Modernism and Postmodernism in Romanian Poetry. A Brief Outline

The concept of generation, regardless the precautions we choose to consider, is applied to a de facto reality in the case of the literature of the 80's, which derives from an undoubtful communion of aesthetic ideals and ethic exigency of certain writers, who, besides an honourable feeling of intellectual solidarity, have kept their unique expressive profile. As for the generation of the 90's, it is less homogenous, it is somehow dis-centered, meaning that there are more polarity centres (Bucharest, Iasi, Cluj, Timisoara etc.), centres that, in spite of self-sufficient velleity, have varied visions upon the concept of generation, let alone upon the programmes, criteria and artistic norms proposed/imposed by the creative act. In short one might say that the Romanian Postmodernism implies a growth in the self consciousness of the Romanian literature, its way under the sign of complete lucidity. The debate about the canon and its mutations in the Romanian literature is surely much more ample than we tried to imply here. We did nothing but state the facts, eliminate certain perspectives regarding this concept, and set a certain horizon of understanding.