Who is Matei Vișniec?

Matei Vișniec is a Romanian jurnalist poet, playwriter and novelist, currently active in France, best known for his writings in French. He studied history and philosophy at the University of Bucharest and was a founding member of the Monday Cenacle, coordinated by Professor Nicolae Manolescu.

Matei Vișniec was born in 1956 in Rădăuți, Romania. He studied philosophy in Bucharest. He is active in literary circles in Bucharest and is part of the '80s generation, a postmodern movement that changed the poetic and literary landscape of Romania at that time.

He obtained a postgraduate degree from L'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris and began a doctoral thesis on Cultural Resistance in Eastern European countries during the communist period, and has taken the relationship between the individual and oppressive power as a central theme in many of his works.
Since leaving Romania, Matei Vișniec has published in French, but has also translated many of his works into Romanian, maintaining a close link with both the Romanian language and his native country.

In literature, Matei Vișniec shows astonishing versatility, moving easily from one literary genre to another, experimenting with the word under the sign of an ideal of meaning and repeatability. Critics believe that he has reached his potential in all literary fields, with notable novels and poetry works in addition to his prolific dramatic work.