ROMULUS BĂRBULESCU ( 1925 - 2010)

Romulus Bărbulescu (născut la 27 octombrie 1925, Sulina, decedat pe 9 februarie 2010,Bucureşti), autor SF, dramaturg, eseist, critic literar, realizator de antologii

Absolvent al Institutului de Artă Teatrală şi Cinematografică din Bucuresti, Romulus Bărbulescu a fost cotat, alături de colaboratorul său de aproape cinci decenii, George Anania, ca unul dintre deschizătorii de drumuri în science fiction-ul românesc.
Între 1965-1975, pe posturile naţionale de radio i-au fost transmise peste 15 scenarii radiofonice cu profil SF.
Între 1973-1976, a susţinut în CPSF rubrica „Pulsul nostru actual“ conţinînd articole critice despre literatura SF, semnate cu pseudonimul Ana Barbara Rebegea. Alte articole similare au apărut in revistele "Viaţa românească" şi "Contemporanul". Autor al piesei "Despărţire la marele zbor" (1982), montată pe scena teatrului Ion Vasilescu, şi al scenariului de film "Mireasma ploilor tîrzii" (1984).
Împreună cu George Anania a conceput antologiile Nemira ’94 şi Nemira ’95.

Volume proprii
1983 – "Catharsis", editura Albatros, Bucureşti
1991 – "Încotro curge liniştea ? ", editura Ion Creangă, Bucureşti
1993 – "Golful ucigaşilor", editura Porto-Franco, Galaţi

Împreună cu George Anania
1963 – "Constelaţia din ape", roman, Colecţie de povestiri ştiinţifico-fantastice,
numerele 174 - 180
1967 – "Statuia şarpelui", editura Tineretului, Bucureşti
1969 – "Doando", Editura Tineretului, Bucureşti
1970 – "Ferma oamenilor de piatra", Editura Tineretului
1973 – "Paralela-enigmă", Editura Tineretului
1977 – "Şarpele blând al infinitului", editura Albatros
1990 – "Ferma oamenilor de piatră", editura InterComp, Bucureşti, ediţia a doua
1991 – "Paralela-enigmă", editura Porto-Franco, Galaţi, ediţia a doua
1992 şi 2002 – "Doando", ediţie revăzută şi adaugită, editura Nemira
1993 – "Cât de mic poate fi infernul?", editura Odeon
1993 – "Planeta fantomelor albastre", editura Alma

În antologii
"Pe lungimea de undă a cosmosului"
1994 – Antologia science fiction Nemira' 94
1995 – Antologia science fiction Nemira' 95

Premii
În 1990 i s-a decernat premiul de notorietate Eurocon.

"In 1963, George Anania published "Constellations from the Waters," the first of 10 science fiction novels that established him and his co-author, Romulus Barbulescu, as pioneers of the genre in Romania.
Back then, Anania and Barbulescu drew their inspiration from Russian writers like Ivan Efremov and the brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, or the Polish author Stanislaw Lem, who wrote of parallel universes, distant fiefdoms and extraterrestrial class struggles. In a world where criticizing current society was forbidden, alternative reality was good metaphor, and even better, safe.
Most of the time, that is.
In the 1980s, the government of Nicolae Ceausescu took control of Anania and Barbulescu's growing circle of fan clubs to monitor discussions on utopian societies and social justice.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the authors competed for attention as books from Western science fiction writers like Robert Sheckley, Harry Harrison and Philip K. Dick flooded the East European market.
But 42 years after his first novel, Anania, now 65, and Barbulescu, 82, are back at it - putting the finishing touches on "The Struggle With The Angel," the last book in what has so far been a best-selling trilogy about life in a world of robots.
Even as Romania is set to join the European Union next year, Anania said life in the country was getting weirder, and Romanian science fiction is in demand again.
"After the Soviet Union collapsed, science fiction's popularity faded a bit in Romania," Anania said during an interview. "But even with all the freedom now, we are still not in control of our destinies. Big money, not government, rules everything. The leaders are distant. We are still not our own masters."

Although Arkady Strugatsky died two years later, in 1991, the brothers' literary legacy continues to influence East European writers like Barbulescu and Anania, who are finishing the trilogy they began with "Doando," or "Life Without Life."

The last installment, Anania said, focuses again on a society populated by people who seem to be human but are actually robots, although they do not know it. "They are instruments of a creator who has programmed them to take their planet to a different place, but they don't know the destination," he said." - "Science fiction sales - the post-Soviet generation" de Kevin J. O'Brien - duminică 29 octombrie 2006, articol din International Herald Tribune despre generaţia post-sovietică de autori de literatură science fiction, menţionându-i pe George Anania şi Romulus Bărbulescu.
http://www.ruslania.com/download/Pressa/Herald_Tribune.htm

R.I.P.