Ruxandra Cesereanu

Ruxandra-Mihaela Cesereanu or Ruxandra-Mihaela Braga (born August 17, 1963) is a Romanian poet, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and literary critic. Also known as a journalist, academic, literary historian and film critic, Cesereanu holds a teaching position at the Babeș-Bolyai University (UBB), and is an editor for the magazine Steaua in Cluj-Napoca.

The author of several proses and poetry volumes, Cesereanu became noted for her lyrical depictions of femininity and eroticism, many of which attracted critical acclaim in her native country. They are believed by several commentators to have been influenced by Surrealism and its Romanian successor, Onirism, and seen as examples of Postmodernism, while Cesereanu herself identified some of her writings with psychedelic experience and with the coined term delirionism. She is also noted for collaborating with Romanian-born American poet Andrei Codrescu on two poems, both of which were completed through e-mail exchanges.

Several of Cesereanu's studies deal with the impact of the communist regime on Romanian culture and society, and in particular with the history of repression and penal labor. She has also contributed essays and coordinated research on various aspects of Romania's post-communist history, as well as on the history of journalism in her country.

Biography Born in Cluj, Ruxandra Cesereanu is the daughter of writer Domețian Teodoziu Cesereanu and his wife Aurora, a teacher. She graduated from the Natural Sciences High School (now the Onisifor Ghibu High School), and studied Philology at the UBB's Romanian-Spanish Department, graduating in 1985. She received her graduation diploma with a thesis on the work of poet Mihai Eminescu (Moartea, visual și somnul în opera lui Eminescu, or "Death, Dreaming and Sleep in the Work of Mihai Eminescu"). Much of her early work, Cernat argues, is characterized by "mannerism", related to Onirism and using psychoanalytic techniques. while historian and civil society activist calls her "the most original, but also the most paradoxical writer from Cluj-Napoca".

Cesereanu's early poems, grouped in the volumes Grădina deliciilor ("Garden of Delights") and Oceanul Schizoidian ("The Schizoid Ocean"), both noted for their interrogative and occasionally violent stances, have been defined by the author herself as "extremely attached to a culture of corporality", depicting "battles with myself, with Death, with love, with God." The poetry volume Femeia-cruciat ("The Woman-Crusader") was imagined by the author as a dialog between the several aspects of femininity and four men, each standing for one of the main images of the male: "Magister (her master), the Brother, the Lover and Christ." She then publicized a Delirionist Manifesto, which was notably read by Romanian American writer Andrei Codrescu. According to Cesereanu, Codrescu welcomed the new trend, and identified himself as a delirionist.

The signers accused the most radical anti-Băsescu parties, a core group including the Social Democrats, the Conservative Party, and the Greater Romania Party, of representing the legacy of communism and political corruption. The letter noted that this group had objected to both the findings of the Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania, which offered the basis for the regime's retrospective condemnation, and to the judicial reform measures advanced by Băsescu.

Works

Originally published in Romanian Călătorie prin oglinzi ("Voyage Through Looking Glasses"), micro-novel, Editura Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, 1989 Grădina deliciilor ("Garden of Delights"), poems, Echinox, Cluj-Napoca, 1993 Zona vie ("Live Zone"), poems, Editura Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, 1993 Cădere deasupra orașului ("Fall Over the City"), poems, Transpres, Sibiu, 1994 Purgatoriile ("The Purgatories"), short prose, Editura Albatros, Bucharest, 1997 Oceanul schizoidian ("Schizoid Ocean"), poems, Editura Marineasa, Timișoara, 1998; second edition Editura Vinea, Bucharest, 2006 Călătorie spre centrul infernului. Gulagul în conștiinţa românească ("Journey to the Center of Hell. The Gulag in the Romanian Modern Conscience"), essay, Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române, Bucharest, 1998 Trupul-Sufletul ("The Body-The Soul"), poems, Călin Stegerean, 1998 Femeia-cruciat ("The Crusader-Woman"), anthology, poems, Editura Paralela 45, Cluj-Napoca & Bucharest, 1999 Panopticum. Tortura politică în secolul XX ("Panopticon. Political Torture in 20th Century"), essay, Institutul European, Iaşi, 2001 Veneția cu vene violete. Scrisorile unei curtezane ("Venice with Violet Veins. Letters of a Courtesan"), poems, Editura Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, 2002 Tricephalos ("Trikephalos"), novel, Editura Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, 2002 Imaginarul violent al românilor ("The Violent Imaginary of the Romanians"), essay, Humanitas, Bucharest, 2003 Fărâme, cioburi, așchii dintr-o Curte a Miracolelor ("Bits, Shards, Splinters from a Cour des Miracles"), reportages (as editor), Editura Limes, Cluj-Napoca, 2003 Decembrie '89. Deconstrucția unei revoluții ("December 1989. Deconstruction of a Revolution"), essay, Polirom, Iaşi, 2004 Kore-Persephona, poems, Editura Vinea, Bucharest, 2004 A doua Curte a Miracolelor ("The Second Cour des Miracles"), reportages (as editor), Editura Tritonic, Cluj-Napoca, 2004 Nebulon, prose, Polirom, Iaşi, 2005 Gulagul în conștiinţa românească. Memorialistica și literatura închisorilor și lagărelor comuniste ("The Gulag Reflected in the Romanian Consciousness. The Memories and Literature of Communist Prisons and Camps"), essay, Polirom, Iaşi, 2005 Made in Romania. Subculturi urbane la sfârșit de secol XX și început de secol XXI ("Made in Romania. Urban Subcultures upon the Close of the 20th Century and the Start of the 21st Century"), essay, Editura Limes, Cluj-Napoca, 2005 Nașterea dorințelor lichide ("The Birth of Liquid Desires"), prose, Cartea Românească, Bucharest, 2007 Submarinul iertat ("The Forgiven Submarine"), with Andrei Codrescu, Editura Brumar, Timișoara, 2007 coma, Editura Vinea, București, 2008 Angelus, Editura Humanitas, București, 2010 Ținutul Celălalt, poem-roman scris în colaborare cu Marius Conkan, Cartea Românească, 2011 Un singur cer deasupra lor, roman, Polirom, 2013 California (Pe Someș), Editura Charmides, 2014 Veneţia cu vene violete. Scrisorile unei curtezane ("Venice with Violet Veins. Letters of a Courtesan"), poems, Second Edition, Introduction by Giovanni Magliocco, Afterword by Ilona-Manuela Duță, Editura Fractalia, București, 2016 California (pe Someș), Editura Charmides, 2014. Scrisoare către un prieten și înapoi către țară , Pitești, Paralela 45, 2018. SOPHIA ROMÂNIA, Casa de Editură Max Blecher, 2021.

Translated works

in English

Ruxandra Cesereanu, Schizoid Ocean, poems, translated by Claudia Litvinchievici, Binghamton, esf publishers, 1997 Ruxandra Cesereanu, Lunacies, poems, translated by Adam J. Sorkin, Claudia Litvinchievici and the poet, NYC, Meeting Eyes Bindery, 2004 Ruxandra Cesereanu, Crusader-Woman, poems, translated by Adam J. Sorkin, Claudia Litvinchievici, Madalina Mudure and the poet, 2008, Black Widow Press Ruxandra Cesereanu & Andrei Codrescu, Forgiven Submarine, poetry, translated by Andrei Codrescu, 2009, Black Widow Press Ruxandra Cesereanu, Angelus, novel, translated by Alistair Ian Blyth, 2015, Lavender Ink, New Orleans Ruxandra Cesereanu, Panopticon. Political Torture in the 20th Century, essay, translated by Carmen Borbely, Mimesis Edizioni, Milan, 2021 Ruxandra Cesereanu, Romania - From Communism to Post-Communism. Studies and Essays. Roumanie - du Communisme au Post-Communisme. Etudes et essais, Milan, AlboVersorio, 2022 Ruxandra Cesereanu, California (on the Somes), poetry, translated by Adam J. Sorkin with the poet, Black Widow Press, 2023 Ruxandra Cesereanu, Noah's Literary Ark for Gourmets. Studies and Essays in Comparative Literature, Milan, AlboVersorio, 2023

in Italian

Ruxandra Cesereanu, Coma, poetry, translated by Giovanni Magliocco, Rome, Aracne, 2012 Ruxandra Cesereanu, Venezia dalla vene viola. Lettere di una cortigiana, poetry, translated by Giovanni Magliocco, Rome, Aracne, 2015 Ruxandra Cesereanu, Femeia-cruciat / La donna-crociato, poetry, bilingual edition, translated by Giovanni Magliocco, Foreword by Giovanni Magliocco, Afterword by Ilona Duță, Illustrations by Rada Niță Josan, Bucharest, Vinea Publishing House, 2023

in Hungarian

Ruxandra Cesereanu, Keresztesasszony, poetry, translated by Visky Zsolt, Koinonia, 2007 Ruxandra Cesereanu, Utoferfiak, fiction, translated by Selyem Zsuzsa, Pecs, Jelenkor Kiado, 2009 Ruxandra Cesereanu, Angelus, novel, translated by Noemi Karascony, Napkut Kiado, 2021

in Bulgarian

Ruxandra Cesereanu, Anghelus, novel, translated by Hristo Boev, Perseus, 2016

in French

Ruxandra Cesereanu, Demences, online edition, poetry, translated by Aurora Ceserean and Francois Breda, Amazon, 2020

Ruxandra Cesereanu, Le toucher et autres contes, online edition, short stories, translated by Dragos Ioan, Amazon, 2020

in Spanish

Ruxandra Cesereanu, Tres cuentos fantasmales, online edition, Amazon, 2021