Nicolae Breban
Encyclopedia
Nicolae Breban is a Romania
n novelist and essayist.
priest in the village of Recea, Maramureş County
. 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 last but one grade at the „Coriolan Brediceanu” High School in Lugoj. He worked as a civil servant in Oradea and finally passed the graduation exams at the „Oltea Doamna” High School. As he intended to study at the Polytechnics, he has to work first as an apprentice in the „23 August” Works in Bucharest. He enrols in the Faculty of Philosophy by „forging personal documents” as he candidly admits 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
, held between 6 12 August 1969, he was elected alternate member of the Central Committee. Beginning with issue no. 20 of 14 May 1970, he is editor in chief of the literary review „România literară”, around which he attracts 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 are quite annoyed by this picture, but it is nevertheless included in the official selection for the International Festival of Cannes. While in Paris, on this very occasion, Nicolae Breban remained shocked by the „July theses”, by means of which Nicolae Ceauşescu, following the Maoist model, was instating the Cultural Revolution. The writer publicly repudiated the cultural policy of the Romanian regime in a number of interviews published in the Western media, and, in protest, resigns his position as editor in chief of „România literară”. Back home, in 1972, the communist authorities regarded him as undesirable. He therefore underwent disregard, police watch and was not allowed to travel abroad until 1975, despite his being a German citizen beginning with this very year. Without actually becoming an exile (1986–1989), he lived mostly in Paris with his wife Cristina. He returned to Romania and in 1990 he launched a new series of the literary review „Contemporanul Ideea europeană”. On the 24th of October 1997, he became corresponding member of the Romanian Academy
and on the 14th of January 2009, titular member of the Romanian Academy
.
(as screenplay writer and director)
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n novelist and essayist.
Biography
He is the son of Vasile Breban, a Greek CatholicRomanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic
The Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic is an Eastern Catholic Church which is in full union with the Roman Catholic Church. It is ranked as a Major Archiepiscopal Church and uses the Byzantine liturgical rite in the Romanian language....
priest in the village of Recea, Maramureş County
Maramures County
Maramureș is a county of Romania, in the Maramureș region. The county seat is Baia Mare.- History :* The 10th century frontier county of Borsova was founded by Stephen I of Hungary. Since then Máramaros served as the north-eastern border of the Hungarian Kingdom until 1920, the Trianon Peace...
. 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 last but one grade at the „Coriolan Brediceanu” High School in Lugoj. He worked as a civil servant in Oradea and finally passed the graduation exams at the „Oltea Doamna” High School. As he intended to study at the Polytechnics, he has to work first as an apprentice in the „23 August” Works in Bucharest. He enrols in the Faculty of Philosophy by „forging personal documents” as he candidly admits 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
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
, held between 6 12 August 1969, he was elected alternate member of the Central Committee. Beginning with issue no. 20 of 14 May 1970, he is editor in chief of the literary review „România literară”, around which he attracts 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 are quite annoyed by this picture, but it is nevertheless included in the official selection for the International Festival of Cannes. While in Paris, on this very occasion, Nicolae Breban remained shocked by the „July theses”, by means of which Nicolae Ceauşescu, following the Maoist model, was instating the Cultural Revolution. The writer publicly repudiated the cultural policy of the Romanian regime in a number of interviews published in the Western media, and, in protest, resigns his position as editor in chief of „România literară”. Back home, in 1972, the communist authorities regarded him as undesirable. He therefore underwent disregard, police watch and was not allowed to travel abroad until 1975, despite his being a German citizen beginning with this very year. Without actually becoming an exile (1986–1989), he lived mostly in Paris with his wife Cristina. He returned to Romania and in 1990 he launched a new series of the literary review „Contemporanul Ideea europeană”. On the 24th of October 1997, he became corresponding member of the Romanian Academy
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 acting members who are elected for life....
and on the 14th of January 2009, titular member of the Romanian Academy
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 acting members who are elected for life....
.
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
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's Swedish, René Coeckelberghs' Publishing House, 1975
- When the Masters are Away (En l'absence des maîtres), translated by Virgil Tănase's 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
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
Filmography
(as screenplay writer)- Răutăciosul adolescentA Woman for a SeasonA Woman for a Season is a 1969 Romanian comedy film directed by Gheorghe Vitanidis. It was entered into the 33rd Moscow International Film Festival...
(A Woman for a Season) (directed by: Gheorghe VitanidisGheorghe VitanidisGheorghe Vitanidis was a Romanian film director. He directed 19 films between 1958 and 1987.-External links:...
), 1969
(as screenplay writer and director)
- Printre colinele verzi (Among the Green Hills, the film version of Sick AnimalsSick AnimalsSick Animals is a 1970 Romanian film directed by Nicolae Breban. It was entered into the 1971 Cannes Film Festival....
), 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)
Further reading
- Marian Victor Buciu, Breban. Eseu despre stratagemele supravieţuirii narative (Breban. An Essay on the Stratagems of Narrative Survival), Craiova, Editura Sitech, 1996
- Laura PavelLaura PavelLaura Pavel is a Romanian essayist and literary critic.-Biography:Daughter of Dora Pavel, writer, and Eugen Pavel, linguist, scientific researcher. Married to the literary critic Călin Teutişan. She has a BA in Letters of the „Babeş-Bolyai” University in Cluj-Napoca, the Romanian-English section...
, Antimemoriile lui Grobei. Eseu monografic despre opera lui Nicolae Breban (The Antimemoires of Grobei. A Monographic Essay on the Oeuvre of Nicolae Breban), Bucharest, Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, „Akademos”, 1997, the 2nd edition, Bucharest, Editura Ideea Europeană, 2004 - Liviu Maliţa, Nicolae Breban, micromonography, Braşov, Editura Aula, colecţia „Canon”, 2001
- Dicţionarul scriitorilor români (The Dictionary of the Romanian Writers), edited by Mircea Zaciu, Marian Papahagi, Aurel Sasu, A-C, Bucharest, Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române, 1995
- Dicţionarul esenţial al scriitorilor români (The Essential Dictionary of the Romaniana Writers), Bucharest, Editura Albatros, 2000
- Dicţionarul general al literaturii române (The General Dictionary of the Romanian Literature), edited by: Eugen Simion, A-B, Bucharest, Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 2004
- Dicţionar analitic de opere literare româneşti (Analytical Dictionary of Romanian Literary Works), edited by: Ion Pop, final edition, Cluj, Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă, 2007