are not so because they advance what is new,
but because they put what they have to say
as if it had never been said before.“
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Preface for Russian-Speaking Readers
Discovering a new e-book with such an intriguing name, practically every Russian-speaking reader animated by intellectual curiosity will start flipping through it, puzzled by the term twists and wondering about their microscopic feature. And this is not surprising, because, as a literary technique, the twist is little known to the Russian-speaking public. So, what is the twist and namely the literary one?
The "twist" is an unexpected turn of the story that dramatically changes the very perception of what is happening. Most often, the twists are used in the film scripts, as the so-called "shifters". In such movies, the director and screenwriter play with the viewer's perception. The unforeseen ending completely changes the whole meaning of the narrative plot. A more intense twist effect is obtained when, after the reading of the story, one is suddenly overtaken by an insight about a particular detail, which before the outcome did not make any sense. Let's call it a kind of "twist aftertaste".
The young and talented Canadian writer Cornéliu Tocan created a collection of 50 short twists filled with deep meaning and making the reader think about each story separately. Reading this book for the first time, I suddenly realized that to understand each twist, I need to read it two or more times. In the case of some of these stories, the epiphany came to me a few days later.
All these aspects are an indication of how masterfully the author has thought through each story, using unusual literary techniques. Understanding each story, we live a small life, experiencing a "slight shock" from what we read. This feeling can be quite "hard" for some twists, where the writer touches on topics of concern to society and sometimes shocks us with the finale.
Many stories contain references to Greek mythology, philosophy, universal literature, science, and history, which will require readers some cultural background knowledge in order to fully understand the meaning. All this makes Cornéliu Tocan’s book a unique and innovative performance in the literary art.
His work can be compared with the flash fiction of Linor Goralik, a Russian writer and poetess who has published a number of stories in the genre of small prose. But, unlike L. Goralik, Cornéliu Tocan drastically downscales the number of characters and observes it with rigor, as well as uses the literary technique of the "twist", for the all 50 microstories. That justifies the epithet "microscopic" for his miniatures in prose, making them unique in its own way.
Having read this collection in one breath, you will get not only a great pleasure, but also the ground for reflection and discussion of these original stories with your friends. Tested on personal experience!
Diana Ismagilova
Master of Arts (M.A.) in Philology
Cornéliu Tocan
membre UNEQ, QWF, TWUC, IWA / AÉI, ASLRQ
écrivain, poète, auteur, traducteur littéraire, illustrateur
http://www.litterature.org/
Cornéliu Tocan est un écrivain, poète, auteur, traducteur littéraire et illustrateur canadien-québécois, membre de l'Union des Écrivaines et Écrivains Québécois (UNEQ), de Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF), de Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC) et d’Immigrant Writers Association / Association des Écrivains Immigrants (IWA / AÉI), d’ex
Son premier recueil de microfiction, Chutes microscopiques. 50 micronouvelles illustrées, est publié, en 2019, sous l’égide de deux maisons d’éditions: Créatique et le prestigieux éditeur national universitaire Tehnopress de Roumanie. Créatique a fait traduire son livre en onze langues, les éditions en anglais, roumain, chinois, japonais, arabe, portugais, russe et vietnamien étant déjà disponibles sur des plateformes numériques avec distribution en 79 pays.
Parmi ses traductions littéraires figurent les créations de la poétesse américaine Emily Dickinson, des poètes de la Confédération canadienne, des poètes de la Grande Guerre, des poètes roumains George Toparceanu, Ienachita Vacarescu, George Cosbuc ou du poète québécois Émile Nelligan.
En 2020, Cornéliu Tocan publie un ouvrage de mathématiques, introduisant une approche didactique inédite, à l’intention des enseignants et des olympiens de mathématiques.
Ses œuvres sont préfacées par des écrivains, poètes, critiques littéraires, professeurs universitaires et professionnels de la littérature consacrés: Nicolas F. Paquin, Ionel Bostan Ph. D., Constantin Dram Ph.D., Aurora Ciuca Stef Ph. D., Seyed H. Mahdavinoor Ph.D., Mong Hieu Nguyen B.Litt., Diana Ismagilova M.A.Philol., Marc Laforest Ph. D..
• Chutes microscopiques. 50 micronouvelles illustrées (2019), Illusions-1: français, anglais, roumain (Canada, Roumanie), chinois, japonais, arabe, portugais, russe, vietnamien.
• Promeneur dans le jardin. Haïkus automnaux illustrés (2020), Illusions-2: français, anglais, roumain (Canada, Roumanie).
• Aux confins de l’invisible. Haikus d’intérieur illustrés (2020), Illusions-3: français, anglais, roumain (Canada, Roumanie).
• Variables excentriques… au propre et au figuré (2020), Universitas-5 : français.