If Communists win elections, there will be no chances for the literary art to survive. Info-Prim Neo interview with Writers Union president, Mihai Cimpoi

[ - How was 2008 for the literary sphere?] - I don’t know if Nietzsche was right when he said that the hard times stimulate creation. Something like this happened in Moldova. Nevertheless, the modern writers issued in 2008 several dozens of books, some of them rather representative not only for the work of the authors, but for our whole literature. The literary publicistic and essayistic is good. This proves that we have seriously engaged in the European value dialogue. I would mention here combative articles by Nicolae Dabija, Constantin Tanase, Val Butnaru, Nicolae Negru and Vitalie Ciobanu, volumes of literary essays recently released by Nicolae Leahu, Mircea V. Ciobanu, Leo Botnaru, Alexandru Burlacu and Ana Bantos. A special event of 2008 was the festival of contemporary dramaturgy organized by Satiricus I. L. Caragiale Theater under the direction of Master Alexandru Grecu, where there were staged plays on the works of Andrei Strambeanu, Constantin Cheianu, Nicolae Esinenco, Nicolae Negru, Irina Nechit, Andrei Burac, Dumitru Crudu, Iulian Filip. Humorists Gheorghe Balici, Ion Diviza, Ion Cuzuioc, Alexandru Horasin-Friscu, Teodor Popovici showed a dynamic critical spirit. [ - What are the positive and negative aspects of literature in Moldova?] - The positive aspect is that we have literary art in Moldova, while the negative aspect is that the literary works do not get to the readers and are not protected and supported by the state. We have a program for publishing and distributing books to the public libraries financed by the Government free of charge. But the money does not get to the destination. The Communist authorities had a negative influence on the literary art. The attempts to re-ideologize, re-Sovietize and promote the primitive Moldovenism are condemnable. Writer Ion Druta was attracted into this campaign. [ - What do you expect in 2009?] - For 2009, I make the same forecasts as for 2008, despite the world financial crisis that is threatening us. As I said on another occasion: how can the crisis affect us if we do not have economy? The 2009parliamentary elections will show whether the literature will exist or not. If the Communists win the elections, there will be no chances for the literary art to survive.