Paul Zarifopol sau eseul împotriva criticii.

Paul Zarifopol (1874-1934) could be described as a notable case of misreading in the field of Romanian literary history. Although allotted generous space in most histories of Romanian literature (from E. Lovinescu to G. Călinescu and Nicolae Manolescu), Zarifopol is often presented as an „anticlassical“ literary critic, with no particular method and no systemic thinking, an impetuous and subjective writer of feuilletons. Collating critical opinions of his contemporaries, as well as fragments from private letters, this paper analyses the way in which Zarifopol deals with his own work and aims to prove that he deliberately chose to be an essayist, and not a literary critic. Zarifopol's criticism stems from a generalized skepticism, as the only expression of intellectual freedom which is possible in a postwar world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]