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The Renaissance genre of utopia has its forerunners in the extraordinary voyages of the Roman Empire’s literature. Two of these adventure novels, Wonders beyond Thulé by Antonius Diogenes and True Histories by Lucian, from the 2nd century CE, stage different places with utopian characteristics (Hyperborea, Pythagora’s and Zamolxis’ communities, the Island of the Blessed, the Island of Dreams) or early SF traits (the Moon, the Sun, several aerial cities). Nourished by the rich imaginary of the ancient paradoxographia (historical, geographical and literary texts about the mirabilia of the East), these texts display a tremendous freedom of invention. Intended to copy or parody previous writings, in order to entertain and please their readership, they ignore all Aristotelian precepts of structure or the need for a global unified meaning, and develop random narrative scenarios, which I would characterize as “anarchetypal”.

Apuleius’ Metamorphoses. 2. Anarchetypal Freedom of the Novel. In this paper I apply a concept I have coined and defined—the anarchetype—to the ancient Greek and Latin novel, more specifically to Apuleius’ Metamorphoses. The text suffers, in my view, from the tension between two contrary formal tendencies, one which is archetypal, another which is anarchetypal. In a paper published in the previous issue of this journal, I have analyzed the first structural constraint, the archetypal one. In the present paper I focus on the anarchetypal tendency of the novel. Apuleius’ assumed intention of writing an entertaining text, in the wake of the “Milesian tales”, offers him the opportunity to treat freely the epic material, with no regards to Aristotle’s principles and to the canon of high literature. The haphazard fragmentation of the linear narrative and the plethora of additional stories give the text the aspect of an anarchetypal rhizome-like domino game. Metamorfozele lui Apuleius. 2. Destructurarea anarhetipală a romanului. Doresc în acest studiu să aplic un concept pe care l-am creat și l-am definit—cel de anarhetip—romanului grec și latin antic, cu precădere Metamorfozelor lui Apuleius. În opinia mea, textul suferă tensiunea dintre două tendințe formale contrare, una arhetipală cealaltă anarhetipală. Într-o lucrare publicată în numărul precedent al Studia UBB, am analizat tendința structurală arhetipală. În această lucrare mă voi apleca asupra tendinței contrare, de factură anarhetipală. Intenția declarată a lui Apuleius de a scrie un text plăcut cititorilor, din seria “povestirilor milesiene”, îi oferă posibilitatea de a trata liber materia epică, fără să țină cont de principiile lui Aristotel și de canonul literaturii înalte. Fragmentarea aleatorie a liniei narative și pletora de povești adiționale îi dau textului aspectul unui joc de domino rizomic, de tip anarhetipic. Cuvinte-cheie: romanul antic grec și latin, Apuleius, Metamorfozele, culte de mistere, călătorie inițiatică, arhetip, anarhetip Article history: Received 01 April 2024; Revised 03 June 2024; Accepted 05 June 2024; Available online 30 September 2024; Available print 30 September 2024.

Apuleius’ Metamorphoses. 1. The Archetypal Initiation Pattern. In this paper I apply a concept I have coined and defined – the anarchetype – to the ancient Greek and Latin novel, more specifically to Apuleius’ Metamorphoses. The text suffers, in my view, from the tension between two contrary formal tendencies, one which is archetypal, another which is anarchetypal. The first structural constraint is the archetypal one. In contrast to the popular narrative Onos, that Apuleius takes as his epic source, The Golden Ass receives a strong organizing pattern, that of an initiation journey. Transformed by mistake, within a sorcery ritual, into an ass, Lucius suffers a series of adventures and encounters with different mystery and philosophical cults (Dea Syria, Dionysos, Isis, Medio-platonism) which bring him back to the human, and then divine condition. This rite of passage offers an archetypal structure to the novel. Metamorfozele lui Apuleius. 1. Modelul arhetipic al inițierii. Doresc în acest studiu să aplic un concept pe care l-am creat și l-am definit – cel de anarhetip – romanului grec și latin antic, cu precădere Metamorfozelor lui Apuleius. În opinia mea, textul e marcat de tensiunea dintre două tendințe formale contrare, una arhetipală cealaltă anarhetipală. În această primă parte a studiului voi analiza tendința structurală arhetipală. În contrast cu povestirea populară Onos din care se inspiră Apuleius, Măgarul de aur primește din partea autorului un pattern structural puternic, cel al călătoriei inițiatice. Transformat din greșeală, în cadrul unui ritual vrăjitoresc, într-un măgar, Lucius trece printr-o serie de aventuri și întâlniri cu diferite culte de mistere și filosofice (Dea Syria, Dionysos, Isis, medio-platonism) care îl aduc înapoi la condiția umană și apoi la cea divină. Acest rit de trecere îi conferă romanului o structură arhetipală. Cuvinte-cheie: Romanul antic grec și latin; Apuleius, Metamorfozele, Culte de mistere; călătorie inițiatică; arhetip; anarhetip. Article history: Received 01 April 2024; Revised 03 June 2024; Accepted 05 June 2024; Available online 25 June 2024; Available print 30 June 2024.

While poststructuralist attacks against structured forms freed literature from the dominance of Aristotle’s canon, twentieth-century evolutions in physics and cosmology brought about a new world vision which also deeply influenced modern authors. If the universe was no longer Newtonian, linear and predictable, and if literature was to “imitate” this new reality, world-texts were also supposed to explore anarchical and complex landscapes. To be able to investigate these anti- structure texts, literary and art critics adapted analytical tools from mathematical and physical theories – modern literature was associated mainly with the theory of quanta, and postmodern literature with chaos theory. In this paper, I engage with some of the main mathematical and physical concepts used as instruments in literary analysis, such as non-Euclidian geometries, the field concept, relativity, entropy, uncertainty principles, fractals, chaos, strange attractors, etc.

Although a geographically small continent, Europe has fostered, over the past millennia, the emergence of an impressive number of languages, cultures and civilizations. This constitutes its richness and also its challenge: how should all these local, regional and national cultural identities be harmonized and integrated, without destroying, but rather conserving and enhancing them? A seminal concept in the investigation of the cultural, literary and artistic representations is “the imaginary” (the equivalent of the French term l’imaginaire), as opposed to the traditional concepts of “imagination” and “fantasy”. Cultural imaginaries express the relations between individuals and groups, their representations of the self and the others, of the geographical and historical milieus, of the planet and the universe. The images of Europe, positive or negative, global or fragmented, define the conscious and unconscious attitudes and comportments, hopes and fears concerning the individual and common destiny of European peoples.

From Antiquity to Modernity, the topic of the Amazons questioned the relationships between men and women, triggering a series of anthropological, social and cultural issues. In the wake of the second-wave feminism of the ’60, resonating with the Women’s Liberation Movement, several authors revisited this topos: Monique Wittig, Les Guérillères (1969), Joanna Russ, The Female Man (1975), Marge Piercy, Woman on the Edge of Time (1976), Joan Slonczewski, A Door into Ocean (1986). In this paper I focus on Joanna Russ’s “polytopia”, and Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time, the only utopia (to my knowledge) in which the ideal society is situated not in a different space or time, but in the (delusional) mind of the protagonist. My thesis is that, in these texts, the Amazones’ utopia is a “thought experience”, a demonstration by the absurd warning against the dangers of perpetuating a society that discriminates women.

Ce travail se propose de distinguer trois grandes méta-typologies définissant trois structures imaginaires (artistiques, littéraires, etc.) qui se partagent la culture européenne et mondiale. Je pars du concept d’archétype, passant en revue les acceptions qu’il a reçues au cours de l’histoire des idées : métaphysique (essence ontologique, comme les Idées de Platon), psychologique (matrices inconscientes, comme chez Jung) et culturelle (invariant, comme les loci de Curtius). Je traite comme archétypales les œuvres qui ont une structure centrée, dépendant d’un sens unique, qui se résument en un scénario explicatif cohérent. Par l’anarchétype, je désigne les structures anarchiques qui refusent le centre et le logos, qui évoluent d’une manière imprévisible, dans des séquences qui ne peuvent pas recevoir une interprétation linéaire. On pourrait comparer les structures archétypales à des systèmes solaires, alors que les structures anarchétypales rappellent plutôt le gaz cosmique résultant de l’explosion d’une supernova. Enfin, par l’eschatype (du grec eschatos, eschata, eschaton = le dernier), je comprends les structures qui se constituent dans le temps, d’une manière téléologique, en vue d’un sens final qui n’est pas évident dès le principe. Si les œuvres archétypales sont construites sur un scénario initial, les corpus d’œuvres eschatypiques n’arrivent à un modèle explicatif qu’après une évolution interne. La démarche de distinguer ces trois paradigmes me paraît nécessaire parce que, faute d’instruments d’analyse, le canon occidental risque de ne valoriser que les structures archétypales (et en moindre mesure les structures eschatypiques), et de rejeter et déprécier comme des aberrations et des échecs les œuvres anarché-typiques.

Dans ses romans « historiques », Umberto Eco revisite, de manière postmoderne, le grand bassin sémantique des « merveilles » (mirabilia) de la littérature médiévale et de la Renaissance. Plus spécifiquement, dans L’Île du jour d’avant, il travaille sur la toile de fond de l’imaginaire cosmographique de l’âge des grandes « reconnaissances ». Les aventures du protagoniste suivent un trajet initiatique vers un « centre sacré » de la mappemonde, le méridien zéro. En même temps, les péripéties extérieures sont le corrélatif d’une évolution intérieure, que nous analysons avec les instruments de la psychologie analytique jungienne. La colombe orange qui jaillit de l’île au moment culminant du roman, ayant les caractéristiques d’un Phénix — oiseau de la rédemption et la renaissance — est un symbole de l’accomplissement du personnage, de l’atteinte de son soi mystique.

Avec l’essor et le succès croissant de la littérature de voyages, nourrie par les grandes explorations et découvertes, les utopistes de l’Âge classique ont commencé à s’intéresser plus au sujet épique qu’à l’encadrement rhétorique de la relation utopique. Avec comme résultat des utopies réalistes dans lesquelles les narrateurs, en imitant le schéma de la littérature de voyages et d’exploration, prétendent avoir découvert des civilisations exotiques idéales, crédibles et applicables, qu’ils offrent en modèle à leurs contemporains. Les principaux procédés de construction des « utopies réalistes » sont la sélection et l’extrapolation utopique. Travaillant sur l’image de son monde historique, l’utopiste fait un choix des traits négatifs et positifs et les regroupe dans deux espaces complémentaires. Les caractéristiques jugées mauvaises sont rassemblées et isolées dans la description de « notre » civilisation (d’habitude l’Europe), celles bénéfiques sont regroupées et extrapolées dans la configuration de la civilisation exotique. L’exclusion des éléments désagréables, nuisibles et funestes soumet la fiction utopique à une « réduction au positif », ce qui fait d’elle un univers fictionnel eudémonique, capable de susciter l’adhésion rationnelle, morale et affective des personnages, ainsi que des lecteurs.

During 17th-18th centuries, the pressure exercised by combined critiques due to religious ideology and later on by rationalist mentality rendered utopias suspect to the eyes of many authors. Christian counter-utopists, ranging from Joseph Hall to Jonathan Swift, accepted and adopted the dogmas related to the Lost Earthly Paradise and Man’s Cursed City, transforming the utopian space into hell on earth, into monstrous kingdoms that would rival Dante’s circles. In turn, humanist counter-utopists, skeptical regarding man’s capacity of establishing a perfect society, found other means of expressing their incredulity as well as their sarcasms. They imagined madmen islands and kingdoms of fouls, demonstrating, by reductio ab absurdum, that the application of the ideals of reason to social programs would only led to nightmarish societies.

Mircea Eliade and Psycho-Historical Methodology. Starting from Thomas Kuhn’s seminal work on scientific paradigms, the venerable concept of Weltanschauung (world-vision) can be upgraded in order to reach a psycho-historical understanding of cultural evolutions. In this paper I intend to adapt to contemporary cultural hermeneutics a schema proposed by Nietzsche and developed by Freudian and Jungian psychoanalysis. In this model, the relations between the individual consciousness and the unconscious offer the blueprint for describing the dynamics of the collective psyche. The model states that, when a culture (religion, etc.) has been overruled by a new dominant culture (religion), it remains active by way of survivals and reminiscences (Aby Warburg, Walter Benjamin) and eventually, after a period of persecution and censorship, it will re-emerge in a new form, transformed by the general principles of the dominant culture but nevertheless contesting and challenging it. I will attempt to show that such a psychohistorical dialectic has occurred six successive times in the history of European civilization. REZUMAT. Mircea Eliade și hermeneutica psiho-istorică. Studiul esențial al lui Thomas Kuhn asupra paradigmelor științifice a permis aducerea la zi a mai vechiului concept de Weltanschauung (viziune asupra lumii) în analiza evoluțiilor culturale. În această lucrare îmi propun să adaptez la hermeneuticile culturale contemporane un alt model, propus de către Nietzsche și amplificat de către psihanaliza freudiană și jungiană. Este vorba de un model psiho-istoric care presupune că relațiile dintre conștiința și inconștientul colectiv urmăresc aceleași mecanisme precum cele din psihismul individual. Schema presupune că o cultură (sau o religie) care a fost dislocată de o altă cultură (religie) va sfârși prin a reveni la suprafață, după o perioadă de cenzură, de persecuție și de marginalizare, sub o formă nouă, adaptată criteriilor culturii dominante. Voi încerca să demonstrez că asemenea re-emergențe psiho-istorice au avut loc, de-a lungul civilizației europene, în șase mari perioade istorice. Cuvinte-cheie: psiho-istorie, Mircea Eliade, cultură reemergentă, civilizația europeană, istoria religiilor

In this paper, I try to coin a new concept: the anarchetype. The anarchetype is, from a formal point of view, a dissolute or exploded archetype. Generally speaking, archetypal literary works have a structure, a logos, a homogenous pattern which gives them a global meaning. This pattern could be inherited from the cultural tradition (O’Neill revisiting the Electra legend, James Joyce rewriting the Odyssey, etc.), or generated by the genre during its evolution (the Bildungsroman, etc.). Symmetrically, anarchetypal works or bodies of texts appear as anarchical and chaotic. They do not accept a central organizing meaning, they evolve on different contradictory levels. Using a cosmological metaphor, I would compare the archetype with a solar system, in which the planets harmoniously move around the central sun, while an anarchetype is similar to a galactic cloud of dust before its accretion in a solar system or resulting from the explosion of a supernova. The complementary terms archetype/anarchetype partially recall Deleuze’s opposition between “root” and “rhizomes”.