Transylvanian Saxon Symbolic Geographies

Bibliographic Data

ID4998732
AuthorsCristian Cercel (0009-0000-4798-1705, corresponding author)
Year2012
Issue60-2
Pages83-101
Publication date2012-07-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCivilisations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0009-8140 • E-ISSN: 2032-0442
PublisherOpenEdition (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4000/civilisations.3019
OpenAlexW2152575160
LanguageEN
References cited13

In Transylvanian Saxon self-identification, representations of the Balkans as the uncivilized region lying on the other side of the Carpathians have constantly circulated, among other things via literary products. The perception of Saxonness as embodiment of a higher culture and symbol of civilization has been accompanied by a perception of the Romanian/Wallachian other as Balkanic, hence backward and uncivilized. Placing these considerations within a broader theoretical setting, one could speak of orientalizing representations, or of a specific case of a 'nesting orientalism'. However, after 1918 Transylvania and the lands beyond the Carpathians had become part of the same state. In this context, this paper intends to investigate how were the Balkans perceived within relevant post-1918 Transylvanian Saxon literary products, from Meschendörfer to Schlattner, and what have been the key features of the Transylvanian Saxon relationship with this world to which they did not want to belong, yet with which they were bound to interact

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Civilization · Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Geography · Linguistics · Literature · Orientalism · Perception · Romanian · Sociology · Symbol (formal · Balkans: History, Politics, Society · Central European national history · European Cultural and National Identity · History · Philosophy

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