Literary Translation and the Idea of a Minor Romania

Studies of the Romanian national imagination have historically focused on the formation of modern Romania after World War I, Romania's fascist movement and alliance with Germany during World War II, or the remobilization of nationalist discourse in the 1970s and 1980s -- moments in which Romanian intellectuals imagine their nation assuming or working toward major cultural status. Literary Translation and the Idea of a Minor Romania examines translations by canonical Romanian writers Lucian Blaga, Constantin Noica, and Emil Cioran following the imposition of Communist rule, arguing that their works reveal a new, "minor" mode of national identity based on the model of the translator. The "minor" emphasizes intercultural exchange, adaptation, and ironic distance in the ways a nation thinks of itself. Drawing on theorists as diverse as Benedict Anderson, Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, and Francoise Lionnet, Sean Cotter proposes that this multilingual and multicultural version of the nation is better suited than older models to understanding a globalized world, one in which translation plays an indispensable role. Sean Cotter is associate professor of literature and literary translation at the University of Texas at Dallas.