SEDUCTION IN “DON JUAN THE HUNCHBACK” BY ION CĂLUGĂRU
SEDUCTION IN “DON JUAN THE HUNCHBACK” BY ION CĂLUGĂRU

Summary/Abstract: Seduction is the process of deliberately enticing and corrupting a person. Seen negatively, it involves temptation and manipulation, which the seducer uses to lead someone astray into a behavioural choice they would not have made. In this regard, seduction seems essentially manipulative: the seducer seeks to entice his target into acting against their better judgment and disrespecting their autonomy. Positively, seduction is performed by the seducer in a selfless way, with the goal of achieving the seducee’s own growth and development. This is what Gabriel Liiceanu calls “divine seduction”. The characters in Ion Călugaru’s novel “Don Juan the Hunchback” attempt to escape from their condition and prosaic everyday life. They live outside the accepted moral and social conventions, in the realm of the sensual. Seduction is their modus vivendi, the only way of living they know and perpetuate. But, as Eros cannot fulfil a life alone, the characters’ lives are full of anxiety, doubt, lack of meaning, and despair.

• Details
• Contents