Imagine This: An Object Starting a Revolution: The Radio, Exiled Voice, and the Mute Poet in Communist Romania

This paper analyzes the role played by Radio Free Europe in redistributing sound inside Romania, a country which experienced one of the most repressive communist regimes in Eastern Europe. By following the work of Monica Lovinescu, a cultural critic and writer, and Ana Blandiana, a poet, and leaning heavily on the theoretical framework provided by Giorgio Agamben, this paper uncovers the potential of disembodied voices. Voice, therefore, drives the revolution, providing the Romanian population with a means of escape, a means with which to reclaim their words and thus begin making demands for change. Two types of sounds/voices will be discussed in this paper, exiled sound and muted sound. This paper challenges the prevailing notions that Romania was a country without an effective intellectual/cultural public sphere which thus prevented it from fully partaking in the Carnival of Revolution of 1989