Shakespeare in the Romanian Cultural Memory

While it posits the problematics in the historical development of Shakespeare's presence in Romanian culture, the study gives a detailed history of the translations and productions of the plays, focusing on the most significant aspects of their literary, social, and political appropriation over the past two centuries. The author locates the arguments in a vista of cultural, social, and political issues that affected the local responses to Shakespeare. This monograph represents the cultural mediation of Romania in the context of "Shakespeare" understood as a construct shaping and created by various cultures. The description of Romanian cultural products and stage history examines how early translations from Shakespeare of production of plays grouped according to genre have contributed to the modeling of a theatrical selfhood that was linked to the European reception of the English poet. The survey of early versions of Shakespeare shows how Romanian translators interpreted the allusions in the text, while the cultural authority of the Shakespeare figure was perceived as a means of facilitating the country's exit from the status of a marginalized Balkan elsewhere. Romania, like other Eastern European stages, has exploited Shakespeare's canonical significance in the world civilization in order to leave its marginal status and assume the cultural, social, and political values of the other, mainly Western, European countries.