Aurel Codobon, Amurgul iubirii, Editura Idea, Cluj, 2004.

Adrian Neculau (ed.) Viata cotidianã în communism (Everyday Life in Communism) Polirom, Iaoi, 2005, 367 pages.

Andrei Plesu, Comedii la portile Orientului (Farces at the Orient’s Gates) Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2005.

Rereading Randolph Bourne’s most known essay “Trans-National America” (1916) provides the nowadays reader with a more accurate view perception of the cultural transmutations occurring at the beginning of the last century in America. Reflecting on the contrast between the ideals of liberal republican America and the reality of the assimilation policies, Randolph Bourne disagreed along with other intellectuals of his time with nativist attitudes and policies disfavoring or slighting immigrants and their heritage in twentieth century America. Wrestling to establish a (...) more equitable meaning of the cultural heritage in the actual making of American citizenship, other than the Anglo-Saxon one, Bourne employed William James’s concept of ‘consciousness’, mapping a new cultural content for the idea of ‘nation’, contributing to the public debate on pluralism. Arguing that American idealism was imperiled by the consequences of melting pot policies, Bourne envisioned modernist America as a ‘trans-national’ entity holding together a variety of ethnic communities lead by the same lofty democratic goals, assuming that equality of individuals should be paralleled by the equality of ethnic communities. “Trans-National America” appears as a landmark in the further evolution of pluralism, combining reformism with the intellectual utopianism in an attempt to enrich the meanings of American exceptionalism in a newly fashioned form. Apparently, the term ‘postmodern’ occurred for the first time in this early twenty century writing. (shrink)

Daniel Barbu, Politica pentru barbari (Politics for Barbarians) Nemira, Bucharest 2005, 242 pages.

Jean-Francois Mattei, Barbaria interioara. Eseu despre imundul modern (On Inner Barbarity. An Essay on the Modern Vile) Traducere de Valentina Bumbas-Vorobiov, Paralela 45, 2005, 316 pagini.

The study is part of an ampler research focusing on the issue of the mentalities (collective imaginary), seculariza- tion and the theory of the cultural models. The interre- latedness of these theoretical topics is approached on the basis provided by the qualitative analysis data, and attempts to demonstrate the variety of the consequences in the secularization process within culture, regarding them as seminal premises of producing novelty and dif- ference. However, secularization is assessed on a com- parative basis, in accordance (...) with the rise and develop- ment of present-day religiosity. Cultural models face on- going revision, reflecting the changes going on within the frame of the mentalities or the collective imaginary. Though the cultural model tends to embody the most feasible (pragmatic) representation of the imaginary, contextuality, contingency and historicity are part in the ultimate shaping of the model. (shrink)

Fetele tolerantei, Faces of tolerance Mihaela Frunzã, Ed. Editura Fundatiei AXIS, Iasi, 2003.

The author attempts to sketch a general survey on the issue of secularization and de-secularization, as it appears in various present-day interpretations of the meaning of cultures, as well as in the comprehension of modernity. Taking as guiding point the process of secularization in Western Europe, but also considering the rebirth of religious life in Eastern Europe, the author looks at the flexible ways in which the relations between secularization and de-secularization should be dealt with in a permanent global transition.

The author intends to look at Romanian cultural transition as an ongoing process which since 1989 has known an accelerated pace according to the fall of communism and the real perspectives of integration in the European Union. Seen within the cultural constraints of globalization, the impact of social and cultural change in Romanian society affected considerably the cultural behavior of the individual as well as the setting of new institutions, their functioning and implicitly the rhythm of democratization. Remarking on modernization (...) in Eastern Europe, the author consid- ers that unless civil society asserts its presence, reconstructing the Romanian public sphere, transition may be a reversible process. (shrink)

The article presents an interpretive view on culture wars in America along with their echoes in the autobiographical works written by Barack Obama. Being either viewed as the manifestation of the “post-American” creed, looked down at as a mere product of popular culture, or being ignored as a marginal manifestation, culture wars flared before and after the presidential campaign of 2008, signaling the intensity of a yet unconsumed ideological combustion fuelling further cultural and political dissensions. One of the conspicuous consequences (...) of culture wars in America is that the definition of culture has been significantly altered and that nowadays culture warriors have outnumbered intellectuals. Another outcome of culture wars is that they are considered by many as a benchmark of democracy and democratization, when more probably they are the product of an ideological confrontation. Thirdly, culture wars are regarded either as a political stylization of politicization of culture setting up a new network of correspondences between culture and politics. A final relevant consequence may be found in the increasing awareness that civil society and political parties may deploy different strategies to convey democratic ideals into reality, but it remains to be clarified if this should be carried out into the trenches of a pugnacious media and from there into the beliefs and expectations of citizens. Civil society and political parties in America construed differently the meanings of democracy, providing with different images the promised future and the American creed. Therefore, while culture wars spread their belligerency in various sectors of the American society, it is harder and harder to figure out a democratic consensus. (shrink)

Matei Cãlinescu, Cinci fete ale modernitãtii. Modernism, avangardã, decadenþã, kitsch, postmodernism. (Five Faces of Modernity. Modernism, Avant-Guard, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism) Collegium, Polirom, Iasi, 2005.