CONCEPTUL „SPIRITUS LOCI” REFLECTAT ÎN LITERATURĂ
THE CONCEPT “SPIRITUS LOCI” REFLECTED IN LITERATURE

Author(s): Elena Negoiță
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Psychology, Communication studies, Comparative Study of Literature
Published by: Biblioteca Ştiinţifică a Universităţii de Stat Alecu Russo
Keywords: genius loci/ spiritus loci; communication;
Summary/Abstract: Since the oldest of times, people have tried to comprehend the environment,in all its aspects: sky, soil, water, natural phenomena and animals. The human beingrealized that it cannot compete with the power of the universe. Unable to conquer itsforces, energies, beasts, elements, mankind wanted to tame them. Or at least to findsome explanations for them, in order to possess knowledge on how to avoid them.The human race tried to grasp the enigma of lightning and thunder peal, the mysteryof earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, it tried to decipher the secrets of the worldthat’s invisible to the human eye, to unravel the riddles of metaphysics. An elementof the intangible that caught the attention of the human societies is genius loci/spiritus loci. Over the past centuries, the Latin expression “genius of the place/ spiritof the place” has earned various acceptances.Regardless of the multiple meanings of the phrase, “genius loci” alwaysinteracted with people that attempted to peacefully communicate with the telluricenergy. This mutual conditioning is found in multiple literary works, from variouscontinents. The writers of the magic realism illustrated the human being’sdependence over a certain place, but also the human’s mark over a terrestrialsurface.

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