FAREWELL, MY DEAR HOMELAND... Sociological Aspects of the 21st Century Migration from the Perspective of Contemporary Romanian Fiction

Abstract

Nowadays, migration is the main social narrative in our society, its forms are differentiated, and its consequences are incalculable. Despite the complexity of the recent refugee phenomena, the issues of the migration towards the West from post-socialist regions remain an important process, because millions of people are affected by it. This paper aims to approach these migration-related phenomena from the perspective of Romanian fiction (novels, short stories, essays). The six selected works for our analysis (written in Hungarian, Romanian, and German) have been published between 2016 and 2019, and they cover two periods of (e)migration issues from Romania: the decades immediately before and after the political changeover, respectively, which permits an analogy. Our study relies on the intertextuality of sociology and fiction: based on data obtained from empirical researches, it summarises the major trends of today’s migration from Romania, and analyses them in complementarity with the particular contribution of contemporary fiction works related to this subject. Fictions enlarge, exaggerate, condense, and, alternating between styles, freely illustrate social processes, predict feasible scenarios and outcomes. Consequently, they do not only bring attention to certain major problems affecting the community but can obtain so much more: they confront us with major social issues or even resist negative social phenomena. Making use of the diversity of argumentations offered by literary creation and imagination, they shape the readers’ critical attitude, as well as their insight into the great variety of aspects. Hence, our analysis attempts to strike a fine balance – along disciplinary boundaries – between empirical data, observations and experiences, and descriptions born out of literary imagination.