in Polis, Volumul IV, Nr. 1(11)

Vasile Ernu’s book belongs to a mixed genre both in terms of methodology and in terms of style. Ernu combines in this book his personal experience (emotions, feelings, affection, memories), testimonies collected from community, and information taken from edited sources. The book also combines what is personal and subjective with what is objective, resulting a work that is situated at the intersection of academic, journalistic and literary style. This is a reasonably choice taking into account the author’s intention to offer a work of religious, social, political and economical anthropology of the community in which he was born and rise until adolescence. Furthermore, it makes it accessible to a broader public. Accessibility and a mild humor, which we meet frequently in this book, are additional reasons that recommend the book, whose reading, I think, help us better understand the author’s personality – and also a way of life – that here is both subject and object of investigation.