46 research outputs found
The Rhetoric of Subversion: Strategies of āAesopian Languageā in Romanian Literary Criticism under Late Communism
This paper analyses the subversive strategies of āAesopian languageā with reference to the discourse of the
Romanian literary criticism written under late communism (1971-1989). The first two sections of the paper
signal certain gaps and inconstancies in defining Aesopian language and in delineating its forms of
manifestation; at the same time, they explain the spread of this subversive practice in the political and
cultural context of Romanian communism. The following three sections analyse the manner in which
Aesopian language materialized in the writings of some of the most important contemporary Romanian
critics: Mircea Iorgulescu, Nicolae Manolescu and Mircea Martin. The final section of the study considers a
revision of the current definitions of Aesopian language (through the concept of ātriggersā theorized in
this paper), a new classification of the rhetorical strategies acting globally in a subversive text, as well as a re-evaluation of the relevance of Aesopian language in the context of āresistance through cultureā, which
was the main form of opposition against the communist regime in Romania