“Goma’s Ark” and “Memory of an Exile”: Anti-communist writer honored in Chișinău
The only Romanian anti-communist dissident recognized worldwide was born in Bassarabia, in the village of Mana, Orhei district. To commemorate the 90th anniversary of the late writer Paul Goma's birth, the National Library inaugurated an exhibition titled "Memory of an Exile" and hosted the launch of the book "Goma's Ark," authored by Aliona Grati. Additionally, the National Museum of Romanian Literature celebrated the anniversary with the event "I always believed that telling the truth is good."
"Goma's Ark" by Aliona Grati is a publication intended to keep alive the memory of a great personality born in the Bassarabian space. The author visited Paul Goma in Paris, had a dialogue with him and wrote with passion and rigor about a destiny that stretched across decades and territories.
"It's a different book because it's not just literary history and literary criticism, but, first and foremost, the biography of a writer, the political and social context, the emotions that led Paul Goma to write one novel after another", the author of the work mentions.
"Goma's Ark" was published with the support of the Ministry of Culture and will be distributed in all libraries in the Republic of Moldova.
"As a teacher, I believe that the book is essential, first and foremost for students, for our children, because our recent history is forgotten", notes Carmen Duţu, associate professor, Bucharest.
The National Museum of Romanian Literature has inaugurated an exhibition that evokes the spirit of Paul Goma, the one who transformed truth into a form of resistance and dignity.
“There has been a lot of talk about Paul Goma in the European press, because he was the most prolific anti-communist, anti-system dissident in Europe”, says Veronica Boldișor, exhibition curator.
"Did you see what title I gave to this exhibition? "I have always believed that telling the truth is good" and I believe that this was Paul Goma's life principle", emphasizes the director of the Museum of Romanian Literature, Maria Şleahtiţchi.
Ninety years after Paul Goma's birth, a publishing house in the Republic of Moldova has released five novels that, along with other volumes, evoke his life's story. After June 28, 1940, as he said, "he lost his HOME", taking refuge in Romania. Arrested in 1956 for demonstrations "hostile to socialism" and imprisoned in Jilava and Gherla, he was not defeated by detention. In 1977, he addressed an open letter to Ceauşescu, denouncing the violation of human rights, and signed a solidarity statement with the protesters in Czechoslovakia. Arrested again, he requested political asylum in France, where he continued his literary work.
"I had the chance to meet him in 1996 in September, at a festival in France. He forgot nothing, he forgave nothing, he was not a prosecutor, but he knew how to shed light on both the extraordinary things of man and all the injustices that were done to this nation", says poet Emilian Galaicu-Păun.
In 2013, Paul Goma received Moldovan citizenship. He longed to return to his homeland. The writer died on March 25, 2020, in Paris.
