DE CE NU AVEM ALTERNATIVĂ LA AUTENTICISMUL MASCULIN? FOCUS: ÎNTR-UN CĂMIN DE DOMNIȘOARE DE ANIȘOARA ODEANU ȘI TINEREȚE DE LUCIA DEMETRIUS.

WHY DON’T WE HAVE AN ALTERNATIVE TO MALE AUTHENTICITY? FOCUS: IN A YOUNG LADIES’S HOME BY ANIȘOARA ODEANU AND YOUTH BY LUCIA DEMETRIUS.

On the background of recent syntheses on the concept of authenticity in Romanian literature and in the light of gender studies in relation to the postcanonical perspective, this paper aims to question a possible alternative of authenticity in two interwar novels written by women: Anișoara Odeanu’s 1934 Într-un cămin de domnișoare [In a Young Ladies’ Home] and Lucia Demetrius’ 1936 Tinerețe [Youth]. While interwar literature outlines a masculine, misogynist and machismo authenticity, based on vitalism and obsession with the experience of the male subject, the alternative of prose written by women proposes an authenticity that is neither doctrinaire nor merely a form. While not configured as an alternative to the ism of male writing’s authenticity, the two novels propose a demonopolisation of authenticity and underline the signs of a counter discourse of women writings within and against a misogynistic society and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]