The Rhizomatic Identity of Dora d’Istria

Author(s)

  • Sjef Houppermans

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18352/relief.764

Keywords:

transculturalité, colinguisme, transmédialité, Beckford, Glissant

Abstract

Once known as one of the most prominent writers of Southeastern Europe, Dora d’Istria (pen name of Elena Ghica) has now fallen into near oblivion. Paradoxically, her cultural legacy is claimed by several countries (Romania, Albania, Greece, Italy), yet none have taken concrete steps to preserve her memory. Born in Bucharest into the aristocratic family of Mihail Ghica (brother of the ruling prince of the principality of Wallachia), she received an erudite education. She spoke nine foreign languages and wrote all her books in French. This article aims to move beyond debates about her mixed origins by applying Édouard Glissant’s concept of rhizomatic identity – a  concept that may help explain not only her life but also her poetics.

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Author Biography

  • Sjef Houppermans
    Sjef Houppermans est professeur associé en littérature moderne à l’Université de Leiden; Il est rédacteur en chef de RELIEF

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Published

2012-10-09

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2012): History movies / Transculturalities

Section

Articles - thematic dossier

License

Copyright (c) 2012 Sjef Houppermans

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

All articles published in RELIEF appear in Open Access under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0). Under this licence, authors retain ownership of the copyright of their article, but they allow its unrestricted use, provided it is properly cited.

How to Cite

Houppermans, S. (2012) “The Rhizomatic Identity of Dora d’Istria”, RELIEF - REVUE ÉLECTRONIQUE DE LITTÉRATURE FRANÇAISE, 6(1), pp. 113–125. doi:10.18352/relief.764.
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