Theatre of the Nation: Romanian historical and allegorical drama before the First World War

Theatre of the Nation

Romanian historical and allegorical drama before the First World War

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55159/tri.2023.0101.13

Keywords:

nation, dramaturgy, Romania, history, allegory

Abstract

This study investigates the way in which Romanian theatre before World War I contributed to the formation of Romanian national consciousness and to the articulation of the ideal of a unitary national state. My analysis addresses the historical drama and dramatic allegories of the nation, with special focus on the drama of the early 20th century (and on the works of playwrights such as Alexandru Davila, Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea, Nicolae Iorga, Zaharia Bârsan, Ștefan Octavian Iosif and Victor Eftimiu). As a related topic, I address the rise of extremist nationalism in pre-war Romanian society. Mainly resorting to discourse analysis and close reading, I demonstrate the importance of theatre in the crystallisation of the Romanians’ national-identity assertiveness, which culminated, politically speaking, in the achievement of the Great Union of 1918.

Author Biography

Anca Hațiegan, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania

PhD is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Theatre and Film of Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj, where she specialises in the history of Romanian theatre. She is the author of Cărļile omului dublu (2010), about the everyday theatricality of society under the constant surveillance of the communist period, and the way this was reflected in the novels of the time, and Dimineaļa actriļelor (2019), about the earliest Romanian actresses. She contributes to numerous collective volumes published in Romania.

Published

2023-05-31
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