Novel
Lunatecii
Not translated into English
Ion Vinea · 1965
Synopsis
In central Bucharest, around the Calea Victoriei, Lucu Silion, an adviser in a state office where he is rarely seen, a dandy who chases women, leads a double life between Laura Feraru, who waits for him endlessly, and Ana Ulmu. Descended, according to Sanda Cordoș, from a family of ruined winegrowers, he defines himself by intelligence rather than by birth. Around him revolve Filip, owner of the Esplanada café, and Fane Chiriac, his former teacher.
Context
Begun in the thirties, the novel was delayed by the political situation and by the publication, in 1957, of Petru Dumitriu's Family Chronicle, whose content overlapped with his own; the author gave up several chapters, according to Sanda Cordoș. The book appeared in 1965; the author had worked on it to the end, according to the notes of the edition of his works. Critics have often compared it to Mateiu Caragiale's Craii de Curtea-Veche, a reading that Sanda Cordoș disputes: she sees in it the novel of another lost generation, marked by Fitzgerald.
Who it is for
A psychological novel mixed with serial fiction and burlesque, in Romanian; no known French translation.
Prizes and reception
Sanda Cordoș regards it as one of the important achievements of the Romanian psychological novel of the twentieth century.
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