In the late-1960s Romania, during the relative cultural thaw of the
post-Stalinist period, Dumitru Tsepeneag emerged as an innovative writer
of short prose and the pioneer of oneirism, a subversive theory and
practice of literature that challenged not only socialist realism in
particular but realism in general.
By the early 1970s, following a cultural crackdown by the totalitarian
state, oneirism had been banned and Tsepeneag was forced into exile in
France. Short Prose, Volume 1, collects the three volumes of short
stories that Tsepeneag published in Romania before going into exile:
Exercises (1966), Cold (1967), and Waiting (1971), along with
previously unpublished shorter texts from the same period.