DANIELA UTOPIAN:

Exploring the Romanian character through

Utopian presumptions
by Jacqueline Rebecca Lungu
 The University of Brighton
School of Humanities
BA Dissertation/Creative Dissertation
2021

LA690
Daniela Utopian
&
Exploring the Romanian character through Utopian presumptions

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of a degree in BA(Hons) English Literature and

Creative Writing.

Candidate name: Jacqueline Rebecca Lungu

Candidate number: 16824946
Supervisor: Patricia Mcmanus
Word Count: 10,650
Submitted: 14th May 2021

Declaration: I certify that the content of this dissertation is my own work, and that my work
contains no examples of misconduct such as plagiarism, collusion, or fabrication of results.

Candidate’s signature: Jacqueline Rebecca Lungu

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CONTENTS

Abstract 3

Acknowledgements 4

INTRODUCTION: Notions of Romanian Utopianism and ‘Daniela Utopian’ as a Novel of

Scientific Anticipation. 6
Romanian Identity 6
Utopia 9
Science Fiction and The Romanian Novel of Scientific Anticipation 11
Daniela Utopian 12

Daniela Utopian 14

CHAPTER 1. Daniela and the ethereal space. 30

Myth as National Identity and Nostalgia in Daniela Utopian 31
The Sacred and The Profane Antithesis 32
Unearthly Utopian Experience 33
Heterotopia and Purgatory 34

CHAPTER 2. Utopian perspectives 35

Arthur - Individual totalitarianism 35
Tudor Preda - Utopia as a form of escapism 36
Oblomov - New humanism 38

Conclusion 39

Bibliography 40

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Abstract

In this dissertation I will focus on the lost identity of the Romanian citizen. By looking at the
Science Fiction genre, developed in Romanian Literature, and Utopian Literature, through
their similarities and differences, Daniela utopian is instigating the Romanian character to
return to old traditions of the human soul. Through the Creative piece I am showing the
insecurity of the Romanian dweller, which can be resurrected through notions of
Utopianism.
While analysing the influences of space in Utopian Literature, the characters of the story are
proposing a more individual Utopian perspective, one that resembles the ideologies of the
Romanian identity.
Focusing on the Novel of Scientific Anticipation that characterises the engagement of
Romanian literature with Science Fiction, my aim is to reanalyse lost perceptions that
defined my nationality through the means of Utopia as a form of self reflexivity and an
educated desire.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to use this section to give my acknowledgements to the people that gave me
their support throughout the process of writing this dissertation.

Firstly I must thank my supervisor, Patricia Mcmanus, for her kind words and support during
the times I doubted myself, as well as for encouraging me to approach the subject of Utopia.
For helping me with my feelings of distrust towards my abilities and for guiding me through
my erratic moments.

I would like to acknowledge my mother who has enabled, throughout my education, a

passion towards literature and philosophy. For always listening to my garrulity and for always
showing me different perspectives than my own. I am thankful for the way she raised me
and for the freedom she offered me in discovering my passions and aptitudes. I am forever
grateful for both of my parents that left everything behind so I can receive a higher
education in a country that supports its students and helps them develop.

Lastly, I give my many thanks to my friend, Dana, who has always nurtured my passion for
philosophy and writing, and for sharing the same perceptions I do, regarding the human
soul.

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“In 10 years there will be no sun, there will be no sea, no land, no green that we will be able to touch
freely, only the wealthy will have parks, only the wealthy will see lakes and feel the breeze once in a
while. The world will crumble, I’ll tell you this, the world will just simply crumble…”

5
INTRODUCTION: Notions of Romanian Utopianism and ‘Daniela Utopian’ as a
Novel of Scientific Anticipation.

“A favourite technique of mine aims at the imprecentible yet gradual

transmutation of a commonplace setting into a new ‘world’, without however
losing its proper, everyday, or ‘natural’ structure and qualities” 1

‘Daniela Utopian’ is unveiling the identity of a Utopianist Romanian through its qualitistic
form of the Science Fiction novel. Although Romanian Literature never embraced the term
Utopia, the romanian identity aspired from a utopianistic way of thinking. Through
perpetuating the beliefs of folkloric myths and ideologies about the Romanian character, a
different approach of Utopian thought dominated the Romanian spirit. The Science Fiction
Romanian Novel marks a short moment of acquaintances with Utopia, but its characteristics
are different from those of Classic Utopianism.
‘Daniela Utopian’ is surfacing those differences by emphasizing that utopia has been part of
the cultural development in the Romanian’s perception of life.

Romanian Identity

Romanian identity can be traced back to the Dacian period, where their ideologies and
visions towards life contoured a very stoic attitude2. These ideologies and memories of the
Dacian period are still used, by older generations, to preserve our uniqueness as a
nationality, and they are completely bound in nature and spirituality. We have seen our
community as an ‘organic part of nature’3, believing that everything ‘natural’ serves us in a
very philosophical way. If we understand nature, we understand life, and our community, as
a natural organism, understood that by possessing this ‘mystical knowledge’4 we were able
to perceive the reality of the world in a more pure way.

1
Mircea Eliade, Two Strange Tales, 1986, p. x-xi.
2
Roxana C Tompea, "'Politics Of Memory' - The Romanian Character And Its Founding Myths", 2019, p. 1.
3
Valentin Quintus Nicolescu, "Nature And Identity In The Construction Of The Romanian Concept Of Nation", Environment
And History, 20.1 (2014), p. 127.
4
David Cave, Mircea Eliade's Vision For A New Humanism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 117..

6
Because of this philosophy we treat the world as ‘a book of signs’5, using personification in
acknowledging the feelings of each entity, each equal to us.
This notion of being part of the organism that is nature, comes from our relationship with
spirituality and myth. We understood myth as a way of protecting our nationality6, and myth
was interpreted as a way of learning.
Mircea Eliade, one of the most influential writers of Romania, reflected upon the Romanian
character as a’ symbolic and mythic being’7 and that our own individual experiences are just
recurring events that already happened. He then proceeds in saying that if these events
already happened we should acknowledge ourselves as connoisseurs and have faith in our
soon to come future experiences8. From his philosophical approach towards theology we
understand that spirituality can help us acknowledge the nature of human existence, by
returning to the sacred origins, the comprehension of what it means to exist, will be
established.

In relation to our spirituality, we also perceive God as an omnipresent presence that exists
through time and space, this makes us believe that the world is a ‘continuous becoming’9
regarding, at the same time, both the temporal and the spatial. The Romanian believes that
nature, himself, and the astral world are one unity.
In the old testament, God created humanity after his own image and because of these two
attributes towards God, we perceive the individual as ‘an illusion, a mirror and a
nonindependent phenomenon of the universal’10. We, as well, are ‘continuously becoming’
which is defined through our relationship with the ethereal, the ethereal marking an
important aspect of our literature development. These ideas of the Romanian identity have
been preserved through myth and folklore and expressed throughout history by literature.

Throughout literature all things natural, became our resource for philosophical answers.

5
Magdalena Dumitrana, Romanian Culture Identity And Education For Civil Society (Washington: The Council for Research
in Values and Philosophy, 2004), p. 14
6
Valentin Quintus Nicolescu, "Nature And Identity In The Construction Of The Romanian Concept Of Nation", Environment
And History, 20.1 (2014), p. 127.
7
David Cave, Mircea Eliade's Vision For A New Humanism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 23.
8
Ibid., p.39.
9
Magdalena Dumitrana, Romanian Culture Identity And Education For Civil Society (Washington: The Council for Research
in Values and Philosophy, 2004), p. 13.
10
Ibid., p.16

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Mihai Eminescu, our most famous poet, which is also referenced in ‘Daniela Utopian’, shed
light over this infatuation with the ethereal and the past through his creative works. His
themes of nostalgia, melancholy and the return to nature were expressed through mystical
experiences, relevant with nature, that helped the reader acknowledge personal issues and
soon overcome them.

Through this preoccupation with the natural and the astral, the Romanian, had as a focus a
very personal investigation of individual behaviour. Because spirituality protected our faith
our only concern was the soul, with all its traumatic experiences. Through our behaviour we
had to maintain our hope for the future alive, in order to protect our soul.

When Romania reached modernity, an ambiguity of identity appeared shifting our old
notions of philosophical perspectives into western influenced ones. The West categorized us
as ‘a mixture of being and not being’11 and because of its confused political state, after
communism, the Romanian identity started to decline. Its relation to nature transformed
into a mode of orchestrating political traits between countries in order to sustain its citizen’s
needs. When in the past we have been categorised as a ‘pastoral civilisation’12, now the
relationship with the natural realm has disappeared.

When talking about the Western influences, Eliade suggested that our
nationality was in a desperate need of a ‘new humanism’ and a ‘cultural
renewal’. He categorized the West as arrogant and wished that Romanians
would return to the idea of seeing themselves as ‘planetary beings’. By proposing
a return to the sacred through myth, symbol, and religious phenomenons, he
encouraged the Romanian identity to distance itself from the Western culture. 13

Today the Romanian character is bewildered, our stoic spirit lives only through our nostalgia
and this confusion, marks in our present state, a perpetuous wish to return to the ethereal.

11
Ibid., p.15
12
Valentin Quintus Nicolescu, "Nature And Identity In The Construction Of The Romanian Concept Of Nation", Environment
And History, 20.1 (2014), p. 125.
13
David Cave, Mircea Eliade's Vision For A New Humanism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993)..

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With this I believe Romanian identity should be reanalysed and reintroduced as a new way
of acknowledging one's self as a form of Utopianism.

Utopia
In ‘The Concept of Utopia’ Ruth Levitas defines Utopia as an imaginary possibility of a
different better world, free of the present ordeals we struggle with in current societies14.
These imagined other possibilities found their foundations in myth and origins but they
differ for many cultures. Utopia usually manifests as a wish, as the desire for a ‘better way of
being’15.
Because of its term16, Utopia was soon dismissed and seen as an impossibility, and these
notions of a better way constrained utopia as ‘an escapist fantasy’.
Utopia is still an ambiguous study, it symbolizes more than just a dream, it is a ‘vision to be
pursued’17, and its social criticism has led to multiple interpretations of what Utopia actually
means.
The characteristic that prevails in its studies is that of place.

From its beginning, Classic Utopian Literature focused on fictitious countries or islands that
existed at the same time, with the present in question, but located somewhere unknown,
where their political functionality was emphasized as better than current societies.18
In a reviewed work by John Rieder regarding Tom Moyal’s Utopian Imagination,
he is emphasizing that early Utopian literature had as a focus a reimagined
society while questioning political features, social discriminations, economical
and environmental issues of present times, its main aim, reinventing the present
ordeal of social and political affairs19.

14
Ruth Levitas, The Concept Of Utopia, 2nd edn (Bern: Peter Lang, 2010), p.1.
15
Ibid., p.1
16
“Yet the very term utopia suggested to most people that this dream of the good life is an impossible dream - an escapist
fantasy, at best a pleasant but pointless entertainment.” (Ibid., p.1)
17
Ibid.,p.1.
18
John Rieder, "Utopia, SF, And The Ideology Of Form", Science Fiction Studies, 42.3 (2015), 569.
19
Ibid., p.569

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In Thomas More’s Utopia, the other space, the utopian world is located on an island, and its
main characteristic is that of satirising 16th century England20, while proposing new social
and political approaches towards a community.

The next development of Utopian Literature was that of which these perfect establishments
had the possibility to exist in the future only if we work towards them.21 This transformed
Utopia into a ‘revolutionary goal’22 and began to be understood as an ongoing thought in
human mentality.
Utopia as ‘a wish for the future’ contoured a more philosophical approach towards its
purpose.
Regarding its spatial or temporal choices, Utopia has manifested as a different possibility of a
society, marking society as a human creation rather than a divine order.

In Romanian culture, the other place that represents the better world, is not positioned
outside of our own. Utopia ‘fills and fulfills’23 our own present world.

“The ‘world of here’ includes things that ‘used to be’ but ‘they are no more’, as
well as things that ‘could be’ but ‘are not yet’.”24

One folkloric proverb that depicts the mentality towards space in Romanian culture is ‘Omul
sfințește locul’/’Man sanctifies the place’. Where an improved individual appears, the place
which it occupies becomes better, the state of an individual’s approaches towards spirituality
and existence define the place and country in which one lives. In Romanian Literature,
political functionality was not explored as its main issue but it had as a shifted focus, the
identity and behaviour of its inhabitants.

20
Lyman Tower Sargent, "The Three Faces Of Utopianism Revisited", Utopian Studies, 5.1 (1994), 9.
21
Peter Seyferth, "A Glimpse Of Hope At The End Of The Dystopian Century: The Utopian Dimension Of Critical Dystopias",
2018, p. 3.
22
Ibid., p. 3
23
Magdalena Dumitrana, Romanian Culture Identity And Education For Civil Society (Washington: The Council for Research
in Values and Philosophy, 2004), p. 14

24
Ibid., p. 15

10
If utopia as described by Ernst Bloch is the ‘expression of hope’25, in Romanian culture hope
is a permanent attribute of our mentality, circulating from us back to us, transforming Utopia
in an individual perspective of our own personal behaviour.
These different approaches of space and utopia are made visible through the Romanian
Science fiction novel.

Science Fiction and The Romanian Novel of Scientific Anticipation

In our Eastern European culture the Science Fiction genre carries the name of ‘Novel of
Scientific Anticipation’26(NSA), in which the supernatural links with the natural sequence of
life. In Romanian culture, the term 'scientific' was mirroring the word ‘power’, and its use
was to address issues of social responsibility.27 Combined with the fantastic, the literature
ensured an understatement deeper into the psychological and philosophical aspects of life.

“Ideally, from the fusion of the two would emerge a unique kind of literature
read for the improvement of self and society; i.e., read for the sake of
penetrating to the essence of ideas and/or read for the purpose of changing
one's life-not simply for enjoyment or to isolate the self through an escape from
reality” (p.63)

Science Fiction immersed in Romania on the grounds of Utopianism, although its form was
never related to Utopian Literature, NSA remained alienated to its term completely.

Utopia’s prosperous journey did not have a smooth course, although, in the 19th century28,
because of the infatuation with scientific progress, Science Fiction managed to pave the road
into a more loud idealization of other worlds or societies.

25
Ze'ev Levy, "Utopia And Reality In The Philosophy Of Ernst Bloch", Utopian Studies, 1.2 (1990), p. 5.
26
Elaine L. Kleiner, "Romanian "Science Fantasy" In The Cold War Era", Science Fiction Studies, 19.1 (1992), p. 62.
27
Ibid., p.62
28
Tom Moylan, Demand The Impossible (Germany: Peter Lang, 2014), p. xviii.

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Science fiction received its utopian attributes through its dismissal of realistic notions of
current literature forms. The genre corresponds with imaginative ‘future-oriented fictional
worlds29’ in which the author explores other possibilities, positioning the reader in a state of
estrangement while generating an engagement in critical thinking30. By exploring different
political possibilities through different societies and different scientific themes, Science
Fiction found its rapport with Utopia31.

Romania’s approach towards Science Fiction was a more individually concerned one, guiding
the citizen towards an illumination of the self, by bringing awareness towards acknowledging
one's epistemological identity through mystical experiences32.
The notion of space remains in the perimetres of Romania as a country, and its travellers
Utopian attributes are those of voyaging into another ethereal realm.

Daniela Utopian

‘Daniela Utopian’ is approaching its national genre of Novel of Scientific Anticipation and the
story focuses on both the lost Romanian identity and different approaches of Utopia.
Its use of place is that of emphasizing the lost atmosphere and perceptions of the Romanian
character. The return to the sacred categorized through the underground pub as a mystical
place, marks the connection to space in Utopian literature. While confronting personal
issues of the native Bucharester, the characters reflect upon their individual perspectives of
what Utopia can be.
The ultimate conclusion of Romanian Utopianism being a very individualistic form of
philosophy in which the individual must understand its personal position in society regarding
its spiritual sense.
One must acknowledge itself first before blaming its society, and must become aware of its
epistemological journey while making changes upon itself. Because we have forgotten our
connections to spirituality and nature, all we have left is nostalgia. The desire for a better

29
Janez Steble, "New Wave Science Fiction And The Exhaustion Of The Utopian/Dystopian Dialectic" (University of
Ljubljana Faculty of Arts, English Department Slovenia).
30
Ibid., p. 90.
31
Ibid., p. 94.
32
Horia Arama, "Utopias Are Written In Romania As Well", Utopian Studies, 4.2 (1993), p. 144.

12
future that defines Utopianism, in Romanian culture, can only be understood through the
process of self-reflexivity, and the distortion of reality is only present to fuel this process.
For Octavia Butler human nature is described as being unconditionally violent and flawed33.
She is suggesting that humans are incapable of change and these attributes are bound in the
‘human genetic structure’(p.241). The fiction of ‘Daniela Utopian’ is arguing that, through
educating the self, and through a change of desires, humanity and, more specifically, the
dwellers of Romania can transform themselves again into a stoic community.

33
Hoda M. Zaki, "Utopia, Dystopia, And Ideology In The Science Fiction Of Octavia Butler", Science Fiction Studies, 17.2
(1990), p. 241.

13
 Daniela Utopian

There have been quite some changes on the streets of Bucharest. I've never experienced the city so
empty before. Usually at this hour you have no room to exist individually, between all the people
roaming the streets, between all the people hurrying to get home, there is no room for me.
This is the peak hour, full of noise and no room to breath, no room to be. Today is different. I can't
understand the feeling that I carry within, it feels like something bad is about to happen. Here I am
anticipating for the worst to hit our city, something to destroy the memories I've gathered so far of
my beloved Bucharest. All I can do is explore these empty streets, to say goodbye to the buildings I've
once so deeply cherished. What else is there left for me to do when the unimaginable is about to
happen? What else is there to do then to drink and smoke?
In the honor of the unfortunate events that soon will occur I am saying goodbye and I will drink and I
will smoke. Because the unthinkable is almost here, I will disappear.

You can have a balanced society between 150 people and that's it. You can’t have
more and to be frank 150 is quite a lot. I would say 15 but what land will only host 15
people?
At the end of the day, this Utopia can only be found within.
What is within you it's not within anyone else. Now imagine 150 different withins,
150 different souls and pairs of eyes. It’s chaos. Madness.
You need discipline and with discipline you have rules, but even in those 150 souls
there will be one not obeying the rules. People want freedom. How can we say that
we can give them Utopia but they still need to follow some sort of regulations? It will
drive people mad, insane I'll say. So this Utopia you are talking about, I’m sorry my
friend, but I do not agree. We are no Icarians but we still need control, we need
obedience, we need a balance between the outside and the inside and I believe
Utopia can only happen within when the inside is in complete control. A sort of
totalitarianism. But an agreed one. You know how a routine helps you maintain a
good mental health, well that routine needs to be part of your social life.
I’ve thought about rules and discipline because of who I am and how I know I
function but where will this take us? Aren't we now just a nation of pessimists filled
with sorrow. Will rules change us? People won’t accept not being free… They think
they are free now but they are not. We are not free, not even here.

14
 I agree with you no doubt, but you should take it slow Arthur, I just asked you where
do you see yourself in 10 years, and even though we just met I'm quite pleased with
how open you are, and how this night is unfolding, but when did we end up here,
where is all of this coming from? I believe we need another round of drinks, more
wine, more fuel.

I can see Oblomov getting out of his chair, this colossal heart buried in this moiety of a man, always
knows how much we need our liquor. As he leaves, leaving me behind with this stranger we've just
met, silence haunts our table and I can hear Arthur mumbling something under his breath. His eyes
are filled with disgust and they are frightening me.

In 10 years there will be no sun, there will be no sea, no land, no green that we will
be able to touch freely, only the wealthy will have parks, only the wealthy will see
lakes and feel the breeze once in a while. The world will crumble, I’ll tell you this, the
world will just simply crumble…

When I think of disappearing all I can think about is that iron door. I believe that the door is
somewhat of a symbol for the times that have passed and of course, once again, before our worst
moments in this city, the door is wide open. It invites me in, it becomes my shelter and all the
catastrophes of the future don’t scare me anymore. The iron door opens to a concrete staircase, it
looks frightening at first, as if you are going inside of a bunker. As if the apocalypse is near and, here,
in this underground room, is your only chance of survival. Honestly I don't want to survive the end of
the world. How can I be that selfish into thinking that I am capable of fooling the earth, by hiding
alone in some bunker. I believe it’s egotistical. Me, out of everyone on this earth, to find a way of
surviving? I'd rather die with the whole world.
But that frightening feeling soon goes away by the last stair, and by the last stair on your right you
see the mirror. The mirror is strategically placed there for me to be reminded of how I walked in and
how I will walk out. Sometimes I adore this moment, for me to see the differences in my eyes, my
body, and all of my exterior being, it nurtures my importance, makes me feel adequate. The carpet I
walk on to enter the room is purple, dusty and old. How many times have I engraved the soles of my
shoes onto this piece of material, I genuinely lost count. I've been here so many times in front of

15
these books, in front of this barely holding together old bookcase. I remember how in the past, in
this exact spot, I usually questioned if I should dare go further, getting distracted by the books,
getting distracted by my needs, or by asking myself if it’s safe to disappear like that. This thought has
never crossed my mind since then, until today. Today when the atrocious is near I am questioning my
safety. All of these go away when the very known atmosphere of the room hits my ears, and the
symphonies once again pull me in. I am safe so I go in and I understand that there is no coincidence
of my arrival here. I’ve always felt understood here, like my pains and sorrows are finally justified and
accepted. I can be this sad romantic soul of a person. My pain makes me superior and I strive for
uttermost supremacy. I am sure that everyone sees this room different as this is the room of
interpretable geniality but for me it has red walls, with an old, broken piano in the back and it’s
always covered in smoke. This is the only place in the city in which you are still allowed to smoke
inside, this gives us freedom, it makes us free of senses, free of identity. I remember the Interbelic
Restaurant, you were allowed to smoke there as well, the place had great beer and the windows
were painted black. There is this common theme between these places that force you to escape
reality, there is no light and there are no clocks. After a while, the restaurant removed its black
windows and disallowed smoking, leaving us only with the underground room. So the room got busy,
and the room got famous for its red and dry wine. Every night I am here, around me, there are
people that lived quite some times, older than me, old enough to remember a different Romania.
This Romania which I desperately try to emulate into my being. I do not belong to my generation, so I
carry this melancholy all around me to show my estrangement. But here at this underground room
that is called Daniela, my melancholy is perpetual living in all the people around me. Some people
play chess, some people cry, some people fall in love but all of us drink, and all of us talk about how
it used to be and where we are heading. Daniela, the establishment that defrauds you from the
abstraction of time. There is no outside for me anymore, I managed to get lost in this portal of
despair that is this room. And once again, at one of our usual tables, I sit with my friend Oblomov.
With all the beauty of this room, all these powers that it possesses over me, I am disgusted by how
much it means to me. I am disgusted that I choose every night to escape. But this night is different
and as I manifest my detestation to this always cheerful man next to me, we encounter a strange
character. This disoriented person saunters around our table.

I couldn’t help but hear your dispute, I don’t want to bother you but may I join?
I’m quite lost, I don’t know where I am or how I ended up here, but you seem like
quality companions. That mirror somehow lured me in. I know I make no sense, this
place is… this place…

16
It is clear that this strange mortal is under the influence of the room. I am quite jealous indeed, he is
so new to this, so refined in this experience that he can’t fight. I can see him disappearing into his
ongoing thoughts about the safety of this room. And again I remember the innocence I once had, the
hesitation of letting go and just belonging to this room. I can see all of this in him and I envy him. My
intense gaze brings him back as if he just woke up from a terrifying nightmare.

Oh excuse my interference, your parlance was invigilating , I’m Arthur.

I can sense Oblomov’s getting excited. To spend every single night with my miserable self, having the
same debates must be tiring. This might be good for him and I owe him that much.

No need to apologise, this is what this room does, people meet for no reason at all
or maybe for all the reasons possible, you would only find out when the night ends
and morning comes back to light. I’m Oblomov. Please, join.

I can’t help but roll my eyes. Oblomov always chooses to see the mystical in everything. He believes
the universe somehow owes us something and that spirituality controls our every move. I must say
some part of me never accepted that about him. It’s quite naive.
As our new companion takes a seat on the last chair left empty at our table, Oblomov starts telling
him of how I disapprove of this room.

You interfered at the right moment, I would say, my friend here, Tudor, was just
telling me, once again, how much he disapproves of this place as he does every
night.

I intervene and introduce myself as Tudor Preda. I can see that Arthur can’t take his eyes off me.
What is he thinking? I ponder to myself. Me, an old soul with nothing to hide, a miserable man
superior to all men around me. All because I understand that there is no chance for any of us, what is
it about me that he feels intrigued about? My eyes get defeated, can he sense maybe? Can he sense
that I am uncomfortable by his gazing? His voice is trembling. I am appalled by this man.

So, tell me please, why do you disapprove of this place? Whatever this can be.

17
 Well Arthur, this room hosts special powers..

I can’t help but interrupt Oblomov, I don’t think this man wants to hear about this nonsense.
Forgive me... but what do you do for a living?

I’m a professor.

Arthur responds confused about my change of subject.

And what is it that you teach?

Well my main focus is creative writing but I dabble with some forms of literature of
course, I’m sorry, is this relevant?

I laugh, and for some reason, with this question, this man is not that terrifying to me anymore.
Relevant? Ha, I can’t help but smile, and I see that Oblomov has the same reaction towards me.

For him everything is relevant.

Oblomov gets up from the small red velvet armchair and picks up the carafe from the table.

Tell me Sir, do you like red wine? I must warn you, it is very dry but don’t worry, we
have enough cigarettes to wash it down.

He left almost tactical so I can be alone with this Arthur. This obscure man. The man nods, and he
keeps staring at me but I refuse to give him any satisfaction. I refuse to be inferiorized by this person I
know nothing about. So I smile smugly and to regain my superiority, when Oblomov comes back I
make a joke.

Look at that, such a coincidence, who would've thought that we would find a third
friend to possess the same profession as the two of us. It seems almost impossible,
as if someone is writing about us trying to make a point or it is maybe some kind of
bad joke. Three teachers enter a bar and sit at one table.. what could happen next?

18
 So tell me Arthur, how is this profession of yours making you feel regarding where
you are now?

My words have revived this man from his scared trance, could it be that both of us have the same
influence on each other? Are we both terrified by who is sitting across from us? Can this person be
my unimaginable? He blurs out words as if he found his confidence in the fact that I pay attention to
him.

I believe my practise has served me quite a deeper understanding of any encounters

I participate in, and to be honest it has no relevance to what your profession is just
as equally for you my presence here possesses the exact resentment. But if you are
really eager to give meaning to this, please, let us discuss. Let me ask you this first, if
I may. Are you implying that I feel somewhat superior? Because don't get me wrong
there are no feelings regarding this place as I feel like I stumbled upon a fairy tale,
but as I look around of course I do. Not just because of my profession but because I
am an outsider. As you said you must have been here for a long time. For me it's
new. I see it and experience it with fresh eyes. I am sure that you Professor Preda, if I
may call you that, are very jealous of me.

I need to hide my thoughts.

I like you, please, feel free to not leave soon and indeed let us discuss.

Arthur smiles and gets more comfortable in his seat. He is in charge right now and he knows it. He is
sitting one leg over the other and proceeds to light his cigarette, to drink the wine provided. He then
reopens the discussion I rudely enclosed.

Tell me, Oblomov, you said this place has special powers, should I be concerned? As
for now all I see are red walls and drunken people engaged in, what it looks like,
nostalgic stories. But I might be mistaken, the music though, the music suits my
needs in a very uncanny way, but, please, elaborate.

You see, new friend…

19
I understand that Oblomov is using this expression to mock Arthur and surely to entertain me.
… this is a safe place, nothing from the outside can hurt you in here, there are no
rules as you can see people smoke with no worries, the decor plays into your
nostalgia and time is irrelevant. Such a cliche I know, but hear me out. The moment
you step into this place nothing else matters, there is no reality you need to rush
back to. All we do is drink. What makes it special is its structure, the structure that
relieves you from your most frightful inner stigmas.
In the corner there you can see the bar. It’s small, made out of wood. Behind the
counter you have drums full of wine. The place is very famous for it’s red wine. We
also have white but not many people prefer it here in this room. They sell cigarettes
imported from Bulgaria and tobacco from Croatia. They can also serve you a hot tea
for winter nights, water and juices if you don’t prefer alcohol. They don’t sell very
well.
You see that man behind that bar, that is Daniela's husband. Daniela usually drinks
with different people at different tables. To my surprise, she is not here tonight. It
would've been lovely for you to meet her.

It’s too dangerous outside, I knew Daniela wouldn't be here, Oblomov is too blind to sense the
despair that soon will collapse over our city. Daniela knows, she’s hiding just as we all should've
done. But we chose her room in which to hide. Makes me wonder how safe we are and why I still
question my safety. As if the keeper of heaven did not choose to hide in it. This heaven must be
pestiferous, I do not care, although I do not want to die.

In front of us, at that table, veterans meet, they control the music and the
atmosphere. They talk about old times, old Romania, they drink, they sing, they play
chess or cards, they treat this place as their living room. They gather as friends and
reconcile memories. These people truly make the room, they incorporate such
feelings that you only get when you read our greats.
In the corner right there, young lovers usually meet. They get intoxicated by the
wine and the poetry. They are all in love with the city, with the romanticism of
Bucharest and they come here to express their love. Everyone here strives for this
idealised image of Bucharest, and the beauty of this room is that it plays into your
conception. The Bucharest we have now, outside of here, is long changed. In this
room, the city functions because of the necessity of the past.

20
 You see this painting on the wall behind us, next to the mirror? Next to the lovers?
Well in front of it, at that one big table, something strange once in a while happens.

What do you mean, strange?

Sometimes we sit there. Tudor really likes that painting. The fact is that, as you can
see, that table is always empty if we are not there. When we are there, Tudor, he
doesn't need me. It makes me ache but it’s just him and that painting, the wine and
his thoughts. As I’ve said the room works it’s power on every one of us differently,
but that spot there, that chair seems like it's been reserved only for Tudor’s soul.

What is it about that painting, Professor?

I didn’t want to share this with him, to tell him what that piece of colored canvas means to me. Why
should I open myself in front of a stranger? To tell him about my mother, to tell him about the pain I
suffered. When I think of it, and if I can just be true to my pain, this pain is nothing but just an absurd
jest. The way I see my mother, my childhood has nothing to do with me. The most cliched pain I
could think of, the pain my parents surpassed all over me, makes me question my adequacy. I know I
am entitled to this blaming. I am entitled to blame other people for my misery. Just as I do and I will
not share this insecurity of identity with no one.
So I said nothing, and nothing lingered between us while we drank our wine in silence.

21
…

22
I keep pouring our wine, it’s like Tudor gave me this constant job of keeping him hydrated and
intoxicated. He is using me and I am fine with that. The silhouettes and the shadows of the room
move unanimously. The room got smaller as if the only light and features important are those of us.
The setting only moves and breathes concordantly.

There is a protocol to this room, Arthur, it wouldn't work otherwise. I know, I know I
said there are no rules, but this right here is what the actual magic is. If it were to
give a metaphor to describe this place I would say here, we have purgatory and I
don't want to tie this room to christianity or any form of religious beliefs, I’m just
giving you a simple example. You are sitting in purgatory. These people around us are
here all the time, and they will still be here for a long, long time. We’ve met people
that only needed the room for one night, and after that, they were long gone. We’ve
never seen them after.
For this is why I am scared for Tudor. He’s been here for so long, and the intriguing
part is that people that get stuck here are not aware of this fact. Tudor is. He believes
this is all Utopia can be. Can you imagine that? Utopia as purgatory… A man of no
faith choosing to believe that Utopia can only be a place in which everything immoral
is allowed, almost encouraged, only because it secures a part of history we’ve lost.
Now don’t get me wrong, this freedom of immorality I am talking about is exactly
what born our moral compass. And all of these exist only with the help of our
necessity of old times. They work together. We have the sacred and the profane and
they just balance our behaviour together. It’s mystical, I understand why he would
call it utopia, even though I completely disagree.

So, you are jealous of me Professor Preda. I give no meaning to this room, or to your
city, I do not cherish its history only because I do not know it. What I do cherish
deeply is moments like this, with conversations like this. Am I free in your eyes?
Are you jealous of this freedom of not connecting to a place? If it were for you to not
care about Romania, would you still have had this overdone soul?

My dear Tudor, I can see he is uneasy. I do not want to intervene, but Arthur might be good for him.
It might make him absorb me, finally to be an equal, to be a whole and to leave this place. I knew
that when I mentioned Utopia, I knew that he would become uneasy. After all, understanding Utopia
is his only way of survival. And just like that Arthur asked what I anticipated.

23
I know I stormed all over you with these questions Professor Preda, pay no attention
to those, I can see you’ve become uncomfortable but please answer me this. Why
Utopia?

How can you disregard Utopia in such a way, Arthur? Even though, for no matter
what change you propose in this world, no matter what change you fight for, there
will always be little to no influence upon your struggles, Utopia is our only individual
salvation. And I apologise, but this Utopia does not cherish the meaning you are so
eager to disregard. For your Utopia, why should I destroy myself into forcing a
change that I am in no position of knowing that it will actually help. Who am I to
propose new rules or to even think that my way is the one that will solve all our
issues. So why should Utopia be thought of by one individual to assist a large
community? There is no such thing, it's all lies. To believe that a perfect society that
actually manages to attain all desires for its locals can be constructed is completely
absurd. But then you have this place. No judgement, only dismissal of pain. It’s a
portal of sheltered memories. You couldn’t understand Arthur, as you’ve said you
feel nothing for this place, but us, our nostalgia is all we have left. I do not care for
another economic and social change, we’ve suffered enough, we are lost and in this
disorientation I’m choosing my own tormented victimisation of current times. I am a
victim, a victim of the future, and to soothe my pain I chose the past and called upon
it my Utopia.

I believe you’ve never been in love, Professor, or are yet to forgive quite a number of
people. A victim? Is this what you are? Quite privileged to account for yourself as a
victim I must say.
Every civilisation believes that their way of affairs is the right one, and all are trying
to imitate. There is no perfect civilisation, there is simply no Utopia. You're choosing
to victimise your soul, to cry to the future of your country. By choking any bit of
ambition left through alcohol, you cry for a loss of history and call it Utopia. You are
no victim, professor, your only issue is yourself.
Although I do agree that a reform won’t do any change, this place, this place is no
Utopia, don’t be a fool.

24
I sit, I drink and I watch. I listen to this wonderful exchange of perceptions and in Tudor I feel the
rage. His temper pulls me in, makes us become a whole but I do not wish to be assimilated through
pain. I am joy and only joy will save our split soul.

Profesor, you talk so highly of this place thus far we’ve only acquainted because of
your disapprovals. Illuminate me, as I feel you are stuck in a paradox of some sorts.
And regarding Utopia, before I let you share your thoughts, there is no denial in
understanding that Utopia is just a dream like myth. And that every citizen of all
civilisations is subjugated by its functionality. People are doomed to suffer, of that,
there is no escape. Wishing for Utopia will not help, what indeed would, would be a
change of behaviour, a dismissal of victimisation and an understatement that you as
an individual are in control. A shift of an external totalitarianism to an interior one, a
change for you to become your own dictator sort of situation. Please now.

Arthur, you accuse Tudor of behaving paradoxically and yet here you are. If the
population is not controlled by a state but disciplined in controlling itself individually,
wouldn’t the outcome be similar? It’s still obedience even though it's a personal one
analysed through individual rules, morals and perceptions. Still it does not harness
the freedom of Utopianism. What you're implying is that instead of having a land
which transforms itself, through rules, into a dystopian establishment, that
overcontrolled land to become your own individual mind. Creation will stagnate,
Arthur… You have no control over the population, which is not a privative thought.

You might be right, Oblomov, but all we can say about Utopia is fictitious, it does not
exist nor it ever will. We can only explore ideas of how it will function.

But again, who are we to propose such changes? Who are you Arthur? You disregard
the place completely, only people matter in your eyes. You believe in complete
control over the self, but the self is only rendered by the places it has been, it is or
will be. The self is such a broad spectrum of identities, funnily enough no two the
same. How can you propose a change if you only know yourself, and your perception
of good and bad?

25
 Tell me then, Professor Preda, do you know more than yourself?

I don’t think this is relevant, Arthur. I believe what Tudor is trying to say is that
Utopia can move past the idea of an architectural or geographical establishment on
which I agree. And for this he might disapprove of this place. I agree that Daniela
cannot count as a Utopia, even though this sentiment it's personally entitled only to
his own perception, distinguishing bad from good, the dystopia outside of these
walls and the idolized Utopia within them. As far as I am concerned this purgatory
may only be interpreted as a heterotopia. With this comes in place the confused
necessity of the past. This place is bound in memory and nostalgia, used as a form of
escapism, absconding the dystopia that is indeed our city Bucharest. But we all have
this obsession with the ethereal, I remember Catalina34 singing to the brightest star
and how that star became mortal just to be with her. The star used to come here, in
this room, just after Catalina ended her love for him, and he used to drink just like
us, just as any of us.
Magic used to guide our civilization and this obsession with the astral we’ve lost so
abruptly when the image of the west conquered our needs. We wished upon
immortality of the soul. Memories and nostalgia provided this spiritual immortality.
And this idea of everlastiness is our Utopia because it forces our individual spirit to
be better. Before all this, before our current times we used to ask the astral how to
preserve our soul and now all we have left is Daniela.

You’re naive Oblomov, wishing for utopia is a communal act, you wish for the society
you live in to be better, for people to not starve, for people to not die. It’s not about
your spiritual self. It’s about rules and respecting those rules for you and for the ones
around you.

Here you are mistaken. I am in position to convince you Arthur, nor do I make this my
purpose, but you seemed interested in Tudor’s issues, which to be fair are all entitled
to me. In this mystical place Tudor managed to contour me as an unknown entity
when in the end all I am is just a part of him. Because of his unacceptance of this

34
Catalina is the female protagonist in the Mythopoeic Romanian Poem “Luceafarul” (The Morning
star). The poem is recognized as the greatest accomplishment of Romanian Literature, and its author,
Mihai Eminescu, as a genius of Romanian culture. In this story, her character and the poem are used
in order to emphasize the Romanian literary culture in it’s personalisation of the ethereal by
highlighting the culture’s upbringing of magical tendencies in literature.

26
 absurd idea of Utopia, he is unable to assimilate me as a whole. Daniela divided us
into two different bodies.

Forgive me but you’ve found me lost at the moment, Oblomov. I do not believe in
magic, for sure I was just entertaining the idea for your benefit, but what kind of
masquerade are you two condoning here? Professor? Care to clarify?

You lack faith Arthur, all Oblomov said so far are only words of truth, and as he said
you stumbled upon this place for no reason at all or maybe for all the possible
reasons, and now when the night is at its end we understand. For you the night
might've had no reason but for I, I see your role. If I may now, I would like to explain
myself, and as I do, I believe Oblomov will finally disappear and this underground
room we will leave forever. As you said you can only control yourself but it is not
about control, or rules Arthur, here you are mistaken. Utopia is all about wanting to
be better. If we manage to entertain this idea in our minds, and we let our betterness
blossom individually, we will amend. The impossibility of the present to make a
change is bringing us all down, we see no point in trying anymore, as you’ve seen in
my behaviour. To implement one type of Utopia will lead us nowhere, we have no
control of other’s perceptions for we’ve evolved so much. Whereas at the same time
we are completely unable to sense what political reinforcement will help our society
be Utopian. Our only individual power is to care for our soul, to educate our children
of what it means to be a part of this reality, to have them become colligate with
nature and others.
And as for this room, I admit I was escaping because of the nostalgia. The nostalgia
of past times where the soul was important, our education and knowledge were
important. This place reminds me of a Utopia we used to perceive in the past and we
no longer do. But all I needed was someone like you to mediate my split soul.

The unthinkable was not even close, the catastrophe did not occur and the state of Bucharest
remained as influenceable as it’s been for the past 30 years. Our city, still questioning it’s true
identity, and us lingering on the past, still blaming ourselves for dethroning the possibility of a better
future. To what we have now, we managed to distort and fabricate a superficial type of identity, and

27
we lost oh so much. We’ve obsessed over the west, when in our east, the sun rises from the sea, and
it all just makes sense. Regarding Utopianism, no one wanted to listen, not even us. Absurd. When
we only talked of the soul, for our voivodes to see us forced into secularisation? To be capitalized into
saying nothing anymore? The grand gesture, Utopia lost. And the eastern did not wish for no place,
nor island. Our business was always between us and the Gods. We searched for a recipe on which to
live by truthfully for our souls.
The time of us has passed and for this distorted identity to regain the pure form of the soul, Utopia
again lost. The epitome of nostalgia and the anticipation of ethereal truth, I, Tudor Preda, solemnly
vow that by all means, through me and with me, Utopia will not lose anymore. For it again I call to
the Gods, my immortality will define the freedom I try to emphasize, and not any kind of freedom,
the freedom birds have to fly, and grass has to grow. Only light to my future, my intense nostalgia, I
see you as my fuel. I bow forward, Utopianism, and my behaviour will only sustain because Daniela
Utopian, I escaped your purgatory and I saved my Balkan soul.

28
“ The problems we face as a community, as we’ve noted, are infeasible for a change. No matter what
we do, there is no meaningful improvement we can bring upon our world.”

29
CHAPTER 1. Daniela and the ethereal space.

Daniela Utopian's main inspiration lies in the works of Mircea Eliade and his vision towards
edenic territory. Mircea Eliade is one of the most influential Romanian writers of Fantasy
stories. As a historian of religions, his interest in Romanian myth and folklore35 really
defined the genre’s approaches and later on the influence of identity in the Romanian
character. Focusing on the epistemology of human identity, his work uses fantasy as an
existentialist form in establishing internal struggles.

‘La tiganci36’ (With the Gypsies, 1959), can be asserted to have as a genre the Novel of
Scientific Anticipation for its relationship between real and fantasy, and for bringing
awareness upon the characters’ struggles through the means of experiencing another realm
of perceptions than the original one (p.60). The appearance of an unearthly and
inexplicable element, the brothel, perturbs the natural order of reality. The fantasy follows a
middle aged man into his journey towards the inevitable death, the theme of the narrative
being the transition towards death as a way of initiation into the sacred37. There is a
symmetry throughout the narrative highlighted by the two opposites of real and unreal in
which the characteristics of the genre are found. Bucharest, in the story, is the place that
represents the real while the brothel represents the supranatural and the unreal.
Eliade considers that by focusing on the fantastic, a more real representation of the self will
be deducted than it would if focused on the real.38

The character in the story is lost and restless till he stumbles upon the brothel of the gypsies.
The earthly paradise and edenic territory in which the imperceptible transition represents
just a phase, a transition towards a different outline of existence, acts as auxiliary towards
his inner issues of accepting death as a sacred act. The supernatural helps him overcome his
own internal issues.

35
David Cave, Mircea Eliade's Vision For A New Humanism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 90.
36
Elaine L. Kleiner, "Romanian "Science Fantasy" In The Cold War Era", Science Fiction Studies, 19.1 (1992), p. 60.
37
David Cave, Mircea Eliade's Vision For A New Humanism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 91.
38
Elaine L. Kleiner, "Romanian "Science Fantasy" In The Cold War Era", Science Fiction Studies, 19.1 (1992), p. 60

30
‘Daniela Utopian’ is using its place in such a way, setting the story in the same fantastic
genre. The story reflects upon the acquaintance of three characters that meet in the
underground pub, Daniela. The pub is located in Bucharest which, similar to the brothel in
‘La Tiganci’, holds supernatural powers. The story is written in the same structure of Elaide’s
works, following three important aspects of the genre.
The similarity of the structure is represented by the unearthly experience, the ambiguous
relationship of profane and sacred, and the use of myth and nostalgia, all working towards
characterising the importance of place in ‘Daniela Utopian’.

Myth as National Identity and Nostalgia in Daniela Utopian

The general idea of myth that Eliade proposes is, that by understanding myth, one is able to
understand how certain things function and therefore one can receive the possibility to
manipulate or control them. 39
Before understanding the unearthly experience, the reason for the supernatural must be
explored. In Daniela Utopian, nostalgia plays an important role in making the magic possible.
For Eliade, the understanding of the past moves the individual into a totalitarian
attainment40. This totality can be used as a form of discipline into experiencing an epiphany,
‘only when reality itself is observed’41. Plato, as well, suggested that by ‘living intelligently’
and understanding certain notions, one remembers its ‘purely spiritual existence’. 42
When the underground pub is described, it is emphasized that the place preserves the
image of a past romanticised Romania towards which communal nostalgia helps in
maintaining it. With this, Daniela becomes a parallel world to the outside one.

“The "parallel world" of the fantastic is indistinguishable from the given,

ordinary world, but once this other world is discovered by the various
characters, it blurs, changes, transforms, or dislocates their lives in different
ways.”43

39
Mircea Eliade, Myth And Reality (Harper & Row, 1963), p. 13.
40
Matei Calinescu, "The Disguises Of Miracle: Notes On Mircea Eliade's Fiction", World Literature Today, 52.4 (1978), p.
563.
41
Ibid., p.563.
42
Mircea Eliade, Myth And Reality (Harper & Row, 1963), p. 125.
43
Elaine L. Kleiner, "Romanian "Science Fantasy" In The Cold War Era", Science Fiction Studies, 19.1 (1992), p. 60

31
When the differences between the real (Bucharest) and the unreal (Daniela) are recognized,
the supernatural acts as a helper towards an epiphany.

Regarding myth, Eliade, believed that by reliving myth, a shift of perspectives happens, while
escaping the normal chronological profane time44, one may enter a sacred place. He also
points out that freedom of imagination led him to theoretical realisations and not the other
way around, while understanding that the miracle and the sacred are important in his
literature he is suggesting that those aspects perceive their importance through historical
means. 45 Romania therefore contours the meaning of the sacred in its unique way
deliberated from its history. While the characters relieve the myth, time becomes
unimportant and place becomes sacred.

The Sacred and The Profane Antithesis

Eliade believed that one can interpret two types of reality, the sacred and the profane. The
sacred represents spirituality, while the profane secularisation46. Spirituality is an important
characterisation in the Romanian identity, and the ‘world above’ has played a role in
multiple literary works.
In Luceafarul (Evening star) by Mihai Eminescu, the sacred is used in order to reflect upon
themes of love and immortality. The normal presentation of the sacred is shown through the
plot of the poem. A girl falls in love with a star asking it to become mortal for her. From this
the conclusion of the poem reflects on the genius human condition that uses love as a way
of understanding its own consciousness and its position in the universe. In Romanian
Literature the scared is usually represented through normal everyday issues of the
individual, and if ‘the sacred takes on the appearance of everyday banality’47, the banality of
Daniela Utopian is portrayed as the people who drink and smoke, engaging in everyday
activities of a normal dweller of Romania. There is a big emphasis on ‘drinking and smoking’
which are used to sustain the struggles of the main character, Tudor Preda.

44
Mircea Eliade, Myth And Reality (Harper & Row, 1963), p. 13.
45
Mircea Eliade, The Sacred And The Profane (New York: A Harvest Book), pp. 10-13.
46
Mircea Eliade, Myth And Reality (Harper & Row, 1963), p. 13.
47
Matei Calinescu, "The Disguises Of Miracle: Notes On Mircea Eliade's Fiction", World Literature Today, 52.4 (1978), p.
561.

32
 In the question of what is the purpose of life, Sigmund Freud suggested that this
purpose can only be found in the culmination of the pleasure principle. Human
beings have as a primordial aim the dismissal of pain and unpleasurable
experiences, just for the production of eternal happiness48. Freud also noted that
these pleasures have been altered by the external world, and that the dismissal
of suffering is completely intertwined with different methods based on individual
experiences and motifs. One of the methods that Freud analysed, in which the
dismissal of suffering is fulfilled is intoxication.49

The pain dismissed through intoxication is that of living in a dystopian Bucharest and the
encouragement towards immoral behaviours in the underground pub sets the atmospheric
tone of the ethereal place. The profane marks the superficiality of Daniela’s customers in
accepting immoral behaviours as means of escapism.
The journey towards authenticity is marked by the unearthly experience.

Unearthly Utopian Experience

The role of the unearthly experience is to trigger a self reflexivity over one’s soul.
In this underground room Tudor preda managed to split his personality into two, creating
Oblomov as his long friend with whom he drinks every night at the pub. The self reflexivity is
intrigued by Oblomov’s perception of Utopia, believing that one has to understand and be
true to itself in order to be able to perceive the reality of his encounters. Only when self
reflexivity happens, the desire for change can be utterly educated. The possibility of one
character to sit in front of his unaccepted thoughts embodied as a human entity sustains the
ethereal notions of Romanian culture. The magic relies in Tudor Preda’s acceptance of his
dual representations of his own soul

48
Sigmund Freud, Civilisation And Its Discontents (London: Penguin Books, 2002), p. 16.
49
Ibid., p.16.

33
Heterotopia and Purgatory

One way to see the underground pub is as a heterotopia. Firstly, because Fatima Vieira
in ‘The concept of Utopia’ stated that heterotopia constitutes a safe place for the
characters, ‘within the context of dystopian literature, heterotopias represent a kind of
heaven for the protagonists, and are very often to be found in their memories, in their
dreams, or in places, which, for some reason, are out of the reach of the invigilation
system which normally prevails in those societies.’ 50 Daniela managed to abolish all
exterior life by creating this heaven for her customers. The pub acts as a society in which
the rules implied are gladly followed because they serve the freedom and escapist
needs of the customers.

If the outside society, Bucharest, represents dystopia, the only rule of the underground pub is
complete acceptance of one’s behaviour.
Secondly, Foucault had a different approach towards heterotopia. In his lecture, ‘Of Other Spaces’,
Foucault suggestested that heterotopia, regarding its geographical and architectural position,
represents a place of contrast, a place in which two opposites happen at the same time. A paradox
that delimits the real from the unreal, both existing simultaneously.

‘Society can make heterotopias function in vastly different ways, refashioning their use
over time, but their overarching functionality remains constant: heterotopias are always
places where incompatible or contradictory kinds of space converge.”51 This idea plays in
the distress of Tudor Preda and his disapproval of the underground room. As Foucault
described, Daniela may act as a heterotopia of crisis. A sacred place ‘reserved for
individuals who are, in relation to society, in a state of crisis.’52

Although it is referenced that the pub can act as a heterotopia, it is also described as a purgatory.
This is because, if the process of self-reflexivity and desire are not present in the customer’s crisis,
the mystical place of Daniela acts as an intermediate state, in which a cleanse needs to happen
before stepping into heaven, or in this case, Utopia.

50
Fatima Vieira, The Concept Of Utopia (Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. 18.
51
Iwan Sudradjat, "Foucault, The Other Spaces, And Human Behaviour", 2011.
52
Iwan Sudradjat, "Foucault, The Other Spaces, And Human Behaviour", 2011.

34
CHAPTER 2. Utopian perspectives

The unearthly experience of the story inducts a fantastic condition where we have one
individual, split into two characters, and a mediator between them.
Daniela imitates a long gone Bucharest, its magical powers are does of illuminating personal
struggles and issues, but only for those desiring illumination. Desire and acceptance play an
important role in the ability of magic. If desire is not present, Daniela remains only an
escapist place entertained by its customers’ nostalgia. Those struggles differ and their
magical attributes act differently upon each individual. For Tudor Preda they managed to
split him in half, creating Oblomov.
Tudor Preda represents the relinquished character, the negative perspective on human
existence, the emphasized idea that there is no point in trying anymore, a change for the
better will never happen.
Oblomov then acts as his better half, characterised through Tudor’s struggles, Oblomov
represents his battle with acceptance.

Tudor’s rationalisation is obstructed by his escapist personality and because of that, for the
two divided characters, Daniela only remains a place of accepted immoral behaviours.
The two are referenced to have spent a long time at Daniela, transforming the underground
pub into a resemblance of purgatory.
All of this changes when the third character, Arthur, stumbles upon Daniela by mistake.
Arthur then becomes a mediator between them two, soon helping Tudor in acknowledging
his struggles and accepting them. The journey towards illumination is established through
their dialogue, having as their main theme of discussion, Utopia. All three characters reflect
together on different approaches of Utopia.

Arthur - Individual totalitarianism

For Arthur the place of the ethereal is unimportant, he neglects Romanian history and only
entertains the discussion for his own pleasure and entertainment. He treats utopia only as a
fictitious story in which different perspectives are analysed and discussed.

35
His vision towards utopia resembles anti-utopianism and proposes a form of totalitarianism.
One interpretation of Utopia is that its proposed structure of the new society in question
can lead to totalitarianism or violence53. The possibility of a better society raised questions
regarding the capability of the human race to achieve that possibility. What was prevailing in
Utopian thought was that events could always become worse54. Arthur reflects upon this
idea, Utopia can easily transform into a Dystopia if certain rules are implemented as a form
of totalitarianism.

The difference in his ideals is that this totalitarianism has to be implemented in each
individual’s mentality. The rules should be followed individually and proposed individually
based on each’s perceptions upon society.
He is suggesting self-discipline which is depicted as the ability one has to do in order to
succeed, whatever its psychological state might be55. What Arthur proposes as a change for
the world is the complete control of the human population, not by a political state but
individually by each person.

‘Self-discipline is that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man
above another’(p.38) .

Tudor Preda - Utopia as a form of escapism

For Ernst Bloch wishing for a better future is part of human activity, this marks Utopia as an
ongoing thought of humanity towards a better future sequence56. But this choice of future
reflects on a certain individual that wishes upon that particular change. Tudor Preda believes
that, even though most people wish upon similar aspects of change, Utopia won’t be
completely possible because of the differences of morals between humans. He challenges
this notion by saying that there is no individual capable of creating an establishment in
which all its inhabitants will have their desires equally met. Categorising Utopia as only a
form of escapism, Tudor Preda neglects all aspects of a possible Utopia.

53
Lyman Tower Sargent, "The Three Faces Of Utopianism Revisited", Utopian Studies, 5.1 (1994), p. 24.
54
Ibid., p.26.
55
Charn Mayot, "Discipline", in THE CONCEPT OF SELF-CONTROL IS AT THE HEART OF ALMOST ALL, 2002, p. 38.
56
Ruth Levitas, "Educated Hope: Ernst Bloch On Abstract And Concrete Utopia", Utopian Studies, 1.2 (1990), 14.

36
 In one’s escapist personality the main aspect of the reason towards it is guilt57.
Hopelessness and shame58 determine the individual into different distractions of
the mind. The entertainment of escapism59 is to delimit oneself from the
troubleness of reality, to help one into fantasizing itself as better, ‘as more
important’60.

Tudor Preda does just so, he neglects his consciousness and conceals his feelings by
engaging in profane activities such as alcohol and cigarettes. He sees Daniela as a Utopia, in
which he is superior only because he is aware of his escapist behaviour.
Utopia has been categorized as an escapist literature defining itself through its ‘rejection of
the entangling restraints of civilization61’. In Classic Utopian Literature, the political and social
criticism of one particular establishment defined its purpose. Through this description of the
perfect land, the writer in question has the possibility to express his new land as ‘happier
and healthier’ than the original one, ‘free of its perfervid pressures and irrational practices62.
But in Daniela Utopian, Tudor approached the notions of a free and perfect land in a
different way. He feels free because he has the possibility to escape by engaging in immoral
behaviours, denying the reality of the present and hiding in the past.
Tudor Preda hides behind a superficial method of returning to the sacred, believing that just
by being at Daniela, for his own personal needs, he found his ethereal happiness.

The end of the story justifies his change of heart and Oblomov is assimilated through
realisation and acceptance of his own struggles. They become one entity by understanding a
different vision of Utopianism.
Oblomov - New humanism

The illumination point is rendered by Oblomov’s perspective towards Utopia.

In his speech, Oblomov, removes all notions of a geographical or architectural Utopia,
dismissing Daniela as a possible Utopian establishment. By following old notions of the

57
John L. Longeway, "The Rationality Of Escapism And Self-Deception", Behavior And Philosophy, 18.2 (1990), p. 2.
58
Ibid.,p.2.
59
Ibid.,p.1.
60
Ibid.,p.2.
61
Gorman Beauchamp, "Melville And The Tradition Of Primitive Utopia", The Journal Of General Education, 33.1 (1981),p.
9.
62
Ibid.,p.9.

37
Romanian identity he proposes a return to the sacred in which Eliade’s new humanism is
expressed.
For Eliade this new humanism is completely bound in the complete understanding of one’s
self. This ‘coming to selfhood’ is an important aspect of the Utopian proposal.
The process of individuation that Carl Jung proposed is the journey towards
discovering and understanding one’s self by encouraging the individual into
acknowledging its ‘earthy and unearthly darkness’63. The ‘self realisation’ is
completely characterized as a ‘law of nature’64.
Jung emphasized that, because of the feeling of powerlessness one has towards the desire
to make the world a better place, most individuals have lost their true self. Through
encouraging the acceptance and akcnowledining of one’s persona, these apathetic feelings,
towards the future, can disappear.

This notion of desire is what mainly concerns the approaches of Utopia65. But this desire is
mainly expressed as a different version of the present. The wish to be something else, to be
somewhere else, where things go differently and maybe better66. For Oblomov this
particular expression of desire can only leave the individual to feel more helpless and he is
suggesting that, for the Romanian character, a reprioritization of its hope and needs should
conclude a change of behaviour, and by engaging in the process of self-reflexivity while
attributing a Utopian perspective over it, the Romanian character will remember its stoic
principles. By understanding its own identity, without trying to imagine for itself a different
self, the individual might acknowledge his position and call upon it its Utopia.

Conclusion

All three characters shifted Utopian communal notions into personal allocations of the
individual.

63
Donna Ladkin, "The Journey Of Individuation: A Jungian Alternative To The Theory And Practice Of Leading
Authentically."
64
Donna Ladkin, "The Journey Of Individuation: A Jungian Alternative To The Theory And Practice Of Leading
Authentically."
65
Ruth Levitas, "Marxism, Romanticism And Utopia: Ernst Bloch And William Morris."
66
Ruth Levitas, The Concept Of Utopia, 2nd edn (Bern: Peter Lang, 2010), p.100.

38
The characters ultimately propose that political and social constructions of today's societies
will never change, Romania is doomed to suffer. Utopia as a societal convention does not
have the possibility to exist because of the differences of perspective from every individual.
Racism, discriminations, environmental abuse, violence, are behavioral patterns that pull our
humanity down. New rules or new political approaches regarding Romania’s development
are infeasible because of its present delusional state.
What indeed could spark a small change in our perception of identity is a personal reflection
towards each of our behaviour. The Romanian character, for a short period of time, got
close enough in depicting our role as a community. We based our principles on spirituality
and nature and tried to educate ourselves by acting good only for good’s sake.
These perspectives have vastly disappeared and human concern is not our priority anymore.
The new identity of Romania is categorized through competition, material possessions and
discriminations. The way we perceive ourselves is pushing us away from our country and
traditions. New humanism is asking humanity to see itself as planetary beings and if utopia
strives for a better possibility, Romanians need to see themselves as Utopianists. By
reanalysing past perceptions of our identity and believing that man can only sanctify the
place through its development regarding his Utopian approach, Romanian identity can be
reinterpreted and through it, a change for the future generations can be implemented.

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