Call for Papers

Academic Journal ALLRO 1 , EBSCO indexed

 

Open to receiving manuscripts for the 31 st volume, 2024, until ……….. 2 October 2024
The topic of the 31 st volume : ……………………………………………..

Nowadays, childhood is bestowed its own primordial place in a system of reference.
We have surpassed the situation of childhood as defined from the point of view of the adult
age and of childhood considered for what might be lacking. Or the privileged rich
childhoods that were the only ones considered worthy of societal attentions. As Colin
Heywood states 2 , seeing children as ʿimpaired adultsʾ had been the norm and not the
exception more than two centuries ago. Nevertheless, autonomy of childhood as an
emancipated age has not always been present in the history of civilization. Although some
of the invariants referring to the child and childhood have been preserved along the
centuries, so have been the very powerfully-shaped perceptions, sometimes on the verge of
clichés, rooted in the Rousseau-ist claim about man as a sentient being with natural
goodness.
The writers did their best in shaping this path, of gathering and distilling the
remembrances of things past, like Marcel Proust, in the form of literature as the art of
words and consequently, of a time regained. Or they were the ones to fuse together loss
and optimism in children-characters, making them on of the most alive group of characters,
such as Mark Twain. The emotions and the unhappiness of children were brought to light
by Hector Malot. While their tribulations and resolutions in shaping a destiny, as portrayed
by Charles Dickens, had a large impact on the opinions of society and therefore positively
impacting the laws of society regarding the safeguard of children.
The famous writers of the world had brought up another magic ingredient, by
combining the enchantment of the world with the disenchantment of the world and getting
a tenderly human result about the nature of mankind.
It seems that the age of constructs, as our age is, taking resemblance on the topic of
identity, favours a complex approach of children and childhood. the most influential role in
1 Analele Universității din Oradea Fascicula Limba și Literatura Română, ISSN 1224-7588, peer-reviewed,
https://analeromana.uoradea.ro/
2 A History of Childhood: Children and Childhood in the West from Medieval to Modern Times by Colin Heywood,
Polity Press, Cambridge, 2001. Translated into Romanian by Ruxandra Visan, Bucuresti, Trei Publishing
House, 2017.

shaping the age of childhood in a family but also in shaping the perceptions we have on
children, as a social construct, belongs to the relationship between parents and children.
This is the benchmark in addressing the evolution of childhood as a social construct. For
children, parents constitute the main alterity, the big Other One.
Launching the call for papers on this topic we are aware that the childhood is the
most important story we get to tell ourselves, the story that has shaped our decisions and
the story we tell, directly and indirectly, to our children. Brought from the realm of real life
events to the realm of debate, we take a deep act of understanding it better and of
becoming a stronger connector with the future paths. We understand what has always
been on the other side of self and we bridge the gap between those times, the childhood
spent ( in another century for some generations), with the updated themes, containing
technological elements that had not existed in the past.
Change is a fact, one of the most striking magical wands of childhood. Despite
difficulties or even harsher fights with life, childhood has a graceful way of dealing with
change. How can childhood be at the epitome of change, while being so eternal in our
memories?
The topic is open also to reflections of childhood under communism and post 89
society in Romanian literature. Linguistic papers are welcomed. Cultural issues tangent to
the topic can share their unique context with other debates.
Papers that do not touch the topic of childhood are welcomed, as they can be part of
other general rubrics of our journal, such as: classics and moderns, dialogues of literature,
exile, myths and post-modern authors, identity and its expressions in literature,
comparative literature studies, language phenomena.

Ages ago, childhood had not been a separate issue in the arena of debate, simply because it
had not received enough attention. The subject had been emphasized according to the
class.
Although childhood had some invariants, it had not been a construct
Just like identity, childhood had recently being given much attention.

Who is the child- who is the adult?
The
Viitorul, the child in literature, the literature for children but not only
Is the childhood a trauma
Yet it is the most important story we get to tell to ourselves
Why? Because childhood is the ultimate source, fountain, renewal,
Unde am citit despre si nu am notat? Mmaya angelou