The transmission of Scandinavian literature in a European context.

Abstract

The present study aims at analyzing the ways in which the Nordic literature and culture circulates in a European context in the first half of the 20th century. In this way, French language functions as lingua franca for translations from most of the foreign literatures, being the main ‘guarantor’ of the reception of marginal cultures and literatures. It is also the case for the Romanian cultural space, whereas Scandinavian literature attain visibility in Romania through French intermediate. Moreover, this acquisition of Nordic literature in the Romanian space in the 1920’s is accomplished in a unique way, through a network of private libraries. Our research paper tackles the reception of a corpus of thirteen literary texts from Danish, Norwegian and Swedish literature in Romania, a cultural path made possible due to the existence of a private library own by an interwar Romanian intellectual, Constantin Petrescu-Ercea. With PhD studies in law at Sorbonne University, Petrescu-Ercea represents one of the outstanding figures in the academic field in Transylvania, from interwar period until the establishment of communism in Romania. Given these research directions, the present study aims to be both a study in cultural history, but also an analysis of reading practices (following Michel de Certeau’s theory), a study that emphasizes the ways in which everyday life can be ‘read’ and understood.