A century after our great Union, the nation in a state of vigilance.
Sociological comments and notes to the novel of the Great Union
This article is a chronicle to Professor Mihail Diaconescu’s volume Sacrifice,
where, in several chapters, the ocean of human suffering flows with devastating
power. These are the chapters where Mihail Diaconescu evokes the trenches and
clashes of the World War I. In the novel Sacrifice, there are moments of
dramatic high-tension, when people, groups or even entire nations are facing
the most drastic repressive measures taken by the imperial authorities. A
nation’s identity in the bicephal empire is repressed. Repressive measures are
criminal. Mihail Diaconescu evokes these measures with their terrible,
monstrous side. As a writer concerned about the combination of heroic, tragic
and moral, he brings something new in the Romanian prose. It is a thematic
renewal, of course. It is also a renewal of the epic-artistic vision. It is,
above all, a renewal based on his historical and sociological vision. Whether
he sees history through sociology or social realities through historical
erudition, the epic effect is remarkable.
AUREL V. DAVID
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