Mircea Cărtărescu – Androgynous Figures

The present approach aims to present the classical androgyne motif and its often-contradictory significances as shown in Mircea Cărtărescu’s prose (the novel "Travesty" and the short story "The Twins"). In the era of Greek and Roman antiquity the bisexual myths and rites were setting primordial unity, seen as perfection, as a goal; this ideal became the androgyne in late cosmogonies. Modern transfigurations of the androgyne myth alter its initial positive meanings, favoring ambiguity. Playing with animus-anima does not equal attempting to return to the state of grace in illo tempore any longer, but indicates desacralization. Nevertheless, Lulu, the grotesque clown in "Travesty", leads the narrator to the truth and to healing from trauma.