L ’Orientation culturelle des Principautés Roumaines du XIXe siècle vers l’Occident

Abstract

The cultural orientation of the 19th century Romanian Principalities towards the Occident, by way of the French influence, can be divided into three distinct and almost equal stages of approximately half a century each, resulting in the shaping of Romanian thinking and sensitivity, a fact which has been identified
in all manifestations of Romanian spirituality, in politics, legislation, language, literature, administration or social life. Each stage is analyzed from the perspective of its transformations, the French influence replacing, definitively and swiftly, the Greek culture and the influence of the Russian politics: from the imitation of the
Phanariote princes by means of the personal library fashion, to the quadrilles – brought by the Russian officers – which replaced the autochthonous dances but also from the fashionable conduct à la française to the change of the woman’s condition in society both through emancipation and by means of the greater
respect bestowed upon her, to the polishing up of linguistic structure due to translations – which changed the way of thinking and of contemplating the logic of discourse and the clarity of message – to the termination of
the Turkish monopole and to the entering into the international commercial circuit. In the Romanian Principalities, the 19th century is characterized by a cultural renaissance based on original culture, on the emphasis placed on national values, the development of education, of the press, of the theatre, of literature, of the critical spirit, of book commerce, all these triggering the transformation into a progressive trend which proved to be the French culture and civilization adopted as a model.