BOOK REVIEW: COSMIN CIOTLOȘ, “CENACLUL DE LUNI. VIAȚA ȘI OPERA”, BUCUREȘTI: PANDORA PUBLISHING, 2021, 464 P.

Abstract

Theoretical contributions about the 80s literary generation converge towards defining their poetics and fuelling terminological debates around postmodernism. The critical reception of these writers’ works has been shaped both by the members of this generation and by scholars outside it. The former category includes, among others, Mircea Cărtărescu’s volume, Postmodernismul românesc [Romanian Postmodernism], and Ion Bogdan Lefter’s Flashback 1985: Începuturile noii poezii [Flashback 1885: The Beginnings of the New Poetry]. The topic is interesting not only from a literary point of view, but also from a sociological point of view. On the one hand, it portrays the bohemian lifestyle within the totalitarian regime, and, on the other hand, it explains how a literature that does not satisfy the requirements of the system can survive, functioning underground. Among the relatively recent studies dedicated to the topic, Mihail Vakulovsky approaches the phenomenon from a dual perspective: a critical look at poetry, in Portret de grup cu generația 80. Poezia [Group Portrait with Generation 80. Poetry], completed, in another volume, by interviews with members of the group, but also with those who were influenced by the particular atmosphere from the Monday Literary Circle. Analyses of this generation’s literary output have also explored foreign influences. For example, Teodora Dumitru’s study included in the collective volume Romanian Literature as World Literature discusses the impact of the Beat generation. Cosmin Ciotloș’s volume, Cenaclul de Luni. Viața și opera [The Monday Literary Circle. Life and Work], continues this line of contributions with a biographical-oriented approach, as the title announces.