Nicolae Steinhardt (1912–1989). “Trei Soluții. Testament Politic” (“Three Solutions. A Political Testament”)

Abstract. The work “Three solutions. A political testament” by Nicolae Steinhardt (1912– 1989), a famous Romanian writer, Orthodox monk and communist-era political prisoner is published for the first time in Russian. It was written in the last period of Steinhardt’s creative life, between 1979 and 1989, and was first published posthumously in 1991 as part of his larger work, “The Happiness Diary”. Along with “The Happiness Diary”, it was republished many times, and was translated into several languages. The “Three solutions” focuses on the issue of maintaining one’s inner freedom and dignity under the extreme circumstances of a totalitarian system. Steinhardt examines the methods that would enable a thinker, who desires to stay free, to escape what he calls “a concentrationist universe” (univers concentraționar). The “Three Solutions” have a profound connection with the works of Soviet-era Russian authors A.I. Solzhenitsyn, A.A. Zinoviev and V.K. Bukovsky. Bearing in mind last century’s negative historical experiences shared by the peoples of Russia and Romania, the “Three Solutions” by Nicolae Steinhardt are relatable and may have even a higher relevance to the Russian-speaking reader, than to the Romanian-speaking one.

Keywords: Nicolae Steinhardt, Romanian People’s Republic, totalitarianism, Securitate.