Anca Parvulescu’s book “Creolizing the Modern: Transylvania Across Empires” has won the American Sociological Association’s 2023 Barrington Moore Book Award for the best book in the areas of comparative and historical sociology.
Parvulescu, the Liselotte Dieckmann Professor of Comparative Literature, wrote “Creolizing the Modern” with Manuela Boatcă, a sociologist at the University of Freiburg, Germany. Drawing from both literary and sociological perspectives, the book analyzes the socio-historical patterns reflected in the Transylvanian novel “Ion” by Liviu Rebreanu.
The award committee was "deeply impressed by the book’s exemplary combination of deep theoretical engagement and its linkage of conversations about world literature, world history, and world-systems analysis for the case of Transylvania.”
In March, “Creolizing the Modern” was awarded the American Comparative Literature Association’s 2023 René Wellek Prize for best monograph. In addition to the Barrington Moore Book Award, the American Sociological Association also gave the book an honorable mention for the Immanuel Wallerstein Book Award from its Political Economy of the World-System Section.
“We are particularly grateful to see our co-authored book recognized by awards in both our disciplines — literary studies and sociology,” Parvulescu said.