Romanian Detention Memoirs of the Communist Period

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Ruxandra Cesereanu (Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj)

Ed. by Calin Andrei Mihailescu, University of Western Ontario
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.8.4: Romanian Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Calin Andrei Mihailescu (University of Western Ontario)

Dates

Date of occurrence c.1945-2015

Places

Romania (Location)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Life writing (literature)

Resources

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The vast majority of Romanian detention memoirs about the local, ‘home-grown’ Gulags (and sometimes on the Soviet one as well), can be described as anatomies of power during totalitarianism. A few are written in a reporting style, whereas most rank as confessions – revealing recordings of past suffering. Some of their authors call for the reader’s understanding toward the ‘clumsy wording’, anticipating potential issues that may be raised with respect to the texts’ literary value, and claiming that their writing is not literature, but has, instead, a testimonial value. If the western reader has long been acquainted with this type of literature, the Romanian reader in particular, and the Eastern European one in general, had to catch up with apolitically induced ethical delay.…

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3026 words

Citation: Cesereanu, Ruxandra. "Romanian Detention Memoirs of the Communist Period". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 January 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19442, accessed 20 April 2024.]

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