Bogdan Creţu, Râsul alienat
Rezumat
The alienated lynx
In all medieval bestiaries, the lynx is a ferocious beast, very brave and very selfish, as it burries its urine, which produces a very precious stone. It also has a very sharp look. In Cantemir’s novel, The Hieroglyphic History, this character is a mean one, as it is one of the Unicorn’s enemies. So, his fierceness is replaced by lack of personality and his courage by an coward art of avoiding the direct confrontation. In this way, a symbol of corage becomes a symbol of cowardness.
Keywords: bestiary, lynx, Dimitrie Cantemir, negative symbol
Bibliografie
- Albert the Great, Man and the Beasts. De animalibus (Books 22-26), translated by James J. Scanlan, M.D., Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, Binghamton, New York, 1987
- Cantemir, Istoria ieroglifică, în Dimitrie Cantemir, Opere, Vol. I, Divanul, Istoria ieroglifică, Hronicul vechimei a romano-moldo-vlahilor, ediţie de Virgil Cândea, Editura Academiei Române şi Univers Enciclopedic, Bucureşti, 2003
- Isidor din Sevilla, Etymologiae (Book XII), în Robert M. Grant, Early Christians and Animals, Routledge, London& New York, 1999
- Plinius, Naturalis Historia, ediţie îngrijită, prefaţă şi note de Ioana Costa, volumul al II-lea,Editura Polirom, Iaşi, 2001.
