Romanian Folklore and its Archaic Heritage

Romanian Folklore and its Archaic Heritage
Author: Ana R. Chelariu
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 425
Release: 2023-02-13
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 3031040511

This book presents rich information on Romanian mythology and folklore, previously under-explored in Western scholarship, placing the source material within its historical context and drawing comparisons with European and Indo-European culture and mythological tradition. The author presents a detailed comparative study and argues that Romanian mythical motifs have roots in Indo-European heritage, by analyzing and comparing mythical motifs from the archaic cultures, Greek, Latin, Celtic, Sanskrit, and Persian, with written material and folkloric data that reflects the Indo-European culture. The book begins by outlining the history of the Getae-Dacians, beginning with Herodotus' description of their customs and beliefs in the supreme god Zamolxis, then moves to the Roman wars and the Romanization process, before turning to recent debates in linguistics and genetics regarding the provenance of a shared language, religion, and culture in Europe. The author then analyzes myth creation, its relation to rites, and its functions in society, before examining specific examples of motifs and themes from Romanian folk tales and songs. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of folklore studies, comparative mythology, linguistic anthropology, and European culture.

History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness

History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness
Author: Lucian Boia
Publisher: Central European University Press
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2001-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9789639116979

Based on the idea that there is a considerable difference between reality and discourse, the author points out that history is constantly reconstructed, adapted and sometimes mythicized from the perspectives of the present day, present states of mind and ideologies. He closely examines historical culture and conscience in nineteenth and twentieth century Romania, particularly concentrating on the impact of the national ideology on history. Boia's innovative analysis identifies several key mythical configurations and shows how Romanians have reconstituted their own highly ideologized history over the last two centuries. The strength of History and Myth in Romanian Consciousness lies in the author's ability to fully deconstruct the entire Romanian historiographic system and demonstrate the increasing acuteness of national problems in general, and in particular the exploitation of history to support national ideology.

Neutrosophy Transcends Binary Oppositions in Mythology and Folklore

Neutrosophy Transcends Binary Oppositions in Mythology and Folklore
Author: Florentin Smarandache
Publisher: Infinite Study
Total Pages: 23
Release: 2024-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

This article is a brief foray into the intricate realm of mythological and folkloric composite entities. Our analysis posits that these hybrid and superhybrid creatures serve as compelling evidence that the human psyche consistently transcends binary oppositions as in neutrosophy. Across diverse cultures and epochs, the human mind exhibits a propensity for nuanced and neutrosophic vantage points, defying simplistic categorizations. Additionally, we make some remarks pertaining to the subject matter, and open up a few less conventional questions.

Taste of Romania

Taste of Romania
Author: Nicolae Klepper
Publisher: Hippocrene Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1999
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 9780781807661

Here is a real taste of both Old World and modern Romanian culture in a unique book that combines more than 140 tasty traditional recipes with enchanting examples of Romania's folklore, humour, art, poetry, and proverbs. A wealth of archival material provides a glimpse into the 4,000-year-old history of the Romanian People and their Roman ancestry. This comprehensive and well-organised guide to Romanian cuisine contains recipes for many classic favourites including mamaliga, a polenta-style cornmeal, Eggplant Salad, Fish Zacuscz, Mititei Sausages (The Wee Ones), and Pan-fried Pork with Polenta. Savour the tastes of one of Europe's heartiest and most varied culinary traditions.

György Ligeti's Cultural Identities

György Ligeti's Cultural Identities
Author: Amy Bauer
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2017-10-02
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1317105095

Since György Ligeti’s death in 2006, there has been a growing acknowledgement of how central he was to the late twentieth-century cultural landscape. This collection is the first book devoted to exploring the composer’s life and music within the context of his East European roots, revealing his dual identities as both Hungarian national and cosmopolitan modernist. Contributors explore the artistic and socio-cultural contexts of Ligeti’s early works, including composition and music theory, the influence of East European folk music, notions of home and identity, his ambivalent attitude to his Hungarian past and his references to his homeland in his later music. Many of the valuable insights offered profit from new research undertaken at the Paul Sacher Foundation, Basel, while also drawing on the knowledge of long-time associates such as the composer’s assistant, Louise Duchesneau. The contributions as a whole reveal Ligeti’s thoroughly cosmopolitan milieu and values, and illuminate why his music continues to inspire new generations of performers, composers and listeners.

Creation Myths of the World [2 volumes]

Creation Myths of the World [2 volumes]
Author: David A. Leeming
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 654
Release: 2009-12-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1598841750

The most comprehensive resource available on creation myths from around the world—their narratives, themes, motifs, similarities, and differences—and what they reveal about their cultures of origin. ABC-CLIO's breakthrough reference work on creation beliefs from around the world returns in a richly updated and expanded new edition. From the Garden of Eden, to the female creators of Acoma Indians, to the rival creators of the Basonge tribe in the Congo, Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia, Second Edition examines how different cultures explain the origins of their existence. Expanded into two volumes, the new edition of Creation Myths of the World begins with introductory essays on the five basic types of creation stories, analyzing their nature and significance. Following are over 200 creation myths, each introduced with a brief discussion of its culture of origin. At the core of the new edition is its enhanced focus on creation mythology as a global human phenomenon, with greatly expanded coverage of recurring motifs, comparative themes, the influence of geography, the social impact of myths, and more.

History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe

History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe
Author: Marcel Cornis-Pope
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 540
Release: 2007-07-18
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9027292353

The third volume in the History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe focuses on the making and remaking of those institutional structures that engender and regulate the creation, distribution, and reception of literature. The focus here is not so much on shared institutions but rather on such region-wide analogous institutional processes as the national awakening, the modernist opening, and the communist regimentation, the canonization of texts, and censorship of literature. These processes, which took place in all of the region’s cultures, were often asynchronous and subjected to different local conditions. The volume’s premise is that the national awakening and institutionalization of literature were symbiotically interrelated in East-Central Europe. Each national awakening involves a language renewal, an introduction of the vernacular and its literature in schools and universities, the creation of an infrastructure for the publication of books and journals, clashes with censorship, the founding of national academies, libraries, and theaters, a (re)construction of national folklore, and the writing of histories of the vernacular literature. The four parts of this volume are titled: (1) Publishing and Censorship, (2) Theater as a Literary Institution, (3) Forging Primal Pasts: The Uses of Folk Poetry, and (4) Literary Histories: Itineraries of National Self-images.

Art, Religion and Resistance in (Post-)Communist Romania

Art, Religion and Resistance in (Post-)Communist Romania
Author: Maria Alina Asavei
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2020-10-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 3030562557

This book illuminates the interconnections between politics and religion through the lens of artistic production, exploring how art inspired by religion functioned as a form of resistance, directed against both Romanian national communism (1960-1989) and, latterly, consumerist society and its global market. It investigates the critical, tactical and subversive employments of religious motifs and themes in contemporary art pieces that confront the religious ‘affair’ in post-communist Romania. In doing so, it addresses a key gap in previous scholarship, which has paid little attention to the relationship between religious art and political resistance in communist Central and South-East Europe.