LITERATURĂ COMPARATĂ: JANE AUSTEN – IOAN SLAVICI
JANE AUSTEN VS. IOAN SLAVICI
Vanda STAN,
Universitatea de Vest „Vasile Goldis” din Arad, Romania
Abstract
In a time of hostility and change, Jane Austen – one of Britain’s most beloved authors –managed to create perhaps the most perfect, most subtle and most dangerously charming romantic
love stories of all times. However, Austen doesn’t compose simply a naive, soap opera like novel,
but analyzes the monotonous life of a society seemingly ripped out of a history book. Behind the
idealistic depiction of the plot and the sensible portrayal of the characters lie concepts such as
femininity and marriage as some sort of social bind that holds together the entire community.
Slavici’s work could not have been more different. “Moara cu Noroc” utterly contrasts not only
through a radically different series of actions, which climax in such a tragic manner that the
novella shifts towards a far more dramatic genre, but also through its main emphasis on
characters’ psychological dimension. Slavici sees beyond human masks and deliberately creates
new ones in order to offer a moralistic, yet static, preview of life. But what best conveys the
disparity between these two masterpieces is the callous indicative of how far behind Romanian
society truly remains in comparison to its British counterpart.
Key words
: the monotonous life of a society, portrayal of the characters, novella, masterpieces
Cuvinte cheie
: viaŃa monotonă a societăŃii, portretul personajelor, nuvelă, capodoperă