July Theses: Difference between revisions

After a period of rigid [[Stalinism]] from 1948, Romanian cultural life experienced a modest trend of [[liberalization]] and [[De-Stalinization in Romania|ideological relaxation]] in the early 1960s.<ref name = "Cioroianu 489" /><ref name = "Hitchins 1081">[[Keith Hitchins]], "Historiography of the Countries of Central Europe: Romania", ''The American Historical Review'', Vol. 97, No. 4. (Oct. 1992), p. 1081.</ref><ref name = "Tismăneanu 223-42">Tismăneanu, pp. 223–42.</ref> This trend accelerated with the IXth Congress of the Romanian Communist Party in 1965.<ref name = "Tismăneanu 223-42" /><ref>{{in lang|ro}} [http://www.bcub.ro/continut/unibib/memoria_comunismului.php "Memoria comunismului. Fondul ISISP din Biblioteca Centrală Universitară din București" ("The Memory of Communism. The ISIP Fund at the Central University Library in Bucharest")] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070506024827/http://www.bcub.ro/continut/unibib/memoria_comunismului.php |date=2007-05-06 }}.</ref> A talented oppositional generation of writers emerged: [[Nichita Stănescu]], [[Ana Blandiana]], [[Gabriel Liiceanu]], [[Nicolae Manolescu]], [[Adrian Păunescu]], and others.<ref>Bozóki, p. 56</ref> Furthermore, at the April 1968 Central Committee plenum, Ceaușescu denounced his predecessor [[Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej]] and rehabilitated [[Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu]], executed just two days before Ceaușescu joined the [[Politburo]] (thus allowing him to claim innocence and to demote a key rival, [[Alexandru Drăghici]]).<ref>Cioroianu, pp. 397–9.</ref><ref name = "Deletant 182">Deletant, p. 182.</ref><ref name = "Tismăneanu 157-8">Tismăneanu, pp. 157–8.</ref> This opened up even more space for artistic expression. [[Eugen Barbu]]'s novel ''Principele'' ("The Prince", 1969), though set in the [[Phanariotes|Phanariot]] era, clearly refers to Gheorghiu-Dej — there is even refrencereference to a project to build a [[canal]] that claims many of its builders' lives (a disguised reference to the [[Danube-Black Sea Canal]]). In [[Dumitru Radu Popescu]]'s novel ''F'', abuses committed during [[Collectivization in Romania|collectivization]] are explored. Augustin Buzura's novel ''Absenții'' ("The Absent Ones", 1970) went so far as to provide a critique of contemporary society, describing the spiritual crisis of a young doctor.<ref name = "Deletant 182" />