„Az áldozathozatal elengedhetetlen egy egyenesen élt életben”. Válaszok Ovidiu Pecican kérdéseire
“Sacrifice Is Essential to Living an Upright Life”. Answers to Ovidiu Pecican’s Questions

Summary/Abstract: In a reflective interview Nicolae Balotă, as an internationally well-known literary scholar, recounts to Ovidiu Pecican his experiences following imprisonment under the communist regime, with particular attention to the period of forced residence that followed his release from prison. The interview offers a nuanced testimony situated at the intersection of political repression, memory, and personal rediscovery. Balotă describes how, after years spent in prison, he was relocated to the village of Lăteşti, a settlement near the Danube created by displaced populations from the Banat region during the Stalinist period. Through his recollections, the scholar explores how spaces shaped by coercive state policies simultaneously became sites of adaptation, reflection, and partial recovery of individuality. Particular emphasis is placed on the paradoxical nature of forced residence in Balotă’s narrative. Although he remained under surveillance and deprived of genuine freedom, he recalls this period as the only time in his life when he truly experienced rural existence. The interview contrasts the confinement of prison with the relative openness of the Danube landscape, and with the solidarity between the inhabitants of Lăteşti.

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