Romanian Academy: Dumitru Radu Popescu's passing a heavy and undeserved loss in early 2023

Dumitru Radu Popescu was a complete author, who wrote in all fields of literary art, being one of the most appreciated prose writers of the '60s generation, which is why his passing into eternity, alongside his colleagues of the sixties generation, represents a heavy and undeserved loss at the beginning of 2023, says the Romanian Academy in a press release, Agerpres informs.

The Romanian Academia also evokes, in the same press release, the "innate talent, vigor of style and overflowing imagination" of the writer Dumitru Radu Popescu, corresponding member of the Romanian Academy since 1997.

"A complete author, D.R. Popescu wrote in almost all fields of literary art. After his debut (poetry, 1953) he would become one of the most appreciated prose writers of the '60s generation, perhaps the most inventive among them. A good adviser to his colleagues, possessing a style opposed to conventional recipes, during the gray years, in which socialist realism had imperceptibly turned into the 'obsessive decade', D.R. Popescu came up with original topics and a realist-critical vision impregnated with existential tragedy, modern, intelligent, unpredictable, with a perception that dilates the real into the fabulous. His entire opera developed from this initial course. Among the most representative works signed by D.R. Popescu are a long line of stories and novels, starting with 'Vara oltenilor' [Oltenians' summer - editor's note] (1964), 'Dor' [Longing - editor's note] (1966), 'Duios Anastasia trecea' [Gently was Anastasia Passing - editor's note] (1976), 'Leul Albastru [The Blue Lion - editor's note] (1981), the 'F' series (1969) and 'Viata lui Tiron B." [The Life of Tiron B. - editor's note], which continues with other and other volumes, written after 1989 ('Dumnezeu in Bucatarie' [God in the Kitchen - editor's note], 1994, 'Truman Capote si Nicolae Tic' [ Truman Capote and Nicolae Tic - editor's note], 1995, 'Paola si Francesca si al treisprezecelea apostol' [Paola and Francesca and the thirteenth apostle], 1998, in which the innate talent, the vigor of the style and the overflowing imagination have not diminished in any way from their initial intensity and freshness," reads the same source.

The Romania Academy also mentions the plays written by D.R. Popescu, namely 'Acesti ingeri tristi' [These Sad Angels - editor's note] (1970), 'Piticul din gradina de vara' [The Dwarf in the Summer Garden - editor's note] (1973), 'O batista pe Dunare' [A Handkerchief on the Danube - editor's note] (1997), 'Dudul lui Shakespeare' [Shakespeare's Mulberry - editor's note] (2000), which "cultivates the parable as a social genre, integrating the characters and experiences in the wider picture called opera omnia."

Throughout his career, his talent has been rewarded with numerous awards. He was a laureate of the Writers' Union Award in 1964, 1969, 1973, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1994, 2003. In 1964 he was awarded the Cinematography Award for the best screenplay. Five years later (1969) he received the I.L. Caragiale of the Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania, and in 2008 he was awarded the National Prize for Literature, the Romanian Academy states.

The writer and academic Dumitru Radu Popescu died on Monday, at the age of 87, as announced by writer Radu F. Alexandru, in a post on his Facebook page.