The buffoon

by Lucian Zup

Swinging between fantasy and realism, sometimes with grotesque nuances, between past and present, full of unforeseen situations and picturesque characters, some arising even from mythology, the novel The Jester "weaves" parallel worlds that intersect very inspired and exciting, creating a tumultuous universe of the story. Captive in a harsh family environment, with multiple deprivations, an environment from which he wants to escape, the narrator comes into contact, one day, with the world of itinerant jesters in which, suddenly, he sees a rescue from his miserable condition, a formula of protest. "Masked" against abuse. Even if his dreaming is stopped by the brutal intervention of the father, the child continues, through bold, risky, imaginary actions or not, defying parental authority, to build his own world, "wandering" from time to time and "funny" dreams. . He thus finds himself caught, most of the time, without his will, in a series of events full of suspense, in which the comic and the tragic intertwine at every step (he plays the role of a dragon disturbing the magic numbers of a famous wizard and provoking chaos, is sold by his vicious father to cannibal dwarfs, wakes up after a strong storm and a battle between mythological beings, fantastic, in the nest of Gheonoaia, the "experience" of death turns it into a billboard viewed by other characters, etc. ). It seems, an initiatory road, transforming all this series of adventures in fantastic worlds and in a grotesque real, a road sprinkled with trials, challenges, dangers, struggles that the narrator character must face. The novel captures through a unique style of exposition, through a spectacular drawing of the characters, through an inspired interweaving of narrative plans, through humor, fine irony, frothy dialogues, wonderful metaphors and attractive descriptions. Not to be missed!

77 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 24, 2020

About the author

Lucian-Ștefan Zup was the first son of Constantin and Mariana Zup. Raised at home with a yard, although in the middle of the city, he let himself be carried away by the charms of children's games impregnated with a kind of wildness in a rural half, which had the gift to stimulate his creativity. His parents worked in factories from dawn until late in the evening and this led him to loneliness. He made some imaginary friends, but quickly abandoned them after discovering the books. Then he realized for the first time how many lives you can live just by reading a few lines and he couldn't get rid of his avidity for reading. He read at the table, in the bathroom, by the light of the street lamp when the light bulb in the room was turned off without sympathy or during classes, under the bench or under the covers of a textbook, even if he risked remarks from teachers interested in their own subjects. It was a tragedy when, one day, a teacher threw his book in the trash. Shy, the child did not react and the book was lost.
It was just one step from reading to writing. Receiving the gift of the fictional worlds, Zup felt obliged to give it in turn. Well, it was also a pleasure, along with a very wide range of feelings contained in the act of writing. He knew that was what he was born for.
An accident made it impossible for a while to move his mouth, feeding only on straw. He only partially managed to recover and articulate his words well, so he prefers as few public appearances as possible.
He finished the legal and philological sciences (after all, it was not difficult to guess the favorite field), he lived for almost a year in the USA, then in France, he was a teacher (designing a cenacle and a magazine for willing children - and many have been attracted), museographer at the museum of literature, finally librarian, a profession he considers ideal for a book lover.
He met his wife in front of the philharmonic and together they have three beautiful children, baptized with Latin names: Clara, Flavia and Ovidiu. He helps his father with joy and eagerness to look through his next book.
He is the founder of the Zupia publishing house and writes especially children's books, loving to transpose himself in those magical realms where anything is possible. And you can have fun.