Cătălin Dorian Florescu: Between two cultures
– Romania
Born in 1967 in Timișoara, Florescu and his parents emigrated from Romania to Switzerland when he was fifteen and he has lived in Zurich since. At Zurich University, he studied psychology and psychopathology and worked in addiction treatment for six years. He published his first novel Wunderzeit (Time of Wonders) when he was thirty four years old. The novel was a major success that allowed him to start making a living as a writer. He earned international recognition for his novel Jacob beschließt zu lieben (Jacob Decides to Love) depicting the lives of several generations of Lorrainian immigrants to Banat in Romania. The focal point of Florescu’s interest is the “human being looking for a place to live a dignified and secure life” and themes of migration and living in exile, feelings of uprooting and finding one’s identity. He considers himself neither Romanian nor Swiss, but a European: “I feel at home in two places, but I don’t have a homeland.” Switzerland provides him with a decent place to live while Romania inspires his creative work.