Anca Georgeta Peiu – born April 18, 1960, in Bucharest, Romania - is an Associate Professor with the Department of English at the Faculty of Foreign Languages & Literatures of the University of Bucharest, where she is currently in charge of a 19th Century American Literature course, as well as of two special optional courses, concerning William Faulkner and Wallace Stevens - respectively. She also teaches seminar classes for such courses as 20th Century American Literature and 20th Century British Literature. Anca Peiu holds a PhD in Comparative Narratology from the same university. This – in fact – can be regarded as her Alma Mater, as it is here she also graduated from in 1986, specializing in English and German. Dr. Peiu has been with our Department since January 1991, when she won her first professional contest for an academic job. All along her career she has acquired a fine teaching experience while coping with the requirements of various subjects, such as: American Civilization, 20th Century British Literature, a Practical Course in Contemporary English. Dr. Peiu has also successfully supervised numerous final dissertations of our graduating students.

In 2001 she published two books at the EUB (i. e. Bucharest University Press): TRECUTUL TIMPULUI PERFECT: DE LA THOMAS MANN LA WILLIAM FAULKNER (i. e. THE PAST OF A TIME PERFECT: FROM THOMAS MANN TO WILLIAM FAULKNER ) – ISBN 973-575-504-1 - her doctoral dissertation, (defended on December 15, 1999, and appreciated with the special distinction cum laude), and “AFTER THE FINAL NO”:THE WORLD OF WALLACE STEVENS – ISBN 973-575-610-2. She uses these materials now as bibliography for her two elective courses concerning the two above-mentioned major 20th century American writers. Dr. Peiu has also published numerous remarkable academic essays in most of the digests, annals and anthologies of the University of Bucharest.

She has so far benefited from two scholarships abroad: one in the UK, at the University of Warwick, in the fall term of 1993 – a Soros grant, and another one in the USA, at Cornell University, in the fall of 1994 – an IREX grant.

Dr. Peiu is a member of both ESSE ( European Society for the Study of English) and RAAS ( Romanian Association for American Studies). It is in the latter’s newsletter, i. e. in the Annual Newsletter edited by the RAAS, Issue 3/2002, on pp. 16-18, that two reviews by Prof. Dr. Lidia Vianu were published, concerning Anca Peiu’s above-mentioned two books.

During the summer of 2002 Dr. Anca Peiu was invited to participate in two radio programs: one of them on the impact of (American) English on present-day Romanian, and the other one – on the chances (and mischances) of literary translations from English into Romanian; these dialogues were broadcast by Romania Cultural Radio Station, having been recorded by Ioana Baldea, MA in American Studies, Univ. of Bucharest. In July 1999, Dr. Anca Peiu was also invited to a TV dialogue with Cornel Todea – a reputed Romanian theatre director and cultural celebrity, author of “Dintre sute de catarge” – a TV series of cultural magazines – commemorating the anniversary – at that time – of 100 years since Nobel Prize winner American writer, Ernest Hemingway, had been born.

Anca Peiu lives in Bucharest, with her husband and their son.

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

A. BOOKS:

1.TRECUTUL TIMPULUI PERFECT: DE LA THOMAS MANN LA WILLIAM FAULKNER ( THE PAST OF A TIME PERFECT: FROM THOMAS MANN TO WILLIAM FAULKNER), Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti, (Bucharest University Press), January 2001, ISBN 973-575-504-1; 220 pages.

2.”AFTER THE FINAL NO”: THE WORLD OF WALLACE STEVENS , EUB, (Bucharest Univ. Press), December 2001, ISBN 973-575-610-2; 168 pages.


B. LITERARY CRITICISM & ACADEMIC ESSAYS:

1.”AMERICAN POETRY: WALLACE STEVENS” in CAIETE INTERNATIONALE DE POEZIE (INTERNATIONAL NOTEBOOK OF POETRY), Poems in Translation: East and West, Essays on Poets and Poetry, LiterArt-XXI, Editor: Gabriel Stanescu, No.4/2003, pp. 260-264.

2.”T.S.ELIOT IN ROMANESTE”(“T.S.ELIOT IN ROMANIAN”) in REVISTA ROMANO-AMERICANA (The Romanian-American Digest), Edited by the “Amicii Statelor Unite” Association (“Friends of the United States” Association), Editor: Acad. Mihnea Gheorghiu, Issue No. VI, December 2002, pp. 80-84.

3.”EZRA POUND – THE REBEL TEACHER” in REVISTA ROMANO-AMERICANA (The Romanian-American Literary Digest), Edited by the “Amicii Statelor Unite”Association (“Friends of the United States”Association), Editors: Acad. Mihnea Gheorghiu (President) et al., Issue No. V, July 2002, pp.19-28.

4.”Is She Fact or Is She Fiction?”(SHE from a Late 20th Century Perspective), in UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST REVIEW, A JOURNAL OF LITERARY & CULTURAL STUDIES, “Narrating Culture”, Vol. III, No.12, 2001, pp. 79-92.

5.”TIMPUL SI TIMPURILE IN <DOUA SAU TREI IDEI> DE WALLACE STEVENS”(TIMES AND TRENDS IN <TWO OR THREE IDEAS> BY W. STEVENS), in the anthology TIMPUL, TIMPURILE, LINGUA PAX – ISBN 973-9463-38-X – (TIMES, TRENDS, LINGUA PAX), Vol. II, Ed. by Prof. Dr. Doina Derer et al., Cavallioti Press, 2001, pp. 51-57.

6.”MODERNISMUL LA TIMPUL TRECUT: INTRE CLASIC (THOMAS MANN) SI ROMANTIC (WILLIAM FAULKNER)”, i.e. “Modernism in the Past Tense: between Classic (Thomas Mann) and Romantic (William Faulkner), in the anthology TIMPUL,,TIMPURILE, LINGUA PAX – ISBN 973-9463-38-X – (TIMES, TRENDS, LINGUA PAX), Vol. II, Ed. by Prof. Dr. Doina Derer et al., Cavallioti Press, 2001, pp. 57-64.

7.”SITES OF TRANSLATION IN WALLACE STEVENS’S POETRY” in the anthology TRANSATLANTIC CONNECTIONS: ESSAYS ON CULTURAL RELOCATION,ISBN 973-8209-00-5, Ed. by Prof. Dr. Rodica Mihaila & Prof. Dr. Irina Pana, Integral Press, Bucharest, 2000, pp.79-92.

8.”METAPHORICAL VALUES IN PAUL RICOEUR AND WALLACE STEVENS” in ANALELE UNIVERSITATII DIN BUCURESTI, i. e. THE ANNALS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST, No. XLIX, 2000, pp. 59-78.

9.”<WORDS FOR MUSIC PERHAPS>: WALLACE STEVENS”, in UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST REVIEW, A JOURNAL OF LITERARY & CULTURAL STUDIES, Vol. II, SPACES OF REPRESENTATION, No.8/2000, pp. 47-53.

10.”(TIME)TELLING ON A MAP” – an essay on postmodern narrative techniques, as represented by Michael Ondaatje in his novel THE ENGLISH PATIENT, and modern narrative techniques, as represented in W. Faulkner’s fiction - in UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST REVIEW, A JOURNAL OF LITERARY AND CULTURAL STUDIES, Vol. I, CULTURAL TRANSGRESSIONS, No. 4/1999, pp.84-90.

11.”HENRY JAMES AND THE <MEANINGFUL LOOK>”, in ANALELE UNIVERSITATII DIN BUCURESTI, i. e. THE ANNALS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST, No. XLII-XLIII/1993-1994, pp. 79-82.

12.”HERZOG: A BEST-SELLER FOR THE NOBEL PRIZE”, in VIATA ROMANEASCA, i.e. ROMANIAN LIFE LITERARY DIGEST, No. 12, December, 1993, pp. 123-125.

13.”DE TRADUS IN ENGLEZA: SAMBATA, DUMINICA, LUNI”,i. e. “TRANSLATE INTO ENGLISH:SATURDAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY”, in VIATA ROMANEASCA, i.e. ROMANIAN LIFE LITERARY DIGEST, No. 7-8, July-August, 1995, pp. 157-159.

14.”CONTURURI GHICITE”, i.e. “IMAGINED OUTLINES”, an essay on contemporary Romanian poetry, in VIATA ROMANEASCA, i. e. ROMANIAN LIFE LITERARY DIGEST, No. 6-7, June-July, 1993, pp. 151-154.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

It is my intention to focus upon such a parallel as WALLACE STEVENS AND ROMANIAN MODERNISM. The Romanian authors I would like to consider are especially the poets Lucian Blaga and Ion Barbu, but also the dramatist Eugene Ionesco – whose theatre of the absurd has certain affinities with W. Stevens’s drama. I also believe that the Stevensian vision of communist narrow-mindedness and lack of capable imagination – rendered by his metaphor of poverty, particularly in poems like “Mr. Burnshaw and the Statue”, but also in some of the American poet’s essays and notes, - can be fully accounted for by the twisted destinies of our best modern writers. Since their works have been successfully translated into many languages, I am quite confident that I could help my demonstration make sense.