Matei Vișniec www.researchgate.net › publication › fulltext › Matei-Vis

Matei Vișniec – Romanian Playwright and Promoter of Young Talents Aurelian BĂLĂIȚĂ Faculty of Theatre, George Enescu National University of Arts, Iaşi

Abstract: George Enescu National University of Arts from Iaşi had the privilege to present Matei Vişniec with the title of Doctor Honoris Causa on the 5th of October, 2018. Matei Vişniec was born on the 29th of January, 1956, in Rădăuţi, where he attended primary school and high school. He studied history and philosophy at the University of Bucharest. Despite the difficulties, he has a very active life as a brilliant exponent of the ‘80s generation, as a founding member of the “Cenaclul de Luni”. Until 1987, he writes, with frenzy and amazing maturity, poetry, numerous plays, a novel, several film scripts. Between 1980-1987 he made heavy commuting, as a professor of history and geography at Dorobantu-Plătăreşti, Calarasi County. He arrived in Paris in September 1987 and asked for political asylum. Since 1990 he has been working as a journalist at Radio France Internationale. He became a French citizen in 1993, but he also retains Romanian citizenship. In France his plays are published at Actes-Sud Papiers, Lansman, L’Harmattan, Espace d’un Instant. The international stage debut takes place in 1992 with Horses at the Window at Les Celestins des Lyon Theatre, directed by Pascal Papini. Afterwards, Old Clown Wanted at the Bonn Theatre Biennial. There are more and more performances on major French stages, more than 20 pieces. Known in the world as a “Romanian author of French expression”, he succeeds in imposing himself in the select world of the French theatre. Matei Vişniec’s recognition was crowned in 1991 by the Jury Prize at the Les Journées d’Auteurs Festival for the play Horses at the Window, 2009, the EUROPEAN PRIZE awarded by the Society of Drama Authors and Composers in France for the entire activity, in 1996 and 2008, the Prize of the press at the Avignon Theatre Festival in 2016, the JEAN MONNET EUROPEAN LITERATURE PRIZE for the novels published at Jacqueline Chambon Actes Sud. Being considered the most important Romanian playwright of the moment, Matei Vişniec is not only one of the most played dramatic authors at the Avignon Festival, where he has beaten all the records, but also the most played in the world, his plays being translated into more than 30 languages, staged and played in over 50 countries on all continents. Matei Vişniec is invited to prestigious universities in the world 130 Unauthenticated Download Date | 1/27/19 3:01 AM

1918-2018: 100 Years of Theatre Research in Iași and to various artistic events of wide scope to conference on different topics related to artistic creation and social themes. His work is being studied more and more intensively, it is part of the theme of many doctoral studies and theses.

Key words: Matei Vişniec, theatre, poetry, journalism, literature.

The George Enescu National University of Arts in Iaşi has the privilege to give Matei Vişniec the title of Doctor Honoris Causa, on the 5th of October, 2018. We have the honour to present this Laudatio. It is hard to encompass in a simple presentation the complexity of a very strong personality, one there is much to talk about from different perspectives. Let’s take a look at some of the paths of Matei Vişniec’s career, whose energies that seem inexhaustible are in full manifestation. He has a spectacular destiny. He was born on the 29th of January, 1956. His mother, Minodora, was an educator. Father, John, was an office clerk. The hometown of Rădăuţi, where he attended primary school and high school, provided many of his topics for the future writings. He has discovered his passion for literature and theatre since childhood. The first attempts in poetry appeared in the high school magazine, “Light”; he debuted at national level with a series of poems in the magazine “Luceafărul”, in 1972. He was 16 years old. Then he moved to the capital, where he studied history and philosophy at the University of Bucharest, continuing to feed from Kafka, Dostoevsky, Camus, Poe, Hemingway, Oscar Wilde, Nichita Stănescu, and many other writers unrelated to socialist realism. During seven years, between 1980-1987, he made a heavy shuttle as a professor of history and geography at DorobantuPlătăresti, Calarasi County, exchanging, hallucinating, four vehicles, the last kilometres on a bicycle. A period that was, as he confessed, an extraordinary metaphysical experience, which opened up his sociological vocation. Despite the difficulties, he has a very active life as a brilliant exponent of the ‘80s generation, as a founding member of the “Cenaclul de Luni”. Until 1987, he writes, with frenzy and amazing maturity, poetry, numerous plays, a novel, several film scripts. Only poetry is accepted for publication, in national and student literature newspapers. He debuts with a poetry volume, Tonight It Will Snow, at Albatros Publishing House, 1980. It was followed by The Town with One Resident (Albatros Publishing House, 1982) and The Wiseman at Teatime (Cartea Românească Publishing, 1984). Considered a