Genul fantastic în context totalitar. Convergențe în reprezentarea anti-eroului la Mihail Bulgakov și la Matei Vișniec
The fantastic genre in a totalitarian context. Convergences in the representation of the antihero in Mikhail Bulgakov’s and Matei Vișniec’s works

Summary/Abstract: Our article examines the convergences and divergences in the portrayal of the antihero in Mikhail Bulgakov’s Maestrul și Margarita [The Master and Margarita] and Matei Vișniec’s Sindromul de panică în Orașul Luminilor [The Panic Syndrome in the City of Lights]. Both novels construct intricate narrative frameworks where the antihero emerges through multiple characters, establishing an intertextual connection between the two works. By applying contemporary methodologies to analyze social and cultural contexts, this study highlights the significance of intertextual relationships while exploring the semantic dimensions of both texts beyond their structural similarities. In both works, the antihero embodies the intersection of social traumas induced by totalitarianism and playful, non-monstrous fantastic elements. Additionally, the urban setting – a prominent topos in postwar literature – undergoes a comparable process of fictionalization in both novels. Through the antihero’s compensatory positive attributes, an ethical framework is reestablished within the narrative universe. Bulgakov’s fantastic imagery sets a new paradigm, which, when compared with Vișniec’s approach, underscores the shared motifs and modalities of the fantastic, illuminating the drama of modern humanity in a world literature context.

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