POET(H)IC IRONY. COMMITMENT TO COMMUNIST REALITIES. THE CASE OF NINA CASSIAN
POET(H)IC IRONY. COMMITMENT TO COMMUNIST REALITIES. THE CASE OF NINA CASSIAN

Summary/Abstract: The present article focuses on an important chapter in the history of the Romanian literature: poetry in communist times. The study proposed in this article does not approach the notion of “irony” as a mere means of expression, but as a vision of the world. Its purpose is to show the Romanian poets’ critical commitment to the realities of the communist world. In this respect, the case of Nina Cassian is suggestive and fascinating by the transformations of her ironic discourse, her poetry making an (almost) complete circle: first, she expresses by means of irony against the war, then becomes a militant in favour of (the utopia of) communism, to finally readjust by using irony against it. More or less opportunist, the presence of ironic poetry during the times of the communist regime was, certainly, opportune, fact that generates new interpretation dilemmas even three decades after its fall. The poetry of Nina Cassian (1924 - 2014) certainly remains a paradoxical case, the author combining with intelligence revolt and submission, concession being, in those times, a form of adaptation of the writers ‘species’ to reality. The poet under discussion certifies, at textual level, a surprising compromise that deserves a special treatment, as we see it as a perfect example of connivance of a totalitarian structure with a nonconformist poet.

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