Popularizarea trecutului: N. D. Popescu și romanul istoric pentru marele public
Rezumat
Popularizing the Past: N. D. Popescu and the Mass-Market Historical Novel
Abstract: This article analyzes N. D. Popescu’s novel Radu al III-lea cel Frumos (1864) as a representative example of nineteenth-century Romanian mass-market historical fiction. The study focuses on the author’s programmatic manipulation of historical sources, examining how historical accuracy is subordinated to ethical, patriotic, and moralizing objectives explicitly stated in the novel’s paratexts. Rather than aiming at historiographical fidelity, Popescu constructs an idealized portrayal of the voivode that aligns with post-1848 nationalist discourse and the expectations of an emergent popular readership. Drawing on theoretical frameworks proposed by Virginia Brackett, Danielle Barkley, and Harry E. Shaw, the article situates Popescu’s work within broader debates on historical fiction, narrative probability, and the foregrounding of history as a structural element of the novel. The article further contrasts Popescu’s fictional narrative with historiographical accounts, particularly those of Laonicos Chalcocondylas, whose texts reveal alternative narrative possibilities that remain largely unexploited in Popescu’s novel. The study concludes that Radu al III-lea cel Frumos exemplifies a coherent narrative strategy shaped by market conditions, ideological imperatives, and the logic of literary consumption, underscoring the cultural relevance of the Romanian mass-market historical novel beyond its limited canonical status.
Keywords: mass-market historical novel, historiography, novel subgenres, historical fiction, N. D. Popescu.
Citation suggestion: Varga, Dragoș. “Popularizarea trecutului: N. D. Popescu și romanul istoric pentru marele public”. Transilvania, no. 11 (2025): 38-44.
https://doi.org/10.51391/trva.2025.11.05.
Acknowledgement: This work was supported by a grant of the Ministry of Research, Innovation, and Digitization, CNCS-UEFISCDI, project number PN-IV-P1-PCE-2023-2025, within PNCDI IV.
Bibliografie
Baghiu, Ștefan, Vlad Pojoga, Cosmin Borza, Andreea Coroian Goldiș, Daiana Gârdan, Emanuel Modoc, David Morariu, Teodora Susarenco, Radu Vancu, and Dragoș Varga. Muzeul Digital al Romanului Românesc: secolul al XIX-lea [The Digital Museum of the Romanian Novel: The Nineteenth Century]. Sibiu: Complexul Național Muzeal ASTRA, 2019. https://revistatransilvania.ro/mdrr.
Brackett, Virginia, ed. Historical Fiction. Missouri: Park University, Grey House Publishing, 2018.
Chalcocondil, Laonic. Expuneri istorice [Historical Accounts]. București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Române, 1958.
Călinescu, G. Istoria literaturii române de la origini pînă în prezent [The History of Romanian Literature from Its Origins to the Present]. Onești: Editura Aristarc, 1998.
De Groot, Jerome. The Historical Novel. London and New York: Routledge, 2010.
Goldiș, Alex, Cosmin Borza, Daiana Gârdan, Emanuel Modoc, Dragoș Varga, and David Morariu. “Poli de producție ai romanului românesc (1901–1932)” [Production Centers of the Romanian Novel (1901–1932): Editorial Networks and Canonization Processes]. Transilvania, no. 10 (2020): 45–52.
Manolescu, Florin. Caragiale și Caragiale: Jocuri cu mai multe strategii [Caragiale and Caragiale: Games with Multiple Strategies]. București: Cartea Românească, 1983.
Manolescu, Nicolae. Istoria critică a literaturii române: 5 secole de literatură [The Critical History of Romanian Literature: Five Centuries of Literature]. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2008.
Maxwell, Richard. The Historical Novel in Europe, 1650–1950. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Panait, I. Panait. “Un voievod în vâltoarea vremurilor: Radu cel Frumos” [A Voivode in the Whirlwind of History: Radu the Fair]. Magazin istoric, no. 12 (2004) and no. 1 (2005).
Pillat, Dinu. Mozaic istorico-literar. Secolul XX [An Historical-Literary Mosaic: The Twentieth Century]. București: Humanitas, 2013.
Shaw, Harry E. The Forms of Historical Fiction: Sir Walter Scott and His Successors. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1993.
Suchianu, D. I. “Săgeata căpitanului Ion” [Captain Ion’s Arrow]. România literară, no. 48 (1972).
Terian, Andrei, Daiana Gârdan, Cosmin Borza, David Morariu, and Dragoș Varga. “Genurile romanului românesc în secolul al XIX-lea. O analiză cantitativă” [The Genres of the Nineteenth-Century Romanian Novel: A Quantitative Analysis]. Transilvania, no. 10 (2019): 17–28.
Varga, Dragoș. “Consumism și propagandă în romanul istoric românesc din perioada comunistă (I)” [Consumerism and Propaganda in the Romanian Historical Novel during the Communist Period (I)]. Transilvania, no. 11 (2016): 82–85.
Varga, Dragoș. În căutarea naratorului perfect [In Search of the Perfect Narrator]. Iași: Institutul European, 2011.
Varga, Dragoș. “N. D. Popescu și romanele istorice de consum” [N. D. Popescu and Historical Consumption Novels]. Transilvania, nos. 11–12 (2023): 39–42.
Varga, Dragoș. “The Winning Formula. Convenții și stereotipuri ale romanului haiducesc în Mina haiduceasa. Fata codrilor de George Baronzi” [The Winning Formula: Conventions and Stereotypes of the Outlaw Novel in Mina haiduceasa. Fata codrilor by George Baronzi]. Transilvania, nos. 11–12 (2021): 49–52.
