Author's CV
Ştefan AGOPIAN was born in
Bucharest on. June 16, 1947. He writes novels and short fiction. He has written for the theater, directed a publishing house, has been known as a weekly columnist and has worked as a political and as a literary editor.
Education:
1965-1968: After graduating from
Iulia
Haşdeu
High School (Lyceum nr. 15), Agopian studies chemistry at the
University of
Bucharest until he is expelled for non-attendance.
Employment:
1970-1973: Agopian earns a living as a tutor.
1973-1983: Agopian works as a technical designer at an agricultural institute, the Research and Design Institute for Land Management
1983-1989: Agopian is elected to membership in the Writers’
Union. He is engaged as a technical editor at România literară (Literary Romania), where he works until 1989.
1989-90: Agopian attends the Writers’ Workshop at the
University of
Iowa from August 1989-January 1990.
1990-1994: Agopian works as editor at Luceafărul (variously translated as Lucifer or The Morning Star) where he launches a weekly Momos column, named for Momus, the Greek god of ridicule.
1992-1993: Agopian edits the political columns at Cotidinanul (The Daily News).
1994-2000: Agopian assumes position as editor-in-chief at the Armenian publishing house, Ararat.
1997-present: Agopian becomes an editor at Academia Caţavencu, where is currently senior editor.
2002-present: Agopian takes on the role of editor-in-chief of the Ziua’s Monday supplement Ziua literară (Literary Day). At the same time he contributes to another review, B-24-FUN.
2004: Agopian is elected to the Leadership Council of the Writers’
Union.
2007: Agopian becomes a member of the Executive Committee of the Writers’
Union
Works:
1979 Ziua mîniei / The Day of Wrath (a novel).
Bucharest: Cartea Românească.
1981 Tache de catifea / The Velvet Man (a novel). First Edition,
Bucharest: Cartea Românească.
1995 Tache de catifea / The Velvet Man (a novel). Second Edition,
Bucharest: Ararat.
1999 Tache de catifea /The Velvet Man (a novel). Third Edition,
Bucharest: Gramar.
2004 Tache de catifea /The Velvet Man (a novel). Fourth Edition,
Iaşi: Polirom.
1983 Tobit /Tobit (a novel). First edition,
Bucharest: Eminescu.
1989 Tobit / Tobit (a novel), translated into German.
Bucharest: Kriterion.
2005 Tobit/ Tobit (a novel). Second Edition, Iaşi: Polirom.
1984 Manualul întîmplărilor /A Guide to Random Events (a novel in the guise of short fiction). Bucharest:
Cartea Românească.
1993 Manualul întîmplărilor / A Guide to Random Events (a novel in the guise of short fiction). Second Edition,
Bucharest: Humanitas.
2001 Manualul întîmplărilor / A Guide to Random Events (a novel in the guise of short fiction). Third edition,
Bucharest: Ararat.
1987 Sara (a novel). First edition,
Bucharest: Eminescu.
1991 Sara (a novel). Second edition,
Bucharest: Paideia.
2006 Sara (a novel). Third edition,
Iaşi: Polirom.
1993 Însemnări din Sodoma (Portret al artistului murind) /Notes from
Sodom:
Portrait of the Artist as a Dying Man, short fiction.
Bucharest: Eminescu.
2000 Republica pe eşafod /Republic on the Scaffold (teatru).
Bucharest: Cartea Românească.
2003 Fric /Fric (a novel).
Iaşi: Polirom.
2007 Short fiction erotice româneşti (volum colectiv) / Romanian Short Fiction on the Erotic Side.
(writing by various authors).
Bucharest: Trei.
2008 Opere I (Însemnări din Sodoma, Drumul, Republica pe eşafod, Ziua mîniei, Manualul întîmplărilor,
Tache de catifea) / Collected Works, Volume I (Notes from Sodom, The Road, Republic on the Scaffold,
The Velvet Man).
Iaşi: Polirom.
2009 Opere II ( Sara, Tobit, Fric) / Collected Works, Volume II (Sara, Tobit, Fric).
Iaşi: Polirom.
Awards:
1984 – Tobit wins the Bucharest Writers’ Association Prize.
1984 – Tobit wins The Prize of the Central Committee of the Union of Communist Youth.
1985 – Manualul întîmplărilor / A Guide to Random Events wins the Writers’ Union Prize.
1987 – Sara wins the Amfiteatru (Ampitheater) Magazine prize for Best Writing of the Year.
1999 – Agopian wins The Union of Armenians in Romania Prize “for his outstanding contribution
to raising the prestige of the Armenian Community in Romania.”
2000 – Republic on the Scaffold wins the Bucharest Writers’ Association Prize.
2004 – Fric wins the Cuvîntul (The Word) Magazine Prize for Best Book of the Year.
2004 – Fric wins the ASPRO (Romania Professional Writers’ Association) prize, awarded
at the Bookarest International Book Fair.
AND FOR THOSE WHO READ ROMANIAN:
Professor Ileana Orlich (of the School of International Letters and Cultures and Director of the Romanian and Central European Collaborative at the School of International Letters and Cultures of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University) provides us with the following bibliography of essays about Ştefan Agopian
Essays about AGOPIAN published in books:
Cărtărescu, Mircea, Postmodernismul românesc. Bucharest: Humanitas 1999, pp. 431-439.
Holban, Ioan, Profiluri epice contemporane. Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 1987, pp. 369-374.
Lovinescu, Monica, Unde scurte III. Bucharest: Humanitas, 1994. Unde scurte IV.
Bucharest: Humanitas, 1994, pp. 135-138.
Manea, Norman, Pe contur. Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 1984.
Muşat, Carmen, Strategiile subversiunii. Descriere şi naraţiune în proza postmodernă românească.
Piteşti: Paralela 45, 2002.
Muşat, Carmen, Perspective asupra romanului românesc postmodern şi alte ficţiuni teoretice.
Piteşti: Paralela 45, 1998, pp. 136-145.
Negoiţescu, Ion, Scriitori contemporani. Cluj-Napoca: Dacia, 1994.
Simuţ, Ion, Critica de tranziţie. Cluj-Napoca: Dacia, 1996. pp. 158-164.
Spiridon, Monica, Melancolia descendenţei. Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 1989.
Ţeposu, Radu G., Istoria tragică şi grotescă a întunecatului ev literar nouă.
Bucharest: Eminescu, 1993, pp. 226-232.
Ursa, Mihaela, Optzecismul şi promisiunile postmodernismului, Piteşti: Paralela 45, 1999, pp. 105-112.
Articles about Agopian published in periodicals:
Bittel, Adriana, România literară, 27/1996.
Buduca, Ioan, Amfiteatru, nr. 9/1983, 11/1987, Viaţa studenţească 37/1987.
Creţia, Petru, Arc, nr. 8-10/1999.
Culcer, Dan. Vatra, nr. 11/1986.
Dumitriu, Dana, România literară nr. 22/1984.
Flămând, Dinu, Tribuna României, 345/1987.
Georgescu, Paul, România literară, nr. 36/1981, 16/1985.
Holban, Ioan, Cronica, nr. 37/1984.
Manolescu, Florin, Luceafărul, nr. 7/1992.
Manolescu, Nicolae, România literară, nr. 16 /1983?, 34/1983; 20/1987; 8/1993.
Mihăieş, Mircea, Orizont, nr. 21/1984?, 50/1985.
Mihăilescu, Dan C., România literară, nr.24/1986.
Munteanu, Romul, Flacăra, nr. 45/1987.
Muthu, Mircea, Steaua, nr. 9/1984.
Negrici, Eugen, Ramuri ,nr. 10/1979.
Negoiţescu, Ion, Luceafărul, nr. 14/1990.
Popa, Dan, Convorbiri literare, nr. 22/1991.
Papahagi, Marian, Tribuna, nr. 23/1987.
Pârvulescu, Ion, România literară, nr. 41/1995, nr. 2/1997.
Popa, Dumitru Radu, Tribuna României, 273/1984.
Simion, Eugen, România literară, nr. 49/1979.
Titel, Sorin, România literară, nr. 14/1981.
Ţeposu, Radu G., Flacăra, nr. 32/1984.
Ulici, Laurenţiu, România literară, nr. 36 /1981.
Ungureanu, Cornel, Orizont, nr. 31/1983.
Monographs and articles on Agopian in monographs:
Ivăncescu, Ruxandra, Ştefan Agopian. Braşov: Aula, 2000.
Lefter, Ion Bogdan, Scriitori români din anii 80-90, vol. I (A-F). Piteşti: Paralela 45, 2000, pp. 11-14.
Rotaru, Ion, O istorie a literaturii române, vol. VI. Cluj-Napoca: Dacia, 2001, p. 348.
Zaciu, Mircea; Papahagi, Marian; Sasu, Aurel (coord.), Dicţionarul esenţial al scriitorilor români.
Bucharest: Albatros, 2000; pp. 26-7.
Zaciu, Mircea; Papahagi, Marian; Sasu, Aurel
(coord.), Dicţionarul scriitorilor români, vol. I (A-C).
Bucharest: Editura Fundaţiei Culturale Române, 1995, pp. 12-15.
The Back Cover
It’s a good idea to reread Manualul întîmplărilor /A Guide to Random Events from time to time for the pure joy of [seeing how] in this bewitching book …a world constitutes itself within a few pages [in such a way that] in the passage of mere instants an apocryphal early 19th Century passes into eternity itself.
—Petru Creţia
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