A formidable cinematic prose with mythological resonances
Roxana Dumitrache
Ferenike is a confessional, autobiographical novel built on the idea that no choice is entirely subjective. There exists a demon of grand History — a force that, for Eastern Europe, has always been a subtle architect of both individual and collective decisions. In the essential reality, every choice is orchestrated.
Ferenike is an autobiographical, mythical novel with a large cast of characters and firm subject matter.
Having as a starting point a childhood event, the novel gradually outlines experiences related to our present. Every insignificant deed has consequences, generates other events and a new perspective of the past. This premise leads to a gripping and powerful story about the discreet role that any individual has in the metamorphoses of great history.
An autobiographical novel, Ferenike is also an experiment researching confession, from its mystical to histrionic or manipulative areas, with the stated intention of reminding the world that, beyond intention, there’s always the force of the storyteller.
Ferenike was a woman from around 400 BC who disguised herself in men’s clothing to compete in athletic contests where women were forbidden. In this novel, the name is symbolic. I associated her with the woman in my dream — she becomes my inner demon and a symbol of ostracized femininity. Her name means “she who brings victory,” marking the novel’s mystical layer: she is a force of transformation, a symbol of feminine resistance against regimes that silence women. She appears in dreams, in moments of rupture, linking past and present. Ferenike is a Moira.
At the heart of the story lies the murder of my father, which I witnessed.
For me, fiction lies in the story’s power to carry a message far into the future. In literature, plot is not the main thing — the true strength lies in making the idea triumph: ferein nike. Ferenike.
And Ferenike is the novel of my encounter with death — in all its forms, from the misty, mystical realm to the pragmatic words of a tinker who asks me: So what will you do now? Will you hunt down your father’s killer — or will you just get on with your life?
Doina Ruști
