Vol. XXVI, 2013
Cet essai vise une approche critique renouvelée de l’hypothèse de Rousseau sur la nature irénique du « sauvage » avant la civilisation. L’auteur soumet l’hypothèse de Rousseau à l’épreuve de documents publiés par des explorateurs et disponibles à l’époque de Rousseau, et dont il avait la connaissance. Or Rousseau écarte tous les faits qui contredisent son hypothèse pour des raisons proprement théoriques. A l’aune de cette nouvelle appréciation, on mesure l’idéalisme radical de l’auteur du Contrat social qui refuse d’admettre et la socialisation initiale et la violence extrême (sauf exceptions rarissimes) des primitifs. Mais plus précisément, il s’agit de démontrer que Rousseau fait une dommageable confusion entre la socialisation inhérente aux espèces les plus primitives du genre homo et les sociétés étatiques pré-modernes et modernes ayant d’une manière ou d’une autre établi un contrat social plus ou moins explicite. Reprenant cette hypothèse, l’auteur de cet essai veut simplement montrer qu’il n’y a pas d’homme « sauvage » seul au monde et que la planète a été conquise par l’homme sorti d’Afrique parce que cet homme était précisément un être non seulement doué d’une intelligence théorico-pratique supérieure à tous les autres mammifères, mais surtout parce qu’il vivait et parlait une langue en société, certes de taille restreinte, mais suffisamment solidaire (i.e. socialisée) pour lui assurer dans les conditions d’extrême précarité de la néo-natalité, la possibilité d’une survie collective.
2. Alexandru Mamina, Natură – societate civilă – stat. Condiţia umană în modernitate, p. 22-30.
L’article est une démarche d’histoire culturelle sur les propos morals et politiques de Jean-Jacques Rousseau, en tant que illustratifs pour les traits et les enjeux de la condition humaine en modernité. On observe ainsi, à travers une dialectique qui conduit de la nature par la société civile vers l’État, l’effort de trouver un système institutionnel qui pourra correspondre également à l’avènement de l’égalité formelle et au besoin d’un idéal ressenti affectivement. La pensée rousseauiste se développe donc autour de l’idée de la vertu civique, qui comprend la représentativité quantitative et le sentiment de solidarité avec les semblables.
3. Constantin Ardeleanu, Stephen Goldner şi fabrica de conserve din Galaţi (1844–1852), p. 31-58.
In June 1844, Stephen Goldner, a Jewish-born Hungarian entrepreneur residing in Britain, got from the Moldavian authorities the approval to establish a cannery in Galatz. Involved for several years in preserving meats on the basis of an innovative technological process and eager to impose himself on the competitive market of the Admiralty’s contractors, Goldner attempted to benefit from the cheap resources of the Romanian Principalities, rich agro-pastoral areas, where domesticated animals were extremely cheap. On the basis of a privilege received from prince Mihail Sturdza, Goldner opened his factory in the Danubian port of Galatz. On the basis of documentary sources identified in British and Romanian archives, this paper details Goldner’s activity in Moldavia, during the seven year period in which he managed the industrial establishment from Galatz. The episode is extremely interesting, as the manufacture covered most of the contracts concluded with the Royal Navy and in 1851–1852 Goldner was the protagonist of a huge public scandal in Britain. It was considered, then and now, that the bad quality of his products could have endangered the fate of Sir John Franklin’s polar expedition. The paper presents the interest of western historiography for the goods Goldner delivered to the Admiralty, then details the terms of his agreement with the Moldavian authorities, as well as the conflicts which this privileged contract nourished: that with the British vice-consul at Galatz, Charles Cunningham, but especially Goldner’s arguments with the officials from Galatz and Jassy related to his interpretation of the exemptions from paying custom dues. The paper also refers to the reasons which determined the investor to relocate his production in the remote Moldavia and to the way in which his affairs suffered due to Goldner’s impetuous temperament.
4. Daniela Buşă, Romania and the Balkan Wars – Some Considerations on the Balkans, p. 59-65.
Compared to the First Balkan War, in the second Balkan War the circle of belligerents extended due to the intervention of Romania. The perspective of “excessive enlargement” of one of Balkan state determined Romania to claim new guaranties of security. Romania was aware of the secret agreements between Russia and Bulgaria from 1902 and 1909 on the Dobrudja. Romania’s military intervention in the second Balkan War was made with the consent of the great powers in a very difficult moment, when the possibility of the aggravation and internationalization of the conflict became imminent.
Private correspondence represents a less valued historical source. The aim of this article is to investigate the letters sent by the Russian countess Elisabeta van Suchtelen to prince Alexandru Dimitrie Ghica. Our aim is to investigate the opinions of the countess, since 1834 in a voluntary exile in Naples, towards the ways and means the events in Wallachia were reflected by the Western European press. We also aim to investigate her eye-witness accounts on the 1848–1849 revolution in the Kigdom of the Two Sicilies. This articles is based upon the unpublished correspondence held by the Manuscript Section of the Library of the Romanian Academy and also by the Al. D. Ghica personal fund from the Central National Historical Archives.
The translation and the publication of the novel written by Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, in Moldavia in 1853 had a special echo and an important impact on the mentalities of the time within the entire Romanian space. The significations of this enterprise were both literary and social, political, and national. Thus, the American writer’s work led, to a certain extent, to an increase of the public debate regarding the necessity of the Gypsies’ emancipation in Moldavia and Wallachia, but it also implied some references to the situation that the Romanians had to endure at that time – the two extra-Carpathian principalities were under Russian protectorate and the Romanians in Transylvania were trying to continue their fight to maintain and to affirm their national identity.
The aim of this paper is to study 19th century travelogues under a new perspective: the impact of a certain writing as it may be depicted from available reviews. It is a case-study based on Edmund von Berg’s Aus dem Osten der österreichischen Monarchie. Ein Lebensbild von Land und Leuten (Dresden, 1860) as seen through available contemporary reviews, mainly that written by Saint-René Taillandier for “Revue des Deux Mondes”. The paper also highlights the role review, between scientific criticism and political instrumentation.
L’article s’applique aux recherches concernant la révolution roumaine de 1848, menées à Bucarest, Iassy et Cluj-Napoca après 1990. On constate alors la prépondérance des approches événementiels envers ceux plutôt analytiques, dans une tradition narative qui date depuis le début du XXe siècle. On vois toujours plusieurs études avec un trait théorique marqué, surtout dans le domaine des mentalités, qui certifient la tendance de rattachement aux grands courrants de l’historiographie contemporaine.
12. [„Revista Istorică”, nr. 1–2, 2012. Prezentare de Alexandru Mamina, p. 117]