Traumă şi iniţiere la Norman Manea
Trauma and initiation at Norman Manea

Summary/Abstract: The paper aims to illustrate the initiatory experience of the poet Ovid, exiled to Tomis, in Dacia, and his spiritual metamorphoses during the exile. Ovid goes through a double initiation, in an unknown geographical area, but also in the Getae-Dacians culture. He discovers in the barbarian territory of the exile the spiritual superiority of a people with a different religion than that of the Ancient Rome: the faith in Zamolxis, the unique god, a religion which precedes the birth of Christianity. The spiritual centre of the world, represented by Ancient Rome, moves to the edge, Dacia. Getae-Dacians’ faith spiritualizes the space, one of the elements that determines a nation’s cultural identity and shape their way of life. The poet’s initiatory way is also a road to himself, where he finds his deep self being and has unit revelation, during the mystical experience from Poiana Mărului. The poet’s repentance, his conversion to Dacians’ religion, is anticipated by travels and discoveries with initiatory value, by signs and premonitions. The poet’s spiritual change occurs due to the loss of faith in Roman gods, of the inner need of metaphysics and due to the confrontation with death under various internal and external facets of otherness.

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