Tania Muşina, Bătrâna în romanele Virginiei Woolf şi ale Hortensiei Papadat-Bengescu
The Old Woman in Virginia Woolf’s and Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu’s novels
Though not as prominent personalities and not so extensively present as the teenagers, the young ladies or the mature women in their 30s or 40s, old women do have their representative figures in the novels written by Virginia Woolf and Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu. In Virginia Woolf ’s novels the old women – Mrs. Haines from ‘Between the Acts’, the old Mrs. Oliver, Lucy Swithin or Lady Millicent Bruton are treated kindly, with amused understanding by the novelist, due to the respect they deserve for: 1. having been responsible educators for the young ones in their families and 2. for the veneration they have showed for their ancestors. Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu is less understanding, even with the old ladies in her novels, and presents vulgar characters such as Salema or Vera with obscene behaviour, still bearing a grudge after a lifetime of compromise and promiscuity. The only old lady who is ‚saved’ in the eyes of the Romanian novelist is Tana, whose singleness due to religious convictions offers her strength, balance and humanity.
Keywords: old women, dutiful daughters, respect for their ancestors, educators, vulgarity, religious convictions
I. ISTORIE, CRITICĂ, TEORIE LITERARĂ ŞI CULTURALĂ
- Albérès, R.-M., Istoria romanului modern. Traducere de Leonid Dimov. Prefaţă de Nicolae Balotă, Editura pentru Literatura Universală, Bucureşti, 1968
- Booth, Wayne C., Retorica romanului. Traducere de Alin Clej şi Ştefan Stoenescu. Prefaţă de Ştefan Stoenescu, Editura Univers, Bucureşti, 1976
- Călinescu, G., Istoria Literaturii române de la origini până în prezent, Ediţia a II-a, revăzută şi adăugită, Ediţie şi prefaţă de Al. Piru, Editura Minerva, Bucureşti, 1982
- Manolescu, Nicolae, Arca lui Noe. Eseu despre romanul românesc. vol. II, Editura Minerva, Bucureşti, 1981
- Praisler, Michaela, Reality and Fiction with Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway, Editura Porto-Franco, Galaţi, 2000
- Vianu, Tudor, Arta prozatorilor români. Postfaţă şi bibliografie de Al. Hanţă, Editura Minerva, Bucureşti, 1988
II. HORTENSIA PAPADAT-BENGESCU
- Fecioarele despletite, Editura Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, 1986. Prefaţa de
Doina Modola - Concert din muzică de Bach, Editura Tineretului (Colecţia Lyceum), Bucureşti, 1967. Prefaţă şi note de Eugenia Tudor
- Drumul ascuns, Editura Tineretului (Colecţia Lyceum), Bucureşti, 1967. Prefaţă şi note de Eugenia Tudor
- Rădăcini, Editura Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, 1986. Postfaţă şi tabel cronologic de Doina Modola
- Cristescu, Maria Luiza, Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu. Portret de romancier, Editura Albatros (colecţia „Contemporanul nostru”),
Bucureşti, 1976III. VIRGINIA WOOLF
- Între acte. Traducere şi postfaţă de Frida Papadache, Editura Univers, Bucureşti, 1978
- Călătorie în larg Traducere şi note de Georgeta Pădureleanu, Editura Univers, Bucureşti, 1994.
- Doamna Dalloway. Traducere de Petru Creţia. Prefaţă de Geta Dumitriu, Editura Rao, Bucureşti, 2003.
