Mortua Est (From Latin, It Is Dead) – Teodor Hossu-Longin

I was 6 years old when the revolution that brought the fall of Communism happened. I have only a few memories and the stories from my folks, and some books I read to make me draw the line to the shape of how people were living during those days.

But the fond of the shape … Well, I have not lived it and I hardly believe that I can imagine it, regardless of how many books I would read about the way of living during the Communism, about what happened during the revolution or at the mineriads.

But still, I keep reading. And it seems essential to me not to ignore the voices, so few these days, because this is how we learn about us, about where we are going and what to do in order to avoid the mistakes of the past.

 

Mircea, the main character of the novel Mortua Est, was wounded during the mineriads and decides to emigrate from Romania, searching for a more suitable place to fulfil his dreams and expectations and finds that place in a foreign country. Deeds and people, remorse and recalibrations (when one finds out that the grass is actually not that greener on the other side), convince him to return to Romania. All this journey is filled with stories and philosophical analysis in which the reader may or may not find oneself but has the liberty to choose so.

And there is another main character in the novel, a character that is noticed by the reader only at the end of the novel. The pure wish for better days. It belongs to no one and to everyone. It is due to it that youngsters nowadays have a present. It comes from a very far, far away place, from our ancestors and grandparents. And it does not leave, but tests us into measuring our own values while admiring ourselves in the mirror that it holds to ourselves.

 

Here, below, there is a small excerpt to convince you to read the novel:

‘Soya salami, rapeseed oil, brown bread, everything was given on ration. It feels like I am reading a menu that a nowadays nutritionist has especially drafted. How ironic! Maybe in 20-30 years, we will find out that, actually, Ceausescu’s only plan  was to make Romania healthy…’