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I was born on September 9, 1960 in Cluj, Romania. My family has an old and solid intel-lectual tradition; most of my ancestors have been teachers, doctors or engineers.
Actually, my father is a senior ophthalmologist and my mother is a Romanian teacher. As I hope to show clearly, I'm sure to have inherited both of them.
I graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in my home city in 1985 and worked as a physician ever since: first as a GP and presently as a senior anesthesiologist in the Ophthalmology Clinic of Cluj.
I am married, also since 1985, to a former colleague of mine. My wife is now a GP in our city. We have a son, born in 1986, who graduated computer science in English. He is sometimes helpful to me with the translations, since he took the Cambridge CPE test. I should add that my sister, born in 1968, and her husband are doctors too.
As I said, I have something from both of my parents. I followed my father's profession, but one of my favorite hobbies is literature – not only reading, but also writing. I started with a diary at the age of 18 and continued with a "record" of my son's feats since he was born (October 12, 1986).
In the spring of 1989, as a rural doctor in the northern part of the country, I began to write a book containing the description of this new area and life for me. The latter part was converted into a kind of novel, which I resumed some years ago and completed in 2003. The whole was published in Romanian, with the title "O altă lume; Amintiri din tinereţe – şi nu tocmai" ("Another World; Recollections of Youth – and not quite").
This was possible thanks to the support of Mr. Gabriel Stănescu, director of "Criterion Publishing" and editor-in-chief of "Origini" ("Romanian Roots"), a review of literature, ideas and arts belonging to the Romanians in the US. I had some essays published in this review; I shall mention them at "Accomplishments". Thus, he remarked me and proposed that I enroll into LITER ART XXI (Voices across Nations) – the international association of Romanian writers and artists, where Sidney Sheldon is among the honorary members.
As soon as I spoke to Mr. Stănescu about my literary activity and sent him fragments of my book, he was enthusiastic in stimulating me to publish it. He was present at the launch, in November 2004.
I have other works already published. One of them is a sentimental history of the ten World Cups I watched, from 1966 to 2002. It is entitled "Jubileul unui microbist" ("The jubilee of a football fan"). The other deals with football, too. It is suggestively called "Al unsprezecelea" ("The eleventh"), as it is the story of the 2006 World Cup. Unfortunately, none of my writings is already translated into English. I promise to translate them (especially the former), as soon as time will permit me. As a sample, I translated a chapter of my first book, chapter which appeared separately in "Origini", having as title "The uprising of Petrova".
Speaking of translations, I was the one to transpose into English poems by ALEXANDER PASCOVICI, a well-known poet in Romania, who now lives in America. Some of them were published in my city, by "Napoca Star" Publishing House, in May 2007, under the title "Poezia restului sau Puţin din albastrul cerului – Poetry of the Remnant or A Bit of the Sky's Blue".
I have started to translate my articles and essays, too. They can be found at http://ionut60.wordpress.com
In August 2007 I was admitted into the Writers' League of Romania and I published an article in its review.
Since June 2008, several works of mine appeared at the Online Publishers of the Romanian Association for Patrimony, an organization with whom I have cooperated for more than a year. The first is called "Cele şase luni" ("The six months") and can be defined as a continuation and supplement of my first book. I started to translate it into English, and I hope to publish it in the USA by the end of this year. Thereafter, at the "Semănătorul (The seeder)" online publishing house appeared "De-ale lui Vlăduţ (Sayings of little Vlad)" – a selection of the funniest things I wrote about my son. This was followed, at the same publishing house, by "Eseuri şi panseuri (Essays and thoughts)" – a collections of articles from the last years.
Finally, this is my complete address:
IOAN BOZAC
10, Titulescu Blvd., apt.17
400420 CLUJ-NAPOCA
ROMANIA
Phone: +40-264-557532 (home)
+40-741-137129 (cell)
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MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
- O altă lume; Amintiri din tinereţe — şi nu tocmai
(Another World — Recollections of Youth — and not quite)
Criterion Publishing, Bucharest, 2004 - Să dovedim că suntem urmaşii Romei! (Let's prove we are the descendants of Rome)
Essay published in "Origini" No. 1-2 / 2004 - O chestiune de percepţie (A Matter of Perception)
Essay published in "Origini" No. 9-10 / 2004 - Marea dezamăgire (The Great Disappointment)
Essay published in "Origini" No. 11-12 / 2004
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MY NEWS:
These are my results at various tests on Brainbench.com:
Reading Comprehension - English Score: 4.46 Date: 2005-03-24
Scored higher than 94% of all previous test takers.
Demonstrates a clear understanding of many advanced concepts within this topic. Appears capable of mentoring others on most projects in this area.
Strengths
Specific Questions
General Questions
Weak Areas
None Noted
Reading Comprehension - French Score: 3.83 Date: 2005-03-24
Scored higher than 54% of all previous test takers.
Demonstrates a clear understanding of many advanced concepts within this topic. Appears capable of mentoring others on most projects in this area.
Strengths
Specific Questions
General Questions
Weak Areas
None Noted
English Vocabulary Score: 3.13 Date: 2005-02-25
Scored higher than 68% of all previous test takers.
Demonstrates a solid understanding of core concepts within this topic. Appears capable of working on most projects in this area with moderate assistance. May require some initial assistance with advanced concepts, however.
Strengths
Challenging Words
Weak Areas
Analogies
Academic Terms
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MY FAVORITE LINKS:
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MY RESIDENCE INFO:
City: Cluj
State/Country: Romania
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BOOKS PUBLISHED:
 Here is the introduction of my published book. There will come fragments of the last chapter, which I hope to translate soon.
ANOTHER WORLD
Preface to the English edition
For the presumable (and – at the same time – hoped) native English-speaking readers, I'd like to illustrate how certain Romanian letters are verbalized (it's obvious that they have corresponding capitals):
ă – like "a" as indefinite article
î – shorter and more profound than "ă" (somewhat like in "April")
ş – sh
ţ – tz
Two more things: the name "Petrova" is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable, unlike in English. Secondly, it's a pity that some phrases can't be adequately translated. They could have added "local flavor".
Special thanks to my son Vlad (the little child of that time) for the support in exhibiting accessible English.
PROLOGUE
June 24, 2001
As a rural doctor in Petrova (county of Maramures — Romania), I had put myself to writing, but I thought everything was lost. However, 10 days ago, looking for something completely else, I ran over more testimonials of the so-called "golden epoch" — totally by surprise, in one of my son's sideboards. Besides the identification card as a former Romanian Communist Party member and the shameful tickets for bread, eggs, butter, etc., I found things that pleasured me. Among them are the notebooks that contain what I've written in 1989. I was thinking these impressions are not interesting anymore, considering that a long time has passed (even a millenium — as a cheap reasoning would tell us). However, Camelia — my wife and muse in the literary domain — encourages me to publish what I wrote (and will do, since the novel was interrupted — as I've seen in the notebooks — soon after the arrival in Petrova). She says there still would be people to read lines which mirror aspects not buried along with Ceausescu. I am not so enthusiastic, but ground my hope on the belief that veritable people wish not to forget the events that stamped their lives. Even if my opinions rely on what I intend to do, i.e. literature, I do know it's of reality inspired, too. Not to prolong anymore, I shall argue through celebrated quotes: „Forget not, Darie!" (from "Barefoot" — originally "Desculţ“ — one of the most famous novels in Romanian literature, written by Zaharia Stancu) and “Remember!“.
Another well-known saying among Romanians — in the same spirit — would sound like that: "Long prattle, poverty of man". So, let's get to the facts. I was inspired — for the descriptions in the first part — by what my mother wrote, on her times. I've got quite an example to follow; she is a Romanian teacher. The big nuisance is that time passes: she described Săcătura* as a countryside doctor's wife, as she was a first-year student in philology (and I also existed, but in a much more easeful milieu), and now she is retired.
August 29, 2002
One can easily see, through the dates of this prologue, that I had plenty of hesitancies in continuing my work. Maybe as hard as to complete the fictional part was to find an adequate form of editing, since by no means have I forgone the idea of publishing. Intending to separate the descriptive part from the one I'd like to be a novel, I strove to complete the former, too. However, there was no headway — as it's to be expected after so many years. (Probably the subconscious told me that a hybrid would have emerged.) I also hesitated regarding the second part, which is fiction only to the extent that the names of the participants to the events are changed — and this is because it's not my habit to exhibit my soul and thoughts in a plaza. Therefore, it seemed that the story wouldn't be completed, especially because in the meantime I have set about something else. It is less intimate and likewise less devastating for my wife, but also linked to a constant fondness of mine: the narration of the world football championships I watched, which this year have come to be ten.
However, there was a sequence of coincidences — let's call them so, even if I am convinced that almost everything binds — which motivated me to complete what I wanted to write. Last week, I told several times how I endured the last August 23 as a national holiday (this was in 1989) and it came to me that I left the story right there. Furthermore, the date of today is bond to my patron saint** — alike the date I wrote the first introductory note. I hope this would bring me push and luck, even if I still doubt the receptiveness of the people around to what's written here, so — implicitly — the chances to publish. ***.
There's one more thing to emphasize: I left unmodified in essence what I've written many years ago, but in some cases — and it will be easy to perceive why — I considered necessary to add footnotes.
May 15, 2003
In spite of all the shortcomings due to the scarcity of time or inspiration, I came today to the completion of what I prospected. Unfortunately, the situation of the last months impels this story to be more and more up-to-date, and all of us are about 15 years older, and having experienced all the possible variants of governing, with a result that one sees. This is the most tragic part: in 1989 we expected the fall of Ceausescu — whom we identified with the primary source of all annoyances, and now we have nothing to expect anymore. The evil is so deeply rooted in our lives that it would be marvelous — but almost utopian — that the lines I wrote reach their goal: a contribution to create a society decently healthy.
I wish to end by highlighting another contribution of my wife. The narration of her first sensations in Petrova made me find the genuine word for the title of the novel, which initially was "The Exile".
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* This name designates in Romanian a fruitless place-that's why nowadays it's "gently"called Vadul Moţilor, which means "the locals' ford")
** My name (Ioan) is equivalent to John. The Orthodox Church (prevailing in Romania) celebrates on June 24 the Birth of St. John the Baptist, and on August 29 it commemorates the Beheading of the man who baptized Jesus.
*** Pay attention to the date! I write this footnote the day my book was launched: November 19, 2004.
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