Fascination and Aversion – the Imaginary of the Phanar at Three Romanian Writers
Fascination and Aversion – the Imaginary of the Phanar at Three Romanian Writers

Summary/Abstract: Although generally pejorative, associated with negativity and aversion, in literary imagery, several aspects of the fascinating Phanar and of the adjacent imaginary, are relevant, starting from the positive etymological implications in modern Greek. Shifting from a bright origin to a dark representation, it becomes a multi-faceted cultural symbol, with strong stylistic and semantic reverberations in literary discourse. Its imagemes, the dominant imagistic nuclei, under the sign of the Phanar as a phenomenon, an appearance, a fantasy, subscribe to the (an)historical Phanar, the Phanar as a state of mind, as a modus vivendi, as a specific atmosphere, but also as a (de)limitation of the text. The three selected novels, Craii de Curtea-Veche by Mateiu Caragiale, Fanar by Horia Stancu and Manuscrisul fanariot by Doina Ruști, somewhat express the symbolic, aesthetic and ideological functions of the Fanar through the prism of the concept of re-readability. In these writings, the Phanariot world is marked by moral ambiguity, duplicity and decadence, and the strategies of survival and domination are based on fear, manipulation and corruption. The Phanar is depicted as a space of hypocrisy and multiple facets. Fears and threats always arise, tools of control and intimidation are used: executions, exile, imprisonment, poisoning. Bribery also plays an ambivalent role, as a tool of negotiation and influence. There are various Phanariot plans and tactics: delay, false promises, manipulation, betrayal, and information trading are practiced, and political intrigue becomes the central mechanism of holding power. As for attitudes and states of mind, there is a permanent oscillation between naïveté and suspicion, between self-humiliation and excessive pride, reflecting emotional and moral instability. The Phanariotes have many character flaws, among which indolence, indecision, whims, boredom stand out, but also the lust for power, greed, denunciation, cruelty, as traits of a corrupt and decadent society. Thus, in a broader sense, a kind of Phanariot hybris arises in the three novels as a decadent and humanized form of ancient pride, expressing deep human weaknesses rather than a tragic destiny. The fictional Phanar ultimately becomes a symbol of the capitulation of the human condition, of a multicultural synthesis and also of an aesthetic ambiguity, with profound resonances in these times

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