Dan DANA (CNRS/HiSoMA, Lyon)
UN ALT LATINISM INTERBELIC: URMAŞII FRANCOFONI AI ROMEI
Keywords: classical studies, Dionisie M. Pippidi, historiography, interwar period, Nicolae I. Herescu, Romanian Latinists, Scarlat Lambrino.
Abstract: Another interwar Latinism: French-speaking descendants of Rome. A general overview on the interwar school of Romanian Latinists, such as Alexandru Graur, Scarlat Lambrino, Matei G. Nicolau, Nicolae I. Herescu, Dionisie M. Pippidi, and Victor Buescu, also draws on data from archives, particularly private correspondence: the preparation of these specialists in Romania and in Paris; the scholarly links during the interwar period with the Occident and the status of French as the cultural and scientific language par excellence at that time; the publications produced by Romanian Latinists, whether specialized or for a larger audience; institutional aspects, also related to cultural directions and heritages; the prolongation of this mission by those who left the country or remained in exile; the place that some of these philologists assumed in interwar cultural and ideological debates, in an era of cultural dynamism as well as tensions. It is a completely different Latinism, after the founding Latinism of the Transylvanian School and after the important moment represented by Vasile Pârvan: a scholarly, Francophone, universal but also national Latinism. Interwar Latinism actually functioned as a connection to the West, but also to a scholarly world with its methods (i.e., its requirements) and freedoms (i.e., the need for critical thinking), while its exponents appear aware of the necessary openness to modernity and society.