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Mirceacartarescu postmodernismulromanesc

Mircea Cărtărescu, Romanian Postmodernism (2010 edition)

Postmodernism is a term used in Romanian literature to describe a paradigm that was prefigured by some writers outside of the mainstream of the late 1960's and 1970's (especially the Târgoviște School and the oneirists, but also by independent, hard-to-describe writers such as Mircea Ivănescu) and was imposed by the 1980's generation. In spite of controversies and of attempts to impose other terms (such as experimentalism or "the new anthropocentrism"), "postmodernism" remains widely used.

In contrast with (neo)modernism, the postmodernist paradigm no longer holds "high" literature as the center of literature, but as one of the numerous "centers". "Weak thought" (see Vattimo) takes the place of the totalitary, esoteric, elitist philosophy of modernism. The Romanian postmodernists have proposed a canon that retains for the postwar period not only Nichita Stănescu (the pinnacle of neomodernism), but also Leonid Dimov, Mircea Ivănescu, Mircea Horia Simionescu and other writers that were considered more or less marginal. All three were masters of irony and intertextuality, but especially Mircea Ivănescu is considered pivotal to the transition towards a poetry that is more epic than lyrical, following in the footsteps of contemporary American and British poetry. Ever since Mircea Cărtărescu and his generation, the likes of Eliot, Pound and especially Ginsberg have been a big influence on Romanian poetry. The prose writers, some of them inspired by magic realism and the French nouvelle roman, have also been more and more influenced by Anglo-American prose.

Examples of postmodernist books

See also[]

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