SEMIOTICS OF BORDERS AND SPACES ON ROMANIAN TRADITIONAL BLOUSE IA

Nicolae-Sorin DRĂGAN, PhD. Candidate

Communications and Public Relations Faculty, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration

ABSTRACT: My paper examines the structure and interpretation of semiotic borders and white spaces on Romanian traditional blouse IA, from the perspective of Lotman’s semiotic theory of culture. In grammar of the cultural object which is the subject of our analysis, the romanian traditional blouse IA, those who carry on this trade secrets, practicaly encode the vision of ancestral times, a history, in models and configurations, sewn on canvas. In traditional archaic mentality, edges (or borders) reveals the antinomical structure of space: the interior space, cultural (intra muros) and the outer space, natural (extra muros). The first one is a space of order, housing or sewing with signs, if we are talking about our traditional blouse. The second is an alien space, undecided, white, without signs, a world of virtuality. Therefore, in some communities white space, nonwoven, is used for semiotic values of warning. The white spaces found on our shirts may carry out messages equally important as those expressed by the sewn signs. In white spaces you can read the community you belong to, or if your age allows you to wear an ornated shirt, you can differentiate an alpine community from a village in the middle of a field. There are situations when white spaces are there to enhance the precious fabric used, different than that covered with embroidery. The composition of the shirt is balanced so both areas speak about a higher social status, activating a principle of order that classifies and defines categories. We will see how to „read” and how to value these white spaces now, today, in the era of mediated communication. In visual communication, it is obvious that white space are semiotic elements affecting users understanding and can be regarded as an invitation to reading the meanings of messages.

KEYWORDS: visual communication, Lotman’s theory of culture, semiotic borders, white spaces, Romanian traditional blouse IA.

CERCETAȘII ÎN RĂZBOI. REFUGIUL ÎN MOLDOVA (1916-1918)

Ana STERIAN, PhD. Candidate

"A.D. Xenopol" History Institute, Romanian Academy

ABSTRACT: Scouting was one of the most important youth movement in the world. During the First World War, Romanian scouts helped the central authorities to overcome the difficulties of war.  While they were refugees in Iasi, the scouts worked in hospitals as nurses and tried to hand over information from the front. Even through they were minors, the scouts have managed to overcome the horrors of war. Helped by the royal house of Romania, the Scouts were a role model for the young future generations.

KEYWORDS: First World War, scouts, be prepared, refugees in Iași.

MIRCEA IVĂNESCU ȘI POEZIA ABSENȚEI

Laura Alexandra BOTUȘAN, PhD. Candidate

Faculty of Letter, University of Bucharest

ABSTRACT: Mircea Ivănescu is one of the first postmodern poets in Romanian literature, introducing the postmodernist elements in a literature which, in the 60s and 70s, was in a visible setback. The revolutionary nature of Ivănescu`s poetry lies in his attitude of self-awareness that he can do and experiment anything. Therefore, he was constantly surprising his contemporaries with a prosaic lyrical formula that has brought a new spirit in poetry. Ivănescu has composed his poetry based on a narrative model. This revolutionary technique was, however, quite familiar in the Anglo-American space. Following the model of Ezra Pound, E.E. Cummings or Sylvia Plath, Ivănescu has transformed the concept of poetry into an act of intimate manifestation, a poetry of atmosphere that strongly cultivates the banality and the daily. He came out to be one of the most unusual cases in the post-war Romanian literature, regarded with reluctance. His poetry was perceived as „flat”, „unsurprising” and „eccentric”. Even if his approach was a frontal assault on modernism, his poetry started to be understood and valued only in the 80s, with the new generation of writers who considered him to be one of the first representative postmodern poets in Romanian literature.

KEYWORDS: livresque, atmosphere, narrative, postmodernism, the daily, authenticity.

CREDINȚĂ ȘI IDENTITATE ROMÂNEASCĂ ÎN OPERA LUI CONSTANTIN VIRGIL GHEORGHIU

Emilia Andreea RADU (MOTORANU), PhD. Candidate

Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest

ABSTRACT: The symbiosis between exile and identity is appropriate for the contemporary status of the writer, caught at the crossroad between the banishment experience and the relation with his own text, assertion of an uprooted identity. The article will highlight the fact that for the writer Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu (September 15, 1916 – June 22, 1992), best known for his novel, The 25th Hour, the experience of exil was the charge of his freedom and priesthood. Whoever endured the exile for Christ is worthy to receive the priesthood. The exile is seen as the biggest and the most painful try in his life. Changing your identity after the circumstances, you will lose your real identity forever and becoming nothingness. For Virgil Gheorghiu, preserving his identity is also a condition for keeping his faith. Across borders, he didn’t repudiate his Romanian origins and the Romanian language.  In his childhood, Virgil Gheorghiu wished to acquire holiness. During the years of exile, after his father's advice, he learned to love his enemies and to conserve moral values. The exile is no longer understood as a singular experience that generates a special type of subjectivity due to a physical deracination, but it is recurrent every time the writer leans over his own text. We must specify that the socio-political aspect is the cause for the writer’s displacement. In all forms, the exile reiterates the initial loss, through the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise. Continuing the previous idea, Cornel Ungureanu remarked that the exile is the process through which man takes being, because the human being exists only after the expulsion from Eden. So, one can speak about a timeless myth of the exile. Certainly, life is seen as a long suffering, the only way to recuperate the edenic status since the beginning of the world. So, if the divine laws are respected, the human being can be delivered and the lost paradise can be recovered. The exile signifies not just the trauma of strangement, the loss of origins and identity, but also the release, flexibility and an open space. The opening of borders is a recovery of the initially lost space, but to this space, the exiled, does no longer belong. Contantin Virgil Gheorghiu died without stepping once again in his country's native land. The communication will show how the exile, as a symbol of maturity, influenced the writer's creation.

KEYWORDS:  exile, creation, priesthood,  identity, political  constraint.

THE ROLE OF SPIRITIST PHENOMENA IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF 19TH CENTURY EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Ana Maria DUCUTA, PhD. Candidate

"1 Decembrie 1918" University, Alba Iulia

ABSTRACT: This paper has as purpose to analyse the main ways in which the spiritist doctrine influenced the basis of experimental psychology in 19th century France, as well as the main consequences of the spiritist phenomena on scientific methods to probe human psychology. I will dwell on the early personalities who laid the foundation for experimental psychology, while being involved with spiritism or having any connection with the spiritist field. I will analyze how exactly the work of authors who declared themselves spiritists had any influence in the formation of psychology as a distinct subject of scholarly research, different from philosophy. I will explain how mesmerism paved the way for one of the most significant movements in French psychology, through the work of Charcot on hypnotism. Further, I will analyze the connection between spiritism and experimental psychology by considering the main scientists and authors who shaped the field of psychology in France and became pioneers of psychology as a science throughout the world.

KEYWORDS: spiritualism, experimental, psychology, spiritism, 19th century, psychical research.

ACTIVITATEA ADMINISTRATIVĂ A PREAFERICITULUI JUSTINIAN MARINA (1948 - 1977), PATRIARHUL BISERICII ORTODOXE ROMÂNE

Iachint Cătălin VĂRDIANU, PhD. Candidate

"Ilarion Felea" Faculty of Orthodox Theology, "Aurel Vlaicu" University

ABSTRACT: The outstanding charismatic personality of the Romanian Patriarch Justinian Marina (1948-1977) reflected in the rich activity carried out during his years as the leader of the Romanian Orthodox Church, determined us to focus our attention on the multiple achievements that were made during his administration. His patriarchate was the longest in the history of the Romanian Orthodox Church and we can easily add that those years were also the most difficult, because, for the almost three decades of his leadership, the Patriarch Justinian had to face the challenges of the communist regime. During his service as archbishop of Bucharest, the Patriarch Justinian has proven to be a skilful diplomat, taking actions against the abuse coming from the communists, trying to maintain a dialog with the state authorities, succeeding in the same time to develop a resistance and survival strategy, hidden by an apparent collaboration and sometimes compromise with the political authorities. Nevertheless, his accomplishments are numerous. We take notice, for example, of the development of the inter-orthodox and ecumenical dialogs, the salvation of the Romanian monachism, the reorganising of the theological education, the building of 302 new churches, the restoration of 2345 monasteries and churches, out of which 999 were historic monuments, he came up with ways of financial self-sustaining, but most important he adapted the Church rules and regulations to the political context, by adopting the new Statute for the Organization and function of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The entire activity of the Patriarch Justinian Marina reflects his unbounded love for Christ and His Holy Church.

KEYWORDS: Patriarch, Justinian Marina, communist regime, Church, administration.