Alexandru ISTRATE (Academia Română – Filiala Iași, Institutul de Istorie „A.D. Xenopol”)
REDESCOPERIREA DACIEI „VECHI” ÎN LITERATURA ROMÂNĂ MODERNĂ. ÎNTRE NOSTALGIE ȘI CLAMAREA UNUI ALT ÎNCEPUT DE DESTIN ISTORIC
Keywords: Old Dacia, origins, primacy, heroes, barbarians.
Abstract: Rediscovering the “old” Dacia in modern Romanian literature. Between nostalgia and claiming another beginning of the historical destiny. At the dawn of Romanian modernity, a new concept began taking shape in the local culture – Old Dacia. With a semantic resonance and a temporal scope extending beyond the perspectives provided by Romanised Dacia, this “first draft” introduced an exoticism with a scholarly note into the public sphere, maintained curiosity and stirred a certain degree of amazement. The historical origins were discussed, and occasionally even questioned, in harmless narrative registers; those who had been presented as the earliest ancestors were re-evaluated, and a different homeland was outlined on the world map. Its acclimatisation and acceptance into the collective mindset, inclusion in school curricula, and presence in popular literature were challenging. There was a lack of necessary information, of storytellers gifted with the ability to put words to paper; above all, however, there was a scarcity of readers.