Leonard Oprea

Leonard Oprea
File:Author Leonard Oprea.jpg
Born	December 1953 Prejmer, Brașov County, Romania
Nationality	Romanian
Occupation(s)	novelist, poet, essayist

Leonard Oprea (born December 1953) is a Romanian novelist, poet, and essayist. In the late 1980s, he wrote two books of fiction that were banned by the Communist regime and gained him repute among dissidents. Following the 1989 Revolution, these were published but failed to attract significant notice. He left Romania for the United States in 1999, after which the books were once again released, this time to greater acclaim. He wrote a fictional tetralogy in the 2000s.

Biography

Born in Prejmer, Brașov County, Oprea attended Andrei Șaguna High School in Brașov before undertaking his studies at the Transylvania University of Brașov. He also holds a specialization in mass media from California State University, Chico, obtained in 1990. Prior to the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Oprea wrote the short prose collection Radiografia clipei ("The X-ray of an Instant") and the novel Cămaşa de forţă ("The Straitjacket"). He also published several short stories in cultural magazines. His two longer works were banned by the Communist regime and circulated in samizdat form. Due to this censorship, in the 1980s his name was much better known in dissident circles than his work. Oprea was a participant in the Brașov Rebellion of 1987.

With the fall of the regime, Radiografia clipei (first written, according to Oprea, in 1988) was published in 1990 and Cămaşa de forţă in 1992, but both went nearly unnoticed. In that period, forthright expression had come into fashion, and stories told in parables, such as Oprea's, were no longer favored. In 1999, Oprea emigrated to the United States, following which his novels began to meet with greater success in his native country. Trilogia lui Theophil Magus ("The Trilogy of Theofil Magus") appeared between 2000 and 2002, followed by new editions of Radiografia clipei (2003) and Cămaşa de forţă (2004). Extensive appreciations appeared from influential commentators such as Mircea Mihăieş, Vladimir Tismăneanu, Sorin Antohi, Liviu Antonesei, Norman Manea, helping secure Oprea's reputation in contemporary Romanian literature. A fourth volume in the planned trilogy appeared in 2007, turning it into a tetralogy.

According to critic Tudorel Urian, Oprea is a "true dissident" in the manner of Corneliu Coposu and Adam Michnik, having directly confronted the regime, undergone abusive interrogations by the Securitate secret police, and not called for vindictive retribution against former regime figures after 1989. Radiografia clipei, which brings together several short works, deals with alienated intellectuals who are either artists or dreamers. They have been deemed enemies of their society due to their power to escape into their own worlds. They face concerted political and social pressure, and their attempts at resistance are meager, tending to be supplanted by despair and isolation.

Publications

• Radiografia clipei ("The X-ray of an Instant"), Editura Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, 1990. Second edition: Editura Curtea Veche, Bucharest, 2003.
• Cămaşa de forţă ("The Straitjacket"), Editura Nemira, Bucharest, 1992. Second edition: Editura Curtea Veche, 2004.
• Trilogia lui Theophil Magus ("The Theophil Magus Trilogy")
  • Cele Nouă Învăţături ale lui Theophil Magus despre Magia Transilvană ("The Nine Teachings of Theophil Magus on Transylvanian Magic"), Editura Polirom, Bucharest, 2000.
  • Cartea lui Theophil Magus sau 40 de poveşti despre om ("The Book of Theophil Magus or 40 Tales about Man"), Editura Polirom, 2001.
  • Meditaţiile lui Theophil Magus sau Simple Cugetări Creştine la Început de Mileniu III ("The Meditations of Theophil Magus or Simple Christian Thoughts at the Beginning of the Third Millennium"), Editura Polirom, 2002.
  • Theophil Magus - Confesiuni 2004-2006 ("Theophil Magus - Confessions 2004-2006"), Editura Universal Dalsi, Bucharest, 2007.