The memory of 1859 in the People’s Republic of Romania. A centenary reflected in the literary discourse
Author: Georgiana LEŞU
Keywords: historiography, discourse, literary press, “Viața Romînească”, the Union of the Principalities.
This paper focuses on the historical discourse from the People’s Republic of Romania, used by the communist state as a mean for gaining legitimacy. Analyzing a national celebration, the 100th anniversary of the Union of the Principalities, I follow the historiographical themes and motives used by the literary publications of the time. The example of the magazine “Viaţa Romînească” shows how history was brought into attention in everyday life. The pages of the literary magazine host a special type of text: situated somewhere between historical research and literature, these approaches manage to follow the official historical discourse of the epoch and present the events in a more relaxed form, close to novels. Texts like these were part of the communist regime’s obsession for history and contributed, alongside with many other commemorative gestures, to the construction of myths that lasted decades to come.