Breaking away from communism. Trauma, resentment, frustration - the case of I. Negoițescu’s return from exile

Abstract

In his article “Breaking Away from Communism. Trauma, Resentment, Frustration - The Case of I. Negoițescu’s Return from Exile”, Mircea Diaconu aims at examining the way in which, after December 1989, Romanian literature bears the consequences of the traumas, frustrations and resentment experienced under the communist regime. Its post-revolutionary configuration is not only the result of the newly-gained freedom, which led to substantial mutations, but also the result of the pressures exerted by the past; just as it was unfathomable for the writers to reinvent themselves overnight, their options shaped and asserted in the long run could not undergo major changes either. Yet maintaining their legitimacy has become anachronic, as in I. Negoițescu’s case.