Alex Goldiș, Literature and Memory Wars. Representations of Communism in Contemporary Romanian Fiction

Abstract

ABSTRACT The democratic environment in Romania after 1989 witnessed the emergence of an unprecedented number of public discourses engaged with the re-evaluation of communism. In line with recent contributions to cultural memory studies (Aleida Assmann, Astrid Erll), this essay tries to assess the role that fiction played in reshaping the communist past and engaging with the post-communist present. Narratives written by Dan Lungu, Radu Pavel Gheo and Vasile Ernu, some of the most representative writers of the Romanian post-1989 era, are examined against the backdrop of public debates regarding the opposition between democracy and totalitarianism, progression and nostalgia, the ʻcivilized Westʼ and the ʻprovincialʼ East. In reaction to the pressure of ideological discourses, this article argues that literature remains a privileged site where alternative versions of memory can intertwine and negotiate their claims. Literary texts that reshape cultural perceptions fulfil the ʻmnemonic multiperspectivityʼ function of the public discourse with particular focus on recovering the marginal voices that are often disregarded by classic historiography.