"Ewoclem" - The word on the doormat

This approach to Ewoclem sau Întortochiatele cӑrӑri (Ewoclem or the Entangled Paths), the Romanian-Canadian Eugene Giurgiu's novel published in 1996, has been inspired first of all by Gaston Bachelard's La poétique de l'espace - which marks the passage front psychoanalysis to phenomenology in the French philosopher's development, a "topo-analysis" that is connected to his "topophilia" - because it is very much like Canadians' obsession with representations of space. Another source would be Jean Baudrillard's Figures d'Altérité which brought about the train of thought connected to the relationship between changes of place and the "spectral" component of the immigrant's identity. While becoming "another", the immigrant is permanently "haunted" and "inhabited" by his former selves generated by the connection with the space of origin. The same author's book on the system of objects has engendered the idea of the importance of possession in appropriating a new place. But most helpful for the exploration of the text beyond its surface structure have been Jacques Derrida's reflections on hospitality. I added to it the sub-theme of "conviviality" in which, instead of "giving" and "receiving", the stress falls on "sharing".

L'analyse d'Ewoclem sau Întortochiatele cӑrӑri (Ewoclem ou Chemins enchevêtrés), roman de l'auteur roumain-canadien Eugene Giurgiu publié en 1996, est inspirée par Poétique de l'espace de Gaston Bachelard qui marque le passage de la psychanalyse à la phénoménologie dans le développement de ce philosophe. Une autre source serait Figures d'Altérité de Jean Baudrillard qui a introduit le mode de pensée lié à la relation entre le changement de place et la composante "spectrale" de l'identité immigrante. En devenant l'autre, l'immigrant est constamment hanté et possédé par ses propres moi liés à son espace d'origine. Les plus utiles pour l'exploration du texte derrière sa structure de surface ont été les réflexions de Jacques Derrida sur l'hospitalité. Le sous-thème de la "convivialité" y a été ajouté par l'auteure.