Romanian Joyce ― From Hostility to Hospitality

Having written widely about Irish writer James Joyce (1882-1941) Ionescu explores in detail the reception of his work in Romania. She begins by discussing the ambivalent Indo-European foundations of hospitality in order to clarify the rationale for relying on such a framework in a critical study mainly concerned with reception. She also describes how Romanian literature took successive turns between embracing foreign models and dogged isolationism before reintegrating into the political and social landscape of Europe after 1989. Among her topics are the advent of Romanian modernism, Stalinist and Ceausist schizophrenia: political hostility versus cultural hospitality, filtering Joyce's religion and politics, and experimenting with authenticity: Mircea Eliade. Annotation c2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Arleen Ionescu is Professor of English Literature at University of Ploiesti (UPG) and Editor of the leading Romanian journal Word and Text. Her major research fields are Modernist prose and Critical Theory. She has published widely on Joyce as well as on Beckett, Blanchot and Derrida.