Iolanda Malamen: Filip Florian, what has been happening in the Romanian literary prose of the past decades?
Filip Florian: I am not sure to what extent I am at liberty to say that. I prefer to speak about things I am familiar with or about those that I feel passionately about. What is obvious to me, however, is that one pays less attention to the text as such, that is the phrase is less cherished by the writer.
I.M.: What has prevented the coming out into the world of Romanian literature until now, when things seem to have started to change? Why was there so little translated and so rarely?
F.F.: As far as translations are concerned, I think that the main issue that hung like deadweight, was simply the reputation of the literature, and not that of the writers. Thus, the mere fact that a writer was perceived as coming from Romania, rendered the reading by foreign publishers almost impossible, even of small literary samples. 20-30 pages long fragments that got on the desks of the publishers, were regarded distrustfully, ignored and left unread. This is why extremely valuable writers were unable to enter the world circuit, simply because they came from Romania. It has got nothing to do with them or their writing, no matter how good their books are.
I.M.: You are, for the time being, at least, one of the few Romanian writers who had the chance of being eyed by foreign editors.
F.F.: As far as I am concerned, it is clear to me that I had the incredible luck of falling upon a favourable period, one of interest towards what is being written here. It’s just like a roulette. At some point, the ball stopped and ended around this part of Europe.
I.M.: Our recent European integration is beginning to count…
F.F.: First, yes, our integration has started to count. Second, it is what the Romanian Cultural Institute has been doing for the past three or four years, and I dare call this normality. The normality of supporting writers from one country or another has helped a lot. Many titles have received, throughout the years, financial support from the RCI. (more on www.ziua.ro)