On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the birth of academician Mihai Cimpoi, the Writers Union of Moldova and the National Museum of Literature “Mihail Kogalniceanu” on September 8 mounted a photo-exhibition entitled “Mihai Cimpoi: road to the center of Bessarabian letters” and a literary evening, IPN reports.
The exhibition includes over 200 photos, archive documents and books about the life of Mihai Cimpoi. There were also launched the volumes “Encyclopedic dictionary “Mihai Eminescu” (second edition), signed by Mihai Cimpoi, “Everything to the presence in “Letters” or how we crossed the Rubicon” and “Road to the center, in honor of academician Mihai Cimpoi”, which is a collection of anniversary articles compiled by the Library of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova.
Mihai Cimpoi said he chose as a motto “Road to the center of Bessarabian letters”, which was said by Mircea Eliade, who explained what road to the center means. “The center is a scared zone by excellence, of absolute reality. The road that leads to the center is a difficult one and this is proven at all the levels of realism…. I thought about this road to the center as about a road to look for oneself, which is fundamental,” said the writer.
Deputy Minister of Education, Culture and Research Gheorghe Postica said the people who create during lifetime are happy, while Mihai Cimpoi dedicated all his life to creation. “We are glad to be near him and we, the contemporaries, praise this great personality,” he stated.
The academician’s generation mate, writer Spiridon Vangheli said it is easy to speak about Cimpoi after he wrote the fundamental book “Open story of the Romanian literature in Bessarabia” and the masterpiece “Essence of the being”. You either praise or criticize him, Mihai Cimpoi smiles as a person who knows the price and then goes home, does not sleep for several nights and writes one more fundamental book.
“Cimpoi was born old, wise. He led our whole generation of the 1960s to the dictionary. He is a Romanian critic since birth and was actually a stranger for our Bessarabian culture of those times. I would say that the Republic of Moldova does not deserve Mihai Cimpoi because he was hunted, chased and remained without a job and lost golden time, but could learn more and write earlier,” said prose writer Andrei Strambeanu.
Mihai Cimpoi was born in Larga village of Hotin county, now Briceni district, on September 3, 1942. He was president of the Writers Union of Moldova, a member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and then a member of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova. He wrote and published about 70 books.
