Cărtărescu's Balkan Narrative of Excess in South-Eastern European Context
Cărtărescu's Balkan Narrative of Excess in South-Eastern European Context

Summary/Abstract: In this article, we propose an analysis of Mircea Cărtărescu's most recent novel, Theodoros, which escapes the simplistic judgement of good or bad, as the author himself states, and, moreover, exceeds his intentionality in terms of the main character. Our paper adopts an interdisciplinary approach, presenting the concept of Balkanism in Romanian literature and its revival through the particularities of structure and vision from Theodoros, which consistently depicts the South-Eastern socio-cultural environment. Furthermore, the center of our attention is Theodoros as a complex character, the Balkan homo duplex so driven by his constant thirst for power that he uses the sacred in a memorable Faustian pact. Above all, we want to emphasise how the novel materializes irony as a literary and anthropological technique, making Theodoros one of the most diverse and culturally enriched Romanian novels of the past years.

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