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Quote by Dumitru Tepeneag

“The reader's impression is one of a dream - the only thing that's left upon waking is the memory of a melody at the end of a concert.”

Quote by Dumitru Tepeneag

Author

Dumitru Tepeneag

Dumitru Tepeneag is a renowned Romanian novelist known for his unique literary style and profound social criticism. His works often blend elements of surrealism, magical realism, and postmodernism, exploring the relationships between individuals and society, reality, and fantasy. more

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“In so-called communist Romania, chess was held in high esteem, even if our champions were weaker than the Soviets. This game, this "sport of the mind," was at the time a better way to establish your reputation than literature.”

Ifs Way Mind Literature Games Sports Chess Esteem Reputation Champion Communist Better Ways Romania

Author:Dumitru Tepeneag

“I was a professional chess player in Romania, but only a small-time master. When I came to France, I continued playing chess for many years: I played tournaments in numerous countries with mixed results. I wrote and published a book - La Défense Alekhine and translated two others from Russian. I taught chess in schools; I earned more money through chess than through literature.”

Years Two Book Country School Literature Results Player Taught Masters Chess France More Money Tournaments Chess Players Playing Chess Romania Alekhine

Author:Dumitru Tepeneag

“Chess hasn't really influenced my literature. It's true, there's a character in Pigeon Post, an old chess player; but it's more of a wink, a self-portrait and not much more.”

Self Character Literature Player Chess Posts Portraits Pigeons Chess Players Self Portrait

Author:Dumitru Tepeneag

“At one point I had a very complicated plan to use the game of chess as a generating structure for writing. I prepared for a long time. I finally wrote two chapters and stopped. It was too complicated and too difficult to write. And who would've read it?”

Writing Long Two Use Games Difficult Plans Long Time Structure Prepared Complicated Chess Chapters

Author:Dumitru Tepeneag

“There is no one 'best set-up', there are many - you can get to mate in endless ways. And - don't forget! - in chess, like in literature, "the other" (the reader, the adversary, the partner, etc.) has to be a collaborator, has to work with you to get to the final goal. We depend on them! But they also depend on us.”

Way Literature Goal Forget Depends Reader Finals Partners Chess Endless Etc Mates Adversaries Collaborators

Author:Dumitru Tepeneag

“The literary game is the abyss of human society itself: interactive, playful and tragic. We can't live alone. For me, Robinson [Crusoe] is either a false myth or else he represents the denial of human society. We can't play by ourselves. In literature, it's even more complicated, because one has to play with an indeterminate number of players simultaneously and every game is different. The other player can abandon your game at any time...to go play chess.”

Humans Different Play Literature Games Numbers Player Complicated Myth Chess Denial Tragic Abandon Abyss Human Society Interactive Robinson Crusoe

Author:Dumitru Tepeneag

“Since adolescence I've had a passion for Romantic Fantastique literature, which continued with Expressionism and culminated with the genius of Kafka. It's that German thread of the metaphysic - they were looking for the beyond in dreams.”

Dream Passion Literature Genius Thread Adolescence Expressionism

Author:Dumitru Tepeneag

“On the other hand, Surrealism has been a part of Romanian literature since forever. Even before Tzara, who was originally Romanian, we had Urmuz, who was a surrealist before the term even existed. During Breton's era too, there was a very active Romanian Surrealist group (Ghérasim Luca, Gellu Naum, etc.) closely related to the French. They had to quit their activities as soon as the Soviet communists took over.”

Has Beens Hands Literature Term Forever Groups Activity Active Quitting Eras Related Etc Communist Soviet Surrealism Surrealist

Author:Dumitru Tepeneag

“Our Onirisme movement was a synthesis between the Romantic Fantastique and Surrealism. Dimov and I rejected automatic writing. We loved surrealist painters: Chirico, Magritte, Tanguy and especially Brauner (also a Romanian), who never respected the laws that Breton imposed in his manifests.”

Writing Law Movement Painter Rejected Surrealism Synthesis Surrealist Magritte

Author:Dumitru Tepeneag

“Where is automatism in the work of Chirico or Tanguy? Even Dali had to renounce it in order to be able to organize the space of the canvas according to the combined laws of dreams and pictorial aesthetics.”

Dream Able Law Order Space Canvas Organize Aesthetics Renounce Pictorial

Author:Dumitru Tepeneag