The Post-Communist Afterlife of Dissident Writers: The Case of Herta Müller

  • Anamaria Dutceac Segesten
Chapter
Part of the Mass Dictatorship in the 20th Century book series (MASSD)

Abstract

This chapter explores the role of the dissident intellectual in the post-dictatorship era. More specifically, it looks at the reaction in the Romanian cultural press and in the daily newspapers to the awarding of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature to Herta Müller, a Romanian-born German writer. Müller is known for her anti-Communist stance as well as her critique of those Romanian political and intellectual elites judged too shy in distancing themselves from the Communist past. I would suggest that the ambivalent attitude of the media towards Müller’s prize reflects the hesitation of both the public and elite to critically engage with the recent past. The effectiveness of Müller’s intransigent attitude is also questioned. I ask more broadly, whether former anti-Communist dissidents are still in a position to mobilize interest and reaction in the aftermath of authoritarian regimes.

Keywords

Nobel Prize Communist Regime Daily Newspaper Public Intellectual Cultural Press 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. 1.
    See Jie-Hyun Lim and Karen Petrone (eds), Gender Politics and Mass Dictatorship: Global Perspectives (Houndmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011).Google Scholar
  2. 5.
    Edward W. Said, ‘The Public Role of Writers and Intellectuals’, Nation 24 (17 September 2010), p. 27.Google Scholar
  3. 6.
    Vladimir Tismaneanu, ‘Truth, Trust, and Tolerance’, Problems of Post-Communism 43(2) (1996), p. 3.Google Scholar
  4. 7.
    György Konrad, Antipolitics: An Essay (San Diego: Harcourt, Brace,Jovanovich, 1984).Google Scholar
  5. 8.
    Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1998), pp. 349–360.Google Scholar
  6. 9.
    Denis Deletant, ‘Cheating the Censor: Romanian Writers under Communism’, Central Europe 6(2) (2008), pp. 122–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. 10.
    Irina Culic, ‘The Strategies of Intellectuals: Romania under Communist Rule’, in András Bozóki (ed.), Intellectuals and Politics in Central Europe (Budapest: CEU Press, 1996), p. 43.Google Scholar
  8. 13.
    Adrian Cioroianu, Ce Ceausescu qui Hante les Roumains. Le Mythe, les Representations et le Culte du Dirigeant dans la Roumanie Communiste (This Ceausescu that Haunts the Romanians: The Myth, the Representations and the Cult of the Leader in Communist Romania) (Bucharest: Editura Curtea Veche, 2004).Google Scholar
  9. 14.
    Katherine Verdery, National Ideology under Socialism: Identity and Cultural Politics in Ceausescu’s Romania (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), p. 131.Google Scholar
  10. 15.
    Umut Korkut, ‘Nationalism versus Internationalism: The Roles of Political and Cultural Elites in Interwar and Communist Romania’, Nationalities Papers. 34(2) (1996), pp. 143–145.Google Scholar
  11. 16.
    For more on this, see Denis Deletant, Ceausescu and the Securitate. Coercion and Dissent in Romania 1965–1989 (London: Hurst & Co., 1995).Google Scholar
  12. 21.
    Lewis Bernstein Namier, 1848: The Revolution of the Intellectuals (Oxford: Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 1992).Google Scholar
  13. 23.
    Gabriel Badescu, Paul Sum and Eric Uslaner, ‘Civil Society Development and Democratic Values in Romania and Moldova’, East European Politics and Societies 18(2) (2010), pp. 316–341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. 24.
    Daniel Barbu, Republica Absenta (The Absent Republic) (Bucharest: Nemira, 1999), p. 102.Google Scholar
  15. 25.
    Monica Ciobanu, ‘Criminalising the Past and Reconstructing Collective Memory: The Romanian Truth Commission’, Europe-Asia Studies, 61(2) (2009), p. 314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. 27.
    Vladimir Tismaneanu, Dorin Dobrincu and Cristian Vasile (eds), Raport Final: Comisia Prezidentiala pentru Analiza Dictaturii Comuniste din Romania (Final Report: The Presidential Commission for the Analysis of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania) (Bucharest: Humanitas, 2007).Google Scholar
  17. 28.
    For more see Charles King, ‘Remembering Romanian Communism’, Slavic Review 66(4) (2007), pp. 718–723CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Cosmina Tanasoiu, ‘The Tismaneanu Report: Romania Revisits its Past’, Problems of Post-Communism, 54(4) (2007), pp. 60–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. 59.
    Barbara Misztal, ‘Ambiguities and Clichés in the Debate about Public Intellectuals’, European Journal of Sociology 48(2) (2007), p. 313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. 60.
    Georges Mink, ‘Between Reconciliation and the Reactivation of Past Conflicts in Europe: Rethinking Social Memory Paradigms’, Czech Sociological Review 44(3) (2008), p. 473.Google Scholar
  21. 61.
    Tony Judt and Kristina Bozic, ‘The Way Things Are and How They Might Be’, London Review of Books 32(6), (25 March 2010), pp. 11–14Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Anamaria Dutceac Segesten 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Anamaria Dutceac Segesten

There are no affiliations available

Personalised recommendations