My reading list: Iona – Marin Sorescu

Today I will talk about a Romanian author. Remembering high-school time when I had many books to read for final exam, I decided to read again one of my favorite Romanian books, Iona. It is actually a theatre script with one main character. It was published for the first time in 1968,

Iona is a drama that was called by the author himself, ”tragedy in four acts” and it is a part of other two scripts of the same author, Paracliserul and Matca. All three of them form Setea muntelui de sare, that was published in 1974 and they all have the same subject, human destiny.

In the first part, Iona is found inside the stomach of a fish, without having any reasons at first. In the second part, Iona realizes that the fish absorbed him and he starts meditating about people and fish. In the third part, the action takes place inside the stomach of the second fish that also absorbed the first fish. Iona starts meditating this time about life, human conditions in life and the circle between life and death.  In the last part, Iona’s horizont reduces to the stomach of the fish. He starts losing hope by meditating over the relationship between humanity and divinity.

The script was inspired by the biblical character that has the same name, Iona, and was also absorbed by a fish. The drama would make you question many things about humanity and about our destiny in this life as a human being. My favorite line is : “Mamă, mai naște-mă o data! Prima viață nu prea mi-a ieșit. Cui nu i se poate întâmpla să nu trăiască după pofta inimii? Dar poate a doua oară… Tu nu te speria numai din atâta și naște-mă mereu.” Mother, give me birth one more time! The first life didn’t get as I wanted it. To whom it could happen to live after the heart’s desire? But maybe second time….Do not be afraid just from this and always give me birth.

Marin Sorescu managed to create a script that had and still has a big influence in Romanian literature. For those who prefer opera that discuss the human existence, I would recommend it to read it.