Leonard Oprea
Encyclopedia
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 and American writer.
He was born in Prejmer
Prejmer
Prejmer is a commune in Braşov County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Lunca Câlnicului, Prejmer and Stupinii Prejmerului. Located 18 km northeast of Braşov, the Olt River passes through the commune.-History:...
, a village in Braşov County
Brasov County
Brașov ; ) is a county of Romania, in Transylvania, with the capital city at Brașov. The county incorporates within its boundaries most of the Medieval "lands" Burzenland and Făgăraș Land.-Demographics:...
in the south-eastern part of Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, central Romania. He studied at the University of Braşov, and in 1990 he specialized in mass-media communication at California State University, Chico
California State University, Chico
California State University, Chico is the second-oldest campus in the twenty-three-campus California State University system. It is located in Chico, California, about ninety miles north of Sacramento...
. Since 1999 he has been living in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, currently in Boston, Massachusetts.
Life and career
Leonard Oprea was an anti-communist dissidentAnti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
in Romania during Nicolae Ceauşescu 's dictatorship.
He was born in Prejmer, a village in Braşov (Kronstadt) County in the south-eastern part of Transylvania, central Romania.
Between 1980 and 1987 he published a book and several short stories, which were honored with national literary prizes.
In 1984 - Orwell's Year - he published his first book, Domenii Interzise (Forbidden areas), short stories and novellas, and some short stories in the most well-known Romanian literary reviews and won very important national literary prizes.
After 1987, the Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
(the Secret Police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
of the Communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
), officially forbade the publication of his writings.
After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, living in Bucharest, he became a praised Romanian writer, and a distinguished journalist and editor. He was able to resume publishing his works: novels, short stories, tales and essays, meditations etc. He founded the Romanian Publishing House Athena, the Vladimir Colin Romanian Cultural Foundation as well as the Vladimir Colin international awards.
In 1995 as editor and owner of Athena Publishing House of Bucharest, Romania, Leonard Oprea (at Athena Publishing House) has published three bilingual (English-Romanian translations by Professor Bogdan Stefanescu, from Bucharest University, Romania) editions with works by the former candidate of Nobel Prize for Literature, the poet Nichita Stănescu
Nichita Stanescu
Nichita Stănescu was a Romanian poet and essayist. He is the most acclaimed contemporary Romanian language poet, loved by the public and generally held in esteem by literary critics.-Biography:...
; essays by the philosopher Constantin Noica
Constantin Noica
Constantin Noica was a Romanian philosopher, essayist and poet. His preoccupations were throughout all philosophy, from epistemology, philosophy of culture, axiology and philosophic anthropology to ontology and logics, from the history of philosophy to systematic philosophy, from ancient to...
and by Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day...
, the famous American-Romanian philosopher of religions. These three bilingual and bibliophile editions have been distributed to the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
and to libraries of universities and cultural institutes from Europe, America and Japan with the aim of improving knowledge of Romanian cultural values.
A graduate of the University of Braşov, he specialized in mass-media communication at the University of California at Chico in 1990.
Between 2003 and 2007 Leonard Oprea published social and philosophical essays, short stories, and his Breathings (see “Books originally in Romanian”) in the American-Romanian social and cultural magazines from New York and Portland, Oregon - New York Magazin and Romanian Times, USA.
Between 2005 and 2007 he published cultural and philosophical essays, and short stories in the Canadian-Romanian cultural magazine Atheneum from Vancouver, Canada.
Since 1999 he has been living in the USA, currently in Boston, Massachusetts .
Books originally in Romanian
- Domenii interzise (Forbidden areas), short stories and novellas; Albatros Publishing House, 1984; (from this book, the novella “Colonia” took the Great Romanian National Prize of Romanian Science-Fiction Convention, Iasi, Romania, 1981).
- Radiografia clipei (The x-ray of an instant), short stories and novellas banned in Communist Romania in 1987; Editura Dacia, 1990, Romania; the second edition with critical references, Curtea Veche Publishing House, 2003, Romania.
- Cămaşa de forţă (The Straitjacket), novel banned in Communist Romania 1988; Editura Nemira, 1992; second edition; foreword by Liviu Antonesei and critical references, Curtea Veche Publishing House, 2004; foreword by Gelu Vlasin; electronic book by “LiterNet” www.liternet.ro/, 2005, Romania.
- Theophil Magus - Confesiuni 2004-2006 (Theophil Magus - Confessions 2004-2006), American and Romanian essays; with a foreword by Vladimir TismăneanuVladimir TismaneanuVladimir Tismăneanu is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park...
; Universal Dalsi Publishing House, 2007.(In this book Leonard Oprea created the Breathing, an original type of essay in Romanian and world literature. The Breathing is a short, simple yet profound meditation on human condition, a meditation ended by a haiku. But---this haiku does not finish the meditation. In fact, it reopens this reflection to new questions and responses on human destiny. There are 100 Breathings in Leonard Oprea's work "Theophil Magus--Confessions 2004-2006").
- The TRILOGY of THEOPHIL MAGUS:
- Cele Nouă Invăţături ale lui Theophil Magus despre Magia Transilvană (The Nine Teachings of Theophil Magus on Transylvanian Magic), Polirom Publishing House - 2000, Romania; electronic book by “LiterNet” www.liternet.ro/, 2003, Romania.
- The Book Of Theophil Magus Or 40 Tales About Man (Cartea lui Theophil Magus sau 40 de Poveşti despre Om), with a foreword by Liviu Antonesei; Polirom Publishing House - 2001, Romania. Paperback English version (translated from Romanian by Bogdan Stefanescu); foreword by Vladimir TismăneanuVladimir TismaneanuVladimir Tismăneanu is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park...
; published in the United States by Ingram Book Group, 2003; new edition at AuthorHouse, 2004. ISBN 141075278X (Trade Paperback);electronic book by “LiterNet” www.liternet.ro/ , 2004, Romania.
- Meditaţiile lui Theophil Magus sau Simple Cugetări Creştine la Începutul Mileniului III (The Meditations of Theophil Magus or Simple Christian Thoughts at the Beginning of the Third Millennium) - Polirom Publishing House - 2002, Romania; electronic book by “LiterNet” www.liternet.ro/ , 2004, Romania.
- Ghilotina de Scrum (the Guillotine of Ashes) (Conversations with the American philosopher Vladimir Tismaneanu); edited by West Publishing House, 1992; and Polirom Publishing House, 2002, Romania.
Books originally in English
- Theophil Magus in Baton Rouge – a haiku novel (“Xlibris”/Random House Ventures, 2007, USA /Library of Congress Control Number: 2007909824/ ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-4363-0966-0/Softcover 978-1-4363-0965-3)(In Romania, Leonard Oprea is a distinguished writer. In my opinion, here in the USA, Leonard Oprea could make a genuine contribution to our current writing landscape. His narrative of his immigrant experience is felicitously captured in his novel in haiku./Andrei CodrescuAndrei CodrescuAndrei Codrescu is a Romanian-born American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and commentator for National Public Radio. He was Mac Curdy Distinguished Professor of English at Louisiana State University from 1984 until his retirement in 2009....
- American poet, author, NPR commentator);(Theophil Magus in Baton Rouge, to the best of my knowledge, the first novel made up of haiku. In many respects it is reminiscent of the most amazing Central European stylistic virtuosi, and I am sure readers will be delighted to enter this universe of shining plasticity./Vladimir TismaneanuVladimir TismaneanuVladimir Tismăneanu is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park...
- American philosopher, author, essayist)
- Trilogy of Theophil Magus – the Truth (“Xlibris”/Random House Ventures, 2008, USA /Library of Congress Control Number: 2008901520/ ISBN: Hardcover 978-1-4363-2366-6/Softcover 978-1-4363-2365-9)(In Trilogy of Theophil Magus’ 40 Tales about Man, a great variety of sacred and profane themes, archaic, mythical, contemporary /Moses, Gandhi, Christmas, children, journalism, pilgrimage etc./serves as vivid stimulation for this literary adventure, written with humor, knowledge and wit…in an inviting dialogue with the reader. /Norman ManeaNorman ManeaNorman Manea is a Jewish Romanian writer and author of short fiction, novels, and essays about the Holocaust, daily life in a communist state, and exile. He is a Francis Flournoy Professor of European Culture and writer in residence at Bard College...
- American novelist, essayist);(The Truth, the second book of Trilogy of Theophil Magus is situated in the strange no man’s land where everyday life becomes truly magical. I consider these writings as splendid expressions of a unique vision of our fragmented but marvelously exciting world. Leonard Oprea’s style combines a discovery of hidden meanings of words with a fabulous sense of secret humor. His works received the highest praises from the most influential critics, who rightly compared his vision to works by Thomas Mann, Borges or Paulo Coelho./Vladimir TismăneanuVladimir TismaneanuVladimir Tismăneanu is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park...
- American philosopher, author, essayist);(Leonard Oprea’s 40 Tales of Trilogy of Theophil Magus - The Truth, range from the depiction of the everyday to the mythological and Borgesian to the religious. Honored with numbers of prizes in his native Romania, this writer is a true iconoclast and a true talent./ Adam J.Sorkin – American author, essayist, editor)
- Theophil Magus living in Boston - Anna-Maria 101 breathings (“Xlibris”/Random House Ventures, 2011, USA /Library of Congress Control Number: 2011910709/ ISBN: Hardcover 1-4628-9476-3 & 978-1-4628-9476-5/Softcover 1-4628-9475-5 & 978-1-4628-9475-8/ebook 1-4628-9477-1 & 978-1-4628-9476-5) (In Theophil Magus living in Boston - Anna-Maria 101 breathings, "Leonard Oprea's dominant perspective is one of a cold objectivity, too little disposed to easy emotions, other than those hidden, profound feelings and questions. Themes are the life purpose, the ultimate springs of human actions... Intelligence, laconic sarcasm, humor, right targeting. How could we not be indebted to the author? He put his talent of storytelling to serve an exhortation which is nothing else than the health response in the presence of the morbid, the simplicity in the face of artificial, the man-loving of light against darkness and evil./Nicolae SteinhardtNicolae SteinhardtNicolae Steinhardt was a Romanian writer, Orthodox hermit and father confessor.-Early life:...
– European philosopher, essayist and author); “A novelist and essayist of Leonard Oprea's literary value does not need any introduction. From no one.” /Valeriu Gherghel – European philosopher, essayist, literary critic and author)
- Time after Time (International Anthology of Poetry) edited by The International Library of Poetry & Library of Congress, 2000, USA.