Prace komisji nauk.pdf - Instytut Filologii Angielskiej Uniwersytetu ...

short-story A Shadow – where a young man stops at the pub, on a frosty
evening, to find a man who could guide him through the immense snow-drifts to
get home) or are either constantly looking for the company of other people
trying to elude from the oppressive loneliness they live in.
The house is another fixed space present in Sadoveanu’s short-stories and
it can be either a sociofungal or sociopetal space depending on the mood of the
characters and the unfolding of events, a feature which does not seem to have
any connection with the dimensions of the house, its external or internal beauty.
Ion Ursu, a peasant, the eponymous main character of the short-story, directs his
eyes towards his cottage before leaving for the town, a cottage which seemed to
stare at him for a long period of time as if asking him to do something to escape
from his poverty, a cottage which rejects him but calls him back at the same
time and finds him responsible for the degradation it was in: “The second day,
when he looked at his shattered, leaning to one side cottage, which kept staring
at him with malicious eyes how he was struggling to manage, he did not find it
to be as ugly as before”(Ion Ursu p. 277). Although he feels rejection in this
space which is now a sociofungal one, there is a feeling of love in Ion Ursu’s
eyes when looking at his small cottage, which in the text is marked at the
linguistic level by the use of the diminutive “small”, which appeals to the
sadness in one’s heart when having to leave one’s birthplace as “one’s home is
where one’s heart is”. “It is our first universe. It is a real cosmos” (Bachelard
2005: 36). For the old countryman, the house was not only a mere object, a place
where he could find shelter during storms or other dangers. The house was more
a spiritual space - a place promoting values. First of all the peasant’s house is a
warm welcoming place, a womb for material and spiritual values. Whether it
concerns the interior, the yard or the garden it remains a gifted place which
gives uniqueness to the human being (Ciubotaru 1998: 25). The house means
family, identity and mentality at the same time. Ion Ursu cannot leave his
birthplace for the town without saying farewell to his cottage, which he loves so
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