In his lustful capacity as an omniscient author, vision promoter about characteras used to be said in university narratology courses, Stelian Tenase is passionate about offering the reader a novel Antiquary (Publishing house Corinth – Fiction, Bucharest, 2023) many clues about the rounding of his book on the Balzac model.

I will list only a few of them below.

First, the author’s quote is reproduced on one of the title pages and on the fourth cover of the book Human comedy. A quote that goes like this: “There are two stories. One is official, lying, the other is secret, where we find the real reasons for the events.”

And as the reader will easily see, in Antiquary it is given to us to learn, and not just how, but with the luxury of details and with a keen taste for details, the obligatory and absolutely true history of the last years of life, intentions and plans, either on the face or in secret. , like the death of Candide Itescu. Kim, as we will reveal later, somewhere in the middle of the novel, is or, please, was, a being that is difficult to decipher.

In fact, Candide Icescu (don’t be surprised by the somewhat strange name of the main character, because there will be others and even more strange ones, such as Horus Saizu, Judas Trenkenel by profession, Pouf Koviltir, the general, as well as Mr. Obae, Beno Vlahide, Joschka Zombie, Porfirie Zats or Tsuki Kutsitaki, and this list is far from complete) is not so much a dealer in old and valuable things as a collector. So we cannot fail to remember that the eminent French literary critic classified Balzac’s characters into three broad categories, one of which is the collectors. To which also belongs the hero of the novel Steliana Tenase. “A collector,” the author confides to us once, “is a special character. He is part of the sect of initiates. Extremely exclusive, isn’t it?’

A former university professor, now retired, a teacher with real work, so he is jealous of the academic world, full of impostors, plagiarists, fraudsters – the pages dedicated to the moments of the end of the main character’s teaching career are real. extraordinary taste, of Gogol origin, and cynical and sad, and, most likely, they tell something about Stelian Tenase’s own experience, as well as, by the way, those that speak about the stupidity and greed of the editors – he feels that his death is approaching .

So first, with Gore’s help, he wants to display his collection at Dulles Hall to the envy of the fair or Government, after which he intends to present it to the state. Out of a desire that it not be spent. But the state is indifferent to art and culture, it wants everything to be done, so finding a place where it can be placed is also the duty of the collector and his representative.

Itescu’s plans and the prospect of a hidden disinheritance are not at all to the liking of his three children – Luksica, Dean and Şerban – who plan to kidnap the teacher from his old luxurious house on Popa Kitsu street, hospitalizing him with complicity. neuropsychiatrist and lawyer Trankenel in the shelter, which is ruled with an iron fist by the CEO Aneta Zbira. A place from which, after all kinds of adventures, even after a failed confession, Professor Iceescu manages to escape with the help of the same reliable man. Hor. Which, by the way, will also be rewarded by the narrator for the good done, because he is the only one who will survive when the village ends. Read the full article and comment on Contributors.ro