Coded Performance: Literary Resistance in Romania Under Ceaușescu’s Censorship (1960s-1970s)
Coded Performance: Literary Resistance in Romania Under Ceaușescu’s Censorship (1960s-1970s)

Summary/Abstract: This paper explores the innovative literary strategies employed by Romanian writers Marin Sorescu and Ana Blandiana during the 1960s and 1970s under Nicolae Ceaușescu’s repressive communist regime. Facing stringent censorship and the pervasive surveillance of the Securitate, these authors developed a form of “coded performance” through absurdism, allegory, and metaliterature, embedding subtle critiques within works like Iona and “I Am Watching Myself.” This approach transformed reading into a participatory act of resistance, relying on a “well-trained” audience to decode hidden meanings and preserve ethical and political values. Set against the historical backdrop of a brief cultural thaw and subsequent clampdown, the study contrasts Romania’s subtle dissent with Václav Havel’s theatrical provocation in Czechoslovakia and Soviet samizdat networks. Drawing on performance theory and historical analysis, the paper argues that coded performance not only survived censorship but also offered a resilient counter-narrative, with implications for understanding resistance in contemporary authoritarian contexts.

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