Passages to Romania: American Literature in Romania

By Thomas Amherst Perry

The interplay between literatures is as ancient as the migration of beast fables. Geographical distance has been no barrier: tales have travelled orally from continent to continent. Today -- institutionalized in journals, publishing houses, universities, and cultural exchange programs -- that interplay is still at work. This book describes one side of the important literary and cultural contacts between Romania and the United States over the past two centuries, tracing the passage of American literary works into Romania and their influence there. It illustrates that at each stage of that passage those key elements of the Romania character -- what Romanians refer to as the Romanian suflet -- have emerged. At each of these stages, those elements have touched tangentially with American experiences and sometimes assimilated them -- often modifying, sometimes distorting, and frequently expanding or intensifying meanings latent within American literature. This book also shows how the opening of the door in Romania to the Western and American worlds has provided a catalyst for a latent Romanian literary genius and a flowering of literary activity there. The author, Thomas Amherst Perry, is professor emeritus of literature and languages at Texas A&M University-Commerce. He is the author of A Bibliography of American Literature Translated into Romanian and co-author of Romanian Poetry in English Translation.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9739432190
• ISBN13: 9789739432191
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Center for Romanian Studies
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.8" x 6.0"