The importance of the Sibiu Literary Circle, that was created in 1943, during World War II, remains absolutely central for the Romanian culture to this day, and is one of its major accomplishments. The beneficial synthesis its members came up with and achieved, between Maiorescu’s “junimism” and the creative direction inspired by Lovinescu’s Sburătorul (The Flier), remains an unprecedented one in the history of Romanian literature. It not only produced an important literary group, but also contributed to the formation of several prominent writers, of an extremely innovative literary critic (I. Negoițescu), of a national poet (Ștefan Aug. Doinaș), of a great prose writer (I.D. Sîrbu), joined by Radu Stanca, Cornel Regman, Nicolae Balotă, Titus Mocanu, Eta Boeriu, Ovidiu Cotruş, Ioanichie Olteanu, Henri Jacquier, Wolf von Aichelburg, Radu Enescu, and others. Through their program and their writing, the members of the Sibiu Literary Circle are structurally European. Their creation represents one of the massive chapters that legitimize Romanian culture as belonging to the European values. After almost sixty years since the establishment of the communist regime, that brought up disastrous effects for the existence of the Circle members (most of them being victims of politically-framed trials and of hard terms of emprisonment), for the advancement of the works of each, as well as for the aesthetic principles that governed all as a literary group, this chapter of contemporary Romanian culture still contains a great many unknowns. Although several studies were published in book-form or as articles in periodicals, the texts, life stages, various contexts having to do with the personalities and creative statures of these important writers are still to be necessarily recovered as a remarkable heritage.
Following the initiative of its chairperson, Mrs. Alina Ledeanu, the 21-Century Cultural Foundation has been setting up, through various module-projects and cultural events, a vast National and European Archive of the Sibiu Literary Circle, the purpose of which is to save from oblivion a valuable segment of our cultural heritage (texts, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, etc.).
Between January and November 2020, with the support of the National Cultural Fund Administration (Administrația Fondului Cultural Național – AFCN), the FCS 21 develops a new module-project entitled “The Literary Circle, from Sibiu to the National Museum of Romanian Literature – information, culture, education”. Activities and events are scheduled to occur in Bucharest, Arad, Sântana, and Caporal Alexa.