TRANSNATIONAL SOCIALIST LITERARY ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN PROPAGANDA AND POLITICAL COMMITMENT. LOUIS ARAGON AND ELSA TRIOLET IN ROMANIA.

In 1947, Louis Aragon and Elsa Triolet toured several future ‘people’s democracies’, including Romania. Although Aragon described the trip as a study of life of these countries, and Triolet called it a ‘sentimental journey’, the visit had a clear political agenda, from the itinerary and resources mobilized to the statements made by the two writers. Romanian writers were urged to take them as models, with an emphasis on their evolution towards the citizen-writer. During this transitional period towards adopting socialist realism, this visit was also used as an opportunity to combat the pure art. Nevertheless, some topics discussed by the French couple with Romanian writers, such as the critique of literary works by the masses or the clichés of socialist realism, revealed the nuanced views of the French couple on these issues, as well as the doubts of the Romanian writers in 1947. After Aragon’s departure, Romanian writers faced abrupt political constraints forcing them to choose between silence and adaptation to the new context. Those already prepared found their convictions strengthened by Aragon and Triolet’s visit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]