His Uncle Costake is reluctant to give him any of his money (suggesting that he borrow some) and even”borrows” some money from Felix. Felix is naïve and finds it difficult to grasp what is going on. The novel is a long one – over six hundred pages – and Călinescu tells a full and detailed story of the machinations of the various families, with virtually every family member having serious flaws. All of these characters will play a major role in the novel. As well as Aglae, there is her husband, Simion, her daughter, Aurica, and her son, Titi.
A female voice – Otilia – behind him tells the old man, who is his Uncle Costake, that it must be cousin Felix.įelix is taken into the large sitting-room, where he finds several guests These include Leonida Pascalopol, a rich friend of Costake, and the family of Costake’s sister, Aglae. When he asks for his Uncle Costake, he is told that there is no-one at home. He pulls the bell and it rings but he waits a long time before an old man arrives. He pushes the door and it opens, where he does find a bell pull. The front door is huge and has no apparent bell or knocker. While he manages to find the house, it is grand and forbidding. He plans to study medicine at the University of Bucharest. At the beginning of the novel he is arriving in Bucharest with a view to staying with Uncle Costake and his daughter, the eponymous Otilia. His money is managed by his uncle Costake (Constantin Giurgiuveanu), who is actually Felix’s father’s sister’s husband.
His father, a doctor, died the previous year and had left Felix enough money to live comfortably. Felix Sima, a young man of nineteen, is an orphan. This is Călinescu’s best-known novel and shows that he clearly knows his Balzac, with a comic tale of thwarted love, an avaricious old man, grasping and obnoxious relatives and a somewhat gothic atmosphere, set primarily in a capital city (in this case, of course, Bucharest). Home » Romania » George Călinescu » Părinții Otiliei (later: Enigma Otiliei) George Călinescu: Părinții Otiliei (later: Enigma Otiliei)
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