as echoes from Anatole France. The hero Thalassa, a Greek boy, works as a lighthouse-keeper on Snake Island, fantasizing about the golden age of mankind. His fate is changed by a shipwreck, during which a girl, Caliope, reaches the island's shore. Thalassa and Caliope fall in love, but are mysteriously unable to seal their union through sexual intercourse: the boy attributes this failure to the "curse" of human individuality. Seeking to achieve a perfect union with his lover, he eventually kills her and drowns himself in the Black Sea. In her review for Mercure de France, novelist Rachilde argued: "Very difficult to read, entirely developed in Symbolist manner [and] almost impossible to recount, obviously written in French but nevertheless obviously conceived by a Romanian (and what a spirited Romanian!)." Rachilde believed the work to display "the fragrance of Oriental spices [...] rose marmalade and a slice of bear meat." According to Vianu, the book builds on Macedonski's earlier themes, replacing Naturalist observation with a metaphysical speculation about idealism. One other aspect of Macedonski's stylistic exploration took him to attempt recording synesthesia. His manuscript is written in ink of several colors, which, he believed, was to help readers get a full sense of its meaning. Like other synesthetic aspects of his novel, this is believed to have been inspired by the techniques of Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud. Thalassa, Le Calvaire de feu is noted for its numerous cultural references, and especially for using a wide range of metaphors. Such aspects have been reviewed negatively by modern critics. Tudor Vianu writes: "the poet makes such waste of gemstones that we feel like saying some of them must be false", while Călinescu, who notes that some fragments reveal "an incomparable artist" and "a professional metaphorist", notes that "in the end, such virtuosities become a bore." According to Manuela-Delia Suciu, Thalassa is "prolix" and "too polished", traits believed by Zamfir to be less irritating in the Romanian version. Critic Cornel Moraru found that, in the background, Thalassa, a "great Symbolist novel", confronts Ancient Greek and Christian mythology, but "abuses" the religious vocabulary. Another part of the novel's imagery is erotic, and includes an elaborate and aestheticized description of male genitalia. The four-act tragicomedy Le Fou? is seen by Vianu as comparable in subject matter and depth to Enrico IV, a celebrated 1922 play by Luigi Pirandello. The plot reflects Macedonski's confrontation with his critics,