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UNIVERSITAS
GALATIENSIS
Online access: http://www.ann.ugal.ro/lil/index.htm
Annals of “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati
Fascicle XIII. Language and Literature. New Series
Issue 29, 2010
pp. 1-10
TEACHING MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY WITH
A MIND-MAPPING SOFTWARE
Reima Al-Jarf
1
Language
and
Literature
Introduction
A mind map is a graphic organizer in which the major categories radiate from a central
idea and sub-categories are represented as branches of larger branches. It can be used to
generate ideas, take notes, develop concepts and ideas, and improve memory. It is a
powerful tool that teachers can use to enhance and create a foundation for learning. It is
helpful for visual learners as they are illustrative tools that assist with managing thought,
directing learning, and making connections. It is a skill that cuts across ability levels and
encompasses all subject matters. Using the e-map technique gives instructors the freedom to
show interrelationships between concepts and content in a very visual and nonlinear
structure that benefits their students. Mind mapping has considerable utility for tracking
change in the course of learning, and has the capacity to distinguish between changes that
are meaningful, and those that are not. Deep, surface and non-learning are tangible measures
of learning that can be observed directly as a consequence of concept mapping [1], [2], [3],
[4], [5], [6].
A review of experimental and quasi-experimental studies by Nesbit and Adesope [7] in
which students in Grade 4 to postsecondary learned by constructing, modifying, or viewing
node-link diagrams and used concept maps to learn science, psychology, statistics, and
nursing showed that across several instructional conditions, settings, and teaching
methodologies, use of concept mapping was associated with increased retention of
information.
In second language contexts, Chularut and DeBacker , [8] investigated the effectiveness
of concept mapping as a learning strategy. Their findings showed a statistically significant
interaction of time, method of instruction, and level of English proficiency for selfmonitoring,
self-efficacy, and achievement. For all four outcome variables, the concept
mapping group showed significantly greater gains from pre-test to post-test than the
individual study group. Students who used background knowledge, context, morphology,
and dictionaries learn words more effectively and adapted a vocabulary web consisting of
eight identical bubbles to provide students with a word map, intertwining most of the
elements to clarify word meaning as essential to vocabulary instruction [9] (Rosenbaum,
2001). When bilingual knowledge maps (BiK-maps) were used as tools for learning German-
English word pairs by 72 undergraduates, BiK-map learners outperformed list learners on all
dependent measures [10].
In English for medical purposes, a review of the literature showed that there is a great
need for integrating mind-mapping techniques in the teaching of medical terminology to
premedical students who are non-native speakers of English. Results of a survey showed that
students enrolled in the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine, Durban, South Africa felt

that they lacked the basic conceptual foundations essential for the learning and
understanding of physiology. The difficulties that the students identified were mainly
terminological and conceptual in nature [11]. Since pre-medical students in general and
Saudi pre-medical students in particular have difficulties learning medical terminology, the
present study demonstrates how mind-mapping software can be used to help premedical
students connect, combine, learn, retain, apply and relate medical terms sharing the same
root/base, the same prefix or suffix, word cognates, derivatives of the same word, singular
and plural forms of medical terms from Latin and Greek and words with similar
pronunciation. It shows how the mind-mapping software can be used to attach different
prefixes and/or suffixes to the same root, different roots to the same prefix/and or same
suffix, sorting out, classifying, grouping terms according to the prefixes, roots or suffixes
they contain, and interpolating prefixes, roots and suffixes. By focusing on roots, prefixes,
suffixes and derivatives and then looking for branches that radiate out and show connections
between the terms, the students map medical terminology knowledge in a way which will
help them understand and retain new medical terms.
For students majoring in the health sciences (medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, applied
medical sciences), knowledge of medical terminology is an important element. By learning
new medical terms, students can increase their listening, speaking, reading and writing
terminology and can improve comprehension and production in English for medical
purposes. Nassaji [12] found that ESL students who have stronger depth of vocabulary
knowledge make more effective use of certain types of lexical inferencing strategies than
their weaker counterparts; and depth of vocabulary knowledge makes a significant
contribution to inferential success over and above the contribution made by the learner's
degree of strategy use. August, Carlo, Dressler and Snow [13] also found that English
language learners who experienced slow vocabulary development were less able to
comprehend texts at the grade level than their English-only peers. Such students were likely
to perform poorly on assessments in these areas and were at risk of being diagnosed as
learning disabled.
1. Context
In Saudi Arabia, Arabic is the medium of instruction in the public schools until the end
of high school. English is the medium of instruction in colleges of medicine and engineering.
In their pre-medical year, premedical students take English for medical purposes (8 hours a
week) and foundation courses such as biology, physics and biochemistry in English and they
encounter too many new medical terms with which they are unfamiliar. In addition to
reading and grammar, the English for medical purposes course introduces pre-medical
students to the basics of medical terminology.
Results of a questionnaire-survey administered to a sample of pre-medical students at
Umm Al-Quara University in Mecca, Saudi Arabia showed that medical terminology
constitutes a major problem for beginning pre-medical students. Pre-medical students
reported that they had difficulty in pronouncing, recognizing the component parts of
medical terms and what each part means; in connecting the different terms derived from the
same base; in recognizing, relating and distinguishing the different derivatives of a term, and
spelling changes that take place when combining prefixes, roots and suffixes to form medical
terms.
2. Curriculum, tasks and materials
Instructors teaching English for pre-medical students in Saudi Arabia use materials
developed in-house, in addition to few chapters selected from published books on medical
2

terminology. The amount of medical terms covered is too limited and is insufficient for
enhancing the students’ knowledge of medical terms to a level that would enable them to
read and comprehend authentic medical texts and listen to and comprehend medical lectures
delivered in English, and recognizing and relating the singular and plural forms of Latin
medical terms.
2.1 Skills emphasized:
The medical terminology component of the English for Medical Purposes course that
pre-medical students take aims to develop the students’ ability to identify the following:
The basic structure of medical terms: word root, suffix, prefix, combining vowel or
consonant, as in epigastritis, transgastritis, cardiograpm, electrocardiogram, gastrointestinal,
gastric
Phonetic changes that take place when a prefix is added before certain consonants when
a prefix is added, as in apt: aptitude, ept: inept).
Prefixes and Suffixes added to Latin bases, such as:
o Tele-: telegraph, telescope, telegram, telecast
o Para-: parathyroid, paranormal, paramedical, paratyphoid, paraplegia
o Psych-: psychology, psychopath, psychometry, psycholinguistics, psychoanalysis,
psychosis
o Dia-: diagram, diagnosis, diastole, diaphragm
o Dys-: dysfunction, dyspepsia, dysphagia
o Epi-: epiglottis, epigastric, epigram
o Pro-: program, prognosis
Affixes referring to quantity, such as:
o Biceps, triceps, quadriceps.
o Twin, triplets, quartet, quintet.
o Replicate, Duplicate, triplicate, quadruplicate, centruplicate.
o Uniped, biped, tripod, centipede, millipede.
o Double, triple, quadruple, quintuple.
o Million billion, trillion, quadrillion quintillion.
o Liter, centiliter, milliliter, deciliter.
o Analysis, synthesis, diagnosis, prognosis.
Negative prefixes in-, im-, il-, ir-, non-, un-, a-, an-, anti-, de-, mal-, mis-, as in:
o Antacid, antitoxic, antiseptic.
o Atrophy, apathetic, amorphous, amnesia.
o Disinfect, disconnect, disease.
o Insomnia, incurable, intolerable, inglorious, incomplete.
o Immature, immune, immutable, immense, immortal, impossible.
o Illegal.
o Non-alcoholic, non-smoker.
o Misuse, mislead, misplace.
o Malodorous, malignant, malpractice, malady, malnutrition, malicious.
o Irregular, irreversible, irresistible, irreparable.
o Unhealthy, unpleasant, uncommon.
Derivatives sharing the same base, such as:
o Circle, circulate, circulation, circulatory.
o Motive, motivate, motivation.
o Pathology, pathologist, pathologic
Opposites, such as: interior ≠ exterior; anterior ≠ posterior.
Latin singular and plural forms of medical terms such as: bacterium, bacteria; stratum,
strata; diverticulum, diverticula; radius, radii; phenomenon, phenomena; ganglion, ganglia;
vertebra, vertebrae.
3

Medical acronyms and abbreviations, such as: DNA, RBC, IV, OR, UV, MRI, IQ, MD,
GP, ER, BP.
2.2 Instructional strategy with free mind
In-class instruction goes through six stages: (a) Orientation, (b) presentation and
modeling, (c) guided practice, (d) independent practice, (e) extension activities, and (f)
assessment. Each stage is explained in what follows below.
2.2.1 Orientation
To help pre-medical students categorize, visualize and recall relationships among
medical terms under study, a mind mapping software called “Free Mind 0.8.1” can be
integrated in in-class medical terminology instruction. In the first week of classes, the
students are introduced to the mind-mapping software and purposes of using it. They are
given the link and are asked to download Free Mind 0.8.1 free of charge. The components of
the Free Mind 0.8.1 homepage are introduced and explained.
2.2.2 Presentation and modeling
The instructor can train students to use the Free Mind Software using an LCD projector
or a smart board. Every week the software is used to create mind maps for the medical terms
to be covered or those that have been covered with the help of the instructor. The following
types of mind maps can be created: (i) Phonological mind maps which focus on words sharing
the same pronunciation, (ii) Morphological mind maps which focus on words or word parts
sharing the same prefix, suffix, root and forms derived from the same word or root, (iii)
Syntactic mind maps which focus on singular and plural forms; word families, parts of speech
and derivatives, and (iv) Semantic mind maps which focus on synonyms and antonyms and
words categorized according to the part of the body, system, disease, …etc.
A mind map begins with placing a target concept or category in the middle of the
screen. This concept or category is used as a basis for grouping, categorizing and subcategorizing
medical terms. Branches radiating from the central category are drawn for the
sub-categories and examples sharing the same category or rule. Sub-categories, examples
and words are elicited from students, grouped into related sub-categories and placed
radiating out from the central category. The instructor introduces new terms and related
concepts attached to them. For example, the instructor places the target category “negative
prefixes and suffixes” in the middle of the screen. Branches and nodes are created for the
prefixes and/or suffixes ‘a- an-, in-, il-, im-, ir-, dis-, de-, anti-’. For each prefix or suffix, a list of
medical terms is prepared with the help of the students. Terms containing each negative
prefix or suffix expand outwards into branches and sub-branches. Examples containing those
prefixes or suffixes expressed are selected and printed using upper or lower case letters. Each
word sits alone on its own line. The lines are connected, starting from the central image (See
Mindmap 2).
Mindmap 1 in the appendix shows an example of a phonological mindmap. The central
focus is on pronunciation. Each of the main branches represent one silent letter or double
letters and the examples that radiate from each main branch are examples containing that
particular silent letter or double letters. Mindmaps 2, 3, 4 and 5 show morphological
relations, mindmap 6 shows syntactic relations, mindmaps 7, 8 and 9 show semantic
relations. Colors are used throughout the mind map. Associations are shown in the mind
map. The mind map is kept clear by using a radiant hierarchy, numerical order or outlines to
embrace branches. The central lines are made thicker, organic and flowing, becoming thinner
as they radiate out from the centre.
The students develop their own personal style of mind mapping. They draw empty
lines, collect the words and classify them. They change colors to reenergize their mind.
4

Sometimes the students are able to see relationships and connections immediately and can
add sub-branches to a category. Sometimes they cannot, so they can just connect the
subcategories to the central focus. Organization always comes later; the first requirement is
to get few terms and categories out of their head and onto the screen.
During the mind mapping activity, the instructor serves as a facilitator. S/he provides
technical support, answers students’ questions and help with the mind maps, categories,
examples representing each category in and out of class.
2.2.3 Guided practice
Students practise connecting new medical terms studied in class with medical terms
that they already know using Free Mind 0.8.1. out of class. They keep their phonological,
morphological, syntactic, and semantic mind maps and continue to add sub-categories and
terms to each map, every time a lesson is covered in class. With the help of the instructor, the
students make word lists and add words related to each phonological, morphological,
syntactic, or semantic mind map. New features, categories, skills are explored through
discussion.
2.2.4 Independent practice
The students continue to use Free Mind at home and continue to add words related to
each. The students are handed out questions that require them to group, classify or connect
medical terms studied on their own in class or at home. Mind maps can be created and
added during, and after reading medical texts in the different courses.
2.2.5 Assessment
Students can keep their medical terminology mind maps in a folder or e-portfolio.
Mind maps can be also posted in an online course. Students can exchange mind maps and
may work on mind maps collectively.
Conclusion
The present study shows how the Free Mind 0.8.1 software is used in grouping,
categorizing, and classifying medical terms on the basis of phonological, morphological,
syntactic or semantic categories. Those mind maps can be used in introducing, categorizing,
visualizing and reviewing medical terms and as mnemonic devices. Through a graphic
depiction of words, these mind maps build upon what students know to help them see
relationships with newly introduced medical terms. Students develop related rather than
isolated knowledge of medical terms and develop skill in differentiating concepts as well as
defining words.
These mind mapping strategies have been reported to improve word and concept
knowledge as well as comprehension across grade levels, in a variety of content areas, and
with a variety of learners, including struggling ESL, and learning disabled readers.
Semantic mapping increases cognitive processing, and develops the cognitive
structure. Semantic mapping that involves the application of medical terms meanings with
pre-medical students. Semantic mapping is highly motivating for adult students because it
allows them to interact with teachers regarding the context of the lesson, rather than merely
on a specific point of skill development. The ultimate goal of semantic mapping is to
introduce the students to a technique that they can use regularly to organize medical terms
they have studied, relate them to what they already know, and expand their store of
knowledge of medical terms while reading medical texts.
It is noteworthy to say that the aim of the mind mapping activity is not to teach the
students how to apply the details of the Free Mind software. Focus should be on placing the
5

phonological, morphological, semantic and syntactic category that would be used as a basis
for grouping and classifying medical terms in the center, how to add branches for the details,
how to add pictures and change the font color, size and case.
REFERENCES
[1] Buzan, T. (2000). The mind map book. New York: Penguin Books.
[2] Budd, J. W. (2004). Mind maps as classroom exercises. In Journal of Economic Education, 35, 1, 35.
[3] Goldberg, C. (2004). Brain friendly techniques: Mind mapping. In School Library Media Activities
Monthly, 21, 3, 22-24.
[4] Stephens, P., Hermus, C. (2007). Making art connections with graphic organizers. In School Arts: The
Art Education Magazine for Teachers, 106, 8, 55.
[5] Hay, D. B., (2007). Using concept maps to measure deep, surface and non-learning outcomes. In
Studies in Higher Education, 32, 1, 39-57.
[6] Ruffini, M. F., (2008). Using e-maps to organize and navigate online content. In EDUCAUSE
Quarterly, 31, 1, 56-61.
[7] Nesbit, J., Adesope, O. (2006). Learning with concept and knowledge maps: a meta-analysis. In
Review of Educational Research, 76, 3, 413-448.
[8] Chularut, P., DeBacker, T. (2004). The influence of concept mapping on achievement, selfregulation,
and self-efficacy in students of English as a second language. In Contemporary
Educational Psychology, 29, 3, 248-263.
[9] Rosenbaum, C. (2001). A word map for middle school: A tool for effective vocabulary instruction.
In Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45, 1, 44-49.
[10] Bahr, G., Dansereau, D. (2001). Bilingual knowledge maps (BiK-Maps) in second-language
vocabulary learning. In Journal of Experimental Education, 70, 1, 5-24.
[11] Tufts, M., Higgins-Opitz, S. (2009). What makes the learning of physiology in a PBL medical
curriculum challenging? In Advances in Physiology Education, 33, 3, 187-195.
[12] Nassaji, H. (2004). The relationship between depth of vocabulary knowledge and L2 learners'
lexical inferencing strategy use and success. In Canadian Modern Language Review, 61, 1, 107-134.
[13] August, D., Carlo, M., Dressler, C., Snow, C. (2005). The critical role of vocabulary development
for English language learners. In Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 20, 1, 50-57.
APPENDIX
Mindmap (1): Pronunciation
6

Mindmap (2): Medical Suffixes
Mindmap (3): Organ Roots
7

Mindmap (4): Negative Prefixes
Mindmap (5): Medical Term Cognates
Mindmap (6): Singular and Plurals forms of Latin Terms
Mindmap (7): System Terminology
8

Mindmap (8): Opposites
Mindmap (9): Medical Abbreviations and Acronyms
Abstract
This article demonstrates how mind-mapping software can be used to help premedical students
combine, learn, retain, apply and relate medical terminology sharing the same root/base, the same
prefix or suffix, cognates, derivatives, singular and plural forms and relate details which radiate
out from the centre. It shows how the mind-mapping software can be used to combine different
prefixes and/or suffixes to the same root, different roots to the same prefix/and or same suffix,
sorting out, classifying, grouping terms according to the prefixes, roots or suffixes they contain,
and interpolating prefixes, roots and suffixes. By focusing on roots, prefixes, suffixes and
derivatives and then looking for branches that radiate out and show connections between the
terms, the students map medical terminology knowledge becomes useful in a way which will help
them understand and retain new medical terms.
Keywords: mind mapping, concept mapping, medical terminology, premedical students, roots,
prefixes, suffixes.
9

Résumé
Cet article démontre comment le logiciel de cartographie conceptuelle peut être utilisé pour aider
les étudiants des cours pré-médicaux à combiner, apprendre, retenir et appliquer la terminologie
médicale tout en partageant la même racine/base, les mêmes préfixes ou suffixes, les mots
polysémiques, les dérivés, les formes au singulier et au pluriel et faire des relations entre les détails
qui proviennent d'à partir du centre. Il montre également comment le logiciel de cartographie
conceptuelle peut être utilisé pour combiner les différents préfixes et/ou suffixes à la même racine,
les racines différentes pour le même préfixe et/ou le même suffixe, le classement, le regroupement
des termes selon les préfixes, les racines ou suffixes qu'ils contiennent, et ce, en interpolant ou
insérant préfixes, racines et suffixes. En mettant l'accent sur les racines, préfixes, suffixes et
dérivés et cherchant ensuite les branches résultantes qui montrent les liens entre les termes, la
carte de connaissances des terminologies médicales aidera les étudiants à comprendre et bien
retenir les nouveaux termes médicaux.
Mots clés: cartographie de l'esprit, la cartographie conceptuelle, la terminologie médicale, les
étudiants pré médicaux, des racines, des préfixes, les suffixes.
Rezumat
Această lucrare descrie maniera în care se poate utiliza un software de cartografiere conceptuală
pentru a sprijini studenţii începători ai facultăţii de medicină să combine, înveţe, reţină şi aplice
terminologia medicală care are aceeaşi rădăcină/bază, aceleaşi prefixe sau sufixe, cuvinte
polisemantice, derivate, forme de singular sau de plural şi să observe legăturile dintre detaliile care
radiază dinspre centru spre exterior. Se demonstrează, de asemenea, modul de utilizare a soft-ului
de cartografiere conceptuală pentru asocierea diferitelor prefixe şi/sau sufixe cu aceeaşi rădăcină,
asocierea diverselor rădăcini cu acelaşi prefix şi/sau suffix, clasificarea, regruparea termenilor
conform prefixelor, rădăcinilor sau sufixelor pe care le conţin, interpunând sau inserând prefixe,
rădăcini şi sufixe. Punând accent pe rădăcini, prefixe, sufixe şi derivate şi căutând apoi ramurile
rezultante care arată legăturile dintre termeni, reprezentarea cartografică a diverselor terminologii
medicale va fi utilă studenţilor începători ai facultăţii de medicină în înţelegerea şi buna memorare
a termenilor medicali.
Cuvinte cheie: cartografierea memoriei, cartografierea conceptuală, terminologie medicală,
studenţi medicinişti începători, rădăcini, prefixe, sufixe.
10

UNIVERSITAS
GALATIENSIS
Online access: http://www.ann.ugal.ro/lil/index.htm
Annals of “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati
Fascicle XIII. Language and Literature. New Series
Issue 29, 2010
pp. 11-15
MITROPOLITUL VENIAMIN COSTACHI,
ÎNTEMEIETOR DE ŞCOALĂ ROMÂNEASCĂ
Doina Marta Bejan
11
Language
and
Literature
Mitropolitul Veniamin Costachi (1 ianuarie 1769 – 18 decembrie 1846), înalt ierarh al
Moldovei de la 1803 până la 1842, acoperă cu personalitatea sa o jumătate de veac din viaţa
bisericii şi a poporului român. Ales Mitropolit al Moldovei la 19 martie 1803, pe când avea
doar 35 de ani, el este chemat să împlinească toate rosturile mari de ctitorire a unor timpuri
ce se îndreptau spre modernitate.
Din complexa sa activitate vom aminti preocupările sale constante de luminare a
poporului, de îndepărtare a “negurilor celor pîcloase ale neştiinţei de carte, iar la lumina
cunoştinţei să zidească şi împodobească sufletele cu darurile cele veşnice ale adevărului” [1].
Ca preşedinte al Eforiei şcoalelor din Moldova, - înfiinţată la 24 mai 1803 de domnitorul
Constantin Moruzi, la propunerea mitropolitului - Veniamin a fost preocupat de toate
aspectele instrucţiei publice. Pentru început, el a chemat profesori (Eftimie Murgu, O.Bojinca,
Vasile Pop, Vasile Fabian, Ion Manfis, Ion Costea [2]) din Ardeal şi Banat, unde şcoala se
reorganizase, dar în acelaşi timp s-a străduit să pregătească personal didactic şi dintre tinerii
moldoveni, pe care, pe cheltuiala sa, i-a trimis la studii la Cernăuţi, Bucureşti, Lemberg,
Atena, Constantinopol, Viena, în Italia şi în alte părţi. Astfel Gheorghe Asachi, fiul
protopopului Lazăr Asachi, a fost trimis să studieze la Lemberg, Viena şi Roma, pe lângă
drept şi filozofie, de care se simţea atras, şi matematicile teoretice şi practice, pentru a putea
fi folosit ca inginer.
Cea dintâi şcoală pe care a înfiinţat-o Veniamin, la 1803, a fost Seminarul ce l-a aşezat la
Mănăstirea Socola din Iaşi, prima instituţie de învăţământ teologic ortodox de la noi, ce urma
să pregătească un cler luminat pentru a scoate poporul din întunericul neştiinţei de carte şi
“din primejdia sufletească a analfabetismului religios ” [3]. În cadrul seminarului teologic
toate cursurile erau predate în limba română. Ioan Alboteanu, principalul profesor al şcolii,
venit din Bucovina, preda prin anii 1804-1812 un curs de gramatică românească alcătuit după
gramaticile lui Dimitrie Eustatievici Braşoveanul, Radu Tempea şi Ianache Văcărescu, un
curs de logică şi unul de etică, după logica şi etica traduse de Samuil Micu, un curs de
retorică, după retorica publicată de Ioan Molnar, şi un curs de istorie universală, după istoria
lui Millot tradusă de Ioan Molnar [4]. Intenţionînd să dezvolte seminarul, să-l transforme
într-o academie, Veniamin Costache epitropul şcolilor din Moldova, încearcă în mai multe
rânduri - 1815-1818, 1820 – să-l reorganizeze având ca model şcolile din Transilvania.
Angajarea de profesori din Ardeal - patru tineri învăţaţi, între care doctorul Vasilie Popp şi
Vasile Fabian-Bob – asigură şi realizarea unei traduceri (rămasă anonimă) „a primelor două
volume ale manualului de istorie universală al lui J.B. Schütz”, Allgemeine Weltgeschichte für
denkende und gebildete Leser, Viena, 1805, (păstrată în ms. 2791 de la BAR, copie cu o
însemnare din anul 1824 a unui fost seminarist), şi traducerea de asemenea anonimă a
primului manual de mitologie greco-romană în limba română, Despre învăţătura dumnezeilor

sau punere înainte a mitologhiceştilor izvodiri a elinilor şi a romanilor, al cărui original probabil
german nu este încă identificat (păstrată în ms. IV-2 de la BCU Iaşi, datat: „1819, noiem. 14, în
Socola prescrisă”). Evenimentele anului 1821 au întrerupt însă activitatea seminarului ieşean,
care va fi reluată abia în 1834.
„Cursurile predate între anii 1804-1821 în această primă şcoală de grad gimnazial în limba
română au avut, prin varietatea şi nivelul înalt al materiilor tratate, după cum atestă
fragmentele păstrate în mai multe manuscrise, efecte importante asupra dezvoltării limbii
române literare”[5].
Domnitorul Sturza, determinat de prestigiul afirmat în numai câţiva ani de Seminarul
de la Socola, “prin falanga de luminători ai poporului” [6] temeinic pregătiţi în acest
aşezământ, acordă acestei şcoli numele întemeietorului ei, nume pe care îl poartă şi în ziua
de astăzi.
Tot în anul 1803, Veniamin înfiinţează şase şcoli publice româneşti, în oraşele de seamă
ale Moldovei: la Focşani, Galaţi, Bârlad, Chişinău, Roman şi Huşi, la care aveau acces şi copiii
săraci, pentru care au fost instituite burse.
La scurt timp, în anul 1805, înfiinţează, la Iaşi, la biserica Sf. Neculai, cea dintâi şcoală
de cântăreţi bisericeşti, în care “să se paradosească muzica”, aducând “profesori dintre cei
mai vestiţi în această ramură, pe Petru Lambadarie, fostul protopsalt al Patriarhiei de
Constantinopol, apoi pe Grigore Vizante şi pe alţii”[7].
La 1813, Mitropolitul Veniamin Costachi înfiinţează la Iaşi o şcoală de ingineri
hotarnici, având deja profesorul pregătit în persoana lui Gh. Asachi ; aşa că “şi cel dintâi
început al politehnicii la noi îşi are de ctitor, tot pe luminatul şi înţeleptul ierarh Veniamin ”.
Pentru completarea învăţământului secundar, Veniamin reînfiinţează şi reorganizează
şcoala vasiliană de la Trei Ierarhi, încât cine dorea să dobândească o cultură generală şi
pregătitoare pentru studii mai înalte, avea această “vatră de lumină” rectitorită tot de
Veniamin al Moldovei.
Ca o completare a învăţământului secundar, şi pentru prima dată în istoria Moldovei,
la propunerea Mitropolitului Veniamin, vodă aprobă înfiinţarea unei ˝şcoale publice pentru
fetele orăşenilor˝ (1834).
Dar “luminata râvnă a bunului părinte al Moldovei˝ nu s-a oprit aici. El a înfiinţat şi
organizat şi învăţământ superior “în care să se predea toate ramurile înaltelor ştiinţi˝. Şi aşa,
încă din 1835, avem în Moldova un început universitar, Şcoala Mihăileană, la care Mihail
Kogălniceanu avea să ţină celebra sa lecţie de istorie naţională.
În sfârşit, în anul 1841, Mitropolitul Veniamin înfiinţează cea dintâi şcoală de arte şi
meserii din Moldova, pentru “a îndupleca pe moldoveni să prindă în mână şi ciocanul ce li se
părea a fi numai moştenirea ţiganilor˝.
Astfel întregul învăţământ public din Moldova, începând de la primele lui trepte până
la cele mai înalte, au fost ctitorite de luminatul ierarh Veniamin Costachi.
“ Şi aşa prin el, Biserica strămoşească din nou a ctitorit nemul nostru cu lumina
culturii.[...] Când a venit el ca mitropolit, în anul 1803, în întreaga ţară a Moldovei nu a
găsit nici un elev din popor şi nici un profesor român al unei şcoli publice organizate, iar
când a pogorât aceste trepte de ierarh, în 1842, erau peste 3000 de elevi care urmau şcolile
publice şi 50 de profesori, ce predau lumină din lumina cunoştinţei˝ [8].
Conştient de lipsa cărţii pentru şcolile pe care le-a înfiinţat, dar mai “cu deosebire
pentru şcoala cea eternă a oamenilor [...] cartea pentru biserică˝, el a organizat şi înzestrat
două tipografii: una la Mânăstirea Neamţului, iar alta la Mitropolia din Iaşi (catedrala
ieşeană este ctitoria lui), în care a tipărit, adesea pe cheltuiala lui, de la cartea pentru copii –
12

Tabla alilodidactică – sau cartea de ştiinţă (Descrierea Moldovei a lui Dimitrie Cantemir a văzut
prima oară lumina tiparului în anul 1825, tot prin grija mitropolitului), până la literatura de
cea mai profundă teologie (Dogmatica Sf. Ioan Damaschin, din operele Fericitului Augustin, Sf.
Ioan Gură de Aur, Sf. Vasile cel Mare, Sf. Grigorie Teologul şi alţi sfinţi părinţi, Pidalionul,
colecţia de canoane a Bisericii ortodoxe) şi o bogată literatură mistică ce a văzut lumina
tiparului pentru prima oară la noi, prin efortul aceluiaşi Mitropolit Veniamin (Sf.Ioan
Scărarul, Nil Sinaitul, Isaac Sirul ş.a.).
Prin grija sa s-a tipărit “o întregă bibliotecă din tezaurul cel mare şi clasic al literaturii
creştine universale˝, pentru care înfăptuiri a lucrat nu numai el, ci mai “multe cete de
ostenitori, care mai de care mai harnică şi mai pricepută˝ de la Mânăstirea Neamţu şi de la
Mitropolie, precum şi o seamă de apropiaţi ai săi, laici (Filaret şi Neofit Scriban, Gh. Asachi,
Gh. Seulescu, Varlaam Cuză, Veniamin Roset ş.a.) [9].
Bun cunoscător de limbă greacă, Mitropolitul Varlaam a tradus el însuşi un
impresionant număr de cărţi, de cele mai multe ori în împrejurări de restrişte ale existenţei
sale; între acestea se numără şi Istoria Scripturii Vechiului Testament / spre întrebuinţarea
româneştii tinerimi, o carte de peste 336 de pagini mari de tipar, tradusă într-o lună de zile, în
1821, când s-a refugiat la Colincăuţi, dar a cărei tipărire se face la 1824. Foaia de titlu
completă arată astfel : Istoria Scripturii Vechiului Testament / spre întrebuinţarea romîneştii
tinerimi // tălmăcită de pre limba elinească, pe a noastră, romînomoldovenească, de
smeritul // Veniamin Costachi Mitropolit Moldav // şi tipărită cu a sa cheltuială // în zilele
prea lumintului şi prea ‘nălţatului Domnului nostru // Ioan Sandul Sturza Voevod. //
Tomul întîiŭ // s-au tipărit în Tipografia Sfintei Mitropolii Moldav: // în oraşul Iaşii. La
anul de la Hs. 1824 // de Ierodiaconul Evthimie Andreiŭ.//.
Înainte cuvântarea, cătră cititori (paginile nu sunt numerotate) arată importanţa
cunoaşterii de carte pentru orice om :
“Nu să naşte omul cu ştiinţa ca paianjănul, să împletească pânzuri şi mreji: învăţând
însă şi îndeletnicindu-să, covîrşaşte pre firea sa această ştiinţă [...]. Dar cu cât învăţătura
înalţă şi proslăveşte pre om, cu atât neînvăţătura îl înjoseşte şi îl nimiceşte mai mult decît
necuvîntătoarele vietăţi. Omul fiind înzestrat de Dumnezeu cu talantul de vietate
cuvîntătoare, de minte şi de ştiinţă priimitoare, şi, neîndeletnicindu-să în învăţătură a
niciun fěl de ştiinţă sau meşteşug, nu să poate socoti vrědnic de altă numire, decît de
slugă vicleană şi leneşă. [...] la unul ca acesta cuvîntarea nu-i slujaşte de alt, decît de a fi
cerşetoriu de pîine [...], iar de s-ar lipsi de cuvîntare şi de dreapta umblare [...] ar fi cel
mai defăimat şi mai ticălos dobitoc. Dintru aceasta poate înţălěge fieştecine, cît de nevoe
lucru iaste învăţătura la orişicare om˝ [10].
Pentru Veniamin, însuşirea informaţiei ştiinţifice nu poate fi desprinsă de profunda
cunoaştere a învăţăturii creştine, care dă sens existenţei umane:
“Toate ştiinţele şi meşteşugurile sînt fără de îndoială de folos omului, însă folosul lor este
vremělnic ; şi la unii numai pînă la mormînt : şi să sfîrşaşte acolo şi el, şi ştiintele şi
folosul dintru acestea ; iară ştiinţa hristianiceştii credinţe şi folosul dintru dînsa iaste
mare şi věcinic, că povăţuitoare fiind a toată fapta şi vieţuirea moralicească, face pre om
trěbnic în viiaţa aceasta, vrědnic vieţii de věci ˝ [11].
Grija şi preocuparea constantă a Mitropolitului a fost de a lumina sufletul tineretului care
“lipsit de ştiinţa hristianiceştilor învăţături, s-au abătut la netrebnice zăbăvi˝, iar părinţii ce
“nu să îngrijesc a da vreun feliŭ de învăţătură la fiei lor, despart pre trup de suflet şi pre
suflet de Dumnezeu˝ sunt numiţi “ucigaşi de fii cu adevărat˝.
Această lămuritoare prefaţă asupra pedagogiei creştine susţine textul biblic tradus şi
adaptat unor nevoi “povăţuitoare la adevărata cunoştinţă şi dătătoare de mult folos
13

sufletesc˝; aproape la toate capitolele Bibliei sunt introduse pasaje explicative, cu rol evident
de îndrumare; ele sunt formulate ca adresări directe către cititor, exemplu:
“Iubiţii mei cititori ! relighiia trebuie să fie legătura ţiind în dragoste şi paci inimile
tuturor oamenilor. Dar cît de mîhnicios lucru este cînd oamenii întrebuinţază şi pre însăş
relighiia aceasta preafrumoasă a dragostii şi a păcii, spre prilejul de urîciune şi de
prigonire ! ˝ [12]
sau ca exclamaţii retorice
“Oh ! De-ar fi oamenii vremii aceştiia atât de neiubitori de pămînt ca Avraam ! Şi
atuncea cu adevărat ar vieţui între dînşii mai cu pace şi mai cu bună norocire , că nici
războiŭ ar urma, nici vărsare de sînge, ci ar vecinici o cu totul obştească norocire întru
tot neamul omenesc ! ˝ [13]
ambele procedee având rolul de a-i sensibiliza pe receptori. In acest fel dorea Veniamin
Costache să pătrundă în adâncul conştiinţei oamenilor, să-i formeze conştienţi de spiritul
credinţei pe care o mărturisesc şi în care trăiesc.
Aspectele amintite aici luminează chipul unuia dintre marii educatori români, care prin
râvna sa deosebită şi concepţia sa dusă la deplină realizare, se alătură profesorului arhidacon
Gheorghe Lazăr şi mitropolitului Andrei Şaguna, întemeietori de şcoală românească la
începutul secolului al XIX-lea.
REFERINŢE
[1] Vasilache, V. (1941). Mitropolitul Veniamin Costachi, Mânăstirea Neamţului, p. 498.
[2] Ursu, N.A.& Ursu, Despina, (2004). Împrumutul lexical în procesul modernizării limbii române literare,
Iaşi, Editura Cronica, pp. 171-172.
[3] * * * Biserica Ortodoxă Română, (1946). LXIV, 10-12, octombrie-noiembrie, (= BOR), p. 511.
[4], [5] Ursu, N.A (1993). Seminarul de la Socola, prima şcoală de grad gimnazial în limba română, în
« Cronica ». XXVIII, nr.21, pp. 7, 15.
[6] Vasilache, V. (1941). Mitropolitul Veniamin Costachi, Mânăstirea Neamţului, pp. 151-2.
[7] Vasilache, V. (1941). Mitropolitul Veniamin Costachi, Mânăstirea Neamţului, p. 499.
[8] Vasilache, V. (1941). Mitropolitul Veniamin Costachi, Mânăstirea Neamţului, pp. 500-501.
[9] Vasilache, V. (1941). Mitropolitul Veniamin Costachi, Mânăstirea Neamţului, p. 502.
[10], [11] Costachi, V. (1825). Istoria Scripturii Vechiului Testament/spre întrebuinţarea romîneştii tinerimi,
Iaşi Tipografia Sfintei Mitropolii.
[12] Costachi, V. (1825). Istoria Scripturii Vechiului Testament/spre întrebuinţarea romîneştii tinerimi, Iaşi
Tipografia Sfintei Mitropolii, p. 388.
[13] Costachi, Veniamin, (1825). Istoria Scripturii Vechiului Testament/spre întrebuinţarea romîneştii
tinerimi, Iaşi Tipografia Sfintei Mitropolii, p. 201.
Abstract
This study has a historiographical character since it focuses on one of the founders and supporters
of the Romanian public system of education in Moldavia at the beginning of the 19 th century –
Archbishop Veniamin Costachi – and discusses about the contribution of the Church to the
cultural development of the Romanian people. Archbishop Veniamin Costachi holds a respected
and honoured position among the other great educators of the Romanian nation, such as Gheorghe
Lazăr and Andrei Şaguna.
Key words: public school, seminar, school of arts and crafts, bible, printing press
14

Resumé
Ce papier a un caractere historiographique parce qu’il présente un des fondateurs et supporters de
l’école roumaine en Moldavie au commencement du XIXe siècle – l’évêque Veniamin Costachi – et
discute de la contribution de l’Eglise au développement culturel du peuple roumain. L’évêque
Veniamin Costachi occupe une place d’honneur parmi d’autres grands educateurs de la nation
roumaine, tels comme Gheorghe Lazăr et Andrei Şaguna.
Mots-clés: école publique, séminaire, école d’arts et métiers, bible, typographie
Rezumat
Acest articol are un caracter istoriografic deoarece se concentează asupra unuia dintre fondatorii
şcolii româneşti din Moldova la începutul secolului al XIX-lea, Mitropolitul Veniamin Costache,
şi afirmă contribuţia Bisericii la progresul cultural al poporului român. Mitropolitul Veniamin
Costache deţine un loc de onoare alături de alţi mari educatori ai naţiunii române, cum ar fi, de
exemplu Gheorghe Lazăr şi Andrei Şaguna.
Cuvinte cheie: şcoală publică, seminar, şcoală de arte şi meserii, biblie, tipografie.
15

UNIVERSITAS
GALATIENSIS
Online access: http://www.ann.ugal.ro/lil/index.htm
Annals of “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati
Fascicle XIII. Language and Literature. New Series
Issue 29, 2010
pp. 16-22
16
Language
and
Literature
DIDACTICS OF TRANSLATION STUDIES: WHENCE, WHERETO?
Ruxanda Bontilă
Dominant schools of thought: a short survey
Valéry Larbaud [1] invests St. Jerome as the patron saint of fluency in translation. Felix
Vodièka (1955) [2] ranks translation among the manifold echoes of a literary work. And,
James Holmes (1972) [3] names the field on the model of Cultural Studies. The field has been
since concerned with charting social spaces by investigating conceptual apparatuses with a
view to disentangling such spatial metaphors as centre, periphery, transfers, shifts, intercultures,
domestication, foreignisation, exiles, migrants. According to Jameson [4] and others, Translation
Studies may well assume the role of cognitive mapping, devised to help us find our bearings
in the vast, abstract, and empty space of history, as well as respond to Homi Bhabha’s [5]
appeal for ‘a transnational, “migrant” knowledge of the world’. The Göttingen project (1998)
coins the term Schattenkultur (culture of shadows) to refer to the ubiquitous, though
underrated, life of translation: “The vital part of literary life is under a shadow” [6].
Between the 1900s-1930s, translation is seen as a creative force. Under the auspices of the
German Romanticism, hermeneutics, existential phenomenology, and literary experimentalism, the
proponents of the period (Walter Benjamin, Ezra Pound, Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff,
Jorge Luis Borges, José Ortega y Gasset) designate translation as a text in its own right,
autonomous/independent, although derivative. This is to say, translation is valued as interpretation
which reconstitutes and transforms the foreign text. There are two competing tendencies at
work, during the period: the first reveals a formalist interest in technique, translatable in
innovative translation strategies matching new interpretations of foreign texts; the second
underlines a strong functionalism evocative of certain cultural and political agendas.
Between the 1940s-1950s, the controlling concept in translation is translatability as
prompted by philosophical trends (Hermeneutics, Existential Phenomenology), linguistic
tendencies (communicative, empirically referential view of meaning), and anthropological
views insisting on the irreconcilable differences between languages and cultures. The
period’s proponents (Willard van Orman Quine, Vladimir Nabokov, Roman Jakobson, Jean-
Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet), although vacillating between the extremes of philosophical
scepticism and practical optimism, express their allegiance towards the use of poetical
language (i.e. free versions meant to produce poetic effects in the translating language) and
the deployment of standard usage and canonical styles.
Between 1960s-1970s, equivalence becomes the controlling concept in translation theory
due to the new schools of thought in literary theory, linguistics and philosophy (Russian
Formalism; functional theories of language; functional stylistics; socio/psycholinguistics;
cognitive grammar; pragmatics; literary criticism; game theory; structural anthropology). Its
proponents (Werner Koller, Eugene Nida, Katharina Reiss, James Holmes, George Steiner)
conceive of translation as a process of communicating the foreign text through a relationship
of identity or analogy, wherein equivalence bases on the “universals” of language and

culture, and in so doing it questions the notions of relativity. Equivalence, then, is submitted
to lexical, grammatical, and stylistic analysis; it is established on the basis of text type and
social function; that is, translation faithfulness represents the location of suitable equivalents in
the milieu of the translator’s time and society.
After the 1980s, translation is viewed more like an act of communication, challenging
previously established assumptions. In agreement with the new developments in criticism,
linguistics and philosophy, the representatives of the period (Susan Bassnett, William
Frawley, Shoshana Blum-Kulka, Hans Vermeer, Jacques Derrida, Paul de Man, Antoine
Berman, Joseph Malone) consider translation, a relatively autonomous text from both the
foreign text and texts originally written in the translating language. This view of translation
triggers a more profound functionalism as well as an understanding of practical strategies in
relation to specific cultural and social situations.
After the 1900s, Translation Studies achieves institutional authority and worldwide
recognition (translator training programs, scholarly publishing), although there is still a lot of
questioning of the claim of scientific objectivity about forms of description and classification,
be they linguistic, experimental, or historical. Being informed by the latest developments in
linguistics (pragmatics; critical discourse analysis; computerized corpora), literary and
cultural theory (postcolonialism; sexuality; globalization), cultural studies interpolating with
literary theory, film, and anthropology, the controlling concepts, in the last two decades,
become communicative intentionality (in terms of foreign text) and functionality (in terms of
translated text). The in-built assumption of the period’s theories (e.g. Gayatri Spivak’s
politics of translation; Lawrence Venuti’s theory of new readerships and ethnocentric v.
ethnodeviant translation [7]), grounding in Grice’s conversation model (1975), describes
translation as communicating the foreign text by cooperating with the target reader
according to the four conversational “maxims.” Hence, a translation will convey a foreign
message with its “implicatures” by exploiting the maxims of the target linguistic community.
The ensuing consequence is a renewed functionalism as to translation theory and a renewed
concern with the social, ethical, political effects of translation.
Albeit convergent in many aspects, the above mentioned research strands are in tune
with the ongoing developments in the philosophy of language, literature, and culture of each
period.
Didactics of translation studies: for a new impetus
My subsequent argument on the necessity of fresh impetus for Didactics of Translation
Studies as a discipline, without ignoring the previously stated assumptions and theories,
rather focuses on translation as seen by translator-theorists whose authority is measured
by/through their performances. The translator-theorist’s reasoning on the process of
translation can bring illumination on the problems and enigmas of translation such as: the
status of the translator; the interrelationship between theory and practice; the duty of
translator/translation; the host/foreign resolution in translation; the task of translation as a
tireless work of memory and mourning; the relationship between human identity and
translation; the ethics of translation as interlinguistic hospitality and the future ethos of
world politics. In order to answer these questions, I give total credit to Irina Mavrodin’s,
Antoaneta Ralian’s, Radu Paraschivescu’s and Nora Iuga’s opinions on the torments and
happiness of translating. The Romanian translators mentioned above share with each other
the same preoccupation for the actual practice of translation before they come to thematize it.
Irina Mavrodin, an excellent translator from a diversity of genres (novel, essay,
philosophy, poetry, etc.) and authors (Camus, Gide, Montherlant, Delacroix, Genette,
Blanchot, Flaubert, Ricoeur, Cohen, Cioran, Bachelard, Proust, Rimbaud, etc.), says about
translation that it cannot be just theory in need of practice, but a practical theory, a reflection
17

stemming from an experience mindful of, and, at the same time, eager to change itself [8].
Mavrodin’s practical theory of translation partakes rather of poetics/poietics than of the
science of linguistics, as she is concerned more with finding solutions to such concepts as
ambiguity, literarity, literality, and open series. Irina Mavrodin coordinated the 1983 issue of
Cahiers roumains d’Etudes litteraires dedicated to creating a true poetics of translation, which is
presented as poiein, a never-finished work, a work of creation born out of inexorable
constraints. For Irina Mavrodin [9], a poet and essayist herself, translation is like authentic
creation, and the translator, like the pianist playing for his own public, or a sculptor,
moulding his material to perfection. Speaking from within the trade, Irina Mavrodin proves
that to each particular author there applies a specific theory of translation (e.g. Cioran’s
ambiguous, compressed sentence asks for a different theory of translation than in the case of
Proust’s symphonic architectonic constructions, or in the case of a Dadaist poem). The
translator-theorist and writer insists on creating a similar horizon of expectations for the
target reader as the original author created for his own reader; which means the translator
must recognize, first, in the original, and then preserve, in the translated text, the
estrangement of the literary discourse of the respective author; the translator, a dialogic
personality par excellence, is a heralder of newness, thus ensuring the dialogue between
ideas and cultures. Only when talent and vocation intersect with hard work, can the art and
science of translation be taught and learned is the resolution of translator-theorist and longrace
professor Irina Mavrodin.
From Antoaneta Ralian, the other Dame of the practical theory of translation, we can
learn as many answers to the problems and enigmas of translation as from Irina Mavrodin.
Antoaneta Ralian’s multifarious translations—from Oscar Wilde to Henry Miller, from
Charles Dickens to Virginia Woolf and Iris Murdoch, from Lewis Carroll to D. H. Lawrence,
Lawrence Durrell, Tennessee Williams, and Salman Rushdie—are not only possible treatises
on translation, but they are also lessons of endurance, abnegation and tolerance.
“I translate with passion, love of books, and literature” is Antoaneta Ralian’s [10]
answer to Dora Pavel’s loving inquiry about the translator’s long vitality in such a tiring
profession. She continues, “And I keep working with an in-born industriousness, I consider
today of bovine origin. My French teacher was saying that Bossuet took his name from the
Latin phrase bos suetus aratro (“the oxen used to ploughing”). Keeping the sense of
proportion, that is I” (my translation). Antoaneta (or Antoinette, as in her birth certificate)
Ralian has lately contributed more than 110 new translations of novels, plays, essays, but she
has also written travel notes, prefaces, articles and given many interviews. She calls her book
shelves, “tins of time, youth, and feelings” [11]. Although Antoaneta Ralian was not tempted
to write literature, she has learned from her translations as much about literature as any good
writer writing it.
Radu Paraschivescu’s testimony to the case of translation is that of a blooming writer
who did his apprenticeship in translation before embarking upon writing. He considers
translation the most useful exercise which can discipline an aspiring writer. Only after
having successfully translated more than sixty books (David Lodge, Julian Barnes, Jonathan
Coe, Kazuo Ishiguro, Salman Rushdie, William Golding, Virginia Woolf, William Burroughs,
François Mauriac, etc.), did he dare write his first novel (Efemeriada, 2000). “Translation is
kind of language gymnastics which can prevent one get a dangerous form of ankylosis,”
jokes Paraschivescu [12] in an interview; and he continues
“Having translated different writers into Romanian, you get that necessary flexibility.
Your discourse becomes subtler, you get to know narrative techniques which may look
difficult to swallow if read in a course of arid theory, you get to master the textual
keyboard better and better” [13] (my translation).
18

Although Paraschivescu jocularly calls translation one of those infectious diseases with
“textual transmission,” he certainly has the antidote when boasting, Paraschivesculike, that
he observes the Love Plus Campaign slogan, “I do what I want, but I know what I do.”
There are also consecrated writers who have become translators of those works whose
translatability imposes on them as a task, and, who, afterwards, feel it their duty to translate
the miracle of translation for us. I have now in mind the example of Nora Iuga, the Romanian
poetess and writer, who translated, after 1989, three books by Herta Müller (Der Fuchs war
damals shocn der Jager/ Vulpea era de pe atunci vînătorul; Herztier/ Animalul inimii; and Im
Haarknoten wohnt eine Dame/ În coc locuieşte o damă), whom she considers a prose poetess,
“who has the child’s sense of wonder and wisdom on the tip of her tongue, which helps her
detect the mysterious messages of the irrational world.” Such fascinating messages “like
those of the dolphins,” can be deciphered, according to Nora Iuga, only by a poet-translator.
Her ensuing reflection on the experience of translating Herta Müller’s books can be considered the
epitome of the translator’s identity and is worth being adopted as the motto of the guild:
“pe un autor nu-l poate cunoaşte nici mama, nici soţia, nici copilul, nici prietenul, nici
amanta, mai bine decât traducătorul lui, fiindcă fiinţa profundă cu toate ascunzişurile,
contradicţiile, cu tot cerul şi tot iadul ei, nu se poate dezvălui mai imprevizibil şi mai
deplin decăt în limbă, deorece, aşa cum sexul zămisleşte lume, limba zămisleşte oameni.”
(“Neither his mother, his wife, his child, his friend, his mistress is capable to know an
author better than his translator is, since the innermost being with its secrets,
contradictions, with its own heaven and hell, can unpredictably and in total honesty
reflect only in language, and, just as sex breeds the human race, so does language breed
people.”) [14] (my translation).
The privilege of the poet/writer-translator is certainly their ability to perceive the
magical sounds transmitted by the text, and next, to work hands-on with their own codes.
Domenico Pezzini, an Italian translator-theorist, who translated from Latin, Old,
Middle, Early Modern and Modern English (e.g. Dream of the Rood; Sermones by Isaac of
Stella; Sonnets by Hopkins; poems by R. S. Thomas and Elizabeth Jennings), also believes that
it is difficult to identify the main issues of the translating process without practicing
translation in the first place. After a long career in teaching, translating, and critical writing,
Pezzini admits that, “no approach to the text equals in depth that of the translator, where
reading skill and writing skill meet. Hence, in every single study of language the practice of
translation should always be there, both when learning to read and when learning to write” [15].
For the second claim, derivative from the previous claim (the practice of translation
breeds theory/reflection, and not vice versa), I argue that an understanding of the complex
mechanism of translating texts/ideas/cultures has long-term benefits, as it prepares the
students for an education for critical thinking. According to Lipman, critical thinking is
“thinking that facilitates judgment because it relies on criteria, is self-correcting, and is
sensitive to context,” and it should encompass the whole field of education from the primary
level to the tertiary level [16].
Translation, in my opinion, can become one good way of learning/teaching critical
thinking, on condition you show students that decision-making (in terms of word choice,
linguistic structure, register, etc.) can also be trained; and that judgment bases on criteria,
self-correction, and sensitivity to context. If criteria-in-built teaching/learning can generate
self-correction, it does not necessarily bring about sensitivity to context, which presupposes a
more laborious work by the teacher/textbook-writer. Sensitivity to context refers, in the main,
to the development of the students’ perception of: cultural differences/nuances; personal
differences/points of view; language differences; disciplinary differences; modifications of
19

meaning due to contextual circumstances/alterations of emphasis/shifts in speakers’ opinions or
purposes. In a course of translation and interpreting studies, the sooner they acquire
sensitivity to contextual differences, the more adequate their translation/interpretation shall
be. When the students fail to cope with language differences, and/or cultural differences,
their translation/interpreting is at great risk of misinterpretation, even blocking
communication. Hence, if we want our students to reason logically about the task in hand,
and finally come to grips with it, we must devise activities that are suggestive of criteria inbuilding
(i.e. clear guidelines, principles, assumptions, definitions, aims, goals, evidence,
observations, policies, measures); self-correction dimensioning (i.e. determining students to
identify erroneous thinking with each other; disentangling ambiguous expressions in texts;
clarifying vague expressions in texts; demanding for criteria/reasons provision; dismissing
preconceived ideas; pointing out fallacious assumptions or invalid references in text;
questioning validity, evidential warrant and consistency of criteria/directions/observations
offered); and context sensitivity display (i.e. sensitizing students to connotations stemming
from cultural differences; alerting students about personal/social/political/gender perspective
differences; learning to contest accuracy of translation/method/evidence; recognizing discourse
features/ differences in terms of genre/target audience/gender/ intentionality/emphasis).
In the spirit of what I have said so far, I need point out that the authors of the
Romanian textbook series Pathway to English (A. Achim; R. Balan; M. Carianopol; St.
Colibaba; E. Comisel; C. Coser; F. Dinu; V. Focseneanu; L. Mastacan; R. Popovici; V. Stan; E.
Teodorescu; R. Vulcanescu), in their textbooks, have given translation as much attention as to
any other skill; which means they have understood that translation is more than an
instrument for assessing and grading accuracy; instead, they have figured translation as a
language skill in its own right which asks for carefully-sequenced tasks on mediation
techniques designed to build the skill progressively. The in-built criteria/assumptions to
such an approach are several: (1) Learners can become aware of and understand better the
ways in which their first language may support or hinder the acquisition of English; (2)
Translation exercises, which base on comparative and contrastive work, can provide a clearer
view of the internal organization of both linguistic codes/languages; (3) Translation
exercises/activities can build cultural awareness, which makes it suitable for interactive purposes
(debate; conversation; opinion exchange); (4) Contextualization of the text (as an act of
communication/translation) ensures observation of its communicative intention; (5) The
treatment of translation skill must base on clear methodological principles (i.e. authenticity;
variety; graded complexity; relevance of text and task; integration with the other skills).
Only after these criteria/principles have been internalized by the teacher and the
student, is there a hope for teachers to change the students’ attitude towards the skill of
translation, which, I say, is best qualified to teach them the difference between self and the
other, self as another, national identity as “inter/linguistic hospitality” (Ricoeur’s terms [17]),
and, in the long run, national identity and the future ethos of world politics.
Concluding remarks
Our argument on Didactics of Translation Studies from the perspective of the translatortheorist
and translator-teacher was meant to evince that the paradigm of translation can be
defined in terms of human identity, dialogue, self as another, “interlinguistic hospitality,”
and, eventually, world hospitality. The views of the aforementioned translator-theorists
carry authority due to the protagonists’ actual performance and not their being simple
propagandists of some philosophical theories on translation.
The following conclusions come out from the translator-theorists’ and textbooks
writers’ contributions I have signalled in the paper.
The double duty of a translation is to expropriate oneself as one appropriates the other,
as the work/labour of the translator resembles that of the middleman between two masters,
20

etween an author and a reader, a self and another.
The translator, a sort of bos suetus aratro, cannot be but painfully situated inasmuch as
her/his work of tireless memory and mourning is source of both torment and happiness.
The host/foreign tension does find resolution in the work of the translator, since, as
Ricoeur admits, “Linguistic hospitality, [...], is the act of inhabiting the word of the Other
paralleled by the act of receiving the word of the Other into one’s own home, one’s own
dwelling” [18].
The art and science of translation can be taught and learned when, only when, they
intersect with talent and vocation.
The practice of translation remains a risky operation which is always in search of its
theory. The practice of what Paul Ricoeur calls linguistic hospitality entails an ethical problem
too: it means bringing the reader to the author and the author to the reader, at the risk of
serving and of betraying two masters [19].
Translation tasks are instrumental in developing the students’ linguistic as well as
cognitive skills. Provided it is topic-related and well integrated with the other language
skills, work on translation helps students become mentally prepared for the activity and sets
them thinking along specific lines.
Finally, it is only through the test of the foreign, that we can become sensitive to the
strangeness of our own language. Without that test, we would be in danger of shutting
ourselves away in the sourness of an autistic universe.
REFERENCES
[1] Larbaud, V. (1947). Sous l'invocation de Saint Jérôme, Paris: Gallimard.
[2] Vodièka, F. (1955). “The History of the Echo of Literary Works”. In Paul Gavin (ed.), A Prague
School Reader on Aesthetics, Literary Structure and Style, Washington D.C.: Washington Linguistic
Club, pp. 84-96.
[3] Holmes, J. (1972). “The Name and Nature of Translation Studies”. Expanded version in Translated
Papers on Literary Translation and Translation Studies, Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1988, pp. 66-80.
[4] Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham: Duke University
Press.
[5] Bhabha, H. (1994). The Location of Culture. London: Routledge, p. 214.
[6] Ferreira Duarte, J. (2003). “Translation and the Space of History”. In The European English
Messenger, Vol. XII/1, Spring, 16-20, p. 17.
[7] Venuti, L. (ed.) (2000). The Translator Studies Reader, London: Routledge.
[8] Constantinescu, M. (2004). “Schiţă de portret al traducătorului”. In România Literară, 20, p. 30.
[9] Mavrodin, I. (2006). Despre traducere – literal şi în toate sensurile, Craiova: Scrisul Românesc.
[10], [11] Ralian, A. (2009). “Rafturile cu cărţile mele—conserve de timp, de tinereţe, de emoţii.”
Interview by Dora Pavel. In România Literară, 20, p. 21.
[12], [13] Paraschivescu, R. (2004). “Interviu cu Radu Paraschivescu,” by Ciprian Macesaru. In România
Literară, 30, p. 25.
[14] Iuga, N. (2009). “Când găinile dorm în pomul spânzuratului”. In România Literară 41, 28-29.
[15] Pezzini, D. (2008). “The Pleasures of Translating: An Interview with Domenico Pezzini,” by
Roberta Ficchinetti. In The European English Messenger, 17.1, 46-49, p. 49.
[16] Lipman, M. (2007). “Education for Critical Thinking”. In Curren R. (ed.), Philosophy of Education.
An Anthology. London: Blackwell.
[17] Ricoeur, P. (2006). On Translation. Trans. by Eileen Brennan, London: Routledge.
[18] idem, p. 10.
[19] ibidem, p. 23.
Abstract
Didactics of Translation Studies is a specialist field in search of its own content as it refers to
both theorizing translation and crediting translation as a teaching/learning method. In order to
21

pay allegiance to both research strands, in our paper, we advance two broad claims we propose to
substantiate and find solutions to: (1) the theorist’s credibility is enhanced by his/her actual
performance of translation before thematizing it; (2) an understanding of the mechanism of
translation can build a more profound awareness of language, self, and mind. For the first claim,
the translator-theorist’s reasoning on the process of translation vs creation can contribute to
bringing illumination on the problems and enigmas of translation; for the second claim, the
teacher/textbook writer who chooses to use translation as a means towards teaching/learning a
language chooses, in fact, to prepare the students for an education for critical thinking. Such an
approach to the discipline favours two convenient conclusions: (1) the paradigm of translation can
be defined in terms of human identity, dialogue, and eventually a future ethos of world politics; (2)
one hopefully becomes a better reader and writer. By rethinking the interrelationship of the
philosophy of translation as practice, and the practice of translation as thinking the language/the
world, the paper facilitates a fresh perspective on the discipline.
Key words: translator-theorist; “oneself-as-another”; education for critical thinking
Résumé
La didactique de la traduction est une matière d´enseignement à la recherche de son propre
contenu car elle se rapporte aussi bien à une théorie de la traduction qu´à la traduction en tant que
méthode technique d´enseignement-apprentissage d´une langue étrangère. Cette double perspective
permet de suggérer dans notre travail les suivantes directions de recherche susceptibles d´analyse
et de solution: (1) un théoricien de la traduction est d´autant plus cautionné qu´il est à la fois
traducteur; (2) bien comprendre le mécanisme d´une traduction sert à l´acquisition d´une pensée
linguistique voire d´une pensée sur soi-même et son esprit. Empruntant la première direction de
recherche le théoricien-traducteur est dans la situation de contribuer d´une manière essentielle à
l´éclaircissement des mécanismes de fonctionnement de la traduction; pour ce qui est de la
deuxième direction à prendre la traduction en tant que méthode/ technique d´apprentissage devient
bien efficace dans le processus d´acquisition d´une pensée critique envisagée généralement. La
démarche proposée nous conduit à des conclusions du type: (1) la définition d´un paradigme de la
traduction se réclame de mots concernant l´identité, le dialogue sans éluder l´éventualité de cerner
un éthos de politique globale; (2) l´élève/ praticien-traducteur se mue en lecteur/écrivain avisé
possesseur d´une pensée critique. Mettant à profit les rapports unissant la philosophie de la
traduction en tant que pratique et la pratique de la traduction devenue réflexion sur la langue/
monde la didactique de la traduction offre profitablement l´accès à un domaine interstice.
Mots clés: théoricien-traducteur; soi-même comme un autre; éducation visant une pensée critique
Rezumat
Didactica traducerii este o disciplină care-şi caută propriul conţinut deoarece se referă atât la o
teorie a traducerii cât şi la traducere ca metodă/tehnică de predare şi învăţare a unei limbi străine.
Din această dublă perspectivă, în lucrare, sugerăm următoarele direcţii de cercetare spre a fi
analizate şi soluţionate: (1) credibilitatea teoreticianului este cu atât mai mare cu cât acesta este şi
traducător; (2) înţelegerea mecanismului traducerii contribuie la dobîndirea gîndirii lingvistice,
gîndirii despre sine şi minte. În ceea ce priveşte prima direcţie de cercetare, teoreticianultraducător
poate aduce contribuţii esenţiale în vederea elucidării mecanismelor de funcţionarea a
traducerii; în cazul celei de a doua direcţii, traducerea ca metodă/tehnică de învăţare devine un
mod eficient de însuşire a gîndirii critice în general. Concluziile pe care le sugerează demersul
propus sunt următoarele: (1) paradigma traducerii poate fi definită în termeni identitari, ai
dialogului, şi chiar ai unui etos de politică globală; (2) elevul/practicianul-traducător devine un
cititor şi un scriitor avizat, adică posedă gîndire critică. Prin regîndirea relaţiei între filozofia
traducerii ca practică şi practica traducerii ca modalitate de gîndire a limbii/lumii, disciplina
didactica traducerii oferă o abordare mai profitabilă a unui domeniu interstiţial.
Cuvinte cheie: teoretician-traducător; eu-ca-celălalt; educaţie pentru o gîndire critică
22

UNIVERSITAS
GALATIENSIS
Online access:http://www.ann.ugal.ro/lil/index.htm
Annals of “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati
Fascicle XIII. Language and Literature. New Series
Issue 29, 2010
pp. 23-30
23
Language
and
Literature
DENOMINAŢIA CIRCUMSTANŢIALULUI ÎN LIMBA ROMÂNĂ
Oana Magdalena Cenac
Introducere
Analiza lucrărilor româneşti moderne de sintaxă relevă tendinţele actuale în
organizarea structurilor denominative atribuite poziţiei sintactice de circumstanţial.
Prezentul studiu îşi propune abordarea taxonomică a acestor tendinţe, aşa cum au fost ele
observate în bibliografia noastră fundamentală.
1. Contextul
Ca moment de referinţă pentru analiza noastră şi pentru stabilirea începuturilor
perioadei moderne am ales prima apariţie a gramaticii lui Tiktin, respectiv ultimul deceniu al
secolului al XIX-lea. Datorită conţinutului ştiinţific remarcabil al acestei opere şi datorită
modernităţii expunerii sale, lucrarea în discuţie a fost reeditată în 1945, adică într-o perioadă
când deja se aflau în circulaţie lucrări de sintaxă care puneau în valoare achiziţiile teoretice
ale acestui domeniu, atât pe teren românesc cât şi din lingvistica europeană. Poate nu
întâmplător, a treia ediţie a gramaticii lui Tiktin apare simultan cu două studii ale lui
Drăganu [1], care au fost publicate postum. Este vorba de Elemente de sintaxă a limbii române şi
de Istoria sintaxei, ambele apărute la Bucureşti, în 1945. În Tratatul de gramatică a limbii române.
1. Morfologia, Dimitriu subliniază modernitatea gramaticii lui Tiktin despre care afirmă: “[...]
prima gramatică românească modernă de tip clasic este Gramatica română publicată de H. Tiktin la
Iaşi în 1892-1893... ” [2].
Gramaticile apărute în ultima jumătate de secol XX renunţă la o serie de termeni folosiţi
frecvent în gramaticile antebelice şi interbelice şi utilizează termeni precum amplificare,
determinare adverbială sau circumstanţială, determinant şi determinativ pentru denumirea
circumstanţialului, opuşi complementului propriu-zis. În cazuri cu totul izolate, sunt folosiţi
vechii termeni, mai ales cu valoare generică. Astfel, se vorbeşte de:
(a) determinant circumstanţial în Istoria sintaxei a lui Drăganu [3], pentru ca, după câteva
pagini, în aceeaşi lucrare să se vorbească despre complement circumstanţial;
(b) determinare circumstanţială de loc, de timp etc. în GA, II [4], la Diaconescu [5] şi la
Dimitriu [6];
(c) determinativ verbal apare la Iordan [7] dar şi la Diaconescu [8].
Termenul mai vechi de complinire este abandonat, singura care mai face uz de el ocazional
este Guţu Romalo [9].
Dată fiind lungimea considerabilă a sintagmelor denominative folosite pentru diferitele
tipuri şi subtipuri de complemente circumstanţiale, s-a observat că, majoritatea autorilor
preferă trunchierea acestora, folosind, opţional, numai anumite elemente din componenţa
acestora.

La modul general, termenul are următoarea structură: A (complement) + B
(circumstanţial) + C (tipul semantic al complementului respectiv, exprimabil, la nivel
morfologic, în două moduri: a. substantiv + prepoziţie şi b. adjectiv).
2. Material şi metodă de lucru
Pentru realizarea acestui studiu am întocmit un corpus alcătuit pe baza unei bibliografii pe
care o considerăm fundamentală în aprofundarea tendinţelor terminologice şi care constă
din peste patruzeci de titluri de studii (gramaticale, semantice şi stilistice) publicate în
diverse periodice româneşti, tratate şi gramatici tradiţionale şi moderne.
Analiza terminologică propusă a urmărit, pe de o parte, înregistrarea tuturor
structurilor de interes pentru scopul vizat şi, pe de altă parte, determinarea unor tipologii
terminologice necesare demersului nostru.
3. Rezultate
Cercetarea noastră arată că, în prezent, există următoarele cinci tipologii terminologice cu
structuri variate care pot rezulta în urma diverselor combinaţii.
Tipul I: A + B + C – este tipul cel mai răspândit care apare în majoritatea lucrărilor
consultate.
Tipul II: A + C – complement de mod apare la Milas [10], la D.D. Drasoveanu [11], la V.
Şerban [12], la Alexandrescu [13], la Berea-Găgeanu [14], la Munteanu [15] şi la Bejan [16],
sau complement modal care apare la Iordan [17], la Manoliu [18], la Ciobanu [19], la Dimitriu
[20]; totodată, am identificat denumirea de complement comparativ la Craşoveanu [21].
Tipul III: B + C: circumstanţial de mod în GA II [22], în GA II [23], la Mioara Avram [24],
la Iorgu Iordan [25], la Matilda Caragiu [26], la Maria Rădulescu [27], la Iordan şi Robu [28]
în DSL [29] sau circumstanţial modal la Iordan [30], Şerban [31] şi la G. Ciompec [32] .
În cadrul tipului III, am semnalat prezenţa unor subtipuri pe care le-am notat astfel:
o Varianta I: B + C + C’: circumstanţial de mod comparativ la Gruiţă [33] şi la Teiuş [34].
o Varianta II: B + C’: circumstanţial cantitativ la I. Iordan [35], la Dimitriu [36] şi la
Pană Dindelegan [37].
Tipul IV: B. Valoarea sa semantică se subînţelege din context iar referinţe bibliografice
parţiale apar la Caragiu [38].
Tipul V: C. Comparativul apare la Iordan [39] şi la Dimitriu [40].
Pe lângă aceste tipologii, am stabilit şi prezentăm, în continuare, principalele
configuraţii ale structurilor terminologice pentru denumirea circumstanţialului.
(a) Numele clasei lexico-gramaticale prin care se exprimă: circumstanţialul + circumstanţial
sau complement or complement circumstanţial:
i) adverb-circumstanţial la Dimitriu [41] ;
ii) adverb-complement la Guţu Romalo [42], la Constantinescu Dobridor [43] şi [44];
iii) nume-circumstanţial la Dimitriu [45];
(b) Numele clasei lexico-gramaticale prin care se exprimă circumstanţialul (+complement)
+ circumstanţial + caracteristica semantică a circumstanţialului: adjectiv circumstanţial
de cauză la Ciobanu [46];
(c) Caracteristica morfologică a părţii de vorbire prin care se exprimă circumstanţialul +
caracteristica semantică a circumstanţialului: infinitiv consecutiv apare la E. Berea-
Găgeanu [47];
(d) Numele clasei lexico-gramaticale prin care se exprimă circumstanţialul + o
caracteristică semantică a părţii de vorbire + complement circumstanţial + caracteristică
semantică a circumstanţialului:
24

i) adverb de timp-complement circumstanţial de timp apare la Constantinescu Dobridor
[48];
ii) locuţiune adverbială de cauză - complement circumstanţial de cauză apare la
Constantinescu Dobridor [49].
(e) Caracteristica morfologică a părţii de vorbire prin care se exprimă circumstanţialul +
(complement) circumstanţial + caracteristica semantică a circumstanţialului:
i) gerunziu-complement circumstanţial de concesie apare la Constantinescu
Dobridor [50];
ii) infinitiv circumstanţial de mod la F. Asan şi L.Vasiliu [51].
(f) Circumstanţial + numele clasei lexico-gramaticale (adjectivizat) prin care este
exprimat:
i) circumstanţial adjectival la Iordan [52];
ii) circumstanţial adverbial la Iordan [53] şi circumstanţial adverbial de loc [54]
iii) circumstanţial pronominal [55];
iv) circumstanţial substantival la Iordan [56];
v) circumstanţial verbal la Iordan [57].
(g) Complement + caracteristica sa semantică + numele clasei lexico gramaticale
(adjectivizat) prin care este exprimat: complement de loc adverbial la Milas [58].
(h) (Complement) circumstanţial + o caracteristică morfologică a părţii de vorbire prin
care este actualizat circumstanţialul:
i) circumstanţial infinitival la Iordan [59];
ii) complement circumstanţial prepoziţional la Tiktin [60].
Subordonatele circumstanţiale repetă, în mod firesc, unele aspecte de definire şi de
încadrare întâlnite şi la complementele echivalente. În privinţa termenilor cu care
subordonatele circumstanţiale sunt numite, structurile sunt aceleaşi ca la complementele
respective. Expresia clasică şi generală a termenului care denumeşte circumstanţiala are
structura: A (propoziţie) + B (subordonată) + C (circumstanţială) + D (tipul semantic al
circumstanţialei respective, redat morfologic în două moduri: a. substantiv + prepoziţie; b.
adjectiv. La unele subordonate circumstanţiale această descriere poate fi mai detaliată: D’
(subtip semantic) + D” (sub-subtip semantic) + D”’ (sub-sub-subtip semantic).
Sub B, în puţine cazuri, se utilizează secundară în loc de subordonată. Sub D” au fost
incluse câteva cazuri, puţine, în care nu este vorba de un subtip semantic, ci de informaţii
suplimentare de altă natură privind realizarea subordonatei respective. Astfel, am putut
identifica următoarele situaţii:
i) cauzala cu structură integrală la D. D. Drasoveanu [61].
ii) cauzala eliptică de predicat;
Topica constituenţilor în sintagma terminologică poate cunoaşte grade diferite de
libertate, ca de pildă în propoziţie cauzală circumstanţială. În funcţie de prezenţa sau de
absenţa acestor componente, în diferite combinaţii, se obţin termeni având următoarele
structuri:
Tipul I: A + C + D:
i) propoziţia circumstanţială de mod în GA, II, [62], [63], la Iordan [64], la Caragiu [65],
la Rădulescu[66], la Ciobanu [67], la Avram [68], [68] şi la Pană Dindelegan [70].
ii) propoziţia circumstanţială modală la Dimitriu [71], la Avram [72] şi la Pană
Dindelegan [73].
i) propoziţia circumstanţială de mod comparativă la Diaconescu [74].
Tipul II: C + D:
25

iii) circumstanţiala de mod apare la Frunză [75], Şerban [76], Dobridor [77] şi la Bejan
[78].
Tipul III: A + D:
i) propoziţia de mod la Milas [79] sau
ii) propoziţia modală la I. Iordan [80], la Avram [81] şi la Ciobanu [82].
În cadrul, acestui tip, am identificat câteva subtipuri, anume:
o A + D” + D”’:
- propoziţia de măsură progresivă la Avram [83].
o B + D:
- subordonata de mod sau subordonata modală la Ciobanu [84] şi la Pană Dindelegan [85].
o B + C + D:
- subordonata circumstanţială de mod la Guţu Romalo [86], Şerban [87] şi la Dobridor [88].
o B + C + D’:
- subordonata circumstanţială comparativă la Coteanu [89].
Tipul IV: D
i) modala la Stati [90], Şerban [91], D. Irimia [92], Dobridor [93], la G. Pană
Dindelegan [94] şi [95].
Şi aici poate fi identificat un subtip, anume:
o D + D’:
ii) modala de măsură la Avram [96].
Termenii care au în componenţa lor determinantul antepus fals sau pe cel postpus
invers nu constituie (sub)tipuri semantice, având structura D + D’, cu care se pot confunda
formal. Ei desemnează propoziţii care corespund numai în planul expresiei cu subordonata
omonimă:
i) falsa modală în GA, II [97] şi la Constantinescu Dobridor [98];
i) cauzala inversă la Diaconescu [99].
În mod paradoxal, cu toate că propoziţiile circumstanţiale nu sunt considerate şi
completive, deşi, prin definiţie se precizează că ele suplinesc un complement circumstanţial
(de loc, de timp, de mod etc.), opoziţia dintre completivă şi circumstanţială, tinzând să
desemneze fapte sintactice distincte, nu de puţine ori, chiar la autorii care se conformează
acestei deosebiri, subordonatele circumstanţiale sunt denumite completive (vezi completiva de
loc, completiva de timp sau completiva temporală). În acest sens, este mai mult decât edificatoare,
pentru acest mod de interpretare, observaţia lui Coteanu [100], parţial infirmată de
exemplele care urmează:
„Când întregirile verbului sunt obiectul direct si cel indirect, acestora li se spune
complemente, iar propoziţiilor cu aceeasi funcţie în frază li se spune completive. Când
întregirea priveste locul, timpul, modul etc., părţilor de propoziţie li se spune de asemenea
complemente (circumstanţiale), dar propoziţiile corespunzătoare poartă denumirea de
propoziţii secundare circumstanţiale, nu pe aceea de completive circumstanţiale, deşi sunt
pe acelaşi plan cu cele numite completive (directe sau indirecte). Şi de această dată,
terminologia s-a impus printr-o convenţie, convenţie care ascunde însă simetria amintită,
lăsând impresia că doar completivele «completează».”
O structură particulară prezintă sintagmele în care determinantele completiv şi
circumstanţial se asociază:
o subordonată completivă circumstanţială de condiţie la Dobridor [101];
o subordonată completivă circumstanţială de excepţie [102]
O situaţie diferită o reprezintă, la Iordan şi Robu [103], propoziţia completivă opoziţională
pentru că aceasta este considerată de către cei doi autori ca noncircumstanţială.
26

Unii autori manifestă preferinţe pentru un tip denominativ sau altul. Şi, dacă nu sunt
singurele folosite într-o lucrare, unele structuri terminologice se impun ca număr. Astfel, se
conturează un sistem terminologic unitar (atât la circumstanţial, cât şi la subordonata
echivalentă), chiar dacă el este limitat la un număr restrâns de lucrări.
În aceeaşi tendinţă se încadrează efortul unor autori de a regulariza paradigma
terminologică a circumstanţialelor, parte de propoziţie sau propoziţie, prin întrebuinţarea în
poziţia ocupată de termenul care indică (sub)tipul semantic fie exclusiv a numelui precedat
de prepoziţie, fie exclusiv a adjectivului corespunzător.
Caracteristica semantică a circumstanţialului este indicată printr-un determinant
substantival prepoziţional sau adjectival, substantivul şi adjectivul având aceeaşi rădăcină.
Există puţine abateri de la această regulă: (de) relaţie sau restrictiv(ă) ori limitativ(ă), (de) scop
sau final(ă).
Tradiţia a fixat un anumit uz, acordând prioritate sau exclusivitate fie substantivului,
fie adjectivului: complementul sau completive circumstanţial(ă) de loc, nu şi local(ă), completiva
circumstanţială de scop sau finală, nu şi complementul circumstanţial final, complementul sau
completiva circumstanţial(ă) instrumental(ă), nu şi de instrument etc.
În ultimul timp încep să se întrebuinţeze din ce în ce mai des termeni necunoscuţi
înainte, pentru că denumesc (sub)tipuri noi de circumstanţiale, propoziţionale sau nu, ori
termeni folosiţi odinioară într-o măsură nesemnificativă, făcând parte din aceeasi familie
lexicală sau din familii lexicale diferite, cum ar fi: (de) consecinţă, (de) condiţie, (de) concesie.
Discuţia vizează atât complementele circumstanţiale, cât si subordonatele care le
corespund.
Chiar dacă corpusul lucrărilor consultate, inevitabil limitat, nu oferă întotdeauna
exemple şi pentru circumstanţial şi pentru circumstanţială, nu există nici un motiv să nu se
accepte că termenul este comun pentru ambele mărimi sintactice. Astfel, regăsim
următoarele posibilităţi combinatorii:
a. adjective: calitativ, cauzal, corespondenţial, cumulativ, cumulant, final, limitativ, local,
modal, opozitiv, opoziţional, progresiv, relaţional, restrictiv, rezultativ, spaţial, temporal;
b. substantive (+ prepoziţia de): asociere, calitate, cauzalitate, comparaţie, concesie, condiţie,
conformitate, consecinţă, cumul, exclusivitate, finalitate, frecvenţă, identificare, identitate,
instrument, limită, materie, mijloc, modalitate, opoziţie, periodicitate, progesie, reciprocitate (şi
la genitiv), referinţă (şi la genitiv), rezultat, spaţiu, spaţialitate.
Substantive neologice, cum sunt cauzalitate, conformitate, exclusivitate, finalitate,
identificare, modalitate, periodicitate, reciprocitate, spaţialitate, unele dintre ele formând dublet cu
substantive mai vechi, îşi fac loc în terminologia sintactică actuală sub presiunea
terminologiei din semantică. La fel se întâmplă cu câteva corespondente adjectivale noi,
corespondenţial, cumulant, limitativ, opozitiv, relaţional, restrictiv, rezultativ, spaţial.
Concluzii
Ca o concluzie a demersului nostru, am putea spune că, deşi nu sunt unanim acceptate
de terminologi, variantele sinonimice au rolul lor, mai ales la nivel stilistic, astfel că interesul
pentru forma expunerii nu ar trebui să intre în contradicţie cu nevoia de precizie specifică
oricărui text ştiinţific.
Referinţe
[1] Drăganu, N., (1945). Elemente de sintaxă a limbii române, Bucureşti: Institutul de lingvistică română.
[2] Dimitriu, C. (1999). Tratat de gramatică a limbii române. Morfologia, Iaşi: Institutul European.
[3] Drăganu, N., (1945). Istoria sintaxei, Bucureşti: Institutul de lingvistică română.
[4] * * * Gramatica limbii române, II, (1954). Bucureşti: Editura Academiei.
27

[5] Diaconescu, I. (1982). Observaţii pe marginea corespondenţei dintre părţile de propoziţie şi
propoziţiile subordonate, în LL, I, p. 29.
[6] Dimitriu, C. (1999).Tratat de gramatică a limbii române. Morfologia, Iaşi: Institutul European.
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[8] Diaconescu, I.(1983). Inversiunea sintactică, în SCL, XXXIV, 3, 217-228.
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XXVI, 1, 27-33.
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Iaşi, tomul XXIII, Secţiunea III, e. Lingvistică, 48-54.
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569-572.
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[23] *** Gramatica limbii române, II, (1966). Bucureşti: Editura Academiei.
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I, 141-164.
[25] Iordan, I., (1937). Gramatica limbii române, Bucureşti: Editura Academiei.
[26] Caragiu, M., (1937). Sintaxa gerunziului românesc, Bucureşti: Cartea românească.
[27] Rădulescu, M., Numele predicativ circumstanţial, în SG, II, 121-129.
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[30] Iordan, I., (1937). Gramatica limbii române, Bucureşti: Editura Academiei.
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[32] Ciompec, G., (1985). Morfosintaxa adverbului românesc. Sincronie şi diacronie, Bucureşti: Editura
Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică.
[33] Gruiţă,G., (1985). Raportul limitativ (câteva propuneri), în LR, XXXIV, 1, 16-18.
[34]Teiuş, S.,(1975). Coordonarea în limba română. Structuri coordonate în graiurile daco-române, Cluj-
Napoca (teză de doctorat)
[35] Iordan, I., (1937). Gramatica limbii române, Bucureşti: Editura Academiei.
[36] Dimitriu, C. (1982).Gramatica limbii române explicată. Sintaxa, Iaşi: Editura Junimea.
[37] Pană, Dindelegan, G., (1992). Sintaxă si semantică. Clase de cuvinte şi forme gramaticale cu dublă natură
(adjectivul, adverbul, prepoziţia, forme verbale nepersonale), Bucureşti: Tipografia Universităţii
Bucureşti
[38] Caragiu, M., (1937). Sintaxa gerunziului românesc, Bucureşti: Cartea românească.
[39] Iordan, I., (1956). Limba Română Contemporană, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
[40], [41] Dimitriu, C. (1999).Tratat de gramatică a limbii române. Morfologia, Iaşi: Institutul European.
[42] Guţu Romalo, V., (1973). Sintaxa limbii române. Probleme si interpretări, Bucureşti: Editura Didactică
şi Pedagogică.
[43], [44] Constantinescu Dobridor, Gh., (1994). Sintaxa limbii române, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
[45] Dimitriu,C. (1999).Tratat de gramatică a limbii române. Morfologia, Iaşi: Institutul European.
[46] Ciobanu,F., (1975). Construcţia cauzală adverbială şi propoziţia modală explicativă, în LR, XIV, 6,
569 -572.
[47] Berea-Găgeanu, E., (1984). Complementul consecutiv, în LR, XXXIII, nr. 1, 3-13.
[48], [49], [50] Constantinescu Dobridor, Gh., (1994) Sintaxa limbii române, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
28

[51]Asan, F., şi Vasiliu, L. (1956).Unele aspecte ale sintaxei infinitivului în limba română, în SG, I:96-113,
(p.109).
[52], [53], [54], [55], [56], [57] Iordan, I., (1937). Gramatica limbii române, Bucureşti: Editura Academiei.
[58] Milas, C.,(1972). Aspecte ale oralităţii în sintaxa lui M. Sadoveanu, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
[59] Iordan, I., (1937). Gramatica limbii române, Bucureşti: Editura Academiei.
[60] Tiktin, H.,(1945). Gramatica română. Etimologia şi sintaxa, Bucureşti: Tipografia noua “Grigorie
Panaitescu”.
[61] Draşoveanu, D.,D., (1962). Elemente de analiză sintactică, în D.D.Drasoveanu, P.Dumitraşcu,
M.Zdrenghea (ed.), Analize gramaticale şi stilistice, Bucureşti.
[62] * * * Gramatica limbii române, II, (1954). Bucureşti: Editura Academiei.
[63] * * * Gramatica limbii române, II, (1966). Bucureşti: Editura Academiei.
[64] Iordan, I., (1937). Gramatica limbii române, Bucureşti: Editura Academiei.
[65] Caragiu, M., (1937). Sintaxa gerunziului românesc, Bucureşti: Cartea românească.
[66] Gh. Rădulescu (1972). Observaţii stilistice pe marginea propoziţiei subordonate circumstanţiale
din poezia lui Lucian Blaga, în AUBLLR, 1-2, p.279.
[67] Ciobanu, F., (1975). Construcţia cauzală adverbială şi propoziţia modală explicativă, în LR, XIV, 6,
569 -572.
[68] Avram, M., (1986). Gramatica pentru toţi, Bucureşti: Editura Academiei RSR.
[69] Avram, M., (1997). Gramatica pentru toţi, Bucureşti: Editura Humanitas.
[70] Pană, Dindelegan, G., (1994).Teorie şi analiză gramaticală, Bucureşti: Editura Coresi.
[71] Dimitriu, C. (1982).Gramatica limbii române explicată. Sintaxa, Iaşi: Editura Junimea.
[72] Avram, M., (1997). Gramatica pentru toţi, Bucureşti: Editura Humanitas.
[73] Pană, Dindelegan, G., (1994).Teorie şi analiză gramaticală, Bucureşti: Editura Coresi.
[74] Diaconescu, I. (1982). Observaţii pe marginea corespondenţei dintre părţile de propoziţie şi
propoziţiile subordonate, în LL, I, p. 29.
[75] Frunză, A., (1918). Gramatica limbii române, Bucureşti: Tipografia Curţii Regale, F. Göbl & Fii.
[76] Şerban, V., (1970). Sintaxa limbii române. Curs practic, Bucureşti: Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică.
[77] Constantinescu Dobridor, Gh., (1994) Sintaxa limbii române, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
[78] Bejan, D., (1997). Gramatica limbii române. Compendiu, Bucureşti: Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică.
[79] Milas, C.,(1972). Aspecte ale oralităţii în sintaxa lui M. Sadoveanu, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
[80] Iordan, I., (1997). Gramatica limbii române, Cluj: Editura Echinox.
[81] Avram, M., (1960). Evoluţia subordonării circumstanţiale cu elemente conjuncţionale în limba română,
Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
[82] Ciobanu, F., (1975). Construcţia cauzală adverbială şi propoziţia modală explicativă, în LR, XIV, 6,
569 -572.
[83] Avram, M., (1960). Evoluţia subordonării circumstanţiale cu elemente conjuncţionale în limba română,
Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
[84] Ciobanu,F., (1975). Construcţia cauzală adverbială şi propoziţia modală explicativă explicativă, în
LR, XIV, 6, 569 -572.
[85] Pană, Dindelegan, G., (1994).Teorie şi analiză gramaticală, Bucureşti: Editura Coresi.
[86] Guţu Romalo, V., (1973). Sintaxa limbii române. Probleme şi interpretări, Bucureşti: Editura Didactică
şi Pedagogică.
[87] Şerban, V., (1970). Sintaxa limbii române. Curs practic, Bucureşti: Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică.
[88] Constantinescu Dobridor, Gh., (1994) Sintaxa limbii române, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
[89] Coteanu,I., (1990). Gramatică, Stilistică , Compoziţie, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
[90] Stati, S., (1972). Elemente de analiză sintactică, Bucureşti : Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică.
[91] Şerban,V., (1964). Curs practic de sintaxă a limbii române, Bucureşti: Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică.
[92] Irimia, D., (1976). Structura gramaticală a limbii române. Verbul, Iaşi.
[93] Constantinescu Dobridor, Gh., (1994) Sintaxa limbii române, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
[94] Pană, Dindelegan, G., (1992). Sintaxă si semantică. Clase de cuvinte şi forme gramaticale cu dublă natură
(adjectivul, adverbul, prepoziţia, forme verbale nepersonale), Bucureşti: Tipografia Universităţii
Bucureşti
[95] Pană, Dindelegan, G., (1994).Teorie şi analiză gramaticală, Bucureşti: Editura Coresi.
[96] Avram, M., (1960). Evoluţia subordonării circumstanţiale cu elemente conjuncţionale în limba română,
Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
29

[97] * * * Gramatica limbii române, II, (1966). Bucureşti: Editura Academiei.
[98] Constantinescu Dobridor, Gh., (1994) Sintaxa limbii române, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
[99] Diaconescu, I.(1983). Inversiunea sintactică. În SCL, XXXIV, 3, 217-228.
[100] Coteanu, I., (1990). Gramatică, Stilistică , Compoziţie, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
[101], [102] Constantinescu Dobridor, Gh., (1994) Sintaxa limbii române, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
[103] Iordan, I., Robu, V., (1978). Limba Română Contemporană, Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică.
Rezumat
Scopul demersului nostru a fost acela de a evidenţia complexitatea funcţiei sintactice de
circumstanţial în limba română. Studiile şi cercetările de sintaxă românească, pe cale le-am
parcurs, ne-au permis să identificăm un mijloc de analiză a tendinţelor actuale în ceea ce priveşte
structurile denominative atribuite poziţiei sintactice de circumstanţial.
Cuvinte cheie: circumstanţial, complemement, structură circumstanţială
Résumé
Le but de notre démarche a été celui de mettre en évidence la complexité de la fonction syntactique
du circonstanciel en roumain. Les études et les recherches de syntaxe roumaine, qu’on a parcourut,
nous ont permis d’identifier un moyen d’analyse des tendances actuelles en ce qui concerne les
structures dénominatives attribuées à la position syntactique du circonstanciel.
Mots clés: circonstanciel, complément, structure circonstancielle
Abstract
The purpose of our paper is to emphasize the compelxity of the adverbial in the Romanian
language. The analisys of different studies of Romanian syntax have given us the oportunity to
identify a way of approachingg the latest tendencies regarding the denominative structures related
to the syntactic function of circumstance expressing patterns.
Key words: adverbial, object, adverbial structure
30

UNIVERSITAS
GALATIENSIS
Online access: http://www.ann.ugal.ro/lil/index.htm
Annals of “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati
Fascicle XIII. Language and Literature. New Series
Issue 29, 2010
pp. 31-36
PARTITURĂ PENTRU OROLOGIU ŞI CHITARĂ
Cătălina-Diana Popa
31
Language
and
Literature
Intertextualitate – noţiuni introductive
Conceptual, intertextualitatea aparţine criticii moderne şi, privită sintetic, reprezintă
raportul dintre texte diferite, modul în care acestea se reflectă sau fac referire unul la celalalt.
Termenul a fost introdus de Julia Kristeva pentru care noţiunea de „intertextualitate” o
înlocuieşte pe cea de „intersubiectivitate”, exprimând ideea că semnificaţia unui text nu este
transmisă direct de către autor cititorului, fiind filtrată de anumite coduri pe care cei doi şi leau
însuşit printr-o serie de lecturi comune, pentru că, în esenţă, fiecare scriere repetă texte
sau fragmente de text anterioare, pe care le include şi le prelucrează [1].
Totuşi conceptul de intertextualitate are ca punct de pornire semiotica saussuriană,
fiind analizat în egală măsură şi în lucrările teoretice ale unor autori ca Barthes, Genette sau
Riffaterre, iar teoria literară actuală continuă să îi urmărească evoluţia. Intertextualitatea este,
aşadar, un aspect esenţial al metatextualităţii, fiind semnificativă pentru nuanţarea
demersului critic, dar şi pentru a descoperi afinităţile şi rădăcinile validate chiar de scriitor.
Textele scrise de Matei Vişniec în ultimii ani au o intensă componentă intertextuală, preluând
şi prelucrând personaje, replici şi chiar scene din opera unor autori precum Shakespeare,
Camus, Kafka sau Ionesco. Este astfel continuat demersul început în Ultimul Godot, una
dintre primele piese scrise înainte de plecarea optzecistului din ţară. În articolul de faţă vom
analiza două texte ce poartă semnătura celui considerat în unanimitate cel mai jucat
dramaturg al momentuluilui şi care intră într-un un raport de intertextualitate primară,
evidentă, asumată cu opera lui Anton Pavlovici Cehov.
Dragul meu Maestru...
Maşinăria Cehov şi Nina sau Despre fragilitatea pescăruşilor împăiaţi sunt două piese pe
care Matei Vişniec i le dedică lui Cehov, singurul pe care îl numeşte „dragul meu
Maestru”[2], devenind astfel „cel mai important critic de ultimă oră al autorului rus pentru
că a ajuns acolo unde critica nu doar imită literatura, dar o şi înlocuieşte”[3].
Principalul model literar pentru dramaturgul român nu este deci, aşa cum ne-am
aştepta, Ionesco, şi nici Beckett sau Camus, ceea ce explică ruptura fundamentală dintre
teatrul său şi cel absurd. Atmosfera crepusculară, apariţiile fantomatice, inerţia personajelor,
lirismul subtil şi oarecum în dezacord cu universul înfăţişat în multe dintre piesele sale au
rădăcini cehoviene.
Maşinăria Cehov
Maşinăria Cehov este invadată de eroii din celebrele piese ce poartă semnătura
dramaturgului rus: Livada de vişini, Trei surori, Ivanov, Unchiul Vania şi Pescăruşul, fiecăruia

făcându-i-se o scurtă prezentare în didascalia care precede textul. Astfel, cititorul descoperă
numele complet al personajului, piesa căreia îi aparţine, statutul, trăsăturile definitorii,
evoluţia şi, eventual, o replică reprezentativă:
„Ermolai Alexeievici LOPAHIN – personaj în Livada de vişini; negustor bogat, el este
cel care cumpără livada de vişini a doamnei Ranievskaia, cu care întreţine relaţii pline de
ambiguitate; Într-una dintre scrisorile sale
Cehov spune despre acest personaj: nu este un negustor în sensul vulgar al cuvântului...
el este, fără îndoială, un negustor, dar mai este, în toate sensurile, un om de treabă.”[4]
Deşi, în lipsa acestor repere livreşti, trimiterile intertextuale ar putea îngreuna o
receptare corectă a piesei de către spectatori, Vişniec reuşeşte totuşi să îşi resitueze
personajele într-o construcţie dramatică relativ independentă, care să poată fi percepută ca
atare. Textul este dominat de figura lui Cehov, transformat şi el într-un personaj construit din
detalii ce aparţin în egală măsură biografiei proprii şi celei a eroilor săi.
Dorind să surprindă aspectele fundamentale ale personalităţii autorului rus – scriitorul,
medicul şi bolnavul – piesa redă ultimele clipe din viaţa acestuia, insistând asupra faptului
că eroii pe care i-a creat îi supravieţuiesc, instalându-se firesc în lumea reală. Şi, prin ei,
Cehov însuşi continuă să existe. Aşa cum a procedat şi cu Beckett, Vişniec îi oferă şi
„maestrului” său şansa de a-şi întâlni personajele şi, mai ales, de a le vindeca. Primul căruia
Anton Pavlovici îi face o vizită este Treplev, tânărul artist cu porniri sinucigaşe din
Pescăruşul, căruia îi va pansa rana rămasă în urma ultimei încercări de a-şi pune capăt vieţii şi
îi va da câteva sfaturi scriitoriceşti:
„CEHOV (se apleacă peste rana lui TREPLEV şi o miroase) – V-am citit povestirea din
Gazeta de Sankt-Petersbourg şi am fost profund impresionat. Aveţi talent, Konstantin
Gavrilovici. Cerul v-a dat un dar pe care majoritatea oamenilor nu-l au, talentul... Un
dar care vă plasează deasupra altor milioane de fiinţe umane. (Miroase pansamentul.) E
un dar pe care trebuie să-l respectaţi. Trebuie să-l acceptaţi în acelaşi timp ca pe o bucurie
şi ca pe o povară... Graţie talentului dumneavoastră, viaţa dumneavoastră este deja plină
de sens, în timp ce alte milioane de oameni încă bâjbâie prin întuneric căutându-şi sensul
vieţii.”[5]
Dincolo de discuţia despre literatura de valoare, despre imparţialitatea auctorială şi
evitarea unui stil pretenţios, intuim încercarea lui Cehov de a-şi încuraja personajul şi de a-l
salva de la autodistrugere.
În continuare, dramaturgul rus îi întâlneşte în trecere pe locotenentul Tuzenbach şi pe
căpitanul Solonîi, din Trei surori, pe care Vişniec hotărăşte să îi împace, deşi în piesa
originală, primul este ucis în timpul unui duel cu cel de-al doilea. Piesa este traversată în
câteva rânduri de Trecătorul din Livada de vişini, care încetează să mai fie un personaj
episodic, ocupând, după dramaturgul rus, cel mai important loc în desfăşurarea scenică, deşi
nu face şi nu spune nimic esenţial. Cehov a avut, înainte de toate, geniul de a crea personaje
secundare şi episodice care, de multe ori rămân în memoria cititorului mai mult timp decât
protagoniştii, iar dramaturgul român valorifică acest lucru, oferindu-le şansa de a se
desfăşura. În Scrisoarea către Cehov, Vişniec numeşte aceste personaje „vagabonzi metafizici”,
iar pe Trecător, „personaj fulgurant şi misterios care apare de nu se ştie unde”, îl consideră
„strămoşul lui Vladimir şi Estragon”[6]. Un exemplu asemănător este Firs, bătrânul valet al
familiei Ranievski din Livada de vişini, pe care celelalte personaje, grăbite să plece către o
nouă viaţă, îl uită alături de mobilele prăfuite din vechea casă de la ţară. Pe tot parcursul
32

piesei lui Cehov, Firs rămâne în plan secund, fiind perceput ca o parte componentă a moşiei,
un ultim vişin rămas in picioare după tăierea livezii, însă este personajul cu cea mai mare
încărcătură simbolică, imagine a stabilităţii, a vechii familii patriarhale ruseşti pe cale să îşi
piardă valorile şi să se disipeze în marile oraşe. Vişniec îi urmăreşte destinul şi după plecarea
stăpânilor, lăsându-l să îl vegheze pe Cehov şi să îi locuiască, asemeni unei stafii, încăperile.
De altfel, casa lui Cehov este bântuită şi de fantomele altor personaje – când Firs ridică
obloanele, de cealaltă parte a ferestrei stau, cu feţele „lipite de geam” şi cu privirile
„proiectate în vid”, toate personajele din ultima scenă a piesei Livada de vişini, iar în dulap
se întrevăd siluetele lui Tuzenbach şi Solionîi, cu chipurile „golite de orice expresie”[7].
Ultimele scene au o vădită componentă onirică. Cehov este vegheat în ultimele clipe de
spectrul macabru al Anei Petrovna (Sarah), soţia evreică a personajului eponim din Ivanov,
care a murit, ca şi autorul său, în urma unei tuberculoze pulmonare. Acesta se stinge, iar la
căpătâiul său se strâng medicii din câteva piese cehoviene: Evgheni Constantinovici Lvov
(Ivanov), Ivan Romanovici Cebutîkin (Trei surori) şi Mihail Lvovici Astrov (Unchiul Vania).
Constatarea decesului se transformă într-o comemorare cu multă votcă şi reflecţii asupra
operei lui Cehov şi a existenţei în genere:
„ASTROV: Nu ştiu de ce, dar în ce mă priveşte, acum că Anton Pavlovici e mort, eu
unul mă simt uşurat.
CEBUTÎKIN: A, pentru că domnul Cehov te împiedica să exişti, poate?
ASTROV: Nu prea ştiu.
CEBUTÎKIN: Te împiedica să visezi, poate?
ASTROV: Dar acum, că e mort, îmi zic că trebuie să uităm şi să ne reapucam de muncă.
LVOV: Toate personajele sale sunt oarecum ca fâşiile alea de hârtie lipicioasă de ucis
muşte. Nu atrag decât spleen-ul, vidul şi întunericul.
ASTROV: Păi, asta este! Regele sufletului slav e mort. Trăiască regele!”[8]
În conversaţie intervine, ieşit de sub pânza mortuară şi ridicat brusc în picioare, Cehov,
care închină şi el un pahar cu votcă şi îşi serveşte musafirii cu măsline. Li se alătură
Trecătorul, extenuat după ce, în urma unei încurcături, urmase alt cortegiu mortuar decât cel
al scriitorului. Turnura pe care o iau faptele, coborârea bruscă în oniric şi tenta absurdă,
aproape parodică, pe care o îmbracă textul este deja un laitmotiv în piesele lui Vişniec. Prin
camera scriitorului se vor mai perinda şi cele trei surori, Olga, Irina şi Maşa, venite să îl
anunţe că pleacă în sfârşit la Moscova, şi apoi Bobik, devenit gardian al casei memoriale a lui
Cehov. Pentru câteva momente toate personajele se transformă în statui de ceară, în acest
ciudat muzeu al literaturii ruse locuit de fantome cehoviene, apoi dramaturgul urcă într-un
tren al umbrelor. Se aud câteva acorduri de chitară şi, încet, se lasă întunericul. Această
variantă de final este, poate, cea mai potrivită, deşi Vişniec mai oferă două scene
suplimentare, în care apar Ranievskaia, protagonista piesei Livada de vişini, şi Unchiul Vania,
din textul care îi poartă numele.
Nina sau Despre fragilitatea pescăruşilor împăiaţi
Îl vom reîntâlni pe Treplev, matur şi încă îndrăgostit, într-o altă piesă de factură
cehoviană, prin care Vişniec încearcă să înteleagă mai bine „mecanismul interior” al unei
opere şi al unui univers care nu îi dau pace „nicio secundă”[9]: Nina sau despre fragilitatea
pescăruşilor împăiaţi. Personajul principal nu este însă scriitorul temperamental, sfâşiat de
conflincte interioare, ci Nina Zarecinaia, întoarsă la prima sa iubire, după cincisprezece ani
petrecuţi la Moscova, alături de Trigorin. Obosit, ursuz şi agasat de patosul celor doi, Boris
Alexeievici îşi va face şi el apariţia, spre exasperarea actriţei, care îl va ignora pe tot parcursul
piesei. Cehov nu mai participă ca personaj, însă îi intuim prezenţa în paşii care se aud afară,
33

în umbrele care se întrevăd la fereastră şi în orologiul care „scuipă sânge”[10]. Vişniec
plasează acţiunea la începutul Marii Revoluţii din februarie, 1917, urmărind reacţiile
personajelor în faţa noii ideologii. După cum era de aşteptat, pătimaşi, înflăcăraţi, răzvrătiţi,
Nina şi Treplev vor să plece la Sankt-Petersburg, în timp ce Trigorin analizează sarcastic, dar
obiectiv situaţia:
„TRIGORIN – Am citit şi eu, ca toată lumea, din când în când câte un articolaş scris de Lenin...
Dar nu cred că binele poate fi construit cu ajutorul violenţei, al răului deci... Există ceva ce-mi
scapă în discursul revoluţionar... O anumită idee de precipitare care nu-mi place... O societate
nouă se construieşte tot aşa cum se creşte un copil... trebuie timp, trebuie răbdare, nu poţi sări
etapele... [...]
TREPLEV – [...] Mâine plec la Sankt-Petersburg împreună cu Nina.
NINA – Da, da, da! Ne ducem la Lenin, ne ducem la bolşevici!
TREPLEV – Da, Boris Alexeevici, vă informez în modul cel mai solemn cu putinţă că am intenţia
să mă angajez în lupta politică.
NINA – Şi o să ne batem!
TREPLEV – Vreau să ne batem de partea dezertorilor şi a iluminaţilor... Am auzit că s-a abolit
cenzura...”[11].
Entuziasmul celor doi se amplifică, transformându-se în exaltare: îşi vor oferi
posesiunile mujicilor, vor porni spre necunoscut săraci „precum Hristos”, vor face teatru pe
străzi, în pieţe, în uzine, vor face istorie. Înflăcărarea protagoniştilor încetează brusc în
momentul în care Trigorin îi anunţă că în Europa a apărut o nouă mişcare literară numită
DADA şi că, poate, adevărata revoluţie e acolo, prin urmare Nina şi Treplev rămân să se
întrebe încotro să pornească, spre Sankt-Petersburg sau spre Zürich. În ziua următoare eroii
găsesc în prag un soldat îngheţat, semn că revoluţia a devenit certitudine. Dar cei trei aleg să
îl ignore deocamdată, aşezându-l în bucătărie, în timp ce ei merg la vânătoare, sparg lemne,
discută despre reţete culinare, femei, frumuseţe şi fericire, trăind cumva în afara timpului şi a
istoriei. În final îi vom vedea pe Treplev şi pe Trigorin cu valizele făcute, gata să plece către
nicăieri. Ca de obicei, Nina se lasă aşteptată, pentru că ştie, la fel cum şi cei doi barbaţi ştiu,
ca o vor aştepta şi o vor iubi întotdeauna, „pentru ca ideea de dragoste să nu moară într-o
vreme cand lumea a înnebunit”[12]. Totuşi nu desfăşurarea faptelor seduce lectorul, ci
atmosfera, construită din amănunte şi nuanţe aproape imperceptibile, asemenea unui puzzle
complicat. Este neobişnuit de frig, încât a îngheţat cerneala şi Nina nu mai poate răspunde la
scrisori, cortina zdrenţuită a scenei celei vechi flutură în vânt, Treplev scrijeleşte cu un
ţurţure un haiku în zăpadă, ochi de lupi, de vulpi, de râşi, de bufniţe scânteiază în întuneric,
amintind de spectatorii pe care şi-i dorea tânărul dramaturg în Pescăruşul, un cerb singuratic
se întrevede în ceaţă. Personajele trec fantomatic prin încăperi şi, la fel ca în Maşinăria Cehov,
în cele din urmă se vor pietrifica încet, rămânând nemişcate. Umbra morţii planează peste
conac, sugerată de pescăruşul împăiat, agăţat pe perete, de oglinda mincinoasă care nu
recunoaşte trecerea timpului, de fereastra către dincolo, de cutia cu pistoale, de cicatricile lui
Treplev. Piesa, în care Mircea Ghiţulescu vede „o reconstituire a infernului”[13], este de fapt
un poem al vieţii fără de moarte, al tinereţii fără de bătrâneţe şi, mai ales, al suferinţei fără
sfârşit, de care fiinţa umană nu se poate ascunde nici măcar atunci când i se oferă o a doua
şansă.
În loc de concluzii
Dincolo de lumea cehoviană din care se desprind, cele două piese ale lui Vişniec,
Maşinăria Cehov şi Nina sau Despre fragilitatea pescăruşilor împăiaţi, au în comun o muzică
ciudată, aproape imperceptibilă.
Dacă în primul text discutat anterior acordurile chitarei lui Cebutîkin se aud stins, pe
34

fundal, marcând sfârşitul piesei şi plecarea lui Cehov, în cel de-al doilea melodia neobişnuită
este mai degrabă personaj decât element ambiental. Vişniec compune o sonată în care
fiinţele, obiectele, stihiile îşi cântă straniile partituri: se aude tic-tacul orologiului, cineva bate
insistent în uşă, ninge... vântul urlă, Trigorin şi Treplev despică lemne cu toporul, lovind
succesiv ca şi cum ar fi figurinele unui balet mecanic, se aude un muget de cerb, ninge...
răsună o împuşcătură departe, furtuna şuieră, se aud paşii cuiva care dă târcoale casei, Nina
cântă, se aud zurgălăi, ninge, ninge... puşca de vânătoare cade cu un zgomot surd,
pescăruşul împăiat cade, zăpada cade în neştire. Totul pare să se prăbuşească, totul e alb,
totul cântă. Nicio punere în scenă nu ar putea surprinde în întregime nuanţele textului
pentru că avem înainte o piesă cu o vie componentă lirică, ce pare destinată lecturii şi nu
dramatizării.
Poate cel mai frapant amănunt în piesele lui Matei Vişniec, ce au o vizibilă componentă
intertextuală, este întâlnirea pe care el reuşeşte să o intermedieze între dramaturg şi propriile
personaje. Dacă în realitate autorii nu îşi pot cunoaşte eroii decât prin prisma unei viziuni
regizorale sau actoriceşti, în teatrul său Cehov conversează cu Treplev, Beckett cu Godot, iar
Cântăreaţa Cheală pare să se îndrăgostească de traducătorul pieselor lui Ionescu. Cu toate
acestea, Vişniec nu reuşeşte – sau nu încearcă acest lucru – să construiască personaje cu
adevărat autentice. Indiferent câte elemente ar împrumuta din biografia reală a scriitorilor
deveniţi eroi sau din piesele originale, cărora protagoniştii săi le-au aparţinut, vocea
auctorială este atât de puternică în text, modul în care personajele vorbesc şi se comportă este
atât de propriu dramaturgului româno-francez, încât nici măcar un cititor ocazional al
scrierilor sale nu s-ar lăsa convins că cel care vorbeşte este cu adevărat Lopahin, Firz sau
Trigorin.
REFERINŢE
[1] Kristeva, J. (1980). Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art, New York: Columbia
University Press, (p. 36-38).
[2], [3] Vişniec, M. (2008), Maşinăria Cehov. Nina sau despre fragilitatea pescăruşilor împăiaţi, Bucureşti: Ed.
Humanitas, (p. 5).
[4] Vişniec, M. (2008), Maşinăria Cehov. Nina sau despre fragilitatea pescăruşilor împăiaţi, Bucureşti: Ed.
Humanitas, (p. 13-14).
[5] idem, (p. 33).
[6] ibidem, (p. 7).
[7] Vişniec, M. (2008), Maşinăria Cehov. Nina sau despre fragilitatea pescăruşilor împăiaţi, Bucureşti: Ed.
Humanitas, (p. 46).
[8] Vişniec, M. (2008), Maşinăria Cehov. Nina sau despre fragilitatea pescăruşilor împăiaţi, Bucureşti: Ed.
Humanitas, (p. 63).
[9] idem, (p. 9).
[10] ibidem, (p. 128).
[11] Vişniec, M. (2008), Maşinăria Cehov. Nina sau despre fragilitatea pescăruşilor împăiaţi, Bucureşti: Ed.
Humanitas, (p. 159-160).
[12] idem, (p. 180).
[13] Ghiţulescu, M. (2010). Cehov citit de Vişniec. În Convorbiri literare, 7, (p. 22).
Abstract
Intertextuality represents the relation between different texts, the manner in which they reflect in,
and refer to one another, as the meaning of a text is not directly conveyed by the author to the
reader, but instead it is filtered by certain codes that the two have acquired by means of a series of
shared readings. Therefore, intertextuality is an essential aspect of metatextuality, being relevant
to nuancing the critical approach, as well as to finding the affinities and ”roots” validated by the
writer himself. In ”The ChekhovMachine” and ”Nina or On the Frailty of Stuffed Seagulls”,
35

Matei Vişniec returns to his ”master”, A. P. Cekhov, entering an obvious intertextual relation
with his work. The former text centers on the three hyposthases of the Russian writer – the writer,
the doctor and the patient. The play depicts the final moments in his life, evincing the fact that the
heroes he created live on, naturally finding their own place in the real world. ”Nina” revives three
characters from the ”Seagull”: Nina, Treplev and Trigorin. Vişniec sets his plot at the beginning
of the Great Revolution in February 1917, examining the characters’ reactions towards the new
ideology. Both texts display consistency, arresting the reader’s attention by the manner in which
the Romanian- French writer uses intertextuality and the subtle auditory component.
Key words: intertextuality, theatre, Vişniec, Cekhov, musicality
Résumé
L’intertextualité représente le rapport entre des textes distincts, la façon dont ceux-ci se reflètent
ou font référence l’un à l’autre puisque la signification d’un texte n’est pas transmise directement
de l’auteur vers le lecteur, étant filtrée par certains codes convenus conjointement, à la suite d’une
série de lectures communes. L’intertextualité représente donc un aspect essentiel de la
métatextualité, jouant un rôle significatif dans la mise en évidence de la demarche critique, mais
aussi dans la découverte des affinités et des „racines” confirmées par l’écrivain lui–même. Dans la
„La Machine Tchekhov” et „Nina ou de la fragilité des mouettes empaillées”, Matei Visniec
revient chez son „maître” A.P. Tchekhov, se plaçant dans un évident rapport d’intertextualité avec
l’oeuvre de celui-ci. Dans le premier texte on surprend les trois hypostases fondamentales de la
personnalité de l’auteur russe – l’écrivain, le médecin et le malade. La pièce rend les derniers
instants de sa vie, soulignant le fait que les héros qu’il a créés lui survivent, trouvant
naturellement leur place dans la vie réelle. En „Nina...” on retrouve trois personnages de „La
Mouette”: Nina, Treplev et Trigorin. Visniec place l’action au début de la Grande Révolution de
février 1917, prêtant attention aux réactions des personnages en ce qui concerne la nouvelle
idéologie. Les deux textes ont de la consistance, surprenant tant par la manière dont le dramaturge
roumain et français met en valeur l’intertextualité que par la subtile composante auditive.
Mots-clés : intertextualité, théâtre, Visniec, Tchekhov, musicalité
Rezumat
Intertextualitatea reprezintă legătura dintre diferite texte, modul în care acestea se reflectă sau se
relaţionează deoarece sensul unui text nu este transmis citiotrului de autor în mod direct, ci este
filtrat prin anumite coduri achiziţionate de cei doi prin intermediul unor lecturi comune. Aşadar,
intertextualitatea este un aspect esenţial al metatextualităţii, avînd un rol important în nuanţarea
abordării critice precum şi în identificarea afinităţilor şi a „rădăcinilor” validate de autor însuşi.
În Maşinăria Cehov şi Nina sau despre fragilitatea pescăruşilor împăiaţi Vişniec revine la
„maestrul”, A. P. Cehov, construind o evidentă relaţie intertextuală cu opera acestuia. Primul
text se concentrează asupra a trei ipostaze ale autorului rus – autorul, medicul şi pacientul. Piesa
descrie ultimele momente ale vieţii sale, arătând faptul că eroii creaţi de el îşi continuă viaţa,
găsindu-şi în mod firesc propriul lor loc în lumea reală. Nina întruchipează trei personaje din
Pescăruşul: Nina, Treplev and Trigorin. Vişniec îşi plasează acţiunea la începutul Marii Revoluţii
din Februarie 1917, urmărind reacţiile personajelor faţă de noua ideologie. Ambele texte sunt
dense, atrăgând atenţia cititorului prin modul în care scriitorul româno-francez întrebuinţează
intertextualitatea şi subtilul element auditiv.
Cuvinte cheie: intertextualitate, teatru, Vişniec, Cehov, muzicalitate
36

UNIVERSITAS
GALATIENSIS
Online access: http://www.ann.ugal.ro/lil/index.htm
Annals of “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati
Fascicle XIII. Language and Literature. New Series
Issue 29, 2010
pp. 37-44
LANGUAGE EGO AND CULTURAL EMBEDDEDNESS
IN LITERARY TRANSLATION
Titela Vîlceanu
37
Language
and
Literature
Preliminary statements
Language and culture – to be considered as dynamic entities - are dialectically
connected. Such resonances are to be found in translation where it becomes much more
obvious that languages in contact – in our case English and French – do borrow lexical items
that they further adapt to morphological and syntactic specifications alongside re-shaping
contexts of occurrence (at the denotative and/or connotative level) so as to secure fitness of
purpose, i.e. map socio-cultural ideologies, axiologies and praxis.
Crudely put, language ego (originally circulated in psychiatry) describes the identity
that people build and assert with reference to the language they speak, yet, we should not
narrow the concept to the boundaries of nativeness.
1. Methodological framework
In what follows, by using the comparative method of analysis, we aim to demonstrate
that literary translators constantly go back to the original text in search for nuances of
meaning and socio-cultural data embedded in the text in a more or less visible way.
Our analysis of the equivalents provided by 3 different translators of the same literary
text (Le rouge et le Noir), performed at different time points, underpins an etymological look
and the concern with the interdependence between language evolution and cultural change.
ST 1. [1830] 1990 : Ce travail, si rude en apparence, est un des ceux qui étonnent de
plus le voyageur qui pénètre pour la première fois dans les montagnes qui
séparent la France de l’Helvétie. (p.22)
TT 1.a) [1927] 1938: This work, so rough to the outward eye, is one of the industries that
most astonish the traveller who ventures for the first time among the mountains
that divide France from Switzerland. (p. 10)
TT 1.b) [1953] 1976: But what most amazes any traveler making his way into the heart
of the mountain dividing France from Switzerland is to find that the very rough
task of placing the little bits of iron beneath these hammers is handled by pretty,
fresh, rosy-cheeked young women. (p. 23)
TT 1.c) 1991: This rough-looking work is one of the activities which the traveller who
ventures for the first time into the mountains separating France from
Switzerland finds most surprising. (p. 4)
étonner - surprendre par quelque chose d'extraordinaire ou d'inattendu.
to astonish - to affect with wonder and surprise; amaze; confound. The term is recorded in

the 16 th century, coming from Old French < Fr. estoner < Lat. ex+tonare.
to amaze – to overwhelm, as by wonder or surprise; astonish greatly. The term is of
Germanic origin (< Old English āmasian).
to surprise - to cause to feel wonder or astonishment because unusual or unexpected. The
term is a loan from French < Fr. surprendre in late Middle English.
The three synonyms differ in point of their denotative meaning, where surprise is
characterized by [+unusual or unexpected] and amaze indicates a higher degree. The
heteronym (defined as optimal equivalent) of the French étonner is to surprise; although
etymologically astonish and étonner are closely related, the English term did not preserve the
idea of unexpectedness.
ST 2. [1830] 1990: Pour peu que le voyageur s’arrête quelques instants dans cette
grande rue de Verrières … (p.22)
TT 2a) [1927] 1938: Provided the traveller halts for a few moments in this main street of
Verrières...(p.10)
TT 2b) [1953] 1976: If he lingered for a moment in that street which climbs upwards to
the mountain from the banks of the Doubs…. (p.24)
TT 2c) 1991: If the traveller stops but a moment moments in the main street of
Verrières... (p.4)
s’arrêter - interrompre ou faire cesser un mouvement ou une marche.
to halt - to stop; bring or come to a halt. The noun halt implies a complete stop. Halt is of
Germanic origin < Old German halz, and its transfer to English was mediated by
French < Fr. halte. In contemporary English, it pertains to the formal style.
to stop - to bring (something in motion) to a halt; arrest the progress of. The term is recorded
for Old English < stoppian.
to linger - to stay on as if reluctant to leave; delay going. It emerged in Middle English, being
a derivative of the adjective long, borrowed in Old English from Latin < Lat. longus.
The three equivalents differ both in point of denotation and of connotation. At the
denotative level, halt is characterized by [+complete] and linger by [+reluctant]. At the
connotative level, the synonyms differ with respect to the level of formality, belonging to
register-related socio-cultural connotative relative synonyms (Vilceanu, 2003, 2007). The
heteronym of s’arrêter is to stop.
ST 3. [1830] 1990: A son aspect tous les chapeaux se lèvent rapidement. Ses cheveux sont
grisonnants, et il est vêtu de gris. (p.22)
TT 3a) [1927] 1938: At the sight of him every hat is quickly raised. His hair is turning
grey, and he is dressed in grey. (p.10)
TT 3b) [1953] 1976: As he passes, everyone promptly raises his hat. His hair is growing
grey, his clothes are grey, too (p.24)
TT 3c) 1991: As he passes, all hats are raised with alacrity. His hair is turning grey, and
grey is what he wears. (p.4)
grisonnants – qui grisonne, qui devient gris. The adjective has an inchoative value. The
English renderings differ syntactically by using a verbal phrase verb + adjective.
to turn - v.i. to change, as in nature, character, or appearance. The term was borrowed in
Old English from Latin < Lat. tornare. In contemporary English, the term is negatively
polarised [+especially to something bad].
to grow - v.i. to become; to come to be gradually. The term is of Germanic origin, being
recorded in Old English < grōwan.
The two terms differ both denotatively - grow is marked by [+gradually] (inchoative
38

value), and connotatively due to their different axiological load. The phrase to grow grey
becomes the closest counterpart of grisonnants, as English does not possess an adjective of
colour marked by [+gradually] (lexical gap).
ST 4. [1830] 1990 : Mais bientôt le voyageur parisien est choqué d’un certain air de
contentement de soi et de suffisance mêlée à je ne sais quoi de borné et de peu
inventif. (p.22)
TT 4a) [1927] 1938: But soon the visitor from Paris is annoyed by a certain air of selfcontent
and lack of originality. (p.10)
TT 4b) [1953] 1976: Yet, all the same, a visitor from the larger world of Paris would
quickly note, and be repelled by, something about the man that marks him as not
only self-sufficient but singularly limited and lacking in initiative (p. 24)
TT 4c) 1991: But soon the traveller from Paris is shocked by a certain look of selfsatisfaction
and complacency mingled with an indefinable hint of narrowmindedness
and lack of imagination. (p. 4)
voyageur - personne voyageant seule ou en groupe par goût de l'aventure, du dépaysement et
dans un but de détente et de loisir.
traveller – one who travels or journeys from place to place. The word belongs to Middle
English, being a derivative of the verb travel borrowed from French < Fr. travail during the
same period (the meaning was contaminated).
visitor - one who visits, as for reasons of friendship, courtesy, on business, etc. It was
borrowed in late Middle English from French < Fr. visiteor.
Traveller and visitor display different denotations, visitor being characterized by
[+reasons of friendship, courtesy, on business]. The heteronym of voyageur is traveller.
Furthermore, the French noun voyage gave rise to the English voyage that underwent
narrowing of meaning (only [+at sea]).
choquer – fig. [avec l'idée de blesser moralement, de déplaire ou de scandaliser]
offenser en heurtant les idées, les habitudes.
to shock – fig. to disturb the emotions or mind of; horrify, disgust. The term was borrowed
from French in late Middle English < Fr. choquer (at the time it meant to collide, but this
meaning is obsolete in contemporary English).
to annoy - to be troublesome to; bother; irritate. French mediated the transfer between
1250-1300 < Old Fr. anoier, anuier < Lat. in odio.
to repel - to cause distaste or aversion. The term is recorded for Middle English as a Latin
loan < Lat. repellere. It has acquired a specialized meaning, too, preserving its etymological
value.
The three synonyms differ denotatively - to shock and to repel contain in their semantic
description [+ disgust/aversion]; besides to shock seems to indicate higher intensity.
Connotatively the terms belong to different fields (they are field-related socio-cultural
connotational relative synonyms). The heteronym of choquer is to shock.
ST 5. [1830] 1990 : Tel est le maire de Verrières, M. de Rênal. Après avoir traversé la
rue d’un pas grave, il entre à la mairie et disparaît aux yeux du voyageur.
(pp.22-23)
TT 5a) [1927] 1938: Such is the Mayor of Verrières, M. de Rênal. Crossing the street
with a solemn step, he enters the town hall and passes from the visitor’s sight.
(p. 11)
TT 5b) [1953] 1976: Such a man, in short, is M. de Rênal, the Mayor of Verrières, who
walks with slow and pompous step across the road and disappears inside the
39

municipal buildings. (p. 24)
TT 5c) 1991: Such is the mayor of Verrières, M. de Rênal. He walks solemnly across the
road and disappears from sight into the town hall. (p. 4)
grave - [en parlant d'une pers.] qui manifeste ou affecte un très grand sérieux, de la réserve,
de la dignité, dans ses actes, son comportement; qui donne de l'importance aux choses.
solemn – marked by gravity; serious; earnest; also affectedly serious. The term was
borrowed in Middle English from Latin via French < Fr. solemne, < Lat. solemnis.
pompous – marked by assumed stateliness; overbearing; ostentatious. The term was
borrowed in Middle English from Latin < Lat. pomposus. In contemporary English, pompous
is derogatory. The two terms differ connotatively – they belong to connotative axiological
synonyms. The heteronym of grave is solemn.
ST 6. [1830] 1990 : Cette vue fait oublier au voyageur l’atmosphère empestée des petits
intérêts d’argent dont il commence à être asphyxie. (p. 23)
TT 6a) [1927] 1938: This view makes the visitor forget the pestilential atmosphere of
small financial interests which was beginning to stifle him. (p.11)
TT 6b) [1953] 1976: So spacious is this view that anyone seeing it forgets a town where
petty financial interests poison the air, and in which he has begun to feel stifled.
(p.24)
TT 6c) 1991: This view allows the traveler to forget the poisonous atmosphere of petty
financial intrigue which is beginning to stifle him. (p.5)
petite - [dans l'ordre quantitatif] qui est d'une taille inférieure à la moyenne. - [dans
l'ordre qualitatif] qui implique un trait minoratif.
small – comparatively less than another or than a standard. It is of Anglo-Saxon origin
Old English smael.
petty - having little worth, importance, position, or rank; trifling; inferior. The term was
borrowed from French in Middle English < Fr. veche petit, strictly referring to quality. The
two synonyms show different denotations - small can refer to quantity and quality alike. In
the context, petty is the heteronym of petit.
ST 7. [1830] 1990 : Sa famille, dit-on, est espagnole, antique, et, à ce qu’on prétend, établi
dans le pays bien avant la conquête de Louis XIV. (p. 23)
TT 7a) [1927] 1938: His family, they say, is Spanish, old, and was or claims to have been
established in the country long before Louis XIV conquered it. (p.11)
TT 7b) [1953] 1976: His family, so it is said, is of Spanish origin, an ancient line
established in Franche-Comté a long time before this province was conquered by
Louis XIV. (p.24)
TT 7c) 1991: His family, it is said, is of Spanish origin from way back, and has been
settled in the region, so they maintain, since well before it was conquered by
Louis XIV. (p.5)
pays - division territoriale habitée par une collectivité, et constituant une entité géographique
et humaine.
country - a land under a particular sovereignity or government, inhabited by a certain people,
or within definite geographical limits. The term dates back to Middle English, being a borrowing
from French < Old Fr. contree < Lat. contrata.
province – any large administrative division of a country with a permanent local government.
The term was borrowed via French from Latin < Lat. provincia, recorded in Middle English.
region - a portion of territory or space; a country or district. It comes from French in
40

Middle English < Old Fr. regiun < Lat. regio.
Country is the hyperonym of province and region, whereas province vs. region is
differentiated by [+permanent local government]. Hence, they differ at the denotative level.
The heteronym of pays is country.
ST 8. [1830] 1990 : …. mes regards ont plongé dans la vallée du Doubs ! (p.26)
TT 8a) [1927] 1938: … have I swept with my gaze the vale of the Doubs! (p. 14)
TT 8b) [1953] 1976: … to gaze at the valley of the Doubs. (p.27)
TT 8c)1991: … have I gazed down into the valley of the Doubs! (p.7)
vallée – dépression allongée, plus ou moins évasée, formée par un cours d'eau ou un glacier.
vale – a valley ; a low-lying tract of land.
valley – a depression of the earth’s surface, as one through a stream flows; level or low land
between mountains, hills, or high lands. The term was borrowed from French in Middle English
< Fr. valee.
The two terms display different connotations – they function as field-related
synonyms – vale is a literary term. The heteronym of vallée is valley. It is worth mentioning
that the first translator chooses the literary term in only one instance, subsequently replacing
it by the neutral term valley (not complying with the principle of internal coherence). The
ongoing discussion may also bring to attention the fact that val, not used in the original text,
is the French literary term.
ST 9. [1830] 1990 : Leur croissance rapide et leur belle verdure tirant sur le bleu, ils la
doivent a la terre rapportée …. (p.26)
TT 9a) [1927] 1938: Their rapid growth, and handsome foliage of a bluish tint are due to
the artificial soil ... (p. 15)
TT 9b) [1953] 1976: The rapid growth of these trees when first planted, and the bluegreen
tint of their handsome foliage, comes from the good, rich soil …(pp. 27-28)
TT 9c) 1991: They owe their rapid growth and their fine blue-green foliage to the new
soil ... (pp. 7-8)
tirant sur le bleu
The derivative bluish (somewhat blue) is negatively polarised vs. the compound bluegreen
neutral term; in English the two terms are axiological expressive connotative relative
synonyms. It is obvious that the perception of reality is different in the two languages
(cultural gap). Blue-green is the heteronym of tirant sur le bleu.
ST 10. [1830] 1990 : -J’aime l’ombre, répondit M. de Rênal avec la nuance de hauteur
convenable quand on parle à un chirurgien, membre de la Légion d’honneur’ ….
(p.26)
TT 10a) [1927] 1938: “I like shade”, replied M. de Rênal with the touch of arrogance
appropriate when one is addressing a surgeon, a Member of the Legion of
Honour…” (p. 15)
TT 10b) [1953] 1976: “I like shade”, M. de Rênal answered coldly, in a tone of proud
aloofness nicely suited to conversation with a surgeon who was a member of the
Legion of Honour… (p. 28)
TT 10c)1991: “I like shade”, replied M. de Rênal with the right degree of aloofness for
addressing a surgeon who is a Member of the Legion of Honour. (p. 8)
hauteur - Au fig., Péj. - orgueil méprisant, arrogance
arrogance – the quality or state of being arrogant; haughtiness; overbearing pride. The term,
41

first recorded in Middle English is of Latin origin, but its transfer was mediated by French <
Fr. < Lat. arrogantia.
aloofness – at a distance, especially in manner or interest; not in sympathy with, or desiring to
associate with others. It comes from Dutch in Middle English. Currently, the term is a culturespecific
item, stereotyping British people. The two items are denotative synonyms, arrogance
being featured by [+overbearing pride]. It is noteworthy that in the second translation,
aloofness, which is not inherently characterized by [+pride], is determined by the adjective
proud to equate the meaning of hauteur. The heteronym of hauteur is arrogance.
ST 11. [1830] 1990 : « N’en doute pas, cher ami, s’il y a une lettre anonyme, elle vint de
cet être odieux ... (p. 147)
TT 11a) [1927] 1938: “Doubt not, my friend, if there be an anonymous letter, it comes
from that odious being ... (p. 156)
TT 11b) [1953] 1976: Don’t have any doubts about it, my dearest love, if there is an
anonymous letter it comes from that hateful creature ... (p. 136)
TT 11c) 1991: Don’t be in any doubt about it, my dear, if there’s an anonymous letter, it
comes from the hateful creature ... (p. 126)
être – Péj. individu; type (pop.).
being – any person or thing that exists or is conceived as existing. The term is a Middle
English derivative of the verb be, of German origin.
creature – that which has been created; a creation; a human being. It is a Middle English
derivative of the verb create, of Latin origin < Lat. creatus. Creature is a literary term. The two
synonyms differ in point of connotation (field-related). We mention that being and creature
are negatively polarized in the context through their association with the adjectives odious
and hateful, respectively. The heteronym of être is being.
ST 12. 1830] 1990: … il n’avait pour tout parente que la marquise de R…, vieille,
imbécile et méchante. (p. 154)
TT 12a) [1927] 1938: … his sole female relative was the Marquise de R- , who was old,
idiotic andevil-minded. (p. 163)
TT 12b) [1953] 1976: His only relation was the Marquise de R- , a stupid ill-natured old
woman. (p. 142)
TT 12c) 1991: …the only female relative he had was the Marquise de R- , who was old,
weak in the head and spiteful. (p. 132)
parent, -ente – celui, celle qui appartient à la même famille qu'une autre personne; l'ensemble
des membres de la famille.
relative - one who is related; a kinsman. The term, first circulated in Middle English,
derives from Latin via French < Fr. relatif < Lat. relativus < Lat. relatus.
relation – a person connected by blood or marriage; kinsman. The Middle Engllish term
was borrowed from Latin via French < Fr. < Lat. relatio, -onis < Lat. relatus.
Relation is a non-U (non-upper class) variant whereas relative is the U (upper-class)
counterpart. Therefore, the synonyms differ at the connotative level. Interestingly, the French
term parent was borrowed in English with a narrower meaning – generic term referring to
both mother and father. The heteronym of parent, -ente is relative.
2. Round-up statements
Even if all the equivalents provided in the three translations underlie global
conceptual identity, i.e. a common core of significance and a set of different traits – at the
42

denotative and/or connotative level, every time the cultural information is captured, there is
entropy. If the translators had provided explanations instead of favouring implicitness, such
increments would have resulted in the fragmentation of the reading process or in the
diminishment of the aesthetic effects intended by the writer of the original. Literary
translation reveals the translator’s twofold task: to interpret the original and to re-write the
source language text, shifting the perspective if necessary.
The problem of synonymy in the translation of Le Rouge et le Noir in English is
basically a problem of heteronyms (considered as optimal equivalents) and of potential
equivalents. We have identified, more often than not, tripartite series of synonyms and,
obviously, only one of the synonyms in the series is the heteronym of the French term.
Therefore, the question of the translators’ motivation in choosing the optimal equivalents
arises.
Admittedly, synonymy-related problems in translation are to be integrated into
translation evaluation, which is performed both at the linguistic and socio-cultural level.
Language is a carrier of cultural information and the translator possesses communicative
competence, defined as an integrative formula (grammar competence, discourse competence,
sociolinguistic competence and strategic competence).
Translation quality management cannot be conceived without the activation of the
source language and target language contexts and without considering the readership’s
expectations. Translation evaluation envisages the dynamics of socio-cultural norms by
disregarding the idea of cultural unity.
In our case, translation evaluation and validation presupposes, to a high degree, the
translator’s subjectivity, which is able to interpret the literary text seen as a cultural artifact.
The temporal dimension is of paramount importance as there is a significant gap between the
reception of the original and that of the translation (97-161 years), and the question of
preserving the stylistic identity of the source language text becomes critical.
The comparative analysis of the three translations does not aim to place them
hierarchically or to spot and correct linguistic errors, if any. The main objective is to detect
the intention of the translator and the motivation behind the translation strategy, which is
mostly based on compensation (capturing shades of meaning via determiners) and
compromise (striking a balance between centripetal and centrifugal forces).
References
Sthendal ([1830] 1990): Le Rouge et le Noir. Paris: Pocket.
Sthendal ([1927] 1938): Scarlet and Black (transl. C.K. Moncrieff), London: J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd.
Sthendal ([1953] 1976): Scarlet and Black (transl. Margaret R.B. Shaw). London: Penguin Books.
Sthendal (1991): The Red and the Black (transl. Catherine Slater). Oxford: Oxford University Press
*** (1989). Le Grand Robert de la langue française, Editions Le Robert.
*** (1992). Larousse. Lexis, Paris: Larousse.
***(1992).The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms, Springfield Massachusetts:
Merriam-Webster Publishers.
*** (1993).Le Petit Larousse. Dictionnaire Encyclopédique, Paris: Larousse.
***(1993).Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged, Springfield
Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster Publishers.
*** (1996).The New International Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language. Deluxe
Encyclopedic Edition, Trident Press International.
*** (2000). Collins French-English, English-French Dictionary, New York: Harper Collins Publishers.
*** (2002). Collins COBUILD – English Language Dictionary, London: Harper Collins Publishers.
*** (2002). MacMillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
*** (2003) Dictionary of English Language and Culture, London: Longman.
*** (2004) Trésor de la langue française informatisée (version électronique), Paris: CNRS (Centre National de
la Recherche Scientifique).
43

Abstract
The comparative method of analysis may be used to detect linguistic ego and cultural
embeddedness in literary translation, with particular reference to synonymy-related aspects. The
three English versions of Le Rouge et le Noir, pertaining to different time points, and,
consequently, to different translation ideologies, serve as reference material. The main aim of the
paper is to prove that the French influence on the English language simultaneously directs
attention to texts in the canon and to ordinary language (language in fluxu) shaping, in a hybrid
way, the linguistic and cultural identity of English.
Key words: global identity, heteronyms, compensation, compromise
Résumé
La méthode d’analyse comparative peut être utilisée pour détecter l’ego linguistique et l’ancrage
culturel dans la traduction littéraire avec une référence spéciale aux aspects concernant la
synonymie. Les trois versions anglaises du roman Le Rouge et le Noir qui ont été faites aux
moments différents et qui, par conséquent, reflètent des idéologies de traduction différentes servent
comme matériel de référence. Le but principal de ce papier est de démontrer que l’influence
française sur la langue anglaise dirige simultanément l’attention vers les textes dans le canon et
vers le langage commun, en formant, dans une manière hybride, l’identité linguistique et
culturelle de l’anglais.
Mots clé: identité globale, hétéronymes, compensation, compromis
Rezumat
Se poate recurge la metoda analizei comparative pentru determinarea ego-ului lingvistic şi al
ancorării culturale în cazul traducerii literare care se referă în mod special la aspecte privind
sinonimia. Cle trei versiuni în limba engleză ale romanului Roşu şi negru au fost efectuate la
diferite intervale de timp, şi, prin urmare, ele reflectă diferite ideologii privind traducerea, servind,
în cazul de faţă ca material de referinţă. Scopul principal al acestei lucrări este acela de a
demonstra că influenţa franceză asupra englezei atrage concomitent atenţia asupra textelor şi
asupra limbii obişnuite formând, într-o manieră complexă identitatea lingvistică şi cuilturală a
englezei.
Cuvinte cheie: identitate globală, heteronime, compensare, compromis
44

UNIVERSITAS
GALATIENSIS
Online access: http://www.ann.ugal.ro/lil/index.htm
Annals of “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati
Fascicle XIII. Language and Literature. New Series
Issue 29, 2010
pp. 45-54
45
Language
and
Literature
“AH BUT IT IS MINE OATH…” – ON ALEXANDRU TOCILESCU’S
RE-READING OF EDWARD III
George Volceanov
A critical preamble: the authorship and themes of Edward III…
My paper addresses the original contribution of the Romanian director Alexandru
Tocilescu to the reading of Edward III, first performed by the troupe of the National Theatre
in Bucharest on January 26, 2008. I am not intent on writing a review of his stage version
(professional reviewers have taken care of this issue); I shall rather focus on the director’s
decoding of the play’s message and on the extent to which it overlaps, or deviates from, the
Shakespeare scholar’s views.
Any discussion of the formerly apocryphal and currently canonized Edward III
inevitably invites comments on its Shakespearean or non-Shakespearean authorship. And, as
my paper is about a Romanian director’s re-reading of a play so rarely staged up to now,
singling out the main themes of the play is yet another important preliminary step of our
discussion.
Edward III was first described as a “play thought to be writ by Shakespeare” in Edward
Capell’s Prolusions back in 1760. Retrieved by the German translators and editors in the
nineteenth century (to mention only Ludwig Tieck, Ernst Ortlepp, Max Moltke, and
Alexander Teetgen), the play aroused the curiosity of English editors (most notably of John
Payne Collier, who included the play in the third volume of The Plays and Poems of William
Shakespeare in 1878). In mid-twentieth century, Kenneth Muir (Muir 1-55) endorsed the
hypothesis of Shakespeare being the author of at least four scenes (I.2, II.1, II.2, and IV.4).
Muir’s theory found support in the more recent writings of Richard Proudfoot, Harold Metz,
MacDonald P. Jackson, John Kerrigan, Giorgio Melchiori, Jonathan Bate and Thomas
Merriam. Whether the play is the result of Shakespeare’s sole authorship (as Eliot Slater,
Jonathan Hope, Thomas Merriam, and Eric Sams contend), or of a collaborative effort
(according to most commentators, including Proudfoot and Melchiori) is still a disputed
issue [1], [2], [3].
Even nowadays, scholars still uphold divided views about the play’s authorship. It is
funny to notice that in one and the same volume of critical writings, and I am referring to The
Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s History Play edited by Hattaway [4], one of the
contributors discusses women’s role “in the anonymous play Edward III”[5], while another
contributor refers to “Shakespeare’s use of fate” in that same play [6]. Anyway, in recent
years, after Eric Sams’ Yale edition (1996) and Giorgio Melchiori’s Cambridge edition (1998),
the latest Oxford edition of Shakespeare’s Complete Works finally accepted Edward III as a
canonical text in 2004, after it had already been canonized in Italy (thanks to Vittorio Gabrieli
and Giorgio Melchiori’s translation of 1991) and Romania (where it was first published in
translation as being “by Shakespeare” in 2003).
As a recently canonized play, Edward III cannot boast either a long stage history or a

long history of critical interpretations. Its interpretation has been neglected for centuries, as
most of the critical debates have focused on the issue of authorship. After things started to
get clearer in the realm of authorship disputes, in the early 1980s, critics finally turned their
attention to interpretive issue. In his groundbreaking British Academy lecture delivered on
April 23, 1985, Richard Proudfoot, in a rhetorical tour de force, used Shakespeare’s technique
of hidden persuasion, employing litotes, to convince his listeners that Edward III is by
Shakespeare. Constantly denying his interest in ascribing the play’s authorship to
Shakespeare, Proudfoot drew instead thematic parallels between Edward III and more than
twenty other Shakespearean plays. Professor Proudfoot listed dozens of ideas, dramatic
situations, types of characters, recurring metaphors and images, elements of structural
technique, instances of authorial comments and authorial irony in Edward III have numerous
correspondences scattered throughout Shakespeare’s dramatic and poetic work (1986:158-9).
For Richard Proudfoot [7], Edward III is “an exercise in variation on very few themes”.
It is basically about three nations and four wars. Proudfoot [8] discusses the question of “the
oaths of allegiance” alongside those of war, love, and authority. Edward and King John,
Mountford and Edward, the Countess of Salisbury and Warwick, her father, Salisbury and
Villiers, Villiers and Charles the Dauphin, Charles and his father, King John, Edward and the
burgesses of Calais are all caught in a complex web of oaths, vows and promises that
constantly nourish the plot. In fact, the whole plot of the play is triggered by the characters’
choice of keeping or breaking their word in what seems to be a still chivalric world. King
David turns out to be the only character that breaks his word not once but several times.
A few years before Richard Proudfoot’s magisterial lecture on Edward III, Muriel
Bradbrook had pinpointed “feudal loyalty, the nature of allegiance, and the sanctity of an
oath”, all “based on pleas and counterpleas” [9] as the main themes of a play she believed to
have been written “by a friend” of Shakespeare’s [10]. Bradbrook [11] elaborated on the
sanctity of an oath in the love and war scenes of the play but she rejected Shakespeare’s
authorship on grounds of the “catena of proverbs” uttered by Warwick, which is too inferior
poetry to be by Shakespeare. Giorgio Melchiori, in his Introduction to the Cambridge edition
of the play, vacillates in singling out the main theme, as he once notes the playwright’s
insistence on “the theme of allegiance” [12] and next contends that the “central theme is
exactly the ambivalence of power” [13]. As for Eric Sams [14], in his Yale edition he was too
busy analyzing the vocabulary of the play and was not in the least bit interested in the
themes and overall design of the play.
A few years after Proudfoot’s lecture, Jonathan Bate would assert his strong belief in
Shakespeare’s authorship of Edward III in his review of Eric Sams’ Yale edition of the play,
but he would completely overlook the issue of honour and propose a different main theme
instead: the danger that apparently comes from without really is within (4). Bate would
ironically see Shakespeare’s hand precisely in the poetry of Warwick’s proverbs (previously
discarded by M. C. Bradbrook as non-Shakespearean), which include the image “What can
one drop of poison harm the sea / Whose hugy vastures can digest the ill / And make it lose
his operation?” (II.1.402-4), where “only Shakespeare could coin hugy vastures” [15]. By a
pure coincidence, Alexandru Tocilescu, chose to highlight the themes of honour and of the
sanctity of an oath, while also sensing the great poetic potential of the early Shakespearean
play.
…And a personal view
Muriel Bradbrook is my all-time favourite Shakespeare critic. Her fine scholarly works came
to be shamelessly plagiarized and ventriloquized by the more recent generation of selflabelled
New Historicists and Cultural Materialists. She had a great insight in many aspects
of Shakespeare’s art and many recent findings do only echo her earlier statements wrapping
46

them in postmodern jargons. However, I am a bit dismayed at M. C. Bradbrook’s failure to
accept Edward III as a genuine Shakespearean text. Her excellent reading of the play, with its
focus on the sanctity of an oath, reminded me of other Shakespearean historical plays in
which this theme plays an almost equally important part. In 2 Henry VI, the characters are
entangled in a similarly complex web of allegiances expressed in the form of solemn oaths, to
think only of Horner and Peter (I.3), Gloucester and Queen Margaret (II.1), Suffolk and the
Queen (III.2), York, Salisbury, Warwick, and King Henry (V.1), or Young Clifford (V.2).
2 Henry VI also provides us with the kind of pleas and counterpleas that likewise
abound in Edward III. The following dialogue is reminiscent of the theme and rhetoric of
Edward III:
KING HENRY: Have thou not sworn allegiance unto me?
SALISBURY: I have.
KING HENRY: Canst thou dispense with heaven for such an oath?
SALISBURY: It is great sin to swear unto a sin,
But greater sin to keep a sinful oath.
Who can be bound by any solemn vow
To do a murderous deed, to rob a man,
To force a spotless virgin’s chastity,
To reave the orphan of his patrimony,
To wring the widow from her custom’d right
And have no other reason for this wrong
But that he was bound by a solemn oath?
(2 Henry VI, V.2.179-190)
Edward III has dozens of more instances of solemn vows and moral debates on the
meaning and uses of a solemn oath. A solemn oath is first employed by Artois in the opening
scene of the play, “But heaven I call to record of my vows” (I.1.31), when he wants to
emphasize the truth of his statement about Edward’s right to claim the French throne.
Immediately afterwards, Lorraine asks Edward to “do… lonely homage” to the King of
France, to “be sworn true liegeman to our king” (I.1.60-64). After Lorraine’s departure,
Montague shows up with the news of King David’s invasion after “forgetting of his former
oath” (I.1.126).
In the second scene of Act One, King David, the miles gloriosus of the play, makes
Lorraine the promise he will soon break, of making “never fair weather, or take truce” with
England (I.2.18-37). “The confident and boist’rous boasting Scot” (in the Countess of
Salisbury’s own words) is mocked by the latter for breaking his oath at I.2.73-80.
Things are getting more and more complicated in Act Two, where Edward forces the
Countess to swear (II.1.210) that she will “engage [her] power to redeem [his] joys” (II.1.208)
and become his mistress, a fact that he cynically reminds her of: “Didst thou not swear to
give me what I would?” (II.1.244). The Countess counters the King’s trick by what M. C.
Bradbrook called a counterplea: she accuses him of “forgetting [his] allegiance and [his]
oath” to God “in violating marriage’ sacred law” (II.1.260-1). Warwick, her father, is also
tricked into swearing that he would act as accomplice to the King’s guilty passion. Edward
and Warwick keep exchanging the one key-word, “oath”, in a Socratic dialogue that tries to
define the moral, legal and religious meaning of swearing an oath. The King uses it five
times, while Warwick resumes it three times, and “wow”, “break” and “swear”, too, are
lavishly used by both speakers in II.1.327-67. Warwick keeps the letter of his to the king, first
wooing his daughter for him, then applauding her opposition; Richard Proudfoot [16] draws
a parallel between the story of the father and daughter in Edward III, who “both escape with
honour”, and Shakespeare’s later remark: “It is the purpose that makes strong the vow; / But
47

vows to every purpose must not hold.” (Troilus and Cressida, V.3.23-4) “Swear” remains the
key-word through the rest of Act Two, in the highly emotional scene in which the Countess,
after reminding Edward that the marriage oath is more venerable than the oath of allegiance
[17], in turn, makes him swear that he will remove all impediments to their love, even kill
their spouses, only to swear herself that she will kill herself with the wedding knife unless he
stops his “most unholy suit” (II.2.182).
The (co)-author of Act Three seems to be oblivious about the theme of honour and
allegiance except for Lorraine’s report of King David’s oath (“the Scot who solemnly
protests”, III.1.19) and Prince Edward’s moving oath to serve God, the fatherless and poor,
and England, taken after the ceremony of investiture (III.3.206-18).
“Oaths regain prominence in the Salisbury/Villiers scenes,” to quote Richard
Proudfoot [18]. In fact, all of the events in IV.1, IV.3, and IV.5 revolve around the issues of
trusting or not trusting an enemy’s oath; on keeping or breaking an oath to an enemy; on
behaving or not in an honourable way in special circumstances such as an on-going war.
“Oath” is the key-word of the moral debate involving Villiers and Charles in IV.3, while
“break” (oath/word) is the most frequently recurring word in IV.5, where father and son,
king and prince, debate the ambivalence and ambiguity of honour in times of war. King
John, invoking royal authority as the supreme criterion in judging which oath can be broken
and which one cannot, is reminiscent of King Henry from the aforementioned scene of 2
Henry VI:
CHARLES: I hope your highness will not disgrace me
And dash the virtue of my seal at arms.
He hath my never broken name to show,
Character’d with this princely hand of mine,
And rather let me leave to be a prince
Then break the stable verdict of a prince:
I do beseech you let him pass in quiet.
KING JOHN: Thou and thy word lie both in mine command.
What canst thou promise that I cannot break?
Which of these twain is greater infamy:
To disobey thy father or thy self?
Thy word, nor no man’s, may exceed his power,
Nor that same man doth never break his word
That keeps it to the utmost of his power.
The breach of faith dwells in the soul’s consent,
Which, if thyself without consent do break,
Thou art not charged with the breach of faith.
Go, hang him; for thy licence lies in me
And my constraint stands the excuse for thee.
(Edward III, IV.5.73-91)
The theme of honour once again peters out in the final act, where the citizens of Calais
try to obtain Edward’s pardon by claiming “the promise that your highness made” (V.1.14)
and Copland shows his loyalty to his sovereign (V.1.65-87).
Discussing the broadcast of Edward III on BBC Third Programme, on November 28,
1963, Giorgio Melchiori remarks upon the “judicious cuts” made in order to contain the
action time in the 102 minutes allotted to the broadcast:
“By dispensing with the character of the Earl of Salisbury (entailing the elimination of
the scenes connected with the safe-conduct episode […] and the artificial suspense created
48

y his arrival before the entrance of the Black Prince in the last act) [the producer and
adapter Raymond Raikes] tightened and speeded up most effectively the action in the
second part of the play.” [19]
Alexandru Tocilescu similarly made judicious cuts but he resolved to preserve the
whole of the Salisbury/Villiers episode. I shall connect his choice to some of the latest
developments in authorship studies:
In one of the recent scholarly attempts to identify the author(s) of Edward III, an
attempt based on minute comparative prosody analysis based on Boris Tomashevsky’s
techniques of formalist investigation, Maria Tarlinskaja [20] divided the text of the play into
four groups of scenes called the “winners”, the “losers”, the “closest to Shakespeare”, and
“probably not Shakespeare”. The winners turned out to be the scenes I.2, II.1, II.2, and IV.4,
while the scenes IV.6-IV.9 were excluded from among the clear “winners” because they are
too short, and the results were not reliable. The remaining “winner” scenes, called “closest to
Shakespeare,” are those that have been attributed to Shakespeare since Chambers. The
“losers”, in Tarlinskaja’s opinion, are I.1, III.1, III.3 and V.1. Of these four scenes, I.1 and V.1
showed a clearer opposition to the “Shakespearean” scenes, so they were considered to be
“Not Shakespeare”. Act Three was called “Probably not Shakespeare”. According to
Tarlinskaja, the fourth act falls into two subgroups: before IV.4 it is less Shakespearean, and
after IV.4 it looks as though Shakespeare spent more time editing these scenes. These scenes,
with the exception of IV.4, were labelled “closer to Shakespeare”. It is absolutely amazing to
notice that the results of a sophisticated prosody analysis claim the presence of Shakespeare’s
hand precisely in the scenes that focus on the main theme of the play discussed earlier in this
paper – the sanctity of an oath.
Tocilescu’s flair for detecting Shakespearean qualities in a formerly apocryphal text is
indeed worth celebrating. I have already shown in another paper that during the rehearsals
for Edward III the leading-actor Ion Caramitru and director Tocilescu proved that they are
endowed with a very good ear for discerning Shakespearean echoes; both often commented
on images, phrases, symbols that recur in both Edward III and Hamlet, and have not been
detected by expert editors like Eric Sams and Giorgio Melchiori [21]. As for Tocilescu’s
opinion about the poetic force of Edward III, here is what he declared in an interview dated
just a week before the premiere of the play: “I count on the spectators’ curiosity to come and
see this play. Ask me what I think and I’ll tell you that I consider [Edward III] one of
Shakespeare’s best writings. Its message, its poetry makes it a sublime text (Cotidianul,
January 22, 2008).
Tocilescu’s oath
Between January 26, 2008 and May 23, 2010, Edward III was performed fifty-two times
at the Grand Auditorium of the National Theatre of Bucharest. Alexandru Tocilescu’s stage
version, based on my translation, was the fifth production to test the theatrical value of the
play on the stage in the last three decades, after those of Dick Dotterer at the Globe
Playhouse of Los Angeles (in July 1986 – an event hardly noticed outside academic circles),
Toby Robertson at Theatre Clwyd at Mold in June 1987, and taken to Cambridge and to a
Shakespeare Symposium in Taormina in August [22], Frank Patrick Steckel at Cologne in
1999 [23], and Antony Clark at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 2002. With
its nearly twenty thousand spectators to date and a still promising future career ahead,
Tocilescu’s versions is, probably, one of the best attempts to turn an unknown play into a
remarkable cultural event.
Alexandru Tocilescu’s re-reading of the text lays emphasis on the notion of honour, on
giving and keeping one’s word, regardless of the consequences that keeping one’s word may
49

incur. That is why, during the performance, so many characters cross their hearts with wide
gestures. The message is clear: the characters would rather lose their freedom, their
possessions, kingdoms, even their lives, rather than break their word.
I quote from Alexandru Tocilescu’s statement published in the programme under the
heading I Kept My Word:
“Edward III is the play of oaths. No other play by Shakespeare abounds in so many
oaths. An oath ties an individual to God. […] An oath may trigger one’s death, one’s loss of
liberty; anything may happen lest one should forswear a promise. That is why we are now
bringing to stage Edward III. We are doing this for a world in which a promise means
nothing. ‘By my word of honour’ sounds falsely in the ears and mouths of our
contemporaries. Being true to one’s word has become one of the most despised things in our
age. [The Romanians] have never believed in anything and [during the Communist regime]
we filled our lives with oaths like ‘by my word of pioneer’, ‘by my party-member word’, etc.,
and what such oaths did was to actually help us break our word and break law. The word of
honour was just an acoustic image devoid of any content. After all, it was so easy to give
your word of honour. It had no importance; why should anyone keep their word when
nobody really cares about it? We are bringing to stage Edward III to remind people that the
word of honour, the oath, is a sacred fact that everybody should observe.
I read the play and I gave my word of honour I would bring it to stage. Only thus
could I prove that I would keep my word.”
Ethical and moral rather than political reasons underlie Tocilescu’s choice, but in a
corrupt society, ruled by a political class consisting of professional liars, the message is clear.
Tocilescu reiterated this message in several interviews taken before and after the premiere:
“It was love at first sight. As soon as I read the play, I gave up an earlier project, that of
staging Cyrano de Bergerac, and I got my mind set on Edward alone. The play speaks a lot
about honour, honesty, and keeping one’s oath. I want people to reflect sincerely whether
these notions still have a meaning for them nowadays” (Cotidianul, January 22, 2008).
In an interview tellingly titled “The Play of Oaths – A Cultural Event” (România liberă,
February 1, 2008), Tocilescu said: “I decided to bring Edward III to stage as soon as I had read
the play, because I realized that the things at issue in the play – honour, the word of honour,
keeping an oath – are things that can no longer be found in Romania. All that our presentday
society shows us is lies, broken oaths, cheating, lack of honesty.”
Alexandru Tocilescu’s solutions in staging the play agree with several remarks
formulated by Richard Proudfoot in his British Academy lecture. For example, here is
Proudfoot’s warning, according to which “The challenge of the heroic subject is to avoid
monotony and bathos” [24]. The cyclic repetition of preparations for battles never waged on
the stage may induce certain monotony. Hence Tocilescu’s decision to have, after all, some
battles fought on the stage. Moreover, the French sailor’s narrative about the battle of Sluys is
accompanied by projections of footage showing battle scenes from the Second World War.
The battle of Crécy likewise is graphically shown in projections of computer-generated
images and slides of black and white drawings showing the Black Prince in action. As a
result of impressive choreography, spectators can watch the drummers’ dance (the director’s
invention), the clash of warriors, and the capture of the French king and princes at Poitiers
unfolding right on the stage.
Elsewhere, Richard Proudfoot [25] contends that “chivalry is theatrical” and speaks
about “the pictorial theatricality” of verbal descriptions and the spectacle of the formal
investiture of the Black Prince. Alexandru Tocilescu explicitly refers to the idea of drama as
image as his profession of faith, a belief nurtured by his mentor, the great David Esrig.
“I’m doing visual drama. From my teacher, David Esrig, I learned that drama is image.
Things may have changed meanwhile, the teachings of Mr Esrig may no longer be
50

fashionable, and today drama may be sex, drugs, or alcohol. I’m an elderly gentleman,
that’s the way I learned to do drama and that’s the way I’m doing it!” (România liberă,
February 1, 2008).
Jonathan Bate contends that the play just “seems to have a broken-backed structure”
(3). The few reviewers that criticized the production mostly lay emphasis on the play’s lack
of structural unity, of actually having seen two different plays in one. The Earl and the
Countess of Salisbury never meet on the stage. They are involved in what appear to be two
completely different stories. But according to Richard Proudfoot’s enlightening commentary,
the name of the hero involved in the safe-conduct episode matters indeed:
“It is our cue for recognizing that the episode of his search or a passport to travel to
Calais, in the third phase of action, stands in thematic relation to the countess episode in
the first. Salisbury’s survival depends on awakening the Dauphin’s sense of princely
honour, and on the Dauphin’s resistance to his father’s will. Similarly, the countess
escapes suicide – or a fate worse than death – by reawakening the lustful King Edward to
a true sense of his honour. Few details in the play argue so strongly for care in plotting
and for unity of conception as the balance struck between the quite separate actions that
centre respectively on the countess and the earl of Salisbury” [26].
Tocilescu takes this argument a step further and claims that the Earl’s narrative of the
circumstances of the battle of Poitiers, with the Prince’s hypothetical death, is a belated
punishment for the King’s immoral attitude and behaviour in the first part of the play:
“The play is very cleverly written. It is not a thesis play. The thesis is implicit. The mandivinity
relationships are not depicted explicitly. […] There is a bridge in the play linking
the first part to the second one. In the first part, the King tries to indirectly harm
Salisbury by seducing his wife and even promising her to have him killed so that he might
love her freely. The Salisburys are presented perfectly, one by one, the Countess in the
first part, and the Earl in the second, but the two of them stand for a tight unit. Salisbury
pays the king back for his evil intentions when he tells him that his son was killed. This
piece of news turns out to be as mistaken as Edward’s infatuation with the Countess.”
(România liberă, February 1, 2008).
The reviewers’ response
As of September 2008, more than twenty-five reviews of the production appeared in a
wide range of journals and magazines. Sceptics might call them mixed reviews, as the
reviewers’ tone ranges from eulogy and praise to bitter attack. Optimists might claim that the
favourable reviews prevail, insofar as twenty of the twenty-five articles praise, in superlative
terms, the actors (especially Ion Caramitru as King Edward, Crina Mureşan as the Countess
of Salisbury, Şerban Ionescu as King John of France, and Daniel Badale as the Black Prince),
Tocilescu’s choice of launching an unknown play, his coherent interpretation of the text and
his use of multi-media means as well as the inventiveness of Dragoş Buhagiar’s costumes
and setting design.
“Edward III and Caramitru the First” by Gabriela Lupu (Cotidianul, January 27, 2008),
“A Remarkable Cultural Event” (a three-part review by Ileana Lucaciu, in three consecutive
issues of the weekly Timpul liber, January 31 to February 14, 2008), “On Honour, with Irony
and Detachment” by Nicolae Prelipceanu (Teatrul azi, January-March 2008) have captured
the essence of the play’s message and have contributed to its growing popularity among
theatre-goers.
51

Interestingly, the few negative reviews expressed mainly reservations about the
authorship of the play. And I say interestingly because the 1987 production of Theatr Clwyd
elicited from critics the same mixed response, vacillating between eulogy for the quality of
the actors’ performance and scepticism about the authorship of the play. Giorgio Melchiori
(48) quotes the title of reviews like those written by Rodolfo di Giammarco, “Is it true
Shakespeare?” (La Republica, August 6, 1987), and Franco Cicero, “Shakespeare or not:
Edward did not convince” (La Gazetta del Sud, August 5, 1987), issued in the wake of Theatr
Clwyd’s performances given at Taormina in the summer of 1987. Elena Vlădăreanu, in
“Edward III, for the First Time in Romania” (România liberă, January 28, 2008), and Ioana
Moldovan, in “To Be or Not to Be Worthy of Shakespeare” (22, 15-21 April 2008) launched
bitter attacks in the vein of the aforementioned Italian critics’ style. Even this minority of
anti-Edward III reviewers seem to have partly learned their lesson. Iulia Popovici, who took
the pains to criticize Tocilescu’s production not just once, but three times in three different
journals, conceded that there is “thematic coherence” in a play in which “the first part is
about the question of honour in private life, while the second one treats the same issue in
public/political life” (“Shrek, headaches and sonorous battles”, in Observatorul cultural,
January 31, 2008). The same reviewer further admits: “I would not call this production a
political spectacle, but it surely is an ethical one, one of ethical reflection, not a morality in the
vein of the medieval plays.” In yet another review ironically titled “Soldierly tales, Caramitru
and The Wall” (Ziua, January 29, 2008), that very same Iulia Popovici once again
acknowledges the “keeping or breaking of one’s oaths” as the “central theme” of the play.
Even cynical or ironical reviewers do at least understand a modicum of authorial/directorial
intention after all.
The critics who expressed favourable opinions did mainly praise the director’s choice
of turning a tale of love and war into an opportunity for ethical debate on the moral values
that a post-Communist society still needs to rediscover.
Doina Papp, in “The Grand Repertoire” (Bucureştiul cultural, Februay 12, 2008), stated
that “the director has found an elegant ideological rationale for his play, the themes of
honour, dignity and political responsibility that everybody should no doubt agree with […]
at a time when not only does our society ignore the ethical imperative but it actually rejects it
in the name of a destructive free will.”
Irina Budeanu, in “Edward III with Ion Caramitru” (Azi, February 1, 2008), contends
that “after Hamlet, Edward III is the best role ever played by Ion Caramitru”. The play is, in
the reviewer’s opinion, a tragic comedy interpreted by Alexandru Tocilescu in the vein of the
dark comedy, and the title-role is a character that debunks the concepts of heroism, love and
honour. All in all, “what’s honour, chastity, an oath today? Just values we have lost for ever.
This is the message Ion Caramitru clearly conveys”.
Gabriela Hurezean, in a review titled “When the King Falls in Love Like a Schoolboy”
(7 plus, February 5, 2008) emphasizes the comic potential of the play, Tocilescu and
Caramitru’s great sense of humour, hence the “subtle irony, the latent allusions” used by
director and leading-actor to speak seriously of honour, love, manhood, and about a remote
age”.
Ileana Lucaciu lavishly praised Tocilescu for demonstrating how Shakespeare is still
our contemporary in the 3 rd millennium, in the way he tells us what life is, while the director
is nothing but a spokesman, a conveyor belt that delivers the author’s ideas “wrapped in
spectacle, without altering their essence” (“A Remarkable Cultural Event”, Timpul liber,
January 31, 2008).
The most interesting reference to the Romanian production of Edward III takes
Shakespeare from the theatre hall to the world of soccer. In the daily Gazeta sporturilor, in an
article titled “Theatre” (April 24, 2008), the sports journalist Maria Andrieş compares the
Romanian soccer championship with Shakespeare’s Edward III, in that the coaches’ ambition
52

esembles the kings’ desires, and the world of soccer is “full of plots, traps, invasions,
exposures, imprecations yelled according to the rules of decorum”. The journalist also
alludes to the setting design of Tocilescu’s Edward III (the whole stage is covered with
synthetic lawn) when she refers to the battlefields of soccer and the wars that will keep
wearing them for years on. Maria Andrieş’s brief, ironical article speaks volumes about the
appropriation of the newly canonized Shakespeare play by the present-day Romanian
culture. (Meanwhile the production started its international career with two performances
hosted by the National Theatre in Thessaloniki during the Demetra Festival held in October
2009; and it is to tour Bulgaria and Greece in the fall of 2010.)
REFERENCES
[1] Melchiori G. (ed.), (1998). Shakespeare, William, King Edward III. In The New Cambridge
Shakespeare, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-11.
[2] Volceanov, G. (2003). Către o integrală Shakespeare în limba română. In Shakespeare, William,
Eduard al III-lea. Piteşti: Paralela 45, pp. XI-XXIV.
[3] Volceanov G. (2005). The Shakespeare Canon Revisited. Bucureşti: Editura Niculescu, pp.167-70.
[4] Hattaway, M. (ed.), (2002). The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s History Plays, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
[5] Rackin, P. (2002). “Women’s roles in the Elizabethan history plays”. In M. Hattaway, (ed.), The
Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s History Plays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 71-
85.
[6] Lull, J. (2002). “Planatagenets, Lancastrians, Yorkists and Tudors: 1-3 Henry VI, Richard III,
Edward III”. In M. Hattaway, (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare’s History Plays,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 89-105, (p. 101).
[7] Proudfoot , R. (1986.) “The Reign of King Edward III and Shakespeare”. In Proceedings of the British
Academy, 137-163, (p. 144).
[8] idem, pp. 155-6.
[9] ibidem, (p. 230).
[10] Proudfoot, R. (1986.) “The Reign of King Edward III and Shakespeare”. In Proceedings of the British
Academy, 137-163, (p. 233).
[11] Bradbrook, M. C. (1979). The Living Monument: Shakespeare and the Theatre of His Time, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, pp. 231-2.
[12] Melchiori, G. (ed.), (1998). Shakespeare, William, King Edward III. In The New Cambridge
Shakespeare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 39.
[13] idem, p.41.
[14] Sams, E. (ed.), (1996). Shakespeare, William, Edward III, New Haven and London: Yale University
Press.
[15] Bate, J. (1997). Writ by Shakespeare. In TLS, January 17, 3-4, (p. 3).
[16], [18] Proudfoot, R. (1986.) “The Reign of King Edward III and Shakespeare”. In Proceedings of the
British Academy, 137-163, (p. 155).
[17] Bradbrook, M. C. (1979). The Living Monument: Shakespeare and the Theatre of His Time, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, (p. 230).
[19] Melchiori, G. (ed.), (1998). Shakespeare, William, King Edward II., In The New Cambridge
Shakespeare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (pp. 46-8).
[20] Tarlinskaja, M. (2005). Looking for Shakespeare in Edward III. Paper given at the London Institute
of Literary Studies, October 20.
[21] Volceanov, G. (2007). From Printed Text to Stage Version: Reshaping Shakespeare for
Performance – Edward III at the National Theatre in Bucharest, Paper given at the Shakespeare
and Europe: Nations and Boundaries International Conference, Iaşi, November 14-17.
[22] Melchiori, G. (ed.), (1998). William, King Edward III, in The New Cambridge Shakespeare.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (p. 48).
[23] Proudfoot, R. (2001). Shakespeare: Text, Stage & Canon. London: Thomson Learning, (p. 93).
[24] Proudfoot , R. (1986). “The Reign of King Edward III and Shakespeare”, in Proceedings of the British
Academy, 137-163, (p.152).
53

[25] Proudfoot , R. (1986). “The Reign of King Edward III and Shakespeare, in Proceedings of the British
Academy, 137-163, (p. 154).
[26] Proudfoot , R. (1986). “The Reign of King Edward III and Shakespeare”, in Proceedings of the British
Academy, 137-163, (p.146).
Abstract
The opening section of the paper tackles the authorship of the discussed play, as it has only recently
been included in the Shakespeare canon. Several British Shakespeare scholars and the Romanian
director Alexandru Tocilescu have independently pinpointed the theme of honour as a structuring
element of the play. The 2008 production staged at the National Theatre in Bucharest foregrounds
the moral debates of Edward III in a post-Communist society that has long abandoned the very
idea of nurturing moral values like honour and loyalty. The final part of the paper discusses the
critics’ mixed reviews and the impact of the new Shakespeare play on the Romanian media and
public.
Key-words: authorship, theme, honour, oath, reception.
Résumé
La section introductive de ce papier discute la paternité de la pièce shakespearienne comme elle a
été récemment incluse dans le canon de Shakespeare. Plusieurs exégètes britanniques et le metteur
en scène Alexandru Tocilescu ont indépendamment indiqué le thème de l’honneur comme
l’élément qui constitue la structure principale de la pièce. Le spectacle met en scène au Théâtre
National de Bucarest apporte dans le premier plan les débats moraux d’Eduard III dans une société
postcommuniste qui a abandonné depuis longtemps l’idée même de respecter des valeurs morales
comme l’honneur et la loyalité. La partie finale du papier discute les opinions amalgamées des cri
tics et l’impact de la nouvelle pièce de Shakespeare sur les media et le public roumains.
Mots clés: paternité de l’auteur, thème, honneur, serment, réception
Rezumat
Partea de început a acestei lucrări discută paternitatea piesei lui shakespeareane, aşa cum a fost
aceasta introdusă recent în canonul lui Shakespeare. mai mulţi critici britanici dar şi regizorul
Alexandru Tocilescu au indicat, în mod independent, tema onoarei ca element fundamental al
structurii piesei. Specatcolukl pus în scenă la Teatrul Naţional din Bucureşti aduce în prim plan
dezbaterile morale ale lui Eduard III, într-o societate post-comunistă care a abandonat de ceva
vreme chiar şi ideea de respectare a unor valori morale cum ar fi onoarea şi loialitatea. Partea
finală a lucrării discută despre opiniile amestecate ale criticilor şi despre imapctul noii piese
shakespeareane asupra publicului şi asupra universului mediatic din România.
Cuvinte cheie: paternitatea autorului, temă, onoare, jurământ, receptare
54

Annals of “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, ROMANIA
Fascicle XIII – Language and Literature. ISSN 1221 – 4647
Book reviews editors: Gabriela Iuliana COLIPCĂ and Isabela MERILĂ
RECENZII
BOOK REVIEWS
COMPTE-RENDUS
OCCIDENT EXPRESS. DESPRE SENZAŢIA DE
ELASTICITATE CÂND PĂŞIM PESTE CADAVRE
Matei Vişniec
Paralela 45, Piteşti, 2009, 200 p., 978-973-470-765-2
Volumul conţine două dintre ultimele piese ce poartă
semnătura lui Matei Vişniec, cel mai jucat autor pe scenele
româneşti la ora actuală. Iubitorii teatrului său şi, ȋn egală
măsură, nostalgicii poeziei optzeciste se vor bucura să
descopere, dincolo de replicile personajelor, lirismul subtil,
devenit deja emblematic pentru dramaturgia românului
stabilit la Paris. Prima piesă, „Occident Express”, reia o mai
veche obsesie tematică a dramaturgului: existenţa ȋn spaţiul
balcanic, descrisă şi ȋn „Femeia ca un câmp de luptă” sau
„Hotel Europa complet”. De această dată ȋnsă privirea lui
Vişniec nu se mai opreşte asupra războiului din fosta Iugoslavie, ci asupra uriaşei prăpăstii
dintre estul şi vestul Europei, prăpastie creată ȋntre orânduirea capitalistă a Occidentului şi
trecutul comunist al ţărilor slave, ȋntre care geografia, sau poate fatalitatea, a aruncat şi
România. Textul a fost scris la ȋnceputul anului 2009 la cererea Teatrului Naţional „Marin
Sorescu” din Craiova, iar reprezentarea sa scenică a făcut parte dintr-un proiect european
aflat sub egida Convenţiei Teatrale Europene, intitulat „Orient express”, deschizând seria
spectacolelor. Formula dramatică aleasă este cea a teatrului modular, la care Matei Vişniec a
apelat şi ȋn „Teatru descompus”, alegere justificată de libertatea absolută pe care
dramaturgul ȋncearcă să i-o ofere regizorului, care poate organiza modulele teatrale ȋn funcţie
de propria viziune. De asemenea, distribuţia poate fi redusă la minimum, acelaşi actor având
posibilitatea de a juca ȋn toate segmentele. Teatrul semnat de Vişniec rămâne ȋnsă, ca şi ȋn
volumele anterioare, destinat mai degrabă lecturii decât jocului scenic, iar senzaţia pe care o
are cititorul acestor pagini este aceea că prin faţa lui se perindă imagini disparate dintr-un
film care, privit ȋn ansamblu, rămâne unitar. Este un puzzle pe care destinatarii textului
trebuie să ȋl refacă şi care va arăta ȋntotdeauna altfel, ȋn funcţie de coordonatele afective ale
fiecăruia.
Al doilea text, „Despre senzaţia de elasticitate când păşim pe cadavre”, este mai
amplu şi a fost scris la ȋnceputul anului 2009, ȋn Franţa, la cererea companiei Gare Au Théâtre
din Vitry-sur-Seine, cu ocazia centenarului naşterii lui Eugéne Ionesco, oferindu-i lui Vişniec
oportunitatea de a-l omagia atât pe marele său predecesor, aşa cum mărturiseşte ȋn nota
iniţială(73). Autorul reia demersul ȋnceput ȋn „Ultimul Godot” şi aduce ȋn faţa publicului ȋncă
un celebru personaj absent ale literaturii absurdului, dându-i şansa eroului său – şi, implicit,
spectatorului – de a o ȋntâlni pe Cântăreaţa Cheală. Ȋn nota iniţială, autorul ȋi mulţumeşte
55

criticului Nicolae Balotă, din biografia căruia a ȋmprumutat nucleul dramatic al piesei, el
fiind cel care „a trăit ȋn realitate scena esenţială [...] este vorba de momentul când, ȋn
ȋnchisoare, Poetul le povesteşte celorlalţi colegi de celulă piesa Cântăreaţa cheală de
Ionesco”(74). Cu toate acestea, senzaţia care ne urmăreşte pe tot parcursul lecturii este aceea
că modelul uman pentru protagonist este Vişniec ȋnsuşi, fiind uşor de identificat suficiente
amănunte preluate din trecutul autorului. Aşa cum ne-a obişnuit, optzecistul pune la
dispoziţia regizorului o „scenă finală opţională”(181) şi o „scenă suplimentară”(187). Prima
ȋnfăţişează o reprezentaţie a piesei „Rinocerii”, care marchează ȋmplinirea a 100 de ani de
către autor şi la care este aşteptat Ionesco ȋnsuşi. Dacă acest fragment, ca de altfel ȋntreaga
piesă, este expresia vădită a admiraţiei lui Vişniec faţă de teatrul ionescian, a doua scenă
suplimentară oferă o viziune cu totul diferită dar, tindem să credem, cel puţin la fel de
veridică. De această dată suntem martori la susţinerea unei teze de doctorat de către o tânără
studentă, ȋn faţa unei comisii alcătuite din mai mulţi membri. Doctoranda a scris un studiu
de şapte sute de pagini despre „Complexul Ionesco ȋn România”, ȋn care ȋncearcă să
demonstreze că notorietatea de care se bucură „acest trio infernal care este Ionesco-Cioran-
Eliade” a creat un blocaj ȋn literatura română, făcându-i pe scriitorii actuali să devină
„impotenţi din punct de vedere cultural”, situaţie generată şi de faptul că ne confruntăm cu
„o hipnoză colectivă printre intelectualii români care au, oricum şi dintotdeauna, ȋn mod
prostesc, privirile aţintite spre Occident” (187). Soluţia pe care o propune tânăra pentru
depăşirea acestei eclipse culturale, precum şi reacţia comisiei ȋl vor surprinde cu siguranţă pe
cititor. Deducem, ȋn mod cert, că Vişniec s-a confruntat cu anxietatea influenţei, caracteristică
doar marilor scriitori aflaţi ȋn dialog cu şi-mai-marii-lor predecesori, iar „Despre senzaţia de
elasticitate când păşim pe cadavre” constituie concretizarea a ceea ce este poate cea mai
fericită modalitate de a depăşi acest complex: asumarea şi valorificarea modelului oferit de
precursori ȋn creaţia proprie.
Volumul se ȋncheie cu o scurtă fişă biografică a autorului şi cu o listă selectivă a
lucrărilor sale, publicate ȋn limba română şi ȋn limba franceză.
Cele două piese din volumul „Occident Express. Despre senzaţia de elesaticitate
când păşim peste cadavre” sunt, aşadar, complet diferite ca tematică, factură şi formulă
dramatică, ȋnsă definitorii pentru opera lui Matei Vişniec. Cu toate acestea, dincolo de
elementele de continuitate, a căror prezenţă se impune la un scriitor care şi-a definitivat un
stil propriu uşor de recunoscut, cititorul va descoperi noi forme de expresie şi de construcţie
a personajelor, ce anunţă o nouă etapă de creaţie a dramatugului româno-francez.
56
Cătălina-Diana Popa

AN INTRODUCTION TO TRANSLATION STUDIES
Ioan Lucian Popa
Editura EduSoft, Bacău, 2009, 158 p., 978-073-1882-14-7
This book follows its author’s 2008 publication of ”Translation
Theories of the Twentieth Century. (1900-1990)”, by the same
publishing house. Although the book has as its generous aim
”to familiarize the readers with the complexity of translation
studies”, it is, nevertheless, intendedly-targeted towards
”students and practitioners of translation” (p.7).
The volume amounts to 158 pages, and its
macrostructure shows the traditional elements, i.e., the front
matters, herein reduced to a foreword, the core of the book
and the back matters.
The Foreword opens with the presentation of the
selected readership and continues with a brief overview of the book.
The first chapter, which is actually the second chapter in the book table of contents,
Generalities, consists of two subdivisions. The former outlines the most popular theories in
Semiotics and establishes the role Semiotics plays against the background of Translation
Studies 1. The latter discusses the application of the hexadic model of communication to
translation studies.
The next chapter, A History of Translation History in Seminal Texts, is the most
consistent section of the book and, seen at a first glance, it shows a practical and user-friendly
format. Chronologically arranged excerpts from the “literature on translation studies”
(please, read attitudes towards the translator’s choices) cover a time span limited by the
years 106 BC and 1888. Within these excerpts the volume reader interestingly discovers the
way references to translators and translations evolved along the centuries, as reflected
herein. Thus, quotations from philosophers, orators, statesmen, scholars, poets, and later on,
even translators mainly approach:
(a) translation strategies and techniques (since the early beginnings, translators
would wonder whether word for word or meaning for meaning could be the better solution);
(b) what a translator’s profile should look like;
(c) what the translation as a product should look like.
An answer to the first question is taken from Eusebiu Hieronymus who formulates the
interrogation as “Do Plutarch and Terence, [for example …] stick to the word or do they try
to preserve the beauty and the elegance of the original in translation?” (p. 28). And the
answer is a few lines below “… I have always been opposed to sticking to words, […] and
[…]I have always translated the sense” (p. 28). Some excerpts also tackle aspects regarding a
translator’s ‘job requirements’, or in other words, refer to the translator’s profile. Out of
them, these are our selected examples which emphasize what a translator’s profile should
look like: “[…] to turn excellent Greek into excellent Latin you need an exceptional craftsman
who has greatly enriched his knowledge of the two languages by accumulating an
abundance of material” (p. 32). In addition to many other requirements expressed by the
authors of the 16 th century, we consider what follows to reveal the in-depth of interpreting
the translator’s role and work style. “[T]he should observe the figures of speech, namely that
he should link and arrange words with such sweetness that the soul is satisfied and that ears
are please. He should never object the harmony in language…” (p. 38).
We consider that the attitudes toward translation quality are best encapsulated in
Dacier’s words, who said: “[T]his is the difference that I find between bad and good
translations: the former by means of low and servile imitation renders the letter devoid of
spirit, while the other, by means of free and noble imitation preserves the spirit without
57

straying from the letter…” (p. 52). The diversity of authors whose words were quoted herein
is worthwhile mentioning for it points to the European-ness of translation issues.
Out of the numerous key words in Translation Studies, chapter four, Issues in
Translation Studies, discusses only two, untranslatability and equivalence, respectively.
Equivalence is viewed historically as well as conceptually, since it was dealt with by scholars
of the mid-20 th century (see Catford 1965, for just one example) and by those of the recent
interval (Osimo 2004). The problems of untranslatability divide translation theorists into
supporters of the theory of universal translatability (p. 91), and supporters of the question of
untranslatability which “can be identified at a variety of levels” (p. 95). Once identified, cases
of untranslatability find their solutions in a wide range of procedures, which include
adaptation/free translation, borrowing, calque/loan translation, compensation (all of them
defined at page 99), periphrasis and the translator’s note (p. 100).
Chapter five, Problems of literary translation, focuses on poetry and drama
translations and applies the same argumentative patterns: considerations of (a) the literary
species to be translated, of (b) its peculiarities, (c) the difficulties translators have to cope
with and, finally, suggested solutions. In the case of poetry, several viewpoints and methods
are brought to the foreground (pp. 108-113). The latter section is not as rich in solutions as
the former as it only records fewer opinions in the specialist literature, insisting upon Sirkku
Aaltonen’s three types of drama translation. The Finnish theorist sees drama translatable
through the strategies of (a) “a loosely-targeted translation”, that of (b) “creating a new
source text” and (c) finally that of “controlled viewing” (pp. 122-3). Popa, in turn, suggests a
fourth strategy, which he names “creative re-writing” whose practitioners are playwrights
“commissioned to produce a metatext of the original” (p. 124).
Chapter six, Technology and translation: a brief survey of the evolution of machine
translation, approaches the outstanding endeavours, which have aimed to “devising
software for the translation of natural languages” (p. 125). From the bibliography in the field,
the author selects Hutchins (2006) who finds three would-be uses of machine translation, i.e.,
machine translation for dissemination, machine translation for assimilation and machine
translation for communication. This historiographic approach highlights the most relevant
contributions in machine translation theoretical and practical views, in its advantages and
limitations as well as in its still to be successfully explored potential.
The final chapter, Closing remarks, briefly overviews the most important aspects
discussed in this volume.
The last section of the book includes the list of References the author used for the
elaboration of the current volume; this list is inspiringly completed by a ten-page basic
bibliography for Translation Studies, which may prove of great help to anyone interested in
further reading.
All in all, the book does accomplish its mission: it provides a user-friendly introduction
to the field of Translation Studies. Although two misprints have been spotted, they affect
neither the quality of the research nor that of the presentation and the language is fluent and
the syntax is clear.
I consider that the book is important for these reasons:
(a) it breaks the ice in the Romanian-authored approaches to Translation Studies;
(b) it makes a chronological presentation of some of the earliest attitudes towards
translator’s choices between word for word or meaning for meaning
translations;
(c) it argumentatively discusses major issues in translation strategies;
(d) its documentary value and its plentiful knowledge.
NOTE
58

1. capital letters are used to emphasize the distinction between the name of the academic subject
and a certain type of studies
REFERENCES
Aaltonen, S. (2005). Targeting in Drama Translation: Laura Ruohonen’s Plays in English Translation. (online
http://www.uwasa.fi/hut/english/aaltonen/vakki2004.doc)
Catford, J. C. (1965). A Lingusitic Theory of Translation: an Essay on Applied Linguistics, London: Oxford
University Press.
Hutchins, W.J. (2006). Machine translation: a concise history. In http://www.ourworld.compuserve.
com/homepages/WJHutchins
Osimo, B. (2004). Translation Course. In http://www.logos.it/pls/dictionary/linguistic_resources.
traduzione_en?lang=en.
59
Floriana Popescu

THE VALUES OF ROMANIANS 1993-2006
Bogdan Voicu & Mălina Voicu (editors)
Institutul European, Iaşi, 2008, 313 p., 978-973-611-487-8
The volume edited by Bogdan and Mălina Voicu opens a
sociological perspective on Romanians within a Europe
affected by a number of smaller crises preceding today’s
major one, in the period from 1993 to 2005. A collective of
seven experts (six with a PhD in sociology and one in political
sciences) have dedicated their research to identifying the
dynamics of a social development mix that allows of a
discussion also about Romanian values. These values are
defined in the introduction of the book as criteria needed by
people and collectivities for some basic distinctions: good
versus evil, beautiful versus ugly, desirable versus
undesirable. The study being reviewed now is careful to pin down value fluctuations that
become visible in a reasonable time interval which is one decade or so.
A first approach in the book investigates the transition to democracy and market
economy occurring in Romania with diffuse support coming from a high percentage of the
population. A second approach is concerned with the ideological self-placement parsing the
theoretic relevance of the left and right concepts. Those two, with us, are not self-exclusive.
The next step is towards working out an answer to the question ‘to trust or not to trust’. As
admitted by a subchapter title in the book, institutional trust is proclaimed the victim of the
postcommunist transition. From a rational-choice angle, trust introduces a risk in every
decision to act. Sadly enough, the low levels of trust in different state institutions suggest
that decades have not been enough to transform the postcommunist citizen into a trusting
citizen.
The next step of the authors is to describe the religious revival that was born with the
uplifting of restrictions imposed on religious practice by the communist regime. Religiosity
has been supported all along by an increasing insecurity regarding everyday life.
Family values are further down analyzed from a comparative perspective, in
Romania and in Europe. There have been alarmist speeches about a family crisis, just because
more and more persons do not marry or postpone the moment of the wedding. Due to
female emancipation, the moment of childbearing is also postponed. The decrease of fertility
under the replacement level probably represents the most striking development today. On
the other hand, tolerance for divorce, abortion or homosexuality is found to vary
significantly depending on age, level of education and residence area. With all that, in
Romania devotion to a stable relationship remains very widespread, in comparison to other
European countries. Alternative family patterns such as single mothers or consensual
couples are less so.
The axiological profile of young people arrests readers’ special attention in the last
but one chapter of the volume, being linked to the ever-fascinating subject which is ‘identity’.
This ubiquitous concept of social sciences (defined in many ways, encompassing many
differences) causes scientists to feel “captive in an apparently sisyphic attempt to solve the
problem in an unequivocal way: is identity inherited, essential, perennial or is it permanently
socially built and re-built, fluid and imagined?” (p. 235). Thus, the values used in the
previous analyses are now distributed on a conservatism – openness-to-change axis. The
researchers have labeled as conservatory three values: tradition, conformity and security.
Openness to change has been for the same researchers a tendency to embrace two values:
autonomy and stimulation. A constant growth has been signaled in support of conservative
values and a decrease has been related to openness-to-change. A clear tendency of
60

differentiation is shown when considering residential environments. Studies reveal that there
is a split of rural youngsters from urban youngsters, because the former identify themselves
with conservative values, whereas urban areas favor openness to change and liberalism.
The volume ends in a title-question, “Between tradition and postmodernity?” Hence,
research work has grasped a particular dynamics of social values in a few key domains and
in a theoretical framework made available by the existing theories of modernization and
postmodernization. These are theories about two processes in a relation of nonlinearity:
“post-modernization begins when the modernity is not yet complete” (286). And further
down, “induced by the value contagion due to the international migration and to
globalization, elements of postmodernization may appear in the traditional societies as well
where modernization has a higher speed” (286-7).
The prognosis of the authors is that in the following years Romania is likely to know
a relatively fast process of cultural modernization. “Simultaneously, but slower in the
beginning, a post-modernization process will affect the lifestyles, individualizing and
diversifying them” (299).
One last task for us is to note that the volume methodically describes every
experimental set-up for its topical issues, and makes a clear statement of results, showing a
preference for the accuracy and explicitness of numerous tables, graphs, diagrams and maps.
We can only hope that the volume, being written in English and vaunting an
international advisory board, will gain a wide readership abroad as well.
61
Daniela Ţuchel

Annals of “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, ROMANIA
Fascicle XIII – Language and Literature.
ISSN 1221 – 4647
NOTE ASUPRA AUTORILOR
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
NOTES SUR LES AUTEURS
REIMA SADO AL-JARF is a professor of ELT and translation at the College of
Languages and Translation, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She has been teaching ESL, translation
and linguistics courses for undergraduate students and ESP courses for graduate students for
21 years. Her areas of interests are: Use of technology in language teaching and learning,
reading curriculum design, reading in ESL and spelling and translation error analysis. She
has published 6 books and more than 96 journal articles in refereed inter/national journals.
She has given 145 conference presentations and conducted 27 workshops in 35 countries:
USA, UK, Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Finland,
Switzerland, Spain, Greece, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, Turkey, North Cyprus, South Korea,
Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, China, Thailand, South Africa, Morocco, UAE,
Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia and is a member of twenty-two
inter/national professional organizations. Many of her research results have been cited in
international media and by many internet websites. For example, the results of her "Global
Dimension in Saudi History Textbooks" paper appeared in more than 20 newspapers
worldwide including World Trubune, Education Guardian, Opinion Journal, Le Monde, Gulf
Wire Digest, Free Republic, the Straits Times, Arab News, Imra, Saudi-US Relations
Information Service, and others and her "The Effects of Online Instruction on Struggling ESL
College Writers" was also cited by many authors and was the subject of many research
reviews. Contact: reemasado@msn.com
Dr. DOINA MARTA BEJAN is an associate professor at the Department of Literature,
Linguistics and Journalism, Faculty of Letters “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi. Her
fields of competence are the lexicology of the Romanian language, the history of literary
Romanian and stylistics. She is also the coordinator of the terminology and lexicology
research group of the Faculty of Letters research centre Teoria si practica discursului (Theory
and Practice of Discourse). Professor D.M. Bejan is also the initiator and coordinator of the
international conference project Lexic comun / lexic specializat (General Lexicon / Specialized
Lexicon) as well as the editor-in-chief of Facicle XXIV, Lexic comun / lexic specializat, of
“Dunarea de Jos” University Annals. Contact: dmbejan@yahoo.com
Dr. RUXANDA BONTILĂ is Associate Professor of British and American Literature at
the University of Galati, Romania. Her recent publications include “Problem Solving Policies
and Fictional Power” (The Nabokovian, No. 62, Spring 2009, New York); ‘Lolita’s take on
history: A Romanian perspective’ (EJES, Vol. 12, No. 3, Winter 2008, London: Routledge);
‘Pnin/Pnin’s Search for Wholeness’ (The Nabokovian, No. 57, Fall 2006); ‘Vladimir Nabokov’s
“Task of the Translator”: Identity in Need of Editing’ (Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: Cambridge
Scholars Press, 2006). Contact: ruxbontila@yahoo.com.
62

Dr. OANA MAGDALEN CENAC is a junior lecturer at the Departamnet of Literature,
Linguistics and Journalism, the Faculty of Letters, ”Dunărea de Jos” University of Galati. She
defend her doctoral thesis in Romanian linguistics in January 2010 as she is now preparing
her thesis for publication. Contact: oanacenac@yahoo.com.
CĂTĂLINA-DIANA POPA is currently teaching Romanian Literature at the ”Vasile
Alecsandri” Theoretical College of Galati, being also enrolled in the Doctoral School in the
”Dunărea de Jos” University. At present she is preparing her Ph.D. thesis entitled ”Matei
Vişniec – Beyond the Absurd”. Her research interests include literary theory and criticism,
the evolution of contemporary theatre, the theatre of the absurd, and postmodernist
literature. Contact: diana.catalina.popa@gmail.com
Dr. FLORIANA POPESCU is a professor of English Language and Applied Linguistics
at the Faculty of Letters, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, Romania. Her research
interests cover the fields of lexicology, translation studies and English for specific purposes.
She has edited 3 books (the latest, Perspectives in Translation Studies, being published in 2009
by Cambridge Scholars Publishing), has authored 4 books and over 60 articles, studies, books
and book reviews and she has contributed to 15 textbooks on the English language
contemporary grammar and other topics. Contact: florianapopescu@yahoo.com
Dr. DANIELA ŢUCHEL is an associate professor at the English Department, Faculty of
Letters, ”Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi. Her research interests cover media discourse,
pragmatic approaches, and interculturality. As a tome contributor, she has edited one
volume and has co-edited several conference proceedings volumes. She has authored seven
volumes and a consistent number of studies, articles and book reviews, which are published
in Romanian journals, reviews or univerisity annals, or in publications abroad (The Romanian
Practice of Political Talk. Linguistic and Methodological Aspects of Student Behaviour, with
Ruxanda Bontilă, in eBook La comunicazione parlata, Atti del congresso internazionale Napoli:
Ed. Liguori, 23-25 febbraio 2006, Tomo I, Area 8, ed.: 2008 (eISBN: 978-88-207-4022-1).
Contact: tucheldaniela@yahoo.com
Reader TITELA VILCEANU, Ph.D., Department of British and American Studies,
Faculty of Letters; Scientific Secretary of the Interlingua Centre for Modern Languages,
Faculty of Letters, and ERASMUS Officer, University of Craiova. Her research focus is on
Theory of Translation and Intercultural pragmatics and communication. She is also a
methodologist accredited by the British Council Romania and by the University of
Edinburgh, Institute for Applied Language Studies, and a Romanian language linguistic
administrator (AD5) in the field of translation, certified by the European Personnel Selection
Office (EPSO), European Commission. She has attended numerous international conferences
in country and abroad, and she has authored about 50 articles and 4 books. She has
participated in 8 international interdisciplinary research programmes. Contact:
elavilceanu@yahoo.com
Dr. GEORGE VOLCEANOV is a Professor of English Literature at “Spiru Haret”
University in Bucharest, Romania. He is a distinguished translator and lexicographer, who
has been accorded several translation awards. His has translated works by William
Shakespeare, Thomas Heywood, John Webster, Lawrence Durrell, David Lodge, John
Updike, Philip Roth, Gore Vidal, and many more. He has written dozens of articles and
essays on Shakespeare’s life and works, contributing, via critical texts and literary
translations, to the enlargement of the Shakespeare Canon in Romania. Contact:
geovolceanov@yahoo.com.
63

Annals of “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, ROMANIA
Fascicle XIII – Language and Literature
ISSN 1221 – 4647
NOTE ŞI COMUNICĂRI
Paradigma discursului ideologic
Universitatea „Dunărea de Jos”, Galaţi, România, http://www.lit.ugal.ro
5-6 mai, 2011
Conferinţa Paradigma discursului ideologic este organizată de o echipă de cercetare de la
Catedra de lingvistică, literatură şi jurnalism din cadrul Facultăţii de Litere.
Subiecte de interes:
Implicarea ideologicului în studiul limbii
Pragmatica discursului ideologic
Teoria argumentării şi retorică
„Puterea” limbajului ideologic
Globalismul – o ideologie
Discurs ideologic şi comunicare politică
Istoria mentalităţilor
Teologie şi ideologie
Produsul mediatic: mesaj, text, ideologie
Ideologie şi critică literară
Teorii şi doctrine în ştiinţa literaturii
Canon didactic şi ideologie
Conferinţa se înscrie în cadrul manifestărilor ştiinţifice organizate anual sub egida Centrului de
cercetare de tip B, Comunicare interculturală şi literatură, şi îşi propune să ofere un cadru academic şi
pluridisciplinar de diseminare a rezultatelor cercetării unui fenomen amplu şi controversat:
influenţa ideologicului asupra ştiinţelor socio-umane, în general, şi asupra ştiinţelor limbajului şi
comunicării, în special. Lucrările Conferinţei vor fi publicate in extenso în revista Centrului,
„Communication interculturelle et Littérature”, ISSN: 1844-6965.
Taxa de participare: 45 EURO pentru varianta susţinere;
25 EURO pentru varianta poster.
Informaţii suplimentare vor fi oferite în următoarele circulare.
Adresa de corespondenţă: pidconference@gmai.com
64

Université "Dunărea de Jos" de Galaţi, Roumanie,
Faculté des Lettres
Centre des Recherches Théorie et Pratique du Discours
Département de Langue et Littérature Françaises
VIII èmes JOURNÉES DE LA FRANCOPHONIE
8 -10 avril 2011, Galaţi
APPEL A COMMUNICATIONS
CANONS ET RITUELS DANS LES PRATIQUES
DISCURSIVES
Les grands rituels communautaires politiques, les ainsi-dites „liturgies profanes” créées par le
sport et les arts du spectacle en général, les cérémonies judiciaires et d’investissement, les
rituels initiatiques et de passage représentent traditionnellement autant d’objets d’étude de
l’anthropologie, de la sociologie, de l’ethnologie, de la psychologie sociale, de la
psychopathologie, de l’histoire.
Sacrés ou profanes, sociaux ou appartenant à la vie privée ces rituels ont été consacrés
par une tradition et ont une dimension spatio-temporelle et collective.
Les sciences de l’information et de la communication focalisent surtout l’autre versant
de la ritualité, les rites d’interaction intégrés du point de vue social et culturel.
La conférence „Canons et rituels dans les pratiques discursives” organisée à l’occasion
des Journées de la francophonie 2011 envisage une ouverture du spectre ritualiste et de ses
domaines par la reconsidération des rites communautaires et interpersonnels dans une
perspective communicationnelle.
Ce sujet généreux vise à favoriser des rencontres fructueuses dans divers domaines de
recherche et divers types d’approche attachés au développement des axes suivants dont la liste
n’est pas limitative :
Rituels identitaires ou ethniques et leur expression
Sémiotique du rituel
Canons et anticanons dans la littérature
Le livre et ses rituels
Rites d’interaction et instances discursives
Rituel et mise en scène
Respect et non respect du rituel dans la communication
Formes linguistiques ritualisées
Rituels et canons de la traduction
Education et ethos relationnel
Didactique du rituel de la communication orale ou écrite
La ritualisation didactique
Langues du colloque: français (de préférence), roumain, anglais.
L'annonce de votre participation au colloque se fait sur la base du formulaire d’inscription que
vous trouverez à la fin de cet appel à communications.
Dates à retenir : 30 juillet 2010 : date limite d’envoi des titres et des résumés
Adresse courriel pour la communication et l’enregistrement des titres et des résumés:
dllf_galati@yahoo.com Sujet du message: Journées de la francophonie
65

UNIVERSITAS
GALATIENSIS
“Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi - ROMANIA
RSEAS - Romanian Society for English and American Studies
(affiliated to ESSE - the European Society for the Study of English)
Research Centre of Interface Research of the Original and Translated
Text. Cognitive and Communicative Dimensions of the Message
The 6 th International Conference
“TRANSLATION STUDIES: RETROSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE VIEWS”
7 - 8 October 2011, GALAŢI - ROMANIA
(2 nd Circular)
Acronym: TRAS.RE.P.6
The Research Centre of the English Department, Faculty of Letters, “Dunărea de Jos”
University of Galaţi, Romania will be hosting the sixth edition of the international conference
on translation studies.
The conference aims at:
1. providing a framework for productive discussion involving academics, teachers,
professional and would-be translators, master and PhD students who are interested
in disseminating the results of their research to a specialist audience;
2. showing how research in the field of translation studies and in other related fields is
prepared to meet the challenges of the globalizing imperatives as well as the needs
of the local background(s) at the beginning of the 21 st century.
We invite papers on the following topics:
Translation studies; American literature;
Cultural studies; Gender studies;
Language studies; LSP;
Stylistics/Poetics; Foreign language teaching;
Film and drama; French literature;
British and Commonwealth
literature;
Romanian literature.
The conference languages are English, French and Romanian and the publication
requirements kindly invite you to submit your contributions either in English or in French.
Participants are expected to give 20-minute presentations followed by discussions. The
papers will be held in concurrent sessions.
The next circulars to be sent by e-mail to the participants whose proposals have been
accepted will include the tentative programme, details on accommodation arrangements and
fee payment.
The conference registration fee is the RON equivalent of EUR 40 and covers the
delegate package, coffee breaks and the publication of the proceedings.
Travel and accommodation will be at the charge of the participants.
The registration form should be filled in and sent, by September 1, 2011, to the e-mail
address: tsrpvgalati@yahoo.com
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Annals of “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati, ROMANIA
Fascicle XIII – Language and Literature
ISSN 1221 – 4647
A. Procedura de depunere a lucrării
INSTRUCŢIUNI PENTRU AUTORI
Fascicula de limbă şi literatură a Universităţii “Dunărea de Jos” din Galaţi – România,
publică lucrări în limbile română, franceză şi engleză. Se preferă limba engleză pentru a
se asigura un acces mai mare la lectură.
B. Instrucţiuni de tehnoredactare a lucrării propuse pentru publicare în revista noastră
1. Manuscrisele vor conţine următoarele:
a) Titlul în limba română şi în două limbi străine (preferabil franceză şi engleză);
b) Un rezumat (în limba română) de 200 până la 250 de cuvinte; rezumatul va
reflecta structura lucrării - argument, material şi metode, rezultatele
cercetării, concluzie;
c) Rezumatul în limbă străină de circulaţie internaţională (preferabil franceză şi
engleză);
d) Până la 5 cuvinte cheie (în limba română precum şi în franceză şi engleză);
e) Cercetarea va fi descrisă în următoarele secţiuni: argument, material şi
metode, rezultate, discutarea rezultatelor cercetării, concluzii, note finale şi
referinţe (urmate de anexe, dacă este cazul);
f) Un paragraf autobiografic de 75-80 de cuvinte (care va menţiona instituţia şi
departamentul la care este afiliat autorul lucrării propuse pentru publicare;
domeniul său de competenţă; participarea la conferinţe internaţionale) şi
adresa de e-mail pentru a fi incluse în Lista co-autorilor.
2. Pentru a evita dificultăţile în procesul de tehnoredactare/editare al revistei, vă rugăm
să păstraţi formatarea lucrării astfel încât să:
- NU inseraţi numărul paginii;
- NU folosiţi tasta TAB în cazul unui paragraf nou sau al unei idei noi;
- NU apelaţi la funcţia Subliniere/Underline din bara meniu a calculatorului
dumneavoastră;
- NU folosiţi titluri selectate din bara meniu a calculatorului dumneavoastră.
3. Lungimea maximă a lucrării: 10 pagini (în jur de 32.000 caractere).
4. Lucrarea va fi scrisă cu litera Book Antiqua, mărimea 11, distanţa între rânduri – un
spaţiu; se va folosi pagina de mărime A4, margini : stânga, dreapta, jos, sus 2.5 cm.
5. Dimensiunea literei pentru secvenţele NOTE FINALE şi REFERINŢE va fi 10.
Alinierea textului : centrat.
6. Titlul lucrării : litere mari, îngroşate, aliniat centrat, font 12
7. Numele autorului: îngroşat şi plasat central
8. Cuvintele cheie nu vor repeta titlul lucrării
9. Se recomandă ca lucrarea să aibă titluri şi, dacă este necesar, şi subtitluri.
Titlurile/subtitlurile vor fi la la două rânduri sub ultimul paragraf şi la un rând
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distanţă faţă de paragraful următor.
10. Ilustraţiile, schemele şi tabelele vor avea un număr de ordine şi vor fi însoţite de un
titlu sau de o explicaţie. Acestea vor fi incluse în textul lucrării.
11. Pentru citate se vor folosi ghilimele duble: “citat”. Citatele din interiorul paragrafului
se vor marca prin cifre arabe în paranteze pătrate. ca în exemplul Susţinem ideea că
“the markers of particular varieties may be at any level: phonetic, phonological,
graphological, grammatical, lexical”. [1] (coordonatele bibliografice se vor regăsi în
secţiunea Referinţe).
12. Citatele care depăşesc patru rânduri se vor scrie între ghilimele duble, cu litere italice
şi vor fi separate cu câte un rând de textul dinaintea citatului şi de după citat. Dacă se
omit elemente din citat, omisiunea se marchează cu […], ca în exemplul de mai jos:
“We are using the term ‘jargon’ to refer to specialist vocabularies associated
with ‘occupations’ that people engage in, either as a mode of employment or as
a leisure pursuit or for some other purpose. We all have access to […] jargons,
which we understand ‘passively’ and may use more or less ‘actively’, as a
consequence of the routines of the daily life that we engage in.” [2]
13. Exemplele care sunt, de fapt, citate din alte limbi decât limba în care este scrisă
lucrarea, vor fi scrise cu caractere italice şi vor fi traduse în limba lucrării. Aceste
traduceri ale citatelor vor fi scrise fie între paranteze pătrate, fie cu ghilimele simple,
amplasate imediat după textul sursă, cu precizarea autorului traducerii (traducerea
mea/noastră).
14. Pentru a sublinia sau a accentua un concept sau o idee se vor folosi italice îngroşate.
15. Citatele dezvoltate în note de final se vor marca astfel : pentru detalii vezi Antofi1. 16. Reduceţi NOTELE la minimum şi număraţi-le conform ordinii apariţiei lor în text.
Acestea nu ar trebui să conţină informaţii privind referinţele bibliografice.
NOTE
1. pentru detalii privind tehnica mise en abîme cu referiri la Manoil, a se vedea Antofi [5].
17. Referinţele trebuie prezentate în ordine consecutivă (aşa cum apar acestea citate în
text).
18. In alcătuirea secţiunii REFERINŢE, care nu face distincţie între tipurile de surse de
documentare, se vor respecta următoarele cerinţe:
REFERINŢE
In cazul cărţilor
[1] Catford, J.C. (1980). A Linguistic Theory of Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (p. 47).
[2] Jackson, H., Anvela, Z.E. (2007). Words, Meaning and Vocabulary. London: Continuum, (p. 58).
[3] Antofi, S. (ed.) (2007a). Discursul intelectual la răspântiile istoriei. Galaţi: Editura Europlus
In cazul articolelor în volume cu editor
[4] Croitoru, E. (2006). ”Explicitation in Translation”. In E. Croitoru, M. Praisler, D.Tuchel (eds.), The
Fellowship of Cultural Rings. International Conference. Galati, October 20-21, 2005, Bucureşti:
Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, R.A., 146-154.
In cazul articolelor în periodice
[5] Antofi, S. (ed.) (2007b). Structuri şi forme literare/reprezentări ale femintăţii în nuvela românească
paşoptistă. In Annals of ”Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, Fascicle XIII, Language and Literature,
26, XIV (XXV), 5-10. (p.9).
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A. Paper submitting procedure
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CONTRIBUTORS
Fascicle XIII. Language and Literature, Annals of the “Dunărea de Jos” University of
Galaţi – Romania, publishes papers in Romanian, French and English. English is
nevertheless preferred.
B. The styling of the submitted paper
1. Manuscripts will include the following items:
a) Paper title in two foreign languages (preferably in French and English);
Romanian contributors will also give the paper title in Romanian;
b) a 200-250 word summary reflecting the structure of the paper - background,
material and methods, results, conclusion.
c) The summary should preferably in French and English; Romanian
contributors will also provide the summary in Romanian;
d) up to 5 key words (in French and English)
e) the paper proper: the research work should be described into the following
sections: background, material and methods, results, discussion,
conclusions and references (followed by annexes, if need be);
f) a 75-80-word bio-notice (to mention the contributor’s institution and
department professional interests; expertise; participation in international
conferences) and the contributor’s e-mail address to be included in Notes on
Contributors.
2. To avoid further difficulties, please keep the text formatting to a minimum:
- do not insert page numbers;
- do not use the TAB taste for a new paragraph or a new idea
- do not use the Underline function in the computer toolbar
- do not use titles selected from the computer toolbar
3. The maximum length of a paper: 10 pages (32.000 characters.
4. The paper font is Book Antiqua, size 11, line spacing – single; use the A4 pages, left
and right margins 2.5 cm; top and bottom page 2.5 cm.
5. The recommended font size for NOTES and REFERENCES is 10. Text alignment:
justify
6. The paper title: capitals, bold, centered, font 12
7. The author’s name: regular, bold, centered
8. The key words should not repeat the title of the paper
9. It is recommendable for the papers to have titles and, if need be, subtitles. Titles will
be in bold, subtitles in bold and marked with Arab numbers. Titles/subtitles will be
two lines below the last paragraph and one line above the next paragraph.
10. Illustrations, schemata and tables will be numbered consecutively, and accompanied
by captions or explanations. They should be included in the paper text.
11. Citations will be between double quotes: “quotation”; citations in the text should be
marked by Arab numbers in brackets. E.g. We share the idea that “the markers of
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particular varieties may be at any level: phonetic, phonological, graphological,
grammatical, lexical”. [1] (see the reference section at the end)
12. Citations over four lines will be separated from the text with one line spacing above
and under the quotation. If some elements of the quotations are omitted, mark this
omission as […]
“We are using the term ‘jargon’ to refer to specialist vocabularies associated
with ‘occupations’ that people engage in, either as a mode of employment or as
a leisure pursuit or for some other purpose. We all have access to […] jargons,
which we understand ‘passively’ and may use more or less ‘actively’, as a
consequence of the routines of the daily life that we engage in.” [2]
13. Examples which are citations from other languages than the paper language will be
written in italics and they will be translated in the paper language. The translation of
such citations will be either between brackets or between simple quotes, right after
the text, with translation authorship mentioned (my/our translation, where the case
be).
14. To underline or emphasize a concept or an idea use bold italics.
15. Citations developed into (end/explanatory) notes will be marked in the upper; e.g.
for details see Antofi1. 16. Reduce NOTES to a minimum and number them consecutively in the text. They
should not contain information regarding bibliographical references, when this type
of information can be included in the text. (see the example below)
NOTES
1. for details on the mise en abîme technique with references to Manoil, see Antofi [5].
17. References should be presented in consecutive order (as they are cited in the text).
18. For the REFERENCE section which is without subtitles, please observe the following
requirements:
REFERENCES
For books
[1] Catford, J.C. (1980). A Linguistic Theory of Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, (p. 47).
[2] Jackson, H., Anvela, Z.E. (2007). Words, Meaning and Vocabulary. London: Continuum, (p. 58).
[3] Antofi, S. (ed.) (2007a). Discursul intelectual la răspântiile istoriei, Galaţi: Editura Europlus.
For articles in volumes
[4] Croitoru, E. (2006). ”Explicitation in Translation”. In The Fellowship of Cultural Rings. International
Conference. Galati, October 20-21, 2005, E. Croitoru, M. Praisler, D.Tuchel (eds.), Editura
Didactica si Pedagogica, R.A., Bucuresti, 146-154.
For articles în periodicals
[5] Antofi, S. (ed.) (2007b). Structuri şi forme literare/reprezentări ale femintăţii în nuvela românească
paşoptistă. In Annals of ”Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, Fascicle XIII, Language and Literature,
26, XIV (XXV), 5-10. (p.9).
70