Лицата на българския Минотавър в романа Физика на тъгата на Георги Господинов
The countenances of the Bulgarian Minotaur in the novel The Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to reflection on the functionalisations of the topos of Minotaur in the novel The Physics of Sorrow (2012) by Georgi Gospodinov, a Bulgarian writer. The text, which is rich in intertextual references, engages in polemics with the tradition of Western culture and undermines its ossified notions related to the figure of Minotaur and the labyrinth. In the view of the Bulgarian writer, this human–animal hybrid becomes the epitome of melancholy that is generated by the personal and common experience of being in the world and a point of reference for post-anthropocentric reflection. In turn, the space of the monster’s imprionment – the labyrinth – is in the novel an ambiguous metaphor for creative practices or intricacies that the artistic imagination has to overcome. In the article, these issues are analysed using the category of self-reference.

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