RĂZVAN RĂDULESCU – UN SCRIITOR PENTRU SECOLUL XXI
Răzvan Rădulescu – a writer for the 21st century

Summary/Abstract: Răzvan Rădulescu is a writer who has managed to respond successfully to all the challenges facing an author of literature at the beginning of the XXI century and especially, amid the strange contemporary literary landscape of Romania. He is a writer of exceptional talent, equally acclaimed by readers and literary critics, talent demonstrated both in literature, and screenwriting. His work in the field of film making gave him a high degree of visibility and interest which certainly attracted to reading also an audience who usually prefers film to literature. And of course, the loyal readers of Răzvan Rădulescu ׳s books were attracted to see the films he wrote. His second novel, Teodosie cel Mic, was awarded the 2010 European Union Prize for Literature. In Teodosie cel Mic, a true gem of fantastic literature, the rigor and lucidity of the screenwriter are dominated by the playfulness and exuberant spirit of the prose writer. Certain screenwriting procedures and techniques are recognizable in the novel, both in the impeccable architecture, speech fluency, mastery of creating suspense, but also sometimes in the austerity of the descriptions and details. Moreover, the fantastic approach is not consistent, occasionally diving in other temporal plans, even in the author ׳s childhood, who becomes a character several times. All the characters are charming, exotic, and have diverse cultural meanings often difficult to decipher. The playful and pastoral style, which is maintained through most of the novel, as the dedication on the first page, recommend the book, apparently, as a children's book. But as the story progresses, the levels of perception multiply, becoming a challenge even for the most erudite adult reader. The novel, written as a metafictional postmodern fairy tale, is a broad sophisticated construction, full of hidden meanings which evolve in the logic of fantastic fiction. The epic discourse slides dazzlingly from subtle dialogues and ingenious strategies to bloody scenes of war, surprising alliances and betrayals. All spiced with touches of humor, love-story, thriller, fantasy scenario, but also many metatextual and intertextual insertions, from the most obvious, to the most encoded and refined. The unexpected end of the novel confirms once again the influence of the screenwriter Răzvan Rădulescu on the prose writer, in the sense of a human condition, always in the implacable shadow of death. Moreover, the author warns the reader from the very beginning about the seriousness of his novelistic approach, by placing on the cover a map of the real-imaginary space in which his characters ׳ adventures will happen.

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