This article delineates the specific therapeutic function of art in general and the artistic image in particular. Their therapeutic and compensatory potential is examined within philosophical and literary discourses. The discussion engages with Plato’s reflections on the educational and moral role of art and Aristotle’s theory concerning the cathartic effects of tragedy. Contributions from V. Maggi, S. Haupt, G. Lehnert, E. Zeller, E. Müller, and J. Bernays are considered. The study explores Friedrich Nietzsche’s notion of the receptive-compensatory function of art, particularly the reconciliation of Apollonian and Dionysian principles. Sigmund Freud’s concepts are interpreted in relation to the unconscious and the interaction between individuals and art during periods of epistemological crisis. Roman Ingarden’s perspective emphasises the therapeutic aim of literature when there is a corresponding receptive inquiry from the reader. Key ideas from reception aesthetics are foregrounded, highlighting art’s capacity to act as a medium of transcendence, influence the reader, and underpin the therapeutic effects of art and literature. Hans Robert Jauss’s concepts of the “horizon of expectations” and catharsis as a communicative dimension of aesthetic experience are revisited. Wolfgang Iser’s analysis of aesthetic experience in addressing gaps of indeterminacy is examined, alongside Umberto Eco’s insights on receptive indeterminacy as a defining feature of the “open work”, which catalyses co-creation by the recipient, stimulating imagination, fostering empathy, and providing intellectual therapy. The study also considers the therapeutic potential of sacred images during periods of radical epistemological shifts prompted by cataclysms, historical events, revolutions, or wars. Mircea Eliade’s framework of the “sacred-profane” dichotomy and the capacity of sacred images to function as points of transcendence, transcendent centres, or ontological anchors is discussed. Paul Ricoeur’s interpretation of the therapeutic influence of sacred motifs, images, and symbols on readers as they engage with existential questions is also addressed. Finally, the therapeutic role of biblical imagery – God, the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, and the Apostle Thomas – is analysed through the lens of Serhiy Zhadan’s poetry collection “Life of Maria” (2015).

A mythical image takes on new connotations in literary criticism. The image of the myth is used as an explanatory route from the context that maintains the explanation of the relationship between the text and the author/writer. Narcissism is analyzed from the perspective of the “mirror effect” paradigm by university professor Sanda-Maria Ardeleanu and the participants of the transdisciplinary project: Fiction-Psychiatry / Anthropology. The main objectives are: differential explanation of narcissism, depending on time; the approach of several scientific models; explaining the scientific consensus on the notion of narcissism; the investigation of narcissism in some Romanian writers from the 20th century. In this regard, the literary critic elaborates his vision in an explanatory stratification that contains certain landmarks, which the reader begins to notice the interpretive construct similar to a journey. The mythical image used in the study of literary criticism has an element that fascinates through its recognition and the detection of the transformations attributed to it by the researcher. Academician Eugen Simion, a graduate of the University of Bucharest, cataloged in “Fiction of the intimate diary” the relationships between the author and the diary from the perspective of Narcis’s fears/expectations. The problem of reflection involves the researcher to probe another fundamental element of the myth – the mirror. And this is not about the surface of the lake or the Venetian mirror. Any mirror is imperfect for the one who struggles with the goal of stopping time, of perpetuating himself in an eternal metamorphosis. Academician Mihai Cimpoi investigates the Eminesian creation through the monad Narcissus – Hyperion. Other correspondences persist with other mythical characters, such as: Neptune, Prometheus, Orpheus, Parce, etc. To explain the possible perspectives of knowledge in Eminesian creation, the researcher will be determined by two names from Greek mythology: Narcissus and Hyperion.

The article explores the fictionalization of autobiographical texts with the help of music. The theoretical basis of the research lies in an analysis of fictionality from a comparative perspective of arts and media. Central to the analysis is the concept of “automediality” which is closely linked to the cultural and media nature of individual and collective identities as well as the principles of intermediality. Within such a theoretical framework, subjectivity is seen as a concept constructed using bodily and medial techniques. Thus, the study aims to reveal a model of creative becoming in the way it is presented in the autobiographical short story “The Future of Beauty” („Die Zukunft der Schönheitˮ, 2018) by the contemporary German writer Friedrich Christian Delius (1943–2022). It is stated that the decisive role in the described process of remembering adolescence and youth by the author is played by a well-known concert of free jazz saxophone player Albert Ayler, which F. C. Delius attended in 1966 as a member of the not least famous meetings of Group 47 at Princeton. The analysis revealed how American free jazz is becoming an important non-narrative form of self-construction and the main modus for portraying oneself. The concert is depicted as a revelation of one’s own creative life. It is argued that the German writer has a particular media-specific technique of reflecting on one’s own creative personality, namely that he skilfully semanticizes specific performances of the jazz concert and, thus, fictionalizes the autobiographical story. Communication with one’s past, contextualized and activated by a jazz concert, is perceived as a fictional event, specifically in its performability aspect: within a concert, as a performative act, we observe gradual and immediate change not just in the perception of music but also in the attitude toward one’s past.

The article explores the distinctive genre structure of Gilbert Keith Chesterton’s novel. The author examines how Chesterton skillfully blended elements from three genres – detective fiction, fantasy, and thriller – creating a work that transcends traditional genre boundaries. Special attention is given to how Chesterton used the detective element to build intrigue and tension, the fantasy elements to delve into philosophical questions, and the thriller aspect to maintain a dynamic atmosphere filled with unpredictability and mystery. Chesterton effectively integrates these genres to craft a narrative that immerses the reader in a world of constant unexpected events. The detective aspect serves as the main tool for structuring the plot and developing the central intrigue, as the characters strive to uncover a conspiracy and identify the true leader of the anarchists. Fantasy elements are employed by Chesterton to reflect his philosophical ideas and explore essential questions of existence. The surreal events in the novel heighten the sense of a dreamlike atmosphere and symbolize the author’s deep philosophical reflections on the nature of the human soul, free will, and the invisible hand of God in human life. Thriller elements give the novel its dynamism and emotional intensity, which permeates the entire text. The constant feeling of danger, pursuit, and mysterious characters reinforces the atmosphere of anxiety, emphasizing the key themes of the work. The article also highlights how the combination of different genre elements allowed Chesterton to create a complex and multilayered narrative. This genre flexibility helps the novel remain relevant even many years after its creation. By skillfully intertwining detective fiction, fantasy, and thriller, the work not only captivates with its intrigue but also invites readers to reflect on deeper issues of morality, free will, and the nature of good and evil.

Review on the book: Cimpoi, M. (2018). Dicționar enciclopedic Mihai Eminescu. Chișinău : Editura Gunivas, 800 p.

The investigation proposes a comparative analysis of three modern bestsellers of non-fiction which being too different in their subject matter nevertheless are connected with the name of the English writer George Orwell and his famous novel “1984”. An attempt is made to clarify the cause of that. The one is the 75th anniversary since the book came out, and the other – an extreme relevance of the famous dystopia that turned out to be on time and called for very much at our difficult time first of all because of the events connected with the military aggression of Russia. The war I Ukraine ruined the remnants of illusions about the Soviet/social brotherhood of people discovering clearly the essence of the Russian empire totalitarian regime. The comparative analysis of the books proposed (Lynskey Dorian. Ministry of Truth: A Biography of George Orwell “1984”, 2019; Ricks Thomas E. Churchill and Orwell. The Fight for Freedom, 2017; Laurence Rees. Hitler and Stalin. The Tyrants and the Second World War, 2020) made it possible to identify a general direction of the authors’ thoughts that was prompted namely by Orwell – the necessity to reveal the essence of totalitarianism and the possibility to live in future without the Great Brother. But is there ever such a possibility? The authors very often come to sad conclusion that makes the Orwell’s predictions concerning the further development of the history and society true.

The author of the present contribution deals with the development of the Czech enigmatic prose since the 1960s which arose from a specific branch of classical science fiction by means of the gradual transition to the problem of enigma expressing the cinviction of the extraterrestrial origin of humankind which might radically change the whole concept of history of the Earth and our notion of the rise and fall of cosmos.This type of nonfiction has often an artistic character of belles lettres (fiction) which absolved of the responsibility for strict rationalism and the only right views shared by the science mainstream. The authors of this type of prose quite frequently used genre masks for expressing their real research intentions. Later they ceased to be so timid and started create the real literature of the fact that moved along the boundary of fiction and nonfiction like the majority of world bestsellers. The clusters of such works and the groupings of their authors have been formed the special canon having – as a other genres or types of literature – its fandom and also sharp critics. The author of the present contribution focused on two main figures of this current – Ludvík Souček (1926–1978) and Arnošt Vašíček (born 1953) – not avoiding their predecessors in world interliterary community. The present contribution came to the conclusion that especially this genre type has an immense potential to develop and link various poetological strata of both fiction and nonfiction permeating them in most prolific way. From the point of view of literary scholarship these artefacts have been playing the key role in world literature, at least the most read and readable which lasu contains strong elements of genuine creativity.

In terms of the discourse of the literary potential of non-fiction (cinema) texts, the article under discussion presents a detailed analysis of the biographical documentary “Yaremchuk: The Incomparable World of Beauty” (2024) directed by Artem Hryhorian. It points out that in order to artistically reconstruct the history of personal and creative growth of the famous Bukovynian singer and folk artist, the first Ukrainian pop star, the lead singer of the VIA “Smerichka” Nazariy Yaremchuk, the filmmakers have skillfully combined a number of non-fictional sources in the film. In particular, these are diaries, memoirs, interviews, expert comments, photographs, film documents, and newsreels, which make the film emotionally rich and authentic, at the same time revealing the deep literary potential of the documentary text. The article emphasizes that Nazariy Yaremchuk’s diaries have become a reliable source of knowledge about him, allowing the readers to understand his inner world, thoughts, feelings, experiences, as well as trace up the sequence of his life events. They do not just outline the author’s inner world, his individual perception of the surrounding reality, but, within the literary discourse, become a unique text, marked with poetry and deep psychology. This cinema text is a literary study of an exceptional personality with a unique inner world and a deep understanding of the Ukrainian soul, with spirituality and close connection to nature, with a desire to preserve and develop folk culture, promoting it in his work. The artist is regarded as a special character of his time. He expresses the spirit of the era whose social and spiritual life is reflected in his fate. The filmmakers present the material in such a way as to convey the hero’s inner feelings and love for his country and his muse – the song. Accordingly, the latter plays a leading role in the film, becoming a means of expressing the inner world and psychology of the hero. The songs that sound in the film set the mood for a certain emotional atmosphere, as well as move on the film narrative, emphasizing the importance of the musical heritage that Nazariy Yaremchuk left behind. It is essential that the cinema text intertextually refers to the legendary film-musical “Chervona Ruta” (1971), the film directed by the Estonian filmmakers “Smerichka Ensemble under the Direction of Levko Dutkivsky” (1975), and the musical film “Chervona Ruta. 10 Years Later” (1981).

The article explores the compensatory and therapeutic function of religion in fiction through the example of William Paul Young’s novel “The Shack”. The analysis is conducted from an interdisciplinary perspective that integrates theological, philosophical, and literary approaches. The central plotline of the novel revolves around the existential struggle of the protagonist, Mack, who undergoes profound spiritual and axiological despair following the loss of his child. The symbolic space of the novel, built on religious imagery and biblical references, provides a foundation for understanding pain, despair, and faith as interconnected elements of human existence. The author examines the literary text, which abounds in religious symbols and images, as a therapeutic tool that allows the reader, through empathizing with the characters, to reflect on their own experiences of suffering, discover pathways toward spiritual transformation, and restore trust in higher values. Particular attention is given to the triad of characters – Mack, Nan, and Missy – who symbolize struggle, trust, and love as key stages of the human spiritual journey. The article emphasizes the significance of such narratives in times of war, when a crisis of meaning and the loss of orientation necessitate the spiritual revitalization of individuals. It concludes that the synergy of the artistic and religious dimensions in literature holds potential for fostering spiritual resilience, where suffering is perceived as a space for encountering the transcendent, and the literary text serves as a medium for therapeutic catharsis and the restoration of life resources for communication and creativity.

The article analyzes the methods of constructing reality in literary reportage, using examples from German-language literary reportage texts of the 19th–21st centuries. It is noted that, given the hybrid nature of this text type, it is characterised by documentariness, which implies the depiction of reality through artistic means through the prism of the author's own experience. This feature justifies the consideration of fictional and documentary components in it not in opposition, but in their complementarity as components of a single textual space. It is established that such a combination contributes to a deeper disclosure of the topic, creates an emotionally rich narrative, while maintaining a connection with reality, which makes the text both reliable and artistically expressive. In order to identify the strategy of constructing reality and establish the relationship between the fictional and the documentary, the analysis was carried out within three categories: text structure, formal features and internal characteristic elements (level of direct presence, character level, documentary level). It was found that the presence of photographs and maps in the text, accurate descriptions of the place of action, chronological narration with time specification, detailing of audio elements, direct speech of characters and integration of reference information into the text enhance the documentary nature and reliability of the depicted. The fictional nature of literary reportage is represented by the level of experience, which, although indicating the author’s direct presence, is formed through the author’s reflection, supplemented by stylistic devices. Thus, it is established that the documentary and fictional components engage in a productive interaction, facilitated in particular by the mediality of the text. This mediality is expressed through multichannel elements (such as text, visual imagery, and sound) and intermediality, resulting in a holistic and multidimensional narrative capable of effectively conveying both informational and emotional content.