Poetics and politics of remembering childhood in Romanian post-communist fiction

• Published in: Canadian Slavonic papers 2020-04, Vol.62 (2), p.182-201
• Main Authors: Mironescu, Andreea, Mitroiu, Simona
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: agency; Attitudes; Childhood; Children; Communism; Fiction; Literary characters; Literary criticism; Modes of remembrance; Novels; Poetics; Politics; post-communism; Remembrance; Romanian literature; Social roles; Traumatic life events
• ISSN: 0008-5006; 2375-2475
• DOI: 10.1080/00085006.2020.1742562

The authors explore the representations of the child and childhood which emerged in post-communist Romania, with a clear focus on literary works. The paper proposes a triadic typology of literary remembrance by distinguishing between the allegorical, experiential, and metamodern modes of remembering childhood. They also assess the political implications of Romanian post-communist writers' strategy of revisiting a troubled past from the child's perspective by examining the connections between the narrative point of view and the issue of political agency. Their research reveals the complex relation between remembering childhood and remembering communism, one that indicates the authors' attitude toward the past. Each mode of remembering childhood is analyzed in novels written by Romanian and Romanian-born authors: a) the fantastic and allegorical chronicle of Romanian communism, using largely the child's narratorial perspective, in Mircea Cărtărescu's and Herta Müller's works; b) the experiential mode of remembering and fictionally representing children's social roles and their traumatic experiences in Radu Pavel Gheo's and Nicolae Avram's novels; and c) the metamodern based on a violent and post-ironical view of the world in Aglaja Veteranyi's and György Dragomán's novels. Child characters often take a stand or subversively react to the system, showing the authors' critical engagement with the past.