Establishing Borders Anew: Benjamin Fundoianu in the Circle of Central-European Writers. An Outline

Abstract

The main aim of the study is to attempt a  general interpretation of some selected works of Benjamin Fundoianu (1898–1944) – a  poet, critic, existentialist, philosopher and an avant-garde film director of Jewish Romanian origin, in the context of his potential belonging to Central-European culture. The author of the article tries to grasp the most important determinants
of the complicated artistic biography of the writer who endeavoured to construct his own identity out of the elements of Judaic philosophical reflection, Central-European tradition and Western intellectual ethos. The considerations are based on a  classification introduced by Aleksander Fiut according to whom there are three categories which especially
mark out Central European literature: unaccepted peripherality, a  sense of shifty borders and problematic identity.