Laszlo Alexandru

 

AT THE END OF THE JOURNEY

english version by Axel H. Lenn

 

          Electronic magazine E-Leonardo appeared in 2003 mostly as a reaction of discontent. It was a time when, in Romania, the party-state was being reinstated under the then prime minister’s guidance and everything was returning to strict political control. Even freedom of speech, the last important victory obtained in December ’89, was at risk of ending in economical censorship over the written press, in televisions being seized by state financing, by paid advertising. However, expression on the internet could not be stopped.

          Inevitably, E-Leonardo became the image of its creators. This magazine was open to diverse geographic, historical and cultural spaces, using an ample subject range, different strategies of artistic communication and many foreign languages. I believe this magazine was no stranger to polemic tone or engagement in the daily reality. If I think thoroughly, almost all my initiatives were born from an impetus of discontent, from a desire to demonstrate that things were not befitting their course. This publication that I have coordinated for ten full years was inevitably structured in my own image and after my likeness.  

          I thank all the 116 Romanian and foreign authors, all the 15 translators that have joined me throughout this adventure. Voluntarism has been our permanent drive, since no one received or paid a dime to publish or access E-Leonardo magazine.

          Functioning like an intersection for literature, music, painting or photography, with a mergence of poetry, prose, essay, history, civism, polemic and memoirism, I believe our publication has had a unique character in Romania’s cultural scenery. At least for the time when it appeared, this magazine represented a pioneer initiative.

          Today, many of the motives that justified the existence of such a publication are no more. The authoritarian ex-prime minister is behind bars. Freedom of speech in Romania is – for the time being – no longer at risk. The electronic means of expression have gained such technical evolution we cannot compete with using personal enthusiasm. The frantic rhythm of life urged an unprecedented development of websites for published magazines and newspapers, a multiplication of up-to-date comment blogs. A magazine with annual frequency and with no possibilities of rapid interaction with its readers belongs to the venerable past.

          I rejoice that E-Leonardo magazine – lacking the impulse of a publicity campaign and being sustained only through its existence on the internet – has had, throughout the years, over 33,000 accesses from over 40 countries. This detail indicates we have kept our initial promise: we have been able to think globally and act locally.

          The publication will remain accessible on the internet but, like any other archive, henceforth it will reflect only the past. All the writers, publicists, translators, researchers, painters, sculptors and drawers who have lent a helping hand are each going separate ways. Those who died, along this journey, are still present in this virtual space.

          Looking back, I am firmly convinced we have done a good thing. If for no other reason, at least for the fact that we have justified and pigmented a gallery of existences.

 

(October 2012)