Romanian science fiction
Encyclopedia
Romanian science fiction began in the 19th century and gained popularity in Romania during the second half of the 20th century. While a few Romanian science fiction writers were translated into English, none proved popular abroad.
and a revolution against the new prince, which declares Romania a republic.
The following story was Spiritele anului 3000, a utopia
written two years later, in 1875, by a teenager under the pen name "Demetriu G. Ionnescu", who would later become the statesman Take Ionescu
. The short story is set in the year 3000, when the earth is populated by humans of small stature who reach maturity by age 15. Politically, the monarchies have been abolished, with all the states being republics and part of a world confederation
. Religion and wars have disappeared and Bucharest
, a garden city
, is the capital of a Romania within its natural (ethnic) borders, following a ruling from a Supreme Tribunal.
In the early 1900s, Victor Anestin
was a notable popularizer of science who, apart from writing hundreds of articles and books about science, wrote three science fiction novels: În anul 4000 sau O călătorie la Venus ("In the year 4000, or A trip to Venus", 1899), O tragedie cerească, Poveste astronomică ("A Celestial Tragedy, An Astronomical Story", 1914) and Puterea ştiinţei, sau Cum a fost omorât Răsboiul European, Poveste fantastică ("The Power of Science, or How the European War was Killed, Fantasy Story", 1916). A Celestial Tragedy had one of the earliest descriptions of the possibility of using atomic power for war purposes, being published in February 1914, the same year as H. G. Wells
' The World Set Free
.
In 1914, Henri Stahl
published Un român în lună ("A Romanian on the Moon"), themed around the possibility of a moon landing
.
was founded; this was an important factor in the promotion of science fiction in Romania.
The most popular writers of the era, I.M. Ştefan and Radu Nor, wrote sci-fi adventure novels which sometimes included a Marxist ideological bent. Adrian Rogoz, Sergiu Fărcăşan and Camillo Baciu were the most important science fiction writers of the era, while Vladimir Colin
was the first major writer of fantasy.
Things changed radically after 1950, when under Soviet control, Romania underwent a forced transformation process of its social, economic and cultural structure. The Romanian writers were required to reflect in their work the social and scientific accomplishments of the communist area within the so-called 'socialist realism' trend. Censorship was everywhere: the Russian-Soviet model was imposed and the works of most of Romania's writers of the previous period, and relating to nearly all genres, were banned.
Paradoxically these restrictions favored the spreading of the SF literature which the authorities considered 'harmless', and a means of technical and scientific education. Meanwhile for the readers it was a way of escaping the immediate reality of communist drudgery. From the literary perspective, the communist era was dominated by popular science magazines and the famous bimonthly Colecţia de povestiri ştiinţifico-fantastice [Science Fiction Stories Collection], created by Adrian Rogoz, which was first published in 1955 and continued uninterrupted until 1974 (466 issues). It became the core around which Romanian fandom formed and an important factor in the promotion of science fiction in Romania. The most tenacious SF writers of the 50s, I.M. Ştefan and Radu Nor, wrote sci-fi adventure novels which sometimes included a Marxist ideological bent.
After 1964, the gradual “liberalization” of the system had brought a thematic and stylistic experiment, the so called, ”revival of the SF genre”. The authors were coming from various fields: journalists, prose writers, poets, playwrights. Why so many men of letters turned to SF might be explained through the general belief that SF was in a position to offer more freedom of creation than the traditional genres, severely curtailed by harsh censorship. The main protagonists of this wave of Romanian SF were Adrian Rogoz, Sergiu Fărcăşan, Camil Baciu, Victor Kernbach, Mihu Dragomir, Ion Hobana, George Anania, and Romulus Bărbulescu. Side by side, a group of lesser writers were interpreting the same tune in a minor key. Vladimir Colin, Sergiu Fărcăşan, Camil Baciu and Adrian Rogoz were the most important science fiction writers of the 60s, while Vladmir Colin was also the first major writer of fantasy. Vladimir Colin's poetic discourse marks off the motifs of the genre, allowing them to float in an exotic and mythological fantastic, of a very good quality.
The “poetic coordinate”, a defining quality of Romanian SF is evinced by the works of Mihnea Moisescu, Georgina Viorica Rogoz, Mircea Şerbănescu, Horia Aramă. The “comic-satirical” dimension, ranging from refined humor to burlesque frivolity is characterizing the works of Eduard Jurist, Dorel Dorian, Leonida Neamţu, Corneliu Omescu, Laurenţiu Cerneţ. Miron Scorobete and Ovid S.Crohmălniceanu are combining ludic exuberance with lucid introspection. The major authors of this period were: Sergiu Fărcăşan, Victor Kernbach, Ion Mînzatu, Romulus Bărbulescu and George Anania, Constantin Cubleşan, Mircea Opriţă and Vladimir Colin.
The main novels of this time were “O iubire din anul 41.042” [A Love Affair in the Year 41,042] (1959) by Sergiu Fărcăşan (and this has been virtually continually in print especially in Europe's francophone area), “A zecea lume” [The Tenth World] (1963) by Vladimir Colin, “Atacul cesiumiştilor” [The Attack of the Cesiumists] (1963) by Sergiu Fărcăşan, “Ferma oamenilor de piatră” [The Stone Men Farm] (1969) by Romulus Bărbulescu and George Anania, “Argonautica” (1970) by Mircea Opriţă.
“Vă caută un taur” [A Bull Is Searching for You] (1969) - a Eurocon-award winner in 1972 - is considered the most original Romanian science fiction novel of the 20th century. It is a science fictional, futuristic, re-working of a Greek legend. Its author, Sergiu Fărcăşan, is a Bucharest-born prose writer who studied medicine in Timisoara. His novel concerns the 'Absolute Machine' and it explores the tension between human nature and artificial intelligence. There are two leading motifs, the bull and the labyrinth. The company Jupiter & Son, located in a sky-scraper called Olimpic (for which read Olympic), makes plans that upsets Cretan businesses. Minos requests the services of Dedalus, a famous Irish architect who is well aware that the walls of the palace he has built "have ears". At Minos's court the readers discover several famous characters - Hercules, Theseus, Aphrodite, Hermes - who are allegedly Greek spies involved in political scandals. Dedalus is obsessed with building the perfect machine. His model for this is the human brain that he believes to be a three-level labyrinth. In this Machine, people get lost forever as prisoners of their own ignorance. There is also the idea of a society of mechanical bulls who, though dependent on the Absolute Machine, conspire against it, a fact illustrated in the second part of the novel, which is a metaphoric description of a cybernetic existence. In the third and last part, the author creates a political plot in which those in power and the opposition confront each other because of the same Absolute Machine.
The Middle SF Generation comprises writers like Voicu Bugariu, Constantin Cubleşan, Gheorghe Săsărman, Mircea Opriţă. Haunted by projects of synthesis, they have had strived to work in several genres, thus coming in for such labels as “orchestra-man”, “total-anticipator”, etc. Preoccupied with the literariness of their texts, they deliberately expose themselves to generic “impurification”-contamination with realistic, fantastic and utopian discourses, retaining, however,a rigorous aesthetic discipline.
In 1974, because of both economic (the side effects of the oil crisis upon eastern European communist countries) and political reasons (exaggerated totalitarian rule), Colecţia Povestirilor Ştiinţifico-Fantastice ceased publication and Romanian science fiction writers regrouped in SF societies. These had been established a few years earlier and coincidentally 1969 saw the founding of Romania's first three SF societies: The Martians and Solaris in Bucharest, and H.G. Wells in Timisoara.
The first Romanian SF convention took place in Bucharest in 1972. It was, in fact, a meeting of the societies of Bucharest, Craiova and Timisoara. The following conventions, called RomCons, were organised every year until 1994 when that year's national convention took place as part of Romania's first Eurocon in Timisoara. However the last RomCon of the communist period was previously organized in 1989 a scant month before the anticommunist revolution and again in Timisoara. As was then usual that communist-era convention was under strict control of the authorities. The chief consequence of this was that every aspect of its programme was supervised by representatives of the authorities. Although closely watched by the communist authorities Romania's SF conventions of the time were financed by the State and this enabled them to take place. The RomCons were in fact cultural events of great importance. In the 1980's, they not only brought together over 50 societies and hundreds of participants: writers and fans, but also artists, musicians, scientific researchers, philosophers - even some of whom the communist regime did not approve. According to the then official records, in 1989 the number of the societies had increased to 80 with a total of about 4,000 members. Some regularly went to EuroCons in other countries and there were even a few Romanian Eurocon Award winners. Meanwhile the RomCons also organized national competitions whose winners were allowed to publish in the official cultural periodicals or the state publishing houses. From with 1980, the RomCons followed a standard program that lasted three days and included a number of regular items: a debate on the state of SF literature and art, a round table on themes of 'political correctness' (peace and disarmament, the human dimension of science, the impact of new technologies - all inspired by the politics of the communist authorities), film screenings, plastic arts exhibitions, night time readings, and the exchange of books and fanzines from connected fields. It is worth mentioning that the SF societies were the only organizations in Romania that had their own non-communist (but not dissident) publications. One of the strengths of these SF conventions were their guests of honor who were sometimes cultural and scientific personalities not so much favored by the communist regime. They gave talks on taboo topics such as the relation between scientific research and religion, patterns of post-communist societies, environmental challenges etc. Remember this is all the more remarkable as all of Romania's SF activities were financed by the communist authorities. Parts of these talks were published in Anticipatia Almanac (which itself won a Eurocon award in 1987) as the 'official' publication of Romanian fandom. The RomCons themselves were organized in cities with the most active SF societies, namely: Timisoara, Craiova, Iasi, Sibiu, Oradea, Lugoj, Cluj-Napoca, Pitesti etc. The 1983 convention was an exception as originally it was to have been held in Bucharest but the authorities cancelled it at the last minute for reasons that have never been understood; however, they did not take repressive measures against the organizers or the participants, the latter having arrived in the capital before the cancellation, and who were still able to meet albeit unofficially. About 300-400 people attended a RomCons from 1980-1989. Of these, 100-150 were official delegates chosen by the societies based on their size and activity. A constant presence was Ion Hobana, the expert historian of the Romanian SF. Among the constant participants were the representatives of the periodical Science and Technology, whose editor-in-chief, Ioan Albescu, was the official leader of the fandom, or major science promoters such as Alexandru Mironov.
The “New Wave” of Romanian SF is the generation that occupied the stage of the '80s – Mihai Grămescu, Alexandru Ungureanu, Lucian Ionică, Gheorghe Păun, Sorin Ştefănescu, Rodica Bretin, Leonard Oprea, Cristian Tudor Popescu, George Ceauşu, Dan Merişca, Lucian Merişca, Silviu Genescu, Constantin Cozmiuc, Dorin Davideanu, Ovidiu Bufnilă, Dănuţ Ungureanu, Mihnea Columbeanu, Bogdan Ficeac, etc.-writers who had succeed in extending the horizon of the genre and revigorating its content. While the SF of the '50s was tied up with Soviet model and the “middle generation” attempted to invent a SF with “Romanian” features, the representatives of the “New Wave” have taken over and adapted the American model.
Cristian Tudor Popescu created in 1985 the SF Club – ProspectArt, club that later become Romanian Science Fiction and Fantesy Society. Members of this club were: Cristian Mihail Teodorescu, Dănuţ Ungureanu, Cristian Tamaş, Sorin Camner, Marian Truţă, Cristian Lăzărescu, Mihai-Dan Pavelescu, Mihnea Columbeanu, Dina Paligora, Sorin Ştefănescu, Ştefan Ghidoveanu.
During communism, the Romanian fans' access to Western SF books and films was restricted. Generally, bookshops did not sell SF by foreign authors as these were considered dangerous because of the ideas they contained. However the western libraries in Bucharest (American Library, British Council, French Library) and the American Reading Rooms that belonged to the university libraries were a chance to get in touch with Western literature of all sorts, including SF. Romanian fans heard of Western films and books and RomCons provided a glimpse of what was going on in the Western world of SF literature, film or art in general, besides the chance to make friends and socialize. Having said this not all the RomCons attendants were really SF fans, at least not in the beginning; some of them only attended such conventions once, others came for the sake of the atmosphere and the chance to travel and have a break: generally, travel and accommodation expenses were paid by the authorities, so people took advantage of that. But some of these 'tourists' in the Romanian SF fandom later became true SF fans or even writers. Nonetheless on the whole during communism the sense of national fandom was quite strong. A typical manifestation of the Romanian fandom was the annual two-week National SF Workshop or Camp (participants stayed in tents) that also organised recreational activities in addition to SF literature and art workshops. There were also a number of annual regional conventions besides the RomCons. Another aspect of Romanian fandom of the time were fanzines. Even in the difficult times, when the Romanian press was under strict governmental control, several SF societies were able to publish their own annual fanzines, the only unofficial publications in the country.
Judging from the Eurocon awards they received, the most significant were Paradox (H. G. Wells SF society in Timişoara), Helion [Alpha Particle] (Helion, Timisoara), Fantastic Magazin (Quasar, Iaşi), Omicron (Henri Coandă, Craiova). The Quasar SF society from the city of Iaşi also published a monthly newsletter called SF Contact. The H. G. Wells and Helion SF societies from Timişoara published together the only journal of literary criticism in Romania, Biblioteca Nova.
From 1982 to 2000 saw the publication, with help from the state-owned periodical Ştiinţă şi Tehnică [Science and Technology], the annual Almanac Anticipaţia (Anticipation), which was the most important cultural manifestation of the Romanian fandom.
During the period between 1974-1980, some of the major Romanian SF works were “Capcanele timpului”[The Time Traps] (1974), “Dinţii lui Cronos “[The Teeth of Chronos] (1975) by Vladimir Colin; “Preţul secant al genunii”, [The Price of the Abyss] (1974) by Adrian Rogoz; “Nopţile Nemoriei” [Nights of the Memory] (1974) by Mircea Opriţă; “Verde Aixa” [Green Aixa] (1976) by Horia Arama; “Himera” [Chimera] (1979) by Gheorghe Săsărman; “Istorii Insolite” [Unusual Stories (1980) by Ovidiu S. Crohmalniceanu.
The major SF academics of this period (and subsequently) were Ion Hobana, Florin Manolescu, Cornel Robu and Mircea Opriţă. Several official cultural periodicals published science fiction, but the number of books (both by Romanian and foreign authors) decreased every year.
In the last years of communism there were just two series of SF novels published. The first was under the banner of the 'Fantastic Club' from the Albatros Publishing House, Bucharest, and which won a Eurocon award in 1987 for Romanian authors. The second series was of translations of foreign SF and was called 'Colecţia Romanelor SF' ['The SF Novels Collection'] which came out from the Univers Publishing House in Bucharest)
During the 1980s, the most notable publication of science fiction was the yearly Anticipaţia almanac, edited by Ioan Albescu. Many of the writers of the 1980s had scientific studies, which meant that their writings tended to be closer to hard science fiction. They were not very fruitful as during 1980s, it was very difficult to get published and during the 1990s, they moved on to other fields. (For example, Cristian Tudor Popescu became a well-known journalist.)
Making its debut in the ' 80s,the postmodernist SF develops spectacularly in the last decade of the 20th century. The works of young writers testify to the strong impact of American models in the genre, such as cyberpunk and steampunk. A great numbers of these works are obviously paraliterary in character, yet some of them are retrievable in terms of good literature,one that has constantly changed its shape and mode as a result of the growing pressure of mass culture.
The early novels and stories of Michael Hăulică, Liviu Radu, Sebastian A.Corn, Ona Frantz, Florin Pîtea, Cătălin Sandu, Don Simon, Costi Gurgu, Andrei Valachi and others belong to this particular context,in their attempts to adapt the Romanian SF to our contemporary taste.
Notably, between 1992 and 1998, the Nemira publishing house turned out hundreds of translations and a few Romanian novels, among which “Aşteptând în Ghermana”(„Waiting in Ghermana”) by Dănuţ Ungureanu, the steampunk novel “2484 Quirinal Ave” and the cyberpunk novel Cel mai înalt turn din Baabylon(“The Highest Tower of Baabylon”) by Sebastian A. Corn. Between 1990 and 2008,the most important SF writers proved to be Sebastian A.Corn, Liviu Radu, Michael Hăulică, Dan Doboş, Dănuţ Ungureanu.
Notable works had produced Mihai Grămescu, Ovidiu Bufnilă, Silviu Genescu, Radu Pavel Gheo, Florin Pîtea, Costi Gurgu, Ona Frantz, Ana Maria Negrilă, Don Simon, Cătălin Sandu, Jean Lorin Sterian, Bogdan Bucheru, Andrei Valachi, Marian Coman. Dănuţ Ivănescu, Doru Stoica, Darius Luca Hupov, Cotizo Draia didn't made their editorial debut.
In 2008,some “new wave” writers (from the '80s ) as Dănuţ Ungureanu, Marian Truţă, Cristian Mihail Teodorescu, Lucian Merişca had succeed to be published by Bastion Publishing Press. In 2009,Doru Stoica's works had been gathered by Horia Nicola Ursu in a volume published by Millenium Press.
From the encounter of the theorists, historians, critics and professional essayists with the “paradoxical genre”, the SF have resulted memorable pronunciamentos on SF in general and Romanian SF in particular. Silvian Iosifescu, Ovid S.Crohmălniceanu, Florin Manolescu as well as other academic critics, have approached SF from the perspective of literary theory. Ion Hobana and Mircea Opriţă have contributed studies in literary history. Voicu Bugariu, Anton Cosma, Constantin Cubleşan have focused on textual criticism and the SF phenomenon. Dan Culcer has adopted the form of free essay. Cornel Robu has shown interest in both theory and practical criticism. His idea of interpreting SF as a literature of the sublime has enjoyed some international recognition. While some critics are inclined to take the “soft” view, practising an ironic and mildly humoristic commentary, others stake on more ambitious theoretical projects (Lucian Ionică),develop an interest in the relationship between SF and border genres such utopia (Sorin Antohi),or apply a rigurous criticism to the texts of their generation (Mihai Coman, Lucian-Vasile Szabo, Radu Pavel Gheo). All this proves that the theoretical and critical debate around this genre is as lively a phenomenon as the history of Romanian Science-Fiction.
In the last years an interesting phenomenon was the resurgence of the interest for science fiction on the internet. There are several specialized blogs and bloggers (SF authors and fans) or sites: the SRSFF site, Cultural SF learnings, Nautilus online, Pro-Scris, AtelierKult, Sfera, Romania SF online.
At the beginning of 2009, the Romanian Science-Fiction & Fantasy Society (www.srsaff.ro/) as founded by a group of writers, translators and fans: Dănuţ Ungureanu, Cristian-Mihail Teodorescu, Marian Truţă, Sorin Camner, Cristian Tamas, Mihai Dan Pavelescu, Feri Balin, Sebastian A. Corn, Liviu Radu, with the aim to promote and support the Romanian science fiction and have as site : www.srsff.ro. The Romanian Science-Fiction & Fantasy Society is a national organization dedicated to recreate the Romanian fandom and to actively sustain the Romanian SF authors, artists, translators and fans.
Currently, there is a trend to focus more on fantasy rather than science fiction (translations from English at Rao, Corint Junior, Leda publishing houses), with only a few publishing houses still publishing Romanian science fiction writers (Bastion, Millenium Press). SF translations from English are published by Nemira, Leda, Millenium Press and Tritonic.
The balance sheet of the genre on Romanian soil shows that SF is now enjoying a lot more dignity and cultural respectability. As for the future, with its yet untapped resources, serene and tenacious, Romanian Science Fiction keeps on running.
Early years
The country's earliest science fiction story is Al. N. Dariu's Finis Romaniae (1873), an alternate history short story which presents the history of Romania after the sudden death of Carol ICarol I of Romania
Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...
and a revolution against the new prince, which declares Romania a republic.
The following story was Spiritele anului 3000, a utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
written two years later, in 1875, by a teenager under the pen name "Demetriu G. Ionnescu", who would later become the statesman Take Ionescu
Take Ionescu
Take or Tache Ionescu was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Starting his political career as a radical member of the National Liberal Party , he joined the Conservative Party in 1891, and became noted as a social...
. The short story is set in the year 3000, when the earth is populated by humans of small stature who reach maturity by age 15. Politically, the monarchies have been abolished, with all the states being republics and part of a world confederation
World government
World government is the notion of a single common political authority for all of humanity. Its modern conception is rooted in European history, particularly in the philosophy of ancient Greece, in the political formation of the Roman Empire, and in the subsequent struggle between secular authority,...
. Religion and wars have disappeared and Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, a garden city
Garden city movement
The garden city movement is a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard in the United Kingdom. Garden cities were intended to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by "greenbelts" , containing proportionate areas of residences, industry and...
, is the capital of a Romania within its natural (ethnic) borders, following a ruling from a Supreme Tribunal.
In the early 1900s, Victor Anestin
Victor Anestin
Victor Anestin was a Romanian journalist, science popularizer, astronomer and science fiction writer.-Biography:Born in Bacău, Victor Anestin was the son of actor Ion Anestin...
was a notable popularizer of science who, apart from writing hundreds of articles and books about science, wrote three science fiction novels: În anul 4000 sau O călătorie la Venus ("In the year 4000, or A trip to Venus", 1899), O tragedie cerească, Poveste astronomică ("A Celestial Tragedy, An Astronomical Story", 1914) and Puterea ştiinţei, sau Cum a fost omorât Răsboiul European, Poveste fantastică ("The Power of Science, or How the European War was Killed, Fantasy Story", 1916). A Celestial Tragedy had one of the earliest descriptions of the possibility of using atomic power for war purposes, being published in February 1914, the same year as H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
' The World Set Free
The World Set Free
The World Set Free is a novel published in 1914 by H. G. Wells. The book is considered to foretell nuclear weapons. It had appeared first in serialized form with a different ending as A Prophetic Trilogy, consisting of three books: A Trap to Catch the Sun, The Last War in the World and The World...
.
In 1914, Henri Stahl
Henri Stahl
Henri Stahl was a Romanian stenographer and writer. Stahl was the chief stenographer of the Romanian Parliament and in 1908, he created an original system of a stenography, which became the Romanian stenography standard. In 1914, he published the first Romanian "classic science fiction" novel, Un...
published Un român în lună ("A Romanian on the Moon"), themed around the possibility of a moon landing
Moon landing
A moon landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both manned and unmanned missions. The first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission on 13 September 1959. The United States's Apollo 11 was the first manned...
.
Communist era
After WWII, the new communist regime supported science fiction, using it as a means of popularizing science and of ideological indoctrination. A weekly science fiction magazine, Colecţia de povestiri ştiinţifico-fantasticeColecţia de Povestiri Ştiinţifico-Fantastice
Colecția de Povestiri Ştiinţifico-Fantastice is a Romanian science fiction supplement, founded by writer Adrian Rogoz and published by the popular science weekly Ştiinţă şi Tehnică. It was one of the leading venues for the Romanian science fiction genre under the communist regime...
was founded; this was an important factor in the promotion of science fiction in Romania.
The most popular writers of the era, I.M. Ştefan and Radu Nor, wrote sci-fi adventure novels which sometimes included a Marxist ideological bent. Adrian Rogoz, Sergiu Fărcăşan and Camillo Baciu were the most important science fiction writers of the era, while Vladimir Colin
Vladimir Colin
Vladimir Colin was a Romanian short story writer and novelist. One of the most important fantasy and science fiction authors in Romanian literature, whose main works are known on several continents, he was also a noted poet, essayist, translator, journalist and comic book author...
was the first major writer of fantasy.
Things changed radically after 1950, when under Soviet control, Romania underwent a forced transformation process of its social, economic and cultural structure. The Romanian writers were required to reflect in their work the social and scientific accomplishments of the communist area within the so-called 'socialist realism' trend. Censorship was everywhere: the Russian-Soviet model was imposed and the works of most of Romania's writers of the previous period, and relating to nearly all genres, were banned.
Paradoxically these restrictions favored the spreading of the SF literature which the authorities considered 'harmless', and a means of technical and scientific education. Meanwhile for the readers it was a way of escaping the immediate reality of communist drudgery. From the literary perspective, the communist era was dominated by popular science magazines and the famous bimonthly Colecţia de povestiri ştiinţifico-fantastice [Science Fiction Stories Collection], created by Adrian Rogoz, which was first published in 1955 and continued uninterrupted until 1974 (466 issues). It became the core around which Romanian fandom formed and an important factor in the promotion of science fiction in Romania. The most tenacious SF writers of the 50s, I.M. Ştefan and Radu Nor, wrote sci-fi adventure novels which sometimes included a Marxist ideological bent.
After 1964, the gradual “liberalization” of the system had brought a thematic and stylistic experiment, the so called, ”revival of the SF genre”. The authors were coming from various fields: journalists, prose writers, poets, playwrights. Why so many men of letters turned to SF might be explained through the general belief that SF was in a position to offer more freedom of creation than the traditional genres, severely curtailed by harsh censorship. The main protagonists of this wave of Romanian SF were Adrian Rogoz, Sergiu Fărcăşan, Camil Baciu, Victor Kernbach, Mihu Dragomir, Ion Hobana, George Anania, and Romulus Bărbulescu. Side by side, a group of lesser writers were interpreting the same tune in a minor key. Vladimir Colin, Sergiu Fărcăşan, Camil Baciu and Adrian Rogoz were the most important science fiction writers of the 60s, while Vladmir Colin was also the first major writer of fantasy. Vladimir Colin's poetic discourse marks off the motifs of the genre, allowing them to float in an exotic and mythological fantastic, of a very good quality.
The “poetic coordinate”, a defining quality of Romanian SF is evinced by the works of Mihnea Moisescu, Georgina Viorica Rogoz, Mircea Şerbănescu, Horia Aramă. The “comic-satirical” dimension, ranging from refined humor to burlesque frivolity is characterizing the works of Eduard Jurist, Dorel Dorian, Leonida Neamţu, Corneliu Omescu, Laurenţiu Cerneţ. Miron Scorobete and Ovid S.Crohmălniceanu are combining ludic exuberance with lucid introspection. The major authors of this period were: Sergiu Fărcăşan, Victor Kernbach, Ion Mînzatu, Romulus Bărbulescu and George Anania, Constantin Cubleşan, Mircea Opriţă and Vladimir Colin.
The main novels of this time were “O iubire din anul 41.042” [A Love Affair in the Year 41,042] (1959) by Sergiu Fărcăşan (and this has been virtually continually in print especially in Europe's francophone area), “A zecea lume” [The Tenth World] (1963) by Vladimir Colin, “Atacul cesiumiştilor” [The Attack of the Cesiumists] (1963) by Sergiu Fărcăşan, “Ferma oamenilor de piatră” [The Stone Men Farm] (1969) by Romulus Bărbulescu and George Anania, “Argonautica” (1970) by Mircea Opriţă.
“Vă caută un taur” [A Bull Is Searching for You] (1969) - a Eurocon-award winner in 1972 - is considered the most original Romanian science fiction novel of the 20th century. It is a science fictional, futuristic, re-working of a Greek legend. Its author, Sergiu Fărcăşan, is a Bucharest-born prose writer who studied medicine in Timisoara. His novel concerns the 'Absolute Machine' and it explores the tension between human nature and artificial intelligence. There are two leading motifs, the bull and the labyrinth. The company Jupiter & Son, located in a sky-scraper called Olimpic (for which read Olympic), makes plans that upsets Cretan businesses. Minos requests the services of Dedalus, a famous Irish architect who is well aware that the walls of the palace he has built "have ears". At Minos's court the readers discover several famous characters - Hercules, Theseus, Aphrodite, Hermes - who are allegedly Greek spies involved in political scandals. Dedalus is obsessed with building the perfect machine. His model for this is the human brain that he believes to be a three-level labyrinth. In this Machine, people get lost forever as prisoners of their own ignorance. There is also the idea of a society of mechanical bulls who, though dependent on the Absolute Machine, conspire against it, a fact illustrated in the second part of the novel, which is a metaphoric description of a cybernetic existence. In the third and last part, the author creates a political plot in which those in power and the opposition confront each other because of the same Absolute Machine.
The Middle SF Generation comprises writers like Voicu Bugariu, Constantin Cubleşan, Gheorghe Săsărman, Mircea Opriţă. Haunted by projects of synthesis, they have had strived to work in several genres, thus coming in for such labels as “orchestra-man”, “total-anticipator”, etc. Preoccupied with the literariness of their texts, they deliberately expose themselves to generic “impurification”-contamination with realistic, fantastic and utopian discourses, retaining, however,a rigorous aesthetic discipline.
In 1974, because of both economic (the side effects of the oil crisis upon eastern European communist countries) and political reasons (exaggerated totalitarian rule), Colecţia Povestirilor Ştiinţifico-Fantastice ceased publication and Romanian science fiction writers regrouped in SF societies. These had been established a few years earlier and coincidentally 1969 saw the founding of Romania's first three SF societies: The Martians and Solaris in Bucharest, and H.G. Wells in Timisoara.
The first Romanian SF convention took place in Bucharest in 1972. It was, in fact, a meeting of the societies of Bucharest, Craiova and Timisoara. The following conventions, called RomCons, were organised every year until 1994 when that year's national convention took place as part of Romania's first Eurocon in Timisoara. However the last RomCon of the communist period was previously organized in 1989 a scant month before the anticommunist revolution and again in Timisoara. As was then usual that communist-era convention was under strict control of the authorities. The chief consequence of this was that every aspect of its programme was supervised by representatives of the authorities. Although closely watched by the communist authorities Romania's SF conventions of the time were financed by the State and this enabled them to take place. The RomCons were in fact cultural events of great importance. In the 1980's, they not only brought together over 50 societies and hundreds of participants: writers and fans, but also artists, musicians, scientific researchers, philosophers - even some of whom the communist regime did not approve. According to the then official records, in 1989 the number of the societies had increased to 80 with a total of about 4,000 members. Some regularly went to EuroCons in other countries and there were even a few Romanian Eurocon Award winners. Meanwhile the RomCons also organized national competitions whose winners were allowed to publish in the official cultural periodicals or the state publishing houses. From with 1980, the RomCons followed a standard program that lasted three days and included a number of regular items: a debate on the state of SF literature and art, a round table on themes of 'political correctness' (peace and disarmament, the human dimension of science, the impact of new technologies - all inspired by the politics of the communist authorities), film screenings, plastic arts exhibitions, night time readings, and the exchange of books and fanzines from connected fields. It is worth mentioning that the SF societies were the only organizations in Romania that had their own non-communist (but not dissident) publications. One of the strengths of these SF conventions were their guests of honor who were sometimes cultural and scientific personalities not so much favored by the communist regime. They gave talks on taboo topics such as the relation between scientific research and religion, patterns of post-communist societies, environmental challenges etc. Remember this is all the more remarkable as all of Romania's SF activities were financed by the communist authorities. Parts of these talks were published in Anticipatia Almanac (which itself won a Eurocon award in 1987) as the 'official' publication of Romanian fandom. The RomCons themselves were organized in cities with the most active SF societies, namely: Timisoara, Craiova, Iasi, Sibiu, Oradea, Lugoj, Cluj-Napoca, Pitesti etc. The 1983 convention was an exception as originally it was to have been held in Bucharest but the authorities cancelled it at the last minute for reasons that have never been understood; however, they did not take repressive measures against the organizers or the participants, the latter having arrived in the capital before the cancellation, and who were still able to meet albeit unofficially. About 300-400 people attended a RomCons from 1980-1989. Of these, 100-150 were official delegates chosen by the societies based on their size and activity. A constant presence was Ion Hobana, the expert historian of the Romanian SF. Among the constant participants were the representatives of the periodical Science and Technology, whose editor-in-chief, Ioan Albescu, was the official leader of the fandom, or major science promoters such as Alexandru Mironov.
The “New Wave” of Romanian SF is the generation that occupied the stage of the '80s – Mihai Grămescu, Alexandru Ungureanu, Lucian Ionică, Gheorghe Păun, Sorin Ştefănescu, Rodica Bretin, Leonard Oprea, Cristian Tudor Popescu, George Ceauşu, Dan Merişca, Lucian Merişca, Silviu Genescu, Constantin Cozmiuc, Dorin Davideanu, Ovidiu Bufnilă, Dănuţ Ungureanu, Mihnea Columbeanu, Bogdan Ficeac, etc.-writers who had succeed in extending the horizon of the genre and revigorating its content. While the SF of the '50s was tied up with Soviet model and the “middle generation” attempted to invent a SF with “Romanian” features, the representatives of the “New Wave” have taken over and adapted the American model.
Cristian Tudor Popescu created in 1985 the SF Club – ProspectArt, club that later become Romanian Science Fiction and Fantesy Society. Members of this club were: Cristian Mihail Teodorescu, Dănuţ Ungureanu, Cristian Tamaş, Sorin Camner, Marian Truţă, Cristian Lăzărescu, Mihai-Dan Pavelescu, Mihnea Columbeanu, Dina Paligora, Sorin Ştefănescu, Ştefan Ghidoveanu.
During communism, the Romanian fans' access to Western SF books and films was restricted. Generally, bookshops did not sell SF by foreign authors as these were considered dangerous because of the ideas they contained. However the western libraries in Bucharest (American Library, British Council, French Library) and the American Reading Rooms that belonged to the university libraries were a chance to get in touch with Western literature of all sorts, including SF. Romanian fans heard of Western films and books and RomCons provided a glimpse of what was going on in the Western world of SF literature, film or art in general, besides the chance to make friends and socialize. Having said this not all the RomCons attendants were really SF fans, at least not in the beginning; some of them only attended such conventions once, others came for the sake of the atmosphere and the chance to travel and have a break: generally, travel and accommodation expenses were paid by the authorities, so people took advantage of that. But some of these 'tourists' in the Romanian SF fandom later became true SF fans or even writers. Nonetheless on the whole during communism the sense of national fandom was quite strong. A typical manifestation of the Romanian fandom was the annual two-week National SF Workshop or Camp (participants stayed in tents) that also organised recreational activities in addition to SF literature and art workshops. There were also a number of annual regional conventions besides the RomCons. Another aspect of Romanian fandom of the time were fanzines. Even in the difficult times, when the Romanian press was under strict governmental control, several SF societies were able to publish their own annual fanzines, the only unofficial publications in the country.
Judging from the Eurocon awards they received, the most significant were Paradox (H. G. Wells SF society in Timişoara), Helion [Alpha Particle] (Helion, Timisoara), Fantastic Magazin (Quasar, Iaşi), Omicron (Henri Coandă, Craiova). The Quasar SF society from the city of Iaşi also published a monthly newsletter called SF Contact. The H. G. Wells and Helion SF societies from Timişoara published together the only journal of literary criticism in Romania, Biblioteca Nova.
From 1982 to 2000 saw the publication, with help from the state-owned periodical Ştiinţă şi Tehnică [Science and Technology], the annual Almanac Anticipaţia (Anticipation), which was the most important cultural manifestation of the Romanian fandom.
During the period between 1974-1980, some of the major Romanian SF works were “Capcanele timpului”[The Time Traps] (1974), “Dinţii lui Cronos “[The Teeth of Chronos] (1975) by Vladimir Colin; “Preţul secant al genunii”, [The Price of the Abyss] (1974) by Adrian Rogoz; “Nopţile Nemoriei” [Nights of the Memory] (1974) by Mircea Opriţă; “Verde Aixa” [Green Aixa] (1976) by Horia Arama; “Himera” [Chimera] (1979) by Gheorghe Săsărman; “Istorii Insolite” [Unusual Stories (1980) by Ovidiu S. Crohmalniceanu.
The major SF academics of this period (and subsequently) were Ion Hobana, Florin Manolescu, Cornel Robu and Mircea Opriţă. Several official cultural periodicals published science fiction, but the number of books (both by Romanian and foreign authors) decreased every year.
In the last years of communism there were just two series of SF novels published. The first was under the banner of the 'Fantastic Club' from the Albatros Publishing House, Bucharest, and which won a Eurocon award in 1987 for Romanian authors. The second series was of translations of foreign SF and was called 'Colecţia Romanelor SF' ['The SF Novels Collection'] which came out from the Univers Publishing House in Bucharest)
During the 1980s, the most notable publication of science fiction was the yearly Anticipaţia almanac, edited by Ioan Albescu. Many of the writers of the 1980s had scientific studies, which meant that their writings tended to be closer to hard science fiction. They were not very fruitful as during 1980s, it was very difficult to get published and during the 1990s, they moved on to other fields. (For example, Cristian Tudor Popescu became a well-known journalist.)
After 1989
After the 1989 Romanian Revolution, initially, the science fiction genre experienced a boom, as many translations which had not been accepted by the communist authorities were published. A consequence of the Romanian SF community being so well organized in terms of logistics imposed by the communist regime before 1989, to both fandom as well as professional publishing, was that during the 1989-1991 immediate transition events, many members of SF societies chose to be active in the young democratic society. Most of them became involved in the development of Romania's press, some became MP's, presidential counselors, diplomats, state secretaries, county prefects, etc. Others turned to a university academic career or became businessmen. It was a time of change...Making its debut in the ' 80s,the postmodernist SF develops spectacularly in the last decade of the 20th century. The works of young writers testify to the strong impact of American models in the genre, such as cyberpunk and steampunk. A great numbers of these works are obviously paraliterary in character, yet some of them are retrievable in terms of good literature,one that has constantly changed its shape and mode as a result of the growing pressure of mass culture.
The early novels and stories of Michael Hăulică, Liviu Radu, Sebastian A.Corn, Ona Frantz, Florin Pîtea, Cătălin Sandu, Don Simon, Costi Gurgu, Andrei Valachi and others belong to this particular context,in their attempts to adapt the Romanian SF to our contemporary taste.
Notably, between 1992 and 1998, the Nemira publishing house turned out hundreds of translations and a few Romanian novels, among which “Aşteptând în Ghermana”(„Waiting in Ghermana”) by Dănuţ Ungureanu, the steampunk novel “2484 Quirinal Ave” and the cyberpunk novel Cel mai înalt turn din Baabylon(“The Highest Tower of Baabylon”) by Sebastian A. Corn. Between 1990 and 2008,the most important SF writers proved to be Sebastian A.Corn, Liviu Radu, Michael Hăulică, Dan Doboş, Dănuţ Ungureanu.
Notable works had produced Mihai Grămescu, Ovidiu Bufnilă, Silviu Genescu, Radu Pavel Gheo, Florin Pîtea, Costi Gurgu, Ona Frantz, Ana Maria Negrilă, Don Simon, Cătălin Sandu, Jean Lorin Sterian, Bogdan Bucheru, Andrei Valachi, Marian Coman. Dănuţ Ivănescu, Doru Stoica, Darius Luca Hupov, Cotizo Draia didn't made their editorial debut.
In 2008,some “new wave” writers (from the '80s ) as Dănuţ Ungureanu, Marian Truţă, Cristian Mihail Teodorescu, Lucian Merişca had succeed to be published by Bastion Publishing Press. In 2009,Doru Stoica's works had been gathered by Horia Nicola Ursu in a volume published by Millenium Press.
From the encounter of the theorists, historians, critics and professional essayists with the “paradoxical genre”, the SF have resulted memorable pronunciamentos on SF in general and Romanian SF in particular. Silvian Iosifescu, Ovid S.Crohmălniceanu, Florin Manolescu as well as other academic critics, have approached SF from the perspective of literary theory. Ion Hobana and Mircea Opriţă have contributed studies in literary history. Voicu Bugariu, Anton Cosma, Constantin Cubleşan have focused on textual criticism and the SF phenomenon. Dan Culcer has adopted the form of free essay. Cornel Robu has shown interest in both theory and practical criticism. His idea of interpreting SF as a literature of the sublime has enjoyed some international recognition. While some critics are inclined to take the “soft” view, practising an ironic and mildly humoristic commentary, others stake on more ambitious theoretical projects (Lucian Ionică),develop an interest in the relationship between SF and border genres such utopia (Sorin Antohi),or apply a rigurous criticism to the texts of their generation (Mihai Coman, Lucian-Vasile Szabo, Radu Pavel Gheo). All this proves that the theoretical and critical debate around this genre is as lively a phenomenon as the history of Romanian Science-Fiction.
In the last years an interesting phenomenon was the resurgence of the interest for science fiction on the internet. There are several specialized blogs and bloggers (SF authors and fans) or sites: the SRSFF site, Cultural SF learnings, Nautilus online, Pro-Scris, AtelierKult, Sfera, Romania SF online.
At the beginning of 2009, the Romanian Science-Fiction & Fantasy Society (www.srsaff.ro/) as founded by a group of writers, translators and fans: Dănuţ Ungureanu, Cristian-Mihail Teodorescu, Marian Truţă, Sorin Camner, Cristian Tamas, Mihai Dan Pavelescu, Feri Balin, Sebastian A. Corn, Liviu Radu, with the aim to promote and support the Romanian science fiction and have as site : www.srsff.ro. The Romanian Science-Fiction & Fantasy Society is a national organization dedicated to recreate the Romanian fandom and to actively sustain the Romanian SF authors, artists, translators and fans.
Currently, there is a trend to focus more on fantasy rather than science fiction (translations from English at Rao, Corint Junior, Leda publishing houses), with only a few publishing houses still publishing Romanian science fiction writers (Bastion, Millenium Press). SF translations from English are published by Nemira, Leda, Millenium Press and Tritonic.
The balance sheet of the genre on Romanian soil shows that SF is now enjoying a lot more dignity and cultural respectability. As for the future, with its yet untapped resources, serene and tenacious, Romanian Science Fiction keeps on running.