Vladimir Colin - Legacy

Legacy

Colin's work is one of the best-known samples of the local science fiction genre known outside Romania. British science fiction bibliographer Mike Ashley indicated that, of all the writers who debuted as contributors to Colecţia de Povestiri Ştiinţifico-Fantastice, Vladimir Colin is "the best known outside Romania", while Horia Aramă wrote: " imaginary worlds entered in the most impressive European collections and are known in three continents." Early on, Colin's communist story Cormoranul pleacă pe mare went through a Hungarian-language edition. In the decades after it was published at home, Babel was translated into French, English, German, Russian and Bulgarian. Translations of Legendele ţării lui Vam were also published into German, French, Russian, Bulgarian, as well as Czech, Polish and Japanese. It was published in English as Legends from Vamland, a version translated, abridged and partly retold by Luiza Carol (2001). Basmele Omului came close in this respect, being itself known to an international public.

In 1992, writer Leonard Oprea founded the Bucharest-based Vladimir Colin Romanian Cultural Foundation as well as the Vladimir Colin International Award. Among the Romanian and international recipients of the Vladimir Colin International Award are Vladimir Tismăneanu, Andrei Codrescu, Nicolae Manolescu, and Şerban Foarţă. In 2000, Ion Hobana and Gérard Klein instituted the Vladimir Colin Awards for excellence in science fiction literature. Due to various constraints, the awards were not granted for a period of five years after their creation, and they cannot be granted to past recipients. According to poet and science fiction author Michael Hăulică, who was himself a recipient, such issues have led to the awards' decrease in importance.

As a posthumous tribute, Nemira publishing house has republished Colin's fiction books in a Vladimir Colin author series. As of 2000, Nemira has exclusive rights on publishing Colin's work in Romania. Several authors took inspiration from Colin's work. In his 1976 novel Verde Aixa, Aramă expanded on Colin's Broasca themes. Among younger authors, Bogdan Suceavă acknowledges that Colin's writings, which he had read as a child in the 1980s, contributed to generating his own interest in fantasy literature, and in turn led him to write the 2007 book Miruna, o poveste ("Miruna, a Story"). Leonard Oprea dedicated his 2001 Cartea lui Theophil Magus sau 40 de Poveşti despre om ("The Book of Theophil Magus or 40 Stories about Man") to Vladimir Colin and the Orthodox hermit Nicolae Steinhardt, nominating them as, respectively, "father" and "teacher". Mihai Iovănel nevertheless argues that, "outside of fandom", Colin's work remains "mostly forgotten" in Romania.

Artists who have provided the original illustrations for Colin's books include Jules Perahim (for the 1945 translation from Mayakovsky) and Marcela Cordescu (for both Basme and Legendele ţării lui Vam). Legendele ţării lui Vam has also been reissued as a comic book by the French magazine Métal Hurlant, being illustrated by the Croatian artist Igor Kordey and circulated in France and Spain. Pruncul năzdrăvan ("The Rogue Babe"), part of Colin's Basme, was the basis for a puppet theater adaptation, first showcased in 2004 by the Gong Theater in Sibiu.

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