Romanian Literature in The University of Salamanca

Studying Romanian literature in the Faculty of Philology

– Literatura Rumana. Optional. Undergraduate. Romance Philology only. 3rd and 4th Year. 3 ECTs. Fall semester.

– Literatura Rumana II. Optional. Undergraduate. Romance Philology only. 3rd and 4th Year. 3 ECTs. Spring semester.
Romanian Literature. A Short Presentation

One of the most interesting part of the Romanian literature is the folklore:

Pero mucho antes, en el territorio que hoy llamamos Rumanía, se crearon poemas y cuentos populares, a partir de motivos y temas que circulaban en todo el mundo medieval europeo, así como  de situaciones originales y creencias propias de esta zona. De aquí surgieron algunos de los textos más impactantes de la literatura rumana, como la balada «Miorita», la «Historia del Maestro Manole», el cuento «La juventud sin vejez y vida sin muerte» o las canciones llenas de nostalgia y dolor llamadas “doinas”.

«Une foule de contes, de chansons, de chants ritueles et festifs, de coutumes, de superstitions, de proverbes se détachent ou dérivent des Apocalypses, des légendes    religieuses, des romans populaires. (…) Les masses populaires se sont longtemps et jusqu’à nos jours nourries de cette littérature. Dans cet invraisemblable mélange de     merveilleux chrétien, de mirifiques perspectives d’Asie, de sagesse hindoue, persane, égyptienne, antique meme, elles ont puisé de l’émotion, de la beauté, de la fantaisie. (…)   Par ces voies détournées, les Roumains ont partagé avec l’Europe occidentale elle-meme quelques-uns de ses plus vifs plaisirs intelectuelles.» (Basil Munteanu, 1938)

Also, one phenomena typical for this literature is the variety of languages used by Romanian born writers in history. In the beginnings, the old Slavic language of the Otrhodox Church played the role of Latin in the West countries, so there were some very interesting writers and historians who published in Slavic (e.g. Neagoe Basarab, 1521), but expressed realities, feelings and views of life developed in these precise territories. There are also writers in Latin, for example Nicolaus Olahus, friend of Erasm of Rotterdam. Later, many Romanian born writers chose another language due to exile and specific relocation after WWII: Eugen Ionescu, Emil Cioran, Mircea Eliade.

In the 20th century, the Romanian literature displays an impressive number and variety of writers: Tudor Arghezi, Lucian Blaga, Ion Barbu, George Bacovia, Max Blecher, Camil Petrescu, Gib Mihaescu, Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu; also, some original and very influent personalities: Tristan Tzara, Eugen Ionescu, Emil Cioran.

Due to the huge amount of work of various translators of Romanian literary texts into Spanish (both of peninsular Spain and The Latin America), we can read almost the whole Romanian literature texts in Spanish, from the pioneers to contemporary writers like Mircea Cartarescu, Ana Blandiana or Herta Muller.

The two courses dedicated to the Romanian literature are taught in Spanish and the core bibliography is based upon Spanish translations of Romanian texts.

Further Readings:

  • Alejandro Busuioceanu, «Literatura rumana», en Historia de la literatura universal, coord. Ciriaco Pérez Bustamante, Madrid, Ediciones Atlas, 1947, 721-769.
  • Basil Munteanu, Panorama de la littérature roumaine contemporaine, París, Éditions du Sagittaire, 1938; Id., La littérature roumaine et l’Europe, Bucarest, Cartea Românească, 1942.