Mircea Nedelciu

Mircea Nedelciu (November 12, 1950 – July 12, 1999) was a Romanian short-story writer, novelist, essayist and literary critic, one of the leading exponents of the Optzeciști generation in Romanian letters.

The author of experimental prose, mixing elements of conventional narratives with autofiction, textuality, intertextuality and, in some cases, fantasy, he placed his work at the meeting point between Postmodernism and a minimalist form of Neorealism.

This approach is illustrated by his volumes of stories and his novels Zmeura de cîmpie ("Raspberry of the Field"), Tratament fabulatoriu ("Confambulatory Treatment"), and by Femeia în roșu ("The Woman in Red"), a collaborative fiction piece written together with Adriana Babeți and Mircea Mihăieș.

A follower of trends in avant-garde literature of the 1960s and 1970s, Nedelciu co-founded the literary circle Noii ("The New Ones") with Gheorghe Crăciun, Gheorghe Ene (writer), Ioan Flora, Gheorghe Iova, Ioan Lăcustă, Emil Paraschivoiu, Sorin Preda and Constantin Stan (writer).

His integration as an authoritative voice on the Postmodern scene, inaugurated by his presence in the Desant '83 anthology, was complemented by his free-minded attitude and drifter lifestyle.

Although Nedelciu's political nonconformism pitted him against the repressive communist system on several occasions, he stood out on the literary scene for adapting to some communist requirements in order to get his message across.

This tendency made Nedelciu the target of controversy.

The final years of Mircea Nedelciu's life witnessed his publicized struggle with Hodgkin's lymphoma, which shaped the themes in his unfinished novel, Zodia Scafandrului ("Sign of the Deep-sea Diver").

Although the rhythm of his activity slowed under the pressures of infirmity and major surgery in French clinics, Nedelciu continued his involvement with the literary scene, as both cultural promoter and polemicist, until shortly before his death.

His critical posterity is sharply divided on issues surrounding the importance of his work, between those who primarily view him as an eccentric figure and those who describe him as one Romania's major experimental writers.

Nedelciu was born in the semi-urban locality of Fundulea, Călărași County, where his parents, Ștefan and Maria, worked in agriculture (Nedelciu's father was also employed by the House of Savings, a state-run bank).

The couple's resistance to forced collectivization had engendered political repercussions, and impacted on the family's standing: Nedelciu's older sister was expelled from university for one year.

The family was also periodically harassed by the communist authorities after their son-in-law decided to cross the Iron Curtain, settling in the United States.

Mircea Nedelciu attended primary school in his native town and high school in Brănești, and afterward left for the national capital of Bucharest, in order to complete his studies.

A student at the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Letters, specializing in English and French, Nedelciu was attracted into bohemian, cosmopolitan and countercultural circles, growing his hair long and informing himself on new developments in Western culture.

His time as a student overlapped with an episode of liberalization which coincided with the early rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu, and which, as Nedelciu himself recalled, provided young intellectuals with access to cultural items that were less known or were recovering from official censorship.

These included texts Nedelciu read in the University Library: the French journal Tel Quel and the works of Mikhail Bulgakov, William Faulkner, John Dos Passos, and J. D. Salinger.

Nonconformism also impacted on his student life: reportedly, he only attended courses which he found interesting, neglecting all others.

Nedelciu was especially close to his colleague and campus roommate Gheorghe Crăciun and to painter Ion Dumitriu, and vacationed in Crăciun's native Brașov County.

It was also during his time in college that he helped found Noii, which in its original form also comprised Flora and "the three Gheorghes" (Crăciun, Ene, Iova).

The club was later joined by Lăcustă, Paraschivoiu, Sorin Preda, and Stan.

Noii, which for a while published an eponymous student magazine, survived both its members' graduation and the national communist backlash inaugurated by the July Theses of 1971, but remained marginal on the literary scene, and discreetly reacted against the new restrictive guidelines by cultivating difference.

After completing his studies in 1973 and turning down a post-graduate assignment at a school in the remote Danube Delta, Nedelciu went through several jobs, including that of tour guide for foreigners.

According to literary historian Sanda Cordoș, his refusal of initial employment exposed him to the political regime's suspicion for "parasitism".

Nedelciu was however able to publish his first literary piece, the short story Un purtător de cuvânt ("A Spokesman"), hosted by a Luceafărul magazine issue of 1977.

The young author's standing declined further later that year, when he was briefly held under arrest for handling foreign currency (a criminal offense at the time).

This time inspired him to write another story, Curtea de aer ("The Air Court"), also printed by Luceafărul in the following period.

He ultimately found stable employment soon after his release, when he began working as a librarian on the staff of Cartea Românească publishing house (where his first works in literature were to be printed over the following years).

As Cordoș argued, the institution "would become legendary as a meeting place for young writers from Bucharest and out of town—political rather than literary marginals."

A similar statement is made by literary historian and reviewer Alex Ștefănescu, who sees the writer's activities as responsible for making the library "a sui generis literary club".

Also according to Cordoș, Nedelciu was still being subject to political pressures for his family connections and his refusal to join the Romanian Communist Party.

With his 1979 volume of short stories, Aventuri într-o curte interioară ("Adventures in an Interior Courtyard"), Nedelciu became a notorious figure among young authors, and earned the Writers' Union annual prize for debut.

According to Nedelciu's own recollection: "In all these years down to 1980, the club was a literary life completely separated from the official literary life."

Nedelciu followed up on his writing with the short story volumes Effectul de ecou controlat ("The Controlled Echo Effect") of 1981 and Amendament la instinctul proprietății ("Amendment to the Proprietary Instinct") of 1983.

Owing to Crohmălniceanu's patronage, his prose works were published as part of the critically acclaimed Desant '83 anthology, which set the tone for Optzeciști writings.

From this moment on until his death, Nedelciu was at the forefront of debates opposing the Optzeciști to their older colleagues, and stood among those members of his generation who willingly accepted to be called "Postmodernists".

A separate and enduring controversy, involving Nedelciu's apparent endorsement of the repressive regime, was sparked in 1982.

That year, he signed a lampoon piece targeting anti-communist exiles who broadcast clandestinely into Romania by means of Radio Free Europe, and had it published in Scînteia Tineretului (or SLARS), the mouthpiece of Communist Youth and branch of the main official party newspaper, Scînteia.

Zmeura de cîmpie, Tratament fabulatoriu and the new short prose grouping Și ieri va fi o zi ("And Yesterday Will Be Another Day"), published in 1984, 1986, and 1989, respectively, were Nedelciu's last volumes to emerge in print before the 1989 Revolution.

He was by then also affiliated with Junimea, a workshop and literary society named after its 19th-century predecessor and hosted by the influential critic Ovid Crohmălniceanu.