ALEXANDRU SAHIA ȘI NOUL REPORTAJ POLITIC
ALEXANDRU SAHIA AND THE NEW POLITICAL REPORT

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, I have tried to provide a brief presentation of the course of Alexandru Sahia's literary and journalistic activity, paying particular attention to the volumes of his reports published in the magazines and newspapers of his time. Although he has died at just 29 years old (1908-1937), Alexandru Sahia (real name Alexandru Stănescu) remained in the cultural memory of the Romanian space, mostly due to the film studio that bears his name – Sahia film, founded in 1952. Moreover, he is the only documentary film producer in communist Romania. By the way, Sahia is a pseudonym taken by the writer after a trip to The Holy Places, in the Arab world the word meaning Truth. His very short journalistic activity (six years) includes works published in newspapers and magazines of the time such as: Rampa, Adevărul, Dimineața etc. Also during this period, he has founded Veac nou and Bluze albastre. Alexandru Sahia's reports prefigure socialist realism in Romania especially through the themes addressed, themes in which he has expressed solidarity with the oppressed ones, an aspect that, over time, aroused the admiration of those around him. As a writer, Alexandru Sahia has a significant place in the history of Romanian literature. Besides his early writings, his literary creation also includes eight short stories: The Living Factory (1932), The Port Uprising (1933), The Spring Execution (1933), The Death of a Young Man with a Short Term, The Father's Return from War (1934), On the Bloody Plain of the Mărăşeşti (1934), June Rain (1935), Unemployment Without Race (1935), in which Sahia combats the horrors of war and racism, brings on the foreground the reflection of working-class life, the idea of proletarian solidarity, the hard life of the peasantry etc. Alexandru Sahia is the writer and publicist whose work has been exploited by the communist regime, probably because most of his reports have been committed to the situation in the U.S.S.R., which is why some critics of the time have stated that the aspects described in the volume of reports entitled U.S.S.R. Today (1935) were counterfeit. Written in the form of a travelogue, Sahia's book carefully respects the method carefully cultivated in socialist realism – the antagonism past – present (yesterday – today). The reality described is distorted. The style is simple, concise, description being the main exposing method in the report. The author describes in detail the Moscow metro, the anniversary he has taken part in, people's clothing, the status of women in the new society, writes about family, marriage and divorce, about education and theatre (which is actually very well organized), about architectural monuments, about industry and agriculture and, of course, about members of the Communist Party. His entire work covers a social theme, which can be found in all writers placed along the lines of proletarian literature which abounds in slogans specific to proletarian violence. The expressive harshness and nervous tension that emanate from all his works, bring him very close to the style of current prose, which has invaded the internet.

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