Alexandru Ecovoiu (b. 1943) made his literary debut in
the 1980s, but spectacularly came to public and critical awareness in
1995, with the publication of his novel Saludos (Romanian Writers’ Union Prize, 1996 ; nominated for the LiterArt – XXI Prize, USA, 1997 ; Observator (Observer) review Prize, 1998). Further confirmation of his talent came in 1997, when he published his novel The Resort, which was awarded the Prize of the Romanian Academy. In 2001, he published a collection of short stories entitled The Three Mozart Children (nominated for the ASPRO Prize), and in 2002 the novel Sigma (Prize of the Bucharest Writers’ Association). Polirom has published his Saludos (3rd edition, 2004), Order (2005), Sigma (2nd edition, 2007), and The Resort (2nd edition, 2007). The Three Mozart Children has been published in German translation (Die drei Mozart-Kinder,
two editions, Radu Bărbulescu Verlag), and in Spanish. A number of the
short stories from the collection have been published in translation in
prestigious literary magazines in Spain, Mexico, Columbia, and Holland.
SIGMA
Novel, "Fiction LTD" series, 2005 (2nd edition), 416 pages
Copyright: Alexandru Ecovoiu
Translation rights sold to: All rights available
Book presentation
In Sigma, Alexandru
Ecovoiu tackles a “risqué” subject, namely religious dogma – the major
subject of universal literature. The fictional “conspiracy” has as its
nucleus the Mentor, who makes an attempt upon the New Testament story of
Jesus. With the conditioned and circumspect assistance of the
Calligrapher and on the basis of the existence of a pair of twins (the
two Jesuses), he constructs an anti-myth according to which the Saviour
of the Christian religion did not die upon the cross. Without denying
the crucifixion, the author nevertheless constructs, through the Mentor,
a history parallel to that consecrated by Christianity, one that is, of
course, daring in equal measure. Thus, the crucifixion of Jesus, as we
discover on reading the “gospel” according to Ecovoiu, did not lead to
His death, nor consequently to His resurrection. On the contrary, Jesus
died much later, from gangrene caused by the wounds of crucifixion. This
story, of course, takes a different turn from that commonly known :
history is transformed at the very limits of sin, since following this
unconsummated crucifixion, it is not Jesus, but rather His brother
Thomas, who appears to the disciples. The entire story is as spectacular
as it is heretical, in the full sense of the word. Its texture is
interwoven with the pseudo-autobiography of the contemporary author,
who, throughout the narrative, constantly discusses the subject of his
novel with other personages : an Orthodox priest, an atheist and émigré
friend (Hardmuth), and a lover reduced to the status of object for the
satisfaction of carnal lusts (Icsa). In this way, a framework is created
which gives the story stability, and ensures an explicatory basis that
provides a guide to the reader.
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