Nicolae Breban (; born 1 February 1934) is a Romanian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

and

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

of partial

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

descent.

Biography

Breban was born in

Baia Mare Baia Mare ( , ; ; ; ) is a Municipiu, city along the Săsar, Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramureș, a subregion of Transylvania. It is situated about from Buchare ...

Maramureș County Maramureș County () is a county (județ) in Romania, in the Maramureș region. The county seat is Baia Mare. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian it is known as ''Máramaros megye'', in Ukrainian language, Ukrainian as Мараморо́щ ...

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania (, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989 (see Revolutions of 1989). From 1947 to 1965, the state was ...

, the son of Vasile Breban, a

Greek Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to: * The Catholic Church in Greece * The Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Ea ...

priest in the village of Recea. His mother, Olga Constanţa Esthera Breban, born Böhmler, descended from a family of German merchants who emigrated from Alsace-Lorraine. In 1951, he was expelled from school on account of his social origin when in the penultimate year at the „Coriolan Brediceanu” High School in Lugoj. He worked as an office clerk in Oradea, and finally passed the graduation exams at the „Oltea Doamna” High School. As he intended to study at the

Polytechnical Institute An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...

, he had to work first as an apprentice at the "23 August” Works in Bucharest. He enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy by „forging personal documents” as he candidly admitted in ''Confesiuni violente'' ("Violent Confessions"). His reading of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer made him, in fact, suspicious in the eyes of Dean Athanase Joja. He made his literary debut in „Viaţa studenţească” (no. 5, May 1957), with the sketch ''Doamna din vis'' ("The Lady in the Dream"). At the 10th Congress of the

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...

, held between 6 and 12 August 1969, Breban was elected a substitute member of the Central Committee. Beginning with issue no. 20 of 14 May 1970, he was editor-in-chief of the literary review ''

România literară ''România Literară'' is a cultural and literary magazine from Romania. In its original edition, it was founded on 1 January 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași until 3 December 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared ...

'', around which he attracted some of Romania's most important writers. In 1971, the première of the movie ''Printre colinele verzi/Among the Green Hills'' (written and directed by Nicolae Breban), the film version of ''Sick Animals'', took place. The communist authorities were quite annoyed by this movie, but it was nevertheless included in the official selection for the International Festival of Cannes. While in Paris, Nicolae Breban remained shocked by the so-called "

July Theses The July Theses () was a speech delivered by Nicolae Ceaușescu to the executive committee of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) on 6 July 1971. The July Theses, officially named ''Propuneri de măsuri pentru îmbunătățirea activității po ...

”, by means of which Nicolae Ceauşescu, following the Maoist model, was trying to start some kind of

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

. The writer publicly repudiated the cultural policy of the Romanian regime in a number of interviews published in the Western media, and, in protest, resigned his position as editor-in-chief of "România literară”. Back home, in 1972, the communist authorities regarded him as an outcast. He was therefore marginalized, watched by the police, and not allowed to travel abroad again until 1975, despite having also acquired German citizenship that year. Without actually becoming an exile, he lived mostly in Paris with his wife, Cristina, between 1986 and 1989. He returned to Romania, and in 1990 launched a new series of the literary review "Contemporanul. Ideea europeană". On 24 October 1997, he became a corresponding member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its bylaws, the academy's ma ...

, and on 14 January 2009, a full member.

Published works

Novels

* ''Francisca'', 1965 * ''În absenţa stăpânilor'' (When the Masters are Away), 1966 * ''Animale bolnave'' (Sick Animals), 1968 * ''Îngerul de gips'' (The Plaster Angel), 1973 * ''Bunavestire'' (The Annunciation), 1977 * ''Don Juan'', 1981 * ''Drumul la zid'' (The Back to the Wall), 1984 * ''Pândă şi seducţie'' (Still hunt and Seduction), 1991 * ''Amfitrion'' (Amphitryon), vol. I, Demonii mărunţi/The Lesser Demons, vol. II, Procuratorii/The Procurators, vol. III, Alberta, 1994 * ''Ziua şi noaptea'' (The Day and the Night), 1998 * ''Voinţa de putere'' (The Will to Power), 2001 * ''Puterea nevăzută'' (The Unseen Power), 2004 * ''Jiquidi'', 2007 * ''Singura cale'' (The Only Path), 2011

Novels translated in other languages

* ''Franciska'', translated by Huszár Sándor, Bucharest, Irodalom Könyvkiádó, 1968 * ''Franciska'', translated by Ivan Krstev Vlah, Sofia, Profizdet, 1968 * ''Franciska'', translated by Jurij Koževnikov, Moscow, Progress, 1969 * ''Franciska'', translated by Juozas Vaisnoras, Vilnius, Vaga, 1970 * ''Franciska'', translated by Janis Bunduls, Riga, Liesma, 1971 * ''Kranke Tiere (Sick Animals)'', translated by Georg Scherg, Bucharest, Kriterion, 1973 * ''When the Masters are Away (Ebbi en Kvinna med karaktär)'', translated by Barbro Andersson into Swedish, René Coeckelberghs' Publishing House, 1975 * ''When the Masters are Away (En l'absence des maîtres)'', translated by Virgil Tănase into French, Paris, Publishing House Flammarion, 1983 * ''Annunciation (L'Annonciation)'', translated by Dorina Radu and Marcel Péju, Paris, Publishing House Flammarion, 1985 * ''Don Juan'', translated by Marcel Péju and Daniel Pujol, Paris, Publishing House Flammarion, 1993 * ''When the Masters are Away (In assenza dei padroni)'', translated by Maria Floarea Pop, Siena, Edizioni Cantagalli, 2013

Short stories

* ''Orfeu în infern'' (Orpheus in the Underwold), 2008

Essays, diaries

* ''Confesiuni violente'' (Violent Confessions), 1994 * ''Riscul în cultură'' (Taking Chances in Culture), 1997 * ''Spiritul românesc în faţa unei dictaturi'' (The Romanian Spirit Facing Dictatorship), 1997 * ''Stricte amintiri literare'' (Rigorous Literary Memoirs), 2001 * ''Sensul vieţii (Memorii I-IV)'' (The Meaning of Life), 2003–2007 * Friedrich Nietzsche, ''Maxime comentate'' (Commented Morals), 2004 * ''Vinovaţi fără vină'' (Innocent Culprits), 2006

Plays

*''Bătrâna doamnă şi fluturele'' (The Old Lady and the Butterfly), 1984 *''Culoarul cu şoareci'' (A Corridor Ridden with Mice), 1990 (the première of the play is performed at „Vasile Alecsandri” National Theater in Iaşi in 1993) * ''Ursul şi ştiuca'' (The Bear and the Pike), 2000

Poems

*''Elegii parisiene'' (Parisian Elegies), 1992 * ''Gesänge'', 2021 - Übersetzt von Christian W. Schenk, mit Kupferstichen von den Erste deutschen Künstlern, XVI-XVIII, Dionysos Verlag,

Boppard Boppard (), formerly also spelled Boppart, is a town and municipality (since the 1976 inclusion of 9 neighbouring villages, ''Ortsbezirken'') in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, lying in the Rhine Gorge, a UN ...

Rhein Rhein may refer to: Places * Rhine, a major river in Europe () * Rhein, a village in the municipality of Morsbach in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany * Rhein (Ostpreussen), a former name of the town Ryn in Poland * Rhein, Saskatchewan, a village w ...

Germany, Erste deutsche Ausgabe,

Translation

* Rainer Maria Rilke, ''Duino Elegies'', 2006; 2008

Filmography

(as screenplay writer) *'' Răutăciosul adolescent'' (A Woman for a Season) (directed by:

Gheorghe Vitanidis Gheorghe Vitanidis (1 October 1929 – 25 November 1994) was a Romanian film director. He directed 19 films between 1958 and 1987. His 1969 film ''A Woman for a Season'' was entered into the 6th Moscow International Film Festival. His 1979 f ...

), 1969 (as screenplay writer and director) *''Printre colinele verzi'' (Among the Green Hills, the film version of ''

Sick Animals ''Sick Animals'' () is a 1970 Romanian film directed by Nicolae Breban. It was entered into the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. Cast * Mircea Albulescu * Ion Dichiseanu Ion Dichiseanu (20 October 1933 – 20 May 2021) was a Romanian actor. He w ...

''), 1971

Awards

* The „Ion Creangă” Award of the Romanian Academy (1965) * The Romanian Writers' Union Award (1968) * The Romanian Writers' Union Award (1994) * The Romanian Writers' Union Award „Opera Omnia” (2000)

References

Interview by Edgar Reichmann, in „UNESCO Courier”, June, 1995
*
Laura Pavel, in „Apostrof”, no. 10, October 2005
*
Ion Simuţ, in „România literară”, no. 40, October 12, 2007
*
Review by Gabriel Dimisianu, in „România literară”, no. 8, February 29, 2008

External links

Revista Contemporanul

Editura Polirom

Contemporary Romanian Writers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breban, Nicolae 1934 births Living people 20th-century Romanian novelists Romanian male novelists Romanian magazine editors Titular members of the Romanian Academy Romanian dissidents Romanian people of German descent People from Baia Mare 20th-century Romanian translators Romanian male essayists International Writing Program alumni 20th-century Romanian essayists 20th-century Romanian male writers România Literară editors