CROCODILA ŞI CUTIA DE CIOCOLATĂ. CRIZELE IDENTITĂŢII INDIVIDUALE ŞI COLECTIVE ÎN ROMANUL CA ŞI CUM NIMIC NU S-AR FI ÎNTÂMPLAT DE ALINA NELEGA
THE FEMALE CROCODILE AND THE CHOCOLATE BOX. INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE IDENTITIES IN CRISIS IN ALINA NELEGA’S NOVEL AS IF NOTHING HAD HAPPENED

Author(s): Orsolya András
Subject(s): Romanian Literature
Published by: Scientia Kiadó
Keywords: post-communist literature; intersectional feminism; identity crises; national and sexual minorities; multiculturality in Transylvania;
Summary/Abstract: In Alina Nelega’s novel ca şi cum nimic nu s-ar fi întâmplat [as if nothing had happened], the action takes place in the last decade of the communist dictatorship in Romania. It can be read as an intersectional feminist novel since it presents the institutional oppression from the perspective of sexual and national minorities and marginalized communities, offering a voice to silenced stories and processing an era defined by conflicts and historical changes. This paper discusses the crises experienced and witnessed by the characters both on a personal and a collective level. These crises surge in the first place when the main characters, two lesbian women, struggle to affirm their individual identity. They must face a deep internal conflict because of sexism and (internalized) homophobia, seeking different survival strategies. The whole community is defined by a culture of silence and violence, which provokes cracks in the family models and in the smaller communities. The state’s authority forces uniformization in the name of equality, wherefore multiculturality in Transylvania becomes a mere appearance, hiding the crises in the communication between different groups and the lack of knowledge about other cultures. The state itself faces a crisis, culminating in the 1989 revolution mentioned at the end of the novel – leaving the reader with the doubt if this event, seen as a major historical turning point, has really transgressed the crises, or they are still present in our community. Alina Nelega’s novel creates a subversive discourse, rethinking gender roles and family models, and deconstructing various stereotypes that still influence our personal and public communication.

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