Les Dilemmes de l'identité aux confins de l'Europe: Le cas roumain (review)

In Montesquieu's Persian Letters, some curious Parisians scrutinizing their Persian visitor ask: "How can one be Persian?" This question has since triggered countless reflections on national identity and cultural difference. It also has preoccupied Romanian intellectuals, many of whom have adapted it to their own identity and their uncertainties about who they are.

The question is the starting point of Monica Spiridon's new book, Les Dilemmes de l'identité aux confins de l'Europe. Spiridon's purpose, however, is not to offer a solution but to examine how Romanian historians, writers, or politicians have defined "the idea of Romania."

The book exposes the dilemmas that divide the Romanians into those ashamed of belonging to a marginal country and those animated by nationalism; those who value their Latinity and those focused on Romania's "uniqueness" and "difference" from other European countries; the antimoderns and the moderns; the defenders of a rural world and the advocates of a Western, urban country. Spiridon skillfully weaves literary voices into this discussion. She is able to analyze without taking sides, by shedding light on the ridicule of both extremes. She also goes beyond the limits of "Romanian studies" by grounding herself in theorists as varied as Homi Bhabha, Pierre Nora, Michel Foucault, and Cornelius Castoriadis.

Spiridon discusses Romanian thinkers' positions toward the Balkans, Byzantium, and Europe, quoting from authors ranging from the well-known Thomas Pavel, Matei Calinescu, E. M. Cioran, and Mircea Eliade to authors known only to Romanians. She scrutinizes the voices of Romanian Francophone writers and underscores the paradoxes of the construct of Orientalism in Romania. Spiridon analyzes other constructs as well, such as the nationalist view of Balkans as a "negative other" or convenient scapegoat. As Spiridon demystifies the fictional dimensions of such Romanian spaces and other national myths of founding fathers, irreproachable heroes, and superhuman deeds, one should nevertheless remember that the construct of the Balkans is not unique: Europe and its many nations are also grounded in myths of origins.

The book includes a useful (especially for non-Romanian readers) analysis of the relationship between the Soviet Union and Communist Romania. Spiridon tracks Ceausescu's ascension from proletarian internationalism to a aggressive new form of nationalism that still lingers in extremist circles. Because this nationalism was disguised as a liberation from Russian control, Ceausescu's Romania withdrew into its own shell, producing self-obsessed narratives of its ancient, pre-Roman origins and quasi-comic proletarian dithyrambs (well known to those who lived under Ceausescu's regime, but no doubt shocking for non-Romanian readers) that fueled national pride and hatred for "the other," whoever that might be. Spiridon suggests that this was a Communist invention, although we may note that not only did Romania experience earlier obsessions with its Thracian past, but also the obsession with inventing a mythological prehistory is common to many totalitarian regimes: the cult of Germanic mythology in Hitler's Germany or the cult of the pre-Roman Celts for nineteenth-century French nationalists are two quick examples.

Instead of showing enthusiasm or skepticism about Romania's integration into the European Union, Spiridon leads the reader to ask the inevitable question: does this nation that will join the European Union in 2007 know its identity? On the cover of the book, a strange slip of the pen attributes the question "How can one be Persian?" to Montaigne, not Montesquieu. A possible explanation may lie in Montaigne's exhortation: "Know thyself!" (borrowed from the Greeks). This may mean that, before fitting into the intricate puzzle of the European Union, before understanding how they can be what they are, the Romanians need to know who they are, and come to terms with complex identities, mixed origins, and the presence of "the other" in ourselves.