Invited Speakers
Ion Lazu
Writer, Writers’ Union of Romania Bucharest, Romania
PRESENTATION: Romanian Writers in the First World War. Commemorative Plaque With The Writers That
Took Part In The Union War 1916-1918
American Journal II
Ion Lazu was born on the 6th of January 1940, in the Ciobârciu commune, Tighina jurisdiction to Grigore and Vera (born Ciobanu), landowners and retailers. On his mother’s side, I.L. is related to Ştefan Ciobanu, a professor of Ancient Literature History, director of the Al. Russo High school from Chishinev, one of the artisans of the Union of 1918, and later on Minister of Culture and Religion. In March 1944 the writer’s family took refuge from the advancing front lines, settling in the Cireaşov commune, Olt jurisdiction. He attended primary school in the adoptive village, the secondary classes in the Ionaşcu School of Slatina, followed by the Radu Greceanu High school in the same city, graduating in 1956. In the same year he became a student of the Faculty of Geology and Geography of the University of Bucharest, from where he graduated in 1961, when he became a prospector-geologist at an institute in his field from the capital city, from where he eventually retired in 1999, after 38 years of uninterrupted activity, practiced in all the regions of the country. He was never a party member, nor did he have any administrative duties. He is proud of his Romanian nationality and citizenship. As of 1996, chief editor of the Vinea Publishing House.
In 1980 he married Lidia Dugă (n.1953), a graduate of the Popular School of the Arts from Bucharest, with a specialization in theatre. She is the author of 4 poem albums. Together they have a son, Andrei Laurențiu Lazu.
I.L. made his debut with poems in the magazine Ateneu in December 1964 and kept publishing short stories and poems. He never published anything in the Communist press. Due to a favorable review from “Free Europe“ for “Only good things about the living“ all his manuscripts were blackballed between 1971 and 1979. With a ten year delay, he published them in the following years.
One of his greatest achievements is the novel “The Strangers“ (“Veneticii“). Here’s what Ștefan Ion Ghilimescu thought of this novel:
“Without being afraid I might be wrong, I shall signal to the reader in Ion Lazu's remarkable novel Veneticii, an author topic for the first time treated in our literature namely the historical refuge of Bessarabian Romanians since 1944 and the odyssey of their survival. Running as a large and lazy stream, written with maximum attention, and severely controlled at the idea level, somewhat situated at the limit of stylistic accuracy of a vaguely symbolic channel, Veneticii is one of the best 10 novels written in our country during the last twenty years.“
Abstract of the talk:
Romanian Writers in the First World War.
Commemorative Plaque With The Writers That Took Part In The Union War
1916-1918
Ion Lazu
Writer, Writers’ Union of Romania
Bucharest, Romania
ion.lazu@gmail.com, http://ilazu.blogspot.com/
Abstract: On the verge of the celebration of the Romanian Centenary, the author gives us the chance to take a look back at the writers and poets who took part and even paid the ultimate sacrifice on the battleground of the Romanian Union War. The article – a piece of a vaster project – offers us some details and explanations regarding the world of the Romanian letters during the First World War, but also from the interwar years, and the reasons why some of the names proposed to be on the commemorative plaque are not so well-known to the general public.
For the anniversary of one hundred years from the First World War, since the reunification of the country, a memorial plaque will be raised to honor the writers who participated in the fighting on the front line, showing heroism, paying in blood, being maimed in battle, or dying, for the defense of the motherland, and for the realization of Great Romania. Our gratitude goes out to those pen wielding young men who volunteered with great emotion. We mustn't forget that most of the writers involved in the hostilities later on wrote down in their work memorable and meaningful aspects from the battles for land and country. For the memorial plaque I have set up a table, with four columns, where we have: the complete list of 120 young pen wielders involved in WW1; the list of the main works based on the reunification war; a table of the dead, missing, wounded, and volunteers among the writers; a list of the decoration and citations received by the writers on the front lines. Within the project's text regarding the setting up of the plaque remembering them on the eve of the centennial.
Keywords: Centenary, Romanian literature, The First World War, the interwar years
Abstract of the talk:
American Journal II
Ion Lazu
Writer, Writers’ Union of Romania
Bucharest, Romania
ion.lazu@gmail.com, http://ilazu.blogspot.com/
Abstract: The fragment from American Journal II belonging to the writer Ion Lazu is comprised of many very detailed portraits of the characters he encounters during his visit to the United States together with his wife, Lidia, but also very elaborate descriptions of the city landscapes. What we are left with after the reading of the text is that surprise that we experience when confronted with the differences in taste and interests between the Americans and Romanians, that is visible in things like their routines and their preferences even when it comes to what they find funny.
Keywords: Romanians versus Americans, lifestyle, differences, city landscapes
