Poetic Authenticity: Research Questions and Methodologies

This article examines the ways poetic authenticity is produced, perceived, and assessed, and proposes a set of operational spectres for evaluating authenticity alongside a methodological framework grounded in literary anthropology and rhetorical criticism. The inquiry begins with a central question: What conditions must a contemporary poetic text meet to trigger an aesthetic experience perceived as authentic? From this starting point, the article develops three complementary directions: (A) historical-cultural contextualization; (B) analysis of the reader's experience, articulated through the triad resonance-challenge-distinctive expression; and-(C) examination of authentic(ist) writing practices, where the poem functions as a co-creative space between author and language, structured by the triad experience- voice-affective transparency. Methodologically, the research offers to combine textual participant observation, ethnography of poetry communities, and rhetorical criticism. Preliminary conclusions affirm the relational and contextual nature of authenticity, identify autenticism as a possible autonomous regime within the post-1980 Romanian literary field, and demonstrate the relevance of an anthropological approach to contemporary poetry.