Contents

1. Essential terms and concepts

2. "Miss Christina" Mircea Eliade

3. "Miss Christina" in literature and cinematography

4. “Luceafărul”(“The morning star”) Mihai Eminescu

5. Adam and Eve" Liviu Rebrean

6. The fantastic between cosmic myth and reincarnation

1.Essential terms and concepts

"Miss Christina" Mircea Eliade

"Miss Christina" is a fantastic novella written by Mircea Eliade, which explores the theme of the strigoi (a type of undead spirit in Romanian folklore) and impossible love beyond death. The young Egor Pașchievici, invited to the Moscu family estate, gradually discovers the mysterious presence of Miss Christina, a deceased but revered relative who returns in the form of a ghost. Killed during the 1907 peasant uprisings, Christina manifests as a strigoi who longs for the love of a living man.The fantastic, in Todorov’s sense, arises through the intrusion of the supernatural into a realistic setting, maintaining the ambiguity between dream and reality.

Egor wavers between his love for his fiancée, Sanda, and his attraction to the seductive spirit of Christina. Folkloric influences and the symbolism of desire heighten the narrative tension. Christina becomes an archetype of the femme fatale, but also an embodiment of death that refuses to accept resignation. The ending confirms the supernatural nature of the apparitions, emphasizing the idea that the past continues to haunt the present. The novella remains an emblematic work of interwar Romanian fantastic literature.

"Miss Christina" Mircea Eliade in literature and cinematography

    The film adaptation of “Miss Christina”, directed by Alexandru Maftei (2013), brings visual elements to the forefront that emphasize the symbolism of desire and psychological tension. The film places increased focus on the ambiguous relationship between Egor and Christina, more explicitly suggesting the mysterious attraction between them, while maintaining an atmosphere of mystery and the supernatural. In the novella, this symbolism of desire is rendered more subtly, through dreams, ambiguous gestures, and the protagonist’s inner unease.

Literature allows for a deeper exploration of Egor’s inner conflict, his hesitation between reason and fascination with the unknown. In contrast, the film translates these states into visual imagery and a tense atmosphere, making them more accessible to a broader audience.The book offers an introspective experience, inviting the reader to discover the boundaries between reality and the fantastic on their own, while the film adaptation turns this ambiguity into an intense visual story that emphasizes the symbolism of desire and the attraction between life and death.

“Luceafarul”(“The morning star”) Mihai Eminescu

                         The poem “The Morning Star” (“Luceafărul”) by                                Mihai Eminescu tells the story of an impossible love                between Cătălina, a mortal girl, and Hyperion, an immortal cosmic being who symbolizes the isolated and unreachable genius. Cătălina calls to him in her dreams, drawn by his otherworldly charm, but when Hyperion descends to the earthly world, she rejects him, unable to accept a love that transcends the limits of reality.

Rooted in the register of mythological fantasy, the poem leaves no room for ambiguity: the Morning Star is a real being within the logic of the text, who travels through the universe, speaks with the  Demiurge, and refuses to become human, choosing the absolute                     over earthly love.

The poem becomes a meditation on the human condition, aspiration, and the solitude of genius, reinterpreting astral myths and romantic motifs such as Lucifer or the misunderstood genius. The ending highlights the definitive rupture between the two worlds: Hyperion remains above, eternally radiant but unreachable, while Cătălina returns to her concrete life, unable to reach the ideal. The poem emphasizes the contrast between ideal and reality, dream and limitation