Despre complexul de inferioritate în nuvela „Capul de zimbru” de Vasile Voiculescu
On the Inferiority Complex in the Short Story „Capul de zimbru ” (” The Bison Head” ) by Vasile Voiclescu

Summary/Abstract: This article analyses the part of Voiculescu’s ‟Capul de zimbru” presenting the German general and the young major’s visit to the Romanian command post, taking nevertheless into account and discussing some other moments of the story considered relevant for the analysis. It will particularly focus on the Romanian officers’ behaviour, bringing to light certain aspects showing their inferiority complex. The whole analysis will be carried out from the perspective of the inferiority complex, as explained by Alfred Adler in his “What Life Could Mean to You”. He makes the connexion between the sense of inferiority – typical to all human beings and in a fair amount, necessary to evolution – and a “positive suffering” that is to persist as long as a problem, an anxiety or a frustration are not dealt with and solved. For Adler the inferiority complex is an innate feeling, equivalent to a tension causing a suffering to be eliminated. He analyses the inferiority complex as an evolution of what he calls a minus situation to a plus situation. The part of the story this article focuses on does not allow following this evolution, as it just presents a sample of behaviour, a neurotic one from a psychoanalytical perspective. This neurosis would be typical to Romanians, as shown by Vasile Dem. Zamfirescu in his “Nevroza balcanică” (“Balkanic Neurosis”). He refers to Romanians’ self-hatred, as well as their feelings of pride and at the same time of shame about their identity. We will use the above mentioned fragments to illustrate these feelings.

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