Matei Călinescu – The Life and Opinions of Zacharias Lichter or the Silent Path of Liberty
Matei Călinescu – The Life and Opinions of Zacharias Lichter or the Silent Path of Liberty

Summary/Abstract: The study aims at providing a multilayered reading of Matei Călinescu’s novel, Viaţa şi opiniile lui Zacharias Lichter (The Life and Opinions of Zacharias Lichter), by following the themes and motifs (among them, the recurrent theme of freedom), as well as the complex symbolic patterns with which the author, who is both a literary theorist and a creative writer, operates. The main character, Zacharias Lichter is responsible for the literary impact of the book, since the “prototype” is rather uncommon. Of Rimbauldian origin, he embodies the image of the interrogative mind beyond ages and historic-political contexts, being a projection of an ethical consciousness which manifest itself in atypical ways, incongruent with the norms and habitudes which define a life merged or subjugated to the public and the common and communitarist ethics. Lichter, in his singularity, may be defined only by rupture, by ironic denial towards the sociality of the world he lives in. He is the prophet who takes his role seriously, identifies with this mask and lives, beyond it, still as a misfit and as an eccentric. Read / reread today, Matei Calinescu’s book becomes an invitation to recognition / re-acknowledgement of this moment, a true revelation for anyone who hasn’t yet succeeded in seeing himself through the pain and fear of the other, through the "sins" of the other.

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