Poetics of Denial Expressions of National Identity and Imagined Exile in English-Canadian and Romanian Dramas by DIANA MARIA MANOLE A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Centre for Study of Drama University of Toronto © Copyright by Diana Maria Manole 2010 Poetics of Denial Expressions of National Identity and Imagined Exile in English-Canadian and Romanian Dramas Diana Maria Manole Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Centre for Study of Drama University of Toronto 2010 Abstract After the change of their country’s political and international statuses, post-colonial and respectively post-communist individuals and collectives develop feelings of alienation and estrangement that do not involve physical dislocation. Eventually, they start imagining their national community as a collective of individuals who share this state. Paraphrasing Benedict Anderson’s definition of the nation as an “imagined community,” this study identifies this process as “imagined exile,” an act that temporarily compensates for the absence of a metanarrative of the nation during the post-colonial and post-communist transitions. This dissertation analyzes and compares ten English Canadian and Romanian plays, written between 1976 and 2004, and argues that they function as expressions and agents of post-colonial and respectively post-communist imagined exile, helping their readers and audiences overcome the identity crisis and regain the feeling of belonging to a national community. Chapter 1 explores the development of major theoretical concepts, such as ii nation, national identity, national identity crisis, post-colonialism, and post-communism. Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 analyze dramatic rewritings of historical events, in 1837: The Farmers’ Revolt by the theatre Passe Muraille with Rick Salutin as dramaturge, and A Cold by Marin Sorescu, and of past political leaders, in Sir John, Eh! by Jim Garrard and A Day from the Life of Nicolae Ceausescu by Denis Dinulescu. Chapter 4 examines the expression of the individual and collective identity crises in Sled by Judith Thompson and The Future Is Rubbish by Vlad Zografi. Chapter 5 explores the treatment of physical and cultural borders and borderlands in Kelly Rebar’s Bordertown Café, Guillermo Verdecchia’s Fronteras Americanas, Petre Barbu’s God Bless America, and Saviana Stanescu’s Waxing West. The concluding chapter briefly discusses the concept of imagined exile in relation to other investigations of post-colonial and post-communist dramas and reviews some of the latest perspectives of national identity, reassessing this study from a diachronic perspective. iii Acknowledgements As the old saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. In my case, I can easily say that it took two villages to help me raise my son while writing my doctoral dissertation. Many people from all over the world and especially from Canada and Romania assisted me in various ways and shared with me both the joys and the sorrows of my studies. In addition, my research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s Doctoral Fellowship, the University of Toronto Fellowship, the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama’s Fernie Fellowship, and the School of Graduate Studies Emergency Grant. I would first like to thank Richard Plant, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto and Queen’s University, my thesis supervisor, my Professor of Canadian Theatre during the first year of my PhD studies, my supervisor as a Research Assistant, and most of all a wonderful mentor. Since I have started teaching myself, I appreciate even more his patience, wise advice, and thought-provoking questions, as well the confidence he had in my project and in my career prospects even when I was questioning myself. Professor Alan Filewod from Guelph University was part of my Thesis Committee from the very beginning and his insight into Canadian theatre and nationalism consistently facilitated my discovery of less obvious perspectives. His generous advice helped me navigate the many stages of my doctoral studies and job search. The University of Toronto’s Professor Tamara Trojanowska generously joined my Thesis Committee in the last couple of years of my studies, and helped me through some difficult moments with her subtle point of view of post-communism and post-colonialism and her heartfelt advice. I am also grateful to Professor Calin-Andrei Mihailescu from the University of Western Ontario for his advice to pursue graduate studies after my arrival in Canada and for graciously acting as one of my Thesis Committee members for some years, and to Professor Craig Walker from Guelph University, who greatly impressed me with his thorough comments and thoughtful suggestions when he acted as an External Examiner of my doctoral dissertation. The Professors and colleagues from the Drama Centre have been an important part of my journey and made me feel welcome from the very beginning. As a Graduate Co-ordinator, Professor Stephen Johnson gave me the news that I was accepted into the program and later on, as the Director of the University of iv Toronto’s Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, was one of the examiners at my Final Oral Examination, kindly advising me along the way. During my 2005 research trip and over email during my studies, many of my Romanian friends, colleagues, and former Professors provided generous assistance. Marian Popescu, one of my former Professors at the University of Theatre and Film of Bucharest and currently Professor at the University of Bucharest, shared the results of his life-long work in Romanian theatre, while Elena Popescu generously offered me some of the plays published by the UNITER’s publishing house as a gift. Dragos Petrescu, Lecturer in Comparative Politics, Department of Political Science, University of Bucharest and Chairman of the Board (the Collegium) of the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives (C.N.S.A.S.), Bucharest, Romania, guided me through the complicated labyrinth of the Romanian post-communist sense of national identity and suggested readings and perspectives that helped me ground my research in this direction. Theatre critic and historian Mircea Ghitulescu sent me endless lists of Romanian plays on each theme I came up with and even emailed me entire chapters from his comprehensive History of Romanian Literature: Drama in advance of its publication. Although we have never met in person, Professor Ana Olos from the North University of Baia Mare supported me over email, promoted my work at the 2008 International Unconventional Meeting of Young Canadianists, Baia Mare, Romania, and even mailed me books when she thought them necessary to my research. The feedback from my colleagues in the ASTR working groups and seminars, “National Identity/National Culture,” “Performance in the Borderlands,” and “Exile and America” was a wonderful way of testing my ideas while writing my chapters. My students consistently reminded me that teaching was one of the most rewarding results of my doctoral studies, while their fresh perspectives and challenging questions showed me that the process of discovering the depths of a play might never end. A special thank you goes to Professor Victoria de Zwaan, the Chair of the Cultural Studies at Trent University, where I currently teach, for her special support and vote of confidence during the last year of my studies. My family and my friends supported me emotionally and helped me deal with the complicated meanders of everyday life. My parents, Julieta and Simion Manole, phoned me even from overseas to make sure I woke up on time for my exams and job interviews, v searched through remote warehouses to buy me books, and crossed the ocean to be with my son every time I needed to attend a conference in another city. My sister, Corina Tudor, and her family offered my son and I the love and warmth of her home when we lived in Ottawa and every time we visited, and always listened to me when I needed someone to talk to. Professors Eleonora Enoiu from the University of Bucharest, Margareta Pogonat from the “Spiru Haret” University and Universitatea Ecologică, and Catherine McKercher from Carleton University kindly watched over each step of my way, being my faraway spiritual and emotional mentors. Jamie Ashby, my friend from the Drama Centre and a PhD candidate himself, has found time over the past two years to read my sad or cheerful emails, while Professor Molly Blyth and my current colleagues from Trent University offered me a safe, warm, and intellectually challenging environment, which helped me through the last stages of my writing and defence. From as far as Malaysia, Nadia Mosanu has always known what to tell me when I felt lonely and appealed to her friends from Romania, Moldova, and from all over the world to help me find the information and plays I needed. In Toronto, Paula Willis has edited my texts since the beginning of my doctoral studies and has just told me that she would happily do it for the next twenty-five years. The most special place in my life and heart naturally belongs to Tudor, my son, who grew up proofreading my papers, syllabi, and, sometimes, even emails, and whose love has kept me going since I was lucky to welcome him into my life. Through an amazing coincidence, as I am finishing my PhD, he is finishing high school and we are both getting ready to enter new stages of our lives. I end this part of the journey with deep gratitude to all. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1.Personal Motivation, Play Selection Criteria, and Theoretical Sources 1 2. The Argument, the Method, and the Outline 9 CHAPTER 1: National Identity, Eh? 1.1. Nation/Nationalism/National Identity 18 1.2. Denial, Meta-Denial, and Imagined Exile 22 1.3.