Mircea Muthu
On Comparative Typology
Transcending the traditional comparative literature based on the circumscription of the more or less determining influences exerted by one literature on another, comparative typology has as object literary facts, resulting not only from the contacts strictly speaking. Considered exclusively from this angle, comparative typology may become restrictive. In reality, the similarities defined as typological constitute a double result (at the level of literature, as well as at the level of the group of literatures) of the same ensemble of political, economic and social circumstances that determine fairly similar reaction in our area of concern, that of literary fiction. The formula of the unity in diversity becomes clearer. For instance, the South-Eastern European cultural space of the 19th century becomes exemplary in respect of community of interests of the people in that area, as well as in respect of their transposition in the literary-artistic ideology of that time. Thus, excluding the analyze itself of the similarities, the literary research sets its starting points, more precisely, the criteria invested with axiomatic value since they are generally applicable. A full comprehensibility of the esthetic values consists in a balanced and especially convergent use of the criteria that we classify in three great groups:
A. The Sociological Criterion, which cumulates the historical, economic and political determinants, may provide a basis for discussion with regard to the similar typological relief of the literary currents from the perspective of their emergence and of the esthetic structure that they crystallize. The coexistence of romanticism and realism, the extension of the latter due to the consolidation of the novel and of prose in general, represent common phenomena for the South-Eastern European space .Of course, the variation of amplitude cannot be ignored, as they are the natural consequence of the individual evolution of literatures. Thus, if the realist prose emerges in Greece, Romania or Bulgaria in the late 19th century, the same process only takes place in the early 20th century in Albania. On the other hand, the interdependence between romanticism and the fight for national liberation (which will culminate with the emergence of national states) represents a certified fact, which confers to the current typical features, that can be found in every South- Eastern literatures. For instance, the setting of the patriotic citizen, the frequency of the lyric poem of large expression or the messianic attitude represent true frame-values for the comparative study of the works of Vasile Alecsandri, Dionysus Solomos, Hristo Botev, Ivan Mazuraniæ, Naim Frasheri etc. The folklore of these literatures is explained by the presence of the most representative and numerous walk of life in the area -the peasantry- . Indeed, aside from the general audience the folklore has received, it has been noticed that in the south-eastern European literatures it also stands for their classic foundations. The making of the literary language out of the vulgar language, as recently shown by Zoran Konstantinoviæ, is just another logical consequence of the importance of the peasantry. The inexistence, in this context, of a great bourgeoisie, except perhaps for the case of Greece, and its replacement by the more educated small bourgeoisie, connected, not solely through the common antiottoman attitude- with the peasantry ideals, helps understand the cohabitation between the romanticism and the early realism. To this end, a comparative analysis of the “warnings” from the Nicolae Filimon’s novels [The old and new upstart landlords], Emanoil Roidis [Father John] and Liuben Karavelov [Is the destiny responsible?] shows the moralizing feature-intrinsic to the south-eastern collectivities that have created a rich paremiological literature- the social purposeness and the anti-esthetic characteristic of the literatures in the romantic century. The vitality of the Balkan and south-eastern folklore explains, on the other side, the relatively late crystallization, in the 20th century, of the historical novel. If it is true, as Paul Zarifopol has asserted, that the past was much too close for this esthetic species to be reassessed as an esthetical law, then it is also true that the presence of the ballad takes the place, up to a certain point, of the historical novel. Fundamentally epic with the Albanians or the Yugoslavians, or impregnated with lyricism in the case of the Romanians or the Greeks, the ballad, through its tone and thematic, often circumscribes a situation issued from the collectivity’s destiny.
The cultural mentality and, more precisely, the convergence of the mainly rural mentalities in the south-eastern European regions serves as mark points in finding and deepening, through the means of comparative analysis, of some typological constants or literary signs. The study of the circulation of books in the area (translations, popular books etc.) indicate the confrontations between the Orient and the Occident in terms of written culture, and also the level of the penetration into various walks of life. The oriental epos transformed, later on, into a masterpiece of the Romanian literature (The Persian Sofa, by Mihail Sadoveanu) the same narrative structures moulded, again, after an oriental model, into the so-called Bulgarian decameron (The Nights from Antimovo, by Iordan Iovkov) or its Romanian counterpart (Ancuta’s Inn, by M. Sadoveanu) prove the perenity of the underlying foundations, and also, onto a different setting, the difference in intensity, not in essence, between the folkloric epos and the modern refining. Aren’t the famous Nastratin, Keloglan or Pacala, the expressions of the same (popular) south-eastern mentality? The Nastratism, where both the histrionic spirit and the tears meet, signifies a general attitude towards the existence. It is “signed” by the anonymous person who, crushed by tumultuous times, would thus find a means to the inner deliverance. The myth (Nastratin) and its historical expression (Anton Pann) designate the Balkan and south-eastern “homo duplex”, dressed in the clothes of the “philosopher-beggar”, so often encountered on the Levant’s roads. The later glimpses in the Romanian literature accentuate just the merely suspected tear in the popular short-story, where the unmannerly joke and, sometimes, uncalled-for laughter takes over. Anton Pann and the wise Turk become dramatical characters in L. Blaga’s Anton Pann or tragical ones in Ion Barbu’s Nastratin Hogea in Isarlak. Similarities of this sort are accompanied by others, of esthetical type. The orality of the style or the importance of epical species like the short novel are also constants with typological value for this cultural area. The popular common sense communicate through the other erudite, coordinate, with the satirical spirit – an integrative part of the realistic attitude, developed in literature at the end of the century. Satire becomes in this period a true common platform for the neighboring literatures in the region, regardless of it being found through the form of epic structures, like in the case of Emanoil Roidis’ “ Father John” and Alexo Konstantinov (Bai Ganiu), or that of dramatical comedies signed by Branislav Nusiæ or I.L.Caragiale. The political sham, the down-sides of the pervading bourgeois society are stigmatized though a bitter analysis, accompanied by the sarcastic, destructive laughter. Caragiale draws the sketch of the world by using Roidis’ “plume de fer” that esthetically brings to an end a memorable tradition in the south-eastern imaginary.
The relatively new criterion of the human models, is itself a product of the interference of the sociological study with that of cultural mentalities. That is why we believe that the model obtained by the technique of illustrating only the common features of a culture (or a group) is truly a convincing operation that formalizes the previous observations and conclusions. The models, veritable categories, plastic through their power of generalizing, yet concrete by their capacity to circumscribe a cultural period, make the study of the typological similarities easier. The latter, obtained through the same technique, become themselves models, so long as they prove to be determinative in the dynamics of a literature, or, again, of a group of literatures. The great models of universal histories that have been proposed, as known, by A. Toynbee, the finding of those “trois fonctions dans les épopées des peuples indo-européens” by George Dumézil, the applied models to the French medieval society in the studies of Georges Duby, the three “humanity models” analysed by Alexandru Dutu, or the recent “historical model of the successive phases of romanticism in the south-eastern European countries” set forth by Zoran Konstantinoviæ- are all searches that prove themselves fertile towards a deeper and synthetic understanding of the literary phenomenon. As far as we are concerned and following the above observations, we are pleased to exemplify, solely from a literary perspective, with some possible human models, as concluded from a global survey of the south-eastern literatures from the last two centuries, from which one can eliminate folklore, whose vitality is justified, as previously seen, both socially and historically.
a. We therefore propose, in a first stance, the image of the hero, raised to a national dimension. Along with personalities from the past with symbolic value for the whole south-east like Stefan-the-Great, Michael the Brave, Skanderberg and so on, ” the outlaw” or “the palicar” is present in the popular and modern epos, with a defining typological constant. The Albanian epic (L’histoire de Skanderberg – Naim Frasheri), the Romanian romantic theatre (Sunset, by B. St. Delavrancea) are both resonating with the Greek evocations or their correspondents in the Bulgarian or Serbian historical prose. Symbolizing the social and national aspirations, the hero – epopeically presented and with a powerful romantic colour- reveals its tragic essence in all the masterpieces of the South-East. His frequency unfolds the militant attitude-common at the time- that had brought together into the same family Rhigas Velestinilis, Hristo Botev, Nicolae Balcescu etc.
b. The Balkan and south-eastern picaro represents another possible human and literary model. Probably originating from the mukkadiuna (the Orient’s begging pilgrims), the picaro embodies the science of a century-old survival technique. If the 19th century still kept his mythical-folkloric feature in the character, as we can conclude from ” The Begging Pilgrims” by Anton Pann, the next century will deepen the profile of the Nastratin or Pacala wiseman-like, by revealing its tragical-human side, as we have previously foreseen. The road becomes consequently an epical pretext and metaphor in such works that often make use of specific oriental structures, such as the parable. Thus, to the magistral novel from Meºa Selimoviæ (The Dervis and Death) or the meditation, equally recent, from the Bulgarian novel (Antichrist, by Emilian Stanev), one can add a rich gallery of travellers-philosophers existing in the Romanian literature. The wanderers of Panait Istrati, the novel of Gala Galaction build by the scheme of eastern hagiography (Mahmud’s Slippers) or, finally, the characters of Zaharia Stancu from The Game with the Death all illustrate the permanence of a human representative model.
c. Correlated to the heroical and national romanticism, a current like the realism could not but precipitate into a specific type. The Upstarter, with a prodigious career in the Romanian literature by the already mentioned Nicolae Filimon, up to George Calinescu, quickly becomes a constant presence in the south-eastern realism. Thus, Dinu Paturica (Old and New Upstart Landlords) is a good brother with Corbadzi Neno (Mama’s Child) and with Sava Ivanoviœ (Is the Destiny responsible?) as well. The antifeudal attitude coexists with the criticism against a growing bourgeoisie, painted in aqua forte.
Beyond the differences and the inherent characteristics of every literature, those three models correspond to the: national (the hero), mythical (the wise man) and social (the upstarter) levels. Interfering in literature, they offer the complex picture of a literary space that accelerates its rhythm of modernization. To understand it, the convergence of criteria, of which only the general ones were presented, is of absolute importance. This is all the more necessary since the comparative study of the typologies goes beyond the sphere of literary critique and integrates itself, through the analysis and as well through the conclusions thus established, into the larger area of cultural critique. It is, in fact, one of the reasons for which the unity in diversity of the south-eastern literatures remains exemplary through the possibility to validate as well this relatively recent concept of literary theory.