Le Nouveau Roman dans la Roumanie des années 1967-1968
Nouveau Roman during 1967–1968 in Romania

Summary/Abstract: In this article I will analyse the way in which the Nouveau Roman was imposed and received in Romania between 1967 and 1968. During this time, the main works of Alain Robbe-Grillet, Nathalie Sarraute, Michel Butor were translated and brought to market in a high number of copies, all with lengthy prefaces. In 1967 Alain Robbe-Grillet visited Romania where he met his audience, while at the same time, the Romanian media were debating the topic at length. Among the advocates of the Nouveau Roman were Romul Munteanu and Nicolae Balota, whereas among the contestants, there were Vladimir Streinu and Adrian Marino, whose interventions had a consistent anti-modern character (not simply conservative).Together with structuralism, the phenomenon of ‘popularisation’ of the Nouveau Roman can be considered one of the main French cultural transfers, its implementation being an integral part of a significant episode of the modernity war which characterized Romanian modernity. The importance of the Nouveau Roman during the so called cultural liberalisation period is synchronous with the anamnesis of the inter-war literary modernity started by the writers of the 1960s, emphasising a clear intention to recover the time lost during Stalin’s era through a connection to the West’s extreme modernism. Last, but not least, as in any totalitarian political regime – and not only – the political aspect plays an important role in the way these novels were received, which skewed, influenced or even silently encourage the phenomenon (revolutions on paper hardly ever turn into real ones), highlighting the illusory nature of this written mirage, that came to Romania during a transition period: between Stalinism and Protocronism.

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