Ethos, ethnos and ontic – axis mundi of Mihail Sadoveanu’s work

Abstract

For Sadoveanu, folk creation represents the heart of every civilization. The writer argues with discernment in favor of the idea of integrating folk culture and ancient representations into genuine literary works. The rhapsodist, the maker of ancestral values, is, in the author’s conception, identical with the solomonar, the magician, the healer, the astrologer, the treasure seeker, and even the well digger – occupations considered mythical and sacred. Hence the strong thread of sacrality that runs through his work. Sadoveanu’s humanity creates the impression of timelessness, being introduced into mysterious realms, into the world of living shadows, as in the case of the semi-legendary characters from The Land Beyond the Mist. From the perspective of folk philosophy, and through ethical and aesthetic modes of expression, the writer is a fundamental visionary creator of national literature and of universal poetic art, which defines him in a totalizing way. Sadoveanu’s artistic universe is shaped from folkloric traditions and from old popular books of wisdom, and it is brought to life with the artistry of a genius creator. His epic world has folk origins and represents a symbiosis of myth, legend, and balladic spirit – an osmosis between the everyday and the eternal, between the profane and the sacred. The blending, the “fusion” of the real and the mythical, the projection of concrete facts into a fabulous framework – all this gives his work a constant sense of both present and past.