DECOLONIZING MEMORY Omnibus Life Writing in Post-1989 Romania

This essay conceptualizes omnibus life writing—collective autobiographical volumes—as a means of decolonizing memories of communism and the transition in Romania. I argue that omnibus life writing offers a viable framework for challenging entrenched postcommunist narratives and fostering a relational and intersectional model of remembering the recent past. Through an analysis of Ioana Pârvulescu’s Și eu am trăit în communism [I’ve Also Lived under Communism, 2015], Dan Lungu and Amelia Gheorghiţă’s Cărţi, filme, muzici şi alte distracţii din communism [Books, Movies, Music, and Other Entertainment under Communism, 2014] and Cartea copilăriilor [The Book of Childhoods, 2016], and the Prima dată series [My First Time, 2009–2013], I examine the potential and limitations of this subgenre in advancing the decolonial option in Romanian memory culture. The essay begins with an overview of post-1989 Romanian memory cultures, emphasizing the role of life writing in revisiting the communist past. It then maps the emergence of omnibus life writing, highlighting its distinguishing features and place in the literary market before moving to the case studies. While focused on Romania, the paper suggests that omnibus life writing can create pluriversal systems of knowledge that dismantle binaries and hierarchies of suffering, offering inclusive, layered approaches to autobiographical memory.