A Novel Protagonist in Search of Virtues: Blandina, the Main Character of the Novel Bearing the Same Name, by Margareta Miller-Verghy

Margareta Miller-Verghy (1865-1953) is a writer that has been completely ignored by literary histories. Her profile is presented only in recent dictionaries and the bibliographical references regarding her activity are limited only to a few dozen titles. In the writer’s biography there are still unexplored aspects and sometimes even flaws. Nevertheless, her life was dedicated to cultural values and her literary activity was rewarded with the Alina ªtirbey Prize and with the Academy’s Award, which she received three times. The novel “Blandina”, written in French and having the subtitle “Une âme s’ouvre a la vie” (“A Soul Opens to Life”), came out in 1980, thirty years after the writer’s death, translated by Emilia ªt. Milicescu. An autobiographical novel, a Bildungsroman that restores the life line, the experiences connected to her intellectual and spiritual formation and her burning passion for work, “Blandina” remained, just like the author’s other novels, unknown to the public, as well as to the chroniclers of those times. The protagonist crosses a path of self-knowledge, doubled by the achievement of virtues. The path to wisdom is sprinkled, just like in fairytales or in initiatory stories, with tasks that she must accomplish by fighting instincts or vices. Thus, writing becomes a place of searching for one’s identity and the ethical dimension is one of the main keys of reading.