Paul Goma

Infobox Writer


imagesize = 150px
name = Paul Goma
caption =
pseudonym =
birthdate = Birth date and age|1935|10|2|mf=y
birthplace = Mana village, Kingdom of Romania
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = Writer and dissident
nationality = Romanian
period = 1966 to present
genre =
subject =
movement =
influences =
influenced =


website = http://paulgoma.free.fr/

Paul Goma (born October 2 1935) is a Romanian writer and leading anti-communist dissident. [Mihaela Mihăilescu, [http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p66314_index.html "Paul Goma and the Courage to Say No - A Romanian Experience"] , Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, Massachusetts, August 28, 2002. Retrieved on 2006-03-09.] Currently he resides in France as a stateless political refugee.

Biography

Life in Romania

Goma was born to a Romanian family in Mana village, Orhei County, which at that time was a part of the Kingdom of Romania, nowadays part of Republic of Moldova. His parents, Eufimie Goma (1909-1967) and Maria Goma ("née" Popescu; 1909-1974), were schoolteachers in Mana. His brother Petre was born in 1933, but died before his first birthday.

After the 1940 Soviet occupation of Bessarabia, Paul Goma's father was taken away by the Soviet authorities and deported to Siberia. In October 1943, Eufimie Goma was found by his family, as a prisoner of war, in "Camp No. 1 for Soviet Prisoners", in Slobozia, Ialomiţa County, Romania.

In March 1944, the Goma family took refuge in Sibiu, Transylvania. In August 1944, finding themselves in danger of involuntary "repatriation" to the Soviet Union, they fled to the village of Buia, by the Târnava Mare River. From October to December 1944, the Goma family hid in the forests around Buia. On January 13, 1945 they were captured by Romanian shepherds and turned over to the Gendarmerie in Sighişoara, where they were interned at the "Centrul de Repatriere" ("Repatriation Center"). There, Eufimie Goma managed to forge documents for his family; however, Maria Goma's brother, who didn't have forged papers, was promptly "repatriated to Siberia". In June 1945, taking advantage of the forged documents, they returned to Buia.Paul Goma, in ro icon, [http://paulgoma.free.fr/includes/bio_biblio_Paul_GOMA.php Bio - Bibliografie] , November 11, 2006] Later on, Paul Goma would describe his family's refugee saga in the novels "Arta refugii" ("The Art of Refuge", a wordplay on the Romanian words for "refuge" and "taking flight"), "Soldatul câinelui" ("Dog's Soldier"), and "Gardă inversă" ("Reverse Guard").

In May 1952, Goma, while a student in 10th grade, was detained for eight days by the Securitate for speaking out in the classroom about Romanian anti-communist partisans and for keeping a coded personal journal. In September-October of the same year he was barred from all the schools in Romania. After some unsuccessful attempts at re-admission he was finally allowed to attend Negru Vodă high school in Făgăraş.

In 1954 he was admitted to the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest. In November 1956, he was one of the organizers of the Bucharest student movement, in support of the Hungarian Revolution. As a result, he was arrested by the Communist authorities, incarcerated for two years in Jilava and Gherla prisons, and then put under house arrest in Lăteşti (a village in the Bărăgan Plain) until 1963.

In September 1965, he was re-admitted as a first-year student at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest. In the fall of 1967, under pressure from the Securitate, he was forced to give up his studies at the University. On August 7, 1968, Paul Goma married Ana Maria Năvodaru. Their son Filip-Ieronim was born in 1975.

At the end of August 1968, Paul Goma became a member of the Romanian Communist Party, in an act of solidarity with the Romanian position during the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia (Romania did not take part, indeed condemning the invasion).

In the 1970s, Paul Goma was active in the creation of the Free Workers' Syndicate.

In 1971 it was proposed that Paul Goma be excluded from the Communist Party because he published his novel "Ostinato" in West Germany after the Communist censors refused to allow him to publish the book in Romania. Paul Goma refused to give up his Party membership by his own will.

In 1977, Paul Goma's public letter calling for respect for human rights in Romania and for Romanians to sign Charter 77 was read on Radio Free Europe. As a result, he was excluded from the Writers' Union of Romania and was repetedly followed, arrested, and tortured by the Securitate. On November 20, 1977, Paul Goma and his family left Romania and went into exile in France.Paul Goma, in ro icon "Culoarea curcubeului ’77. Cod „Bǎrbosul”", Polirom, 2005. ISBN 973-681-833-0] Paul Goma, in fr icon "Le Tremblement des Hommes: peut-on vivre en Roumanie aujourd'hui?", Éditions du Seuil, Paris, 1979. ISBN 202005101X. ]

Life in France

On 3 February 1981, Paul Goma and Nicolae Penescu (former Interior Minister) received parcels in their post. Penescu opened his parcel to find a book and when he lifted its cover an explosion wounded him. Goma who had received two death threats since his arrival in France, called the police. Both packages had been sent on instructions by Carlos (the "Jackal").John Follain, "Jackal: The Complete Story of the Legendary Terrorist, Carlos the Jackal", Arcade Publishing, 1998. ISBN 1559704667. ISBN 9781559704663. ]

In 1982, the Securitate planned to assassinate Goma. Matei Haiducu, the secret agent sent by the Securitate to carry out the plan, turned to French counter-intelligence (DST). With the help of the DST, Haiducu simulated an attempt on Goma's life, by poisoning his drink at a restaurant; the drink was then spilled by a French agent, pretending to be a "clumsy guest". [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,951810,00.html "Rumanian Sting"] , in "Time", September 13, 1982]

Although Goma's numerous works (both fiction and non-fiction) were translated worldwide, his books, except the first one, were published in Romania only after the 1989 Revolution. He now lives in Paris as a stateless political refugee, his Romanian citizenship having been revoked after 1978 by the communist government. He turned down an offer of citizenship from the French Republic, extended simultaneously to him and to the Czech writer Milan Kundera. In September 2006, a petition in favor of restoring his Romanian citizenship did not result in any progress on the issue.

Controversies

Some of Goma's post-2005 articles and essays have been criticised due to their allegedly antisemitic nature.Gabriel Andreescu, in ro icon [http://www.ziua.net/display.php?id=169748&data=2005-02-17&ziua=2bd5b7026bde1020c81c2fd5eb84e9c0 "Goma şi tema antisemitismului"] , "Ziua", February 17, 2005] [cite web |url=http://www.romanianjewish.org/en/antisemitism_in_romania_02.html#i13
accessdate=2007-03-09
title=Combating Holocaust Deniers and Protecting Jewish Memory
work=Anti-Semitism in Romania: 2002 Report
publisher=The Romanian Jewish Community
language=English] Goma refutes these allegationsPaul Goma, in ro icon [http://paulgoma.free.fr/dl_links/publicistica/a_fi_antisemit.php "A fi "Antisemit"] , November 11, 2005] and has filed several libel lawsuits against his accusers.Dan Culcer, in ro icon [http://www.ziua.ro/display.php?data=2007-03-03&id=216907 "Pledoarie pentru Goma"] , March 3, 2007] He asserts that his wife is Jewish and states that similar arguments were used against him by the Securitate in the 1980s.Paul Goma, in ro icon [http://paulgoma.free.fr/dl_links/jurnale/jurnal_2006_intreg.php "Jurnal 2006"] , 2006, pages 48, 191, 201.] On January 30, 2007, Goma was awarded the "Citizen of Honor" distinction by the Municipal Council of Timişoara. In February 2007, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania and the Israeli Embassy protested against the distinction, arguing that Paul Goma is the author of multiple antisemitic articles.Paul Goma, in ro icon, [http://paulgoma.free.fr/dl_links/publicistica/scrisoare_catre_timisoreni.php "Scrisoare către prietenii din Timişoara — şi din toată ţara"] , February 22, 2007]

On April 5, 2006 he was invited to become a member of the Tismăneanu CommissionPaul Goma, in ro icon, [http://paulgoma.free.fr/includes/Despre_Tismaneanu_11_puncte_HTML.php "Despre Vladimir Tismăneanu - şi nu numai - în 11 puncte"] , June 22, 2006] , a body charged with researching the crimes of the communist dictatorship in Romania. Nine days later he was dismissed by the Commission's president, Vladimir Tismăneanu, who explained the exclusion based on Goma's questioning the moral and scientific credibility of the president of the Commission, and disclosing of their private correspondence.Tismăneanu, in ro icon [http://www.revista22.ro/html/index.php?art=2802&nr=2006-06-16 Armand Gosu, "N-am avut de-a face cu Securitatea", in "22", nr.849, June 2006] ]

Literary contributions

Goma's literary debut came in 1966 with a short story published in the review "Luceafǎrul" with which he collaborated as well as with "Gazeta literarǎ", "Viaţa românească" and "Ateneu". In 1968 he published his first volume of stories, "Camera de alături" ("The Room Next Door"). After "Ostinato" and its West German publication in 1971 came "Uşa" ("Die Tür" or "The Door") in 1972, also in Germany. After his forced emigration in 1977 and until his books could again be published in Romania after the 1989 revolution, all his books appeared in France and in French. (His novel "Gherla" had in fact been published in 1976 first in French by Gallimard of Paris before he left Romania.) There followed such novels as "Dans le cercle" ("Within the Circle", 1977); "Garde inverse" ("Reverse Guard", 1979); "Le Tremblement des Hommes" ("The Trembling of People", 1979); "Chassée-croisé" ("Intersection", 1983); "Les Chiens de la mort" ("The Dogs of Death", 1981), which details his prison experiences in Piteşti in the 1950s; and "Bonifacia" (1986). The autobiographical "Le Calidor" appeared in French in 1987 and was subsequently published in Romanian as "Din Calidor: O copilărie basarabeană" ("In Calidor: A Bessarabian Childhood", 1989, 1990; translated as "My Childhood at the Gate of Unrest") in the Romanian émigré journal "Dialog", edited by Ion Solacolu. [Segel, Harold B. "The Columbia Guide to the Literatures of Eastern Europe Since 1945", p. 189-90. Columbia University Press, 2003, ISBN 0231114044.]

In its totality, Goma's literary work comprises a "persuasive and grimly fascinating exposure of totalitarian inhumanity"Segel, p. 190.] from which, in his own case, even foreign exile was no guarantee of safe haven. In such later novels as "Bonifacia" and "My Childhood at the Gate of Unrest", the biographical element dominates as he focuses on his childhood and adolescence in Bessarabia. Several sets of diaries, all published in Romania in 1997 and 1998, shed light on Goma's later life and career: "Alte Jurnale" ("Other Journals"), which covers his stay in the United States in autumn 1978 but concentrates primarily on 1994-96; "Jurnal I: Jurnal pe sărite" ("Journal I: By Leaps and Bounds", 1997); "Jurnal II: Jurnal de căldură mare" ("Journal II: Journal of Great Heat", 1997), covering June and July 1989; "Jurnal III: Jurnal de noapte lungă" ("Journal of the Long Night", 1997), covering September to December 1993; and "Jurnalul unui jurnal 1997" ("The Journal of a Journal, 1997"), focusing just on that year.

Published works

* "Camera de alǎturi", Bucharest, 1968.
* "Ostinato", Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main, 1971. ISBN 3518066382
**fr icon "La Cellule des libérables", Éditions Gallimard, Paris, 1971. ISBN 2070280969
**nl icon "Ostinato", Bruna & Zoon, Utrecht, 1974.
**ro icon "Ostinato", Editura Univers, 1992. ISBN 973340215X
* "Die Tür", 1972.
**fr icon "Elles étaient quatre", Éditions Gallimard, Paris, 1974.
**ro icon "Uşa noastrǎ cea de toate zilele", Editura Cartea Româneascǎ, Bucharest, 1992.
* "Gherla", Éditions Gallimard, Paris, 1976.
**sv icon "Gherla", 1978.
**ro icon "Gherla", Humanitas, Bucharest, 1990. ISBN 9732801697
* "Dossier Paul Goma. L'écrivain face au socialisme du silence.", Paris, 1977
* "Dans le cercle", Éditions Gallimard, Paris, 1977. ISBN 2070297098
**ro icon "In cerc", 1995.
* "Garde inverse", Éditions Gallimard, Paris, 1979.
**ro icon "Gardă inversă", Univers, 1997. ISBN 973-34-0409-8
* "Le Tremblement des Hommes: peut-on vivre en Roumanie aujourd'hui?", Éditions du Seuil, Paris, 1979. ISBN 202005101X.
**nl icon 1980.
**ro icon "Culorile curcubeului '77", Humanitas, Bucharest, 1990. ISBN 973-28-0174-3
**ro icon "Culoarea curcubeului ’77. Cod „Bǎrbosul”", Polirom, 2005. ISBN 973-681-833-0
* "Les chiens de mort, ou, La passion selon Piteşti", Hachette, Paris, 1981. ISBN 2010083091
**nl icon "Het vierkante ei", Elsevier Manteau, Antwerp, 1983.
**de icon "Die rote Messe", Thule, Köln, 1984.
**ro icon "Patimile dupǎ Piteşti", 1990.
**ro icon "Patimile dupǎ Piteşti", Dacia, 1999. ISBN 973-35-0845-4
* "Chassé-croise", Hachette, Paris, 1983.
**ro icon "Soldatul câinelui", Humanitas, Bucharest, 1991. ISBN 973-28-0235-9
* "Le calidor", Albin Michel, 1987.
**ro icon "Din calidor", 1989.
**en icon "My Childhood at the Gate of Unrest", Readers International, July 1990. ISBN 0-930523-74-1
**ro icon "Din calidor: O copilǎrie basarabeanǎ", Polirom, 2004. ISBN 973-681-732-6
* "L'art de la fugue", Julliard, 1990. ISBN 2260006353
**ro icon "Arta refugii", Editura Dacia, Cluj, 1991. ISBN 973-35-0225-1
**ro icon "Arta refugii", Editura Basarabian, Chişinau, 1995.
* "Sabina", 1991.
**fr icon "Sabina", 1993.
**ro icon "Sabina", Universal Dalsi, Bucharest, 2005. ISBN 973-691-031-8
* "Astra", 1992.
**ro icon "Astra", Editura Dacia, 1992.
* "Bonifacia", 1993.
* "Bonifacia", Albin Michel 1998. ISBN 2226025898
**ro icon "Bonifacia", Anamarol, 2006. ISBN 973-8931-18-5
* "Adameva", Loreley, Iaşi, 1995. (not distributed)
* "Amnezia la români", Litera, 1995.
* "Scrisori întredeschise - singur impotriva lor", Multiprint "Familia", Oradea, 1995.
* "Justa" Editura Nemira, Bucharest, 1995.
* "Jurnal pe sărite", Editura Nemira, Bucharest, 1997
* "Jurnal de cǎldura mare", Edutura Nemira, Bucharest, 1997
* "Altina - grǎdina scufundata", Editura Cartier, Chişinau, 1998.
* "Scrisuri. 1972-1998", Editura Nemira, Bucharest, 1999. ISBN 973-569-377-1
* "Roman intim", Editura Allfa, 1999. ISBN 9739477062
* "Jurnal de Noapte Lungă", Dacia, Bucharest, 2000.
* "Jurnal unui jurnal", Dacia, Cluj, 2000.
* "Jurnal de Apocrif", Dacia, Cluj, 2000.
* "Profil bas", Des Syrtes, 2001. ISBN 2845450389
* "Săptămîna Roşie. 28 Iunie–3 Iulie 1940 sau Basarabia şi evreii", Museum, Chişinău, 2003. ISBN 978-9975-906-77-7
* "Jurnal", Criterion, Bucharest, 2004. ISBN 978-973-86850-8-6
* "Alfabecedar", Editura Victor Frunză, 2005.

Honours

* Writers' Union of Moldova's Prize for Prose, March, 1992.
* Writers' Union of Romania's Prize for Prose, May 25, 1992.
* "Citizen of Honor" by the Municipal Council of Timişoara, January 30, 2007.

References

External links

* [http://paulgoma.free.fr/ Paul Goma's site with downloadable recent writings]

Persondata
NAME=Goma, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Writer and dissident
DATE OF BIRTH= October 2, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH=Mana village, Republic of Moldova
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=