O rastu posle smrti: Odnos anđela smrti i umirućeg deteta u Andersenovoj bajci Anđeo

Abstract

By analyzing the theopoetic aspects of the fairy tale Angel by Hans Christian Andersen, this paper problematizes the death of the child in Angel, the figure of the angel of death, the dynamics of the relationship between the dying child and the angel, as well as the function of the life after death in the process of the constitution of the full personality of the dead child. If the ‘true self ’ (Levinas) is understood as an encounter of the ‘own self ’ with the operation of the alien being, then the problems of the death of the baby/child, which never materializes the true self, emerges as a poetic horizon, within which Andersen tries to ontologically solve and ethically justify the life of the being sentenced to death so that it never truly materializes itself. The figure of the angel of death, i.e. materialized God’s mercy, enables the child to continue its existence even after its death, and the process of growth of the own self into the true self acquires the characteristics of eternity, where God ends the process by angelomorphosis. The constitution of the true identity of the dead child does not stop at the moment of death, it transfers itself to the field of transcendence, and the quality of an identity acquired in such a manner is not diversity in relation to the existence before death, but the value with which life before death is justified and established.