The Tradition of Europeanity in the Cultural Discourse of the Sibiu Literary Circle

Abstract

In the current paper, we analyze the relations existing between the Sibiu Literary Circle and the image of the cultural mentor, Eugen Lovinescu, the spiritual connections of the writers signing the Manifesto of the Circle, and the European tradition and values. In this respect, we demonstrate how, through the impressive intellectual background of the members of the Circle, the Romanian literature in 1940-1945 sets a cosmopolite dialogue with major cultural patterns, especially in the German area, through Lucian Blaga, Ion Negoitescu, Radu Stanca. Due to these authors, the issue of tradition, of rewriting the past does not inscribe in the provincial or national-messianic dimension, but, on the contrary, in that of universally fertile patterns, with catalytic effects.