Books by Cristina Vidrutiu
Science and Literature: Imagination, Medicine and Space, 2021
This volume, alongside its sister volume “Poetry and Prose”, brings together fourteen essays from... more This volume, alongside its sister volume “Poetry and Prose”, brings together fourteen essays from the vibrant field of Science and Literature. Each of the two volumes has been structured around specific themes that link its papers. The themes here are Imagination, Medicine and Space. Imagination, is understood not only as an analytical category on its own right, but also as a way forward for the field as a whole. The articles contained in the section describe possible contours and directions of future research. Medicine is a tragically relevant topic in these pandemic times, but that it would become such a notorious subject would have come as a surprise four years ago, when the first papers included in this second section were first presented. The third and concluding section is Space, appearing not only as a geographical denomination, but also as an imaginary topos and as the site of a specific activity. Collectively, these essays represent a range of scholars working in periods from the 18th century to the 20th, in spaces as far apart as Greece, Uruguay, Australia and Trinidad and in topics ranging from quantum physics to the plague. To do so, they bring to bear an equally varied set of methodologies and theoretical apparatus from literary studies, epistemology, philosophy of technology, history of science and psychoanalysis. The range of essays collected here also presents a host of narrative styles and modes of academic expression. The contributors to these two volumes hail not only from academia, but are also artists, independent scholars and passionate enthusiasts of local history and art. This way, the volume brings to the fore the interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity, or even at times, a-disciplinarity of Science and Literature studies.
"Science and Literature: Imagination, Medicine and Space"., 2021
Ο τόμος αυτός, σε συνάφεια με τον αδελφό τόμο της σειράς με τίτλο «Poetry and Prose», συγκεντρώνε... more Ο τόμος αυτός, σε συνάφεια με τον αδελφό τόμο της σειράς με τίτλο «Poetry and Prose», συγκεντρώνει δεκατέσσερα κείμενα από το πεδίο της μελέτης των σχέσεων της Επιστήμης με τη Λογοτεχνία. Και στους δύο τόμους, τα κείμενα που εμπεριέχονται έχουν ομαδοποιηθεί με βάση συγκεκριμένες θεματικές, οι οποίες και ενώνουν άρρητα την σκοποθεσία τους. Εδώ, οι θεματικές αυτές είναι η Φαντασία, η Ιατρική και ο Χώρος. Η Φαντασία εννοιολογείται όχι μόνο ως μια αναλυτική κατηγορία, αλλά και ως ένας πιθανός τρόπος εξέλιξης ολόκληρου του πεδίου. Τα κείμενα που περιέχονται στη συγκεκριμένη ενότητα σκιαγραφούν πιθανές κατευθύνσεις μελλοντικών διερευνήσεων. Η Ιατρική είναι μια τραγικά επίκαιρη θεματική στα πανδημικά τωρινά χρόνια. Ότι θα αναδεικνυόταν σε ένα τόσο κεντρικό ζήτημα θα προκαλούσε μεγάλη έκπληξη στους συγγραφείς των κειμένων της δεύτερης αυτής ενότητας τέσσερα χρόνια πριν, όταν τα κείμενα της ενότητας αυτής πρωτοπαρουσιάστηκαν. Η τρίτη και τελευταία θεματική είναι ο Χώρος, ο οποίος εμφανίζεται όχι μόνο ως μια γεωγραφική κατηγορία, αλλά και ως ένας φαντασιακό τόπος ή ως η τοποθεσία που στεγάζει συγκεκριμένες δραστηριότητες. Ιδωμένα συγκεντρωτικά, τα κείμενα του τόμου ασχολούνται με περιόδους από τον 18ο αιώνα μέχρι τον 20ό, με χώρους τόσο διαφορετικούς όσο η Ελλάδα, η Ουρουγάη, η Αυστραλία και το Τρινιδάδ και με θέματα που εκτείνονται από την Κβαντική Μηχανική έως την πανούκλα. Το μεθοδολογικό και εννοιολογικό εύρος των ερευνών είναι εξίσου μεγάλο, μια που περιέχει φιλολογικές προκείμενες, επιστημολογία, φιλοσοφία της τεχνολογίας, ιστορία της επιστήμης αλλά και ψυχανάλυση. Οι συμμετέχοντες και συμμετέχουσες στους δυο αυτούς τόμους προέρχονται όχι μόνο από τον ακαδημαϊκό χώρο, αλλά είναι επίσης και καλλιτέχνες, ανεξάρτητοι ερευνητές και παθιασμένοι ερασιτέχνες μελετητές της σχέσης της τοπικής ιστορίας με την τέχνη. Με τον τρόπο αυτό, ο τόμος αυτός φέρνει στο προσκήνιο τη διεπιστημονικότητα, πολύ-επιστημονικότητα η ακόμα και την άρνηση της έννοιας της επιστημονικότητας που μπορεί κανείς να συναντήσει στο πεδίο των Μελετών Λογοτεχνίας και Επιστήμης.
Our paper is built upon a five-part structure. In the first one, called Introdu... more Our paper is built upon a five-part structure. In the first one, called Introduction, we present a series of necessary details which restrain the work area within. The initial premises is that the 20th and 21st centuries show a certain fascination for epidemic phenomenon and thus, the epidemic-related discourses define this period of time. The research itself is based upon the attempt of decoding the pattern (or of some of the immutable points of reference) of plague representations and the analysis of its dynamics and functions within literary depictions. To achieve these goals we start by defining the work area, then we define the corpus of texts to be used for the analysis, we state the objectives and the innovative aspects, perceive the limits and decide the structure altogether with the indispensable paths to follow.
As for the second part of the thesis, called Representations of plague in literature. The epidemic pattern. The epidemic imaginary, we do a critical history of the studies dedicated to the representation of the plague in literature from the standpoint of five essential aspects: the relationship between the plague representations in literature and the the plague representations in other areas; the relationship between the specific representations of the plague in literature and the historical context; the definition of “a plague literature” and of a cannon of this one; the features of the “plague literature”; the functions of the “plague literature”.
Interwoven with this complex field of criticism, our approach defines two new basic tools in studying the representations of plague in literature: in the first place “the pattern of plague representations” and in the second place “the epidemic imaginary”.
We define the pattern of plague representations as the core of all plague representations or, rephrasing it, the representations of the plague are the consequence of the development of a core-structure based on the cultural and scientific background, thus making the result to have a contextual signification and function. The pattern of the plague representations in literature is not, by any means, an immobile structure which can be utterly identified throughout history but, on the contrary, it is a summing up of reiterating motifs, immutable reference points, which, according to the medium of insertion and the foreseen function may give certain variants of representation. The pattern of the plague representations is structured according to six pillars concerning medical aspects: epidemics, miasma, contagiousness, quarantine, pest house and black. To a further understanding of the cultural heritage of the used concepts in depicting this pattern in literature we draw a short chronology of the above mentioned in a study of mentalities.
We define the epidemic imaginary from a double perspective: first, as a sum of the epidemic representations, secondly as an area ruled by a dynamic of representations very similar to the plague itself (reiteration, violence and persistence which altogether have the capacity to duplicate themselves in other areas of research). For a better understanding of the concept of epidemic imaginary we explore the concepts of disease chronology and epidemic dynamics.
As for the third part of our research, called The plague - medical and historical profile, we are looking into the two sides of the illness. On one hand, we try to narrow down the medical identity of the plague from the definition perspective, the etymological perspective, the synonymic paths plague-pest, the triad epizooty- pandemic –endemic, the typology, the symptomatology, the inner mechanism of spreading itself, the taken measures to stop it and of the treatment. Moreover, we define the actual impact of the plague throughout the perspective of the annual cases, the predisposed zones, the natural reservoirs and of the bio-terrorist peril. One the other hand, we are trying to synthesize the historical profile of the plague as seen from the perspective of the epidemic reiteration both spatial and temporal or as connected to the three major pandemics: The Justinian plague (540-590), The Black Death (1346-1361) and the Chinese plague (1855-1900).
In the fourth section of the paper, named The plague - literary profile, we are studying a series of literary representation of the plague from a double perspective: both analyzing specific texts and trying to enhance a global view upon the intersections and the parallelisms between the plague literature works and its authors. As for the representations of the plague in literature we differentiate two kinds of texts according to their relationship with the function of the plague in them.
The first type of texts is using a realistic approach, meaning that they illustrate historical epidemics of plague. For this situation we selected the next case studies: The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio presenting the plague in Florence, 1348, Journal of the Plague Year and Due Preparations for the Plague as well for Soul as body by Daniel Defoe presenting the plague in London, 1665, The betrothed and History of the Column of infamy by Alessandro Manzoni showing the plague in Milan, 1628-1630.
The second type of texts is using the metaphorical approach, more precisely they refer to political “plagues” of the history. For this situation we selected the next case studies: The Plague, The State of Siege and Caligula by Albert Camus which refer to general existence, Nazism and the horrors of the Second World War, Rhinoceros and Killing Game by Eugène Ionesco which refer to the Iron Guard, Blindness and Seeing by Jose Saramago which refer to Franco’s regime.
In the fifth part of the research, called Conclusions, we are trying to answer the series of questions formulated in the Introduction, questions which on one hand concern the relationship between the historical context, the medical one, the literary one, the biographical context and the veiled intention of the author, and on the other hand concern the role of the literary representations of the plague in the present world (due to an excessive usage of the epidemic pattern to all violent, mysterious, reiterative phenomenons with a huge impact upon population). The hypothesis we are trying to defend is that there is a temptation to build and propagate epidemic scenarios which can be interpreted as a symptom of a general hypochondriac state specific for the 20th and 21st centuries.
The research ends with a series of Appendices illustrating different aspects of the plague discussed in the former chapters and with a Bibliography that includes on the one hand the literary sources, and on the other hand the critical works used in the paper.
Papers by Cristina Vidrutiu
Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai - Philologia, 2011
The article investigates The Masque of the Red Death from a medical and literary point of view. W... more The article investigates The Masque of the Red Death from a medical and literary point of view. We argue that the transition from the medical perspective (present in the first part of the novel) to the metaphorical embodiment of the Red Death (present in the second part of the novel) is achieved with the help of the masque, which acts either as an accessory, either as a fake double. The profile of the Red Death embodying the constant threat of plagues is built in relation to two of the most deadly plagues in human history: tuberculosis (also called the White Death) and the plague (also called the Black Death). The metaphorical profiles of these two historical plagues are used by Poe also in the spatial plan through the chromatic, so that the succession of Prospero's rooms in the abbey can be seen as an inverted chronology of the plagues. On the stage of history, the carnival as a prescription of life against the plague, acts as an invitation for the Red Death, because of the annulment of stability it implies. The plague, the great leveler, conforms to the rules of the celebration of life and turns his own face into a masque. By the end of the representation, the Red Death replaces the ephemeral masques of Prospero's guests with his masque. In this way, the victims become replicas of the Red Death.
Dans les deux œuvres d'Alessandro Manzoni, Les Fiancés et L'Histoire de la colonne infâme... more Dans les deux œuvres d'Alessandro Manzoni, Les Fiancés et L'Histoire de la colonne infâme, le tableau historique commun, la peste de Milan de 1629-1631, est construit à l'aide de trois conceptions complémentaires sur le fléau : la théorie religieuse, la théorie miasmatique et la théorie contagionniste. À la conjonction de ces visions, la peste est envisagée comme le poison maléfique par excellence.
Le corps empoisonne est enveloppe de mysteres qui plongent l'historien, l'enqueteur, le m... more Le corps empoisonne est enveloppe de mysteres qui plongent l'historien, l'enqueteur, le medecin, parfois meme la victime et ses proches, dans le doute, la mefiance et la peur. Le poison, arme de la discretion, ravage les corps dans les spheres privees et publiques, mais ne peut pas toujours etre identifie.
Le corps empoisonné, 2014
La contamination. Lieux symboliques et espaces imaginaires, 2012
La structure du Décaméron comporte deux parties: l’Histoire de la peste et les histoires d’amour.... more La structure du Décaméron comporte deux parties: l’Histoire de la peste et les histoires d’amour. Ces deux parties, mettant en scène deux forces antagonistes: la destruction et la reconstruction, sont construites dans deux régimes différents. Tandis que la peste qui a ravagé Florence en 1348, évoquée à l’aide de détails médicaux et historiques, peut être vue à travers la métaphore du purgatif, les histoires d’amour, misant plutôt sur le narratif, peuvent être envisagées à travers la métaphore du sédatif. En passant de l’Histoire unique aux histoires alternatives, on oppose le traitement médical de la peste au traitement narratif de l’amour. Le médecin est remplacé par le raconteur et la contagion physique de la peste, avec ses effets négatifs et destructifs décrits dans la première partie du Décaméron, se transforme en une contagion narrative avec des effets positifs voire constructifs. Le tableau violent de la peste historique est combattu par les histoires d’amour proposées par la brigata. Ces histoires agissent comme un remède contre le monde détruit par la peste et elles ont une nature bivalente. D’un côté poison, de l’autre remède par rapport à leur fonction et à leur modalité de transmission, ces histoires peuvent être considérées comme un pharmakon. En même temps, la brigata peut être considérée comme un pseudo-pharmakos à cause des altérations produites dans sa structure et son fonctionnement. Ce n’est plus l’expulsion physique du pharmakos qui guérit la communauté, mais bien l’expulsion mentale narrative de l’histoire triste de la peste grâce à ces histoires-pharmakon proposées par les membres de la brigata qui agissent comme des « semeurs de vie ».
The Romanian author, Max Blecher, suffered from spinal tuberculosis (Pott’s disease). His works, ... more The Romanian author, Max Blecher, suffered from spinal tuberculosis (Pott’s disease). His works, Corpul transparent (Transparent Body, 1934), Întâmplări în irealitatea imediată (Adventures in Immediate Unreality, 1936), Inimi cicatrizate (Scarred Hearts, 1937), and Vizuina luminată: Jurnal de sanatoriu (The Lit Up Burrow: A Sanatorium Journal, 1971), along with a series of articles, essays, short fictions and letters, form a homogeneous and rich imagery, in which illness acts as the canvas for the dismantlement of the puzzle of life and the fragmentation of speech. The illness experience represents for Max Blecher an identity revealer and in the same time a modulator for the narrative voice: faced with a tragic diagnosis, the author refuses to be just a passive instance as a patient and he also assumes an active role as a “film director” of his own life in his writings, where he can go beyond recording his experiences, by processing them through the filter of unreality.
The article investigates The Masque of the Red Death from a medical and literary point of view. W... more The article investigates The Masque of the Red Death from a medical and literary point of view. We argue that the transition from the medical perspective (present in the first part of the novel) to the metaphorical embodiment of the Red Death (present in the second part of the novel) is achieved with the help of the masque, which acts either as an accessory, either as a fake double. The profile of the Red Death embodying the constant threat of plagues is built in relation to two of the most deadly plagues in human history: tuberculosis (also called the White Death) and the plague (also called the Black Death). The metaphorical profiles of these two historical plagues are used by Poe also in the spatial plan through the chromatic, so that the succession of Prospero's rooms in the abbey can be seen as an inverted chronology of the plagues. On the stage of history, the carnival as a prescription of life against the plague, acts as an invitation for the Red Death, because of the annulment of stability it implies. The plague, the great leveler, conforms to the rules of the celebration of life and turns his own face into a masque. By the end of the representation, the Red Death replaces the ephemeral masques of Prospero's guests with his masque. In this way, the victims become replicas of the Red Death.
Albert Camus - un écrivain pour notre temps, 2011
L’étude propose de faire une investigation du point de vue interdisciplinaire sur la métaphore de... more L’étude propose de faire une investigation du point de vue interdisciplinaire sur la métaphore de la peste dans l’œuvre d’Albert Camus à l’aide des textes suivants : État de siège, Caligula, La Peste. La démonstration qui s’articule en quatre étapes et essaie de montrer la relation entre l’histoire et la métaphore comme base pour définir un imaginaire épidémiologique. Premièrement on découvre la peste du point de vue historique et nous relions le passè violent de la maladie au choix de celle-ci parmi les autres fléaux comme motif de l’œuvre camusienne. Deuxièmement on valorise l’héritage métaphorique de la peste en se posant les questions: quoi ou qui est devenue la peste dans les œuvres de Camus, quelle est sa nouvelle identité ? Troisièmement on analyse le croisement entre le plan historique et le plan métaphorique dans la relation entre la peste historique et « la peste » de l’histoire (le shoah, les régimes totalitaires). Quatrièmement on discute sur la viabilitè de l’histoire violente du shoah décrite ou réécrite à l’aide de la métaphore de la peste en relation avec les témoins ou le silence. La peste peut être définie dans ce contexte comme une notion qui met en balance l’histoire et la métaphore d’une manière très équilibrée, jusqu’à tel point qu’elles se justifient, conditionnent et confondent.
Lucrarea de faţă analizează rama Decameronului,
respectiv prelucrarea narativă a ciumei din Flo... more Lucrarea de faţă analizează rama Decameronului,
respectiv prelucrarea narativă a ciumei din Florenţa din
1348 din perspectiva moştenirii epidemice reciclate în
modul de structurare al operei.
Demersul lucrării se focalizează asupra translaţiei
de la planul istoric la planul fi cţional prin înlocuirea
martorului cu a povestitorului, respectiv asupra
opoziţiei epidemie-utopie, dar şi asupra recondiţionării
procesiunilor circumbulatorii ori a Dansului Morţii şi a
presupusului traseu al ciumei în strategii şi moduri de
organizare a naraţiunii. Boccaccio construieşte imaginea
fi cţională a ciumei pornind de la profi lul istoric al acesteia.
El recondiţionează logica lineară a fl agelului istoric întruna circulară narativă securizantă prin utilizarea unui
cronotop şi a unei organizări a vocilor povestitorilor
specifi ce. În fond, procesiunile circumbulatorii orientate
împotriva ciumei atestate istoric şi având o funcţie
protectivă sunt transferate în modul circular de dispunere
al povestitorilor în momentul constituirii brigatei în
biserică, dar şi în momentul spunerii poveştilor ca timp
al evadării din mediul epidemic. Aceeaşi recondiţionare
a logicii circularităţii este întâlnită şi în cazul localizării
palatului în mijlocul spaţiului protectiv al naturii sau în
instituirea unui orar constant de administrarea a poveştilor
despre iubire.
Limbajul medical. Istoric si perspective, 2011
Lucrarea îşi propune să analizeze abordările complementare ale narativităţii la intersecţia dintr... more Lucrarea îşi propune să analizeze abordările complementare ale narativităţii la intersecţia dintre medicină şi literatură. Contextul academic actual tinde să explore narativitatea într-un cadru interdisciplinar dând naştere unor domenii hibrid ca: Medical humanities, Literatură şi medicină, Antropologie medicală. În acest context, concepte ca “naraţiunile bolii”, “medicină narativă” sau “patografie” încearcă să explice conexiunea dintre diagnostic şi experienţa bolii ca poveste. În procesul narativ, persoana bolnavă devine povestitor şi creator al propriului univers care îi permite să controleze şi să chestioneze diagnosticul şi eventual îi oferă propria interpretare a bolii. Rezultatele acestui proces sunt o literatură a bolii şi o poveste a bolii care trebuie analizate împreună.
The paper’s aim is to outline the profile of the plague and the shift from a terrible disease of ... more The paper’s aim is to outline the profile of the plague and the shift from a terrible disease of the past to a prolific artistic metaphor from a double perspective: medical and cultural. The demonstration will explore the metamorphosis of a recurrent epidemic: the plague. The study starts with a short medical and cultural history of the disease, which is followed by the examination of the presumed alternative causes of plague in the course of time(in relation to the natural elements) and the complex imaginary it gave birth to, and concluded with the discussion of plague as metaphor in different fields and the legacy it has left.
The aim of this transdisciplinary paper is to investigate the plague imaginary with the help of l... more The aim of this transdisciplinary paper is to investigate the plague imaginary with the help of literature, epidemiology and history. The plague as a cultural deposit of ideas and images becomes a material to work with in several artistic fields. The impact of the disease on history is not just a medical one, because often the violence and the virulence of the plague develop a cultural connotation through a multiple contextualization. There is a strict connection between the aggressive impact of the plague and the creation of a mythical layer for that phenomenon. The plague as a recurrent disease through history printed herself in the imaginary especially through her extremely violent episode: the Black Death. Facing the pestilential mystery impossible to decode, the man felt the need to tame it at least with the help of words. The scenarios issued to puzzle out the disease palimpsest determined the excessive proliferation of metamorphic literature. Soon the work of literature that wanted to dissect the plague became in their turn independent entities or even explicative universes. The plague changed her status from epidemic to pretext for creation.
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Books by Cristina Vidrutiu
As for the second part of the thesis, called Representations of plague in literature. The epidemic pattern. The epidemic imaginary, we do a critical history of the studies dedicated to the representation of the plague in literature from the standpoint of five essential aspects: the relationship between the plague representations in literature and the the plague representations in other areas; the relationship between the specific representations of the plague in literature and the historical context; the definition of “a plague literature” and of a cannon of this one; the features of the “plague literature”; the functions of the “plague literature”.
Interwoven with this complex field of criticism, our approach defines two new basic tools in studying the representations of plague in literature: in the first place “the pattern of plague representations” and in the second place “the epidemic imaginary”.
We define the pattern of plague representations as the core of all plague representations or, rephrasing it, the representations of the plague are the consequence of the development of a core-structure based on the cultural and scientific background, thus making the result to have a contextual signification and function. The pattern of the plague representations in literature is not, by any means, an immobile structure which can be utterly identified throughout history but, on the contrary, it is a summing up of reiterating motifs, immutable reference points, which, according to the medium of insertion and the foreseen function may give certain variants of representation. The pattern of the plague representations is structured according to six pillars concerning medical aspects: epidemics, miasma, contagiousness, quarantine, pest house and black. To a further understanding of the cultural heritage of the used concepts in depicting this pattern in literature we draw a short chronology of the above mentioned in a study of mentalities.
We define the epidemic imaginary from a double perspective: first, as a sum of the epidemic representations, secondly as an area ruled by a dynamic of representations very similar to the plague itself (reiteration, violence and persistence which altogether have the capacity to duplicate themselves in other areas of research). For a better understanding of the concept of epidemic imaginary we explore the concepts of disease chronology and epidemic dynamics.
As for the third part of our research, called The plague - medical and historical profile, we are looking into the two sides of the illness. On one hand, we try to narrow down the medical identity of the plague from the definition perspective, the etymological perspective, the synonymic paths plague-pest, the triad epizooty- pandemic –endemic, the typology, the symptomatology, the inner mechanism of spreading itself, the taken measures to stop it and of the treatment. Moreover, we define the actual impact of the plague throughout the perspective of the annual cases, the predisposed zones, the natural reservoirs and of the bio-terrorist peril. One the other hand, we are trying to synthesize the historical profile of the plague as seen from the perspective of the epidemic reiteration both spatial and temporal or as connected to the three major pandemics: The Justinian plague (540-590), The Black Death (1346-1361) and the Chinese plague (1855-1900).
In the fourth section of the paper, named The plague - literary profile, we are studying a series of literary representation of the plague from a double perspective: both analyzing specific texts and trying to enhance a global view upon the intersections and the parallelisms between the plague literature works and its authors. As for the representations of the plague in literature we differentiate two kinds of texts according to their relationship with the function of the plague in them.
The first type of texts is using a realistic approach, meaning that they illustrate historical epidemics of plague. For this situation we selected the next case studies: The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio presenting the plague in Florence, 1348, Journal of the Plague Year and Due Preparations for the Plague as well for Soul as body by Daniel Defoe presenting the plague in London, 1665, The betrothed and History of the Column of infamy by Alessandro Manzoni showing the plague in Milan, 1628-1630.
The second type of texts is using the metaphorical approach, more precisely they refer to political “plagues” of the history. For this situation we selected the next case studies: The Plague, The State of Siege and Caligula by Albert Camus which refer to general existence, Nazism and the horrors of the Second World War, Rhinoceros and Killing Game by Eugène Ionesco which refer to the Iron Guard, Blindness and Seeing by Jose Saramago which refer to Franco’s regime.
In the fifth part of the research, called Conclusions, we are trying to answer the series of questions formulated in the Introduction, questions which on one hand concern the relationship between the historical context, the medical one, the literary one, the biographical context and the veiled intention of the author, and on the other hand concern the role of the literary representations of the plague in the present world (due to an excessive usage of the epidemic pattern to all violent, mysterious, reiterative phenomenons with a huge impact upon population). The hypothesis we are trying to defend is that there is a temptation to build and propagate epidemic scenarios which can be interpreted as a symptom of a general hypochondriac state specific for the 20th and 21st centuries.
The research ends with a series of Appendices illustrating different aspects of the plague discussed in the former chapters and with a Bibliography that includes on the one hand the literary sources, and on the other hand the critical works used in the paper.
Papers by Cristina Vidrutiu
respectiv prelucrarea narativă a ciumei din Florenţa din
1348 din perspectiva moştenirii epidemice reciclate în
modul de structurare al operei.
Demersul lucrării se focalizează asupra translaţiei
de la planul istoric la planul fi cţional prin înlocuirea
martorului cu a povestitorului, respectiv asupra
opoziţiei epidemie-utopie, dar şi asupra recondiţionării
procesiunilor circumbulatorii ori a Dansului Morţii şi a
presupusului traseu al ciumei în strategii şi moduri de
organizare a naraţiunii. Boccaccio construieşte imaginea
fi cţională a ciumei pornind de la profi lul istoric al acesteia.
El recondiţionează logica lineară a fl agelului istoric întruna circulară narativă securizantă prin utilizarea unui
cronotop şi a unei organizări a vocilor povestitorilor
specifi ce. În fond, procesiunile circumbulatorii orientate
împotriva ciumei atestate istoric şi având o funcţie
protectivă sunt transferate în modul circular de dispunere
al povestitorilor în momentul constituirii brigatei în
biserică, dar şi în momentul spunerii poveştilor ca timp
al evadării din mediul epidemic. Aceeaşi recondiţionare
a logicii circularităţii este întâlnită şi în cazul localizării
palatului în mijlocul spaţiului protectiv al naturii sau în
instituirea unui orar constant de administrarea a poveştilor
despre iubire.
As for the second part of the thesis, called Representations of plague in literature. The epidemic pattern. The epidemic imaginary, we do a critical history of the studies dedicated to the representation of the plague in literature from the standpoint of five essential aspects: the relationship between the plague representations in literature and the the plague representations in other areas; the relationship between the specific representations of the plague in literature and the historical context; the definition of “a plague literature” and of a cannon of this one; the features of the “plague literature”; the functions of the “plague literature”.
Interwoven with this complex field of criticism, our approach defines two new basic tools in studying the representations of plague in literature: in the first place “the pattern of plague representations” and in the second place “the epidemic imaginary”.
We define the pattern of plague representations as the core of all plague representations or, rephrasing it, the representations of the plague are the consequence of the development of a core-structure based on the cultural and scientific background, thus making the result to have a contextual signification and function. The pattern of the plague representations in literature is not, by any means, an immobile structure which can be utterly identified throughout history but, on the contrary, it is a summing up of reiterating motifs, immutable reference points, which, according to the medium of insertion and the foreseen function may give certain variants of representation. The pattern of the plague representations is structured according to six pillars concerning medical aspects: epidemics, miasma, contagiousness, quarantine, pest house and black. To a further understanding of the cultural heritage of the used concepts in depicting this pattern in literature we draw a short chronology of the above mentioned in a study of mentalities.
We define the epidemic imaginary from a double perspective: first, as a sum of the epidemic representations, secondly as an area ruled by a dynamic of representations very similar to the plague itself (reiteration, violence and persistence which altogether have the capacity to duplicate themselves in other areas of research). For a better understanding of the concept of epidemic imaginary we explore the concepts of disease chronology and epidemic dynamics.
As for the third part of our research, called The plague - medical and historical profile, we are looking into the two sides of the illness. On one hand, we try to narrow down the medical identity of the plague from the definition perspective, the etymological perspective, the synonymic paths plague-pest, the triad epizooty- pandemic –endemic, the typology, the symptomatology, the inner mechanism of spreading itself, the taken measures to stop it and of the treatment. Moreover, we define the actual impact of the plague throughout the perspective of the annual cases, the predisposed zones, the natural reservoirs and of the bio-terrorist peril. One the other hand, we are trying to synthesize the historical profile of the plague as seen from the perspective of the epidemic reiteration both spatial and temporal or as connected to the three major pandemics: The Justinian plague (540-590), The Black Death (1346-1361) and the Chinese plague (1855-1900).
In the fourth section of the paper, named The plague - literary profile, we are studying a series of literary representation of the plague from a double perspective: both analyzing specific texts and trying to enhance a global view upon the intersections and the parallelisms between the plague literature works and its authors. As for the representations of the plague in literature we differentiate two kinds of texts according to their relationship with the function of the plague in them.
The first type of texts is using a realistic approach, meaning that they illustrate historical epidemics of plague. For this situation we selected the next case studies: The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio presenting the plague in Florence, 1348, Journal of the Plague Year and Due Preparations for the Plague as well for Soul as body by Daniel Defoe presenting the plague in London, 1665, The betrothed and History of the Column of infamy by Alessandro Manzoni showing the plague in Milan, 1628-1630.
The second type of texts is using the metaphorical approach, more precisely they refer to political “plagues” of the history. For this situation we selected the next case studies: The Plague, The State of Siege and Caligula by Albert Camus which refer to general existence, Nazism and the horrors of the Second World War, Rhinoceros and Killing Game by Eugène Ionesco which refer to the Iron Guard, Blindness and Seeing by Jose Saramago which refer to Franco’s regime.
In the fifth part of the research, called Conclusions, we are trying to answer the series of questions formulated in the Introduction, questions which on one hand concern the relationship between the historical context, the medical one, the literary one, the biographical context and the veiled intention of the author, and on the other hand concern the role of the literary representations of the plague in the present world (due to an excessive usage of the epidemic pattern to all violent, mysterious, reiterative phenomenons with a huge impact upon population). The hypothesis we are trying to defend is that there is a temptation to build and propagate epidemic scenarios which can be interpreted as a symptom of a general hypochondriac state specific for the 20th and 21st centuries.
The research ends with a series of Appendices illustrating different aspects of the plague discussed in the former chapters and with a Bibliography that includes on the one hand the literary sources, and on the other hand the critical works used in the paper.
respectiv prelucrarea narativă a ciumei din Florenţa din
1348 din perspectiva moştenirii epidemice reciclate în
modul de structurare al operei.
Demersul lucrării se focalizează asupra translaţiei
de la planul istoric la planul fi cţional prin înlocuirea
martorului cu a povestitorului, respectiv asupra
opoziţiei epidemie-utopie, dar şi asupra recondiţionării
procesiunilor circumbulatorii ori a Dansului Morţii şi a
presupusului traseu al ciumei în strategii şi moduri de
organizare a naraţiunii. Boccaccio construieşte imaginea
fi cţională a ciumei pornind de la profi lul istoric al acesteia.
El recondiţionează logica lineară a fl agelului istoric întruna circulară narativă securizantă prin utilizarea unui
cronotop şi a unei organizări a vocilor povestitorilor
specifi ce. În fond, procesiunile circumbulatorii orientate
împotriva ciumei atestate istoric şi având o funcţie
protectivă sunt transferate în modul circular de dispunere
al povestitorilor în momentul constituirii brigatei în
biserică, dar şi în momentul spunerii poveştilor ca timp
al evadării din mediul epidemic. Aceeaşi recondiţionare
a logicii circularităţii este întâlnită şi în cazul localizării
palatului în mijlocul spaţiului protectiv al naturii sau în
instituirea unui orar constant de administrarea a poveştilor
despre iubire.