Volumul XVII (2012), nr. 1

The emergence of the new European libraries and their spatial configuration at the beginning of the Middle Ages was due to Western Christianity, more precisely to the first monasteries erected in Italy during the 6th century. At first they were sheltered by the small space of the armarium, then they grew as the quantity of books increased occupying an entire room situated within the galleries of the cloister, in the immediate vicinity of the church. The emergence of a structure especially designed for medieval libraries took place at the beginning of the 15th century with the erection of new buildings such as monastic libraries, chapter libraries and collegiate libraries. These were separated from the rest of the complex, and comprised an elongated space on the upper floor designated for storing books and reading. This activity required specialized furniture, which through its purpose and layout generated the lecterns library design, probably the most important innovation of the Middle Ages regarding the configuration of the architectural building type of libraries.

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In the case of text editions, or critical editions of texts handed down by classical authors, philology seems to precede, and thus to have a priority over, hermeneutics. In the traditional (positivistic) view, first comes the reconstruction of texts through critical examination of the sources and the different text variants in order to establish an authentic, reliable, possibly canonical version; then follows, in a second step, the interpretation of the texts thus established. Interpretation is supposed to need something as a solid „Textgrundlage” so as to set itself into motion; it is thus seen to be parasitic upon pre-given philological work. Although this description of the way scholarly work is ususally done in the humanities may be not wholly untrue, more often than not it does not hold, for the establishing and editing of texts is itself not something performed in a space entirely exempt from, and free of, pre-understanding and interpretation. The following paper illustrates this thesis through reference to, and case studies of, the edition history of such eminent authors as Hegel, Kant, Aristotle and Heidegger. [1]

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[1] I am indebted to the Hungarian National Research Fund (OTKA) for supporting the research leading up to the present paper (project number: OTKA K-75840). The version published here was completed within the framework of MTA-ELTE Hermeneutics Research Group.

Medieval inscriptions, in their great majority, were of religious character. They were written in the cultural languages of the time, in prose or in verse, and they reflect certain mentalities and prove the education of the people who ordered them. The funerary inscriptions do not reveal data which could be compared in importance to those offered by the narrative and diplomatic documents of the time, but the precision of the biographical and genealogical details is greater. According to these, the child and juvenile mortality was higher, but there were also examples of uncommon vitality, some persons lived even for 100 years. Even more, the funerary texts illustrate special circumstances in which the protagonists were the lost ones due to the consideration they received in the community.

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The present work brings to the readers’ attention two manuscripts of Queen Marie of Romania found in the collection of the Lucian Blaga” Central University Library from Cluj-Napoca. The manuscripts, unkonwn until today, belong to Queen Marie’s journal known to the public as Daily Entries. The importance of these documents stands in their authorship and in the information disclosed to the readers. [1]

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[1] This work was possible with the financial support of the Sectoral Operational Programme for Human Resources Development 2007–2013, co-financed by the European Social Fund, under the project number POSDRU/107/1.5/S/76841 with the title ”Modern Doctoral Studies: Internationalization and Interdisciplinarity”.

This study presents the manner in which traditional Romanian communities tend to perceive crisis situations triggered by theft or murder, and the way in which individuals respond to these situations, through symbolical acts and representations of intra-community social balance adjustment. This material explores one of the most widespread folk rituals, which has been updated and adapted to criminal contexts: searching for culprits by way of “bucket divination” (drawing lots by means of a water-filled basin). The mechanisms for regulating intra-community crises analysed in this paper were identified during a field research conducted in Transylvania, especially in its rural areas. The interpretation proposed here relies on the grid Mary Douglas develops in her classical study of cultural anthropology, entitled Purity and Danger. [1]  [2]

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[1] Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (London and New York: Routledge, 2002; originally published: 1966).

[2] This study has been elaborated as part of the Project CNCSIS_IDEI 942/2009, code CNCSIS 2424.

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