COMMON HISTORICAL ROOTS
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diadem. But that is only a metaphor, and being a metaphor it is not
actually real. The writer works through exaggerations, and when I speak
of nationalism on the one hand and imperialism on the other hand, it is
an exaggeration, a simplification; otherwise, I would have to bring in
the vocabularies and the works of philosophers. We don't have time for
that. I should add that when I use the word "imperialism," I don't mean
"imperialism" in the Marxist sense of the word. I mean the term, the la–
bel, that is applied to the very complicated network of events happening
in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe right now. Don't go
back to Kipling: you will be distorting my meaning.
Qllest;on:
I am of Belorussian descent. I was born in Poland, lived under
the Soviet regime and the German regime, and we never had freedom. It
has come to the point where our language is disappearing. But I feel
that, left free in a democratic country, we would be able to handle our
affairs in the best manner.
Qllest;oll:
My question is to Madame Dimitrova. What you presented in
your remarks could probably have been written five or ten years ago, so
it seems as if you were aware of what was going to happen to Sisyphus.
Why then did you nevertheless choose to get involved in politics? Is the
ensuing situation only a predictable result of the inevitability of man's
absurdity, as the existentialists suggest, or are there other reasons?
Susan Sontag:
May I say , before Blaga Dimitrova responds, that I
don't see how her essay could have been written five or ten years ago.
The dilemma she has depicted so eloquently is a new one, arising from
the recent change in the status of intellectuals and opponents of the
regime, what they face now, when there is the possibility of their having
a share of power.
BIaga Dimitrova:
In my remarks, I was not trying to answer only a
political, tactical question. The dilemma I described is one shared by ev–
ery human being. It is both an existential question and a metaphor for
the present situation, the problems we face in Eastern Europe.
Qllest;OIl:
You spoke, Madame Tolstaya, very eloquently of diversity in
Russia , and I think we in America can really identity with this. We, our
parents and grandparents, came from all over the globe . Within the
United States are Alaska, Florida, New York City, Peoria, Illinois -
there is tremendous diversity. Don't you think that for the sake of social
cohesion - I won't even call it nationalism, necessarily - there is a need
