Description
Book Synopsis"Iuliu-Marius Morariu succeeds in opening the door of our curious gaze on memorialism, letting us get acquainted with the ideas promoted by Virgil Gheorghiu – an interwar diplomat, journalist, poet, novelist and Romanian Orthodox priest, who had to choose the path of exile (moving to France) once with the establishment of the Communist Regime in Romania." (Iulia Medveschi, in Astra Salvensis, X (2022), no. 19).
Virgil Gheorghiu, an important but controversial figure in Romanian exile literature, remains one of his country’s best-known writers today. Based on his works and their reception, but also on the existing secondary literature, this study examines his reflection on three important ideologies, namely communism, national socialism and capitalism, in order to highlight the specificities of Virgil Gheorghiu’s thought and to see what aspects of topicality and contemporary relevance can be found in it.
Trade ReviewThe main contributions of the book are three‑fold: it offers an analytical study of Gheorghiu’s philosophy, it seeks understanding of his crucial arguments and it highlights their relevance today. The work will prove useful to scholars interested in Gheorghiu’s reading of political ideology through literature, those exploring trends and developments in contemporary Romanian literature, and also to the casual reader interested in its theme. The arguments put forward by Morariu are not only plausible but are effectively a theory worth investigating within the realms of political and social sciences and may prove to offer a foun‑ dation for international relations and diplomatic studies. Although it has nearly 250 footnotes, the style of writing is flowing; it is both readable and engaging for the general reader who may opt to read the main text without losing track of the points being discussed.
Table of Contents25th Hour, Romania, dictatorship, Virgil Gheorghiu, Communism, Anti-Semitism.
