From a Nautical Myth of the Terrifying to the Metaphor of the Liminal Existential Condition: Vaporul morței by Alexandru Macedonski

Abstract

In the poem Vaporul morței and in its French version Le Vaisseau fantôme, Alexandru Macedonski reworks a literary myth specific not only to Fantastic and Gothic literature (both romantic and symbolist/ decadent), but also to maritime adventure literature, which had a vast spread through several artistic forms, especially in the 19th century. In this contribution, by analyzing and discussing the mythical constellation of the ghost ship, I will outline that, in Macedonski’s poetry, Vaporul morței emerges as the most striking metaphor of the liminal existential condition of a poet always torn between Spleen and Ideal. From a collective myth, belonging to the category of the terrifying, the ghost ship becomes a haunting personal myth and an in-between and heterotopic space. Materializing a psychic and archetypal palimpsest, Vaporul morței reveals all the painful splits deeply sedimented in Macedonski’s abysmal Self and all the antitheses that run through his poetic imaginary.