The Integration of World’s History in the Romanian Culture through Translations of Historical Texts from German Language at the End ofthe 18th and the Beginning of the 19th Century (WHRCGL)

 
Project title: The Integration of World’s History in the Romanian Culture through Translations of Historical Texts from German Language at the End ofthe 18th and the Beginning of the 19th Century (WHRCGL)
Project Code: PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-0721
Time Frame: 15.09.2020-15.09.2022 (24 months)
Funding Authority: Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI)
Approved Budget: 450.000,00 lei
Project Team:
Dr. Alexandra Chiriac – Project Leader and experienced researcher (“Al. I. Cuza” University, Faculty of Letters, German Department; alexandra.chiriac@uaic.ro, http://germanistik.uaic.ro/index.php/ro/cadre/profesori-titulari/alexandra-chiriac/

Dr. Iulia Elena Zup–Project member and experienced researcher (“Al. I. Cuza” University of Iasi, Faculty for Juridical Sciences, iuliazup@gmail.com, https://laws.uaic.ro/files/docs/cv/ro/iulia_zup_cv_ro.pdf

Dr. Alina Elena Bruckner – Project member and experienced researcher (“Al. I. Cuza” University of Iasi, Faculty for Economics and Business Administration, bruckner.alina@gmail.com, http://www.feaa.uaic.ro/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/A.Bruckner-CV.pdf

Dr. Ana Veronica Catana-Spenchiu, Project Leader and experienced researcher (“Al. I. Cuza” University, Faculty of Letters, Research Department, anaspenchiu@gmail.com

Dr.Ioan-Augustin Gurita, Project Leader and experienced researcher (“Al. I. Cuza” University, Faculty of History, augustingurita@gmail.comhttp://history.uaic.ro/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CV-GURITA-IOAN-AUGUSTIN-sept.-2019.pdf

Project Abstract:
The preoccupation of the scholars from the Romanian Provinces forthe history of the peoples from other geographical areas hasmanifested itself since the medieval period of our historiography. But,in the second half of the 18th century, as the ideas and concepts ofthe Western Enlightenment exert a stronger and stronger influence onthe Romanian culture, one may identify a shift from the chronographsand internal chronicles to the translation of historical writings writtenin Western Europe, with serious documentation and scientificarguments, based on the principles of the rationalism rather than onthe divine intervention. Towards the end of the 18th century, thehistorical writings tend to become a usual reading of the Romanianintellectuals, playing simultaneously various roles: an informative andeducational role through detailed descriptions of exotic lands andcultures or an informative role by depicting recent events, the role ofbuilding the public opinion in the direction of the idea of anenlightened monarch in its Habsburg variant or a propagandistic rolewith a strong ideological and political component.The goal of the present project is to deliver an overview of thehistorical writings translated in the Romanian Provinces from Germanin the time of the Enlightenment (1770-1840) and to highlight theimportance of these writings for the integration of world’s history inthe Romanian culture on the one hand, and, on the other, for thedevelopment and diversification of the specialized Romanianterminology (economic, legal, geographic languages, the transcriptionof names etc.). Through this project, the team aims to contribute tothe reconstruction of the Romanian cultural landscape in these firstdecades of effervescence in the field of secular translations bytransliterating unknown texts and to develop the concept of „culturaltransfer” through a translational and textual comparative analysis ofthe German protographs and their Romanian translation.

Objectives

The main objective of the present project is to provide a textual and analytical base for a better
understanding of the cultural, political and social landscape in the Romanian Principalities at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. By analyzing the cultural transfer from the German to the Romanian culture or from other European cultures via the German, one may reconstruct a specific pattern in which the Romanian Enlightenment, in its specific form, was built and a base for a coherent translation theory for that period.

The specific objectives are to discover, transcribe and analyze unknown translations (published and/or manuscripts) of historical texts from German into Romanian language: the relation between source and target texts, the cultural background of the source culture in which the prototype was produced, the cultural and social background in which the transfer took place and, of course, the cultural and political landscape in which the text was translated and disseminated within the target culture, with all the involved agents (financer, translator, publishing house, editor etc.). This social and historical analysis is supplemented by a comparative analysis of the textual mutations between the original and the Romanian version (true translation, adaptation, short version etc.) and by a textual analysis of the target text and of the linguistic innovations, loans and adaptations employed by the translator. The raw material enlisted in the available catalogues will be supplemented by completely unknown texts (most probably manuscripts) that are to be found in small libraries and private collections, thus the project is playing an essential role also in discovering new cultural artefacts that contribute to the recuperation of the cultural landscape in the Romanian Principalities in that time.

The dissemination objectives: The findings of the project will be presented at international and national conferences and will be published in scientific journals and papers part of the International Data Base and included in ERIH PLUS. The fact that three of the project members, including the project leader, are German-studies specialists, many of the results will be also published in German journals and volumes, connecting thus the Romanian philology to a broader European research area. Each member of the team will select the most interesting text examples and publish editions in which the texts will be transcribed from Cyrillic into Latin alphabets, accompanied by a study that will reveal the most important data regarding the text circulation and the agents involved in this process. The final results will be gathered in a collective study that will bring together all translations identified that fall in the category mentioned above, with short descriptions of the findings, a study that will be published in a prestigious Romanian publishing house. These texts will be collected, systematized and presented analytically and critically due to their intentionality and function for the target culture and each chapter will follow a uniform writing rule. The final objective of the project is to create also an online edition of the volume and a hypertext presentation for a better dissemination of the results.

Expected Results

The proposed project may be seen as a part of a new trend in the philological research that deals with the secular translations from different European languages into Romanian in the time-frame of the Enlightenment (1770-1840). But if the previous research had focused on individual case-studies or on broad overviews of the topic of translations in general, the present project aims to gather a certain type of specialized translations (historical texts) in a collective volume, meant to illustrate how the contemporary and the old history was perceived in the cultural landscape of the time and how the translations of history texts played different socio-educational roles, contributing also decisively to the development and standardization of the Romanian terminology. These studies (published in various articles, individual studies and in a collective volume) will play a significant role in the field of translation studies: by analyzing the strategies and techniques employed by the translator(s) in dealing with specialized translations, in the field of history: by highlighting the contemporary impact on different historical or contemporary moments or figures, in the field of cultural anthropology: by deciphering the intentionality of the translation and the agents involved in the process (translator, beneficiary, circulation), in the field of linguistics and terminology: by analyzing the transfer of concepts and notions through loans and adaptations in order to form a specialized language (economic language, legal, geographic, toponyms etc.) and of course in the field of philology: by transliterating the most representative texts from the Cyrillic into the Latin alphabet. These contributions derive from the interdisciplinary nature of the project and play an important role in each field, especially when it concerns unknown writings.

The project does not intend to develop new concepts and theoretical approaches in the field but it aims to enlarge the textual basis and to contribute to the reconstruction of the cultural and political life in the time of the Enlightenment. If the team overcomes the difficulties mentioned above, the results will be of extreme importance for the better understanding of the cultural and social milieu of the Romanian Principalities in the period 1770-1840, by bringing forth for the first time unknown texts that can be subsequently further analyzed by historians and linguists, by identifying the prototypes that served as sources for these translations, revealing important data about the cultural transfer of texts and ideas between the German and the Romanian worlds and by identifying the functions and the roles that these translations played in the target culture, thus helping shape the cultural landscape of the time. The potential impact of the results is of great relevance at a national but also at an international level, due to the novelty of the issue: the team will not only search, transcribe and analyze the target text, the translation, but it will also try to identify the German prototype or, in some cases the German intermediary of another original work (as is the case i.e. with Milot’s Universal History translated from French into German and then from German into Romanian). Thus the team will reveal also significant data about the history-book circulation in Europe and the agents employed in this process, bringing thus a valuable contribution to the international cultural anthropology. Furthermore the project aims to draw attention to the relationships between Western and Eastern Europe in the time of the Enlightenment, a research direction still not fully analyzed at an international level, and, by doing so it also serves as a promoter of the national culture in the European research.

Project Plan

2020
Step 1: Establishing the methodological framework of research and concrete reporting procedures; compiling a preliminary list of texts to be analyzed; preliminary distribution of assignments and text(s) for each team member for individual studies by selecting the more representative material available at this point;

Step 2: Documentation (in Romania): Research in libraries and archives, consulting online andoffline catalogues; extending the list of texts to be analyzed;

2021

Step 1: Documentation(in Romania and abroad): Research in the libraries and archives in order to: identify the original text, gather data about the German prototype (original or intermediate); consulting specialists abroad;

Step 2: Transliteration: Transliteration of the selected corpus of texts from Cyrillic into Latin alphabet; finding thus new clues about the book circulation; Revision of the transliteration by the linguist;

Step 3: Analysis: Preliminary analysis of the gathered data; first systematization stage; Revision of the historical overview by the historian and of the translation analysis by a translation specialist; Participation of conferences and colloquia; Participation to international and national conferences for disseminating the partial results; writing articles ininternational paper with the preliminary data;

Step 4: Documentation (in Romania and abroad): Completing the text corpus with new and unknown translations and gathering additional data about the translator, copyists, editors and about the German texts and the context in which they were produced (author or translator and his/her motivation, dissemination of the writing etc.);

Step 5: Analysis and synthesis: Analysis and synthesis of the gathered partial results; draftingbook circulation diagrams; Revision by the historian; Publication of partial results; Reciprocal revision of the edited material and writing and sending for publication scientific articles that contain partial results of the research: mainly in BDI and ERIH publications and in volumes published abroad; Participation at Participation to international and national conferences and
conferences colloquia for disseminating the partial results;

Step 6: Documentation (in Romania and abroad): Completing the text corpus with new and unknown translations and gathering additional data that completes the image of the writing’s circulation, authorship and function in the source and target culture;

Step 7: Analysis of the text corpus: Gathering, systematizing and analyzing target text from a terminological and translation-related point of view (translation specialists); preliminary overview of the lexicological particularities (linguist); historical context overview (historian); Comparative analysis,Comparative analysis between the original and the translation: identifying the textual mutations, the translation’s strategies etc; review by a translation specialist; Participation of conferences and colloquia; Participation to international and national conferences for disseminating the partial results; Publication of the partial results; Reciprocal review; writing and sending for publication of scientific articles that contain partial results of the research: mainly in BDI and ERIH publications and in volumes published abroad;

Step 8: Publication of individual studies: Writing and sending for publication of individual studies with the final results of a researched text; reciprocal review between team members for the scientific accuracy, especially in the historical and linguistic sections. These case-studies will appear in a prestigious publishing house in Romania.

2022

Step 1: Documentation: Final documentation in Romania and abroad in order to complete and supplement data from the final studies;

Step 2: Final analysis of the texts: Final systematization and analyze of the gathered data; consulting with other specialists from the field (from Romania and abroad);

Step 3: Publication of individual studies: Writing and sending for publication of individual studies with the final results of a researched text; reciprocal review between team members for the scientific accuracy, especially in the historical and linguistic sections. These case-studies will appear in a prestigious publishing house in Romania.

Step 4: Publication of the collective study: Writing and sending for publication of individual sections of the collective study; reciprocal review between team members for the scientific accuracy, especially in the historical and linguistic sections; general review by the director; this collective volume will also have a digital version.

Step 5: Electronic resource: Drafting the online edition of the volume and a hypertext
presentation.

Due to the specialization, each team member will provide assistance and support for the colleagues in their specific domain: the translation and terminology specialists will provide assistance with the German language and the transposing of different terms and collocations in Romania, the linguist will assist the transcribing process from Cyrillic into Latin alphabet and supervise the linguistic analysis of each Romanian translation, ensuring the specificity of the Romanian language variations of the time and the historian will review the historical overview for each text, ensuring the historical acuity and proper documentation for each text and its translation(s). Through this reciprocal review process, the team ensures a deeper level of analysis and higher qualitative standards for all studies.

2020

National and International Visibility

Research Stays

Ioan Augustin Guriţã:

· 20-25.10.2020 – Bucharest (Biblioteca Institutului de Istorie “Nicolae Iorga” and Biblioteca Sfântului Sinod al Bisericii Ortodoxe Române)

Conferences

Ioan Augustin Gurita:

· “Nici o patrie nu poate fi fericită dacă ai ei fii zac în noianul neștiinței”. Din viaţa unui profesor ieşean din prima jumătate a secolului al XIX-lea, paper presented at the National Symposium Zilele Universitãţii “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Section: Contributions of professors and researchers, October, the 23rd, 2020.

2021

National and International Visibility

Articles in National and International Journals

Alina Bruckner
 „Damaschin Bojincă în literatura românească premodernă”, in: Studii de Știință și Cultură, vol. XVII, nr. 2/2021, Editura Universității „Vasile Goldiș” din Arad, ISSN (print): 1841-1401 , ISSN (online): 2067-5135, pp. 73 – 80
https://www.academia.edu/49258759/_STUDII_DE_%C8%98TIIN%C8%9A%C4%82_%C8%98I_CULTUR%C4%82_Volumul_XVII_Nr_2_iunie_2021
(International Data Base: ERIH PLUS, CEEOL, EBSCO, Index Copernicus, DOAJ, SCIPIO, ROAD)
 „Damaschin Bojincă – Legal Scholar and Translator in Pre-Modern Romanian Culture”, în: Analele Universității Alexandru Ioan Cuza din Iași. Seria Științe Juridice, tomul LXVII, 2021, Supplement, print: pp. 55-62, ISSN: 1221-8464 (International Data Base HeinOnline, SCIPIO, CEEOL, DOAJ)
 „Translation Strategies in Damaschin Bojincă’s Historical Writings”, în: Transylvanian Review, publicație a Centrului de Studii Transilvane, ISSN: 1221-1249 – Accepted for publication for No 3/2021 (International Data Base: Clarivate Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts and Humanities Citation Index, EBSCO, ELSEVIER-Scopus, CEEOL and ERIH PLUS)

Ana-Vernica Catanã-Spenchiu
 “Considerații asupra traducerii în limba română a textului lui Johann Daniel Friedrich Rumpf, Alexander I, Keiser von Russland. Ein Regierungs-Und Karaktergemälde (1814)“, 2021, Transilvania, nr. 4, Sibiu. https://doi.org/10.51391/trva.2021.04.08. (International Data Base ERIH Plus, SCOPUS, EBSCO)

Alexandra Chiriac
 “The translation of history: German history texts in their Romanian translation. Knowledge and ideology transfer as stepping stone into the modernity of the nineteenth century” – sent for publication to German Studies Review (Arts and Humanities – ISI).

Ioan-Augustin Guriţã

 “No homeland can be happy if its sons lie in the abyss of ignorance”: aspects from the life and activity of a professor from Iași in the 19th century, in Persevera lucere. Studia in memoriam Octaviani Bounegru, Edited by Lucrețiu Mihailescu-Bîrliba and Iulia Dumitrache, Philippika – Altertumswissenschaftliche Abhandlungen / Contributions to the Study of Ancient World Cultures, Harrassowitz Verlag. Wiesbaden, 2021, p. 161-172. – PUS LA CONFERINTE
 Ioan-Augustin Guriţă, Dascăli putneni din veacul al XVIII-lea, sent for publication în „Analele Putnei” (International Data Base CEEOL, Index Copernicus). DE INCARCAT ARTICOL

Iulia Elena Zup
 “Traducerea infidelă și scopurile traductive: Descoperirea Americii de Joachim Heinrich Campe, în versiune românească”, in Diacronia nr. 13/2021, p. 1-10, (International Data Base: ERIH+, CEEOL, EBSCO, PROQUEST, SCIPIO, etc.) https://doi.org/10.17684/i13A182ro

Participation at National and International Conferences

Ana Veronica Catanã Spenchiu
 “Considerations on the Romanian translation of Alexander I, Kaiser von Russland. Ein Regierungs-und Karaktergemälde, published in Berlin by G. Hayn in 1814, written by Johann Daniel Friedrich Rumpf”, presented at the international conference: Re-Configuring “Central” Europe in Its Way towards Modernity. Language, Knowledge and Ideology Transfer through Translations of Secular Texts in Pre-Modern Times (1770-1830), November, the 5th-6th 2021.
Abstract and program: http://media.lit.uaic.ro/?page_id=6718

Alina Bruckner
 „How Reliable are Early Translations of Historical Texts” presented at Forty-Fifth Annual Conference of the German Studies Association (GSA), Seminar ”Tradition and Discontinuity: The Early Modern Period as Solitary Era”, Indianapolis, SUA, 30.09– 3.10.2021
https://thegsa.org/sites/default/files/10_12_2021%20Edited%20GSA%20Schedule%202021.pdf
 „The Image of the Ideal Ruler in Damaschin Bojincă’s Translations of Historical Texts”, presented at the International conference Re-Configuring Central Europe in Its Way towards Modernity. Language, Knowledge and Ideology Transfer through Translations of Secular Texts in Pre-Modern Times, Universitatea ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” Iași, 5 – 6 .10.2021
Abstract and program: http://media.lit.uaic.ro/?page_id=6718
 „Damaschin Bojincă – traducător jurat notarius”, presented at the International Conference Traducerile juridice – provocările trecutului și ale prezentului în Europa, Universitatea ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” Iași, 13-14.05.2021
http://laws.uaic.ro/ro/evenimente/conferina-traducerile-juridice-provocarile-trecutului-si-ale-prezentului-in-europa

Alexandra Chiriac
 “The ‘Entangled history’ of historiography: Allgemeine Weltgeschichte in its Romanian translation. Book circulation and knowledge transfer”, presented at the International conference ”Re-Configuring Central Europe in Its Way towards Modernity. Language, Knowledge and Ideology Transfer through Translations of Secular Texts in Pre-Modern Times”, Universitatea ”Alexandru Ioan Cuza” Iași, 5 – 6 .10.2021
Abstract and program: http://media.lit.uaic.ro/?page_id=6718
 “The Translation of history: German Texts in their Romanian translation, knowledge and ideology transfer as stepping stone into the modernity of the nineteenth century” presented at Forty-Fifth Annual Conference of the German Studies Association (GSA), Seminar ”Tradition and Discontinuity: The Early Modern Period as Solitary Era”, Indianapolis, SUA, 30.09– 3.10.2021
https://thegsa.org/sites/default/files/10_12_2021%20Edited%20GSA%20Schedule%202021.pdf
 „Die Übersetzung der Weltgeschichte: Deutsche Geschichtsschreibung in ihren rumänischen Fassungen, Wissens- und Ideologietransfer als Vehikel der Modernisierung“, Poster presentation at International conference ZRKG: Dieselbe Welt – und doch alles anders? Transformationen in Zeiten religiöser und gesellschaftlicher Umbrüche, Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, 19. – 21.05.2021
https://www.ku.de/zrkg/aktivitaeten/zrkg-tagung

Augustin Guriţã
 “Some observations regarding the “Histories of the Fall of Constantinople” in the Romanian culture (18th-19th centuries). Sources, circulation and significance”, presented at the International Conference Re-Configuring “Central” Europe in Its Way towards Modernity. Language, Knowledge and Ideology Transfer through Translations of Secular Texts in Pre-Modern Times (1770-1830), Iaşi, November the 5th- 6th 2021
Abstract and program: http://media.lit.uaic.ro/?page_id=6718

Iulia-Elena Zup
 “A German perspective on the Discovery of the New World, filtered through the eyes of an Enlighten Romanian: The Translation of Campe’s Die Entdekkung von Amerika into Romanian”, presented at Forty-Fifth Annual Conference of the German Studies Association (GSA), Seminar ”Tradition and Discontinuity: The Early Modern Period as Solitary Era”, Indianapolis, SUA, 30.09– 3.10.2021
https://thegsa.org/sites/default/files/10_12_2021%20Edited%20GSA%20Schedule%202021.pdf
 “Trading knowledge: the role of merchants in the transfer of Enlightenment ideas”, presented at the International Conference Re-Configuring “Central” Europe in Its Way towards Modernity. Language, Knowledge and Ideology Transfer through Translations of Secular Texts in Pre-Modern Times (1770-1830), Iaşi, November the 5th- 6th 2021
Abstract and program: http://media.lit.uaic.ro/?page_id=6718

Organization of Scientific Events

Online: International Conference: Re-Configuring “Central” Europe in Its Way towards Modernity. Language, Knowledge and Ideology Transfer through Translations of Secular Texts in Pre-Modern Times (1770-1830).
Organizators: Alexandra Chiriac, Iulia Elena Zup, Alina Bruckner, Augustin Guriţã, Ana Veronica Catanã-Spenchiu
Chairs:
 Alexandra Chiriac – Section with Key-Note Speakers and Closing Remarks
 AnaVeronica Catnã-Spenchiu – Section: Discourse on Natural Science
 Alina Bruckner – Section: European and regional cultural transfer
 Ioan Augustin Guriţã – Section: Reflections on language and translation process
 Iulia Elena Zup – Section: Historical and Ideological Discourse
Call for Papers: http://media.lit.uaic.ro/?page_id=6718
Abstract and program: http://media.lit.uaic.ro/?page_id=6718

Official Research and Documentation

Research Stays Abroad
 Alexandra Chiriac – August, 7-13th 2021, research stay at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and Humboldt Univeristätsbibliothek zu Berlin;
 Ana Veronica Catanã Spenchiu – August, 21-29th 2021, research stay at Staatsbibliotek zu Berlin, Germania;
 Alexandra Chiriac – September 27th – October 4th 2021, research stay at Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Viena;
 Alina Bruckner – October, 23 – 27th 2021, research stay at Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Viena;
 Iulia Elena Zup – October, 24-29th 2021, research stay at Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Viena;

Research Stays in Romania
 Alexandra Chiriac, May, 30th – June 5th, research stay at Biblioteca Academiei Române, Bucureşti
 Ioan Augustin Guriţã, August 30th – September 9th 2021, research stay at Biblioteca Mãnãstirii Putna, jud. Suceava
 Ioan Augustin Guriţã, September 23rd – 28th 2021, research stay at Institutul de istorie “N. Iorga” and Biblioteca Sfântului Sinod, Bucureşti
 Ioan Augustin Guriţã, November 22-30th 2021, research stay at Biblioteca Mãnãstirii Putna and Biblioteca Mãnãstirii Suceviţa, jud. Suceava

2022

Published volumes:
• Alexandra Chiriac, Alina Bruckner, Iulia Elena Zup, Ioan Augustin Guriţã, Ana Catanã Spenchiu (eds.) (2022): Re-Configuring Romanian Culture on its Way towards Modernity. Romanian Translation Practice in the Age of Enlightenment (1770-1830). Konstanz: Hartung Gorre Verlag (ISBN: 978-3-86628-765-5) 335 pages. – http://www.hartung-gorre.de/
• Alina Bruckner (2022): Modernizarea culturii române prin traduceri laice. Trei scrieri istorice ale lui Damaschin Bojincă din perspectivă traductologică, Editura Universității „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iași, 2022, ISBN: 978-606-714-721-6, 181 pages. – https://www.editura.uaic.ro/produse/editura/aparitii-recente/
• Alexandra Chiriac (coord), Alina Bruckner, Ana Catanã-Spenchiu, Ioan-Augustin Guriţã, Iulia Elena Zup (2022): Integrarea istoriei lumii în cultura românească. Traduceri de texte istorice din limba germană la sfârşitul secolului al XVIII-lea şi începutul secolului al XIX-lea. Editura Universitãţii “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Iaşi, (ISBN: 978-606-714-736-0), 583 pages.

Published Articles in BDI national, international journals and conference volumes
Alina Bruckner:
• „Translation Strategies in Damaschin Bojincă’s Historical Writings”, in: Transylvanian Review, publicație a Centrului de Studii Transilvane, ISSN: 1221-1249 – Accepted for publication for No 3/2021 (International Data Base: Clarivate Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts and Humanities Citation Index, EBSCO, ELSEVIER-Scopus, CEEOL and ERIH PLUS) – in print (2023)
• “The Image of the ideal ruler in Damaschin Bojincã’s translations of historical writings” in Chiriac, A., Bruckner, A. [et.al.], Re-Configuring Romanian Culture on its Way towards Modernity. Romanian Translation Practice in the Age of Enlightenment (1770-1830), Editura Hartung Gorre, Konstanz, pp. 183-196.
Alexandra Chiriac
• “[Re]Naturalizarea “Istoriei Moldovii” de J.A. Gebhardi în traducerea lui Ion Nemişescu. Practici de traducere la început de secol al XIX-lea” în Diacronia, nr. 15, Romanian: https://doi.org/10.17684/i15A206ro English: https://doi.org/10.17684/i15A206en [Diacronia: https://www.diacronia.ro/ro/journal/visibility].
• “The ‘Entangled history’ of historiography. ‘Allgemeine Weltgeschichte’ in its Romanian translation. Book circulation and knowledge transfer”, in Chiriac, A., Bruckner, A. [et.al.], Re-Configuring Romanian Culture on its Way towards Modernity. Romanian Translation Practice in the Age of Enlightenment (1770-1830), Editura Hartung Gorre, Konstanz, p. 141-161.
• [with] Catanã-Spenchiu, Ana (2022): “The Image of the Enlightened Russian Monarch in the Romanian Culture at the End of Eighteenth and Beginning of the Nineteenth Century” in: Swedish Journal of Romanian Studies. Vol 5, No 2, pp. 56-83, https://doi.org/10.35824/sjrs.v5i2.23880 [https://journals.lub.lu.se/sjrs/issue/view/3308, Data bases: SCOPUS, ERIH PLUS, CEEOL, etc.]
• „The translation of history: German history texts in their Romanian translation. Knowledge and ideology transfer as stepping stone into the modernity of the nineteenth century” – accepted for publication in German Studies Review, nr. 46.1 (Arts and Humanities – ISI, https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/german-studies-review) – in print – February 2023.
Ana Catanã-Spenchiu:
• [with] Iosif Camarã: “Between propaganda and information: the texts published in Buda in 1814-1815 in the context of the Napoleonic wars” in Chiriac, A., Bruckner, A. [et.al.], Re-Configuring Romanian Culture on its Way towards Modernity. Romanian Translation Practice in the Age of Enlightenment (1770-1830), Editura Hartung Gorre, Konstanz, pp. 117-140.

Ioan-Augustin Guriţã
• “Some observations regarding a version of The History of the fall of Constantinople from the 18th century Moldavia. Sources, circulation, significance” , in Chiriac, A., Bruckner, A. [et.al.], Re-Configuring Romanian Culture on its Way towards Modernity. Romanian Translation Practice in the Age of Enlightenment (1770-1830), Editura Hartung Gorre, Konstanz, pp. 93-116.
• “Dascăli putneni din veacul al XVIII-lea”, în Analele Putnei (International Data Base CEEOL, Index Copernicus). In print (January 2023)
Iulia Elena Zup:
• „The role of Romanian merchants in the transfer of Enlightenment ideas. The merchant and translator Nicola Nicolau”, in: Alexandra Chiriac, Alina Bruckner, Iulia Elena Zup, Ioan-Augustin Guriță, Ana Catană-Spenchiu (eds.), Re-configuring Romanian culture on its way towards modernity. Romanian translation practice in the age of Enlightenment (1771-1830), Hartung Gorre, Konstanz, 2022, pp. 61-74.

Participation at National and International Conferences
Alina Bruckner:
• Conference „Cartea de tezaur între Orient și Occident”, Academia Română – Filiala Cluj, 17th – 18th November 2022; Contribution’s title: Biografia lui Dimitrie Cantemir. Circulație și variante în cultura română premodernă.

Alexandra Chiriac:
• Conference „Cartea de tezaur între Orient și Occident”, Academia Română – Filiala Cluj, 17th – 18th November 2022; Contribution’s title: Prima „traducere” a Descrierii Moldovei de Dimitrie Cantemir în limba românã. Tãlmãcire dintr-o scriere ge¬ografică tipărită în Rosia la anul 1770 (ms. 1667 BAR şi ms. 348 BAR).
Ioan-Augustin Guriţã:
• Conference: Zilele Universitãţii „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” din Iaşi. Simpozion naţional, 28th-29th October 2022. Contribution’s title: „Despre cinci broşuri tipãrite la Buda în 1814 şi 1815. Context, surse, semnificaţii”. https://history.uaic.ro/24766/zilele-universitatii-la-facultatea-de-istorie-programul-manifestarilor/

Iulia Elena Zup:
• [with Alexandra Chiriac]: Conferemce: Übersetzung und Marginalisierung. Frühneuzeitliche Literatur aus intersektionaler Perspektive 21-23.2.2022, Universität Würzburg. Contribution’s title: „Die deutsche Deutung von Amerika in der rumänischen Fassung von Nicola Nicolau: Heinrich Campes „Entdeckung von Amerika” als Beispiel von Wissens- und Ideologietransfer am Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts”. https://www.germanistik.uni-wuerzburg.de/mediaevistik/forschung/tagungen-und-vortraege/spp-2130-workshop-2022/

Official Research and Documentation
Research Stays Abroad

• Alexandra Chiriac – April, the 20th – 25th 2022: research stay at Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Viena, Austria;
• Iulia Elena Zup – April, the 25th – 30th 2022: research stay at Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Viena, Austria;
• Ana Catanã-Spenchiu – August, 8th – 12th 2022: Research stay at Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

Research Stays in Romania
• Alexandra Chiriac –March, the 20th – 26th 2022: Research stay at the Library of the Romanian Academy and University Library Bucharest
• Ana Catanã-Spenchiu – May, the 15tyh – 20th 2022: Research stay at the Library of the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca;
• Alina Bruckner – August, 29th 2022 – September, 2nd 2022: Research stay at the Library of the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca;
• Alexandra Chiriac –September, the 19th – 23th 2022: Research stay at the Library of the Romanian Academy
• Alina Bruckner – the 20th – 23th 2022: Research stay at the Library of the Romanian Academy
• Alexandra Chiriac – October, 3rd – 7th 2022: Research stay at the National Archives, Suceava
• Ana Catanã Spenchiu – October, the 16th – 22nd : research Stay at the Institute for Social and Human Studies, Sibiu, Romania Academy
• Augustin Guriţã – November 3rd – 17th 2022: Research stay at the Library of the Romanian Academy, Romanian Patriarchy and Mãnãstirea Neamţ.
The final results
The final results of this project were published in a collective volume coordinated by the project’s director and authored by all five project members (Alina Bruckner, Ana Catanã-Spenchiu, Alexandra Chiriac, Ioan-Augustin Guriţã and Iulia Elena Zup). This volume, published at “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University Printing House at the end of 2022, is an interdisciplinary approach to the Romanian Enlightenment translation practice, viewed in its national, regional and international context.
The volume has a double structure. The fist section is a theoretical – methodological approach, which reunites the mains results in the field of cultural studies, postcolonial studies, cultural transfer, intercultural communication, historiography, translation studies and language studies, applicable for the Romanian Principalities in the time of Enlightenment (177-1840). The Romanian culture, translation practice and language are analysed in their “entangled” relationship to the German-speaking historiographic literature, highlighting the external and internal context in which the cultural transfer took place.
The second section of the volume represents a collection of case studies that highlight and sustain the theoretical and methodological considerations. These case-studies illustrate three types of intentionality in the reception process of German historiography:
1. The first group of texts represents translations which supplement the need for specialised literature and school books in the Romanian speaking culture. We include here universal and general histories and history and geography books on foreign, even exotic places
• Alexandra Chiriac: Manual de istorie universalã de Johann Matthias Schröck în traducere româneascã (ms. 1375 BAR, sfârşitul sec. XVIII şi ms. IV-16 BCU Iaşi, 1813-1814). German source text: „Lehrbuch der allgemeinen Weltgeschichte” translated from German into Romanian most probably by Ioan Nemişescu;
• Iulia Zup: Nicola Nicolau’s translations:
o Descoperirea Americii (Buda, 1816), translation of Joachim Campe’s „Die Entdekkung von Amerika”;
o Plutarh nou sau pe scurt scrierea vieţilor celor mai vestiţi bãrbaţi şi muieri a toate neamurile (Buda, 2 editions: 1817, 1819), translation of the German translation (Neuer Plutarch, oder kurze Lebensbeschreibungen der berühmtesten Männer aller Nationen, 1806) of the French work of Pierre Blanchard: „Le Plutarque de la jeunesse, ou Abrege des vies des plus grands homes de toutes les nations” (1804).
In the second category we have included translations in Romanian of historical works that promote, explicitly or not, the Russian foreign policy in Central Europe. In this group fall all the texts on Russian history, or reports of recent events, where Russia proved to be the saviour of Europe and European values. These texts were meant to depict a grand image of Russia and its Tsars as the saving force in South-Eastern Europe and have a clear propagandistic value:
• Alexandra Chiriac: Ecaterina al Doile. Istorie adunatã a împãrãţii rusãşti di-nceputul ei şi pãm la anul de acum (ms. 3102 BAR , 1799 şi ms. 3165 BAR, 1797), translation through a Greek intermediate of J.M. Schweighofer’s work: „Katharina die II. Eine Skizze” (1787).
• Ioan Augustin-Guriţã: The Buda leaflets:
o Întîmplările răsboiului franţozilor şi întoarcerea lor de la Moscva la Buda, în Crăiasca Tipografie a Universitatei Ungurești, 1814, a compilation of translations from the wirtings of Ernst Heinrich Adolf von Pfuel: „Beiträge zur Geschichte des letzten französisch-russischen Kriegs”, but also from other leaflets, such as „Napoleons Ruhm als Feldherr”, „Kriegs- und Schreckens-Gemälde, edle und unedle Thaten”, „Relation über die Schlacht bey Leipzig în Oktober 1813”.
o Trista întîmplare a cetății Dresda [Text 5_Trista intimplare a cetatii Dresda] de la spargerea încoace a podului, pînă la apărarea cetății, la Buda, în Crăiasca Tipografie a Universitatei Ungurești, 1814, translation of the German leaflet „Traurige Schicksale der Stadt Dresden” (1814).
o Scurtă arătare despre luarea Parisului [Text 6_Scurta artare despre luarea Parisului] şi alte întîmplări, de la un iubitori de pace, la Buda, în Crăiasca Tipografie a Universitatei Ungureşti, 1814, translation of the German edition of French articles from „Le Moniteur Universel”.
o Semne de biruinţă [Text 7_Semne de bituinta]. Vrednică de pomenire biruinţă ce în vremea noastră s-au făcut sau Piramida cea din tunuri înălţată în marea cetate Moscva. […], la Buda, în Crăiasca Tipografie a Universității Ungariei, 1815, translation of several chapters from Carl Joseph Jurende’s: „Zeichen der Zeit. Merkwürdige, interessante Fragmente” (1814), but also from the forst volume of „Miscellen aus der neuesten ausländischen Literatur”.
o Napoleon Bonaparte: ce au fost și ce este [Text 8_Napoleon Bonaparte], la Buda, în Crăiasca Tipografie a Universitatei Ungariei (1815), translation of some fragments from „Stammbaum der Napoleoniden”, and from the Carl Joseph Jurende‘s „Zeichen der Zeit” and the text „Napoleon Bounaparte was er war und was er ist” (Praga, 1814-1815).
• Ana Catanã-Spenchiu: Arătarea stăpînirii şi a caracterului lui Alexandru I [Text 9_Alexandru I de Rumpf], împăratul a toată Rusia (Buda 1815), translation of Johann Daniel Friedrich Rumpf’s portrait: “Alexander I. Kaiser von Rußland. Ein Regierungs- und Karaktergemälde” (1814)
The third category is represented by the translation of texts with an academic-national aim, that is Romanian history written by German scholars for the German public and translated in Romanian as “scientific proof” of the Latinity and continuity of the Romanian in the Carpathian-Danube region. These translations, seen as the stepping stone towards the establishment of a Romanian national historiography, are forms of “re-domestication” (see L. Venuti) of nation history, filtering the national sentiment through the German academic discourse.
• Alexandra Chiriac: Istoria Dachiei (1808), ms. 2866 and ms. 2867 [Text 10_Istoria Moldovei, ms. 2867], translated by Ioan Nemişescu. Source text Ludwig August Gebhardi‘s „Geschichte des Reichs Ungarn und der damit verbundenen Staaten ”, volume III and IV.
• Alexandra Chiriac: Scrisoarea Moldovei (ms. 1227 [Text 11_Scrisoarea Moldovei, ms. 1227], 1806 and the edition from Neamţ Monastery, 1825), Ioan Nemişescu’s translation of Dimitrie Cantemir‘s „Descriptio Moldaviae”, after the second German edition from 1771: „Beschreibung der Moldau”.
o Alexandra Chiriac: Tãlmãcire dintr-o scriere gheograficeascã tipãritã în Rosia la anul 1770 (in ms. 1667 and ms. 348, beginning of the 19th century), translation of a Russian relay-translation of Jacob J. Stählin’s „Kurze geographische Beschreibung des Fürstenthums Moldau” (1770).
• Alina Bruckner: Damaschin Bojincã’s translations for the periodical Bibliotecã Româneascã:
o Viața lui Dimitrie Cantemir , Domnului Moldaviei, și Prințip în Înperăția Rusească, Buda, 1829, translation of the biography „Das Leben Demetrius Kantemirs, Fürsten von Moldau”, preface in the second German edition of Dimitrie Cantemir’s „Demetrii Kantemirs ehemaligen Fürsten in der Moldau, historisch-, geographisch- und politische Beschreibung der Moldau”, Frankfurt și Leipzig, 1771.
o Istoria lui Radu Șerban , prințipului Țării Românești din familia Basarabilor, carele au domnit de la anul 1602 pînă la anul 1610, Buda, 1829, translation of the homologous chapter from „Geschichte der Moldau und Walachey”, by Johann Christian von Engel, Halle, 1804.
o Vestitele fapte și perirea lui Mihai Viteazul principului Țării Românești, Buda, 1830 (în periodicul „Bibliotecă românească”), translation of the homologous chapter from „Geschichte der Moldau und Walachey”, by Johann Christian von Engel, Halle, 1804.

Official Documentation

TE2020_Raport stiintific_WHRCGL
TE2021 Raport stiintific_WHRCGL
TE2019_RAPORT STIINTIFIC FINAL