Romanian novel depicting nostalgia of communist times released in English translation

Sunt o baba comunista, a 2007 novel of Romanian author Dan Lungu, will be released in English translation under the title I’m an Old Commie! on February 24. The novel was translated by Alistair Ian Blyth, and published by Dalkey Archive Press. The novel follows Emilia, a pensioner in northern Romania, as she faces up to her illusions of life in Ceaușescu’s Romania, against the background of a gloomy post-communist present. Emilia’s memories are punctuated by anecdotes about the dictator, told by a factory worker who eventually turns out to have been a secret police informer. This is the thirteenth translation of the bestselling novel which had so far four Romanian-language editions, published by Polirom. Translations of the novel appeared in France (Actes Sud), Austria (Residenz), Italy (Aìsara), Spain (Pre-textos), Norway (Bokvennen), Hungary (Jelenkor), Bulgaria (Faber Print Ltd.), Polond (Czarne), Turkey (Apollon Yayincilik, Bencekitap), Greece (Kastaniotis), Croatia (Filmat Naklada), and Ukraine (Folio Publishers). The French translation of the novel received a nomination at the 2008 Jean Monnet European Prizes, while the Polish version was nominated for the Angelus Award for Central European Literature in 2010. A theater play based on the book premiered in 2010 on the stage of the Bouwkunde Theater in Deventer, The Netherlands. The book was turned into a film in 2013 by director Stere Gulea. The film stared Luminita Gheorghiu, Marian Ralea, and Ana Ularu. Actress Luminita Gheorghiu (pictured below in a scene from the movie), who was cast the main part, achieved international recognition for other roles in film depicting life in post-communist Romania, most notably The Child’s Pose, which won Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2013, and The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. Writer Dan Lungu, currently the director of the Romanian Literature Museum in Iasi, is one of the most important Romanian novelists publishing after 1989. His work, which includes novels such as Hens’ Heaven, How to Forget a Woman, In Hell All the Light Bulbs are Burnt Out, and The Little Girl Who Played at Being God, is widely translated and awarded. The book can be pre-ordered