Los Angeles in the American Journals of Petru Comarnescu and Stelian Tanase - Georgiana Lolea

Thom Andersen s Los Angeles Plays Itself 2003 hailed as a city symphony in reverse challenges whether the movies have ever really depicted Los Angeles. I attempt to address a similar question in my present work which focuses on travel writing do Petru Cormarnescu in America as Seen by a Young Man of Today 1934 and Stelian T nase in his L. A. vs. N. Y. 1998 truly see the city of Los Angeles Drawing on research in the field of travel writing studies my study examines how the Romanian travelers cultural encounters triggered both processes of representation and misrepresentation and gave rise to varying cultural constructions of place. This is tied to the fact that making the new and unfamiliar meaningful presupposes a continuous process of translation laden with approximations misconceptions distortions half-truths and varying authenticities. When the travelers sought to pin down otherness it was the familiar that resurfaced and the cultural heritage of the place left behind taught the travelers what and how to see. In doing so travel writings could best exemplify that cultural boundaries are fluid permanently drawn and redefined.