THE RHETORICS OF (UN)GENDERED SPACE IN NICOLAE FILIMON’S OLD AND NEW UPSTARTS
THE RHETORICS OF (UN)GENDERED SPACE IN NICOLAE FILIMON’S OLD AND NEW UPSTARTS

Summary/Abstract: Nicolae Filimon clearly confesses his propensity to study ‘human faces,’ even to the prejudice of ‘the sense of nature’: ‘My objective when travelling is to be rather focused on people than on things.’ The writer builds up a system of correspondence between the characters’ nature and what can be read on their faces. The writer assumes the role of a guide from inside his characters: he thought that the best method was to make his presence noticeable at all times. In presenting his characters, Nicolae Filimon uses Balzac’s technique characterized by an objective and impersonal discourse; however he derogates from it on several occasions. Nicolae Filimon shows several times his inability to totally penetrate the characters’ feelings. This writer, who is not a very good soul reader, will become an expert as a face reader. The author admits his limits: he does not know what happens in his characters’souls, but he is sure he can see the reflection of his characters’ feelings in their mimics. While the novelist who describes moods which are not externally reflected can be suspected of subjectivity, the physiognomy specialised novelist guarantees his objectivity by studying the reflection of the consciousness.

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