Literary critic Alex Stefanescu: Literature from Moldova is Romanian literature

No doubt the literature from the Republic of Moldova is a Romanian literature, says the Romanian literary critic Alex Stefanescu. According to him, “this attribution is no arrogance on behalf of the critics from Romania to attach what is written in Basarabia to the Romanian literature.” “The literature belongs to the language it is written in. The words have their things to remember, their feelings. The translated literature is another thing,” Stefanescu said Monday at the sitting of the Moldovan athenaeum, dedicated to the situation of the Moldovan literature. The event occurred within the 27th edition of the International Book Salon, which started on August 31 in Chisinau, Info-Prim Neo reports. Alex Stefanescu is said to have watched the literature in Moldova for years, has written book reviews, articles and literary chronicles dedicated to Basarabian writers. “A literary critic from Romania is very glad to discover an unknown poem by Nichita Stanescu or a letter by Titu Maiorescu, but to discover a whole literature at once is a moment of happiness as if you got an amazing Christmas present,” he says. The first thing the critic noticed in this literature was “the painful sensibility.” He says he was disappointed when the poetry from Basarabia went to the 80s, abandoning this warmth and sensibility for the wordplays. In his opinion, trait be resumed by authors because someone has to tell what has happened to the people in its hardest years. In his speech, Alex Stefanescu also spoke about the role and the vocation of the literary critic, who is nothing but a reader “who's made a job from reading.” Alex Stefanescu is also a playwright, translator and TV producer, a member of the Romanian Writers Union, the editor-in-chief of the review “Romania literara”. He is the author of the book “The History of the Romanian Literature from 1941to 2000”, a 1,200-page work with 1,500 illustrations. The sittings of the Moldovan athenaeum have taken part in the National Library since 1992. The idea was borrowed from Bucharest where personalities give conferences once a month. The 2008 Book Salon is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Moldovan writer Ion Druta and to the Cantemir Year in Moldova. The salon will last till September 4.