ABSTRACT. In the psychological novel Radacini/Roots, which concludes the Hallipa cycle by Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu we will find the psychological profile (seen from “within”) of “illegitimate” children, a category whose semantic field the author expands, including in it the unwanted children, especially, those who are unloved. With this handicap for a start individuals cannot integrate and express themselves fully and harmoniously in their intimate and social lives, revealing themselves, to varying degrees, as failures. Following the evolution of two inter-related characters the author shows how psychological traumas and inferiority complexes produce particular mutations in children’s inner evolution and create in them a certain mental structure (sometimes even a physical one) and a certain social destiny, sometimes brutally severed, as illustrated in the novel by the suicide of the teenager. However, his death acquires, in the author’s vision, secret purposes and meanings, as it constitutes a sacrifice with magical consequences restoring normality and harmony where error or confusion reigned.

Keywords: attempted suicide; Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu; tragedy; epic