C. Mateescu: Viața ca operă și opera ca viață
C. Mateescu: Life as Opera and Opera as Life

Summary/Abstract: Constantin Mateescu made himself known in Romanian literature predominantely after 1970 through the large number of published volumes. His activity in the field of literature happened due to a complete change in his life after some historical events which marked his destiny, akin to the Second World War. When it comes to his prose, it can be noticed that he uses some techniques from the interwar period, thus critics from the '70s considered it to be a handicap, however it was a mere rejection of the style of writing promoted by official authorities. A good part of his prose stems from the life stories of acquaintances, family or his own experience, which is why we can state that memoirs make a great part of his creation. The year 1989 offers writers, once the restraining censorship of the national institutions fell, the chance to put their memories forward without any restraints. This is the moment when Constantin Mateescu publishes his first memoirs book: The stork nest where he nostalgically captures the years of his early childhood which were marked by the influence of his grandparents and the historical events that changed his entire being. His grandparents from his mother's side, of Macedonian heritage, came to Vâlcea from Greece after the persecution of people of other ethnicities due to their refusal of abandoning their language and culture passed down from generations before, representing the first example of historical influence of a nation on the destiny of a family. The writer is among the few whose life was so enriching in the terms of historical events: this however changed the destiny of both his family and himself.

• Details
• Contents