The «brand identity» of the Spanish Mircea Cărtărescu

Abstract

Like all authors, the romanian Mircea Cărtărescu creates his own ethos, not only in his original literary field, but in all the fields to which his work is translated. Unlike the «brand identity» of any other commercial product, the figure of the writer is a flexible and dynamic construction ―within its reiteration―, which is adapting to a «previous ethos» in constant evolution, according to the increase or loss of symbolic and social capital. Self-image is often communicated through implicit or explicit «career narratives», in which the literary author reacts to a «brand image», perceived as unsatisfactory or defective. This study attempts to highlight both significant nodes in the network of Cărtărescu’s ethos and the rhetorical resources used to communicate them. For this purpose, the «career narratives» expressed during two face-to-face paratextual activities, held on Spanish soil were analysed: the first, when the author in question was still an emerging writer in Spain, and the second, right after the remarkable success of his novel Solenoid.