Under the guise of a detective novel, in which the adventure occupies a generous space, Adrian Grigore’s novel brings up to date the life of Romanians in
the last period of communism, namely the Ceaușescu dictatorship, a period that, too quickly, we forget, and the young people, unfortunately, don’t know it. The mottos that preface the novel draw our attention to the author’s intention: “We often think that the things we have forgotten were never there” (Nicolae IORGA)/ “Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it” (George SANTAYANA).
As a structure, the novel follows the scheme of a “seductive adventure novel,
built according to all the rules of the genre… But the adventure, although
captivating, is only a pretext that motivates the incursion into a sick world…” –
Romania of the last period of communist dictatorship. (Silviu Angelescu – cover IV, Ed. Albatros, Bucureşti, 2001).
The narrative is structured in a succession of seemingly independent sequences, aiming, in parallel, at the technological competition – the Space Race
between the United States and the Soviet Union, in the prolongation of the Cold War. The actions of the protagonists revolve around the imminent collapse of a Soviet satellite whose atomic batteries for powering the electronic systems would have produced, upon impact with the Earth, a disaster hard to imagine. American estimates indicated the place of impact – Eastern Europe, more precisely, the Dobrogea Mountains, near the mouths of the Danube River. Everything focuses on the interest in the black box of this satellite, (respectively the information of a military or economic nature, which gives the novel its police substance; the Americans, the Russians, the Jews (through the head of the Romanian Security Service) spy on each other. The catastrophe that the collapse of this satellite would have produced is ignored, the interest being focused on the military or economic information found in the code module, which had to be recovered by some, respectively, captured by others. Each act in its characteristic style, engaging specific forces and practices, disaster remaining in the background. From these, defining elements for the environments in which they are produced shine through: precision, rigor, suspicion, terror, degeneracy etc. The scientist professor Eduard Gordon is employed under strict military command, under conditions of maximum security. Igor Zapojnikov, counterintelligence Colonel, goes through tough stages, from
ecstasy to agony (from Colonel Zapojnikov, to the Jewish emigrant Alexei
Leibovich, to the spy Rasputin). American espionage is used by students infiltrating universities in communist countries (Arab, Romanian or Bulgarian agents), Russian espionage by Moldovan racketeers. Romanian security is rounding up young people, preferably institutionalized, such as Ileana Popescu or Bebe Aur.
The sequences are assembled, like in a puzzle, giving coherence to the
message. The action takes place against the background of a Romania hated by
communism, with dictatorial sins and practices. The actors of the oppressive
apparatus – the party, the security, the dictator – sacrifice, through starvation and deprivations of all kinds, the very national being. Exploiting the apparent
detachment towards the USSR, with ambitions of economic independence, against the backdrop of the starvation of his own people, Ceaușescu dreams of becoming the leader of the Third World, using the country’s resources for his purpose.
State security (General Virgil Pleșca, Major Alexe Marian etc.) is all-powerful
and omnipresent: it monitors everything – listens to conversations, approves or
disapproves the “exits” of any person from the country, spies on embassies and its own agents. It’s no wonder that General Pleșca considers himself the most powerful man in the country, after the dictator. The fight against imperialism, as well as revolutionary vigilance, does not prevent him from getting drunk on Hennessy brandy, or from losing foreign currency in gambling at the “Stork’s Nest” conspiratorial house. He does not hesitate to negotiate the possible “capture” (black box of the module) for Israel, in return for some fabulous illicit pecuniary advantages, training for this purpose a strong network of agents of the Romanian Securitate. Greedy for privileges, Securitate orchestrates the “smoke screens” that envelop the messiness of people’s daily lives – everyone’s concern to “put something” on the family table. The permanent psychosis of people to find out where “something” is “given”, the queues for food – the anthological picture of the queue for cheese – the sad “commercial opportunity” of the peasants in the market, to sell their onions, on this occasion, is in a blatant opposition to the lack of material cares and the ease of the privileged.
The “cheese” queue is the emblematic image of the state of Romanian society
in the last decade of the communist dictatorship. In a city of science (a typical communist social experiment!), different social categories coexist, by commands
given by the party: workers, peasant vegetable growers, physical researchers, who are gathered, in the same “queue”, by the communist roller – equalizing hunger; some, desperate to “grab” cheese, the others, resigned and disgusted. The image of the two researchers who, standing in line, discuss scientific problems and write formulas with chalk on the rusty board of the gate, mocked by the “green” peasants, speaks for itself about the condition of the scientist in such a society.
Rumors, waiting lists, crowding, shouting, smoke from burning garbage, the
tide of brown, foul-smelling whey rushing over people’s feet, swearing, roll into a
grotesque uproar, as in a Hieronymus Bosch painting. Everything seems like a black comedy, with amateur actors, in total contempt for HUMAN.
Worthy of note are the memories of Professor Eduard Gordon, participant in
a seismology symposium, a symposium followed by wine tasting in Vrancea: the
“sober man with graying hair… blue suit… red tie… sunglasses” who closely
supervise said scientific activity (political police); the painting of the political leader above the barrels, considered by him to be the owner of the winery; the sudden silence around, to his ironic assessment: “a people whose leader watches, even in wine cellars, can only be a happy people”.
Beyond the tensions between the confrontations of the spy networks, the novel outlines a Romania brought to its knees by aberrant situations and decisions: lack of food, lack of fuel (lack of gasoline even for ambulances!), the use of intellectuals (researchers) in menial jobs (sorting potatoes, the action of the “cup”, i.e. the watering of crops on the field with a bucket etc.) – all – in response to the National Conference of the Communist Party.
In all this whirlwind of spies, double agents, security guards, party activists,
the Institute of Seismology in Romania is also automatically involved. The driver
Gică and the electronics engineer George become, unwittingly, the protagonists of risky adventures. Honest characters, who do their duty professionally, seriously, facing the vicissitudes generated by the lack of technical means, the shortcomings of everyday life, physically face situations that put their lives in danger.
What stands out – and this is also the author’s intention – is the absurd
subordination of scientific activity to party commandments. The director of the Institute of Seismology is at the mercy of political positions with which people
without much instruction, but well indoctrinated and rewarded with countless
privileges, are appointed. The singular and feeble opposition of some researchers (the refusal to participate in the aberrant “patriotic work” or other stupid activities) is suffocated by political maneuvers: the refusal of visas to leave the country for participation in scientific meetings, the non-granting of legitimate rights, etc. The professional competence of researchers like Stoian does not matter in front of the activists (Cătană from party branch, comrade Vasile, first-secretary Gogea).
The scams, well rooted in the system, will proliferate even after the fall of
communism, with the same protagonists, through slightly cosmeticized actions.
The dynamism of the action, the unadorned style, the alert dialogue, well
suited to the situations described in the novel, make it an attractive, very accessible read. The author highlights the “wooden” language and the stereotypes of the social actors of the times evoked. Beyond genre fiction, the novel can be considered a valuable document of an era not to be repeated.
Ioana GRIGORE VARGA – Professor of Literature
Email: gr.ioana@gmail.com
Phone: + 40 723 144 325