François Bréda facts for kids

Quick facts for kids François Bréda
Cluj-Napoca, 2008.
Born	(1955-02-20)20 February 1955 Deva, Romania
Died	16 May 2018(2018-05-16) (aged 62)
Occupation	professor, essayist, poet, literary critic, literary historian, translator, theatrologist
Period	1978–2018
Literary movement	Postmodernism

François Bréda (Hungarian: Bréda Ferenc; 20 February 1956 – 16 May 2018) was a Romanian essayist, poet, literary critic, literary historian, translator, and expert in theatre.

About His Life

François Bréda came from a family of writers and educators. His grandfather, Lajos Lévai, was a writer and historian. His mother was an educator, and his father was a minister.

He went to elementary school in Odorheiu Secuiesc and Deva. He grew up in a place with many different cultures, which influenced him. His first writings were published in Ifjúmunkás, a youth magazine in Bucharest.

After his military service near the Black Sea, he studied at the Hungarian-French faculty of the Babeş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, starting in 1975. He also took classes in Greek and Latin. During his student years, he spent a lot of time in the Library of the Academy, studying important philosophers from the Middle Ages like Anselm of Canterbury and Thomas Aquinas.

Early Career and Studies

From 1977 to 1979, he worked as an editor for the Hungarian pages of Echinox, a cultural magazine at the university. He earned his degree in Hungarian-French language and literature.

Between 1979 and 1984, he was the first editor of Napoca Universitară, another cultural magazine. He also taught Hungarian literature and grammar at a primary school in Huedin.

From 1984 to 1991, he taught French language and literature in high schools in France, in places like Angers and near Paris. In 1985, he earned a Master's degree from the Nantes University in French and comparative literature history. He continued his studies at the Angers University, focusing on French literature history.

During this time, he met many important French cultural figures, including philosopher Paul Ricœur and writer Claude Aveline. He also exchanged letters with famous people like sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and writer Samuel Beckett.

Return to Romania and Later Work

After living in France, he returned to Cluj in 1991. He worked as an editor for Jelenlét cultural magazine and was a founding member of the György Bretter Literary Circle, a group that had been restarted after the 1989 revolution in Romania.

From 1993, he became a founding board member of the György Bretter Literary Circle. He also taught French language and literature at Brassai Sámuel Lyceum in Cluj from 1991 to 1994.

In 1999, he earned his doctorate in literature theory. His paper was about the literary and drama work of the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel.

Starting in 1995, he worked as an assistant professor at the Theatre and Television Faculty of Babeş-Bolyai University. He taught about the history of theatre, dramaturgy, theatre aesthetics, Hungarian literature, and public speaking. He also discovered the writings of Alfred Reynolds. François Bréda was also a translator, working with French and Romanian languages.

His Books

Books in Hungarian

• A létezéstől a lehetőségig (From Being to Possibility). Essays, 1980.
• Tűzpróba (Ordeal by Fire). Poems, 1984.
• Mentális Tárgyak Múzeuma (Museum of Mental Objects). Concrete poems, 1999.
• Antracit (Anthracite). Essay, 2002. ISBN: 93-7804-548-0
• Golania Magna. A neo-goliárd költészet kritikai vetületei. (Golania Magna. Critical Aspects of Neo-Goliard Poetry). Critical works, 2005.
• Mysterium Mythologiae. Philosophical essay, 2005. ISBN: 973-7651-06-5
• Nemo. Poems, 2004. ISBN: 80-8087-010-1
• Az elszállt szitakötő (Butterfly in Mid-Air). Novel, 2005. ISBN: 80-8087-028-4
• Diva Deva. Philosophical essay, 2006. ISBN: 973-7651-65-0 ISBN: 9789737651655
• Golania Magna Secunda. Mitokritikák a neo-goliárd irodalomról (Golania Magna Secunda. Mytho-critics on Neo-Goliard Literature). Critical writings, 2007. ISBN: 978-973-7648-11-2
• De amore. Philosophical essay, 2008. ISBN: 978-80-8087-045-4
• Boldogok és Bolondok (The Happy and the Insane). Philosophical essay, 2008. ISBN: 978-80-8087-035-5
• Lali lakomái (Lali's Feasts). Novel, 2008. ISBN: 978-80-8087-053-9
• Apolló apológiái. Aphorisms, 2009. ISBN: 978-80-8087-067-6
• Angyal a Monostoron. Novel, 2012. ISBN: 978-606-8118-24-6
• De amore. Az emberi psziché Galaktikus Gáláiról, Sikamlós Skáláiról & Gáláns Galádságairól. Philosophical essay, 2016. ISBN: 9789639809673
• Levelek az Utókornak. Theatrvm Temporis. (Letters to Posterity. Theatrvm Temporis). Philosophical essay, 2017. ISBN: 9786068118475
• Bab és Babér. Theatrum epicum. (Bean and Laurel). Novel, 2017. ISBN: 9789737926128

Books in Romanian

• Fiinţă şi teatru (Being and Theatre). Philosophical essay, 2003. ISBN: 973-35-1705-4
• Scrisori despre comicul existenţial. Correspondenţă transtemporală (Letters on Existential Humour. Trans-temporal Correspondence). Philosophical essay, 2006. ISBN: 973-7651-44-8
• Oglinda Ochiului. Speculum spectationis (The Mirror of the Eye). Philosophical essay, 2010. ISBN: 978-973-757-338-4 ISBN: 978-973-7915-18-4
• Cercetare în Cer. Philosophical essay, 2017. ISBN: 978-606-797-174-3

Books in French

• La critique littéraire et dramatique de Gabriel Marcel (Literary and Drama Critical Work of Gabriel Marcel). Essay, 2004. ISBN: 9737924487
• Déclin et Déclic. Philosophical essay, 2004. ISBN: 973-7915-00-3
• Genivs loci. Philosophical essay, 2017. ISBN: 978-606-797-166-8

Essays and Ideas

François Bréda wrote many essays about literature and different ideas. Some of his works include:

• "Ave Csehy!" in Helikon, 2007.
• "Vanda... Exists! The Guards of Eternity" in Korunk, 2006.
• "Bedtime Story" about György Méhes in Helikon, 2002.
• "On the Becoming of a World System" as a preface to Galileo Galilei's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, 1983.
• "Dawn of Consciousness" in From Being to Possibility, 1980.
• "Gabriel Marcel and his contemporaries" in Confluențe și particularități europene, 2010. ISBN: 978-973-757-351-3
• "Research in Heaven" about the musical idea of Christian Heaven, 2012. ISBN: 978-80-8087-119-2
• "From Cluj to Cairo" about the multicultural creator Shawkat Seif Eddine bey, 2014.
• "Genius Loci" in Geografii identitare – Identități culturale, 2014. ISBN: 978-973-595-624-0
• "The Christian Heaven: eternal heritage of the transcosmic local identity" about the geography of Heaven in the thinking of Saint John Chrysostom, 2015. ISBN: 978-606-714-161-0
• "Existence as an audience" in Előretolt Helyőrség. Ezredévkönyv, 2015. ISBN: 978-606-8118-39-0
• "The temple of times in the theatre of Proteus" in Patrimoniu și identitate locală, 2015. ISBN: 978-606-714-161-0
• La théologie de la nudité dans la pensée théo-théâtrologique de Saint Jean Chrysostome. Introduction. in Text și discurs religios, 2015. ISSN 2066-4818

Translations

François Bréda also translated many works, helping people read books in different languages:

• Gabriel Marcel, Omul problematic (The problematic man). Translated into Romanian, 1998.
• Jehan Calvus (Chelu Ivan Péter), Bumgártész. Translated from Romanian into Hungarian, 2004.
• Gabriel Marcel, Semnul Crucii (The Sign of the Cross). Translated into Romanian, 1999.
• Jean Cocteau, Emberi hang (The Human Voice). Translated into Hungarian, 1981.
• Christian Palustran, Hăul (Abyss). Translated into Romanian, 1998.
• Gabriel Chifu, Száz költemény (One hundred poems). Translated from Romanian into Hungarian, 2008.

Awards

• Méhes György-Grand Prizes, 2005.
• Bretter György-Prizes, 2010.

Honors

• The Knight Cross of Order of Merit of Hungary, 2017.

Groups He Belonged To

He was a member of several important groups, including the Hungarian Writers' League in Transylvania, the Romanian Writers' Union, the Présence de Gabriel Marcel Association, and the Public Body of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.