Turturica ‒ the Bird of Existential Predestination in the Short-Story Epic Cover Image

Turturica – pasărea predestinării existenţiale în eposul nuvelistic
Turturica ‒ the Bird of Existential Predestination in the Short-Story Epic

Author(s): Tatiana Butnaru
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Romanian Literature
Published by: Institutul de Filologie Română „Bogdan Petriceicu-Hasdeu”
Keywords: synthesis of symbols; existential borderline situation; tragic finality; cultural archetypes; ontological realms; folkloric characterolog; mythical zoology; ballad conglomerate; metamorphoses cycle;

Summary/Abstract: This article analyzes the ballad Amărâta turturică (The Embittered Dove) in accordance with the symbolism of this bird in folk environments, being presented in different situations and existential hypostases, in accordance with the allegory of human destiny. The image-symbol "embtittered dove" is put at the service of remedying different contradictory states and feelings, depicting the drama of an existential destiny, marked by falls and inner collapses. The ballad about the widowed dove is related to a series of motifs and renders a "synthesis of symbols", tangent to the archetypal significance of some bird topos in our ritual folklore, to foreshadow the culmination of serious existential feelings. As metaphors of predestination, both the hunter and the dove express some tragic entities of human life, outline the meaning of a polarized destiny, marked by inner contradictions, deepen the idea of nostalgic loneliness in the face of irreversible passage.

  • Issue Year: 2021
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 87-97
  • Page Count: 11
  • Language: English, Romanian