The Fantastic in Romanian Literature

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Maria Ioniță (Ryerson University)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Resources

Early Fantastic and Gothic Literature

The beginnings of the fantastic in Romanian literature are inspired by the rich trove of folklore, legends, myths, superstitions and folk traditions, many of which were very much alive and vibrant well into the 19th century (even at the start of the 20th century Romania’s rural inhabitants made up as much as 80% of the country’s population). The bases of the national literature were being laid in Romania roughly at the same time as the modern fantastic was developing in Western and Central European literature through the rise of the Gothic, and the Romantic valuation of imaginative and liminal states. This explains perhaps the relative scarcity of early fantastic compositions in Romanian literature. The generation of authors born towards the turn

7090 words

Citation: Ioniță, Maria. "The Fantastic in Romanian Literature". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 January 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19441, accessed 19 March 2024.]

19441 The Fantastic in Romanian Literature 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.