The Failure of Literary Sociology in Post-war Romanian Criticism

The paper dwells upon the crisis of literary sociology in Romanian criticism in the decade(s) after the demise of Socialist Realism. Viewing it as a paradox within the research commandments of a communist regime, the study relates this crisis both to the decline of the Marxist-Leninist frame in post-Stalinist, Soviet-emancipated Romania, and to the rising fame of French Structuralism. Some relevant case studies are chosen to highlight the development of Romanian sociological criticism, its difficulty to make amends with the dogmatic past and to swiftly move on to the next level.

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