Eugen Simion – opinii privind editarea operei lui Panait Istrati

Abstract

In the collection entitled Opere fundamentale (Fundamental Works), initiated and coordinated by Eugen Simion for more than two decades, two editions are dedicated to Panait Istrati: the first one, consisting of two volumes, entitled Povestiri, romane (Stories, Novels), published in 2003, was edited by Teodor Vârgolici; the second one, edited by Zamfir Bălan, is intended to have eight volumes, four of which have already been published (literature, I-II, 2019; III-IV, 2021), two are being prepared for print (journalistic writings), while the last two volumes (correspondence) are in progress. The Introduction signed by Eugen Simion (revisited and completed, for the 2019 edition) reiterates – even if the discussion may have seemed completed since the ‘60s – the issue of whether the writer who debuted, in 1924, with Kyra Kyralina in the Rieder collection Contemporary French Writers belongs to the Romanian literature or not. Since, right from his debut, many Romanian critics considered the docker of the Braila Port to be a French writer, Eugen Simion made from the editing of Panait Istrati’s work under the patronage of the Romanian Academy also a form of recognition, from the level of the most prestigious scientific and cultural institution, of Panait Istrati’s belonging to the Romanian literature. The present paper synthetizes the critic opinions of Eugen Simion as he wrote them down in the Introduction and sketches, in a comparative manner, the history of how Panait Istrati’s works were published in Romania, from 1935 till now.