THE EFFECTS OF LITERAL AND SYMBOLIC MASKS IN MARIANA FLAIȘER’S MĂȘTILE DE LA POARTA INFERNULUI (2024)
THE EFFECTS OF LITERAL AND SYMBOLIC MASKS IN MARIANA FLAIȘER’S MĂȘTILE DE LA POARTA INFERNULUI (2024)

Summary/Abstract: One of the most recent publications of “Grigore T. Popa” Publishing House in Iasi, Mariana Flaișer’s book, Măștile de la Poarta Infernului (2024) seems to have emerged from the author’s need to see what happens to individuals when they are confronted with hardships, wars, endemics and pandemics, catastrophic events by and large. The author tries to carry out this research by using arts and fiction as tools to investigate the human psyche. Mariana Flaișer discovers that during these difficult times artists come back to their familiar places that enables them to create. The act of creation during these times follows the pattern of denial which the author identifies as the natural response. Denial or the fictionalization of the harsh reality is meant to help us to survive. This is not such an unfamiliar technique in fiction. Mariana Flaișer goes even further to overlap the idea of denial with the mask (that may take several forms, from the one used for protection up to those used in carnivals) that people want to wear with the aim of hiding their real feelings and thoughts. Mariana Flaișer’s book is a thorough description of how our health choices are culturally dictated, coming with examples from world literature and various forms of arts that are meant to support the above-mentioned ideas.

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