Mircea Nedelciu – The Adventure of the Text
The author of the article looks into the moment of Mircea Nedelciu’ affirmation, undoubtedly one of the most important leaders of the ’80 generation. In his short prose fiction, , Mircea Ndelciu sets the pace as regards the search for novel resources, at a moment when literary experiments were not positively regarded by the censorship of the time. The textualist practice characterizes Mircea Nedelciu’s prose (n. 1950) from the very first volume (Aventuri într-o curte interioară/ Adventures in an Inner Yard, 1979). Starting from the second volume (Efectul de ecou controlat/ The Effect of Controlled Echo, 1981) and especially from Amendament la instinctul proprietăţii/ Amendment to the Ownership Instinct (1983), it becomes obvious what “textual engineering”, as the young writer calls the writing, means from his perspective. These volumes are marked by experiments, the author being one of the most gifted prose writers of the last decades of the last century
Discussing the phrase “textual engineering”, Gheorghe Crăciun identifies the implications of textuation and of the unveiling of the procedures within the text. The text also means reflection on the text, that is why each prose reveals a working “hypothesis”, necessary to the reading. The second person narrative is recurrent, which involves both distance taking and intimacy with the story substance. Daily life encompasses different syncopes, but the interval does not impinge on the text, the break making the connections between objects and beings even more obvious. Reality is explored by an image-catching eye, by exquisite hearing, the process of text delivery comprising random facts (news heard on the radio, read in newspapers, texts which come back in memory etc.).
The rare capacity to pass from “classical” to “modern” eliminates the suspicion of artificiality, although, in the last pages, an alert eye can discover stereotypes. In his texts, Mircea Nedelciu proves that short prose fiction still has many surprises in store as regards experimental resources.
Keywords: short prose fiction, innovation, experiment, daily life, classical, modern, traditional, „ textual engineering”, reality, textualism, reader.
1.[1] Apud Gh. Crăciun, Mircea Nedelciu, în „Astra”, 1983, nr. 10, p. 9.
2.[1] Ibidem.
3.[1] Cornel Moraru, Expediţie în cotidian, în Semnele realului, cit., p. 170.
4.[1] Expresia îi aparţine lui Sorin Titel care comentează romanul lui Mircea Nedelciu în „România literară”, 1984, nr. 12, p..10.
5.[1] V. pentru acuitatea observaţiilor recenzia lui Cristina Felea Text şi realitate, în „Tribuna”, 1983, nr. 50, p. 3. Se reiau consideraţii din cărţile: Literatură şi totalitate (P.h. Sollers), Pentru o teorie a textului (Jean Ricardou) şi Scriitură, ficţiune, ideologie (Jean – Louis Baudry).
