested in local men. He
also recommended that one should prepare and plan his journey on the
basis of the information offered by the good guidebooks. 2
Finally, we may affirm that it is evident: the mosaic-like
ethnographical image of Transylvania represented an additional cause for
each nation to defend and to wish to enrich its ethnical heritage. The
change of attitudes and of political directions was mirrored by the
periodicals of the age.
A periodical could be edited by a group of renowned historians,
philosophers, naturalists, but the numerous ideas elaborated by them in
their articles essentially were not always original ones, some thoughts
being borrowed from former thinkers, others occurring in the same
measure in other contemporaneous works too. This fact, however, does
not disparage the role of the great personalities of the Transylvanian
cultural and scientific life from the studied era, for they had often the
1
Had they loved the people that much, they would not have made “so big houses
for infamous amusements and they would not have given dangerous toys to the
child.” (Ha a népet annyira szerették, akkor nem csináltak volna „nemtelen
mulatságokra akkora hajlékokat, valamint nem adnak ártalmas játékszert a
gyermek kezébe.”) In: Marosvásárhelyi Füzetek, 1859, II, no. 2/3, pp. 83–121.
2
Marosvásárhelyi Füzetek, 1859, II, no. 2/3, pp. 83–121.
305
merit of disseminating in Transylvania some modernizing ideas and
knowledge, close to the European level and of giving form, vigour and
prestige to some diffuse or only budding autochthonous ideas.
306
The University Library of Cluj
– 1906–1909 –
Gheorghe VAIS
Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism,
Technical University, Cluj-Napoca
Keywords: University Library of Cluj, Library of the Transylvanian
Museum, competition, execution plan, functional units, architectural
language, interior decoration, Neo-Baroque, Secessionism
Abstract
This study presents the development of the library building from the
moment the idea of establishing this institution occurred through the
different stages of its completion and the execution to its inauguration.
When the Ferenc József University was founded in 1872 in Cluj,
it was decided that a University Library was required. The Transylvanian
Museum donated its rich collections to the new institution. The new
library functioned in several rather unsuitable buildings during the
following years. Finally the Museum Society, the University Council and
the library management asked for a new library building to be raised. The
field where the building was to be erected was bought by the Hungarian
Ministry of Education and Religion; it was situated at the corner of Mikó
Street and Arany János Street, an important location from the point of
view of urban planning.
In the project competition organized for the construction of the
building famous architects of the age participated. The winners, Flóris
Nándor Korb and Kálmán Giergl were familiar with the location having
already built the University Clinical Complex in the vicinity of the future
University Library. Therefore they managed to integrate the library into
the new urban area developed west of the city centre; they turned the
building towards Arany János Square.
Though at the competition the two architects presented a plan
characterised by the dominance of Neo-Baroque elements, in the course
of its execution the building gained a Secessionist character. The
building, whose foundations were laid in the summer of 1906 and which
was officially inaugurated on 18 May 1909, represented an economic
variant of the architectural program due to financial difficulties.
Consequently, some important aspects of the execution project were
abandoned and others were realized only in 1931–34.
307
The institution
The University Library of Cluj originates from the Library of the
Transylvanian Museum (Erdélyi Múzeum Könyvtár). The library was
from the beginning the most significant section of the Museum which
started its activity immediately after the institution had been founded.
The initial collection was formed mainly by donations. The most
important one was the Count János Kemény’s library, promised to the
Society in 1842; it contained 15000 volumes and a collection of 1000
manuscripts and official documents. Brought by 36 carts from Gerend
(where it had been kept until the foundation of the Museum), this
material became the core around which the collection increased,
consisting of already 20483 volumes around the year 1863. 1
As the library had no appropriate location, it had to function in
different rooms obtained by renting or the owners’ generosity. For the
longest time it functioned on the ground floor of the house owned by the
Count Sándor Bethlen on Bel-Farkas Street (today Kogălniceanu Street)
(1857). The reading room was opened here too on 15 July 1860, when the
institution began to function as a public library. 2
The Library of the Museum functioned independently only 12
years (1860–1872). When the University was founded (1872) it was
decided to establish the University Library (Egyetemi Könyvtár). The
Museum Society contributed decisively to the educational activity of the
university from the beginning. A contract was signed on 29 August 1872
by which the Library of the Museum (30408 volumes) was placed at the
disposal of the University. This was the moment when the Library of the
Museum became the organic part of the University Library. 3
At the beginning students and teachers frequented the two book
collections in the places where they were situated when the two
1
Lajos György, Az Erdélyi könyvtárügy és a Kolozsvári egyetemi könyvtár (The
Transylvanian Library Affairs and the University Library of Cluj), in Erdély
Magyar Egyeteme – Az Erdélyi Egyetemi gondolat és a M. Kir. Ferenc József
Tudományegyetem Története (The Hungarian University of Transylvania – The
Idea of the University of Transylvania and the History of the Ferenc József
Hungarian Royal University), published by the Transylvanian Scientific Institute,
Kolozsvár, 1941, p. 223.
2
Ibid., p. 223.
3
Ibid., pp. 226, 227.
308
institutions merged: the collections of the Museum in the Bethlen House
and those of the University in the building of the former Jesuit college
from Farkas Street. This was a ramshackle two-storeyed building and it
had been the residence of the Gubernium and of the Royal Committee.
Later on, the collection of the Museum too was moved here. A turbulent
period followed for the books of the library; they were moved to different
spaces by the efforts of the university board. In October-November 1895
the library was moved to the new university building, respectively to the
wing opposite to the old theatre. Although the new rooms were more
modern than the former ones (light and dry), the library continued to
suffer from the lack of adequate spaces, as in the plan of the university no
specific library space had been included. A paradoxical situation arose as
the library had a smaller room than before and some of the functions
overlapped inadmissibly: the reading room was also the cloak room. 1
The growing importance of the library in the university
environment, doubled by the more and more numerous acquisitions that
increased the book collection 2 caused greater and greater problems
because of the space crisis. Having this situation for a background the
Museum Society (Múzeum-Egylet), the University Council (Egyetemi
Tanács) and the library management started an energetic campaign at
Cluj and Budapest for a new building to be raised.
Location
The first reaction came from the municipality of the city, which
offered a free lot of 1050 m2 at the corner of Belső- and Külső-Torda
(today Universităţii and Avram Iancu) Streets for constructing the
library. 3 At the same time the Ministry pondered to buy the lot of the old
theatre next to the University (approx. 2000 m2), where, after the
demolition of the old building, a new one could be constructed in the
same style as the neighbouring University. 4 The theatre building would
be bought in the end by the University in the first decade of the 20th
century, but it would be used as the store of the Botanical Museum.
Finally the Hungarian Ministry of Education and Religion
bought in 1903 a field of 21540 m2 (from Csiky and Tamási) that
stretched from the corner of Mikó (Clinicilor) Street and Arany János
1
Ibid., p. 230.
At the beginning of the 1890s the collection had more than 200000 volumes.
3
This must have been the lot where the Gábor Áron Students’ Hostel (Gábor
Áron Diákotthon) was built in 1909–10 by the architecht Károly Nagy.
4
Lajos György, op. cit., p. 234.
2
309
(Petru Maior) Street to the middle of Mikó Street, approximately opposite
to the main entrance of Clinical Complex. 1 The field (probably the lots
no. 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10) occupied a part of the western side of Arany János
Square 2 and thus the future library building was to contribute to the urban
ensemble of the square.
fig. 1. – Cluj. Coal Square (Szénpiac), fragment from the cadastral plan of the
city, drawn by the cartographer Sándor Bádány in 1869. The lots painted grey
are those purchased for building the library.
The field on which the library was going to be built was situated
on the western side of the Arany János Square. 3 This was an important
location, situated next to the western side of the town walls, more exactly
1
Ibid., p. 236.
Arany János Square (Arany János tér) was renamed Saint George Square
(Szentgyörgy tér) after the statue of Saint George had been placed here on 18
September 1904.
3
The old Coal Square (Szénpiac) bore different names in the course of time:
1852–1857 Coal Street Square (Szénutczai piacz), 1899 London Square (London
tér), 1899 Arany János Square (Arany János tér), 1904-1917 Saint George Square
(Szentgyörgy tér), 1923 Saint George Square, 1933-1937 Gheorghe Sion Square,
1941 Saint George Square (Szentgyörgy tér), 1945 Saint George Square, 1962
Peace Square, 1995 Lucian Blaga Square. [Cf. Lajos Asztalos, Kolozsvár,
helynév- és településtörténeti adattár (The Repertory of the Historical Place
Names and Town History of Cluj), Kolozsvár Society – Polis Publishing House,
2004, p. 468.]
2
310
to the right of the Boot-makers’ Bastion (Csizmadiák bástyája), which
included the Little Door of the Coal Street (Szén-utczai Kis-ajtó). For a
long time it was forbidden to construct buildings 1 near the walls outside
the fortification because of military reasons. As soon as the city lost its
military importance, the walls and the bastions became anachronistic and
hindered the development of Cluj. The demolition of the Boot-makers’
Bastion stimulated the development of the Coal Square (Szénpiac) and of
the entire area west of it.
The place was important being situated between the town centre
and Mănăştur, but also because 6 streets 2 converged here, making the
square a focal point for the area west of the town centre. The square was
shaped triangularly as this seemed the most natural arrangement for a
relatively complicated intersection. Around the middle of the 19th century
three town areas intersected here: the Town Centre (Belváros) in the east,
the Coal Street Suburb (Szén utczai Külváros) in the south-west and the
Mănăştur Suburb (Monostori Külváros) in the north-west.
A geological characteristic of the area was that the Gipsy Brook
(Czigány Patak) crossed the middle of the square on its way towards the
river Someş. It used to supply the moat, but when this was filled up, it
inundated the area after each rain, affecting the buildings. The inundation
risk was eliminated only in the second half of the 19th century when the
valley was regulated and a sewer was built for the brook where it crossed
the square.
The last four years of the 19th century were an important period
for the development of the area adjacent to the square, which became the
administrative centre of the county when the Cluj County Hall
(Kolozsvármegye Székház) was built (as a sequel to Wesselényi Palace on
Arany János Street, today Petru Maior Street) in 1896–1897. The
completion of Karolina University Clinics (Karolina Egyetemi Klinikák)
on Mikó Street in 1900 made the place an important medical centre of
1
Ibid., p. 469.
The following streets lead into the square: from the east Jókai Mór (Napoca)
Street coming from the Main Square of the city; from the north Párizs (Şincai)
Street connecting the square with the Citadel, the Central Park and the Summer
Theatre; also from the north Arany János (Petru Maior) Street making the
connection with the County Hall and the Central Park; from the west Mikó
(Clinicilor) Street that led towards the Clinics, the Museum (Mikó) Garden and
Mănăştur; from the south-west Trefort (Victor Babeş) Street descending from the
Psychiatric Complex; and from the south Majális (Republicii) Street that slopes
towards the town from the picnic area situated on the north slope of Feleac Hill.
2
311
Transylvania as well. Being aware of all this, the town magistrates
wished to associate the place with one of the symbols of the city and
unveiled here on 28 September 1904 a copy of Saint George’s equestrian
statue. This was placed in the middle of the square on the
recommendation of Károly Haller, the president of the Embellishing
Society (Szépítő Egylet). 1 On this occasion the name of the square was
changed from Arany János to Saint George (Szentgyörgy tér).
The competition of projects
In the spring of the year 1904, the Ministry of Education and
Religion from Budapest announced the organisation of a project
competition for the construction of a new building, based on the theme
elaborated by the library director, the eminent librarian Pál Erdélyi. 2 It
was a wide-spread practice in Hungary at that time to organise
architecture competitions, especially in the case of official commissions.
The architectural program prescribed the creation of a “closed
library” such as all the great libraries of the age. Regarding its function it
was required to comprise, in the same place but separately, the two
components of the library in Cluj: the collections of the University and of
the Transylvanian Museum.
During the research I made in the archives of the University
Library, where some of the drafts of the rival projects are still kept, I
identified eight architect firms who must have participated in the
competition: Ágoston Kesselbauer (Veszprém), Jenő Kismarty-Lechner
& László Warga (Budapest), Flóris Korb & Kálmán Giergl (Budapest),
Marcell Komor & Dezső Jakab (Budapest), Adolf Láng (Budapest),
Ambrus Orth & Emil Somló (Budapest), Artúr Sebestyén (Budapest) and
János Villányi & Alfréd Hajós (Budapest).
Almost all the participants came from the capital, Budapest, the
majority of them being architects renowned in Hungary at that time. They
were used to competitions as a current modality of access to important
state commissions. Therefore we should not be surprised that to design
the library of the second most important university in Hungary at that
time was really tempting for the recognized Hungarian architects.
Spurred on by their success at the University Clinical Complex
from Cluj, finished in 1903, Korb and Giergl participated in the
competition with a solution that finally would win them the commission
1
Péter Sas, Mesélő Képeslapok, Kolozsvár 1867–1919 (Storytelling Postcards,
Kolozsvár 1867–1919), Budapest, Noran Publishing House, 2003, p. 176.
2
312
of the work. The situational plan shows one of the most interesting
solutions, where, by accentuating one diagonal, the building was turned
towards Arany János Square. Thus a greater importance was given to the
square, but also to the building, which became an important landmark of
the place.
fig. 2. – The situational plan of the competition project, Korb’s and Giergl’s
variant.
As only a few drafts have been preserved, it is difficult to
decipher the adopted blueprint. However, the plan can be discerned due
to a simple and clear solution whereby two wings, with three storeys,
with bevelled corners, close behind them the part of building containing
the reading room situated on the diagonal of the lot. This is also
connected with the other parts of the building by two arched wings which
probably contained the annexed spaces and the passages for the
personnel. The book stacks are also clearly designed, they occupy a
single wing (basement + ground floor + 3 upper floors + attic) situated
north of the main part of the building connected with this on only one
storey.
By placing the main entrance at the ground floor of the bevelled
part of the building, the authors obtained a double orientation: towards
the square (therefore towards the town centre), but also towards Mikó
Street (towards the clinical complex). As this part of the building was
aggrandised (the roof was raised higher and a rich decoration was
313
applied), it became accentuated and visible from afar. The authors had
estimated that it could be seen even from the town centre through the
passage formed by Jókai (today Napoca) Street, the axis of this street
looking exactly at this part of building.
The plan of the second floor, the only plan preserved, shows that
for the main vertical circulation there were two stairs with three
platforms. The stairs flanked the corridor of the main axis that led to the
exhibition hall. At the same time we can observe the simple prismatic
style of the book stacks and the clarity with which the bookstands were
arranged perpendicularly on the longitudinal walls. 1 Each level of the
stacks was divided in two by metal galleries (see section A–B), which
made possible the access to the upper part of the shelves. Such solutions
were frequent and ensured a better use of the space in the stacks, making
the access easy to all the bookstands.
1
It is known that the simple and clear arrangement of the shelves within the
stacks makes the handling of books more efficient, shortening considerably the
waiting time in the reading room.
314
fig. 3. – Plan of the first floor (second stage of the competition) from Korb’s and
Giergl’s variant.
It is surprising that, though this version did not win the first
phase of the competition, it contained many of the functional and formal
elements that would be recognisable in the finished construction. This
proves the authors’ talent and professional maturity in deciphering
rapidly and correctly the theme data. The fact that they “knew” the
location better than the other competitors as they had already worked here
when projecting the clinics, led them to one of the best solutions from the
perspective of town planning. I think, this is why Korb’s and Giergl’s
variant became an important reference point for the jury of the
competition when choosing the criteria. The jurors made this solution
type compulsory in the second phase of the competition.
The projects participating in the competition were grouped in
two main categories according to the way they located the building. The
first category was made up by those projects (Kesselbauer, KismartyLechner & Warga, Láng, Orth & Somló and Sebestyén) which practically
ignored the Arany János Square, adjacent to the location. These architects
designed the building as if it would have been in the middle of a street
315
front. The other category of projects (Korb & Giergl, Komor & Jakab and
Villányi & Hajós) connected the library building with the square by
“turning” towards it, generating a corner solution. In this way they tried
to valorise the vicinity with the square and the visual relationship
between the location and the town centre (through the passage of Jókai
Street, now Napoca Street). The main task of the jury was to choose
between these two variants of positioning.
The jury gathered and took its decision at Budapest in July 1904.
At the jurors’ proposal 1 the first prize (3500 crowns) was awarded to the
project submitted by Ambrus Orth–Emil Somló, the second prize (2000
crowns) to Flóris Korb–Kálmán Giergl’s project and third prize (1500
crowns) to Artúr Sebestyén’s solution. 2 However, the minister Albert
Berzeviczy, considering that none of the projects satisfied entirely the
requirements of the theme, invited the winners to a second competition
stage with a more exact theme, nearer to the technical and budgetary
realities. The minister may have been influenced by some aspects of Korb
& Giergl’s solution, which he imposed later on as theme requirements.
Unfortunately, out of the three projects that participated in the second
stage of the competition only the variants elaborated by Orth–Somló and
Korb–Giergl have been preserved in the archives of the library.
As they had found the “ideal” solution already in the first phase
of the competition, Korb and Giergl had only to make some adjustments
to the new variant. Thus they realized a remarkable project whose
functional scheme and the plan of its composition had been clearly
devised as the only plans preserved (first and second floor) confirm this.
The scheme of the composition consisted of an L-shaped plan
(basement + ground floor + 2 upper floors) having the articulation
bevelled at 45°. Between its arms, on the bisector of the interior angle
considered to be the axis of the entire composition the second part
(basement + ground floor) had been placed, obliquely to the first. The
two are connected by two symmetrical wings, arc segments that close two
internal courtyards.
In the plan the oblique part of building quartered the great
majority of the spaces where the library users would enter first
(vestibules, halls, cloakrooms, main stairs etc.) and the main functional
units (the main reading room, professors’ reading room etc.). The book
stacks (basement + ground floor + 4 upper floors) were conceived as a
1
Two jury members were from Cluj: the Rector of the University, István Apáthy
and the library director, Pál Erdélyi.
2
316
relatively isolated wing in the northern part of the composition. This
variant was imposed by the great weight of books and also because
independent building parts are easier to extend. The stacks communicated
with the rest of the building through articulations with a single level,
ensuring in this way the flow of books towards the reading rooms. In
order to increase the speed of book handling, the stacks had lifts at each
staircase.
The sober geometrized eclecticism influenced by Secessionism
defined the style of the facades. These reflected the authors’ prudence
with respect to the reaction of authorities against Hungarian
Secessionism. Korb and Giergl had just had an unpleasant experience at
the Academy of Music (Zeneakadémia) in Budapest in 1904–1907. Here
under the pressure of the Ministry of Education the Secessionist façades
of the winner project had been redrawn by the authors for a Baroque
style.
One of the important trump cards of the project was the
moderate cost of the execution, this being due to the simplicity of the
solution and to the rational character of the scheme. For the authorities
from Budapest, who required the execution costs to be reduced each time,
Korb’s and Giergl’s variant seemed to be the most convenient.
The execution project
Finally, the work would be awarded to the Flóris Nándor Korb
& Kálmán Giergl pair from Budapest. They would be commissioned to
prepare an execution project with a functional solution inspired from the
plan of the University Library of Basel, 1 considered by the library
director, Pál Erdélyi an ideal model for European university libraries.
The execution project was officially begun on 14 June 1906,
when the Library Construction Committee (Könyvtár-Építési Bizottság)
assembled to discuss and to make a decision about the quotations that
came from Korb and Giergl. 2 Probably these quotations reflected
different variants of the project, situated between the minimal and
maximal limits of the blueprint.
The location was occupied by the building according to the
situational plan from the first phase of the competition. The only
modification consisted of the elimination of the living quarters’ wing
from the western end of the façade looking out to Mikó Street, as a
1
2
Ibid., p. 236.
317
topographical survey of the town from 1917 shows it. It is evident also in
this plan the quality of the solution, which, by generating an accentuated
volume on the bevelled corner, ensured the dominant element of the
square and of the adjacent area.
As the original execution drafts are missing, I used in my study
the plans and the section published in the four language (English, French,
German and Hungarian) edition of an album entitled A Királyi Magyar
Egyetemek Epületei (The Buildings of the Hungarian Royal Universities)
vol. III that came out in Budapest in 1908. The documentary value of
these plans consists of the fact that they were published immediately after
the inauguration of the library. Thus they reflected the characteristics of
the execution project, probably containing also the modifications made
during the execution. In other words, they could reflect, in the most
faithful manner, the functional-spatial configuration of the library at the
moment of its inauguration in 1909.
At the level of the semi-basement the main functional element
was the ensemble of the popular library (anteroom, reading room,
cloakroom and lavatory) placed on the southern side of the building,
towards Mikó (today Clinicilor) Street. As this section was intended for
readers who did not belong to the university system, in other words to the
general public, it is understandable that it was placed outside the main
flow. It could be accessed quickly from the left of the main entrance,
avoiding thus the interference with the flow from the levels reserved to
students and professors.
To separate clearly the flow between university and nonuniversity readers was beneficial for the correct functioning of the library,
but at the same time it reflected the tendency of social separation
practiced in almost every architectural programme of the age.
On this level were placed the bookbindery and book packing
workshops too where those activities took place which aimed at the
preservation of the newly purchased or older books. The reduced number
of the rooms reserved for therapeutic proceedings can be explained by the
incipient stage of the domain in the respective period, the aim being only
to ensure the physical integrity of the books.
318
fig. 4. – The University and Transylvanian Museum Library, plan of the semibasement:
1. main entrance and vestibule; 2. hall; 3. anteroom of the popular library; 4.
reading room of the popular library; 5. librarians’ desk (popular library); 6.
cloakroom (popular library); 7. lavatory; 8. corridors; 9. workshops; 10. furnace
room; 11. electric apparatus workshop; 12. boiler room; 13. fuel store; 14.
cleaners’ room; 15. packing workshop; 16. bookbindery; 17. the porter’s flat; 18.
second staircase; 19. the stoker’s room; 20. book stacks; 21. staircase of the
stacks; 22. passenger and cargo lift; 23. book lift.
The rooms dedicated to heating etc. (steam-generating station,
boiler room, fuel store etc.) occupied the entire surface of the oblique
building part. Their great dimensions reflect a technological level that
required very massive heating equipment. I would like to remark here
what an ingenious solution was applied in the case of the two chimneys.
They were built into a median wall, thus they did not disturb the general
outlines.
In order to ensure several entrances on the perimeter of the
building five wider passages were planed. To realize them the height
±0.00 had to be raised. As the result of this operation the building was
raised above the ground level in the north-east. This was accomplished by
adding a partial level (basement) under the furnace room, the boiler room
and the fuel store. The added partial level is visible in the section and is
319
suggested in the plan of the semi-basement where in the boiler room two
symmetrical stairs indicate the two levels.
fig. 5. – The University and Transylvanian Museum Library, plan of the ground
floor
1. main entrance and vestibule; 2. main hall (stairs and cloakroom); 3. corridors;
4. catalogue room; 5. librarians’ desk; 6. main reading room; 7. lavatory; 8.
periodical reading room; 9. newspaper reading room; 10. the book handlers’
room; 11. new books room; 12. the deputy director’s office; 13. anteroom of the
council room; 14. council room; 15. the director’s office; 16. safe; 17. anteroom;
18. third staircase; 19. general stacks; 20. staircase of the general stacks; 21.
passenger and cargo lift; 22. book lift.
The ground floor contained three functional-spatial units: the
first consisted of the three reading rooms (main room, newspaper room
and periodical room) reached by readers through the catalogue room.
These rooms occupied the geometrical centre of the composition, being
connected with the “corner” wing and the general stacks in all direction.
These rooms functioned as an interface between the readers and the book
collections. At the intersection of the three reading rooms was situated
the librarians’ desk, an “island” that controlled the circulation of readers
and where the books were received and returned. The second unit was
dedicated to the library managerial staff (the directors’ offices, assembly
room etc.). As the directors had a representative role in their relations
320
with the outside world, their offices had anterooms where the secretaries
were. The last unit was dedicated to the books. These were kept in the
huge space of the stacks (9.27 km shelves at the inauguration) 1 and they
were easy to access in each part of the library by stairs and electric lifts.
The most important room of the ground floor was the main
reading room that occupied the north-western extremity of the oblique
building part. This was opened for the students on 8 February 1909, 2
almost two months before the official inauguration. The architects
designed it for a capacity of 200 seats, 3 distributed in the central space
and in the six recesses placed symmetrically on the long sides. The flow
of books from the direction of the stacks was realized by a small direct
circulation, this solution ensured a reasonable waiting time. The interior
space was devised with a basilica section in order to ensure natural light,
as near as possible to the zenithal illumination considered ideal for a
reading room.
The Transylvanian Museum (Erdélyi Múzeum) kept its
collections in the upper floor rooms, assuring greater protection for its
patrimony by remaining outside the main flow. On the first floor was the
incunabula room, the miniatures room and the manuscripts room in the
wings of the L-shaped building part, on the two sides of the conference
room. On the second floor the exhibition room placed on the axis was
flanked by rooms that contained the archives of the museum and the
family archives. These latter consisted of the documents of approx. 40
aristocratic and noble families, kept in special tin plate boxes. 4
If we compare the solution from the competition project with the
variant that was carried out, we observe that on the second floor a more
economical version was applied by giving up the spaces of the curved
wings. Because of financial reasons the space of the main reading room
was also simplified. In the competition project (stage II) this had had a
more elaborated form; it ended in a rounded-polygonal form, resembling
the choirs of catholic churches. It is possible that the authors may have
devised this space dedicated to the meeting between man and book on the
analogy of a sacred space.
The economies made in the case of the reading room generated a
less expressive solution with simplified forms. The reading room looked
rather poor from the outside, suggesting rather an industrial function.
1
Ibid., p. 240.
Ibid., p. 239.
3
Ibid., p. 239.
4
Ibid., p. 239.
2
321
Inside the preponderance of the compact planes over the gaps outlined the
impression of massiveness and the effort to attenuate this sensation by
applying on the compact planes some registers of decorative plaster did
not achieve its goal. I consider that this concession made by the architects
is the weakest point of the project, especially if we compare it with the
architecture of the reading rooms of contemporary European libraries.
An important element of the functional scheme, the living
quarters’ wing was given up during the execution. Living quarters were
compulsory elements in almost every public building from the turn of the
century. This resulted from a policy of human resources according to
which the quasi permanent presence of the leading staff in an institution
contributed to its normal functioning. In our case the living quarters’
wing occupied the extremity of the composition from Mikó (Clinicilor)
Street. Thus the flats of the director from the ground floor and of the chief
librarian from the first floor would have had a favourable orientation
towards south and west. It should have been a little building of the
library, separated from this by a corridor passable by vehicles, which
functioned as the service entrance to the inner courtyards of the complex.
The plan of the ground floor in the execution project shows that
the initial conception was modified. The most important modification
was the alteration of the functional scheme by eliminating the general
cloakroom from the space before the main reading room. By moving it to
the corridor of the ground floor a great surface (10 x 11.5 m) had become
free, which was occupied by the catalogues. The place of the catalogues
in the arched wings was taken by some new reading rooms for periodicals
and newspapers. In my opinion this operation performed at the
inauguration mutilated the elegance of the functional scheme and
crowded the corridor of the ground floor with the cloakroom (divided in
two parts). The decision to make this modification was made in order to
gain space for the reading rooms.
The plan of the ground floor (execution project) also shows that
the solution of the oval vestibule from the main entrance was simplified.
The eight colonettes that punctuated the central space of the vestibule
were deleted, probably in order to save money. They were replaced by
little parapet-socles made of stone.
322
fig. 6. – The University and Transylvanian Museum Library, plan of the first
floor:
1. main staircase and corridors; 2. second staircase; 3. incunabula room; 4.
miniatures room; 5. conference preparation room; 6. conference room; 7.
manuscripts section office; 8. manuscripts room; 9. study; 10. map stacks; 11.
lavatory; 12. general book stacks; 13. staircase of the general stacks; 14.
passenger and cargo lift; 15. book lift.
A “closed access” was proposed, where the readers and the
stored books were clearly separated. The entire book collection was kept
in the central stacks to which no reader was admitted. This library type
characterised the age and a long time had to pass until “open access” 1
would begin to replace them.
However, there were some exceptions to the rule of the “closed
access”: in the Transylvanian Museum archives the documents were kept
in the reading room. This situation was accepted because this room was
frequented only by a reduced number of readers whom the librarians
could easily supervise.
1
The difference between “open” and “closed” access is that in the former ones
the book collection is kept in the reading rooms and readers have direct access to
the books.
323
Finally, when inaugurated, the university library ensured reading
conditions for 252 readers, 1 200 in the main reading room, the rest in the
specialised reading rooms. In addition there were 100 seats in the reading
room of the popular library.
fig. 7. – The University and Transylvanian Museum Library, plan of the second
floor:
1. main staircase and passages; 2. second staircase; 3. lavatory; 4. archives
office; 5. safe; 6. study; 7. archives of the Transylvanian Museum; 8. exhibition
room; 9. room of family archives; 10. general book stacks; 11. staircase of the
general stacks; 12. passenger and cargo lift; 13. book lift.
Because of the economic restrictions imposed upon budgetary
governmental investments, a “minimal” architectural programme was
carried out at the Cluj library, which would be completed later on. The
first extension was made in 1931–34 2 , when a new storey was added to
the catalogue room and to the curved wings, three rooms and a corridor
being built. The (eastern) articulation on the second floor must have been
completed with the book stacks at the same time. These spaces were
included into the competition and execution projects, but they were
eliminated while the library was being built because of the high costs.
The last significant extension was made in 1960, when new book stacks
1
2
Ibid., p. 246.
324
were built 1 on the place where the living quarters’ wing should have been
constructed.
The execution of the building
On 14 June 1906, when the Construction Committee of the
Library assembled to discuss the quotations that came from the Korb and
Giergl company it was also decided to entrust the execution to Károly
Reményik, an entrepreneur from Cluj. 2 He was one of the most active
constructors in the city, having on his record the execution of some
important buildings in Cluj: the Commercial Academy I (today the
Rector’s Office of the Technological University) with Frigyes Maetz in
1886–87, the Neolog Synagogue (today the Deportees’ Temple) with the
Horváth brothers in 1887, the Post Office Palace in 1891–98, the
Unitarian College (today Brassai Secondary School) in 1899–1901 and
the University Clinical Complex of the Carolina Hospital in 1886–1903.
Pressed by everyone, the constructor started the excavation in
the summer of 1906 and the foundations were immediately laid. The fast
pace was maintained, and in the autumn of 1907 the building was roofed
over. The execution was extremely fast if we consider the exigencies of
the façades that combined fields of polychrome enamelled brick with
elements of stone. In addition, there were no mechanical appliances for
carrying the materials at that time, therefore the workers had to carry the
materials “on their back”. To everybody’s disappointment the finishing
touches lasted longer than expected, thus the furnishing of the library
began only after a year, on 23 December 1908, and the inaugural
ceremony took place only on 18 May 1909. 3
In the execution work the young architect from Budapest, Géza
Kappeter, Flóris Nándor Korb’s nephew had an important role. He
represented the planning office at the building site between 1907 and
1908. His task was to ensure the correct interpretation of the drawings
from the plan and to complete them if there were any omissions in the
1
The new stacks had a rectangular shape (45.6 x 13.9 m) and offered an
additional storing surface of approx. 2580 m2 divided to four storeys: semibasement, ground floor and two upper floors. The project had been elaborated at
DSAPC (Management of the Systematization, Architecture and Planning of
Constructions) the project leader being the architect Sóvágó (information
provided by: dr. arch. Vasile Mitrea).
2
3
Ibid., p. 239.
325
planning. Taking advantage of his stay in Cluj, he planned the Urania
Palace and a few villas. 1
The library building costs (lot, planning, construction and
equipping) were 1692007.94 crowns 2 and they were supported by the
governmental budget, the sum being allocated in yearly instalments.
Functional units
The functioning of a library is based upon a specific technology
that makes possible the meeting between man and book in conditions of
absolute safety for the latter. This requires spaces and an operational
technology that may ensure suitable conditions for searching, reading
and storing, the three main functional categories of a library.
If we follow the main flow of the visitors who cross the
vestibule, we will find on the ground floor the general cloakroom of the
library, divided in two modules, placed in the hollow spaces situated
under the two main stairs. It was placed here due to a compromise that
resulted in a functional redistribution before the inauguration. The
compulsory use of the cloakroom in our case was ensured by the fact that
the cloakroom had been placed in the centre of the circulation. In this
way even its position made it “inevitable”. Elaborated panoramically, it
had been furnished with closed wooden counters and metallic coatstands. This required the permanent presence of the personnel who would
assure the security of the objects left there for safekeeping, and who
would supervise the main circulation centre.
The catalogue room made possible the readers’ search for titles
they needed and it was supervised by the personnel from the librarians’
desk. This occupied a strategic point between the catalogue room and the
main reading room. The main role of this desk was to control the readers’
access and to take over their book requests, being a “core” for the entire
library. It was situated exactly at the entrance of the main reading room,
in a place where the main flow of the readers forked towards the
periodical reading room (left) and newspapers’ room (right). The four big
wooden and glass walls made it look like an “aquarium” that protected
the librarians without obstructing the view.
This was the first specialized space of the library where the
readers entered. Here titles could be searched for, being known under the
1
János Gerle, Attila Kovács, Imre Makovecz, A századforduló magyar építészete,
(Hungarian Architecture at the Turn of the Century), Budapest, Szépirodalmi
Könyvkiadó, 1990, p. 74.
2
326
name of the catalogue room. It was placed between the cloakroom and
the main reading room, being furnished with cabinets of drawers. In these
drawers were kept, according to clear rules, the index cards of the titles
and the thematic catalogues. Usually, the organizational system of the
index cards and catalogues had to reflect the organization of the stacks in
the library in order to ensure the efficiency of the handling personnel’s
work.
fig. 8. – Catalogue room. The librarians’ desk can be seen in the background.
• The reading spaces
The reading rooms of the library as a functional unit determined
the architectural programme and were indispensable. 1 As was usual, they
were specialized depending on the material and type of the reading. Thus
the library had besides the main reading room three more such rooms: the
periodical reading room, the newspaper reading room and the reading
room of the popular library in the semi-basement. To the same category
belonged the specialized rooms (incunabula, miniatures and manuscripts)
from the first floor, as well as the archives of the Transylvanian Museum
placed on the second floor. These latter were “inaccessible” for the great
public because of their specialization. They were mainly visited by those
who by the nature of their activity were permitted to use these materials.
1
Especially as the architectural programme did not contain rooms for a loan
service.
327
The main reading room was the principal library space in many
respects. It was the liveliest and most crowded place in the library due to
approximately 200 readers who could be here simultaneously. This space
had the largest free surface (20.8 x 10.75 m) from the entire floor plan
and it occupied the most important place in the planimetric composition.
The plan was a rectangle to which three studying recesses (3.85 x 1.80 m)
were added on each long side. Due to its dimensions and to its basilica
form, it was the most spectacular space, even if it was rather too big.
fig. 9. – The main reading room. The librarians’ desk in the background.
The main reading room was furnished mainly with individual
studying desks having a somewhat peculiar form: a semicircle was cut
from the corner of table tops, thus the readers had an ergonomic position.
Each desk had little shelves and an inclined bookrest, and in order to
offer some kind of isolation each was furnished with an approx. 30 cm
high frontal parapet. In the course of time the desks would be differently
arranged in the room, the consistent natural light ensured by the windows
permitting such flexibility. As in any reading room there were also some
complementary elements of furniture, bookcases for frequently used
volumes (dictionaries and encyclopaedias) that were placed at the
readers’ disposal in an open shelf system. These bookcases were placed
perimetrically, separating the individual studying recesses from one
another.
The specialized reading rooms flanked the access to the main
reading room and occupied the two curved lateral wings: to the left the
328
periodical reading room and to the right the newspaper reading room.
Having a smaller surface than the main reading room, they functioned
according to the same principles and had similar furniture. They were
placed here due to some compromises in the plan. 1 The aim was to obtain
as much space as possible for the reading rooms. The catalogues were to
be placed in the curved wings at a certain moment, but this solution was
given up.
The reading room of the popular library 2 represented a more
particular case. It belonged to a distinct functional unit of the university
library, being a section dedicated to the non-university public. The
popular library occupied a part of the semi-basement being composed of
a vestibule, a cloakroom, lavatories, a librarians’ desk and a reading
room. In this way it was a quasi autonomous functional unit, rather
isolated within the general scheme. This ensured that the reader flow did
not interfere.
As can be seen on the photographs of that time, this room was
less comfortable than the other parts of the library. Probably, the readers
frequenting this library section belonged to poorer social classes, and the
organization of this room reflected the social segregation practiced by the
architects of the age. There were approx. 100 seats arranged around six
pairs of long reading tables, each table had eight seats arranged
transversely, the entire arrangement having a rather poor atmosphere.
In the rooms where the collections of the Transylvanian
Museum were kept the “reading” and “storing” functions were
juxtaposed. In a world of closed libraries this was possible only because
of the reduced number of readers who had access to the patrimonial
material deposited here in an archive regime. This material had been
collected by some important members of the Transylvanian aristocracy
who donated their private collections to the Transylvanian Museum. To
this category of rooms belonged the incunabula, miniatures and
manuscripts rooms on the first floor and the archives of the
Transylvanian Museum on the second floor.
One of the most interesting rooms mentioned above was the
room of family archives situated on the second floor, on the side of the
building facing the square. The material kept here consisted of the
1
It is difficult to determine the moment when it was decided to permute the
functions of the ground floor plan. It is certain that the new scheme was finalized
at the official inauguration, on 18 May 1909.
2
Today the space of the popular library reading room is occupied by the loan
department.
329
documents of approx. 40 important families from Transylvania and
Hungary 1 and it was kept on bookcases in tin plate boxes. Resembling
the treasure boxes used in bank safes, these metallic boxes kept safe and
protected better the documents during research. The inner walls of the
room were full of simple metallic shelves. In order to make the upper
levels more easily accessible a metallic gallery was made of metallic
profiles, lattice and wire netting. The parapet of the gallery was decorated
with pictures representing the coats of arms of the most important
families who had their documents here.
To this category belonged the miniatures room 2 too, where a
remarkable collection was kept that came from the Transylvanian
Museum. The room was rectangular (16.0 x 7.0 m) and it had been placed
on the first floor of the wing looking onto Mikó Street. It served as stacks
and reading room for a specialist public at the same time. Functionally it
was divided in two areas: the stacks (with bookcases and storing desks)
and the studying area (tables and chairs) organized near the windows.
The most interesting elements of the room were the two massive
wooden desks with a double function: exhibiting in the small inclined
showcases on the upper part and storing in the flat drawers, which
occupied the body of the piece of furniture. The drawers were protected
by mobile shutters, which were completely hidden in the body of the
desk. The showcases made possible small exhibitions making the
miniatures room more attractive.
• The stacks
The stacks are the third important functional category in a
library. They have the role of preserving the written patrimony, which
forms the nucleus of a library, no matter how small this collection might
be. In the case of “closed libraries” the stacks have distinct and well
defined function and space within the functional scheme of the
programme. In most of the cases they are placed in distinct wings of the
building.
In the library from Cluj the general stacks were housed in a
separate wing situated on the northern side of the structure. This wing,
having the form of a parallelepiped with a rectangular base (44.42 x
1
Bánffy, Teleki, Wessélenyi, Apor, Eszterházy, Gyulai, Kuun, Jósika, Kemény,
Kornis, Lázár, Toldalagi, Thorotzkay, Henter, Szentkereszthy, Ugron,
Bornemissza, Wass and other smaller families.
2
Today this space is occupied by the Special Collections room. The furniture
seems to be the same as in the period of the miniatures room.
330
12.06 m), was orientated with its long axis in an east-west direction and
had six storeys (semi-basement, ground floor, three upper floors and a
mansard storey). The storing surface was increased by dividing each level
with an intermediary floor made of a metallic framework and translucent
glass plates. These latter had to admit natural light to the entire area of a
storing level, though the intermediary floor rose to half the height of the
windows.
The organisation of the stacks was simple and functional being
elaborated according to the principle of the “comb”. In this system the
bookshelves were placed perpendicularly on the longitudinal walls and a
central circulation was made, thus all the storing recesses became easily
accessible. It was a very simple and usual solution for planning book
stacks in that age. In our case each level of the stacks had 18 pairs of
shelves on the northern longitudinal side and 15 pairs on the southern
one, thus a total length of 9.25 km shelves being ensured. 1
The double metallic bookshelves had been conceived by Pál
Erdélyi, the library director. He combined the Lipman and Wenkel 2
systems obtaining a hybrid easy to exploit. Pál Erdélyi had a remarkable
experience in librarianship. This he had obtained as librarian of the
University Library in Budapest, which he had left in 1900, when he had
been named the Director of the library from Cluj. 3
Some great fires in the 19th century drew attention to the idea of
fire protection and made it an important issue of the architectural
programmes. If we consider that during 15 years (1882–1897) 4750
people died in fires that broke out in European theatres, 4 we can
understand the concern felt by people and the authorities for the safety of
public buildings. Even though libraries had not suffered such catastrophic
accidents, they were not neglected by the authorities who would start to
emit a series of regulations that stipulated the protective measures
required of new constructions. Beside the risk that human lives could fall
victim to an eventual fire and that the building would be destroyed, in the
case of libraries there was the risk of losing the book patrimony. In the
great libraries such a major incident would have been a real cultural
catastrophe, which could be avoided by respecting some special norms
adapted to the programme.
1
Ibid., p. 240.
3
Ibid., p. 232.
4
Hofmann Hans-Christroph, Die Theaterbauten von Fellner und Helmer, PrestelVerlag, München, 1966, p. 24.
2
331
In libraries the general stacks were in the greatest threat to fire in
that time, as they are also today. The architects and librarians had the task
to reduce to minimal the number of factors which could cause a fire.
Korb and Giergl in order to solve these problems placed the general
stacks into a relatively independent wing, which could be quickly isolated
from the rest of the library by fireproof metallic doors. The supporting
structure made of reinforced concrete and the brick work was
incombustible and their fire resistance corresponded to the norms of the
age. To make possible the isolation of a seat of fire, the floors of the
general stacks were divided into three fire compartments, which could be
isolated by closing the metallic doors between them. The furniture of the
general stacks had to answer the same exigencies: most were metallic, but
the actual shelves were made of wood. It is possible that these plates were
covered with a fireproof material.
Besides the general stacks, the library from Cluj had another
very special storing area – the map stacks – situated on the first floor of
the building part that connected the main building with the general stacks.
This position ensured that, in case the collection would increase, a part of
the general stacks could be used for storing the maps. The space of these
stacks was almost square (9.0 x 10.0 m) and had a double orientation
(east-west), which ensured plenty of natural light.
In these stacks the maps were kept unfolded in order to avoid all
the handling (folding-unfolding) that could be dangerous for their safety.
The furniture was made of wood; the smaller maps were kept in drawers
and the larger ones on vertical sliding panels. The material was handled
by the personnel of the stacks, as the access of the public was
theoretically forbidden.
• The connected spaces
An important task for the libraries in their daily activity was, as
it is today, was to propagate culture. Because of the activities aimed at
promoting and popularizing cultural events some connected spaces had to
be introduced to the plans. In our case these were the conference and the
exhibition room. Both rooms occupied privileged positions in the library
space being situated on the floors of the bevelled wing where the main
entrance was and to which the architects accorded major importance in
the general structure.
332
fig.10. – The conference room.
The conference room was housed by a rectangular space (19.4 x
1.0 m) ended in two semicircular spaces. This form resulted from the role
of the wing that contained it and which gave to the interior space a
specific particularity. The room had a capacity of approx. 120 seats. The
chairs were upholstered, had tip-up seats 1 and they were placed in such
way to receive the light from the left. The speakers had a podium on
which there were two conference tables. As there were shutters on the
windows and a retractable screen was placed behind the podium it was
possible to project films.
The exhibition room had the same form and dimensions as the
conference room and it occupied a similar space on the second floor.
According to the photographic material it hardly resembled the present
day image of an exhibition hall, as it had heavy furniture difficult to
move. This suggests that at that time flexibility was not a priority for an
exhibition space.
• The administration offices
As the University and Transylvanian Museum Library was
under the administrative authority of the University Board (Egyetemi
Tanács), it lacked the administrative services of an independent
1
The furniture of the conference room has been preserved almost intact till now.
The upholstered chairs were arranged in four groups of 28 seats (7 rows with 4
seats each) separated by passages. The rows of chairs were fixed to the floor.
333
institution. Such tasks were performed by the administrative structure of
the University. This is indicated by the absence of the rooms with such a
role from the plans. However, a few offices figured in the scheme
intended for the use of the library management and the scientific
personnel (librarians and archivists), and there was also a council room.
The director’s office (5.37 x 5.28 m) with its antechamber (5.18
x 7.7 m) occupied the western extremity of the ground floor. It was not
accidentally placed here; we may remember that in its immediate vicinity,
according to the execution plan, a wing should have been built containing
the living quarters of the managerial staff, but this part of the plan had
been abandoned. This office actually consisted of three rooms 1 and an
antechamber where the management secretariat functioned and which
was connected to the council room.
The deputy director’s office was a two-chambered space situated
on the ground floor on the right of the main circulation point. The plan
contained an outer space for receiving and for discussions (3.6 x 7.0 m)
and four steps higher a working recess (5.3 x 3.2) with an arched window
looking to the vestibule of the library. The two spaces were separated by
a wooden parapet, actually forming a single very comfortable interior.
The council room seemed rather large at first sight compared
with the other rooms of the library. This can be explained if we consider
that the Permanent Library Board (Könyvtári Állandó Bizottság) 2 used to
assemble here. This was a rather large administrative committee as the
library was subordinated both to the University and the Transylvanian
Museum Society. 3
This assembly room was rectangular (11.77 x 7.0 m) and
occupied the middle of the southern wing. It was in the immediate
vicinity of the director’s antechamber to which it was connected by a
door. Its main piece of furniture was an imposing rectangular wooden
table covered with a green cloth having seats for 23 persons around it.
Later on the function of the room changed being today the Professors’
reading room. After a century from the inauguration of the library this
space has almost the initial image and furniture, some modifications
however being made because of its change of function.
1
The director’s office had a separate lavatory and a closet for the safe.
The Permanent Library Board functioned under the presidency of the prorector
of the University and it was subordinated to the University Board.
3
The library had a patrimony formed of the collections of the University and the
Transylvanian Museum.
2
334
fig. 11. – The council room.
• The auxiliary rooms
In these rooms the activities connected with the processing,
handling and maintenance of the materials from the book stacks and
library archives took place. These activities had to be hidden away so that
they should not disturb the readers.
The first activity was a primary processing of the new
publications. These came in to the new books room situated on the
eastern side of the ground floor. Here the newly arrived material was
distributed to the different processing rooms situated on different floors;
in each one some specific thematic processing activity (carding and
cataloguing) was done according to the criteria of librarianship at that
time. This is why in these rooms the basic pieces of furniture were the
open bookstands with closely placed shelves where the material waiting
for bibliographical processing was kept according to different criteria.
The titles came into and left the library through the packing
workshop situated in the semi-basement, sharing its two rooms with the
bookbindery. The role of these two functional units was to recondition the
library materials, which meant in that age the preservation of the physical
integrity of the books.
In the unseen area of the institution there was an entire “army”
of book handlers – the backbone of any “closed library” – who
transported the books from the general stacks to the readers in the reading
rooms and back. In the modern libraries of the age there were also
335
mechanisms for book transportation, 1 but these only helped the handlers’
activity and did not substitute it. Korb and Giergl created for them on the
ground floor a rather large handlers’ room where they had fixed work
stations too. The books went through this room before they were sent
back to the stacks. Their condition was checked here and they were sent
to reconditioning, if it was the case. As this room was situated on a
strategic position, next to the eastern staircase of the general stacks the
book handlers could easily access the collection, which they checked
periodically in order to keep it in the best condition.
In the library scheme there were also some auxiliary rooms with
technical functions (furnace room, boiler room, fuel store etc.) and some
that were not directly connected with the basic activities of the institution
– lavatories, cleaners’ room, electric apparatus workshop, the stoker’s
room, the porter’s flat etc.). I have not dwelt on them as they had no
specific import in the functional plans and their space had no significant
architectural relevance.
• The circulatory spaces
Due to their function and public character there were two basic
circulation flows in the libraries: one the readers and the other the books.
The spaces that were intended for the library users had an accentuated
public character being large spaces abundantly decorated. These were
among the most representative library spaces contributing greatly to the
image of the institution. The spaces intended for the book flow were
more “discrete” and exclusivist, the aim being to solve logically and
functionally the circulation of books and of the handling personnel
between the stacks and the reading rooms.
Having entered the library building under the portal of the main
entrance and having crossed the porch the public reached the vestibule, a
true intersection of the readers’ flow. It was the main space intended for
receiving the public and the place where the readers decided which of the
three possible directions to follow. The first direction followed the main
compositional axis of the plan, leading the public along the main flow
towards the main reading room and the principal functions of the library.
The two other directions were secondary (corresponding to the lateral
wings of the plan) and led towards the popular library and its annexes
(through the left portal) or towards the annexes of the semi-basement
(through the right portal).
1
Conveyor belts, special lifts and sometimes pneumatic post.
336
Situated on an intermediary level between the semi-basement
and the ground floor, the space of the vestibule had also an essential role
in taking over some level differences. 1 This is why its space was
animated by three groups of stairs corresponding to the main directions of
circulation. The central staircase ascended to the ground floor of the
building and the two lateral ones descended to the semi-basement. Their
presence conferred to the vestibule a remarkable spatial dynamism,
though the surface was moderate (20.6 x 6.7 m), expressing very well its
function of distributing the circulation. Its form resulted from the
combination in the plan of a rectangle (13/6 x 6.7 m) and two semicircles
(with a radius of 3.5 m). The plan of the vestibule was identical with
those of the spaces situated above it: the council room on the first floor
and the exhibition room on the second floor.
The vestibule and the hall of the ground floor were connected
with an ascending staircase 2 situated on the main axis, 3 which made
possible the uninterrupted passage from one space to the other ensuring
continuity and provoking an increased spatial impression. The level
difference between the vestibule and the ground floor (1.65 m) suggested
the idea that the persons ascending the stairs were going on a sacred path,
which ascended towards the sanctuary of books. This cliché was often
used in the interior architecture of the libraries in that age.
1
The reference height ±0.00 was before the library entrance. The vestibule had its
central area at +0.75 and the lateral ones at -0.30 from where the way led to the
semi-basement situated at -1.00. From the central space of the vestibule one could
also ascend to the ground floor situated at +2.40.
2
In the execution plan it was 1.8 m wide and had 11 steps, which made the
connection between the height of +0.75 of the vestibule and the height of +2.40 of
the ground floor.
3
The main axis was defined by the bisector of the right angle enclosed by the
wings from Arany János (Lucian Blaga) Square and Mikó (Clinicilor) Street. In
the plan this axis was occupied by: the porch, the vestibule, the ground floor hall,
the catalogue room, the librarians’ desk and the main reading room.
337
fig. 12. – The vestibule of the library, the staircase ascending towards the hall of
the ground floor.
The hall of the ground floor had also been conceived as an
intersection of the circulation of the visitors who entered the inner library
spaces. Irrespective of the course they followed having used the
cloakroom (divided in two parts, which flanked the main access to the
ground floor) they went on towards the ground floor functions or they
ascended to the upper floors of the building towards the collections of the
Transylvanian Museum. The planimetric and spatial configuration of this
nucleus (main access, the two cloakrooms associated with the main
stairs) was remarkable by its modernity, which resulted from the plan
punctuated freely by the balustrades of the staircase and the pillars of the
supporting structure. 1
The characteristic elements of this area 2 were the two main
stairs, which were the central circulatory areas. They had been positioned
in two symmetrical recesses 3 of the bevelled wing, flanking the main axis
1
Later on a series of modifications was effectuated resulting from other ideas.
The cloakrooms were moved to the semi-basement being thus removed from the
main flow. The space of the ground floor hall was fragmented by some glass
walls, which eliminated completely the effects of spatial continuity created by
Korb and Griegl.
2
The area of circulation spaces.
3
The recesses (6.91 x 4.00 m) had rounded corners imposing this form to the
main elements of the stairs.
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and imposing on those who mounted ascending paths oriented towards
the axis of the building. The staircases connected the ground floor with
the first and the second floor on a level height of 5.12 m, each of them
consisting of three flights (1.5 m wide) and two landings, containing
altogether 32 steps (16 cm high and 35 cm wide). Each staircase began
with a starting section (three stairs on the ground floor and two on the
first floor) widened in comparison with the flight. These initial steps were
planned to be rounded, but finally they were made polygonal. The nosing
of the steps was protected by brass profiles and they were equipped with
brass rods for fixing the non-skidding carpets.
From a spatial point of view the area of the main stairs had an
open and free atmosphere thanks to the slim structural elements (pillars,
flights, balustrades etc.) that let the natural light in freely. By connecting
the space of the main stairs with the halls on each floor and the corridors
of the straight wings an ample interior had been created, characterised,
first of all, by an ample vertical and horizontal continuity of the space.
The expressivity of the main stairs was greatly enriched by the
metallic balustrade made (by soldering and riveting) of square profiles,
platbands and plates of different size according to a strict pattern. The
rigorous lacework of the balustrade formed an advantageous contrast with
the simple and moderate decoration of the walls, pillars and ceilings,
introducing a tone of preciosity to the atmosphere of the place.
Korb and Giergl devised and created a circulation system with
generous dimensions, well configured and well illuminated, which made
possible for the visitors to orientate themselves rapidly in the space of the
library. The circulation plan was very clear: the main stairs and the halls
on the different floors were situated in the centre of the composition, on
the main axis. From here two corridors started on each floor in two
symmetrical directions that corresponded to the lateral wings. At the end
of these corridors there were closed staircases containing the secondary
stairs.
The secondary circulation in vertical direction was ensured by
two stairs of service situated at the end of the main corridors. They were
named the “second staircase – II. lépcső”, which marked their secondary
importance in the functional scheme of the library. They were not
identical. The stair situated on the left of the composition, at the end of
the Mikó Street wing had a more important role connecting all the library
levels from the semi-basement to the garret. The stair on the right only
connected the second floor with the garret. Both stairs were closed into
semi-polygonal staircases and had balanced flights.
339
Finally, we must mention the two stairs of the general book
stacks, which being positioned at the end of the stacks wing, ensured the
personnel’s circulation between the different storing levels and made the
connection with the other parts of the library. They were associated with
some special lifts, which occupied the empty space between the flights:
the lift for book carts at the eastern stairs and the paternoster at the
western one.
The elements of architectural language
Flóris Nándor Korb and Kálmán Giergl belonged to a generation
of architects from Budapest, who, in accordance with the trends of the
age, expressed themselves in a Historicist manner, however not refusing
some Secessionist experiments. The most important buildings planned by
them in Budapest, the Klotild Palaces 1900–1901, the Király Block of
Flats 1902 and the Academy of Music 1904–1907 showed an inclination
to Neoclassicism and Neo-Baroque motives (Korb preferred these styles)
combined with Secessionist and Hungarian Secessionist elements
probably introduced by Giergl. He seemed to be eager for innovative
experiments forming thus a perfect pair with his more conservative
partner.
In the case of the library from Cluj the two architects adopted a
version of Secessionism – Eclectic Secessionism –, which combined
Historicist and Secessionist elements, obtaining a stylistic vocabulary
coloured by Neo-baroque elements. Such a synthesis was possible
because the Central European Art Nouveau “developed within the
baroque model, being more closely related to Historicism, than the
parallel movements from France, England or Belgium.” 1 Some even
considered that Secessionism was not an innovative movement, but rather
an apogee of the neo-styles which managed to keep up with the fashion of
the age. In the Habsburg Empire a synthetic version of the “art nouveau”
style had developed, which became a real “international style” of the
Empire in the course of time. The architects with a historicist grounding
could easily assimilate and adopt to this the elements of the “new
orthodoxy”. 2
1
Ákos Moravánszky, Competing Vision. Aesthetic Invention and Social
Imagination in Central European Architecture, The MIT Press, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, 1998, p. 112.
2
Ibid., p. 118.
340
• Façades between Neo-Baroque and Secessionism
The comparative reading of the different graphic sources
(especially the façades of the competition plan) and of the actual façades
of the library, led me to the conclusion that the architectural language of
the façades had been continually simplified by giving up some of the
elements. Especially the baroque elements (the embossing of the ground
floor and of the bevelled volume of the entrance, the frontons above the
main cornice and the statuary groups) had been eliminated from the
drawing of the façades. They had been replaced with simplified
secessionist elements.
It is hard to tell the reasons that led to the simplification of the
façades. The possible suppositions I grouped in two versions. The first
supposition is based on the hypothesis that the project or its execution
exceeded the sum allocated by the ministry and to finish the investment
severe economies were needed. This may explain why important parts of
the execution project (the living quarters’ wing and the reading rooms on
the second floor of the curved wings) were not realized. Such drastic
measures suggest that the financing of the project was in a critical
situation and the economies that had been imposed could not leave the
elements of the architectural language unaltered, which were, as they are
nowadays, extremely vulnerable when economies were necessary.
The second supposition is based on the artists’ tendency to
“keep up with fashion”. The architects, after the unhappy incident at the
Academy of Music in Budapest, 1 tried to “take revenge” on the same
beneficiary by concealing a Secessionist variant under a project
dominated by Neo-baroque elements. The language of the façades with
which they had won the competition mixed the baroque and Secessionist
elements in a manner that could be named Eclectic Secessionism. Taking
advantage of the more reduced vigilance of the ministry in the provinces,
Korb and Giergl had redrawn many baroque details in a Secessionist
manner having the complicity of their representative at the building site,
the young architect, Géza Kappéter, follower of a late Secessionism,
which prefigured the later “Art Deco”. Thus the balance tipped, after all,
towards Secessionism more than in the façades of the winning variant.
The urban image of the library was sustained by three street
façades corresponding to the main wings of the composition. The most
1
At the Academy of Music (Zeneakadémia) from Budapest, 1904–1907, Korb
and Giergl, who had won the competition held in 1902 with a secessionist variant,
had been obliged by the Ministry of Education to give up the Secessionist
language of the façades and to adopt a Neo-baroque variant.
341
important of these was the façade of the bevelled building part, because it
was the main element of the composition and the most visible in that
urban space. The façade of this wing suffered the most spectacular
evolution during the elaboration of the project and the execution of the
building.
fig. 13. – The façade looking towards the Saint George (Lucian Blaga) Square.
The first façade versions of the bevelled wing presented at the
two phases of the competition showed a typically baroque composition.
The decorative language accentuated the entire façade with layers of
brick organized around a central bay corresponding to the main axis of
the composition. The mentioned bay was marked by the portal of the
main entrance and was flanked by two pilasters, which sustained, above
the level of the cornice, two allegorical female statues. The baroque
character of the façade was strongly sustained by the roof broken by a
much decorated intermediary moulding. However, in the drawing of this
façade there were also Secessionist elements introduced to the baroque
composition. First of all the gaps of the central bay according to their
dimensions, form and the division of the woodwork belonged to
Secessionism. Besides these there was the decorated arch above the field
of the fronton, which reminded one of some elements used by Otto
Wagner in the interior of the banking hall of the Post Office Savings
Bank in Vienna.
342
The final version of the façade differs much from that which
appeared in the competition project and it is impossible to date the
modifications because the execution project is missing from the library
archives. The present day image maintains very few of the initial baroque
elements, which were replaced totally or received a simplified outline
with a Secessionist tinge. The most significant modification was, in my
opinion, the general application of a veneer of clinker brick, 1 which
replaced the exterior plaster and generated a surface with ceramic
decoration in Secessionist spirit.
The ceramic veneer was not a novelty, as at the turn of the
century many architects preferred to cover the façades with clinker brick.
In the case of our façade Korb and Giergl associated this veneer with
stone and artificial stone elements (mouldings, frames, cornices etc.)
obtaining a mixture of baroque and Secessionist elements.
Clinker bricks of two different nuances (yellowish and red) had
been used to create patterns that resembled Hungarian folk embroideries.
On the ground floor the combination of the two shades generated
horizontal bands, alternately coloured, suggesting the abandoned baroque
layers of brick, while on the upper levels the pattern became more
elaborate. The background of the façades was formed by fields of
yellowish brick in which accents of red brick had been inserted. The
pattern was more complicated above the moulding of the base of the first
floor and under the main cornice where it looked like some piece of folk
embroidery. A more particular model, based on the vertical succession of
rhombuses, accentuated the pilasters which sustained the main cornice.
The portal of the main entrance also suffered important
modifications. It lost its abundant decoration and the two allegorical
statues which crowned the pilasters flanking the entrance. When the
decorative elements were deleted, other modifications in the image of the
portal were made. The semicircular arch from above the gap of the
entrance was relinquished and it became only a segmental arch in the
execution. This is an important loss, which greatly altered the
Secessionist expressivity of the portal from the project. In order to
counterbalance the loss of expressivity resulted from the modifications of
the portal the architects accentuated its width to 1.2 m and created on its
1
Clinker brick was obtained by vitrifying the ceramic material. The procedure
consisted of the partial melting at a high temperature of a mixture and cooling it
in order to obtain a compact and hard mass with a glassy aspect. (Cf. Lexicon de
construcţii şi arhitectură (Lexicon of Constructions and Architecture), Technical
Publishing House, Bucharest, 1988, vol. 1, p. 328.)
343
upper part a balcony corresponding to the conference room on the first
floor.
The only elements maintained from the initial drawing of the
portal seem to be the socles with spheres and the embossed layers of
stone, corresponding to the semi-basement, from the base of the portal
pilasters. These elements remained because they formed a massive base
for the portal and because of the expressivity of the spheres. To apply
such spheres at the entrance was an architectural cliché of the time, the
original role of the spheres being to protect the entrance from carriage
wheels.
The portal of the entrance had a much lesser and delicate
baroque replica above. These two elements formed a whole, whose
expressivity resulted mainly from the contrast of masses. This replica of
the portal, because of its position, had the role of accentuating the gap of
the central bay which corresponded to the conference room from the first
floor. The little portal did not appear in the competition project; it must
have appeared as a necessity to counterbalance the disappearance of the
initial decorations of the great portal.
The modifications made at the cornice and the fronton of the
bevelled wing were among the most consistent operations regarding the
replacement of the baroque architectural language with a Secessionist
one. The pilasters with capitals, the enlarged cornices and the two
allegorical female statues had been replaced by some Secessionist
elements: a continuous and thinner cornice and a simplified fronton. The
main piece of this fronton was a “cartouche” 1 surrounded by typically
Secessionist mouldings and fields of brick.
Behind the fronton rose the impressive mass of the broken roof;
its forms and dimensions dominated both the figure of the library and the
neighbouring urban area. The roof was austere due to its massiveness and
its simple form created by eliminating the baroque details during the
execution, and also because it was covered with plates of grey slate.
The present day image of the roof differs from that which had
appeared in the competition project as a series of details were eliminated
and a gazebo, a wooden turret recalling the medieval Transylvanian
architecture was placed on top. I do not know why this element was
introduced on the top of the roof, as it does not harmonize stylistically
with the rest of the building. Any speculation regarding this subject is
1
The cartouches on the main frontons of the buildings were conceived in order to
be inscribed upon them the official name of the institutions.
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hazardous. What is certain is that from a functional point of view it has
today the role of a deflector-illuminator, ensuring the airing and natural
illumination of the garret.
The expressivity of the bevelled wing façade was accentuated by
the monumental scale of its composition and the enlarged roof. This roof
in Korb’s and Giergl’s view had to dominate Arany János (Lucian Blaga)
Square and had to be a significant focal point for the two streets which
met in the square, Jókai (Napoca) Street coming from the east and Trefort
(Victor Babeş) from the south. The prominence of the building was
meant to express the importance and prestige of the institution. We must
mention that these two architects had discovered the potential of the
south-eastern corner of the emplacement already in the first phase of the
competition and they adopted a solution which made the best use of the
qualities of the site.
The façades of the two wings corresponding to Arany János
(Lucian Blaga) Square and Mikó (Clinicilor) Street were made
symmetrical thus accentuating the importance of the bevelled articulation.
In the whole composition, however, symmetry was disrupted by the
presence of the book stacks wing and of the articulation which connected
it to the lateral wing. The façades of the lateral building parts had a clear
composition, each consisting of a central field flanked by two risalits of
different dimensions which rose along the entire height of the building.
The lateral central fields were the longest part of the lateral wings,
comprising four lateral bays.
The secondary façades, invisible from the street, were extremely
modest, reflecting probably the economies imposed upon the planning
and the execution, but also the mentalities of the architects who often
ignored the rear of the buildings constructed in the provinces. I am
referring in our case to the image of the main reading hall and of the
curved wings. Their pattern based on a hybrid language associating fields
of brick with fields of plaster was hardly expressive and they are not
worthy of attention. However, a rhetorical question is inevitable: how
could such talented architects as Korb and Giergl, assisted by their
representative at the building site, the architect Kappéter, accept to
project and realize so modest space and façades for one of the most
important functions of the programme – the reading room?
The exterior image of the general book stacks is a totally
different situation. In this case some simple and very expressively
designed façades had been created, based on windows of great
dimensions, associated with fields of brick and horizontal and vertical
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plaster bands. The bold adaptation of an architectural language inspired
from “the architecture of 19th century industrial façades (brick pilasters
on a plastered surface)” 1 conferred to this wing, which had a relatively
industrial function, a remarkable expressivity in conformity with its
destination.
The last contribution to the library building was the new book
stacks, raised at the beginning of the ‘60s. The architect Sóvágó
successfully integrated the new construction, placing it symmetrically
with the old stacks, adopting an adequate volume and using decorative
materials inspired from the first building.
• The interior decorative language
The decorative language of the Cluj library is characterised by
an amalgamation of styles, though with no coherence either between the
exterior and interior of the building, or between the different interior
spaces. This lack of stylistic consequence may be explained by the
following reasons: economies imposed during the execution by the
ministry; the provincialism of the building; and Korb’s and Giergl’s
experiments who were going to acquire the decorative language of
Secessionism. However, there is a common denominator of all the
interior decorations: the fact that they did not conceal the supporting
structure of the building, respecting thus one of the postulates of
Secessionism. It was also common in the interior decorations that the
ceramic elements were neutralized, in total contrast with the solution of
the façades made of clinker bricks.
A first decorative group was formed by the eclectic geometrized
language of the vestibule, having also classicist and baroque elements.
Here different profiles of plaster accentuated the arched beams of the
structure, the pilasters corresponding to the arches and the framing of the
different gaps. The most spectacular decorative units were the two lateral
portals which framed the openings which ensured the access to the semibasement of the library. They were plaster imitations of the geometrized
scheme of baroque portals, having as main elements two symmetrical
volutes associated with registers of meanders and dentils.
The decoration of the vestibule was completed by four pairs of
decorative stone 2 parapets which flanked the main entrance and the
lateral flights of steps. Initially, in the execution project they would have
1
Ákos Moravánsky, op. cit., p. 234.
It was probably limestone from Viştea, material traditionally used by the masons
from Cluj.
2
346
had the role of socles for some decorative colonnettes. These had been
given up, therefore they were made into parapets. The three pairs of
parapets, which were maintained in the final version, were grouped in
two different types according to their dimensions and complexity. The
first pair was smaller and simpler; it flanked the stairs which mounted to
the ground floor. The other two pairs, which framed the stairs descending
to the semi-basement, were bigger and they had been realised by
combining the first type with a massive balustrade supported by five
profiled posts. By their dimensions and the proportions of their
components the parapets gave an impression of robustness and stability
amplified by the geometrized Secessionist pattern.
In the entire building the vestibule was accorded the greatest
attention in regards to the floor. Avoiding exaggerated costs the architects
attempted to obtain an effect of chromatic contrast by combining the red
marble of the steps with the mosaic floor. The mosaic applied in the
vestibule associated decorative perimetrical mouldings with
homogeneous fields by combining the colours grey (grey cement with
aggregates of white marble) and black (cement and aggregates of black
marble).
fig. 14. – The hall of the first floor.
The second decorative group was formed by the elements of the
circulation spaces: halls, corridors and main stairs. Using a very simple
language consisting of plaster profiles, the architects accentuated the
347
functionalist character of these spaces. The applied profiled bands
valorised the pillars and the reinforced concrete beam-arches, while the
square decorative motives accentuated the floors of the storeys.
The most remarkable decorative element of the circulation areas
was the metallic parapet of the main stairs which lightened the sombre
and functional atmosphere of the halls and corridors with its lacework.
The geometric pattern of the balustrade was specific to the last phase of
Secessionism which foretold the later Art Deco. The parapet combined by
soldering and riveting square tin plate profiles of different dimensions.
To these were added little rectangular metallic plates each having a
rhomb punched into it.
The decorative language of the main reading room was quite
different from the other interior spaces of the library, forming a third
distinct decorative group. With relatively modest means, some plaster
profiles, the architects intended to attenuate the massiveness of the
constructive elements which covered the reading room. A great diversity
of profiled mouldings, textured fields and various decorative “plates”
were associated configuring an abundant decorative language which,
however, remained discrete due to the flattened profiles.
The expressivity of the interior spaces was also supported by the
very different lighting present in the rooms. Their specificity resulted
from the different functions of the architectural programme which
required first of all good reading conditions. This is why in the reading
rooms with a prolonged programme there were some simple tin plate
table lamps, some of them are still to be found in the professors’ reading
room (former council room). As these lamps evidently had a utilitarian
character and they had to be resistant, their design was simple, lacking
any kind of decoration.
Among the lightings that have lasted to the present day there is a
remarkable ceiling bracket with four arms and crystal baguettes to which
a fifth arm is added, suspended to the end of some chains. By adjusting
the length of these chains one could obtain different heights of
illumination. Because it was adaptable this bracket was present in
different library areas, mainly in public ones such as the vestibule and the
conference room. The image of the bracket differs extremely depending
on the length of the chain and because of this it is difficult to incorporate
it into a stylistic unit. Nevertheless, the version with a long chain, which
one can see in the vestibule nowadays, is incontestably a Secessionist
device.
348
The circulation spaces and the corridors were furnished with
more robust and simpler ceiling brackets than the former ones. The light
of the lamp bulbs being amplified by crystal baguettes, these lighting
bodies offered a more reduced general illumination than that in the
reading rooms. The utilitarian character of the brackets was mirrored by
the simple design of a sombre elegance conferred by the contrast between
the massiveness of the body and the delicacy of the transparent baguettes
arranged around the lamp bulb.
The lamp posts from the director’s office and anteroom
belonged to the Franco-Belgian Art Nouveau. The elegance of this style
had been considered the most adequate for the director’s representative
space. The configuration of the lighting body was based on three light
bulbs whose original lampshades disappeared. The bulbs were suspended
with small consoles to a central ring of pressed tin plate, stylistically the
most elaborated piece of the lamp post.
The four lighting bodies mentioned in this study are among the
few which survived the campaign of “modernization” from the beginning
of the 1960s. They are important witnesses of the electric illumination
technique and technology of the age. 1 Their presence in the library spaces
reminds that the furnishing of the library with electric illumination bodies
represented a novelty for the city, the library being one of the first public
buildings from Cluj to be connected to the public electric network. 2
Equipment
The “closed” libraries at the turn of the century presented the
inconvenience of some long routes to be traversed from the general stacks
to the reading rooms. In order that the readers should not wait for the
publications too long, the libraries were furnished with different
mechanical equipments for the transportation of books and periodicals.
This machinery facilitated and accelerated the handling personnel’s work.
At the Cluj library the system of lifts with winch (cable) was chosen. The
lifts were moved by electric engines which operate even nowadays. They
were placed into the stairwells from the end of the bars of the stacks, so
they functioned in the strategic positions of the articulations which made
the connection with the rest of the library spaces.
The first lift transported the book carts and it was placed into the
stairwell from the eastern end of the stacks. The dimensions of the cabin
1
This information has been given by the library personnel.
The building of the electric factory was begun in 1905 and public electric
lighting was installed in the town centre of Cluj in 1906.
2
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permitted the transportation of a cart without an attendant, making the
connection with the library spaces from the main part of the building. The
cabin functions in a shaft made of metallic profiles and wire netting
which have not been greatly modified since the library inauguration in
1909. The book carts transported by the lift were made of wood and
metallic profiles. Those that survived are even today remarkably easy to
handle and have a reduced weight. 1
fig. 15. – The book stacks, the book lift (paternoster) with the system for tipping
out the books.
The second lift transported books, being a “paternoster”. 2 It
occupied the stairwell from the western end of the stacks, in the
immediate vicinity of the main reading room. The books were transported
by 24 little wooden cabins, left open and moving continuously but
slowly. Each cabin-box transported one single book. These were loaded
and unloaded while the cabins were moving by the personnel of the
respective level. It was simpler to unload than to load them, as one had
1
The attempts made in the last 15 years to replace them with modern versions
have failed due to the weak performance offered by the versions of some home
producers (information from the library architect C. Trenea).
2
The “pater-noster” was a lift with several cabins on a winch functioning
continuously but moving slowly (0.3m/s). It could transport either persons or
materials and it was loaded and unloaded without being stopped.
350
only to tip the book out manually to an inclined wooden plane, from here
this slid into a linen compartment of the unloading table.
The evocative charm of the yet functioning equipment from the
bookbindery is incontestable. An entire set of guillotines and presses of
the most varied forms and dimensions, bearing visibly the brand of the
Austrian-German firm “Krause” recalls the atmosphere of a hundred year
old bookbindery which still functions in the same semi-basement room.
Conclusion
It is quite evident that the University and Transylvanian
Museum Library was a main cultural actor in Transylvania and Cluj.
Taking over and developing continuously the heritage of the
Transylvanian Museum Society, it contributed decisively to the
modernization and intensification of the cultural life in the town. As a
university institution it had an essential role in forming an image and
some functions characteristic to a university town. This feature has been
preserved uninterrupted for more than a century.
From the point of view of urban planning the appearance of the
library on the one side of Arany János (today Lucian Blaga) Square
contributed to the configuration of a new urban area west of the town
centre. In this area the Clinical Complex in 1888–1903 and the County
Hall (the Prefect’s Office) in 1896–97 had already been built. The
building of the library had also imposed a new vision regarding the
reconfiguration of Arany János Square anticipating the transformation of
this square into a modern urban space.
Architecturally the realization of the library marks the
application of the modern and complete architectural program of a
university library for the first time in Cluj and Transylvania. The program
was imported by attracting to Cluj some renowned librarians from
Budapest who would elaborate the program theme, but also by organising
a national architectural competition in which participated first class
Hungarian architects of the age.
The building, whose foundations were laid in the summer of
1906 and which was officially inaugurated on 18 May 1909, represented
an economic variant of the architectural program due to financing
difficulties. Consequently, some important parts from the execution
project were abandoned and others were realized only in 1931–34.
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Remodelling a Library – Remodelling Mentalities
Luminiţa TOMUŢA
Cluj-Napoca
Keywords: Library of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports,
remodelling process, open access system, computer databases, ACS
Antitheft System, video supervision system
Abstract
The paper presents the modernization process of the Library of the
Faculty of Physical Education and Sports, a branch institution of the
“Lucian Blaga” Central University Library. Having a rather deplorable
situation (lack of funds, proper organization, library room etc.) for a
starting point, the clever measures applied transformed this library into a
modern and effective informative centre offering an agreeable
environment for reading, well organized book collections, good
electronic equipment and a well functioning safety system. Such a
modernization process always requires results in changing people’s
mentalities in some measure and it may be an example for further
initiatives.
This paper presents and analyzes the process in the course of
which the Library of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports,
“Babeş-Bolyai” University, Cluj has been remodelled. This library is one
of the Branch Libraries of the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library.
Consequently, the remodelling process demanded from the beginning that
both institutions – having distinct profiles, orientations and even different
institutional culture – should participate and work together. However,
they were “closely related” as regards the lack of financial resources.
Because of this, the library modernization project also required
the involvement of some factors that could provide for these resources.
Thus the idea occurred to try to obtain the financial assistance of the local
government which might provide for a part of the funds necessary to our
project.
The fact that this process lasted for approximately four years
convinced me that in our social-historical conditions such an initiative
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represents more than the realization of some ameliorative municipal and
technical modernization processes, but also an effort – in all the
directions of all the institutions and persons involved in it – to remodel
mentalities. In other words: an effort of pioneering and “setting” an
example.
Initial state
The Library of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports is a
“branch” of the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library in Cluj. It was
established with the resources available in different moments without
applying a well thought-out conception in accord with the specific
methods of librarianship. In addition, the library space was unsuitable: a
very small room that could be entered from a lecture room. Readers
therefore also were not served well.
As the institution had mainly served passively as a depository,
on the one hand it was necessary to organize the publication collections
according to modern librarianship principles – in order that the collection
may develop permanently. On the other hand there was a need to make
the library institution into a really attractive and stimulating space as
regards the educational and socio-communal environment. These were
the conditions when I took over this branch library eight years ago being
determined to carry out its modernization.
The modernization project of the library
1. The first step, the first quite difficult task was to make the
faculty directors realize the need to create a really modern
library and to convince them to include this project in their
investment priorities.
2. The next step was to find and obtain a space as adequate as
possible and to project and realize/furnish an attractive
environment from the point of view of the colour effect and
functionality. Finding the necessary approval from the faculty
leadership I obtained the necessary space. I furnished it
completely: painting, parqueting, installing the adequate light
and heat sources as well as supplying it with special furniture.
From the beginning the project was structured upon some principles
that I wanted to apply. All the elements and phases of the operations were
subordinated to these: open access, databases of our own that could be
accessed freely by the readers, Internet-connection – on the one hand for
using the online catalogues and the databases of the Central University
353
Library, on the other hand for free documentary search – and, finally,
creation of an effective protective system.
• Open access
The entire book collection is placed on open access shelves. It is
organized according to disciplines and within the disciplines
chronologically. With this purpose all the books were given new
shelfmarks. We used labels of different colours in order that the reader
could orientate more easily when selecting the material for study.
• Computer databases
Meanwhile each book was registered into a database created
with the help of the ProCite software. In this way searches can be made
by any registration field. For indexing the thesaurus of descriptors was
constituted – in collaboration with the Library of Physical Education and
Sports Academy, Bucharest – which was registered in a card index of
authorities and used in order to search for the information according to its
content.
• Internet connection and access to the databases of the
Another preoccupation in developing and modernizing the
Library of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports was to offer to
our readers access to Internet and at the same time to the Aleph database
of the Central University Library. With this purpose in mind we obtained
a connection to the server of the faculty and before long the connections
that enabled the students to consult the OPAC of the Central University
Library database were established.
• The safety system
Open access to the shelves implies the risk of theft. Direct
supervision of the reading room being almost impossible because of other
activities, I considered it necessary to start obtaining funds for the
acquisition of an effective antitheft system. The library having no funds
for its acquisition, I prepared a paper justifying the need to the Local
Council of Cluj-Napoca, in which I invited the Council to participate with
funds – along with the Central University Library and the “Babeş-Bolyai”
University – in supplying our library with a modern protection system.
The protection system of the collection
The collection’s protection system consists of the ACS Antitheft
System and the video supervision system. The ACS Antitheft System
(antenna control system) was described to us at that time (2001) as one of
the few existing systems which have tags (adhesive bands containing a
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metallic fibre magnetized or which can be magnetized) that can be
attached to the back of the book. The system is constituted by: the system
of antennas with controller (which must be placed at 5 m distance from
any electronic or metallic mechanism), the activating/deactivating
machine (which can inclusively be a barcode reader) and the sensor fibres
(that is the tags). In this way the ACS systems minimize the risk of book
theft.
According to the brochure presenting the product a study made
in the USA and Canada calculated that the acquisition costs of the ACS
are recovered in approximately 18 months. But, besides effectively
detecting the willingly or accidentally stolen books, the antennas, looking
like gates – by their simple presence – discourage anyway the intention to
steal the publications.
The antennas must naturally cover the entire width of the exits.
In order to achieve this there is the possibility to use two or three
antennas connected to the same controller. If there is more than one exit,
the controllers can be synchronized.
Because of this one should plan where to place the antennas at
the same time when projecting the library space taking into consideration
the fact that radio waves are sensitive to electromagnetic dust. This latter
is easily diffused on big or moving metallic surfaces.
It is also extremely important that the antennas should be far
from CRT monitors, light sources, metallic pipes (water, gas) and that
electric power should be supplied by adequately grounded connectors.
The system is equipped with the most modern technology,
named DSP (Digital Signal Processing). This is actually a digital filter for
sorting the necessary signals from the electromagnetic dust. (The system
does not affect pacemakers.)
When a theft is detected the antennas can block the doors and
command the video camera positioned before them to start recording.
The activator/deactivator is a machine that has the function to
activate the tags attached on the publication when this is brought into the
library and to deactivate the tags when the publication is carried out from
the library space with the librarian’s consent.
Tags are of different length. There are tags DSA and SSA (one
or both sides having special adhesive). And there also are special tags for
CDs, DVDs, audio or video cassettes.
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The video supervision system
In order that an antitheft system may effectively protect the
collections of a library it must be aided by a video supervision system.
The basic functions of this system are: watching the library space,
recording and storing images of it, searching and playing back recorded
images. In this way the human resources at the library’s disposal can be
used optimally.
The cameras are of 0 lux. This means that they can work and see
perfectly in the dark. They can be programmed to start functioning
automatically when the image changes or to function between certain
hours. If it is necessary, the acquisition plate disposes of entrances for
each camera separately. The entrances are separately commanded by PIR
movement detectors.
Each camera channel can be configured separately or all the
channels can be configured at the same time. The interface is constructed
so that it can use approximately 90% of the camera moving controllers
that exist on the market.
Minimal requirements for the plate recording video images –
selected from the producer’s user guide – are:
H/W
Requirements
CPU
Celeron – 2G
Memory
256MB over
Main Board
Intel Chip Set compatible
Hard Disk Drive
40G
Video Card Resolution: 1024X768 Colour: True Colour (32bit)
over Memory 32MB
I mention that these are the minimal requirements.
Here are some specifications of the video supervision system:
• If a burglary or theft is detected, the images will be saved in
minimal resolution and with a minimal number of
frames/second in order to have enough space on the
minimal hard. Because it is placed into a security system,
the processor – when used in real time – will keep busy all
resources until the valuable information is saved.
• In order to decongest the system a CD writer is necessary,
the hard disk working connected with the CD unit. It is also
indicated to take into consideration the fact that the
distribution of resources by using separate central units for
the different applications makes necessary to use a separate
computer for this application. In this way even if the system
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fails, the other systems will remain functional. Windows XP
2000 is a suitable operation system for this. The programs
used for visualization must be newer than 2000.
Conclusions
From all these experiences conclusions of different kinds can be
drawn. The most obvious conclusion seems to be an anthropological one:
despite the immobility and the different difficulties that may occur related
to material issues, organizations, institutions and mentalities,
concentrated and permanent efforts have real chances to succeed.
Therefore one can modify, improve and remodel institutions as well as
mentalities.
This conclusion is strengthened especially by the fact that such a
remodelling process was successful in the case of the Library of the
Faculty of Physical Education and Sports, a faculty that may not usually
be known for its members’ intense and varied reading activity...
This is why I think that the most important result of the
modernization of this library may be that the students’ and teachers’
behaviour and habits regarding the use of the library radically changed.
Thus the library became more than an informational “service point” used
more and more frequently in these days. It became a space of meeting, of
human and professional contact and communication for its readers.
This, however, naturally means that the image of our branch
library has been positively and radically modified as well. This new
image may become popular in the “Lucian Blaga” Central University
Library and even outside this institution.
The propagation of such an image may positively affect the so
called organizational culture. The modification of this culture is all the
more important as these library institutions are organizations subsidized
mainly from the state budget. And this aspect favours immobility and
“waiting” for the allocation...
But examples and experiences – as the one presented and
analyzed in this article – demonstrate at the same time the necessity and
the possibility of autonomous and profitable initiatives.
Consequently, although the specific function of libraries – to
answer the readers’ information needs – remains the same, the means and
services must be adapted to the new technologies, as well as to the new
mentalities and the new requirements of the organizational culture. This
improves the library image, renders the institution’s functioning more
efficient and increases its social and human prestige.
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2005: a New Approach to Branch Libraries
Gabriela MORĂRESCU
Cluj-Napoca
Keywords: branch library, specialized library, Branch and Special
Libraries Department
Abstract
This study presents the changes which occurred as a consequence of the
new organisational chart of the Central University Library adopted at the
beginning of the year 2005 whereby branch libraries were incorporated.
The paper presents the activity of this new department for the
year 2005, focusing on the collections, rooms, personnel and electronic
equipment of the branch libraries as well as the different activities
performed by them.
The permanent economic, socio-humanistic and political change
which characterizes contemporary society at the beginning of this
millennium makes necessary a change of function in modern
organizations and institutions, inclusively in libraries.
The method of total quality management which takes into
consideration some principles (the 14 essential principles elaborated by
E. J. Deming and adapted for libraries by Makey and Makey) would be a
suitable solution for any institution confronted by a change. This method
is used as “an instrument for exploring some new organizational and
administrative possibilities starting out from the premise that the final
result will lead to the restructuring of some organizational aspects.” 1
Questions are asked regarding the role of libraries and librarians
in the 21st century, taking into consideration that information is the key
resource of these days and modern libraries use computerised
1
Irene Owens, Managementul calităţii totale, factor al schimbării: strategii
pentru secolul XXI (The Management of Total Quality, the Factor of Change:
Strategies for the XXI. Century), in Management for the future – Libraries and
Archives, Hermina Anghelescu, István Király (eds.), Cluj-Napoca, University
Press of Cluj, “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library, 2000, p. 55.
(Bibliotheca Bibliologica, new series, 21).
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technologies intensively. How will libraries look like in our country and
in developed western countries in five or ten years? How and with what
instruments will librarians work and what knowledge, skills and
competences will they need in order to meet the new conditions? How
will librarians be able to add value to the administered information in the
most competent way? These are only some examples of such questions.
A successful strategy for changing the librarian profession in the
future would be to assume some new roles such as: crucial point between
past and future, educator, administrator of knowledge, creator of
information policies, filter of information sources, individual information
consultant and producer of information.
The necessity of change has been felt at the “Lucian Blaga”
Central University Library and at all its branch libraries too. The first
stage of this change was the adoption of the new organisational chart of
the Central University Library at the beginning of the year 2005. In this
branch libraries were grouped in the same organizational unit.
Each branch library functions according to the same principles.
The personnel, the publications, and partly the computer technology
belong to the Central University Library, while locations, furniture, a part
of the computer technology and connection to the network belong to the
“Babeş-Bolyai” University. A differentiation between these libraries can
be made according to:
– The localization and organization of reading rooms: these are
old buildings having rooms with or without a service desk and new rooms
specially furnished for modern library needs, with open access to
publications.
– The number and information needs of specific users: lower
year students prefer to study the publications at home, except at
examination sessions, while teachers, researchers, PhD, masters or higher
year students prefer to study the publications in the reading rooms
(usually scientific serial publications) or in their personal offices. This
latter group also prefers the access to electronic information. (Because of
this it is necessary to create some modern library instruments and to
ensure an access station to the Internet and the databases the Central
University Library is subscribed to.)
In the present paper I shall analyze the activities of the libraries
belonging to the newly created Department for the year 2005 by
interpreting the data received from each branch library apart. As the
library activities in these branch institutions are greatly varied and
complex, I have fixed and followed some primary indicators. These will
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make it possible to analyze realistically the development of activities and
services from these libraries from the point of view of both quantity and
quality in the following years as well. These indicators are:
− the collection of publications existing on 31. December 2004.
(the situation from the RMF register);
− the real increase of the publication collection in 2005 (only the
books and periodicals with inventory number for 2005,
processed until 31. December 2005.);
− the origin of these publications;
− the circulation of documents and the readers’ statistics for the
year 2005.
The data received from the branch libraries have been processed
and interpreted, having as results some comparative reports (presented in
the graphical annexes) and some conclusions and proposals for
improving and making more efficient the library activities and services.
I. The presentation of the Department
1.1. Component libraries and library staff
The Branch and Special Libraries Department consists of three
services and two offices: Social Sciences Service, Natural Sciences
Service, Philology Service, Exact Sciences Office and Special Libraries
Office. In the year 2005 this Department comprised 25 libraries (24 in
Cluj-Napoca and 1 in Gheorgheni, Hargita county), the Environmental
Sciences branch library being newly established at the beginning of the
year 2005.
These services and offices comprise several libraries specialized
on related fields of study and are directed by the service and office chiefs
who are the members of the Central University Library operational
management.
The structure of these departments can be comprised in the
following diagram:
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Branch and Specialised Libraries
Social
Sciences
Modern history
Ancient history
Philosophy
Sociology
Pedagogy
Law
Economic
Sciences
Natural
Sciences
Special
Libraries
Philology
Exact
Sciences
Zoology
British Library
Reference room
Mathematics
Animal
American Studies Romanian–Hungarian Physics
physiology German Library Department
Chemistry
Plant
Jewish Studies
Hungarian literature Astronomy
physiology European Studies Romance languages
Botany
Political Sciences Germanic languages
Geography Physical education Periodicals Department
Geology
Loan Department
Environmental
Spanish
Sciences
The personnel of the branch and specialised libraries occupy 74
posts in the Central University Library staff structure. These librarians
have superior studies in librarianship (long-range or/and short range
studies), superior studies in the domain their library is specialised on or
secondary studies and a librarianship certificate. There is also a book
handler post (at Philology). Two posts are occupied by colleagues who
work in special libraries (British Library and German Library) patronised
by other institutions (the British Council and the German Cultural
Centre), which signed an agreement of collaboration with the Central
University Library in this respect.
As regards the staff of the branch libraries we must also mention
that we have collaborators, employees of the “Babeş-Bolyai” University
or of the Research Institutes of the Romanian Academy in some of the
affiliate institutions: 1 person in Modern History Library, 1 in Ancient
History Library, 1 in Sociology Library and 1 in Political Sciences
Library.
Because some librarians were on leave (maternity, study or sick
leaves) there were some changes and fluctuations of personnel, the
employees on leave being substituted with librarianship students.
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1.2. Reading rooms and book stacks; users
All the branch libraries serve the faculties of the “Babeş-Bolyai”
University and function in rooms administered by these in 24 buildings.
The libraries occupy approximately 4,958 m2 (2700 m2 occupied by
reading rooms and 2258 m2 by book stacks) in these buildings. 22,603
linear meters are destined to store the publications in these libraries (in
this number the linear meters from the stacks of the Central University
Library are also included). The number of reading rooms had increased to
45 by the end of the year 2005, while the number of seats reached 1,329.
The Mathematics Library functioned in the year 2005 in a new
location (in Ploieşti Street). This is a more functional room than the one
the library occupied until 2004, however, some modifications have been
still necessary in order to optimise the public relations activities (creating
open access reading rooms).
The new Environmental Sciences branch library was housed in a
building belonging to the “Babeş-Bolyai” University on Ştefan cel Mare
Square. At first the library had only one room (with closed bookcases) for
storing the publications, but we suppose that as the number of
publications increases, it will receive further rooms for book stacks from
the Faculty.
The rooms with special libraries function have usually modern
furniture and the readers have open access to the publications.
Unfortunately, there are not enough seats for the great number of users in
the reading rooms, the cloakrooms are not well furnished, and only in the
Physical Education Library exists an antitheft system that ensures the
safety of the publications.
In this year the Ancient History library room was renovated and
furnished anew (this activity lasted for four months). On this occasion the
library collections, the book stacks and the reading rooms of this library
were reorganized.
The branch libraries users are, according to the Internal
Regulations of the Central University Library, all those persons who are
registered for the Central University Library and possess a Reader Pass
the validity of which is confirmed and verifiable in the Circulation
module of the integrated Aleph library system. In general, the libraries
belonging to this Department are mainly used by the students, teachers
and researchers of the “Babeş-Bolyai” University.
In the year 2005 4,011 Reader Passes were issued (141 of them
being duplicates) and 7,728 Passes issued in previous years were renewed
in the branch libraries.
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If the registration of the new users has been fragmented until this
year, the plastic covers for the Reader Passes being made in the Central
University Library and in the Philology Library, this activity can be done
in other branch libraries as well beginning with the university year 2005–
2006, since some new machines were purchased for making the covers.
In order to orientate the first year students of the University
towards the services offered by the Central University Library and its
branch institutions more efficiently, a new registration method was
proposed. Unfortunately, the University did not support this plan. As its
support is absolutely necessary for the efficiency of this activity, this
proposal to the Rector’s Office of the University will be renewed in the
year 2006.
The program dealing with the users’ instruction and information
will have to work in a more organized manner in branch libraries as well,
in parallel with and according to the same principles which are applied in
the Central University Library.
1.3. The activities and services of branch libraries
In each branch library there are permanent activities (special
activities of library technique, public relations activities, offering
bibliographical and documentary information) and periodic activities
(inventories, reorganizations and/or moving collections, sanitization
activities etc.).
The publications used in the reading rooms or lent are served
from closed stacks or they are kept in an open access regime (in the case
of the Special Libraries Office, the Periodicals Room of the Law Library
and the Reference Room of the Philology Library).
In the following chapter the activities and services offered by
branch libraries in 2005 will be detailed and analysed according to the
primary indicators mentioned above.
II. The analysis of the Department’s activity
2.1. Collection of publications existing on 31. December 2004.
The collections existing in the branch libraries at the end of the
year 2004 comprised 996,727 volumes: 790,871 books, 153,414
periodical publications and 52,442 other categories of documents (STASs, microfiches, maps, audio-video materials).
Surveying the distribution of these collections to the branch
libraries, one can observe the “supremacy” of the Philology (most of the
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publications are books). This fact is due to the existence of a single
administration for all the sections of this service. The Jewish Studies
Library and the Library of the College from Gheorgheni (extension of the
Faculty of Geography) had the smallest collections at the end of the year
2004. However, there were a great number of publications in the custody
of these libraries from the “Dr. Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger” Institute of
Jewish Studies and Hebrew History, respectively from the College from
Gheorgheni (donations received directly). There are publications of the
Research Institutions of the Romanian Academy in other branch libraries
as well (Modern History, Ancient History, Philology).
The libraries of Mathematics, Chemistry and Economic Sciences
have the second largest collections among the branch libraries after the
Philology Library. In the Library of Mathematics most of the publications
are books, but there is also a significant number of periodicals, while the
Economic Sciences Library contains mainly books. In the Chemistry
Library there are many documents of other type (STAS-s), almost equal
in number with the books.
On the whole, the Special Libraries Office has the smallest
collection in the Department (3.17% of the branch library collections),
being followed by the libraries of Natural Sciences (19.48%), Exact
Sciences (22.63%) and Social Sciences (23.44%).
Collections distribution on 31. Dec. 2004.
Mathematics
8.79%
Physics
3.67%
Astronomy A. Hist.
1.80%
3.65%
Chemistry
M. Hist.
8.37%
3.81%
Philosophy
2.05%
Sociology
0.46%
Pedagogy
2.69%
Law
4.75%
Philolology
31.58%
Ec. Sc.
6.03%
Physical
Education
0.74%
Pol. Sc.
0.67%
Geol. Geogr.
3.92% 3.70%
European St.
0.73%
Jewish St.
0.03%
Zoology
Plant 4.34%
Physiol.
3.74%
An. Physiology
1.13%
Gheorghieni
0.07%
Amer. St.
1%
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Environ. Sc.
0.00%
Botany
2,58%
2.2. Collection increase; The publications in the on-line catalogue
Although many publications (reflected in each librarian’s
personal activity) were processed during the year 2005, until 31
December, the publications which entered the Acquisition Service
appeared only later on the shelves of the branch libraries. Because of this
the real increase of the collections can be seen if one surveys the
publications that received an inventory number in the year 2005. Thus the
branch library collections increased with 8,059 titles (6,423 book titles
and 1,636 periodical titles), represented by a total number of 12,662
volumes (8,417 volumes of books and 4,245 volumes of periodicals).
There is a difference between the collection increase of the
different branch libraries in the period 1st January–31st December 2005,
more publications entering the socio-human branch libraries in general.
Thus, if we compare the five branch library services, the
following situation can be observed:
Publication titles Publication volumes
Social Sciences:
Natural Sciences:
Special Libraries:
Philology:
Exact Sciences:
2,698
1,149
961
2,304
947
4,437
2,285
1,379
3,039
1,522
The conclusion may be drawn from this data that a better
collaboration with the Acquisition Service of the Natural and Exact
Sciences branch libraries is necessary in order to purchase publications in
these domains.
The first step for making this collaboration more efficient was
taken in autumn 2005. Inquiries were made which publications were to be
purchased from the publication funds received for Legal Deposit. The
University teaching staff were questioned once again as well, which
foreign publications were considered necessary by them. A part of these
publications already entered the branch library collections at the
beginning of the year 2006.
At the end of the year 2005 the 91,406 titles described in the online catalogue of the Central University Library represented also a part of
the publications existing at one or more branch libraries.
The best represented collection in the on-line catalogue was that
of the Philology Library (44,063 records in Aleph). The least represented
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was that of the Jewish Studies Library (18 records) where there were
technical problems with the electronic communication network for a long
time.
In order to exploit the Aleph integrated library system efficiently
in the loan activity, the users must find the publication records in the online catalogue; the catalogue indicates the available exemplars from each
library of the Central University Library network. To this effect, in 2005,
clear criteria were established for the retro-conversion of the publications
in the on-line catalogue. Cataloguing and ITEMS attribution activities
were performed at all branch libraries according to these criteria. This
happened to a lesser degree in those libraries (Jewish Studies, Political
Studies, Botany, Gheorgheni) where there were and still are technical
difficulties. The personal activity reports indicate a high number of
catalogued titles in Aleph in the Philology Library (9,536 titles) and a
high number of ITEMS attributions in the libraries of: Economic
Sciences (9,075), Philology (3,000), Sociology (2,397), Chemistry
(3,953), Mathematics (1,354) and Physics (1,408). Totally 150,290
ITEMS attributions were made till the end of the year 2005 in the
analyzed branch libraries.
Some of the branch libraries had pursued this activity since
2004; some of them even succeeded in starting a computerized loan
service (Zoology: 300 computerized loans were reported for October–
December 2005). The situation was the best from this point of view in the
Environmental Sciences Library where the processing of publications as
well as loan activities had been computerized from the beginning.
2.3. The origin of the newly entered publications
Regarding the publications which received the inventory number
until December 2005 (the real increase of the collections for that year) I
processed the data taking into consideration their origin as well: buying,
Central University Library copy workshop, transfers in the Central
University Library network, international exchange, different donations;
in the case of periodicals subscription to Romanian and foreign
publications.
Only a few publications originate from the copy workshop. The
number of transferred books is relevant only in the case of the Sociology,
Environmental Sciences, Philosophy and Modern History branch
libraries, while that of transferred periodicals is significant in the case of
the Sociology Library.
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Looking more closely at the three ways of purchasing the
publications from the branch libraries, one can observe that donations are
predominant, being followed by buying (in the case of books) and by
international exchange (in the case of periodical publications).
2.3.1. Books
A more or less balanced situation was to be found in the
Economic Sciences Library with regard to the three main acquisition
forms of the book titles newly entered in the inventory in the year 2005:
106 titles bought, 131 titles donated, 93 obtained through international
exchange. Donations predominated in the case of many branch libraries
(in the Philology, European Studies, Political Sciences, Mathematics
libraries), many titles being obtained by buying and international
exchange as well. More publications were bought than donated at the
libraries of Modern History, Philosophy, Pedagogy, Law, Gheorgheni
and Jewish Studies. There were no donations in the case of the Ancient
History Library (the situation being due to the reorganization of the
library room). The greatest number of books were bought in the
Philology Library (567 titles), while the smallest number in the American
Library (1 title).
A remarkable number of publications were received through
international exchange in the following libraries: Economic Sciences,
Law, Mathematics, Philology, Geology, Sociology and Physics.
2.3.2. Periodical publications
With regard to the origin of the new periodical publications,
most of them entered the libraries through international exchange, the
libraries of Gheorgheni, Astronomy, Physical Education, Animal
Physiology, European Studies and Sociology making an exception. The
American Library received titles only through international exchange,
while the Mathematics, Geology, Botany (direct international exchange
with the publication Contributions to Botany), Political Sciences and
Zoology libraries titles with such origin were evidently predominant.
A remarkable number of books were bought by the Philology,
Ancient and Modern History libraries.
The number of Romanian periodicals purchased through
subscription was more or less equal to the number of those that entered
through international exchange in the Economic Sciences Library. Many
Romanian periodicals were subscribed to by the libraries of Philology,
Law, Mathematics, Zoology, Geography and European Studies. No titles
367
were subscribed by the following libraries: Ancient History, Plant
Physiology, Gheorgheni, Geography, Geology, Environmental Sciences,
American Library and Political Sciences.
The greatest number of foreign periodical titles was subscribed
to by the Philology and Law libraries (where the Faculty helped to
finance the subscriptions). The other branch institutions purchased by
subscription only a small number of foreign periodical publications or no
titles at all.
Comparing the number of book and periodical titles which
entered the libraries and were processed by them in 2005, one can
observe that: only book titles entered the library in Gheorgheni; the
percentage was balanced in the case of the Zoology and Botany libraries;
while in the other institutions the percentage of book titles was greater.
The situation is different if one compares the number of book and
periodical volumes that entered the libraries and were processed by them
in 2005. This is due to the fact that different numbers of bibliographic
volumes were entered for one periodical title.
In the year 2005 the Central University Library continued to
subscribe to some databases which could be consulted on the computers
belonging to the network of the “Babeş-Bolyai” University. A campaign
was organized to present these databases (ProQuest and Springer Link) to
the teaching staff and the students. The librarians of the branch
institutions were instructed to use these databases in order that they
themselves could teach the users interested in this service. The Springer
publishing house also offered us a database of electronic books. Since the
teaching staff required it, this database was also purchased at the
beginning of this year.
We wish to continue purchasing these categories of documents
in the future as well.
It is necessary to increase the library collections, and first of all
to purchase more publications from the Romanian editorial market,
especially in the domains of natural sciences and exact sciences.
The collaboration with the teaching staff must focus on the
indication and acquisition of the publications edited by them. These
publications could be offered for international exchange, along with the
series of the periodical Studia.
The collections administered by the “Lucian Blaga” Central
University Library will be substantially increased if we manage to attract
donations from the teaching staff, different Romanian and foreign
institutions collaborating directly with the faculties of the “Babeş-Bolyai”
368
University, as well as different representatives of the Romanian cultural
and scientific life.
2.4. The circulation of documents
In order to give an account of the circulation of documents, I
have processed the data obtained from each branch library separately.
These data should have been collected uniformly and according to the
same criteria. They should have corresponded to the data given to the
Central University Library for numeration.
These data reveal that 761,850 volumes (572,682 in the reading
rooms and 189,168 at home) were used by 402,118 readers (282,056 used
the materials in the reading rooms and 120,062 borrowed them) in the
branch library collections in the year 2005. These data, however, are
different from those calculated in the Central University Library, as some
of the data were inattentively compiled, incorrectly transmitted or
erroneously calculated.
The correctness of data will be beyond doubt only when
document transactions will be computerized. Until then the registration
methods of these transactions must be revised. We must differentiate
between the activities with the public in the reading rooms functioning in
an open access system and the activities in those library sections where
the books are kept in closed stacks. Attention must also be paid to
statistics.
In this chapter I have interpreted the data referring to the
volumes used by the readers in the reading rooms and at home, the
number of users who frequented the reading rooms and used the
publications there and of those who borrowed them. It can be observed
which branch libraries had exceptionally frequent activity with the users.
The materials were predominantly consulted in the reading rooms (values
between 29,500 and 99,000 volumes) in the libraries of Philology, Law,
Modern History, Pedagogy, Geography and Economic Sciences. Here
there is a need to revise the way in which publications are delivered from
the closed stacks or these rooms must be reorganized into an open access
system. This system would require less effort from librarians, at least
physically. Anyway, such a reorganization could be possible in the year
2006 due to some renovation works (Geography Library) or the moving
of some libraries (Modern History, Pedagogy, Economic Sciences).
Generally, a greater percent of the publications was consulted in
the reading rooms. In the Animal Physiology Library the percentage of
369
the publications used in the reading room and that of the borrowed ones
was balanced.
Loan activity being relatively uniform in the branch libraries, it
can be a good criterion for a comparison between these institutions.
When the loan activity will be computerized, librarians will have to
accord much less time to it.
Statistica circulatie
8,00
vol/cititori
7,50
vol/cititor in salile de lectura
7,00
vol/cititor la domiciliu
6,50
6,00
5,50
ind ici specifici
5,00
4,50
4,00
3,50
3,00
2,50
2,00
1,50
1,00
0,50
0,00
ISTM ISTV FILOSSOCAPED DREPEC
Stiinte Sociale
vol/cititori
ZOOL FIZANFIZPL BOT GEOGGHEOGEOLMEDIUAMERSEBR SE
Stiinte Naturale
STPOLEDFIZFILO MATE FIZIC CHIM ASTR
Biblioteci speciale
FILO
Stiinte Exacte
2,03 2,36 1,09 1,34 2,82 4,96 3,40 1,75 2,85 2,04 2,34 1,86 1,50 2,59 2,84 2,49 2,23 1,49 1,22 2,56 1,42 1,38 1,23 1,64 4,82
vol/cititor in salile de lectura 2,11 2,43 1,10 1,39 3,38 5,18 3,91 1,91 3,14 2,72 2,66 1,90 1,37 3,45 2,77 3,31 2,52 1,64 1,14 3,63 1,30 1,28 1,24 1,91 7,70
vol/cititor la domiciliu
1,70 2,25 1,05 1,26 1,88 2,17 1,51 1,44 2,60 1,53 1,53 1,54 1,82 1,73 2,95 1,62 1,63 1,34 1,36 1,59 1,74 1,51 1,22 1,25 1,69
biblioteci filiale
We can determine the number of publications per student and
the number of delivered volumes per reader by adding to the data
received from the branch libraries referring to their collections and to the
document circulation the data received from the “Babeş-Bolyai”
University referring to the number of its teachers and researchers, as well
as that of the students attending the faculties directly served by our
branch libraries (only the number of graduating and college students).
The number of students and teachers from the faculties which
are not served directly by a branch library of this department (the
faculties of theology, Business, Theatre) has not been included.
370
Populatia tinta
12000
Studenti (Nivel licenta
+colegiu)
Cadre didactice +cercetatori
10000
Numar cititori
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
Studenti (Nivel licenta +colegiu)
IstorieFilos.
Litere
Matem.
Drept
BiolGeol
St. eur.
Sociol.
si A.S.
1564
2791
1752
2085
1010
2149
2178
Psihol.
Sti.
si
economi Chimie
St.educ.
ce
4371
10876
833
Ed.fiz.
Sti.
politice
Fizica
Geogr.
Mediu
1697
3905
609
2958
711
Cadre didactice +cercetatori
100
211
125
43
84
35
41
57
164
108
55
67
57
67
19
Total populatie tinta
1664
3002
1877
2128
1094
2184
2219
4428
11040
941
1752
3972
666
3025
730
Facultatea direct deservita
The number of volumes/students was 25.56 in the branch
libraries, while 1.89 volumes/active readers (having a Reader Pass and
frequenting the library) were delivered. The following figure shows these
data partitioned for each faculty.
Delivered volumes/reader
Environ. Sc. Hist.–Philos.
Philology
2.84
1.89
1.42
Geogr.
Mathematics
1.83
1.78
Physics
1.23
Political Sc.
1.22
Law
4.96
Physical
Education
2.56
Chemistry
1.64
Biology–Geology
1.98
European St.
1.66
Econ. Sc.
3.40
Psychology–
Educ. Sc.
2.82
371
Sociol.–Social Assistance
1.34
2.5. Other branch library activities
− Participation at the realization of the work Scientific Activity of
the Teaching Staff, 2004;
− Updating the ProCite databases from the Special Libraries and
some libraries from the Natural Sciences Service;
− Updating the on-line bibliographical database, that can be
accessed from the Mathematics Library, and the Biobibliography Gabor accessible from the Physics Library;
− Collaboration in order to create and periodically update web
pages for the branch libraries according to a certain pattern
elaborated together with the IT Department; creating some
informative posters containing data about the library (Zoology,
Animal Physiology);
− Solving some problems of global or individual import;
− Checking and reorganizing collections, moving great amount of
publications in some of the branch libraries (Ancient History,
Philology, Sociology, Geography, Zoology);
− Proposing some publications for reconditioning and selecting
those that are to be removed from the inventory in the future;
− Remaking the notification posters in the open access room of the
European Studies Library.
III. Electronic equipment
All the branch libraries are supplied with personal computers
ensured by the Central University Library. The faculties of the “BabeşBolyai” University also donated electronic equipment (computers –
sometimes nonfunctional ones –, printers, copiers) to some of the branch
libraries. There were 96 computers in the branch libraries at the end of
the year 2005, 64 ensured by the Central University Library, 32 by the
“Babeş-Bolyai” University. 39 computers were intended for public use,
generally for searching the on-line catalogue and the subscribed
databases.
In the year 2006 it will be necessary to renew the old computers
in some of the branch libraries, especially as the new Aleph version will
function only on the Windows XP operational system.
IV. Conclusions
Analyzing the data received from the libraries belonging to the
Branch and Special Libraries Department one can draw some conclusions
372
that can serve as a starting point for the changes that are necessary for
improving and making more efficient the activities of the analyzed
branch libraries.
−
−
−
−
−
−
New reading rooms endowed with adequate lockers and coat
racks are necessary for the libraries functioning in an open
access system. It is also necessary to secure the collection of
these libraries.
The furniture or the reading room conditions are inadequate in
some library rooms (generally in old buildings administrated by
the University). In these libraries it is necessary to perform
sanitation works, to renew the electric installations and to
furnish the rooms adequately.
In order to attract the students of the “Babeş-Bolyai” University
to the Central University Library and its branch institutions more
efficiently a new registration method will be presented to the
University once again and its support will be solicited.
The users’ instruction and information programme must be
organized better in the branch libraries as well. The same
principles as in the Central Library must be applied in their case
too.
The collaboration between the Acquisition Service and the
university teaching stuff must be mediated by the branch
librarians. University teachers should indicate the publications
necessary for a good educational activity, as well as the
databases with electronic periodicals and books on different
domains that should be purchased. Donations will have an
important role in enriching the library collections. They may
come from some Romanian and foreign institutions
collaborating with the “Babeş-Bolyai” University or some
cultural and scientific personalities from Romania. Branch
librarians have an important role in attracting these donations.
Describing the publications will be continued according to the
criteria settled at the level of the Central University Library. It is
of great importance to attribute ITEMS to the volumes from the
branch libraries; thus the Aleph integrated library system can be
exploited efficiently. In this way users will have extensive
information about the collections of the Central University
Library and of its branch institutions. A computerized loan
service will also be at their disposal.
373
−
−
−
In order to satisfy optimally the users’ needs it is necessary to
revise the way in which publications are served in the reading
rooms in some branch libraries (Geography, Law, Modern
History, Pedagogy). The reorganization of some library rooms
(renovations in the Modern History, Geography and Botany
libraries, collection removals at the Pedagogy and Economic
Sciences libraries), will offer the possibility to create more
reading rooms with an open access system. The redistribution of
posts can also be considered depending on the solicitations at
certain library sections.
Branch library activities are varied and they require physical and
intellectual efforts from the librarian. He/she must have a
distributive attention and has to maintain an attitude adequate for
the academic environment in his/her relations with the public
too. These activities depend on the way in which the educational
process (specific to each faculty) operates, on the number of
students or on the different administrative changes which take
place at the faculties. Because of this, the collaboration with the
collectivity of teachers and even with the faculties’
administrative personnel sometimes depends on the librarians’
diplomatic skills.
The libraries’ electronic equipment must be maintained in
optimal functioning conditions and replaced when it is
technically antiquated.
374
Achievements and Perspectives in Library Automation and
Modernization
Mariana FALUP
Cluj-Napoca
Keywords: loan department, library automation, open access shelves,
closed stacks, Aleph library software
Abstract
The paper presents the library automation and modernization process of
the Loan Department of the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library.
Being an important and highly frequented section of the library (as many
readers prefer borrowing the publications to using them in the reading
rooms), this department required a good and flexible organizational
structure. To achieve this, an open access system was created. The main
stages of the reorganization process, started in 1996, were: selecting the
most frequently used books and preparing them for the open access
shelves; the organization of the selected books on the shelves (a
systematic-alphabetical arrangement close to the Cutter type
arrangement); the changing of the Vubis database for the more efficient
Aleph library software in 1999 and the computerization of the loan
process. Though the financial support accorded for the reorganization of
the Loan Department was small, the personnel’s efforts increased
considerably the efficiency and popularity of this library section.
1. Introduction
The central problem of today’s society is how to manage
changes that occur in all domains of social, political, economic and
cultural life. The general concept that the library is only a depositary of
information is wrong. The library, first of all, is a modality of finding and
disseminating information.
The modernization and automation of libraries is a vast and
complex process that affects the core of the library notion itself.
Automation implies a revaluation of the entire institution, the revaluation
of its role and functions, as well as adaptation to a great change.
375
Such a process of automation and modernization took place in
the case of the Loan Department of the “Lucian Blaga” Central
University Library. A considerable part of the collection was introduced
in the database (OPAC–Aleph) and in addition the way in which users
could access books also changed. Being a highly frequented section of
the library (with an average of 300 readers/350 volumes/day), a good and
flexible organizational system is essential, taking into consideration that
the number of seats in the reading rooms is limited and the readers’
demands greater and greater.
An essential step was taken in this direction by creating an open
access room. This, together with the possibility of computerised search
(OPAC) answered a great part of the users’ demands and needs, such as:
– access to a wide range of documents;
– rapidity in localising and obtaining the information (in this case the
publication).
2. The stages of reorganization
a) The reorganization of the Loan Department began in February
1996 by a rigorous selection of the collection from the closed stacks. It
was necessary for the librarians of several departments to participate in
this action which consisted of operations such as:
– selecting books for the open shelves, the aim being to cover all the
domains;
– transporting the publications from the closed stacks to open access
room;
– making coupons that would replace the books in the closed stacks;
– selecting publications that were to be removed from the inventory
and all the other operations related to this activity;
– moving the books, over 100000 volumes.
Initially 3800 titles, respectively 17000 bibliographical volumes
were selected and they were introduced to Vubis database that was used
at that time. As a next step the volumes were prepared in a way that
would help the users to find them on the open shelves (fixing the
classification and the shelf numbers, sticking the barcode and the selfadhesive labels with the shelf numbers on the volumes etc.). Practically,
the retro-conversion of the library collections started in that moment. The
reading lists recommended at the university courses and seminars served
as a basic criterion for this selection. The collection thus selected is
continually renewed as newly purchased books are permanently added to
it.
376
b) In order to find the books on the shelves a systematicalphabetical arrangement (close to the Cutter type arrangement) was
applied. This is a quite efficient system. The shelfmark is a combination
obtained from the first three numbers from the classification (maximum 3
numbers) followed by the first three letters of the name of the author or of
the title of the publication, depending on the headline from the
bibliographical description. The shelfmark was made as short as possible
in order to render easier the finding of the publication. To this shelfmark
a certain colour was attributed according to the domain the publication
belonged to.
In order to facilitate finding the publications on the shelves a
plan of the room was posted at the entrance, showing the existing
domains and the colours attributed to them. Indicators were also placed
on the shelves where the materials belonging to each domain were.
Image of the Loan Department with open access
c) In 1999 a new software was purchased. Our librarians started
to convert the Vubis database existing at that moment into the more
efficient Aleph library software. Certain difficulties arose from this
conversion as some of the fields from these two softwares did not
perfectly overlap and the publication descriptions did not appear
according to bibliographic requirements.
Nowadays 17000 titles in 40000 volumes are at the users’
disposal in an open access system. These were selected so as to cover all
377
the fields of study. These titles can be found in the OPAC–Aleph
database with a detailed bibliographic description, including the shelf
number, the number of exemplars, whether the publication is available or
not and the date when the publication is to be returned (when it is the
case). The loan is computerized; it is done in the Circulation module of
the Aleph by making the link between the user’s barcode and the barcode
of the borrowed publication, the barcodes being read by the scanner. The
publications that remained in the closed stacks of the section can be
found in the traditional alphabetical catalogue (on index cards). Users
wishing to consult these materials must complete a loan request form; the
publications will be delivered by the librarians.
3. Present functioning of the section
a) Opening hours: Monday – Friday: 9–19, Saturday: 8–14.
From 2001 the one hour midday break (13–14) was given up in order to
provide for users continuous access to information.
b) Library staff: librarians with secondary studies work in two
rotas, two of them in each turn.
c) Equipment: 2 computers and 2 scanners for the staff, 1
computer for users.
4. Comparative statistic data
In the following table, I tried to present a comparative analysis
of the main activities with the public. I used statistic data from three years
as reference points: 1996, the year when the reorganization began; 2000,
the first year when all the registrations were made in the new Aleph
Circulation module; and 2004, the last statistical year; the year when the
loan period was reduced to 15 calendar days.
378
Synthetic table
Activity / Year
Collections - stacks
- open access
shelves
New publications - titles
- vol.
Readers
Loans - stacks
- open access
shelves
Returned books
Summons
Cancelled loan records
Staff number
1996
239 544 vol.
16 858 vol.
876
1 499
15 048
11 668 vol.
12 588 vol.
352
4 395
6
2000
131 149 vol.
36 286 vol.
1 245
2 286
23 154
13 260 vol.
32 600 vol.
35 853 vol.
381
6 348
7
2004
129 419 vol.
40 000 vol.
244
399
67 891
1 191 vol.
76 013 vol.
71 184 vol.
351
9 197
4
Analysing the data presented in the table, we may observe:
– the actual situation of the collection in the closed stacks and on the
open access shelves;
– that in 2004 the number of the new publications added to the collection
was 75% less than in 1996, though the number of users increased
massively. This can be explained by the lack of funds allocated for book
acquisition. We hope that in the near future we will be able to purchase
more copies for the Loan Department as it is a highly solicited service,
most of the users preferring to borrow the publications to consult them in
the reading rooms;
– the significant increase in the number of readers who frequent this
library section; in the year 2000 this number doubled and in the year
2004 it was 4.5 times greater than in 1996;
– there was a 2.17 increase in the number of publications borrowed from
the open access shelves as compared with the year 2000, while there were
requested 9 times less publications from the closed stacks of the section;
therefore the existence of the open access shelves is completely justified;
– twice as many graduating students cancelled their loan records than in
1996, which indicates the increasing number of students in the university
centre;
– half as many librarians are employed in this section than in 2000,
though the services offered by this section are continually increasing and
their quality must remain exemplary. According to the norms ratified by
the Ministry of Education, Research and Youth regarding the number of
positions for speciality staff compared with the circulation of documents
379
(1 position for 15 000 documents/year) and the statistics of the loan
section from 2004, the personnel of this department has to cope with a
workload that exceeds regulations by 173%.
5. Making more efficient the user–librarian relationship
In order to maintain the quantity and quality of the work and to
take into consideration the suggestions made by the readers, the collective
proposed to improve the user–librarian relationship. We hope that this
will make the current and future activities related to the work with the
public more efficient.
Achievements:
– double registering of loans (loan request forms and computer) has
stopped and computerized recording has been chosen. This is safer and
faster, so in this way we shortened the time in which the reader obtains
the publication. Loans are registered on paper forms only in the case
when the publications are requested from the closed stacks of the section;
– a piece of paper is stuck on the back of the title page or on the cover of
each book for noting the date when the publication is to be returned. This
modality of registering was suggested also by our readers, following the
model existing at the French Cultural Centre and other libraries having a
loan department;
– in order to answer the readers’ solicitations the retro-conversion of the
publications from the closed stacks will be continued depending on the
bibliographic requests. Thus the publications frequently asked for are
transferred to the open access shelves and the readers can obtain them in
the shortest possible time. Unfortunately, we are not able to move all the
needed publications to the open access area because the reading lists of
the students are modified every year;
– as the small number of purchased copies was insufficient for the high
number of requests, it was decided to reduce the loan period from 30 to
15 calendar days;
– the new publications will continually be processed as soon as they enter
the loan collection in order to avoid any discrepancy that might occur
between the moment when the shelf number appears in the general
collection and in the loan collection;
– in order to recover the publications after the loan period has expired,
summons are sent twice a year: in February (the holiday after the winter
examination session) and 15–30 July (the holiday after the summer
examination session);
380
– in order to assure the health of librarians and users as well as to protect
the publications it is important that the publications and the room should
be preserved according to hygiene requirements, taking into consideration
the specific aspects of this library section;
– in order that our efforts of introducing the information into the database
and establishing the open access system are fruitful, we must continue to
instruct the users and to familiarize them with the databases.
Perspectives:
– we could try to offer to the readers a reservation service, but we do not
know whether it would be an efficient service or not, as the borrowed
publications are solicited in the same period (session, papers etc.);
moreover, this would require some material investments that the library
does not have;
– for the time being there is no security system that protects the
publications placed on the open access shelves, the publications being
protected only by the librarians’ vigilance. Their number being minimal,
they have no time left for the supervision of the room. The only viable
solution to prevent the purloining of publications from the shelves is an
adequate antitheft system:
– a video camera system;
– an antitheft system with a magnetic gate and a deactivator
system.
All this enormous work required for establishing and making
efficient the room with open access shelves was done solely for the
benefit of our users, to increase satisfaction in the library services. These
changes in the organization and functioning of the Loan Department
visibly improved our activities both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Unfortunately, the process started almost ten years ago was
mainly based on the librarians’ effort, the material and technical
investments being limited to two work terminals and a computer on
which the databases can be consulted.
381
Using the Scientific Databases Subscribed to by the “Lucian Blaga”
Central University Library in the Year 2005
Carmen CRIŞAN
Cluj-Napoca
Keywords: online scientific databases, ProQuest, Chadwyck Healey,
JSTOR, SpringerLink, search, fulltext article, article with abstract, search
results
Abstract
The paper discusses some issues related to the online scientific databases
subscribed to by the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library in the
year 2005. The study presents the four main online collections (ProQuest,
Chadwyck Healey, JSTOR, SpringerLink) as well as the major problems
related to their use. The different statistics, tables and graphics show an
increasing interest in such online databases, which encourages the library
management to make available such information sources to its users in
the future too. It can also be observed that the databases were accessed by
a great number of teachers, PhD students and undergraduate students
both from the University and the Central University Library. Though the
users’ searching methods sometimes lacked the necessary
professionalism, these electronic products seem to be a great help in the
scientific activity of the readers.
Introduction
Online scientific collections are more and more appreciated as
they are used in the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library. Our
library has been offering such electronic information since the year 1996.
If at that time users were not quite familiar with the research in such
online databases, in the last few years we can say that they favoured this
type of information source. The statistics prove this.
The library makes great financial efforts in order to offer online
access to prestigious scientific databases; therefore it is extremely
important for us to know in what manner and how often the readers use
them.
382
The present paper analyzes in what measure these collections are
used. This will be achieved by studying and interpreting the statistics
made for the year 2005. This analysis may also provide us with
information which should guide us in our future acquisitions; for, as it is
well known, it is difficult to select the online products to be subscribed
to. The electronic market offers rich resources, the progress is great, the
editors and vendors have quickly developed new strategies, making
partnerships, offering new products. The result is a confusing and
extremely varied assortment of possibilities that is open to libraries.
Overwhelmed by an amalgam of offers, libraries are really in a
difficult situation. Which are the most suitable collections to subscribe
to? It is necessary to analyze all the aspects of the offers coherently: the
percentage of fulltext information and texts with abstracts as compared to
the price of the product.
This paper offers some important directions in this respect.
Databases subscribed to in the year 2005
In the year 2005 the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library
subscribed to the following online scientific databases:
1. ProQuest – access in BCU (“Lucian Blaga” Central University
Library) and UBB (“Babeş-Bolyai” University)
2. Chadwyck Healey – access in BCU and UBB
3. JSTOR – access in BCU
4. SpringerLink – access in BCU and UBB.
1. PROQUEST
The ProQuest collection contains over 10000 fulltext
publications and reference works. It is one of the most prestigious
databases. It comprises the following 12 modules: ProQuest. ABI.Inform
Global, ProQuest. Academic Research Library, ProQuest. PsychINFO
Database, ProQuest. Medical Library, ProQuest. Biology Journals,
ProQuest. Computing, ProQuest. Social Sciences Plus Text, ProQuest.
Criminal Justice Periodical Index.
383
1.1. Global ProQuest statistics
Table 1. Global ProQuest statistics for the year 2005
01.01.2005.–31.12.2005. PERIOD
No.sear
ches
Cit/Ab
str.
ABI/INFORM Global
29033
2403
11374
13777
AMA Titles
AMA Titles:
Abstracts&Indexing
Criminal Justice
ProQuest Biology
Journals
ProQuest Computing
ProQuest Medical
Library
ProQuest Psychology
Journals
ProQuest Social
Science Journals
U.S. National
Newspaper Abstracts
(3)
Academic Research
Library
28933
119
36
155
29267
28940
5
360
0
942
5
1302
28751
28653
25
155
202
547
227
702
29028
644
6546
7190
36801
3868
10184
14052
30421
326
1521
1847
28464
574
0
574
29425
4167
11691
15858
327716
12646
43043
55689
Databases
TOTAL
Full
Text
Total
results
The statistics show the number of searches, the number of
downloaded articles with abstracts and the downloaded fulltext articles
from each database module. At the number of searches each “click” on
the “search” button was counted.
The total number of searches 327716 and the total number of
downloaded articles 55689 indicates a wide research activity in these
collections.
384
These statistic data can be illustrated in different combinations
that may offer us a suggestive image about the way the subscribed to
collections were used.
Graphic 1. The searches/results relation
40 00 0
35 00 0
30 00 0
25 00 0
20 00 0
15 00 0
10 00 0
5 00 0
0
ABI
AMA
AMA.Ab
Crim
Biol
Comp
Searches
Med
Psy ch
So c
News
Aca d
Results
The great difference between the number of searches and that of
results indicates somehow a lack of expertise in searching. It suggests the
fact that the searches are imprecise and made on far too general subjects.
This increases the research time considerably, since to reduce the search
to a narrower field one has to survey maybe tens, hundreds of articles.
The search interface in ProQuest is complex. It allows one to
search according to different criteria, to combine different searching keys.
All this requires some kind of expertise. The statistics presented above
prove clearly that either the users lack this expertise, or the subjects
searched for are not covered in the database.
385
Graphic 2. The articles with abstracts/fulltext article relation
12000
10000
8000
Cit/Abs tr.
6000
FullText
4000
2000
0
ABI
AMA
AMA.Ab
Crim.
Biol.
Comp
Med
Psy ch
Soc
News
Acad
The data (articles with abstracts/full text articles) have been
presented comparatively for each ProQuest database module. Two
observations can be made:
– from each module more articles were downloaded with abstracts than
fulltext articles; this suggests that in a research it is often enough the
abstract of an article (it provides you with a general view upon the
respective domain of study and the entire content of the article is not
necessary)
– the greatest number of articles (with abstract or fulltext) were
downloaded from the following domains: ABI. InformGlobal (economy,
business), Academic Research Library, PsychINFO and Medical Library.
1.2. ProQuest statistics on the IP-s of the servers
Table 2. ProQuest statistics on the IP-s of the servers
SearchesCit/Abstr.Fulltext
Accesses 95036 3805
BCU
Accesses 232213 8802
UBB
Total
12580 16385
R=5.8(search/result)
30374 39176
R=5.9(search/result)
386
These statistics show the great number of searches that were
made in the two locations, the library and the university and in all its sublocations.
The two categories of data presented above in the table show
how many searches were made from the library (Accesses BCU) and how
many from the university (Accesses UBB). It can be observed that 2.4
times more searches were made from the university than from the library
centre, and 2.39 more articles were downloaded from UBB than from
BCU.
It is interesting that the relation between searches/results is
almost equal (5.8 in BCU and 5.9 in UBB); this proves the same lack of
expertise. We may suppose once again either that the search interface
being rather complex is not properly used, or that many searches were
unsuccessful, therefore the database does not cover the subjects searched
for. Anyway the greater number of searches indicates the great need of
research.
Graphic 3. BCU/UBB comparison
250000
200000
150000
BCU
100000
UBB
50000
0
Searches
Abstr
FullTex t
1.3. Searches from the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library
Table 3. Accesses from BCU
ABI/INFORM Global
AMA Titles
AMA. Titles: Abstracts
Searches
8277
8320
8438
387
Cit/ Abstract
775
34
0
Fulltext
3301
14
0
Total
4076
48
0
& Indexing
Criminal Justice
Periodicals
ProQuest Biology
Journals
ProQuest Computing
ProQuest Medical
Library
ProQuest Psychology
Journals
ProQuest Social
Science Journals
US National
Newspaper
Academic Research
Library
Subtotal
8297
153
673
826
8196
15
64
79
8116
8290
10
231
150
1392
160
1623
11800
911
3105
4016
8763
146
355
501
8109
269
0
269
8430
1261
3526
4787
95036
3805
12580
16385
Graphic 4. Fulltext BCU – covered area according to domains
25%
29%
0%
0%
2%
5%
3%
0%
25%
1%
ABI
AMA
AMA.Abstr
Criminal
Biology
Computing
Me dical
Psychology
Social
Ne ws
Acade mic
10%
In Graphic 4 the fulltext articles in percents are represented that were
downloaded from BCU from all the ProQuest modules. The greatest
number of fulltext articles was downloaded from the following modules:
1. Academic Research Library – 29%
2. ABI.InformGlobal – 25%
3. PsychINFO – 25%
388
4.
5.
Medical Library – 10%
Criminal Justice – 5%
These data suggest the fact that the modules enumerated above
are well represented in the database, the number of fulltext articles found
and downloaded being high. The Academic Research module covers
almost all the academic disciplines; the ABI. InformGlobal module
covers economic and business disciplines; the PsychINFO module
contains psychology and all that is related to this domain; the Medical
Library module covers medical disciplines.
1.4. Accesses from the “Babeş-Bolyai” University
Table 4 presents according to modules the number of searches
made from the university (all its locations) and the number of articles
with abstracts and fulltext articles that were downloaded. In Graphic 5 the
number of fulltext articles is represented in percents downloaded from
each domain.
Table 4. Accesses from UBB
ABI/INFORMGlobal
AMA Titles
AMA. Titles:
Abstracts & Index
Criminal Justice
Periodicals
ProQuest
Biology Journals
ProQuest Computing
ProQuest Medical
Library
ProQuest
Psychology Journals
ProQuest Social
Science Journals
US National
Newspaper
Academic Research
Library
Subtotal
Searches
Cit/Abstr.
Fulltext
20714
20569
20787
1626
84
5
8063
22
0
9689
106
5
20601
207
269
476
20513
10
138
148
20495
20694
145
314
397
5118
542
5522
24958
2957
7078
10035
21616
180
1166
1346
20313
303
0
303
20953
2881
8123
11004
232213
8802
30374
39176
389
Total
Graphic 5. Fulltext UBB – covered area according to domains
25%
29%
ABI
AMA
Criminal
Biology
0%
Computing
1%
Medical
1%
0%
Psychology
3%
1%
Social
News
14%
Academic
26%
It is easy to point out which were the frequently used domains in the
university:
1. Academic Research Library – 29%
2. PsychINFO – 26%
3. ABI.InformGlobal – 25%
4. Biology – 14%
5. Social Sciences – 3%
It can be stated once more that the most appreciated and the best
represented module of the ProQuest collection is the Academic Research
Library.
Graphic 6. Fulltext – comparison between BCU and UBB
9000
Aca demic
ABI.Info rm
8000
Psy cho lo g y
7000
6000
Medica l
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
So cia l
mputing
Crimina lBio lo Co
gy
AMA
AMA.Abstr
0
BCU
390
UBB
Graphic 6 illustrates the comparison between the fulltext articles
downloaded from BCU and UBB made according to modules on the
bases of the data extracted from Table 1 and 2. The only module in which
the articles downloaded from BCU are more numerous than those
downloaded from UBB is Criminal Justice; in all the other modules the
number of articles downloaded from UBB is much greater than of those
downloaded from BCU.
1.5. Comparison with the previous year
Since the Academic Research Library was the most frequently
used module of the collection, a comparison of the years 2004 and 2005
for this module may be proposed.
Table 5. Academic Research Library – monthly statistics 2004
Month SearchesCit/Abstract FulltextTotal
January
1113
97
754 851
February
1921
321
1085 1406
March
3882
308
2471 2779
April
1875
147
813 960
May
2865
314
3226 3640
June
1341
585
4402 4987
July
731
80
2308 2388
August
618
48
323 371
September
826
87
448 535
October
1571
293
803 1096
November
2228
575
1335 1910
December
1757
298
923 1221
391
Table 6. Academic Research Library – monthly statistics 2005
Month SearchesCit/Abstract FulltextTotal
January
2542
429
1235 1664
February
1614
177
657 834
March
3279
387
1360 1747
April
3032
376
874 1250
May
2893
401
1012 1413
June
1792
199
596 795
July
1550
415
818 1233
August
1211
107
342 449
September
1199
138
373 511
October
3377
500
1521 2021
November
5154
664
1949 2613
December
2907
550
1380 1930
Graphic 7 reflects the fact that there were months when there
was a more intensive activity in this module in the year 2004 than in the
year 2005, namely in February, March, May, June, July; in the other
months the activity was greater in the year 2005. On the whole, these
scientific collections were used more often in 2005 than in 2004, and this
is reflected in the annual report presented in Table 7. It can be observed
here that, compared with the previous year, there was an 85% increase in
searches, a 53% increase in the articles with abstracts and a 7% increase
in the total of downloaded articles (with abstract or fulltext).
It is a positive aspect, which means we should take this need of
research into consideration in the future as well, and which compels us to
purchase such online products in the following years too.
392
Graphic 7. Academic Research Library 2004–2005
45 00
40 00
35 00
30 00
25 00
20 05
20 00
20 04
15 00
10 00
5 00
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Table 7. Annual report. Increases in comparison with the previous year
Time Frame – January 2005–December 2005
Client 65090 – CENTRAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY IN CLUJ
Any FT
Searches
Database
Cit/Abstract
Total
Format
30118 ABI/INFORM Global
2462
11743 14205
30033 AMA Titles
119
36 155
AMA Titles: Abstracts &
30390 Indexing
5
0
5
30026 Criminal Justice Periodicals
373
952 1325
29853 ProQuest Biology Journals
34
223 257
29733 ProQuest Computing
155
553 708
30129 ProQuest Medical Library
654
6879 7533
38388 ProQuest Psychology Journals
3987
10901 14888
ProQuest Social Science
31584 Journals
352
1588 1940
U.S. National Newspaper
29544 Abstracts
616
0 616
30550 Academic Research Library
4343
12117 16460
340348 Grand Total
13100
44992 58092
183535 Previous Year
8588
45896 54484
393
85% % Increase
53%
43259 Total of Unique Searches (Search Button Pressed)
-2%
7%
2. CHADWYCK HEALEY
The collection comprises 4 modules: History online, Literature
online, European Sources online and PCI. Fulltext (new name –
Periodicals Archive).
2.1. British History online
Table 8. History online statistics
Month Sessions SearchesResultsFulltextSearches
without
results
January
103
89 34146
288
13
February
59
50 45356
161
3
March
123
148 52210
305
20
April
171
113 41010
277
8
May
46
20 19720
77
1
June
91
91 36832
452
11
July
10
32
6156
61
0
September
4
5
722
0
3
October
33
38 11773
79
11
November
71
58 37055
260
17
December
10
6
0
4
394
2066
Graphic 8. History online monthly statistics
500
450
400
350
300
Searches
250
Fulltext
200
Searches without results
150
100
50
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
9
10
11 12
It can be observed that in this collection the searches were
precise, the number of downloaded fulltext articles being high compared
with the search results. This is due to the fact that, from the beginning,
the searches have been made in a specialized database, consequently, a
simple search key leads to quite exact results. This fact makes us believe
that it is preferable to orientate ourselves towards the acquisition of
specialized scientific collections, smaller databases focalised on a certain
domain. Searches are more efficient in these collections.
A large product that covers a multitude of domains, with a
complex search interface requires an expertise in the use of Booleans
operators and keyword combinations.
Our interest is to offer our users online products that should be
used easily and successfully as often as possible. We are often confronted
with situations when the user complains: “I haven’t found anything, the
database is not good.” And this happens only because the respective user
simply does not know how to search the database. It is a frustrating
experience both from his point of view and from the librarian’s, since the
library allocates important amounts of money in order to purchase these
products, and the institution’s interest is that they should be used as
efficiently as possible. We must consider that hard as the librarian might
try to assist each user in searching the database, he/she can never guide
everyone who accesses these collections either from the university, or
from the library.
395
2.2. Literature online
It comprises 350000 works of prose, drama and poetry, 128
fulltext periodicals of Anglo-American literature and the authors’
complete biography.
Table 9. Literature online monthly statistics
Month
January
Sessions Searches Results Fulltext Searches
without
results
46
248 58524
135
148
February
35
178
8966
131
120
March
57
308 145578
174
161
April
62
380 992288
220
241
May
56
237
22020
130
132
June
36
251 514186
187
103
July
10
35
1411
62
26
September
11
116
98724
58
57
October
46
524 326121
260
282
November
57
378 8676822
153
236
December
14
156
104
64
28302
Graphic 9. Literature online monthly statistics
600
500
400
Searches
300
Fulltext
200
100
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
9
10
396
11
12
In this collection the searches were made rather imprecisely, the
number of searches without results being very high. This must be due
again to the lack of expertise in searching, the search interface being quite
complex, but we cannot exclude the fact that the database may not cover
well the domains of literature (it contains only Anglo-American
literature).
Graphic 10. Searches made until May
January
8%
May (14.05)
10%
February
25%
April
23%
March
34%
Graphic 11. Fulltext articles accessed until May
Full Text
Abstracte
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Ianuarie
Februarie
Martie
Aprilie
Mai (14.05)
2.3. European Sources online
Table 10. European Sources online monthly statistics
Month
January
Sessions Searches Results Fulltext
1
2
415
1
397
February
14
41
4061
10
March
42
90 16159
106
April
51
51
8288
58
May
32
19
2028
43
June
26
10
3464
11
July
6
6
4295
3
September
October
November
7
69
34
7 3532
37 6300
83 14070
2
48
62
December
13
41
67
9903
In this collection fewer searches were made, though it is an
important database that offers specialized information on European
institutions, governments, administrations or other organizations. This
type of information is difficult to access otherwise.
2.4. PCI Fulltext (Periodicals Archive)
The collection comprises 15 million articles from 4700 scientific
reviews from the domains of art and socio-humanistic sciences; 400 of
these are fulltext.
Table 11. Periodicals Archive monthly statistics
Month Sessions Searches Results Fulltext
January
59
171 16078293
February
99
167
March
120
April
94
123
May
69
June
July
August
Searches
without
results
36
73
622922
1160
54
252 16121959
1422
93
238526
359
58
160
509840
286
62
44
103
239387
184
42
24
52
7913
31
21
16
22
10485
73
5
398
September
56
322
129674
813
98
October
40
128
28628
189
50
November
75
284
360688
428
56
December
59
105 1589338
278
39
Graphic 12. Periodicals Archive monthly statistics
1500
1000
Searches
Fulltext
500
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
The number of accessed fulltext articles is high compared with
the number of searches.
3. The JSTOR database, Arts & Science Collection
It comprises fulltext articles from the following domains:
anthropology, ecology, economy, education, finance, history, language
and literature, mathematics, philosophy, political sciences, population
studies, sociology, statistics.
Table 12. JSTOR monthly statistics
titlelist
2005/01 102
2005/02 62
2005/03 153
2005/04 172
2005/05 57
browsing
vol/ TO Citaiss Cs tions
185 213 75
68 79
5
247 420 12
277 359 10
137 110
1
viewing
printing
(articSearpages
jprint pdf ps
les)
ches
1,169 500
0 539 0 869
528 320
0 327 0 422
3,497 1,486
01,292 3 1,537
1,278 708
0 879 0 986
979 487
0 619 0 563
399
total
3,152
1,491
7,161
3,961
2,466
2005/06
2005/07
2005/08
2005/09
2005/10
2005/11
2005/12
Totals
65 96 234 19 1,157 435
14 13
5
0 355 313
1
0
0
0
2
2
10 26 77
5 213
98
29 87 78
3 821 417
53 191 311 12 2,638 1,395
23 61 65 27 620 314
741 1,3881,951 169 13,257 6,475
0 638
01,534
0 10
0 153
0 923
01,390
0 288
08,592
0 563 2,772
0 376 2,297
0 31
44
0 165 649
1 592 2,534
0 1,651 6,246
0 319 1,403
4 8,07434,176
Altogether 13257 pages and 6475 articles were viewed and 8592
PDF articles were downloaded in the year 2005.
Graphic 13. Activity in JSTOR, in 2004 and 2005
4. The SpringerLink database
It offers access to 1200 fulltext periodicals edited by Springer
Verlag and Kluwer Academic Publisher. Domains: chemistry,
informatics, economy, engineering, environmental studies, law, medicine,
mathematics, biology, physics, astronomy, geology.
400
Table 13. SpringerLink monthly statistics
January
145
February 507
March 1584
April
1094
May
1276
June
623
July
1938
August
389
September 256
October 1072
November 1083
December 625
Total html 586
Total PDF 10006
Total 10592
Graphic 14. Fulltext articles accessed from SpringerLink
January
1%
February
March
5%
10%
6%
15%
10%
April
May
June
10%
2%
4%
19%
6%
12%
July
August
September
October
November
December
401
The collection was much used, the number of downloaded
articles being 10952. The activity was almost uniformly distributed in the
12 months, the most intensive period of activity being July.
Conclusions
The statistics presented above show an extensive activity in the
online scientific collections our library has subscribed to. This indicates a
great need for research.
The databases were accessed by teachers, PhD students and
undergraduate students both from the upper and lower years. This is
gratifying.
It is worth emphasizing that professionalism is essential in
searching in order to use these electronic products efficiently.
Our library will continue to subscribe to databases. This
modality of research becomes more and more preferred by library users.
One can quickly search the databases and the scientific information is
permanently actualized, this being a very important aspect. However, for
a university library, which offers its users scientific information from
numerous domains, the selection of the online products which are to be
subscribed to remains a major problem. The choices have to cover all
these domains, but between the limits of an allocated budget.
402
From the International Exchange of Publications to the Exchange of
Experience – a Polish Contact
Alina Ioana ŞUTA
Cluj-Napoca
Keywords: international exchange of publications, “Lucian Blaga”
Central University Library, Wroclaw University Library, exchange
service, exchange partners, lists of offers, computerized exchange,
databases
Abstract
This paper, having defined what international exchange of publications is,
compares the exchange activities of the “Lucian Blaga” Central
University Library in Cluj with that of the Wroclaw University Library.
This service was initiated in 1923 in the Romanian library and in 1954 in
the Polish institution. The partnership between the two university
libraries began in 1985 and has continued ever since, the most important
exchanged publications being the different series of the two university
periodicals, Studia Universitatis “Babeş-Bolyai” and Acta Universitatis
Wratislaviensis.
The exchange of publications being a complex activity with
several phases, it is natural that the work method of the two exchange
offices is slightly different. However, there are many common aspects
and tendencies. For both institutions the exchange of publications is
important as by its means the library collections are enriched and it
promotes a favourable image of the institutions.
1. Exchange of publications – defining the notion
I would like to present the international exchange of publications
service from the Acquisitions Department of the Wroclaw University
Library, Poland in comparison with the office of internal and external
exchange from the department responsible for developing, organizing and
processing the collections of the “Lucian Blaga” Central University
Library, Cluj-Napoca. This comparison is founded on the systematic
research activity that I was able to perform due to a scholarship awarded
403
by the Ministry of Education and Research through the National Office of
Scholarships Abroad, Bucharest.
The first section of this study has as its objective to outline the
theoretical aspects, focusing upon the conceptual diversity necessary for
an effective collaboration in publication exchange. The second
perspective intends to present comparatively an experience from the point
of view of the publication exchanges that can take place in Romania and
Poland.
Generally, through publication exchange different contacts are
established with universities and institutions of higher education, research
institutions, central university libraries, national libraries, cultural and
scientific societies, international exchange centres, Rector’s offices etc.
International exchange represents a specific and widely used method for
procuring foreign publications.
Publication exchange was promoted by the UNESCO,
organization, which in the work entitled Handbook on the international
exchange of publications (first edition from 1950) stresses the necessity
of a process of exchange in detail and argues for the significance and
value of a perspective of relationships between nations. Initially,
international exchange was conceived as an accord or contract by which
the parties reciprocally grant a varied range of printed materials. But in
time the entire project became an important source for developing
collections (by procuring current and older publications).
Central university libraries are among the institutions most
interested in publication exchange, but the main objective remains for
them the exchange of their own publications: university textbooks,
yearbooks, periodicals, reports, manuscript or exhibition catalogues,
guides etc.
From the ‘90s, in order to improve the practice of exchange
activities, step by step, we began to put on electronic data some specific
exchange applications. Exchange activities take place by the means of the
modules incorporated by these applications. The applications require: a
card index of the exchange partners; a module with the register of the sent
and/or received publications. The entire register remains centralized on
central or branch institutions. Putting together and dispatching the parcels
concretizes the partnerships and the related titles offered for exchange.
This process is finally quantified by drawing up different statistics.
The entire publication exchange activity requires the following
operations: drawing up the lists of the publications that are to be
exchanged with other institutions; transmitting these lists; receiving the
404
answers containing the wishes of the partners to whom the lists were sent;
registering and centralizing the sent publications; drawing up and
checking the bordereaux; preparing and dispatching the parcels, receiving
the publications from the exchange partners and registering these in the
exchange database.
2. The analysis of the publication exchange between the two libraries.
Differences and similarities
Before starting the second section of my study, I must mention
the historical circumstances in which the publication exchange between
the two university libraries was established. The first concrete initiatives
regarding the development of an international publication exchange
activity in the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library, Cluj-Napoca
were discussed during the meeting held on 24 October 1923. The project
was proposed by the Professor Emil Racoviţă and supported by the
University Library Board. The first results of national and international
exchange were registered in the University Yearbook from the year 1929–
1930. In this the following details were statistically presented: the
University Library had exchanged materials with 125 Romanian and
foreign universities and other scientific institutions, and it had received
103 parcels containing yearbooks and doctoral dissertations, as well as
124 printed volumes since its setting up. 1
The periodical of the “Babeş-Bolyai” University, having initially
the title The Bulletin of the Victor Babeş and Bolyai University, since its
first issue in the year 1956, has represented the most important
publication sent by the international exchange service from Cluj. In the
year 1985, it was decided to publish the content of the periodical Studia
Universitatis “Babeş-Bolyai” in languages of international circulation
(English, French etc.) too. This initiative was the result of the
collaboration of university teachers with the librarians employed in the
exchange office.
In the Wroclaw University Library, the service of national and
international publication exchange has been functioning uninterruptedly
since 1954. The Polish periodical Acta Universitatis Wratsilaviensis,
Bibliotekoznawstwo (librarianship) series, printed and conceived for
1
Octavian Petraşcu, Schimbul internaţional de publicaţii între deziderat şi
posibilităţi de realizare (International Exchange of Publications between Desire
and Practice), Hermeneutica Bibliothecaria Antologie Philobiblon (Hermeneutica
Bibliothecaria Philobiblon Anthology), Cluj-Napoca, University Press of Cluj,
1998, p. 225.
405
publication exchange, was issued for the first time that year. The details
presented above show that the publication exchange service began to
function 33 years later in the Polish library than in our institution.
Looking more closely at the organizational structure of the two
offices, we may observe that the Polish exchange office has two distinct
sections: one dealing with the received publications, the other sending
publications to other libraries. The librarians working in this office wish
to preserve this dual specialization. In comparison with this, the two
components are not separated within the international exchange section at
Cluj; the publications are received and sent by the same office.
Considering the measures taken in different European university libraries
to unify international exchange activities within a single service, the
university library from Cluj has the same objectives as these European
institutions. However, the unification and restructuring of activities
implies the accumulation of the librarians’ tasks at the exchange service.
During the year 2005 the Polish library had approximately 350
foreign and 10 Polish exchange partners. I must acknowledge that I was
surprised at the great number of active partners. I thought that the library
operated with fewer partners than other such institutions. According to
the explication given by the personnel of the reception department, this
situation arose after all the partners had been checked. This operation
finished some years ago and it led to a substantial decrease of partners.
Those who had not respected the relationship of collaboration were
transformed into the list of “passive” or “inactive” partners. This measure
revitalized the cooperation with active partners and represented a positive
aspect, worthy to be followed in order to maintain a balanced exchange.
In the year 2005 the exchange office of the “Lucian Blaga”
Central University Library, according to statistics, collaborated with 1227
active partners. Among these there are some who had sent no
publications, but whom we cannot transfer to the group of passive
partners as they belong to the following categories: Romanian cultural
centres, Rector’s offices of Romanian language. Publications are sent to
these people in order to spread Romanian science and culture abroad. A
concrete centralization that may reflect the real number of active partners
can be made only after the partners have been checked. The finished
centralization will implicitly result in a revaluation of the agreements.
Cultural and scientific exchange has a central role in the
collaboration between Romania and Poland. By sending publications
cultural relationships may substantially increase in value in the future. In
406
this context it is desirable to accentuate the international exchange of
publications between the two university libraries.
The partnership began in 1985 and has continued ever since,
even if this collaboration implies manifold activities: correspondence
with the exchange partner; transmitting the list of publications destined to
exchange; registering the sent publications; drawing up the bordereaux;
preparing the parcels; sending them; receiving and registering the
publications sent by the exchange partner.
On the strength of the partnership between the two libraries, the
exchange service of the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library sends
the Polish library the periodical Studia Universitatis „Babeş-Bolyai”
having the series „Oeconomica, Biologia, Geographia, Philologia,
Mathematica, Chemia, Jurisprudentia, Historia, Philosofia, Psychologiapaedagogia etc.”, as well as other periodicals present on the Romanian
editorial market. In addition to these we send some 70 books, published
by the most prestigious publishing houses from Cluj: University Press of
Cluj, Accent, Argonaut etc.
Our library due to this partnership with the Polish Wroclaw
University Library receives all the series of Acta Universitatis
Wratislaviensis: Anglica Wratislaviensis, Antiquitas, Bibliotekoznawstwo,
Biblioteka
Judaica,
Bibliothecalia
Wratislaviensia,
Classica
Wratislaviensia, Dramat-Tatr, Ekonomia, Estudios Hispanicos,
Ethnologia, Filozofia, Germanica Wratislaviensia, Gory-LiteraturaKultura, Historia, Historia Sztuki, Hydrolologia, Jezyk a Kultura,
Ksztalceanu Jezykowe, Literatura i Kultura Popularna, Logika,
Musicologica
Wratislaviensia,
Neerlandica
Wratislaviensia,
Niemcoznawstwo, Nowe Media-Nowe w Mediach, PolitologiA, Prace
Botaniczne, Prace Geologiczno-Mineralogiczne, Prace Kulturoznawcze,
Prace Literakie, Prace Ogradu Botanicznego Uniwersytetu
Wroclawskiego, Prace Pedagogiczne, Prace Pszchologiczne, Prace
Zoologiczne, Prawo, Probabilitz and Mathematical Statistics, Przeglad
Prawa i Administracji, Romanica Wratislaviensia, Slavica
Wratislaviensia,
Sociologia,
Studia
Antropologiczne,
Studia
Archeologiczne, Studia Filmoznawcze, Studia Geograficzne, Studia i
Materialy z Dziejow Uniwersytetu Wroclawskiego, Studia Linguistica,
Studia nad Faszyzmem i Zbrodniami Hitlerrowskimi, Studium Generale
Interdyscyplinarn, Wroclawski Studia Wschodnie. The series of Studia
Universitatis “Babeş-Bolyai” and of Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis
are the forte of the exchange. I have mentioned them in order to show the
interdisciplinary character of the two periodicals, as well as that
407
researchers and teachers are interested in publishing in them. The sent
and received publications undoubtedly promote culture and science in the
university and intellectual circles of the two countries.
The exchange service of the Wroclaw University Library does
not use lists of offers as a work method. Exchange partners can select the
publications, according to their priority needs, simply by accessing the
site of the Wroclaw University Press: www.wuwr.com.pl. In comparison,
the exchange activity of our library is based upon the lists of offers in
Word format. This is one of the differences between the Romanian and
Polish exchange services.
The partnership with the Polish library improved palpably in the
‘90s when the “Lucian Blaga” University Library began to apply the new
techniques and technologies of working with the publications. This led to
the exchange of the traditional procedure for a modern one.
From the year 1996 international exchange activities have been
centralized by applying FoxPro, a program incorporating four modules by
the means of which the exchange activity takes place. By using this
application we can update data (partners, titles, postal taxes), which
allows us to introduce new registrations in the data files; we can modify
existent registrations; delete registrations; process data in order to
distribute the publications; establish relationships between titles and
partners and extract reports and different statistical accounts.
Its application for the international exchange of publications was
conceived by the specialists of the IT Department of our library. In the
first part of the article, entitled Informaţii generale privind instituţiile
ştiinţifice cu care se întreţin relaţii de schimb de publicaţii (General
information on the scientific institutions exchanging publications with
our library) (Bibliorev, 2005) the author emphasizes that “from the
beginning the international exchange section had an essential role in
starting computerized activity, providing entrance and exit data and
testing the program. In this way the international exchange activity is
almost entirely dependent on computers.” 1
1
Adela Mateuţă, Schimbul internaţional de publicaţii al Bibliotecii Centrale
Universitare „Lucian Blaga” din Cluj-Napoca, Prezentare generală
(International Exchange of Publications in the “Lucian Blaga” Central University
Library from Cluj-Napoca, General Presentation), Bibliorev, No. 12 (2005)
http://www.bcucluj.ro/bibliorev/arhiva/nr12/info4.html
408
The Wroclaw University Library has used the VIRTUA System,
developed by the American organization, VTLS since 1994. 1 In time
working in the VIRTUA System became unsuitable for the needs of the
library, thus it was decided to elaborate the institution’s own database.
From 2004 the library’s new, independent database, entitled
“Database of Acquisitions” can be accessed by all the employees of the
library. It enables them to perform activities related to exchange, but also
other library activities. If in our library the application FoxPro was
created by the specialists of the IT Department, the database used in the
library from Wroclaw was elaborated by the personnel of the Information
and Scientific Documentation Service of that institution.
As a conclusion we can say that both libraries have databases of
their own, but while the application of our library has been devised
specially for exchange activity, in the case of the Polish library it serves
for the exchange and processing of the publications received as Legal
Deposit or donation, as well as for other activities.
The centralized data system of the Wroclaw University Library
has six modules, which I would like only to mention:
¾ the role of the first module, entitled „wpisywanie”, is to create
and modify registrations;
¾ the second module, „przeglandanie” makes possible to revisualize the registration according to: author, title, editor, the
sender of the registered publication and the name of the series;
¾ the third module „wyszukiwanie” makes possible the search in
the database according to the following bibliographic fields:
author, title, title of the periodical, publishing place, editor,
ISSN, ISBN, the title of the series, the number of the series,
pressmark, document type etc.;
¾ the aim of the fourth module, entitled „przekazanie”, is to
transmit the registered publications to the Cataloguing
Department of the central library or to the branch institutions.
The publications sent to these two locations are marked with
number “1”, while those that are not sent to the Cataloguing
Department or to the branch libraries are marked with “0”.
When the option is accessed, a list appears with the following
information: current year; publication type; the number of the
parcel; identification number of the respective publication;
1
Pawel Domino, Baza rejestracyjna oddzialu gromadzenia BUWr, EBIB 4/2005
(65), http://ebib.oss.wroc.pl/2005/65/domino.php
409
allocation to the Cataloguing Department or to the branch
institutions (0 or 1) and the branch library where the respective
publication was allocated to;
¾ the fifth module, „udostepnianie”, is used by the personnel of
the exchange service who are responsible for receiving the
publications. Being in close collaboration with the information
department, they make easier to loan the books received through
exchange, without cataloguing them beforehand. It is intended
thus to indicate the respective publications on the library website
at the “novelties” sections. This detail shows a concrete and
viable advantage of the Polish exchange service. Unfortunately,
the exchange service of our library has not yet instituted a
similar measure;
¾ the sixth module, „raporty”, can make different qualitative or
quantitative statistics (e.g. the total number of books received
from a partner and the prize of the publications received from
the chosen partner). By accessing the operation „raporty”, for
example, we can find out that during the year 2005 (until 27
December) by the means of the national and international
exchange service, the Polish library received 696 periodical
titles and 1989 books; 1461 books were allocated to the central
library collections. 1
The activities of the Polish exchange office can be classified in
this way:
¾ correspondence with exchange partners, which implies
confirming that the publications were received; making
complaints; selecting and ordering the publications from the lists
of offers (this takes the longest time); answering the letters
received from the partners etc.;
¾ receiving the parcels;
¾ allocating the publications received through exchange to the
central institution or the branch libraries;
¾ registering the publications into the database;
¾ sending the publications to the Cataloguing Department or
directly to the branch institutions. At the same time, the books
selected by the branch libraries are directly transmitted without
cataloguing them to the following institutions: Austrian library,
1
I would like to thank Mrs Waclawa Araszkiewicz for her kindness and good will
she showed while coordinating my work during the three months I spent in
Poland.
410
library of chemistry, library of Indian philology, library of
classical philology, library of Dutch philology, library of
computer science, library of mathematics, library of
microbiology, natural history museum and library of law.
Textbooks are catalogued by the Cataloguing Department of the
central library, the other books by the branch libraries;
¾ preparing two copies of the bordereaux, which accompany the
books that are to be sent to the branch libraries;
¾ registering the sent publications on traditional library cards and
in Word;
¾ drawing up two copies of the bordereaux, which will accompany
the books that are to be sent;
¾ printing the labels directly from Word;
¾ preparing the parcels;
¾ sending them.
The activities of national and international exchange are
approximately identical in the two libraries; however, operation in the
databases is different.
According to my experiences made in the office of international
exchange, the exchange of publications is very important for
supplementing and enriching the library collections, especially in the
actual economic conditions which characterize Poland and Romania and
which have negative repercussions on the educational and cultural policy.
The library subordinated to the University of Wroclaw enjoys
the direct support of this institution. International exchange represents a
priority in the managerial activity of the library. The exchanged Polish
publications undoubtedly promote the general image of the two
institutions. This holds good for the Romanian publications as well.
The integration of Poland into the structures of the European
Union rendered necessary to reconsider the tasks of publication
exchange, to reorganize the work, to identify new strategies and
tendencies of development. The aim of the new strategies of the exchange
service from the Polish library was to improve the exchange with the
foreign partners, to find new exchange partners, obtaining new titles of
periodicals etc. In this context work quality became emphasized. It was
desirable to balance the sending and receiving activities and to have a
better control upon partners.
The present priorities of the exchange office of the “Lucian
Blaga” Central University Library are: to check partners, to divide them
in two groups (active/passive), to find new partners, to improve the
411
exchange with Romanian partners, to diversify the lists of offers (this
implies a good knowledge of the publications that are appearing on the
Romanian editorial market) and to revaluate the exchange activity with
some of our partners.
At the end of this article, we specify that both institutions have
tried to transcend the linguistic barriers that are often invoked without
taking into consideration the cultural and scientific values of the sent or
received publications. I hope that the collaboration between the two
institutions will remain an active one in the future and that the
consolidated partnership will reciprocally be maintained from the
perspective of both Romanian and Polish priorities.
412
Bibliographic Information or Tracking the Book in the Library
Costel DUMITRAŞCU
Cluj-Napoca
Keywords: bibliographic information, bibliographers on duty, search,
user types
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of the bibliographic
information service in the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library.
The library having several collections and catalogues, users may often
need some help in their search for information. It is the task of the
bibliographer on duty to assist them.
Assisting readers is not a simple task. The librarian, besides
being familiar with the library, must have a good knowledge of human
psychology for he has to help the different types of library users
according to their needs. He must decide in each case whether he should
help the user to find certain information or to show him how to search for
it independently. Though it is better for both the user and the librarian if
the former learns to use efficiently the informative tools of the library, the
librarian is ready to answer satisfactorily even the most banal questions.
It is a well-known fact that the “Lucian Blaga” Central
University Library is one of the biggest libraries in the country.
Developed over several decades, the material of the library is organized
in many collections. One can find several pressmark types in the
traditional and/or online catalogues, these being placed in the Catalogue
Room but in other locations of the library as well. Because of this, certain
categories of users have only limited access to them. In addition to these,
there are different types of access to the publications: served from the
stacks (in certain rooms, depending on the collection to which the book
asked for belongs) or, in certain cases, directly from the shelf. The
complex collections and search methods make difficult finding the
required information even for the librarians sometimes.
In order to solve such problems, a Bibliographic Information
desk functions in the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library. Here
413
two librarians, the bibliographers on duty, assist the users in finding the
needed information, more precisely in using the informative instruments
of the library. They also have another task: to teach the readers how to
use the library services more or less independently. It has not always been
sufficiently understood how complex some aspects of this service may
be; a service in which the librarian represents maybe the most important
link, intermediary between the reader and information.
Evidently, in order to inform the users properly, the librarian
must be familiar with all the library resources. Being a bibliographer on
duty, I can say that the maximum efficiency of this service is assured only
if the librarian, besides being familiar with the library and having all the
qualities necessary to maintain relations with the public, has a wide
general culture and last but not least he has a good knowledge of human
psychology. Why am I saying this?
We can answer correctly, completely and clearly the majority of
enquiries and we can express (verbally and non-verbally) that we are
ready to answer these queries, but the user must decide whether he takes
advantage of this service or not. In many cases, users do not know how
complex the available information sources are, therefore they think that
they need no help. In other cases they do not know at all that they can ask
for help. Some users hesitate to ask the librarian’s assistance for different
reasons, others, fortunately few people, are unwilling to accept this. On
the other hand, having decided to ask for help, sometimes the user does
not know to ask exactly for the information he needs, and, in order to
understand the query accurately, we need to ask additional questions,
which may give us further clues.
It is more important to instruct readers who are able to use the
informative instruments of the library than assisting them in their search
each time. In the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library we instruct
the users – if they are disposed to cooperate – in courses organized with
this special purpose or simply during everyday work. Naturally, the
librarian must decide whether in the case of an enquiry he presents to the
reader what he finds in the library collections or how the reader himself
should look for the information he is interested in; whether he directs the
reader to the required information or he explains how the user himself
can search for it. In my case, when time does not interfere in my decision,
I take into consideration the degree of interest shown for the library by
the respective user and his disposition to learn.
During the years spent in this service I observed that the users of
the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library, mainly students, use the
414
library services in order to complete their knowledge required in their
studies. Thus, in most of the cases, they are interested in the library as far
as their professors request them to use the library in the studying process.
This is why many of these students are not interested in the library
services themselves. More precisely, they do not realize how important
and useful is for them to be familiar with the library services. Many of
them come to the library from time to time in order to prepare a
presentation or to obtain the compulsory reading material. Their aim is to
get the publication asked for into the reading room (after, in most of the
cases, having tried to borrow it) as soon as possible and eventually to
photocopy the necessary pages. Unfortunately, even in the case of those
who spend a lot of time in the reading rooms being interested in reading
does not necessarily imply an interest in the library. Although this lack of
interest may be justified, it is not agreeable at all from the point of view
of the librarian who has to explain elementary issues to a user he has been
seeing in the library for 2–3 years, almost every day. These are the users
who receive exact, precise answers in the shortest possible time when
they ask for help. In their case, I think we cannot speak of formation.
Fortunately, there are also “others”, users who, spending much
time in the library, find it normal to understand what is going on around
them, to become acquainted with the library and its services. As they are
evidently more inclined to learn, in their case, when helping them to find
the necessary information, the emphasis is on explaining the way in
which this can be done. The formation of users in the case of this
category is equally necessary for the reader and the librarian. The reader
has the advantage of a greater independence when using the library
services, while the librarian’s work is radically facilitated.
As a personal conclusion I can say that the activity of giving
bibliographic information is first of all a provocation for me. Even if not
every enquiry makes me feel like a detective tracking the book in the
library, in each case I have at least the gratification to answer
satisfactorily even the most banal questions.
415
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
OF THE LIBRARY
The Adrian Marino Archive Collection of the “Lucian Blaga”
Emilia-Mariana SOPORAN
Cluj-Napoca
Introduction
This presentation aims to give a general view of the socialpolitical life of the literary critic, historian and theoretician, Adrian
Marino from the point of view of the librarian-archivist, illustrated by the
materials which form his archive collection.
The formation of the archive collection had already begun from
the year 1992 when Adrian Marino donated the first dossiers from his
personal archive to our Library. This donation had a clause which stated
that A. Marino’s original organization of the inner contents of each
dossier should be respected. Because of this several dossiers are not
organized according to the archival principles of arrangement. Later on,
to be more precise, in the year 2004, A. Marino reconsidered this clause
permitting the intervention in the inner organization of the dossier
contents and the application of the archival principles of arrangement and
classification.
Nowadays this collection – accorded the name the “Adrian
Marino” Collection – consists of 467 dossiers in which numerous
materials were carefully collected. These outline the whole personality of
the literary critic, historian and theoretician. Thus, even the titles of the
dossiers, formulated by Adrian Marino himself, reflect his interest in
some aspects of the cultural and political life of the Romanian society.
In addition to manuscripts of his works, he also gathered
scientific materials in the course of time which he used as a support in his
research work. These were classified in different dossiers, in many cases
being specified whether they were used or not.
Literary activity
Naturally, most of the titles reflect A. Marino’s literary activity,
illustrating once more, if it was necessary, all the significant themes he
discussed in his works and which animated his entire life as a writer. The
titles were incorporated into the collection according to the critic’s
editorial and publishing chronology.
419
The materials referring to the life and work of the poet
Alexandru Macedonski have been gathered in four 1 dossiers, two of them
having the same title 2 inscribed upon them as the published volumes. The
dossier 3 containing the original manuscripts of Alexandru Macedonski’s
plays La mort du Dante, 21 October 1916 and Le fou? (the four acts of
his dramatic creation in original), as well as the translation made by his
son, Nikita Macedonski, of the play Nebunul (The fool), produced in
Paris in 1913, is of special importance.
In the year 1999 the collection was enriched with 120 new
dossiers having the titles: Dicţionar de idei literare (Dictionary of
Literary Ideas), Biografia ideii de literatură (The Biography of the Idea
of Literature), Hermeneutica ideii de literatură (The Hermeneutics of the
Idea of Literature), Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade (Mircea Eliade’s
Hermeneutics), Ideea de modern (The Idea of the Modern), Critica
literară (Literary Criticism) and Estetica literară (Literary Aesthetics).
On the bibliographical record accompanying the donation Adrian Marino
noted: “Thematic documentary materials, photocopies, clippings,
versions, drafts precursory to some personal works.”
He accorded special importance to the idea of the modern,
respectively to the notions of modern, 4 modernism, 5 modern arts, 6
ancient and modern, 7 ancient and modern in France, 8 decadencemorality, 9 modern-language, 10 modern and humanity, 11 rhetoric, 12
relativism, 13 De arte metrica 1 etc. All these notions are to be found as
1
The four dossiers have the pressmarks: Fd. Marino 129, Fd. Marino 130,
Fd.Marino 180, Fd. Marino 379.
2
Viaţa lui Alexandru Macedonski (The Life of Alexandru Macedonski),
pressmark: Fd. Marino 379, Opera lui Alexandru Macedonski (The Work of
Alexandru Macedonski), Introducere în critica literară (Introduction to Literary
Criticism), pressmark: Fd. Marino 180. In what follows we shall give only the
pressmarks of the dossiers referred to.
3
Fd. Marino 129.
4
Fd. Marino 332, Fd. Marino 340.
5
Fd. Marino 333–334.
6
Fd. Marino 334.
7
Fd. Marino 335.
8
Fd. Marino 336.
9
Fd. Marino 337.
10
Fd. Marino 339.
11
Fd. Marino 341.
12
Fd. Marino 342.
13
Fd. Marino 343.
420
subtitles of the generic title, The modern Idea. The materials referring to
the work Modern, modernism, modernitate (Modern, Modernism,
Modernity) are in the dossier with the same title. 2
The work whose title covers the greatest number (75) of
dossiers 3 is the very same work which imposed a particular documentary
effort due to the encyclopaedism present in its articles. This writing is, of
course, Dicţionarul de idei literare, which required numerous
documentary, scientific materials, necessary to the elaboration of any
such work. The bibliography used when writing the texts is conclusive
from the point of view of both the historicity of the ideas and their actual
stage. The materials gathered in these dossiers are thematic articles and
contemporary studies of Romanian and foreign specialists; this
encourages researchers to look through them. From among the many
subtitles of this impressive work which represents “the defined concept or
the fundamental key-idea” 4 we shall give only some revealing examples:
Sacred/profane, 5 Baroque, 6 Imitation, 7 Popular Literature 8 etc.
Biografia ideii de literatură, the first complete Romanian
literary encyclopaedia published in several languages, as almost all the
works written by A. Marino, the Romanian critic best-known in Europe,
is to be found in 11 dossiers 9 referring to the Romanian edition and in a
dossier referring to the American version. 10 The subtitles of these
dossiers present chronologically the entire evolution of the idea of
literature: Antiquity, 11 Middle Ages, 12 Renaissance, 13 17th c., 14 18th c., 15
1
Fd. Marino 344.
Fd. Marino 382.
3
Fd. Marino 255–316, Fd. Marino 383–387.
4
Adrian Marino, Dicţionar de idei literare, Bucharest, Eminescu Publishing
House, 1973, X.
5
Fd. Marino 269.
6
Fd. Marino 275.
7
Fd. Marino 273.
8
Fd. Marino 280.
9
Fd. Marino 317–326, Fd. Marino 396/1–5.
10
Fd. Marino 420.
11
Fd. Marino 318.
12
Fd. Marino 319.
13
Fd. Marino 321.
14
Fd. Marino 320.
15
Fd. Marino 322.
2
421
19th c., 1 20th c., 2 20th c. Paraliterature, Mass-literature. 3 The unused
materials were gathered in a different dossier. 4
Besides Biografia ideii de literatură, Hermeneutica ideii de
literatură is an important work too. Western literary theory would be
proud of these works, if it owned them. Hermeneutica ideii de literatură
is illustrated by a few dossiers. 5
The work, Hermeneutica lui Mircea Eliade, included in the
dossiers 6 of this collection represents an initial manuscript, materials
used in the writing process of the work, texts by Mircea Eliade, studies
on Mircea Eliade, as well as Romanian and foreign reviews on the
numerous editions of Mircea Eliade’s works.
There are 17 dossiers 7 with reference to literary aesthetics in
which there are described concepts and ideas belonging to the domain of
contemporary aesthetics: creation, 8 aesthetic emotion, aesthetism, 9
purity, 10 imagination, fantasy, 11 uselessness, luxury, play, gratuitous 12
etc.
As editor and director of the first Romanian periodical of literary
studies circulated in foreign languages, Cahiers roumains d’études
littéraires, Adrian Marino gathered many articles sent to him in order to
be published and written by such personalities as Ion Hobana, Aurel
Sasu, N. I. Popa, A Lăzărescu etc. This periodical was little-known in
Romania, but it was appreciated in the intellectual circles abroad. Adrian
Marino describes it as a periodical collection of studies focusing on
comparative literature, each of its monographic numbers being
consecrated to a certain theme. The main contents were thematic, they
were followed by the chronicle of translations where books by Romanian
authors translated abroad were reviewed.
1
Fd. Marino 323.
Fd. Marino 324/1–6.
3
Fd. Marino 325.
4
Fd. Marino 326.
5
6
7
8
Fd. Marino 353.
9
Fd. Marino 358.
10
Fd. Marino 360.
11
Fd. Marino 354.
12
Fd. Marino 359.
2
422
Naturally, there are many dossiers containing articles for the
Cahiers... Besides the titles 1 gathering printed articles, there are those
comprising reviews on the periodical which were published in the
national and international press. 2 Adrian Marino was the contributor of
many Romanian and foreign periodicals.
Many dossiers have as a title the names of personalities
belonging to Romanian and foreign cultural circles, such as the dossiers
named after Constantin Noica, 3 Ioan Petru Culianu, 4 Matei Călinescu, 5
Pavel Chihaia, 6 Iordan Chimet, 7 Alexandru Piru, 8 Andrei Pippidi, 9
Adrian Dinu Rachieru, 10 Sorin Antohi, 11 Mircea Iorgulescu, 12 Vladimir
Tismăneanu, 13 Monica Spiridon, 14 Radu G. Ţeposu, 15 Dorin Tudoran, 16
Paul Lăzărescu, 17 Nicholas Catanoy, 18 Ruxandra Cesereanu, 19 Corneliu
Ştefanache 20 etc. Each of them were essayists, poets, prose writers,
literary historians and critics, translators, whom Adrian Marino
collaborated with in his literary activity. These dossiers contain the
correspondences between the above mentioned personalities and Adrian
Marino, as well as articles written by or materials about the formers. An
example worth mentioning is the dossier entitled Constantin Noica which
comprises the correspondence between C. Noica and A. Marino, a
memorial about Mircea Eliade signed by C. Noica, an article on C. Noica
1
The dossiers are to be found under the pressmarks Fd. Marino 1–21, Fd. Marino
48–49, Fd. Marino 138, Fd. Marino 140 and others.
2
3
Fd. Marino 371.
4
Fd. Marino 372.
5
6
Fd. Marino 184.
7
Fd. Marino 452.
8
Fd. Marino 214.
9
Fd. Marino 449.
10
Fd. Marino 451.
11
Fd. Marino 445.
12
Fd. Marino 424.
13
Fd. Marino 448.
14
Fd. Marino 446.
15
Fd. Marino 373.
16
Fd. Marino 450.
17
Fd. Marino 474.
18
Fd. Marino 472.
19
Fd. Marino 473.
20
Fd. Marino 475.
423
signed by the French professor, Claude Karnooch, 1 photocopies and
periodical articles referring to C. Noica.
The rich correspondence between Adrian Marino and numerous
personalities is an important documentary source which may help us to
outline a true image of the Romanian literary and even political culture in
different periods of the society and under different political regimes. The
letters contain opinions and accounts of some events which question
attitudes insufficiently understood at that socio-political moment or bring
to judgement actions beforehand unknown. The dossiers containing
correspondence are sorted according to the origin or the destination of the
letters. Thus, we can find titles as: Romanian Correspondence, Foreign
Correspondence, Switzerland Correspondence, Letters from Readers,
Letters from Reviewed Authors etc.
Study trips, conferences
Adrian Marino collected during his study trips abroad notes,
editorial prospectuses, new articles, folders. From the material of his
Switzerland trip 2 he constituted a dossier for each domain of personal
interest: folders and notes from the University of Geneva, 3 notes on the
Romanian presence in Switzerland, 4 information on the Society of Swiss
writers, 5 on Rhaeto-Romanian writers, 6 documentary materials on
Switzerland. 7 His other study trips as those to Belgium, 8 Greece, 9
Turkey, 10 Israel 11 etc. are represented as well in the Adrian Marino
archive collection.
Having participated at several national and international
congresses of neo-Latin studies, 12 at international colloquia and
1
Claude Karnooch, “Constantin Noica et la quête d’une essence de la tradition
roumain”, in Lupta (The Struggle), March 1988.
2
3
Fd. Marino 157.
4
5
Fd. Marino 159.
6
Fd. Marino 162.
7
8
Fd. Marino 154.
9
Fd. Marino 205.
10
11
Fd. Marino 377.
12
Congrese de studii neo-latine (Congresses of Neo-Latin Studies), Fd. Marino
169; The Third International Congress of Romanian Studies, Fd. Marino 234.
424
conferences (Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Berlin 1 ), Adrian Marino collected
literary materials of great scientific interest, participation bulletins, as
well as a rich official correspondence with the members of the organizing
institutes.
Always interested in the spreading of Romanian literature and in
the image of Romania in foreign countries, he attentively followed and
recorded the way Romanians were thought of in the world both from
literary and political point of view. 2
Political interest
Adrian Marino’s political interest and the value of the collection
initiated by this result from the different notes referring to Romania’s
political and cultural situation, notes to be found in the dossiers
containing political materials. 3 As a former political prisoner (1949–
1957), then a deportee to the Bărăgan 1957–1963 4 , he took an interest in
the situation of political prisoners from the communist period and
militated for human rights. 5 He was a member of the Sighet Memorial
Foundation. 6 As a member of the Anti-totalitarian Forum 7 and supporter
of democracy 8 in Romania, he attentively followed all aspects related to
the sensitive problems of Romanian politics: minorities, 9 European
integration. Adrian Marino speaks of European integration supporting the
realization of this political objective. The dossier titles suggest this:
1
Fd. Marino 206–207, Fd. Marino 254.
Românii în lume. Prezenţe literare (Romanians in the World. Literary
Presence), Fd. Marino 172; Românii în lume. Prezenţe politice (Romanians in the
World. Political Presence), Fd. Marino 173; Prezenţe româneşti şi realităţi
europene (Romanian Presence in European Realities), Fd. Marino 391.
3
Materiale politice (Political Materials), Fd. Marino 245; Politică şi cultură
(Politics and Culture), Fd. Marino 399, Presa şi materiale politice (The Press and
Political Materials), Fd. Marino 468.
4
Pica Ioan Victor: coleg, deportare (Pica Ioan Victor: Colleague, Deportation),
Fd. Marino 249; “Dosare” deţinuţi politici (“Dossiers” Political Prisoners), Fd.
Marino 464.
5
Fd. Marino 243.
6
Fd. Marino 461.
7
8
Democraţia creştină (Christian Democracy), Fd. Marino 244.
9
Greco-catolicii (Greek Catholics), Fd. Marino 459; “Separatiştii ardeleni”
(“Transylvanian Separatists”), Fd. Marino 457; Relaţiile româno-maghiare
(Romanian-Hungarian Relations), Fd. Marino 456.
2
425
Europe, 1 Central Europe, Federalization of Europe, Integration, 2 Return
to Europe, 3 Europe and the Romanians, 4 Romania and Europe, 5
Romanian Presence and European Realities, 6 For Europe, 7 Pro Europa
League. 8
He was a contributor to the radio stations Voice of America and
Free Europe, 9 member of the Civic Alliance 10 and of the ChristianDemocratic National Peasants’ Party. During his party membership he
gathered into several dossiers 11 political materials referring to the party
leadership, dissidences and exclusions from the party, manifestations,
declarations, demonstrations, surveys, works on the history of the party,
on external relations, on Ion Raţiu’s personality (personal activities
within the cultural department), programs, principles, manifestos,
political documents.
Awards
Data referring to the prizes Adrian Marino had been awarded
with can be found in the dossiers Herder Prize, 12 Opera Omnia Prize. 13
Literary prizes of the National Book Salon, 14 diplomas awarded by the
Romanian Academy 15 and the Union of Romanian Writers are preserved
in other dossiers. 16
The great number of themes to be found in the dossier titles of
the Adrian Marino collection has not allowed us to dwell on each subject.
1
Fd. Marino 460.
Fd. Marino 458.
3
Fd. Marino 400.
4
Fd. Marino 454.
5
Fd. Marino 455.
6
Fd. Marino 477.
7
Fd. Marino 398.
8
Fd. Marino 241.
9
Piese din arhiva posturilor Vocea Americii şi Europa Liberă (Works from the
Archives of the Voice of America and Free Europe Radio Stations), Fd. Marino
176.
10
Alianţa Civică: 1990–2002 (Civic Alliance 1990–2002), Fd. Marino 177, Fd.
Marino 466.
11
Fd. Marino 178–183, Fd. Marino 246, Fd. Marino 467.
12
Fd. Marino 148.
13
Fd. Marino 227.
14
15
Fd. Marino 483.
16
Fd. Marino 482, Fd. Marino 493-495, Fd. Marino 497.
2
426
In this article we mentioned only those themes whose discussion is of
greater importance. Such subjects as Poems from the Age of
Dictatorship 1 or Cultural and Literary Materials: Ceauşescu’s Age
1981–1985 2 etc. have not been mentioned but they have a real value for
the literary historian. Similarly, I have not referred to titles as FulbrightRochester Scholarship, 3 Cultural Foundations 4 or International
Comparative Literature Association 5 etc., however, they are important
for the writer’s complete biography.
We hope that this presentation has offered a general view of the
information that can be found within the archive collection with reference
to the interests Adrian Marino, scholar and man of culture, had during his
life. We think that the investigation of this collection will be useful to
Adrian Marino’s biographers, as well as to literary historians and not only
to those who will undertake to write the history of contemporary
Romanian literature.
1
Fd. Marino 242.
Fd. Marino 216.
3
4
Fd. Marino 176.
5
Fd. Marino 72, Fd. Marino 131–137, Fd. Marino 145.
2
427
Exhibition of 16–18th Century Manuscripts in the “Lucian Blaga”
Central University Library,
Homo Scribens: Memory Culture and the Typology of Writing in the
16–18th Century
Judit KOLUMBÁN
“Lucian Blaga”Central University Library,
Cluj-Napoca
E-mail:[email protected]
The exhibition was organised on the occasion of the conference
entitled Memory and Devotion in the 16–18th Century initiated by the
Department of Old Hungarian Literature and was meant to offer
illustrative support to the theme of the conference.
The exhibition opened in the Special Collections department of
the “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library, draws the visitor’s
attention to manuscripts, printed publications with marginalia belonging
to memoir literature.
53 exemplars were exhibited, original manuscripts and copies,
as well as illustrative materials. The material was organized in three
categories.
The first category included: chronicles, diaries, memoirs in
chronological order, presenting the genres of the memory-literature in
general. Among them I would like to stress the importance of János
Szalárdi’s The Siege of Oradea, 1 which offers important data about the
events of the year 1662. In this category György Wass’s diary 2 , the
memoirs of Ferenc Szakál 3 (1657–after 1726) and György Rettegi 4
(1718?–1786) were exhibited. The latter represents faithfully the opinion
of the middle nobility in Transylvania regarding the historical events
immediately following the instauration of the Habsburg regime in the
province.
The second category of documents focused on the classics of the
Transylvanian memoir-literature. In this category were exhibited János
Kemény’s, Miklós Bethlen’s, Mihály Cserei’s and Kata Árva Bethlen’s
autobiographies. János Kemény’s (1607-1662) Historia 5 and
1
No. 11.
No. 19.
3
No. 20.
4
No. 21.
5
No. 24.
2
428
Biographia 1 are the copies of the same work made in different periods.
The exemplar entitled Historia 2 is a copy made in the 18th century; the
note on the inner cover of the manuscript (“Ex libris est Sigismundi
Enyedi ab A(nn)o 1756.”) reveals the possessor’s name. The Biographia
was copied in the year 1807.
From Miklós Bethlen’s works three handwritten copies 3 were
exhibited, compiled in the 18th and the 19th century. The first was the
count’s Autobiography, a colligate made in the 19th century, comprising
Miklós Bethlen’s biography, as well as some of his works.
Another example worth mentioning was a copy from 1770
having a manually decorated title-page, a note by the illustrator
(“Franciscus Domokos De Also-Tsernaton”), as well as the ex-libris
inserted by the later owner (“B. Horváth J.”).
Mihály Cserei’s (1668-1756) work, Historia, written in exile at
Braşov presents the historical events that happened in Transylvania
between 1661 and 1712. The work outlines the profile of the protestant,
pro-Habsburgic writer as well. The item No. 30. of the annex is a copy
made by “Petrus Istvanffi de Csik Sz Királly”. Beside the owner’s note it
contains a “will” referring to the destiny of the manuscript after the
owner’s decease. In this will Péter Istvánffi bequeathed the manuscript to
his son, László Istvánffi, and, if he was detained from home on account
of his military service, meanwhile the owner would be Péter Istvánffi’s
brother, Tamás Istvánffi. 4
Kata Árva Bethlen wrote The Description of Her Own Life 5
from 1744 till her death (1759). Towards the end of a life full of
vicissitudes she wrote her autobiography which presents the drama of a
1
No. 25.
No. 24.
3
No. 27. Count Miklós Bethlen, Önéletírása (Autobiography), Sudores et cruces
Nicolai Bethlen, s.l., 19th c.
No. 28. Miklós Bethlen, Művei (Works), s.l., 1770.
No. 29. Miklós Bethlen, count, Élete (His Life), s.l., 18th c.
4
“Ezen tulajdon kezemmel le irt Collectiok történhetö halálommal. Ha természet
szerint valo fiam Istvánffi László Katonai Tiszti hivatallya miatt ide haza nem
lehetne, addig is legközelébb Kedves Testvérem, Istvánffi Tamásra szállyon
Legalis Haeressio szerent. ” (These collections copied by myself, when I happen
to die, in the case my son, Istvánffi László should not be at home because of his
service as an officer, should pass to my dear brother, Istvánffi Tamás, according
to legal succession.)
5
No. 32. Kata Bethlen, Életének rövid le irása (The Short Description of Her
Life), s.l., 18th c.
2
429
woman, who had lost two husbands and five children. To these tragedies
were added the interconfessional conflicts within the family. Because of
her Protestant religion, in which she firmly persisted, her catholic
relations bereft her of the two children born from her first marriage. This
autobiography was first published in 1762. The exhibited copy,
transcribed by Péter Bod 1 , has fewer pages than the published variant.
The third group of the exhibited documents was formed of
calendars in which the possessors made various notes referring to their
personal and family life. These notes were mainly devised according to
the typology of diaries. 2
An 18th century owner of the Calendar for 1551 by Eberus
3
Paulus informs us on the pages of this publication about the birth of his
daughter: „Hoc die nascitur Anna Tetsi circa horam noctis 1am, Anno
1760”. In another calendar we can find the name of the institution in
whose possession the copy used to be: “Tanacze” (that is, “the
Council’s”). 4
The notes of the politician, Mihály Cserei can be found in
several of the exhibited calendars. 5 The notes refer mainly to the
1
Péter Bod (Felsőcsernáton, 22. February 1712. – Magyarigen, 3. March 1769.):
ecclesiastical and literary history writer, Kata Bethlen’s court chaplain.
2
No. 34. Eberus Palulus, Calendarium historicum, Vitebergae, 1551.
3
No. 34. Eberus Palulus, Calendarium historicum, Vitebergae, 1551 (vol. IV.).
4
No. 41. Kalendárium az 1632-es esztendőre (Calendar for the Year 1632),
Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), s.a.
5
No. 45. Kalendáriom az 1690-es esztendőre (Calendar for the Year 1690),
Lőcse, s.a.
No. 48. Kalendáriom az 1693-as esztendőre (Calendar for the Year 1693),
Koloszvár (Cluj-Napoca), s.a.
No. 50. Kalendáriom az 1695-ös esztendőre (Calendar for the Year 1695),
No. 51. Calendariom az 1697-es esztendőre (Calendar for the Year 1690),
No. 52. Calendariom az 1698-as esztendőre (Calendar for the Year 1698),
430
possessor’s personal life, usual activities and journeys, which are
revealed on these calendar pages.
All these manuscripts belonging to the genres of memoryliterature are important historical sources as they speak of the cultural and
social life of the centuries they were written in, enabling us to investigate
these aspects of the past more thoroughly.
Hic incipit catalogus:
1. István Székely, Krónikájának folytatása 1558−1601 (The
Continuation of His Chronicle 1558–1601), s.l., s.a.
2. Sebestyén Borsos, Krónikája Erdély történeteiről 1490-1584
(Chronicle of the Events in Transylvania 1490–1584), s.l., XVIII.sz.
3. Ferencz Mikó, hidvégi, Erdélyben maga életében történt dolgokrul
írt historiája 1594−1613, Bíró Sámuel folytatásával, 1613 augusztus
végéig (Chronicle of the Events That Happened during His Life in
Transylvania 1594–1613, Continued by Sámuel Bíró to the End of
August, 1613), s.l., 18th c.
4. Sebestyén Borsos, Krónikája Erdély történeteiről 1490-1584
(Chronicle of the Events in Transylvania 1490–1584), s.l., 18th c.
5. Mihály Toldalaghi, Követségi naplója és jelentései Bethlen
Gáborhoz (His Embassy Diary and Reports to Gábor Bethlen), s.l., 1627.
6. Count László Rhédei, Naplókönyve 1653-1656 (Diary-book 1653–
1656), s.l., 1653-1656.
7. György Lipcsei, Naplófeljegyzései (Diary Notes), s.l., 17th c.
8. István Enyedi, II. Rákóczi György fejedelem veszedelmeiről
1657−1660 (On the Perils of Prince György Rákóczi II 1657–1660), s.l.,
1720-1743.
9. Dávid Rosnyai, Diáriuma 1667-től (Diary from 1667), s.l., 17th c.
10. Description exacte des royaumes de Hongria et Dalmatie, etc. : et
gravees en cuivre par Gaspar Bouttats, Anvers, 1668.
11. János Szalárdy, Várad ostroma. 1662 (The Siege of Oradea. 1662),
s.l., 18th c.
12. Dávid Rosnyai, Diáriuma 1667-től (Diary from 1667), s.l., 18th c.
13. Anna Bornemissza, Gazdasági naplója 1667–1672 (Economic Diary
1667–1672), s.l., 17th c.
14. Imre Thököly, Naplója 1676–1678 (Diary 1676–1678), s.l., 18th c.
15. Gáspár Gönc−Ruszkai Kornis, Naplója 1678−1683 (Diary 1678–
1683), s.l., 1678-1683.
431
16. József Inczédi, Emlékirata 1688−1710 (Memoirs 1688–1710) s.l.,
1688-1710.
17. Mihály Apaffy II, Diarium de anni 1690–1694, s.l., 19th c.
18. János Komáromi, Diariumja és Experientiáji 1697. okt. 8. – 1705.
szept. 13 (Diary and Experiences 8. Oct. 1697. – 13. Sept. 1705.), s.l.,
1856.
19. Georgius Wass, Diarium Viennense 1698–1702, s.l., 1698-1702.
20. Ferenc Szakál, Naplója 1698−1718 (Diary 1698–1718), s.l., 1847.
21. György Rettegi , Emlékirata 1718-1777 (Memoirs 1718–1777), s.l.,
1718-1777.
22. János Ikafalvi, Vegyes naplójegyzetei 1747–1759 (Miscellaneous
Diary Notes), s.l., 19th c.
23. István Tekerőpataki Gáborfi, Naplója 1744–1764 (Diary 1744–
1764), s.l., 1744-1764
24. Prince János Kemény, Históriája (Historia), s.l., 18th c.
25. Johannis Kemény, Biographia, s.l., 1807.
26. Johannis Kemény, photography, s.l., s.a.
27. Count Miklós Bethlen, Önéletírása (Autobiography), Sudores et
cruces Nicolai Bethlen, s.l., 19th c.
28. Miklós Bethlen, Művei (Works), s.l., 1770.
29. Count Miklós Bethlen, Élete (His Life), s.l., 18th c.
30. Mihály Cserei, Históriája (Historia), s.l., 18th c.
31. Mihály Cserei, Históriája (Historia), s.l., 18th c.
32. Kata Bethlen, Életének rövid le irása (The Short Description of Her
Life), s.l., 18th c.
33. Péter Bod, Narratio de vita, s.l., 18th c.
34. Eberus Palulus, Calendarium historicum, Vitebergae, 1551.
38. Cluj-Napoca, lithography, s.l., 19th c.
38. Erdélyi Kalendárium, 1798. esztendőre (Transylvanian Calendar
for the Year 1798), Szeben (Sibiu), Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), s.a.
for the Year 1800), Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), s.a.
for the Year 1797), Szeben (Sibiu), Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), s.a.
41. Kalendárium az 1632-es esztendőre (Calendar for the Year 1632),
432
42. Kalendárium az 1678-as esztendőre (Calendar for
Lőcse, s.a.
43. Kalendárium az 1681-as esztendőre (Calendar for
Lőcse, s.a.
44. Kalendáriom az 1692-es esztendőre (Calendar for
Lőcse, s.a.
Lőcse, s.a.
48. Kalendáriom az 1693-as esztendőre (Calendar for
Koloszvár (Cluj-Napoca), s.a.
50. Kalendáriom az 1695-ös esztendőre (Calendar for
51. Calendariom az 1697-es esztendőre (Calendar for
52. Calendariom az 1698-as esztendőre (Calendar for
Hic explicit totum !
433
the Year 1678),
the Year 1681),
the Year 1692),
the Year 1690),
the Year 1691),
the Year 1692),
the Year 1693),
the Year 1694),
the Year 1695),
the Year 1697),
the Year 1698),
MISCELLANEA
Adrian Marino between unit-ideas and Zeitgeist
Ruxandra CESEREANU 1
Faculty of Letters,
Historian of ideas and liberal thinker, interested in the study of
ideologies (fascination often manifested after the fall of communism),
Adrian Marino claimed public attention in less than a year after his death
with a vast work, which though unfinished, deals not only with
censorship in Romania, but also with the theme of liberty. 2 The two
terms facinated the author in the last period of his life. He conjoined them
in an antithetic pair with the very purpose of accentuating the pluses and
minuses of Romanian culture and society analyzed in a studious and
exhaustive racourci with application to the 18th and 19th centuries.
Adrian Marino elegantly handled the lancet on the pre-modern
Romanian political thinking and culture, being fascinated by the
evolution of a critical spirit. Therefore, as a scrupulous analyst, he did not
explore merely the visible idea-structures connected to the mentioned
subjects, but he also looked into the less-known, marginal areas.
Preoccupied with the slow process of Europeanization of Romanian
culture, Adrian Marino particularly focused on the concept of modernity
applied in the sphere of political thinking. Is there a Romanian tradition
in this sense? Was our liberal thinking only an epigone? Returning to the
sources, to the origins, Adrian Marino engaged himself in the Sisyphean
labour of gathering documentary evidence, for he wished to respect the
historical truth faithfully.
The author recognized the militant character of his procedure,
which even had missionary accents “defending and affirming the liberty
of conscience, thinking and expression”. As a synonym for censorship, he
also liked to use the term constraint, considered sometimes more
adequate for its evident noxious meaning. Death prevented Adrian
Marino from writing the final chapter of his work, namely, “Confruntarea
dintre liberalism şi totalitarismele de dreapta şi stânga” (The
confrontation between liberalism and leftist and rightist totalitarian
regimes). This would have been an imperious chapter for professionally
1
Adrian Marino, Libertate şi cenzură în România (Liberty and Censorship in
Romania), Iaşi, Polirom, 2005, 299.
2
437
separating the conceptual waters (and not only) in the ideological
confusions that haunted Romania after the fall of the communist regime.
Naturally, the author defined his method at the beginning of his
book: he was a representative of the history of ideas, discipline having no
Romanian model. The history of ideas was seen as the only appropriate
method throughout centuries for analyzing Romanian culture and
ideology. Adrian Marino admitted that he partially accepted the
American version of that method through the “unit-ideas” term relying on
the analysis of a theory, a doctrine, a program etc. Through the term
„unit-ideas”, the relations – beyond time or space – between different
political ideas can be detected. In spite of the multiple nuances which
may occur in such cases that which the author called “ideological, mental
construction“, remains a constant of the analysis. The ideological
invariants which essentially take part at the portrayal of a culture and of a
political thinking are interesting too. The long-term changes often depend
on these invariants.
Adrian Marino did not rely on a quantitative method of the
history of ideas, but on a qualitative one. And, at this point, the author
displayed the revelation he had had during his documentation: the
acknowledged cultural or literary hierarchies will undergo some major
changes; works catalogued as minor are to become important strictly
through the medium of the history of ideas. Adrian Marino even talks
about a certain voluptuousness in the rediscovery of some unjustly
ignored writers from before 1848. For this rediscovery, the author used
various sources: memoirs, correspondences, official reports of the age,
etc. His revelation was embodied – among others – in “Noul Geist al
Şcolii Ardelene” (the New Geist of the Transylvanian School), which had
surpassed in relevance, in the sense of the unit-ideas, the traditional
cultural practice of the age. Basically, Adrian Marino’s counterattack was
directed against the primacy of the aesthetic, his analysis proving that the
political idea had been prior to the literary idea in the pre-modern
Romanian culture, and that the latter was dominant in the Romanian
space only from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th
century. By means of such an investigation the author solved an
obsessing Romanian cultural complex: containing undeniable ideological,
political, social values, Romanian culture had initially been an advanced
and not at all minor culture. Adrian Marino voluptuously rehabilitated it
and offered us an unprecedented explicative solution that satisfies the
national pride.
438
As regards the title of the book, it must be specified that the
author was more concerned and fascinated with the idea of freedom than
with the issue of censorship. Adrian Marino considered the idea of
freedom “the first Romanian principle of thought” but understood in the
definition of stating and claiming the liberty of will. The impulse of
liberty is a “fundamental human” impetus; that is why liberty was not
initially theorized in Romanian culture. An ideological pro domo defence
for liberty is needed only in the moment when constraint appears.
Transylvania was the first Romanian territory where the idea of liberty
began to be discussed on a professional level, having an ideological
background. However, the discussion remained inside the cultured class
and did not break into the profound Romania of the masses. The idea of
liberty had different nuances in Transylvania than in the other Romanian
Countries – but this fact is natural and utterly justified. Notwithstanding,
Adrian Marino’s central observation was other: namely that the idea of
freedom – as it appeared in Transylvania – was thoroughly
contemporaneous with the European flux of ideas; if nothing, this point
showed that in the 18th century we were at the same cultural level as
Europe and we were integrated in her. Only Europe did not know about
us!
That is why a chronology of the idea of freedom is necessary;
we are informed accordingly that in 1799 Paul Iorgovici, was the first to
express clearly this idea, followed soon by Samuil Micu and by the other
members of the Transylvanian School. Marino’s analysis was made step
by step, entering into details, in order to offer a general view on the
Zeitgeist of the age. The majority of interventions related to the idea of
liberty appear in theological or linguistic debates, then in historical and
social-political discussions. However, the idea of freedom was decisively
interlinked in Transylvania with the aspiration towards religious freedom,
and only after that with political-social liberty (the national idea) and the
freedom of press. Supplex Libellus Valachourum was mainly the
quintessence of the first two issues. The European idea or ideas flow into
Walachia and Moldova through Transylvania – asserted Adrian Marino.
Transylvania was the first Romanian province that assimilated the
European model and discovered Europe through the flux of ideas. The
journeys made by Romanian scholars to Vienna and Rome (more rarely
to France or England) were essential in this respect.
Moldova and Walachia were also discussed in equally detailed
case studies, but Transylvania remained – at least for the 18th and for the
beginning of the 19th century – the champion in Europeanizing the
439
Romanian area, and in introducing the ideas circulating throughout
Europe. The other two Romanian countries seem to have promoted the
idea of liberty less impetuously, at least in the period studied by the
author. The progress was individual in Moldova and Walachia and not
collective (as in Transylvania), and the influences being brought by
Phanariotes or they came from Russian, and not from the West.
Nevertheless, the critical spirit developed and the modernization process
took place progressively and favourably in Moldova and Walachia, both
being more patriarchal-traditional countries than Transylvania. There
were several peculiarities in both regions: in Moldova freemasonry
implanted a current of western-liberal ideas; the lack of censorship and
the massive book-import approved by the foreign cosmopolite rulers
were important too; and last but not least the influences and especially the
echoes of the French Revolution were essential. In Moldova’s case,
Adrian Marino also followed the “beginnings of the Romanian
«historical» complexes of inferiority and superiority”. “We are indeed
inferior Europeans, but we also have a great capacity of recovery” –
asserted the author optimistically.
The case of Walachia was almost similar to that of Moldova;
however, the author observed here a more intensive process of
Europeanization than in Moldova, even if there was the a danger of
creating some “forms without essence”: Europe was mythicized, but it
did not have a clear content that could have been taken over and assumed
by the intellectuals of Walachia. Europe was blank (as an adoptable
essence) but imitable. Adrian Marino’s discussion is challenging as it was
aimed inclusively at the debates on the same obsessing theme, which
have taken place since 1990, after the fall of communism and the more of
less forced joining of Romania with Europe. Up to this point we
discussed the 18th century. Another impressive model was dedicated to
the 19th century in Transylvania, a real obsession of the author, I would
say, to fix the origins of the Europeanization process of Romanian culture
in Transylvania, and not in the South. The procedure was without partipris, however, it was deeply scientific, like the entire book, which makes
Adrian Marino – if this is still necessary – the most prolific historian and
bibliographer of ideas in Romania.
440
Jewish Philosophy: between Jerusalem and Athens
Sandu Frunză: Philosophy and Judaism. An Answer to the Question:
“What is Jewish Philosophy?”
Iulia GRAD 1
PhD student
In the volume entitled Philosophy and Judaism. An Answer to
the Question: “What is Jewish Philosophy?” (Cluj-Napoca, Limes
Publishing House, 2006, pp. 159) Sandu Frunză proposes a specialist’s
extremely elaborated perspective on the antique and medieval Jewish
philosophy.
The volume is the first of a series of three books in which the
author outlines possible answers to the difficult question formulated in
the title. One of the answers, the one offered in this volume, has as a
starting point two representative figures of antique and medieval
philosophy, Philo and Maimonides. Another answer, which will
constitute the subject of the next volume of this project, can be given by
surveying the works of some famous names of modern Jewish
philosophy; while the third answer, offered in a third volume, will be
based on the philosophy subsequent to the Holocaust.
The author announces from the beginning that the metaphor of
the cities Jerusalem and Athens or of the realms of Israel and Greece has
an essential role in the logic of this book. This metaphor describes the
dynamics of the relationship between philosophy and religion, a
relationship with varied forms having a decisive role in outlining the
sphere of Jewish philosophy. “Jewish philosophy – Sandu Frunză says –
proposes a privileged modality for understanding Judaism by the
encounter between philosophy and religion as the founding polarity of a
creative tradition.”
The first part of the volume is a general introduction to the
proposed subject. Firstly, the author presents the classical solutions to the
problem of the circumscription of Jewish philosophical sphere proposed
by the formalist and essentialist perspectives and analysed by Raphael
Jospe.
The formalist perspective indicates an exact criterion –such as
language or belonging to the community of Israel – for circumscribing
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441
the Jewish philosophical sphere. In this way an uncomplicated though
oversimplified view on Jewish philosophy is established.
The essentialist discussion proposes the existence of an essence
of Judaism according to which a philosophical system is or is not Jewish.
This perspective, however, does not offer a coherent explicative model,
being, according to Raphael Jospe, rather prescriptive than descriptive.
The attempt to find some criteria or elements that should constitute the
essence of Jewish philosophy is destined to failure because of the
diversity of Jewish philosophical thinking.
At this point Sandu Frunză states that one of the great
provocations formulated by Jewish philosophy is exactly “to go beyond
the formalist-essentialist divergence by analysing different systems of
thought, which offer a series of special modalities for establishing the
relationship between philosophy and religion.”
Another level discussed while attempting to outline the
necessary background for the formulation of an answer to the question
“what is Jewish philosophy?” is the chronological perspective. Sandu
Frunză analyses several approaches such as Isaac Husik’s, according to
which Jewish philosophy can be identified only in the past, or Daniel H.
Frank’s opinion who sustains that we can talk about Jewish philosophy
only from the beginning of the 20th century when this academic discipline
appeared. Regarding the place of Jewish philosophy as a part of
philosophy in general, the author mentions Warren Zev Harvey’s
analyses on the historiographic perspectives of some philosophers such as
Hegel, Wolfson, Strauss or Pines.
Later on, the possibility of the existence of a Judaic theology is
discussed, several options being mentioned: on the one hand, that which
sustains that theology is a Christian invention having no equivalent in
Jewish thinking; on the other hand, that which thinks, as Louis Jacobs
did, that there is a Jewish theology and that this is given more and more
attention these days. Sandu Frunză analyses in more detail and somewhat
critically the perspective on theology in the Jewish context, proposed by
Manfred H. Vogel, who redefines what modernity presents as philosophic
reflection as authentic Jewish philosophy.
The metaphor of Jerusalem and Athens, a metaphor which
accompanies the reader during the entire book, will be discussed once
again when Leo Strauss’ position regarding the relationship between the
two is presented.
Strauss thinks that the particularity of Athens consists of the
option for the individual, independence and knowledge, while Jerusalem
442
is characterized by dependence and affection, in the biblical reference to
honour one’s father and mother. In this way the idea of a permanent
conflict between philosophy and religion and the impossibility of their
coexistence in a coherent cultural construction is outlined. The secret of
western civilization consists exactly of the attempt to put together thought
and faith. The metaphor of the two cities expresses the fundamental
tension between the philosophers’ God and Abraham’s Isaac’s and
Jacob’s God, the irreconcilable isolation of reason and faith.
The author presents at this point how A. J. Heschel proposes to
surpass the impossibility of reconciliation between reason and faith. He
too resorts to the metaphor of the two symbolic cities, Athens and
Jerusalem at the meeting point of which Jewish philosophy should be
constituted. It is possible to keep the two poles in balance if their meeting
is imagined as an ellipsis. Jewish philosophy appears as an “elliptic
thinking”, since it revolves around two central points: philosophy and
religion. “Because the tension resulted from the competition of the two
powers this thinking with an elliptic orbit continuously gives new senses
to the meeting between philosophy and religion.” (p. 53.)
Sandu Frunză thinks that this perspective is to be preferred to the
others because it proposes a possibility for avoiding the conflict between
Jerusalem and Athens by establishing a dialogical relationship between
reason and faith.
Further on, the author presents, by analysing Philo of
Alexandria’s philosophy, one of the possible answers to the question
raised by the subtitle of the volume.
To start with, Sandu Frunză mentions the periods Jewish
philosophy is usually divided into: the antique period which lasted to the
destruction of the Temple and its emblematic figure being Philo of
Alexandria; the medieval period which ended with Uriel da Costa and
whose exemplary figure was Maimonides; the modern age between
Spinoza, Mendelssohn and the Holocaust; the contemporary period
beginning with the founding of Israel.
Another division into periods was proposed by Wolfson; this has
as a criterion the relationship with the Scriptures. Thus, the history of
philosophy is divided into: the philosophy which does not know the
Scriptures, the philosophy which serves the Scriptures and that which
wants to free itself from the influence of the Scriptures.
Further on, there are analyzed different approaches to the
relationship between philosophy and tradition at Philo, approaches
443
proposed by different thinkers, such as Wolfson, Shlomo Pines, CohnSherbok or Guttmann.
The author believes that Philo thought philosophy was the divine
gift given to the Greeks in order to discover by the way of reason that
which had been given to the Jews through revelation. In this sense it is
useful to mention the metaphor of the two callings, a metaphor referring
in fact to religion and philosophy: the calling of Moses, who loved virtue
and was loved by God and reveals himself to him, and the calling of
Bezaleel, who was chosen to be the artist of the Tabernacle and of all the
things in it, and who knows God only by the means of his creation. The
conclusion is in this context that both faith and reason, both religion and
philosophy belong to a reality named by Philo Wisdom.
The relationship between philosophy and wisdom can be
integrated into the paradigm of the two cities according to Sandu Frunză.
In Philo’s case these two symbolic cities are integrated by “the medium
of virtue, a virtue which is valorised as devotion and as mystical
experience.” It is essential to take into consideration this “ritualization of
thinking, which requires that tradition should be adapted to the field of
philosophy and that philosophical and religious reflection should return
to a creative stage of tradition.”
The author accords an important role to the presentation of the
Christian reading of the Philonian philosophy in the analysis of the
Jewish thinker’s system. Here Sandu Frunză refers, among other authors,
to the Philonian exegeses of the Christian theologian Ioan Chirilă, who,
affirming that Philo’s oeuvre is not a “pre-Christian intuition”, but “an
elevation towards the Logos”, manages to avoid the trap and temptation
of some sub-textual readings or of exaggerated connections.
Another emblematic figure of Jewish thought, Moses
Maimonides is the subject of the analysis which outlines the necessary
background for the circumscription of the Jewish philosophical sphere.
Sandu Frunză states that the analyses regarding the place of
philosophy in Jewish thinking emphasize its preponderantly hermeneutic
character. In this context is situated another important aspect for
understanding Jewish philosophy, the meeting between philosophy,
mysticism and Judaic tradition. A decisive moment in this sense is,
according to the author, the meeting between Maimonides and those
exegetes of his work who were preoccupied with the redefinition of the
relationship between philosophy and esoteric thinking, in this case, the
Cabbala.
444
The author differentiates between two types of attitudes towards
Maimonides and the Guide of the Perplexed: on the one hand, the
acceptance of the possibility that philosophy and the religious tradition
can be comprised in one exercise of thinking; on the other hand, the
emphasising of the esoteric character of philosophy. Thus, the mystical
sphere is the medium which offers the balance between philosophy and
Judaism.
Referring to the complex relations between philosophy and
Jewish mystical thinking, the author mentions Moshe Idel’s works which
analyzed this subject. Idel, Sandu Frunză tells, managed to perceive the
phenomenon in its complexity, being aware of the variety of nuances.
Similarly, our author insists upon the perspective proposed by Moshe
Halbertal who attached great importance to Maimonides’ esoteric
preoccupations. Frunză declares, relying on his complex analyses, that
“Maimonides and his exegetes invest philosophy with the status of a
practice which helps us to orientate ourselves in the world of secrets and
secrecy.”
Another discussed subject is the controversy between the
Maimonidian perspective – which claims that it invented an alternative to
antique esotericism – and the cabbalists. This controversy leads,
according to Moshel Idel, to a powerful development of the esoteric
tradition.
Sandu Frunză, in what follows, analyzes in detail the effects and
the controversies generated by the revolutionary Maimonidian
conception, which made a clear break and provoked many very different
reactions by reinterpreting in a rationalist manner the Jewish tradition.
The general reception of Maimonides in Christian intellectual
circles is varied, but it is included, however, by a specific pattern. Étienne
Gilson, whose attitude towards the Jewish philosopher is also analyzed,
complies with this pattern too.
In spite of the extremely different reactions to Maimonides and
though the importance of his work has been minimized (to this effect the
author mentions the fact that Hegel dealt with him in less than a page in
his famous history of philosophy), Sandu Frunză considers him “the most
significant personality of medieval Jewish philosophy”, a personality
whose oeuvre represents an indispensable subject of analysis if one tries
to outline an answer to the question “what is Jewish philosophy?”.
The last chapter of the book is very suggestively entitled From
Jerusalem to Athens and back. It is both the conclusion of the book and,
445
at the same time, an opening towards the subject which will be the basis
of the next volume of the project the author intends to continue.
Sandu Frunză asserts that the influence of religious tradition
upon the thinking of an author who belongs to this tradition is profound
and cannot be ignored. In spite of the diffused Aristotelian or NeoPlatonist elements, the author says, antique and medieval Jewish
philosophy identifies itself with the contents of Jewish tradition. The
discussion on the question what makes a work Jewish in its character is
quite complex as Alexander Broadie’s analysis proves this.
The relationship between tradition and philosophical meditation,
specific to the antique and medieval Jewish context is mentioned too by
Sandu Frunză when he says that, though philosophy is situated under the
badge of the exigencies of the Scriptures, religious authority is not a
dogmatic one and philosophy has not an ancillary situation in the context
of thinking. Antique and medieval Jewish philosophers wanted to show
first of all that “philosophy and religion have a common content and in
the formula Jewish philosophy the two are integrated – in different
formulas and in different measure – in a common Judaic tradition.” The
examples of Philo and Maimonides give account of a much more
complex relationship between philosophy and religion than the model of
ancillary situation of philosophy; a complex relationship in which “the
integrating force of tradition” ensures the balance between the two cities.
Sandu Frunză, applying once again the metaphor of the two
symbolic cities, reports the fact that Jewish philosophers practicing an
“elliptic thinking” remain in the sphere of a “between”, as a form of
thinking auto-exiled from both cities. He is not satisfied with this
“paradigm of exile” and proceeds introducing another paradigm, offered
by “the dynamics of exile–redemption”. This, postulating the journey
from Jerusalem towards Athens, but also the return home, makes possible
to avoid the estrangement from both cities.
Moving away from Leo Strauss’ conception, Sandu Frunză
perceives Jewish philosophy as the phenomenon which manages to
diminish significantly the tension between Jerusalem and Athens.
The manner in which the subject is approached, the impressive
amount of knowledge offered to us and the originality with which the
author places the information in the frame formed by the possible
answers to the question “what is Jewish philosophy?” make Sandu
Frunză’s extremely profound and erudite study an indispensable
instrument for those interested in Jewish culture.
446
A Man, a Book, a Library
Traian Brad – a Servant of Books
Raluca SOARE 1
Cluj-Napoca
Writing reminds you of books and books lead you not only to
the territory of imagination but also to libraries as both independent
architectural entities and institutions, together with the symbolic content
the word library has. But the world of libraries cannot be imagined
without librarians, without those persons who offer you their knowledge,
their rich culture in order to help you as a reader to find the information
you need or, on other occasions, who help you to find among the large
bookshelves the book suitable for an afternoon relaxation. And this
librarians’ world is not confined only to doing good with the reader who
enters the library. These people often succeed, through their continuous
efforts, in producing positive modifications, in making things for the
benefit of a whole community, or even in changing the view of the city
they live in, their aim being to spread knowledge.
Such a librarian, such a “servant of books” who dedicated
himself to culture, to books and to the library was undoubtedly Traian
Brad whose name is connected with the new building of the Public City
Library in Cluj at the foot of the Feleac Hill. He was also one of the
founders of the National Association of Librarians and Public Libraries in
Romania (NALPLR).
Though he is no longer physically present in the everyday life of
the Public City Library’s personnel, but his spiritual heritage, his memory
is ever present in the institution and in those colleagues’ memory whom
he instructed both professionally and through his personal example. The
volume entitled suggestively Traian Brad – un slujitor al cărţii (Traian
Brad – a Servant of Books), published at the Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă
(Scientific Book House) in Cluj-Napoca (2005, 296 pp.) is proof to this.
The book came out on the occasion of Traian Brad’s 60th
anniversary in the form of an anthology meant to present the entire
activity as a writer of the much missed director of the “Octavian Goga”
Public City Library. It also collects the thoughts of the persons who knew
him, loved him and appreciated him, as well as interviews and letters.
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447
The book thus becomes a true memorial volume; its pages outline for the
reader the personality of this guide in the world of books who left his
mark on the cultural life and the library activities of Cluj and
Transylvania, his influence being maybe felt on a wider scale too.
The volume contains three distinct parts and a chronologically
arranged “photographical” appendix at the end which presents Traian
Brad in different moments of his life: in his study, at professional
meetings, symposia, conferences, “soul meetings”. 1
The book starts with a presentation of the late Traian Brad’s
biographic data – he graduated the Faculty of Letters in Cluj in 1972, he
was the director of the “Octavian Goga” Public City Library and initiated
and coordinated several European programs for Romania in the domain
of public libraries. This is followed by the presentation of his activity as a
writer. He published studies of literary history in Tribuna and Lectura
such as: studies on Iosif Pervain; Ideea naţională la Octavian Goga (The
National Idea in Octavian Goga’s Work) whom he presented as an ardent
champion of the unification of the Romanian territory from between the
boundaries of the former Dacia through Romania’s participation in the
war; Haşdeu şi istoria critică a românilor (Haşdeu and the Romanian
Critical History) in which he presented Haşdeu’s study on the Romanian
critical thought in detail following its table of contents and through the
notes made by the author in a copy of his work owned in the present by
the “Octavian Goga” Library.
After the articles of literary criticism his rich research activity
in the domain of librarianship is emphasized by the enumeration of the
studies in librarianship and information science written by Traian Brad.
Some titles and themes of this activity are: Programul Phare la Cluj (The
PHARE Programme in Cluj) which describes the steps of the programme
and its material implications, as well as its importance in the development
of information sources; Modele de organizare a bibliotecilor (The
Organization Model of Libraries) in which libraries from Belgium,
Holland and Greece are compared with their particularities and common
elements, their interest in the users’ needs, the centralization of some
services and the continuous striving for funds; Managementul pentru
bibliotecă: o abordare personală a stării bibliotecii publice româneşti şi
clujene (Library Management: A Personal View on the State of Public
Libraries in Romania and Cluj) which outlines the problems of public
libraries, the lack of responsible organizations, the importance of the
1
Spiritual holiday in Pănade, August 1999.
448
public library for the local cultural medium and the impossibility of
elaborating long term development strategies; Noi suntem cei care vom
extinde centrul oraşului (We Are the Ones to Extend the Town Centre) –
an essay emphasizing the role the opening of a new public library
building was going to have, being a new cultural and not geographic
centre of the city. In this part of the book are also presented: the activity
of the National Association of Librarians and Public Libraries from
Romania (NALPLR) through its relationships established or presented by
Traian Brad as the president of the association; the interviews realized by
Dan Damaschin, Constantin Mustaţă etc. and published in Biblioteca,
Adevărul de Cluj and Piaţa de Cluj; as well as Traian Brad’s
correspondence with Hermina Anghelescu.
The last part of the book contains reviews on Traian Bard’s
works, Pănade 700 de ani (Pănade 700 Years), Lectura şi biblioteca
publică la Cluj (Reading and the Public Libraries in Cluj) written by Ion
Buzaşi, Mircea Popa, Dimitrie Poptămaş, Ionuţ Ţene, Săluc Horvat etc.,
and the honorary and commemorative articles formulated by his
colleagues from the library, his family and those who esteemed him. An
immense admiration, appreciation and the regret that he is no longer
present among them is revealed on these pages.
Traian Brad was a man who “knew to administrate culture, to
valorize it, being an extraordinary library director”, a man “inspired by
the importance of books and of the institutions preserving it and putting it
at the readers’ disposal” according to the characterization of an article
published in the Apostrof, a characterization quoted on the last page of
the book too.
Probably, whenever we are thinking of libraries, the information
centres of the community in Cluj, whenever we pass near the building of
the “Octavian Goga” Public City Library, we shall give a thought to
Traian Brad. The memorial volume realized by those who were his
friends, subalterns and close acquaintances will help us to discover his
personality.
449
Lidia Kulikovski: Library Services for People with Special Needs
(Textbook for Librarians)
Chişinău, Epigraph Publishing House, 2006, 288 pp.
Ildikó BÁN 1
Cluj-Napoca
An exceptional book deserves some introductory words about
its author. Dr Lidia Kulikovski, born in the village Nicoreni, Drochia
(Republic of Moldova) in 1951 is the Director General of the “Bogdan
Petriceicu-Haşdeu” Public Library, the Associate Professor of the
Department of Librarianship and Informational Assistance from the
Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences. During her 33 years
of professional activity she published over 200 scientific articles,
numerous bibliographies and monographs out of which we should like to
mention: Cartea, modul nostru de a dăinui: contribuţii la dezvoltarea
domeniului biblioteconomic (Books, Our Way of Life: Contributions to
the Development of Librarianship); Servicii de bibliotecă pentru
persoanele dezavantajate: istoric, prezent, tendinţe (Library Services for
People with Special Needs: History, Present, Tendencies); Monografii
bibliografice Iurie Colesnic: bibliografie (Iurie Colesnic Bibliographic
Monographs: A Bibliography); Mihai Cimpoi: bibliografie (Mihai
Cimpoi: A Bibliography). At the present time she is the Chief-Editor of
BiblioPolis, a librarianship and information sciences periodical, and a
member of the Editorial Board of the publication Symposia.
The book we are going to speak about has an accessible
structure, having eleven chapters each one beginning with a motto
intended to render the reader sensitive and ending in a practical activity
for the consolidation of the knowledge. The volume is based on the
information gathered while elaborating the study Servicii de bibliotecă
pentru persoanele dezavantajate, the main theme being the access of
people with special needs to the library.
In the first chapter the concepts of social inclusion and exclusion
are defined, and library activities are identified meant to ensure social
inclusion. In the second chapter entitled Social groups: characteristics,
statistics, tendencies the author characterizes and identifies the following
types of deficiencies, underlining how important is to be familiar with the
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450
terminology and the specificity of each disability: sensorial deficiencies
(such as visual disability, hearing deficiency), locomotor disorders
(arthritis, paralysis, ankylosis, malformations etc.), mental deficiencies
(including intellectual disability, linguistic disability, behavioural
disability), multiple or associated disabilities (persons with multiple
deficiencies, blind-deaf-mute etc.). Elderly people, persons deprived of
their freedom, cultural and linguistic minorities are also included in the
category of disadvantaged persons. Being familiar with the types and
specificities of each disability helps the librarian to organize the activities
with disadvantaged persons correctly, to offer special services in
conformity with the needs of each group.
The problem of architectural accessibility is discussed in the
third chapter of the book, where the author attempts to systematize the
requirements the libraries have to meet in order to comply with the access
necessities of the different groups of disadvantaged people. In order to
ensure accessibility the libraries have to take into consideration
international legislation, disabled people’s needs and they have to consult
the organisations of these groups when they carry out renovation,
construction and extension plans.
In the chapter entitled Accessible collections and formats the
specific problems related to the development of an accessible library
collection are analyzed. The collections of an accessible library have to
comply with the information needs of different user categories and have
also to contain, besides the traditional documents, “alternative formats”
(accessible formats) such as: audio tapes, CD-ROMs, telephone based
informational services, Braille books, electronic formats, books printed in
large type, speaking books, tactile books etc.
The author surveys some “inclusion principles” a library
collection has to comply with. The library collection must represent
disabled persons clearly and without stereotypes, the information
referring to disabilities, services and the rights of disadvantaged people
must be actual, accurate, correct, without prejudices and stereotypes.
Chapter five entitled Inclusive informational society: disabled
people’s informational and communicative technologies analyzes the way
in which technology influences the relationship between the library and
people with special needs. Computerization produces a series of
mutations in libraries, the services offered to disadvantaged people
improve and become diversified. Technological achievements have
changed everything for disadvantaged people, as they may help to
overcome the disadvantages by removing technological barriers. These
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days there is a wide range of machines facilitating the use of library
resources (varied depending on the particularities of the disability),
including: modified typewriters and computer keyboards, stations
controlled by voice, modified telephones etc.
The longest chapter of the book (chapter six) discusses library
services. To ensure accessible services one must be familiar – besides the
users’ information necessities – with the barriers of studying and reading
which the disability causes. Usual library services must be extended
depending on the disabled peoples’ needs and interests by including some
new services such as: home services, services to the place of
institutionalisation, multicultural services, special reading equipment for
people with physical or sensorial disabilities, special materials for people
with difficulties, electronic communication services.
All these services can be really accessible to disadvantaged
people only if the five service principles are respected. According to
these principles services must be orientated towards the beneficiary; they
must be socially inclusive; they must be useful, efficient and always at
the users’ disposal. A service is efficient if it is physically and
intellectually accessible. In the evaluation of library programs and
services, disadvantaged users should also be involved in addition the
library personnel. Special attention is given to elderly people as well.
They constitute a highly varied group from the point of view of
education, profession, ethnicity, disabilities. In the library collections
there must be materials referring to the special interests of elderly people
too (information on health, medicine, special legislation, information on
organizations and foundations which help these people to find a job).
Libraries also organize programmes for promoting minority cultures, for
supporting cultural diversity and the accessibility of the different
cultures; they support cohesion by varied actions, policies and
programmes.
People in prison also belong to the category of disadvantaged
people who are the beneficiaries of some library services. In prisons the
library helps in offering educational, recreational and rehabilitation
programmes. The diversity, extent and level of library services for people
in prison must be based on their demographical, social and educational
profile.
Libraries offer programmes and services to disadvantaged
children too, these programmes being based on the principle of inclusion,
which means the possible adaptation of all the library programmes and
services so as the children can participate in the programmes they like.
452
The author enumerates some programmes for children: Story-telling
hour, Homework, Summer clubs. Other activities with children in
difficult situations are the reading camps. In the activity with
disadvantaged people bibliotherapy, melotherapy, the therapy of graphic
and plastic expression, ludotherapy can also be applied. This chapter is a
real guide in the interaction with disadvantaged people; it instructs us
how to deal with different categories of disabled persons.
The chapter entitled Management points out the central role of
management in rendering some library services for disadvantaged people.
Inclusive management ensures the institutional, structural and political
supporting frame for inclusion in library.
The next chapter of the book focuses on marketing issues: The
marketing of informational services for disadvantaged people. Marketing
is a part of the library policy regarding disadvantaged people and has as
its aim the inclusion of excluded people, being the instrument which
reunites the techniques employed to attract disadvantaged persons by
promoting the library services and programmes. Working with
disadvantaged people requires the “accessible instruction” of librarians.
In the course of the instruction programmes the importance of the
services offered to this segment of the population must be stressed in
order to avoid the stereotypical attitude towards disadvantaged people.
In the penultimate chapter, With small means... and little time
the author offers some practical suggestions for the improvement of
access for disabled people, taking into consideration the different
categories of disability. The book ends with a chapter of appendices,
which contains an ALA guide and a list with the organizations of
disadvantaged people.
Having as its aim the complex presentation and analysis of
disadvantaged people’s accessibility to libraries, this book is addressed to
students and librarians, constituting an excellent support in their
professional preparation and improvement.
453
The 10th Conference of the European Association for Health
Information and Libraries
(EAHIL)
Ioana ROBU 1 –Sally WOOD-LAMONT 2
Library of the University of Medicine and Pharmaceutics,
Cluj-Napoca
The 10th Conference of the European Association for Health
Information and Libraries (EAHIL) was held in Cluj between 11- 16th
September 2006 at the Academicum Collegium of the Babeş-Bolyai
University. This conference is one of the most important scientific events
in Europe in the field of medical library information. It takes place every
2 years, with a participation of over 300 medical librarians, specialists in
medical informatics, doctors and other information specialists from all
the European countries as well as the USA, Canada and Australia. It was
the first time since EAHIL was founded, 20 years ago, that the bi-annual
conference was held in an Eastern European country.
This conference was attended by 330 participants from over 36
countries (only 35 came from Romania) and was one of the largest
international events ever to take place in Cluj-Napoca and Romania.
Scientific Programme
There were 6 Plenary sessions, 51 oral presentations, 34 Poster
Presentations and 6 Empowerment Sessions.
This idea of an
Empowerment Session was proposed by Eva Alopaeus (Sweden) and
Patricia Flor (Norway) as an opportunity for participants to discuss, in
depth, certain topics in an interactive environment. The purpose of an
empowerment session was to give an overview for participants with
different levels of experience with the topic in question. It could have
been in the form of a Continuing Education course, a lecture, or a mixture
of these presentation forms and was practical rather than theoretical in
nature. The facilitators were all well known names in EAHIL with
excellent experience in their chosen subjects. In addition, 9 Continuing
Education Courses were given by international lecturers and were
attended by 140 participants from the 11–12 September in the Medical
Informatics Department of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy. On
1
2
454
the first evening a new event was introduced for EAHIL conferences: a
First-Timers evening where all new members of EAHIL were encouraged
to come along and make friends and meet other people. This was a great
success.
Social Programme
The social programme, intended to show the best of Romanian
culture and tradition, consisted of an evening featuring a selection of arias
from well known operas led by the wonderful soprano Ştefania Barz and
included a welcome buffet in the beautiful Romanian National Theatre in
the centre of Cluj. There were three afternoon tours, Walking Tour of
Cluj, Visit to the Village Museum and a Visit to Turda Salt Mine. At the
village museum, the participants were greeted by two men on horseback
in full Romanian costume and were given an excellent display of
Romanian dancing and singing by a group of children. At the Turda Salt
mine four Cluj Academy of Music students gave a wonderful 30 minute
concert. The full day tours offering exciting insights into the history and
culture of Transylvania were: Alba Iulia & Râmeţi monastery, Hunedoara
Castle and Lake Cinciş, Biertan & Sighişoara. Two hundred and forty
participants enjoyed these tours. The final event was a Gala Dinner in the
Hotel Belvedere on top of the one of the hills that surround Cluj, with
panoramic views of the city. Again we were able to offer a marvellous
display of Romanian dancing and violin playing which brought the whole
audience to their feet.
The President of EAHIL, Arne Jakobsson, Director of the Oslo
University Library of Medical Sciences said about the conference: “To
really describe the success of the 10th EAHIL conference in Cluj you
need more superlatives than there are available, even in the English
language. I limit myself to outstanding - superb! I hope Sally, Ioana,
Benoit and the Local Committee who helped organize the conference
received all the superlatives they surely deserved from the conference
delegates. The organizers also succeeded in opening our hearts to Cluj
and Romania. The overall quality of the scientific programme was
excellent. It is very promising for the future that the quality is getting
better and better with each succeeding conference. New successful ideas
were introduced in Cluj. The reception for first-timers was a huge success
and so were the Empowerment Sessions where we could go into depth on
one theme. Hopefully they will continue in the future. The Social
Programme was outstanding. Opera, gala dinner and sightseeing tours!
The organizers had left no stone unturned. They even dragged down a
455
string quartet into the salt mines, I visited. The acoustics were fantastic.
On behalf of EAHIL board and all EAHIL members I wish to thank
everyone who helped with organizing the 10th EAHIL conference in
Cluj.”
456
Previous Volumes of the PHILOBIBLON:
Volume I. Number 1–2 / 1996 134. p. (Culture, Books, Society:
Europeanism and Europeanization; Librarianship: A Changing
Profession in a Transitional Society: Data – Conditions –
Possibilities; The Special Collections of the Library)
Volume II. Number 1 / 1997 136. p. (Culture, Books, Society:
Axiological Openings and Closures; A Changing Profession in
a Transitional Society: Data – Conditions – Possibilities;
Varia: The Special Collections of the Library; Miscellanea)
Volume II. Number 2 / 1997 237. p. (Culture, Books, Society:
Existential Dispositions; A Changing Profession in a
Transitional Society: Data – Conditions – Possibilities; Varia:
The Special Collections of the Library; Miscellanea)
Volume III. Number 1–2 / 1998 319. p. (Culture, Books, Society:
Dictionaries – Backgrounds and Horizons; A Changing
Possibilities; Varia: The Special Collections of the Library;
Miscellanea)
Volume IV–V–VI–VII. 1999–2002 538. p. (Culture, Books, Society:
History and Memory; A Changing Profession in a
Transitional Society: Data – Conditions – Possibilities; Varia:
The Special Collections of the Library; Miscellanea).
Volume VIII–IX. 2003–2004 573. p. (Culture, Books, Society:
Censorship and the Barriers of Freedom, A Changing
Possibilities; Varia: The Special Collections of the Library;
Miscellanea).
Volume X–XI. 2005–2006 603. p. (Culture, Books, Society: Music and
Existence; Librarianship: Hermeneutica Bibliothecaria: Data
– Conditions – Possibilities; The Special Collections of the
Library; Miscellanea).
457

Bulletin of the “Lucian Blaga”

Transcription

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