The Exhibition “Valeriu Matei, a Resistance Poet” has opened today at the National Library. The event is both a tribute to the academician’s 60th birthday and an occasion to launch his volume titled “The Night of Signs. Poems of Anti-communist and Anti-soviet Resistance”.
Valeriu Matei stated that the volume, an older project that has waited more than a decade to see print, consists of poems written during 1976-1991 and chronicles times that the poet says he doesn’t want to relive. “A very difficult period, a period of oppression, a black period”. Valeriu Matei said the volume is meant to convey a message of rectitude and dignity, in the spirit of Mihai Eminescu’s adage: “We have many talents; we ought to have as many characters”.
Attending the Event, Education & Culture Minister Monica Babuc praised Valeriu Matei for his memorable contribution to literature and for being a manager and promoter of Romanian culture in Moldova. “Valeriu Matei is among the great poets of resistance, alongside Grigore Vieru, Dumitru Matcovschi, and Leonida Lari, who were able to awaken in us a sentiment of dignity and aspiration towards our identity values”, stated Monica Babuc.
Romanian Ambassador Daniel Ioniță stated that Valeriu Matei is a personality who awakened consciences and whose work is appreciated on both sides of the Prut River. “He is a personality that has helped to awaken consciousness, especially in the Republic of Moldova and a personality who made the Romanian culture known abroad as well,” the ambassador noted.
Elena Pintilei, director of the National Library, said that the exhibition displays a part of the National Library’s collection that showcases Valeriu Matei’s life and work. The exhibition includes snapshots of cultural, social and political life and some memorabilia from the poet’s family archive. “We hope this event will bring our intelligentsia closer together, being an occasion to showcase our personalities and their works. Valeriu Matei’s invaluable work deserves to be known,” emphasized Elena Pintilei.
Arcadie Suceveanu, president of the Writers' Union of Moldova, characterized Valeriu Matei as an emblematic personality for the cultural and political life of Bessarabia, a leader of the National Liberation Movement. “We bring him flowers of our friendship and love, flowers of gratitude,” said Arcadie Suceveanu.
Valeriu Matei is a Moldovan poet, historian, writer and politician, an MP between 1990 and 2001, member of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, and honorary member of the Romanian Academy since 2011.
