Report on the state of loneliness - Softcover

Buzura, Augustin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0956867642 ISBN 13: 9780956867643

Publisher: Profusion International Creative Consultancy, 2016

Synopsis

"Report on the State of Loneliness" explores, in depth, the Romanian landscape over more than 70 years, subtly locating the history of a myriad of individuals and events within their broader European context, as well as describing the conflicts and opportunities of the post-Accession generation. Comparable in its dynamic narrative to the works of an author like Gunter Grass, "Report" is one of the few works of this kind to have yet come from the literary tableau of the Accession countries.

About this title

About the Author

Augustin Buzura (born 22 September 1938, Berinta, Maramures County, Romania) studied General Medicine in Cluj, and specialised in psychiatry. In 1963 he debuted in Bucharest with the collection of stories Capul Bunei Sperante (Cape of Good Hope). In 1964 he renounced the medical profession, becoming an editorial secretary for Tribuna (The Tribune) magazine. In 1967 he published the second volume of stories, De ce zboara vulturul? (Why Does the Eagle Fly?), after which he started building a vast oeuvre. His novels, Absentii (The Absentees, 1970), Fetele tacerii (The Faces of Silence, 1974), Orgolii (Pride, 1977), Vocile noptii (Voices of the Night, 1980), Refugii (Refuges, 1984) and Drumul cenusii (The Road of Ashes, 1988), confronted communist censorship, bringing the author celebrity, friendship and solidarity from the readers. Recviem pentru nebuni si bestii (Requiem for fools and beasts, 1999) is the novel of transition-time Romanian society, which Augustin Buzura observed with the same unbiased vigilance. His latest novel, Raport asupra singuratatii (Report on the State of Loneliness, 2009), explores the Romanian landscape over more than 70 years, subtly locating the history of a myriad of individuals and events within their broader European context. All his novels enjoyed countless editions in Romania and abroad, the author being rewarded with numerous prizes. He practiced other literary genres as well, such as essays (Bloc notes - Notepad, 1981) and memoirs (Tentatia rispirii - The Temptation of Dissipation, 2003). In 2003 he published Teroarea iluziei. Convorbiri cu Crisula Stefanescu (The Terror of Illusion. Conversations with Crisula Stefanescu). His name is also connected to Romanian journalism. Besides Tribuna magazine, Augustin Buzura was present in the pages of almost all Romanian literary magazines, also being the founder of several publications established under the aegis of the Romanian Cultural Foundation, an organisation he led as president until 2003. His most recent published volume, Nici vii, nici morti (Neither Alive, Nor Dead, 2012) illustrates the best the credo of the journalist who opposes truth to any rhetoric, unmasking the political masquerades of the moment. He was the President of the Romanian Cultural Institute until January 2005. In the same year, he re-launched the magazine Cultura (Culture), which he leads as editor-in-chief and editorialist. Augustin Buzura is a Doctor Honoris Causa of Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, a correspondent member of Sudosteuropa Gesellschaft and a member of the Romanian Academy, the Brazilian Academy of Letters and the Academy of Latinity.

Review

'No one until Augustin Buzura, nor anyone after him, has probed so deeply and with such aesthetic courage the abysses and vastness of the ravages that arose from personality splits and the ambivalence of the self in a world that is marked itself with the seal of generalised psychopathy.' Mircea Iorgulescu 'Buzura has an ethical dimension, not just an epic one. Of course, it is not damaging to a novel to have both dimension coexist, but it is very important to possess the former - so rare, so necessary to life as oxygen - to such an [important] degree. The charm of Buzura's prose, once you manage to become accustomed to its taste, comes also, I believe, from the spontaneous fusion between the text and the inner commentary of the reader. It is a kind of purr coming from the fuse of explosives or from fireworks, which accompanies the lines of text, and in which you feel yourself included and, to some extent, an accomplice. The author enters the tenebrous, mysterious and secret labyrinth of life in the most natural manner possible: slamming open to the wall the secret door.' Marin Sorescu 'Augustin Buzura is the same Augustin Buzura as always, grave and lucid - grave to the point of pathos, and lucid to the point of sarcasm.' Alex. Stefanescu 'Buzura has behind him a massive, aesthetically strong oeuvre, and whoever wants to judge the contribution of the 1960s generation of writers and, generally, the strength and value of Romanian after-War literature, cannot ignore his epic work. He is, I have no doubts about it, a great writer. A writer in the line of realists from Transylvania (Slavici, Rebreanu, Pavel Dan), paying special attention to the obscure movements of the individual and, in the same time, attentive, very attentive, to the destiny and psychology of new social categories...' Eugen Simion

About this edition

• Publisher: Profusion International Creative Consultancy
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0956867642
• ISBN 13: 9780956867643
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1