The Controversies of “Feminine” Etiquette in Romanian Literature – Between Isolation and Belonging

Gender stereotyping strongly impacted the evolution of Romanian women writers when they started to assert themselves in literature towards the end of the nineteenth century and in the first decades of the twentieth century. The scholars of that time used the term “feminine” to define women’s literary works, which contributed to widen the gap between them and their counterparts. Women’s literature was considered sentimental, instinctual, modest, and delicate, as its value was seen through the lens of their social roles. This paper aims to illustrate how the social stereotypes dictated the scholars’ approach to women’s literature and to highlight the controversies revolving around the use of the feminine as a coined term for their literary works.