A History of Romanian Contemporary Literature: Impact and Reception

At the beginning of 2021, Mihai Iovănel published Istoria literaturii române contemporane – 1990-2020, the first Romanian history of literature that scrutinizes the post-communist period. Another novelty brought by this book is that it proposes an ideological approach to the literary field, with a strong (post)Marxist bias, in accordance and synchronicity with the global trend in the humanistic field, but not very popular in the Romanian cultural space. No wonder it was, perhaps, the most commented upon literary study of the past years, and most of the reviewers and critics focused on this controversial approach towards contemporary literature, favouring or rejecting its validity. This paper tries to establish the influence of Iovănelʼs ideological approach on the interpretation of contemporary literature and the aesthetic validity of his work. At the same time, it deals with the impact this book had in academic and literary circles, surveying the recent opinions and judgments on the book and the interplay of ideological/aesthetic arguments of the reviewers. The analysis shows that, more often than not, the reviewersʼ ideological positioning is relevant and influential upon their judgments, even if they manage to preserve their scientific objectivity. The paper also stresses the importance of this pioneering work and the shift in perspective it proposes, together with its limits (sometimes accepted by the author), and it establishes its relevance as a starting point for similar studies in the future.