The Inheritance Without a Testament: Usages and Reinterpretations of an Aphorism

Authors

  • Laura Marin University of Bucharest
  • Adrian Tudurachi L'Institut de Linguistique et Histoire Littéraire "Sextil Pușcariu" de l'Académie Roumaine = Université Babeș Bolyai de Cluj-Napoca

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13135/2384-8987/12705

Keywords:

Aphorisme, Inheritance, René Char, Archival Arts, Creative Memory

Abstract

This article explores the contemporary resonance and uses of René Char’s aphorism, “Our inheritance was left to us with no testament.” Structured in two parts, it first examines how this statement has been appropriated and interpreted by philosophers, political theorists, historians, literary scholars, and art historians, assessing its function as a conceptual and heuristic tool. The second part investigates several contemporary artistic practices in Romania that engage with the reactivation of photographic archives. These practices illuminate how the materiality of the archive can enable a transmission of the past grounded in openness and creativity rather than in a prescribed logic of heritage, thereby reactivating Char’s aphorism as a principle of generative, non-testamentary memory.

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Published

2026-01-02

How to Cite

Marin, L., & Tudurachi, A. (2026). The Inheritance Without a Testament: Usages and Reinterpretations of an Aphorism. RiCOGNIZIONI. Rivista Di Lingue E Letterature Straniere E Culture Moderne, 12(24), 181–190. https://doi.org/10.13135/2384-8987/12705

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 24 (2025)

Section

ItINERARI

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