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$Unique_ID{bob00442}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Romania
Culture without Borders}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Elena Solunca}
$Affiliation{News Agency Rompres}
$Subject{romanian
culture
academy
cultural
science
folk
life
scientific
new
time}
$Date{1990}
$Log{}
Title:       Romania
Book:        Romania December 1989-December 1990
Author:      Elena Solunca
Affiliation: News Agency Rompres
Date:        1990

Culture without Borders

     Culture has always been a bridge-builder. Borders barring cultural
exchanges are sheer nonsense. The common motifs in popular mythology are one
though not the only piece of evidence. And coming nearer to our time, the
planet under the impact of international communications has become a "global
village".

     A simple glance back reveals that Romanian culture could not be the
exception to this natural, generally human law.

THE FORERUNNERS' GENERATION

     We don't intend to raise up for discussion here our people's Latinity. It
is an indisputable fact whose roots lie deep in history. The Romanian
ethnogenesis has fashioned the myriad cultural bonds that the population in
the Carpathian-Danubian-Pontic space had with the Romanic peoples since time
immemorial. An isle of Latinity - and not only so - in permanent search of
convergence with West Europe's sea of Latinity.

     In the modern age, the erstwhile sporadic aperture to the culture of our
sister-countries became official state policy in the latter half of the past
century, drawing its sap from the rocksalid argument once affirmed by
chronicler Miron Costin - "Our origins go back to ancient Rome." Vasile
Alecsandri, poet and playwright, Mihail Kogalniceanu, historian, and Titu
Maiorescu, literary historian, built cultural bridges to France (via France,
also to other Romanic cultures) and Germany. It was no accident that the
above-named were also highly influential politicians. And it was no accident
that they and other scholars too granted special attention to the national
history, folklore and the specific conditions in which the Romanian people
and its language had been born and developed. The theoretical approach to the
national-universal relationship, no matter whether the terms were more or less
explicit, was the leitmotif the recurred in their and their followers' work.
Their conclusions, more often than not correct, were confirmed in practice.
Let's think of the evolution of the Romanian drama: by the middle of the past
century the performing arts looked for inspiration in the shows of French or
Italian troupes on the other hand, the shows staged here were replays of
theatrical creations that had been successfully played in Paris and Rome.

INTERWAR NOSTALGIA

     What significance had the interwar period to Romanian culture The
effects of progress in the political, social and economic field were also felt
in the realm of culture. Expanding this brief answer we'll have to show that
the union of the historical provinces and the birth of the unitary Romanian
national-state on December 1, 1918 created the conditions for general
progress. The Constitution of 1923, then considered among the most democratic
constitutions of the European countries, facilitated the establishment of
structures acceptable to all social categories. They promised stability and
confidence for both the majority Romanian population and the ethnic
minorities.

     Publication of books in Romanian and in the languages of ethnic
(Hungarian, German, Jewish, etc.) minorities had a printrun without any
precedent before. Over the same years, national theaters flowered in
Bucharest, Ia-si and Craiova and similar institutions came into being in Cluj,
Cernauti and Chi-sinau. Along with many private theatrical companies they
were stimulating a benefit competition spirit in the Romanian drama.
Yiddish-language theatres in Ia-si and Bucharest, together with the
Hungarian- and German-language ones offered an overall image of the reborn
country's artistic landscape.

     Examples from many other cultural areas may be given. Romania's
effervescent cultural life was, unfortunately, brought to a halt in 1940.
Another world conflagration was threatening Europe. It would not spare
Romania. Big-power coalescence dealt a crippling territorial blow to it: the
U.S.S.R. received Bessarabia and northern Bukovina and on the strength of the
Vienna Diktat, Hungary got Transylvania. Facts of history. So was the
establishment of a dictatorial regime which only half a century later could
be toppled. Whether military, fascist or communist, dictatorship can be
nothing else than dictatorship. Its impact upon life in Romania could not
spare culture.

WOUNDS INFLICTED BY THE "CULTURAL REVOLUTION"

     After the end of the war people in Romania were still hoping in a
possible return to the democratic life of prewar years. The illusion was
nurtured for three years, in the shadow of Soviet tanks and the
communiques issued by the Allied Military Command (Soviet, to say the truth
because the U.S. and British presence in the Allied Military Command here was
plainly formal).

     In 1948, "proletarian culture" ("proletcultism") and the "cultural
revolution" buried whatever was still left of those illusions. Alien notions
and habits were imposed on us in the shadow of Soviet tanks. They promoted an
administrative-bureaucratic vision of cultural development and guidance, and
adoption of dogmas, cliches, slogans, the personality cult and ritualistic
quotations brainwashing and distortion of the sense of such basic notions of
fatherland, democracy, freedom, etc. ended up in corruption of the language.

     The outcome - in literature, theater and film, in our entire spiritual
life ideology came to prevail over aesthetics. "Oeuvres" by the moment's
"classical writers" - sheer imposture - overwhelmed textbooks, publishing
houses, theaters and film studios. Profiteers like Alexandru Toma or Dan
De-sliu rose into fame they liked to think it was for ever, outshining the
names of Lucian Blaga, George Bacovia, Ion Barbu and Tudor Arghezi...

     The frailty of the fraud bothered communism's ideologues. They felt
they could ill afford overlooking what had happened in Soviet Russia a few
decades before. And borrowing from the latter's experience they revived the
idea of the "cultural heritage", in fact a desire of the servants of the
totalitarian regime to admit... part of the truth. A number of writers were
restored to the place they deserved on the ground that not everything they had
written was worthless. But even works that were considered to be of worth were
interpreted according to the philosophical tenets that had been borrowed.
Genuine Romanian culture was then threatened by death. It did not happen, and
we say so thinking of what certain prominent personalities did for preventing
such a disastrous denouement. The encyclopaedist George Calinescu, for
instance. Upon giving the publishers the manuscript of his novel "Poor
Ioanide" he aroused a real storm. It was 1955 and the parable of the art
creator oppressed by the regime could not cheat the vigilance of communist
censors. They struck back by suspending his courses at the University,
removing him from the directorate of the Institute of literary theory and
folklore which he had founded and prohibiting his presence in the literary
life of the country for many years.

     A certain "thaw" made its way in the field of culture after the Soviet
troops were pulled back home, especially after the famous April 1964
Declaration in which the Romanian communist party announced abandonment of the
tutelage exerted by the eastern neighbour. Nicolae Ceau-sescu's ascent to
power revived illusions, one landmark in this regard being August 1968 when
the latter-day dictator, seeking to gain political benefits, refused to join
in the crushing of the Prague Spring.

     It was the period in which stage directors of world standing like Lucian
Pintilie, Radu Penciulescu and Andrei -Serban were staging shows in our
theaters, the very successful world-literature review Secolul 20 was keeping
readers abreast of the latest literary trends in the West and movies were
screening prize-winning films of the festival in Cannes among whose winners
there was also Liviu Ciulei.

     The flight of time tightened the screws increasingly much. Ceau-sescu
showed the country his true face while carefully concealing it to foreigners.
The peak came in 1971 when he launched a Chinese-style "cultural revolution"
which in many respects was by far harsher than that of the 1950s. His
post-1980 diktat in all spheres of life, including culture, became paroxistic.

     What was the artists' response Some of them could no longer endure and
quit the country. Others chose "hidden" dissidence. Of course, we mean genuine
artists loyal to their creed and not the ones who squandered what gifts they
had on raising hosannas first to the "leader" and then his family in a stupid
"Song to Romania" festival whose explicit mission was to achieve a reversal
of values.

     The theater became the dissidents' rostrum. From Gogol's
"Inspector-General" staged by Lucian Pintilie (only three shows were
permitted) to Tocilescu's "Hamlet" many other performances of Romanian or
foreign plays were imagined and staged as a challenge to the system. Lines at
box offices were longer than those at food shops. By assimilating the message
conveyed from the stage thousands upon thousands of people became dissidents.

SEEKING TO RECLAIM THE PAST

     The premonition suggested in the 1985 performance of "Hamlet" proved
true. "There was something rotten... An attempt has begun since last December
to revive the spirit of the literary past. It is by no means easy for decades
of communist dictatorship spoilt mentalities and habits.

     Perhaps the easiest operation - transformation of past structures - has
already been wrought. The Ministry of Culture (re-organized) is headed by art
critic Andrei Ple-su, an avowed dissident of the past regime. Director Andrei
Serban was invited back to be given the directorate of the National Theater in
Bucharest where he already staged an unforgettable performance with the Greek
trilogy "Electra", "The Trojan Women" and "Medeea". Film studios are headed by
the best directors and so is the George Enescu Philharmonic whose director is
pianist Dan Grigore the concerts given here by the Philharmonic of Munich,
under the baton of Sergiu Celibidache, were among his first great
achievements.

     Illustrative of the activity of the new Ministry of Culture is the
creation of the National Commission for Historical Monuments it was the first
measure it took. The significance of such an act becomes plainly clear
suppossing the fact is not forgotten that monuments and other sites, dear to
the soul of people in this country, whether of Romanian or of other origin,
fell victim in the last few years to the blind fury of the dictator who
ordered their demolition.

     Last but not least, the noble and old tradition of bilateral cultural
exchanges has been revived. It only expresses, quoting our new ambassador to
UNESCO, art critic Dan Haulica, the first ambassador appointed after the
forced severance of relations in 1976, " Romania's will to reclaim its place
in the European culture."

CONSTANTIN LUPU

Folk Culture

     Once the folklore and folk art of south-eastern Europe were discovered in
the second decade of this century the experts focused their attention on the
Romanian space as well. It was here, in the hearth of the Thraco-Dacian
civilization - one of the oldest in Europe - which preserves the most
important historical, linguistic and ethnographic vestiges of eastern
Romanity that the Romanian folk culture developed preserving these
millennia-old traditions as fundamental guidelines. A live, highly authentic
and original culture, particularly rich and diverse. These qualities which,
alongside autochthony, continuity, stylistic unity in diversity, perenniality,
remarkable aesthetic qualities, place it in the forefront of the world folk
art and culture.

     It has preserved in time its distinct characteristics, all its qualities
owing to the uninterrupted historical existence of this ethnic community in
the same Carpathian-Danubian territory and to its three-fold isolation. The
one that was due to geographical location and environment (the stone arch,
like a citadel wall, of the Carpathians and their impenetrable forests) got
more marked owing to the ethno-linguistic isolation.. On the one hand, the
Romanians make up a completely different ethnolinguistic unity as to the
neighbouring peoples, being the only people of Roman origin in this part of
Europe, surrounded by Slavs, and on the other hand, they are the only Eastern
Orthodox people of Roman origin. Their neo-Latin language prevented them from
melting into the Slavonic mass while their religion made them different enough
not to be attracted later by the advantages of Catholicism and, later on, of
Protestantism.

     The continuity in time of the folk culture, as proved by the
perpetuation, through an uninterrupted process of creation, of cultural forms
and manifestations from ancient times to the present, also defines its
unitary ethnic-stylistic character. A unity in diversity. The patrimony of the
Romanian folk culture - both material and spiritual - includes a great variety
of forms, phenomena, processes, manifestations: settlements, dwellings,
furniture, implements, occupations, trades, equipment, fabrics, attire,
adornment, customs, rituals, faiths, all to be found throughout the Romanian
territory.

     Everywhere in this country one may note the unity of architectural types,
from the ancient, Dacian monocellular dwelling to the specific Romanian ethnic
two-roomed house with a balcony on one-to-three sides of it, with the roof in
four rows and splendid architectural proportions adding to which are the
decoration, with remarkable artistic results, of the pillars of the balcony
and of the arcades between them. Unitary is also the organisation of the
house's interior with all its components, just as its artistic composition.
The Romanian folk architecture (dwellings and annexes, places of worship),
the wooden one in particular, is one of the most interesting European if
not world peasant creations. The diversified landscape - few countries boast,
as Romania does, such a great variety of forms of relief on a relatively small
area - historical conditions and the different socioeconomic stages have
determined, in the about 80 distinct ethnographic zones a remarkable variety
of regional architectural forms (techniques, design, modalities of
decoration). But all of them fall in the patterns of the fundamental unity, of
the stylistic matrix of the Romanian wooden architecture.

     The Romanian traditional technological facilities are immense in number
(a general classification of folk installations without hunting, fishing and
farm implements and transport means includes about 800 variants) proving the
impressive creative power and the civilizing and cultural effort of the
Romanian people in the south-east European space in a long historical
interval. A live proof, since most of the installations still operate, as
in few parts of Europe, of the perfect convergence between functionality
and form, between technical efficiency and artistic expressivity.

     The unity and continuity in time of the way of dressing of the Romanian
people are underlain by long-standing traditions. The beginning of the
Romanian traditional folk attire has been immortalized on two famous
documents of classical antiquity - the birth certificate carved in stone of
the Romanian people: Trajan's Column in Rome and the triumphal monument at
Adamclisi in Dobrogea.

     Men's and women's attire represented on these monuments have survived
in the costumes worn throughout the territory inhabited by the Romanians:
the women's blouse called "Carpathian", like the men's shirt, the hood of
the shepherds on both sides of the Romanian Carpathians, the fur coats, the
trousers, the hat, the traditional footwear "opinci".

     Of the nine thousand years - the age of the oldest ceramics in the
world - eight are attested also in the Romanian territory. The history of
the Romanian ceramics - immense archives of uninterrupted existence on
these lands of a sedentary population of farmers, a large variety of forms,
decorations and colours despite Romania's relatively small territory,
structures of highly refined artistic thought classified by periods, epochs,
cultures - begins with the colour splendour of the Cucuteni ceramics, passes
over to the Thraco-Dacian pottery, includes forms and decorations of the
southern Greek and, more particularly, Roman ceramics, and then of the
Byzantine ceramics, traverses the Middle Ages. It reaches its peak in the
peasant pottery of the 19th and 20th centuries, wonderful works of art
created in over 200 village centres throughout the country.

     All these traditions harmonize with the adaptations and changes imposed
by the population's taste and requirements making up the Romanian pottery
of today in an impressive continuity and unity of artistic creation. The
polished black ceramics that comes from the Dacians is manufactured in
Oltenia, Transylvania, Bukovina, Moldova the enamelled red
ceramics - in Oltenia, Bihor, Banat, Maramures.

     Adding to all this are trades, implements, customs, folk songs, dances
and poems, the unitary geometric decoration that characterizes the whole
folk art, all very old and highly original, marking the millennary efforts
of culture and civilization of the Romanian people in its ancient hearth.

MIRCEA ROSCA

Traditions and Prospects of Romanian Science

     Scientific discoveries are said, and with good reason, to have no
homeland they belong to and enrich the whole of mankind, giving the measure
of man as a knowledgeable and creative being, the only one capable of
surpassing his limits within his horizon of knowing and doing. The findings of
science are equally true, as Pascal put it, on either side of the Pyrenees.
But scientists have a homeland, the country where they were born and to which
they belong: a homeland understood not only as a geographical but also as a
spiritual space, with the specific determinations given by an unmistakable
"stylistic field". From this space mankind's scientific heritage takes and
assimilates what actually contributes to greater knowledge, relating
accurately to a more and more complex reality.

     The history of science has recorded, in the course of time, the names of
Romanian pioneers, inventors and innovators, originators of world premieres
recognized as such or awaiting confirmation. Their working conditions seldom
were favourable and what distinguishes these intrepids to science is, maybe,
the fact that they succeeded despite circumstances which, if not always
hostile, were at least indifferent. This may be so also because thought - the
best instrument of knowledge - turns adverse circumstances into an ingredient
of victory. This assumption will appear as justified if we analysed the
history of Romanian science and especially the years of absurd totalitarianism
when, although the importance of the technical-revolution for social and human
progress was obsessingly trumpeted, the actual policy was one of boycotting
knowledge, of stagnation and, ultimately, intellectual assassination. It is
precisely for such reasons that the work and life of our forerunners in the
field of science gives our hopes for the future the scope of an aspiration
after accomplishments which, after the December Revolution, stands good
chances of coming true.

     Any survey, however cursory, of the Romanian science from the beginnings
of the modern epoch to date must include the indisputable original
contributions - like those in sonics, speleology, jet aviation, medicine
(insulin) -, as also the major contributions to fields like mathematics,
physics, bacteriology, neurology, endocrinology, cybernetics. And in this
respect, the anniversaries in 1990 are eloquent. It was one hundred years
since the birth of Stefan Procopiu, a scholar whose work ranks him among the
world's great physicists the specialized bibliography acknowledges his
priority, the magnetic moment of the electron being called the "Bohr-Procopiu
magneton". June 14 was the day of the 80th anniversary of Aurel Vlaicu's first
test flight, a remarkable performance which received international
recognition. In October 1910, at the International Aerodynamics Salon in
Paris, Henri Coanda displayed his jet-propulsion airplane which anticipated
by nearly three decades the current utilization of that type of aircraft.
Those performances were not accidental, nor were they exceptions they fell in
a line of such successes, as that of Traian Vuia and, later, of Elie Carafoli
who enriched the Romanian scientific tradition with the foundation of the
Romanian aerodynamics school. Another pioneer of world science and technique
was Anghel Saligny, whose bridge at Cernavoda was, at the time of its
inauguration in 1895, the biggest in Europe and the third in the world. The
history of Romanian and world science records, in the big letters of
recognition and gratitude, still other Romanian names of which we shall
mention George (Gogu) Constantinescu, Nicolae Paulescu, Victor Babes, Gheorghe
Marinescu, C.I. Parhon, Constantin Levaditi, Daniel Danielopolu Nicolae
Hortolomei, Nicolae C. Lupu, -Stefan Nicolau Iuliu, Hatieganu, Octavian Fodor,
Petru Poni, Gheorghe Ti-teica, Traian Lalescu, Grigore Draceanu, Gheorghe
Mihoc, Octav Onicescu, Grigore Moisil, Horia Hulubei. In nearly all areas of
science, in mathematics, physics or chemistry, biology or medicine, psychology
or technical sciences such scholars became role-models for young people who
followed in their footsteps. And here we come to another particularity of the
Romanian scientists, who combined research work with educational and social
activity. Each of our great scholars was also a school founder. And even when
precarious conditions prompted them to go abroad for further studies, they
returned to the homeland and harmoniously combined scientific work with
socio-political activity. Coming to mind is the memory of Spiru Haret, a
mathematician, astronomer, professor and politician devoted to noble patriotic
ideals. We recall these traditions now, when the history of Romania has opened
to freedom and democracy, because in them we find the power of our
resurrection at a time of revolution in science and technology. By an act
having the value of a symbol, a few days after the victory of the Revolution
the Romanian Academy was restored to the rights bestowed by a tradition of 125
years. Full recognition of academic autonomy - de jure and de facto - marked
the beginning of a vast and complex process, not without difficulties, of
reorganizing the scientific life and this process has reached a stage which
gives reason for lucid optimism. The highest scientific and cultural
institution will stimulate, encourage and consecrate the genuine values of
knowledge and creation in various fields. The decree on the organization and
functioning of the Romanian Academy stipulates that fundamental and advanced
research will be carried on, with other forms of research and development to
be undertaken by specialized institutions. Fundamental research has been
restored to its true status and role in the overall development of science and
this holds out opportunities for competition and performance. Advanced
research will partly overlap with fundamental research there where advanced
technology is needed for breaking new paths. Moreover, this type of pioneering
investigation also encompasses such new disciplines as informatics,
bioengineering, molecular engineering, etc. The tendency is to thoroughly
approach all areas of contemporary scientific research, as any field holds
development opportunities unthought of. Due attention is necessarily given to
other disciplines of rich tradition such as national history Romanian language
and literature, Romanian art and others. The best conditions have been ensured
for scientific work through the setting up or reorganization of over fifty
specialized institutes in Bucharest, Cluj, Iasi, Timisoara, Craiova, Sibiu,
etc. Each of these institutions enjoys autonomy, the Academy providing them
with all it takes to help create and promote genuine values.

     The revitalization of academic activity in the generous space of
democracy has already materialized, among others, in the reception of new
members in the Academy, although so far this is only the beginning of the
road. Because each proposal must be debated and weighed according to the one
criterion of worth, the Academy being, by statute, neutral in relation to the
political life. The quality of academician has been restored to all those who
were not reelected in 1948, as well as to those who left the country in the
last years. Membership in the Academy was granted post mortem to Mircea
Eliade, Mircea Florian, Constantin Noica, Marin Preda. Nichita Stanescu and
Ioan Moraru. Another significant fact is the election of Nicholas Georgescu
Roegen an American scientist of Romanian birth, as honorary member of the
Academy. The election of the Reverend Prof. Dumitru Staniloaie as
corresponding member - at the same time with Vlad Voiculescu. Stefan Augustin
Doinas and Augustin Buzura - marked the resumption of the tradition of also
electing representatives of theology among the "immortals". It is only natural
that it should be so, as long as the Academy is meant to provide a unitary
and complete image of the Romanian spirituality the way we have inherited
it to enrich and take further.

     The question may rightly be asked, what happens with young people Will
the Academy continue to be a pantheon of those who come to fame at a more or
less advanced age As the President of the Romanian Academy, Academician Mihai
Draganescu, said in an interview, the younger worthies will be encouraged
and stimulated in various ways. First, the Academy prises will be awarded
preferably to younger people. Then the young scientists and scholars can
participate in scientific sessions or symposia, and the most outstanding of
them will be invited to deliver lectures. The tradition of scientific
"schools" is to be revived in new forms, with talented young people forming
circles roung the full or corresponding members of the Academy and being
given special attention.

     The process of reorganizing the research activity is, naturally, very
vast the pace at which it proceeds can be easily perceived in all specialized
institutes, where work materializes in new discoveries or new technical and
technological solutions much needed by the national economy, by the whole
social life in this period of transition. The way the process of
reorganization unfolds at the Academy may be a model for the new social life
in this period of transition. The way the process of reorganization unfolds at
the Academy may be a model for the new social stage traversed by scientific
research, science and culture in general.