Third Part of the Short (Hi)Story of Romanian Speculative Fiction by Cătălin Badea-Gheracostea

Dear ISF readers,

Have you read the first two parts of the “Short (Hi)Story of Romanian Speculative Fiction” by Cătălin Badea-Gheracostea? No? Then just click here and here to read it, you will not regret it, I promisse!

And if the answer to our previous question is “yes”, then let’s continue our jorney and learn more about Romanian Speculative Fiction:

Short (Hi)Story of Romanian Speculative Fiction

told for strangers, aliens and secluded scholars

by

Cătălin Badea-Gheracostea

 

(Third Part of the Article)

A Last Breath Before Dying

I cannot end my case study without letting you know my favourite sequence from Dan Doboş writing. It is at the end of The Abbey’s first volume. It shows how Dan Doboş prepares in hundreds of pages only one page. It is the death of a super-soldier, super-man, super-intelligence, the death of Rimio de Vassur, the imperial quint sent by

New ISF Article: second part of “Short (Hi)Story of Romanian Speculative Fiction”

As promised, here it is the  second part of the article by Cătălin Badea-Gheracostea called “Short (Hi)Story of Romanian Speculative Fiction”. In the second part of this article, Cătălin speaks about Dan Dobos!

This great pamphlet of Romanian Speculative Fiction was presented in Croatia, during the

Eurocon 2012, and aims to “raise awareness, to inform and to be liked”.

We will present the full pamphlet in a series of chapters, published once a week.

The Editor in Chief: Roberto Mendes

  

Short (Hi)Story of Romanian Speculative Fiction

told for strangers, aliens and secluded scholars

by

Cătălin Badea-Gheracostea

 

(Second Part of the Article)

 

A Case Study: Dan Doboş

One Breath on Manner

An attentive reader, or only just another Romanian scholar or even a Romanian cultural journalist, might say that my look over the last 20 years of Romanian speculative fiction is very partisan as it shows only writers who have their debut after 1989. It is true, the previous generations’ writers published too in the given period of time, some of them – their best books. However, I think it is important to see the new seeds of every season, so I will keep this convention: one writer will be shown with all his books in the chapter of his debut’s generation.

One of the common fears of any historian and, in this case, of a storyteller, is that the very same thing could have been (better) said using other words, examples, books, authors, all in one, using other references. Choosing of whom you are talking is a privilege, but also a curse. I would rather stay privileged, so I am going to use Dan Doboş and his books as examples of an in-depth presentation and analysis.

Dan Doboş, The Human

The „Person” or the „Man” were my first two choices, yet „The Human” sounds better to describe a speculative and science fiction writer fromRomania, in 2012.

See www.dandobos.ro, the personal site of my case study and you realise why: all of a sudden you get to know him with his family life, with his job and profession, with likes and dislikes, with a full joy of being here and now shared with the world not only by his books, but definitely supporting the creation of these books.

There is no English page, so I’ll be the guide.

The home page bears the name of the site, Dan Doboş – Digital Abode (… – sălaş digital), with an interesting choice of a photo for background – ruined walls under a scorching sun, in a desert… Above and underneath, two taskbars with six and four buttons to click for the site’s content. The page itself is a classical two asymmetrical columns space with the newest articles or opinions Dan Doboş has written balanced with the trivia links and likes a respected site should have.

Clicking on the bars is where the fun begins: above we have a „Bio”, a „Biblio”, one „DemNet”, one „Magazin”, plus one „Trilogia Abaţia” (The Abbey Trilogy) entries. This is the writer’s portal, very neat, very professional. Underneath, four buttons with a more relaxed style: “Goodies and Meanies” (“Bunătăţi şi răutăţi”), „Left Biffs” („Directe de stânga”), „Mentations and sci-fi” („Panseuri şi sefeuri”) and „I lose weight writing” („Slăbesc scriind”).

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New ISF Article by Cătălin Badea-Gheracostea – “Short (Hi)Story of Romanian Speculative Fiction”

The ISF is proud to present a series of articles by Cătălin Badea-Gheracostea called “Short (Hi)Story of Romanian Speculative Fiction”.
This great pamphlet of Romanian Speculative Fiction was presented in Croatia, during the Eurocon 2012, and aims to “raise awareness, to inform and to be liked”. Starting off today, we will present the full pamphlet in a series of chapters, published once a week.

Roberto Mendes

ISF Editor in Chief

 

Short (Hi)Story of

Romanian Speculative Fiction

told for strangers,

aliens and secluded scholars

by

Cătălin Badea-Gheracostea

 The Reassess before The Start

It is the Romanian way of doing things, or at least we like to consider it so, to ponder right at the beginning of an endeavour, in the very moment when others would say “Go!”. In other words, we shall start this run through Romanian Speculative Fiction with a “Stop!”. I believe it is not only a matter of style, of national identity, but this will help the reader enter the right frame of mind for the journey he or she will take with us.

There are three purposes of this pamphlet and all can be better fulfilled if all are taken simultaneously into consideration. The first is to raise awareness, the second is to inform, the third is to be liked. A pamphlet has some liberties that an academic paper has not and in these liberties lies sometimes a faster comprehension. One of these liberties will be the lighter writing, prone to bring smiles on the readers’ lips. Another might be the fast-forward (fast-backward, in this very case) approach, which is suggested primarily by the almost non-existing translations of Romanian writings with “speculative fiction/SF” label on them. To present 200 years of literature, no matter how thin the niche might be, is a work for a storyteller, because there is the need to summarize subjects, novels, tendencies. That storyteller better brace himself and I, in his role, have to ask my reader for tolerance, promising I will not give away too many of an abstract term and judgement, letting the entry Romania from The Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction by John Clute, to end that mission (www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/romania).

One, two more things before we actually start storytelling about Romanian SF: unlike the “normal” history of a literature which starts at the beginning of the beginning, this pamphlet gives a fall back approach, considering that the present is more important than the past, without diminishing the causalities in all their extra- and intra-literary forms and without disrespecting any of the “Founding Fathers”, or Mothers, whomever they might have been. Also, unlike other (hi)stories, this would bring in the front line/front pages the other historians, critics and theorisers: without them to have fun storytelling the Romanian speculative fiction would be a multi-layered superficial attempt.

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Cătălin Badea – Short (Hi)Story of Romanian Speculative Fiction

12 pages long