Corridors of Mirrors: The Spirit of Europe in Contemporary British and Romanian Fiction
(Corridors of Mirrors examines the current notion of Europ...)
Corridors of Mirrors examines the current notion of Europe as expressed in Romanian and British fiction. Brînzeu, working from both historical and contemporary literature, surveys symbolic notions of the common cultural links which seem to embody 'European' identity. In particular, the author examines the shift in post-Iron Curtain literary concepts of this ancient identity.
Pia Brînzeu is a prolific Romanian researcher and an international educator serving now as professor of English literature at the University of Timişoara. She is the author of Corridors of Mirrors: Postwall British and Romanian Fiction and has published a number of articles and essays on literary theory and criticism.
Background
Pia Brînzeu was born on November 9, 1948 in Timisoara, Banat, Romania to the family of Pius and Carla Brînzeu as a second child. She has an elder brother. Pia's father was a notable surgeon, talented illustrator and was a great fan of playing chess.
Education
In 1955 Pia started her studies at Liceum Colegiul Banatean and integrated successfully learning with playing chess. The main trainer was her father. As a result of hard work, in 1965 Pia won the national Chess Championship among juniors.
Graduating from liceum, the future professor continued education at the University of Timisoara where in 1978 she received a PhD in Philology.
Pia Brînzeu has grown from assistant professor to the department head and professor of English at the University of Timisoara. in different periods she served as visiting professor at such places as the University of Urbino, University of Georgia, University of Natal.
Besides, she is editor-in-chief of Caiet de semiotica, serves a contributor to more than 100 articles and reviews to periodicals and to a number of books, including Semiotics Unfolding (volume 3, edited by Tasso Borbé) and Rediscovering Oscar Wilde (edited by G. Sandulescu, Colin Smythe).
Pia Brînzeu is the author of Check Your English, Zile si semne (Days and Signs), Excelsior, Armura de sticla (The Glass Armor), The Protean Novelists, and Corridors of Mirrors.
(Corridors of Mirrors examines the current notion of Europ...)
Views
In one of her interviews, Pia has commented that she considers playing chess as a chance to assert female intelligence.
Quotations:
"I think that in general the idea of an inequality of mental power based on sex difference has been abandoned. Women do not have the same physical strength and have not benefited over time from the same education as men, but lately they have amply demonstrated their great intellectual and artistic strength."
Membership
Austrian Association of Semiotics
,
Austria
Romanian Writers' Union
,
Romania
Romanian Society for English and American Studies
,
Romania
Societatea RomânaȈ de Studii asupra Secolului al XVIII-lea
,
Romania
Societatea RomânaȈ de LiteraturaȈ ComparataȈ
,
Romania
International Shakespeare Association
International Association of Semiotics
1994 - 1999
European Society for the Study of English
Societatea de Stiinte Filologice
European Society for the Study of English (ESSE)
Interests
Chess, British culture and civilization, comparative literature (British and Romanian); narratology; semiotics, feminism.
Connections
In 1969 Pia married Marius Teodorescu. They gave birth to two children: Mircea and Dragos. In 1987 the couple divorced.