Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Vol. 2 (51) - 2009 Series IV: Philology and Cultural Studies

DUILIU ZAMFIRESCU’S SHORT STORIES

1 Andreea PETRE

Abstract: Duiliu Zamfirescu’s short stories mark an important moment in the evolution of the Romanian genre by the sober, equilibrated construction. The author’s interest hovers over the individual drama, the conflict that springs between the character and his environment or inside the character’s conscience. The search for the inner identity is depicted in the short story Good night (Noapte bună), caused by love, one of the disturbing elements which helps the author to investigate the mechanisms of seduction and the ‘enigmatic behaviour of the woman in love’. In Durand’s terms, compared to Caragiale’ extroverted heroes, D. Zamfirescu’s characters are subtly re- placed in the romantic patterns.

Key words: short story, individual drama, conflict, romantic patterns, realist notation, love theme.

1. Introduction harmonious, at least it was acceptable for the character. Consistently oscillating between the One of the disturbing elements, which influence of the sentimental produces the turmoil in the hero’s (Alexandre Dumas, Paul de Kock, George conscience, is love, a theme which is Sand), on the one hand, and the realist present in three of the most valuable of D. notation, (Balzac, Maupassant, Zola), on Zamfirescu’s short-stories: Noapte bună the other hand, also a keen reader of (Good Night), Spre mare (To the Sea), Tolstoi and Tugheniev, Duiliu Zamfirescu Subprefectul (The Vice-Governor). is successful in the realization of an important moment in the evolution of the 2. She and he in the “Noapte bună” Romanian short-story, not only by (Good Night) anticipation of his most accomplished novels, Viaţa la ţară (Life at the Country), Noapte bună (Good Night) is the first Tănase Scatiu, but also by the sober, short-story published in ‘Convorbiri equilibrated construction, realised with literare’ in 1886, and, from a letter ‘economy of epic and descriptive addressed to Maiorescu, the mentor of devices’(Zaciu, 1967, 94). , comes forth the fact that the The author’s interest hovers over the mentor had read the text and interfered in it individual drama, the conflict that springs before its publication in ‘Convorbiri between the character and his environment literare’. where, for some time, he seemed perfectly The first part of the text gravitates fit. Or, if the liaison with this existential around the hero, the President of the Court environment was not one of the most

1 Dept. of Foreign Languages, Transilvania University of Braşov.

90 Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Vol. 2 (51) - 2009 • Series IV from Hârşova, ‘a boy of thirty and a little, and, every morning, he presents himself tall, dark-faced and well-built ’. at the distance meeting with Aişè, the The man, depicted with obvious irony, is qadi’s daughter. a Don Juan of , cheerful, with a From this point forward, the entire passion for high-life, lover of women, analysis shall be focused on the emotions courteous, shallow and trite. ‘The man was of the girl, who becomes the main not mean by nature, but he was like those character of the novel. The unique innumerable young who laugh, experience Aişè lives makes her evade with or without cause, at everybody; court, from the daily routine and overflow with in Bucharest, the entire feminine an extraordinary inner energy. What is for population, going through all ranks: from him one more adventure, for her turns into the shop-assistants to the most refined love. The apparition of the man manifests ladies’ (Zamfirescu, 1988, 63). as an irresistible force for the girl. His The irony of fate carries the young man tenacity to see her every morning will be to Dobrogea, and as the President of the followed by a risky date for the two Court, he is condemned to a painful exile, protagonists, but not lacking humour: by contrast between the Bucharest’s dressed in women’s Turkish pants, too ebullition and the quiet life of Hârşova. short to hide his own pants and boots, Vitalist by nature, the man does not helped by an old Greek woman, the despair, and the solitary contemplation of president manages to enter Aişè’s house. the Danube doesn’t determine him to Only now he can fully admire her beauty: search inside himself for his inner identity, ‘Her white round face started to enlighten nor directs him towards the deciphering of with inner delight, which painted her a great mystery of the universe. He sits on cheeks with thin rose lines’ (Zamfirescu, the shore and becomes a gentler and 1988, 67). simpler man, not necessarily more Left alone, the man assaults the girl with profound. passionate hugs and kisses. The girl lives In this context, one night he sees a young the physical closeness ecstatically; she Turkish woman. His reaction to her sight goes from feelings of abandon to near is typical for a shallow character – he death experience, she is left motionless, doesn’t see her features from a close without reactions: ‘Than, he lay besides look, so he doesn’t know whether she is her and started to kiss her again, not beautiful or not, but it suffices that she is knowing what he was doing anymore, his a Turkish woman and a promise for an senses enraptured by the smell of her rose exotic chase: ‘That he would like her perfume; to call her mildly by her name; to from a close look, he had no doubt’ press his body close to hers; to caress her (Zamfirescu, 1988, 64). cheek and hair – and she did not seem to The love, for her, and the adventure, wake ’(Zamfirescu, 1988, 68). for him, takes place from the distance, at Duiliu Zamfirescu is intuitive of the first, as a chase for a glimpse, when the feminine soul, is ‘preoccupied with the two heroes spy on and study each other, enigmatic behaviour of the woman in to move on, daily, with significant love’, as Nicolae Manolescu said gestures. More and more thrilled by the (Manolescu, 1966, 43). And, he sometimes apparition of the girl with ‘cheeks as succeeds to save the text from the clichés white as milk, and hazel lustrous hair’, of sentimental literature. His merit, with ‘a white arm and a round, full followed, of course, by his elbow’, the president neglects his job accomplishments, lies in the search for the Petre, A.: Duiliu Zamfirescu’s Short Stories 91 soul, as one of his heroines underlined, allows her the dreams and the solitary soul which is ‘complicated, filled with effusion, and also fills the solitude. finesse and with turns’. For Aişè, the When she finds out that the man she moment of the meeting with the president loves will leave Hârşova, impulsive and is decisive. Her world, built more on heroic, risking her reputation, Aişè takes maidenly dreams, awakes. The apparition the old accomplice with her and waits, of a new woman arouses the pleasure of freezing, for the sledge which takes the the hunt in the man’s soul. His assault is in president away. The gesture is fact connected with the active role in overwhelming for her. Frightened and seduction (Lipovetski, 2000, 60) a role frozen, she wants to explain her audacity to which demands tenacity and extreme the man: if she was not certain she sees daring, even risk. The purpose is curiosity; him for the last time, she would not bar his the cause for the approach of the girl is way to stop the sledge. Crossed and boredom and a slight desire for compassionate, he, who has already competition. After he meets her and the forgotten her, makes promises both know experience is consumed, it is almost are untrue. passenger, and more, the girl’s exoticism In the end, Aişè repeats the words he and freshness only boost his conqueror said to her the night of their only date: ego: ‘When he got out from Aişè, the ‘Good night…’ emotion he felt because of her lived only This ending opens the perspectives of for a few moments, and, once at the gate of interpretations, and the reader is left with the quadi’s house, he started to think how the possibility to continue the story of each to tell his friends from Bucharest about his destiny separately. new and strange victory over women’ The short-story successfully reflects the (Zamfirescu, 1988, 69). programme the author draws up in the On the other side, Aişè has an initiatory preface to the volume. In fact, Dan C. experience. The longer she thinks about Mihăilescu notices, in The Essential the differences that tell them apart, the Dictionary of the Romanian Writers, that more intense her feelings become. The Duiliu Zamfirescu’s works are the works absence, which is turned by love into of ‘the first programmatic writer, not only presence, makes Aişè lose herself in day- asserted, but also accomplished (…) in the dreaming: ‘The farthest from her to him ’ (Dan C. Mihăilescu, and the more differences were disclosed 2000, 913). between their souls, the more attracted she Aişè, even if she cannot read or write felt.’ and lives a simple life, following the The girl’s transformation, the passage ‘ancestral customs’, belongs to the from day-dreaming to conscious category, beloved by the author, of the womanhood is closely followed by the ‘superior ones’, who feel the ‘unnamed author. longing’ for an ideal. Unique in a Because of the winter and the cold, but rudimentary universe, she is one of the also because he started to lack interest for chosen ones (as the fairy tales heroes are), his new conquest, the president doesn’t she is not afraid to look life straight in the make any attempt to meet Aişè. The girl face and ‘loves danger, which means the voluptuously lives from her fantasies, breach of the ethical and religious nurturing her desires with his image and conduct’. the music of harmonica, a refuge which

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3. Conclusion References

A peculiarity of Zamfirescu’s works 1. Mihăilescu, C. Dan. Dicţionarul must be clearly distinguished, as it esenţial al scriitorilor români. influences most of his characters, men or Bucureşti: Editura Albastros, 2000. women. This is, comparing to the works of 2. Lipovetski, Gilles. A treia femeie. Caragiale, a ‘conversion’ of the characters Bucureşti: Editura Univers, 2000. to the values of intimacy. If Caragiale’s 3. Manolescu, Nicolae. Lecturi infidele. heroines ‘conquer’ the city, being Bucureşti: EPLU, 1966. characterised by extroversion, in Durand’s 4. Zaciu, Mircea. Masca geniului. terms, at Duiliu Zamfirescu can be Bucureşti: EPLU, 1967. observed, on the contrary, a subtly nuanced 5. Zamfirescu, Duiliu. Nuvele. Bucureşti: ‘re-placement’ of the characters in the Editura Minerva, 1988. patterns of Romanticism.