Feminity – An Image of Alterity in The Girl from the Forest by Ioan Slavici

The short-story The Girl from the Forest by Ioan Slavici emphasises, from a modern perspective, the encounter with the Other, represented here by the feminine character, Simina. The Girl from the Forest can be read as a drama of excessive beauty, taking into account the fact that, in Romanian literature, the beauty of the positive feminine character was a datum, harmonised with a matching character, until Slavici; with Simina from The Girl from the Forest, feminine beauty becomes, first of all, a source of selfconfedence, it confers self-awareness and helps the woman to overcome the traditional condition of a passive individual. A complex character, Simina transfigures her maternal vocation in an attempt to save the man she loves. This is the moment when the relationship with the Other (Man, Master, Father) reaches the point of conflict. Simina is a figure of otherness because, although all the characters belong to the same environment, the rural country, the economic and social status differences are obvious, and, in the encounters with the Other, the feminine character refuses to behave submissively; she is an active protagonist, who takes full responsibility for her desire to valorise her subjectivity.