Theophil Magus Living in Boston - Anna-Maria 101 Breathings

By Leonard Oprea

EDITORIAL REVIEWS:

Anna-Maria 101 Breathings' of Leonard Oprea is an outstanding novel, a human condition -symphony about the American family's misery, about the American society's failure today, in the 21st Century. In order to build his masterpiece, the artist composed 101 Breathings. Leonard Oprea created the Breathing, a new, an original type of essay in the whole world literature. The Breathing is a simple yet profound meditation on human condition, a meditation ended by a haiku. But - this haiku does not finish the meditation. In fact, it RE-opens this reflection to new questions and responses on human destiny. Thus, in this so genuine and different work there are short stories, poetry and essays, all perfectly mixed. Great wit and irony, and a deep sense of morality. And, even a special kind of suspense. You read an unforgettable odyssey. Leonard Oprea is an atemporal artist. His genius is of an iconoclast novelist, poet, essayist. His works are forever. His mission, God-is-Love.
(Theophil Magus philosopher, novelist, poet and essayist)
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Leonard Oprea's dominant perspective is one of a cold objectivity, too little disposed to easy emotions, other than those hidden, profound feelings and questions. Themes are the life purpose, the ultimate springs of human actions... Intelligence, laconic sarcasm, humor, right targeting. How could we not be indebted to the author? He put his talent of storytelling to serve an exhortation which is nothing else than the health response in the presence of the morbid, the simplicity in the face of artificial, the man-loving of light against darkness and evil.
(Nicolae Steinhardt philosopher, essayist and author)
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A novelist and essayist of Leonard Oprea's literary value does not need any introduction. From no one.
(Valeriu Gherghel philosopher , essayist, literary critic and author)
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"NOTA BENE - in this unique book, 'Anna-Maria 101 Breathings', the reader will find, not by random there positioned, a few blank pages.These un-written pages are for the reader's commentaries, drawings and, why not? the reader's breathings.Thus, the reader will become a co-author of this sui-generis novel. Enjoy."
(Leonard Oprea - the author)
***

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462894772

Leonard Oprea

LEONARD OPREA - one of the most interesting East-European novelist, poet and essayist.Former anti-communist dissident and forbidden writer under the Romanian Dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu. Leonard Oprea’s works are well-known in Europe, America, Asia, Australia. Author of The X-Ray of an Instant and The Straitjacket, novels banned by the Romanian Communist Dictatorship. Also, author of Theophil Magus in Baton Rouge – a haiku novel, Trilogy of Theophil Magus – The Truth, The Daily Agony of Theophil Magus, Theophil Magus in Boston, novels, essays and poetry, works published in the USA and well appreciated worldwide. Leonard Oprea created the first "haiku-novel" and the "Breathing", a genuinely different type of essay in the whole world culture. Today, Leonard Oprea lives in the USA.

Book preview

CONTENTS

BIO-BIBLIOGRAPHY

THIS BOOK IS A POEM.

THE BREATHING

THE AUTHOR’S INDIRECT FORWARD TO HIS

ARS LONGA, VITA BREVIS. . . 

2 SECONDS

TO BE ALONE. . . 

I’M MUSIC. . . 

MY DERSU UZALA

A DROP

BLUES ABOUT STUPIDITY

FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, MAMMON ENTERPRISES

ABOUT THE SIMPLE JOYS. . . 

THE EMPTY CATHEDRAL

WE ARE BADLY MISTAKEN. . . 

BEYOND THE CLOUDS

THE BEAUTY OF CONFESSION

The American POLITICIAN today

SOMETIMES. . . 

ABOUT WOMAN

The HOLY DIVORCE versus THE HOLY FAMILY

WHAT DO YOU LIKE THE MOST?

WHEN I’LL DIE. . . 

ANOTHER Mayflower TALE without GOD

THE DAY YOU ARE BORN. . . 

THE GIFT. . . 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY—ANNA MARIA! (1)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA-MARIA! (2)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA-MARIA! (3)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA-MARIA! (4)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA-MARIA! (5)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA-MARIA! (6)

JUSTICE TODAY

MADE IN THE USA—CORAZON ESPINADO

The METAPHYSICS of DOUBT

t THE GOLDEN SH. . . IT and THE PLATINUM SH. . . IT

09.14.2010/CROSS CELEBRATION—JESUS IS THE CROSS. . . WHO ARE YOU?!

THE HAWK LONELINESS

WE ARE—WHO?. . . 

A TERRIBLE ROMANIAN CURSE—A WONDERFUL BLESSING

USA—THE PROMISED LAND of LONELINESS. Enjoy!

THE WAY OF THE NINE BEATITUDES

THE POLITICAL AXIOM OF THE 21st CENTURY & AMERICA

The PARADIGM of FREEDOM—The WAY and The TRUTH and The LIFE

WHY JESUS CHRIST?

THE AUTHENTIC ARTIST

THE HEAVEN

THE REPOSE

WHO CARES about HOLOCAUST—TODAY?

Walking through the Darkness of Being. . . or, the HUMAN CONDITION

Why OUR FATHER?

THOMAS’ LAW

EQUAL with GOD

ANNA-MARIA, MY CHILD—NEVER FORGET. . . 

BLUES, JAZZ—THE MUSIC

THE WRITER—THE EXLIXIR of LIFE and THE PHILOSOPHICAL STONE

A NIGHT—A CATHEDRAL FOR BROTHER NARDI

ECCE HOMO and THE RISK TO BELIEVE

ANNA-MARIA , LEARN ABOUT AMERICA. . . 

ANNA-MARIA—THE SORROW of AN AMERICAN CHILD

LIVING IN AMERICA—CAIN’ s DEED & FAUST’ s COVENANT

ANNA-MARIA’s POEM—LET’S WALTZ UNDER THE BLACK STARS

AMERICAN GLOBALIZATION or, ISLAMIC TERRORISM TODAY ?

TO HATE YOURSELF—TO LOVE YOURSELF ?

I LOVE YOU . . . ASHES IS THE LIGHT. . . 

THE BLOOD OF MY LOVE—AN ORDINARY POEM

THE QUESTION OF THE DEATH ANGEL

WHO ARE YOU AMERICA TODAY ?

THE DIGNITY OF MAN

I BOW DOWN MY HEART—WHERE ARE YOU GOD ?

ANNA-MARIA IF GOD IS AGAINST YOUR LOVE—FIGHT GOD !

The MISERY of AMERICA—ANNA-MARIA, DO NOT CRY, PRAY !

CHRISTIAN INTO GOD’ S WILL

A TALE about SAINT NICHOLAS of CHILDREN

EPILOGUE

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BIO-BIBLIOGRAPHY

LEONARD OPREA is a contemporary Romanian-American writer.

He was born in Prejmer, a village in Braşov (Kronstadt) County in the eastern part of Transylvania, central Romania.

Leonard Oprea was an anti-communist dissident in Romania during Ceausescu’s dictatorship. Between 1980 and 1987 he published one book and some short stories in the most important literary reviews and won many national literary prizes. After 1987 the Securitate, the secret police of the Communist regime, officially forbade the publication of his writings, considering them subversive.

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, living in Bucharest, he became a well-known Romanian writer, journalist and editor. He was able to resume publishing his works: novels, short stories, tales and essays, meditations etc. He founded the Romanian Publishing House Athena, the Vladimir Colin Romanian Cultural Foundation as well as the Vladimir Colin international awards.

In 1995 as editor and owner of Athena Publishing House of Bucharest, Romania, Leonard Oprea (at Athena Publishing House) has published 3 bilingual (English-Romanian translations by the professor Bogdan Stefanescu, from Bucharest University, Romania) editions with works by the former candidate of Nobel Prize for Literature, the poet Nichita Stanescu; essays by the philosopher Constantin Noica and by the famous American-Romanian philosopher of Religions, Mircea Eliade. These 3 bilingual and bibliophile editions have been distributed to the Library of Congress, USA, and to the Libraries of Universities and Cultural Institutes from Europe, America and Japan—for a better knowledge of the Romanian Culture values.

A graduate of the University of Braşov, he specialized in mass-media communication at the University of California at Chico in 1990.

Between 2003 and 2007 Leonard Oprea published social and philosophical essays, short stories, and his Breathings (see on Books originally in Romanian) in the American-Romanian social and cultural magazines from New York and Portland, Oregon—New York Magazin and Romanian Times, USA.

Between 2005 and 2007 he published cultural and philosophical essays, and short stories in the Canadian-Romanian cultural magazine Atheneum, from, Vancouver, Canada.

LINKS:

http://www.amazon.com

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

http://www.borders.com

http://www.wikipedia.com

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001508700936&v=wall

http://magultheophil.wordpress.com/

http://reteaualiterara.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user=16n4jwggggxq0

http://dialogeuropean.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?user=16n4jwggggxq0

http://editura.liternet.ro/carte/136/Leonard-Oprea/Camasa-de-forta.html

http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Trilogy-Theophil-Magus/dp/1436323657/ref=ed_oe_p/002-8121973-3416019

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WORKS:

• Domenii interzise (Forbidden areas) short stories and novellas; Albatros Publishing House—1984, Romania ; (from this book, the novella Colonia took the Great Romanian National Prize of Romanian Science-Ficition Convention, Iasi, Romania, 1981).

• Radiografia clipei (The X-ray of an instant) short stories and novellas forbidden by the Romanian Communist dictatorship in 1987; Dacia Publishing House—1990, Romania; the second edition with critical references at Curtea Veche Publishing—2003, Romania; electronic book by LiterNet www.liternet.ro/, 2005, Romania.

• Cămaşa de forţă (The Straitjacket) a novel banned by the Romanian Communist dictatorship in 1988; Nemira Publishing House—1992, Romania; the second edition with critical references at Curtea Veche Publishing—2004, Romania; electronic book by LiterNet www.liternet.ro/, 2005, Romania.

• The Trilogy of Theophil Magus—a sui-generis novel:

o Cele Nouă Invăţături ale lui Theophil Magus despre Magia Transilvană (The Nine Teachings of Theophil Magus on Transylvanian Magic)—Polirom Publishing House—2000, Romania; electronic book by LiterNet www.liternet.ro/, 2003, Romania.

o The Book Of Theophil Magus Or 40 Tales About Man (Cartea lui Theophil Magus sau 40 de Poveşti despre Om)—Polirom Publishing House—2001, Romania. English version, October 2003, edited in the USA by Ingram Book Group/ 1stBooks Library; new edition by AuthorHouse—2004, USA; electronic book by LiterNet www.liternet.ro/ , 2006, Romania.

o Meditaţiile lui Theophil Magus sau Simple Cugetări Creştine la Începutul Mileniului III (The Meditations of Theophil Magus or Simple Christian Thoughts at the Beginning of the Third Millennium)—Polirom Publishing House—2002, Romania; electronic book by LiterNet www.liternet.ro/ , 2004, Romania.

• Theophil Magus—Confessions 2004-2006 (Universal Dalsi Publishing House, 2007, Romania)

• Theophil Magus in Baton Rouge—a haiku novel (Xlibris/Random House Ventures, 2008, USA)

• Trilogy of Theophil Magus—the Truth (Xlibris/Random House Ventures, 2008, USA)

Quotations:

In Romania, Leonard Oprea is a distinguished writer. In my opinion, here in the USA, Leonard Oprea could make a genuine contribution to our current writing landscape. His narrative of his immigrant experience is felicitously captured in his novel in haiku.

(Andrei Codrescu—poet, author, NPR commentator)

***

Theophil Magus in Baton Rouge, to the best of my knowledge, the first novel made up of haiku. In many respects it is reminiscent of the most amazing Central European stylistic virtuosi, and I am sure readers will be delighted to enter this universe of shining plasticity.

(Vladimir Tismaneanu—philosopher, author, essayist)

***

First, there’s no such thing as a haiku novel. At least, not until you’ve read this book. Not until Leonard Oprea thought it could exist. How can anyone think of hailing Jesus in a Japanese poem? In the small space of Leonard’s haiku novel, you’ll be taking a giant leap of fancy. His haiku will envelop you in its grace and will open a magic world, making you dream once again like a child.

(Bogdan Stefanescu—author, essayist, literary translator)

***

In Trilogy of Theophil Magus’ 40 Tales about Man, a great variety of sacred and profane themes, archaic, mythical, contemporary (Moses, Gandhi, Christmas, children, journalism, pilgrimage etc.) serves as vivid stimulation for this literary adventure, written with humor, knowledge and wit. . . in an inviting dialogue with the reader.

(Norman Manea—novelist, essayist)

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The Truth, the second book of Trilogy of Theophil Magus is situated in the strange no man’s land where everyday life