Locuire și spațiu în romanul românesc (1845-1947)

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the depiction of living space(s) and architecture in the Romanian novel between 1844 and 1947. It has a descriptive dimension, discussing the construction of fictional worlds through a series of key-issues: a fascination with urban spaces (with the centralization/ provincialization of urban imagery), the function allowed to women vs. men in various social spheres (certain rooms, certain public fora), the disintegration of urban families, precarious living on the fringes of urban society etc. The authors map the occurrence of such new phenomena or spatial mutations, commenting on their historical context and scope (through statistical analysis). At the same time, there is a more reflexive, theoretical side to our research. Drawing on the work of theorists like Bertrand Westphal, Henri Lefebvre, Nirmal Puwar, and Habermas (to name but a few), this article asks many vital questions pertaining to geocriticism and sociocriticism alike: what is the difference between a place and fictional space; how can we define the public and the private sphere in the Romanian novel through issues like political participation and representation, exclusion, agency, and the right to leisure; how exactly do social norms and relationships contribute to the construction and the organisation of novelistic space?