Notes from the Other Side of Night is a diary-memoir written upon Juliana Geran Pilon's return to her native Romania in 1975, which she had left along with her family when she was just fourteen. Poetically weaving together modern insight and realities with childhood perceptions, Pilon tells the haunting stories of her parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends.
Although the scenery of her native home had remained essentially unchanged since her childhood, Pilon recalls streets that are no more, homes and churches that have been demolished. Yet, the hills and forests, the flowers and mountains, the heat of old Bucharest, remained the same. The scenes and characters described in this book are simply unforgettable.
Despite the many tragedies it describes—anti-semitism, political imprisonment, and judicial execution were ruthless realities under communism—Notes from the Other Side of Night is not a depressing book. Pilon writes with a detached melancholy about events and characters that illustrate Hannah Arendt's terrifying "banality of evil." But she remembers, as well, those few who managed to remain human beings until the end. Ultimately, hope triumphs in this memoir. This edition includes a new foreword, which discusses the initial writing and publication of this and previous editions.
Biography
Dr. Juliana Geran Pilon's other books include Soulmates: Resurrecting Eve (2011), Cultural Intelligence for Winning the Peace (2009), Why America is Such a Hard Sell: Beyond Pride and Prejudice (2007), Every Vote Counts: The Role of Elections in Building Democracy, co-edited with Richard Soudriette (2007), and The Bloody Flag: Post-Communist Nationalism in Eastern Europe-Spotlight on Romania (1992). Her anthology on civic education, Ironic Points of Light, was published in Estonian and Russian in 1998. She has also helped write and edit a textbook on civic education used, in country- specific versions, throughout Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, endorsed by the departments of education in these countries. Introduction by Micea Eliade.
