Discourse and Discursivity in Romanian Premodern Literature. Control, Influence and Pressures

Abstract

Censorship is a type of control of the information, opinions and ideas. Often, it acts in an
indirect way, influencing production of books, freedom of expression, altering or suppressing ideas. In
this respect, it is associated with a dictatorial/authoritarian regime. But not only. For example, in the
Romanian premodern centuries, the politic regime is an atypical one, as a consequence of political and
religious realities. In this respect, it is expected that the control of literary communication could have
some particular aspects. The reasons of censorship were varied, one of them was the protection of
people thinking and feeling to keeping them on “the right way”. Another reason was the need of political
and religious leaders to have the obedience of people, or to protect the basic social institutions. These
aspects can be noticed in the premodern Romanian literature.