2013 January

Entries from January 30th, 2013

Poetry in Translation (CLXIV): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “Notre légende”, “Legenda noastră”, “Our Legend”

January 30th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXIV): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “Notre légende”, “Legenda noastră”, “Our Legend” · Poetry, quotations, Translations

Ce soir-là, sur un fond de graves tumultes
quelque chose ineffablement changea
ici, dans la terrestre époque de brumes et d’argile
et dans les contrées lunaires voisines de là-haut.
Le pays acquit des carat
qu’aucune balance n’a pesés.

D’argent se firent, ô, les marches, les fronts,
des purs témoins aux créations de l’univers.
Et nous deux, nous nous devinions, delivrés des pénombres,
comme deux êtres de soie en marche.

À cette heure exaltée, d’alchimie célèste,
nous obligeames la lune – et quelques autres astrres
à tourner
autours de nos coeurs.

En Français par Constantin ROMAN
Bucarest 1967, Londres, 2013
© 2013, Copyright Constantin ROMAN

Poetry in Translation (CLXIII): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “To my Readers”, “Aux lecteurs”, Către cititori”

January 30th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXIII): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “To my Readers”, “Aux lecteurs”, Către cititori” · International Media, Poetry, Translations

Here is my house. There is the Sun and the garden with beehives.
You are passing along the road, peering through the slats of my gate
Expecting me to speak. Where shall I start?
Believe me, please, believe me,
one could talk as long as one wants, about anything:
of Destiny and the snake of goodwill,
of archangels tilling
the land of man,
of heavens towards which we aspire,
of hatred and fall, of sadness and Calvary,
but, above all, about the great passage.
Yet our words are only the tears of those who wished
so much to cry and could not.
Bitter are all those words
and that is why, please, allow me
to pass in silence amongst you,
crossing your road, eyes closed.

Poetry in Translation (CLXII): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “J’ai compris le péché qui pèse sur ma maison” , “The sin that burdens my house”

January 26th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXII): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “J’ai compris le péché qui pèse sur ma maison” , “The sin that burdens my house” · Poetry, quotations, Translations

J’ai compris le péché qui pèse sur ma maison
Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961)

J’ai compris le péché qui pèse sur ma maison
comme une mousse ancestrale.
Oh, pourquoi ai-je interprété les temps et le zodiaque
autrement que la vieille qui rouit le chanvre dans l’étang?
Pourquoi ai-je désiré un autre sourire que celui du tailleur de pierre
qui fait jaillir des étincelles au bord du chemin?
Pourquoi ai-je aspiré à un autre sort
dans le monde des sept jours
que celui du sonneur de cloches qui conduit les morts au ciel?
Passant, donne-moi ta main, et toi qui t’en vas
et toi qui viens.
Tous les troupeaux de la terre ont des auréoles saintes
au dessus de leurs têtes.
C’est ainsi que je m’aime dorénavant:
un parmi beaucoup d’autres
En Français par Constantin ROMAN
Bucarest 1967, Londres, 2013

Poetry in Translation (CLXI): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “Lettre” (Scrisoare)

January 26th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXI): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “Lettre” (Scrisoare) · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

LETTRE (Scrisoare)
Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961)
Je suis plus vieux que toi, ma mère,
mais toujours celui que tu connais:
les épaules un peu voutés
et penché sur les questions des hommes.
Je ne sais toujours pas pourquoi tu m’as fait voir le jour.
© 2013, Copyright Constantin ROMAN

Poetry in Translation (CLX): Lucian BLAGA (1922 – 1985), “Dernier mot” (Ultimul cuvânt)

January 26th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLX): Lucian BLAGA (1922 – 1985), “Dernier mot” (Ultimul cuvânt) · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations, Uncategorized

If Cioran is considered the contemporary extension of Nietsche, and his thoughts written in French are translated in many languages, Lucian’s Blaga’s works remain highly mystical, close to the primeval myth and to his village roots and, sadly, very little translated in foreign languages.
Like Cioran, Blaga was born the son of an Orthodox priest in a small village of Transylvania at the time when this province was still part of the Habsburg empire. By the time of his maturity his contribution to Phylosophy and poetry was recognised by being elected a Fellow of the Romanian Academy, just before the Second World War. With the advent of Communism in Romania the last two decades of his life were spent in obscurity, interspersed with time in the Communist prisons, reduced to silence and physical incapacity.

Poetry in Translation (CLIX): Ion VINEA (1895 – 1964), “Vieille chanson” (Cântec vechi)

January 25th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLIX): Ion VINEA (1895 – 1964), “Vieille chanson” (Cântec vechi) · PEOPLE, Poetry, Translations

VIEILLE CHANSON
(Cântec vechi)
Ion VINEA (1895 – 1964)

J’ai peur des derniers regards,
Des adieux faits en partant,
Des signes de main et de mouchoir
Au son des pas s’étiolant.

J’ai peur, du silence, du néant,
Du nom à l’appel sans echo,
Des nuits au répis angoissant
J’ai peur des regrets à huis clos.

Du rêve au retour illusoire,
De l’ombre touchant le parvis,
J’ai peur de toute cette histoire
Frolant un perdu paradis.

“Părintele Arsenie Boca şi Nae Ionescu – Vedere în duh şi viziune filozofică” de Isabela Vasiliu-Scraba

January 18th, 2013 · 4 Comments · OPINION, PEOPLE

Patriarhului Justinian Marina îi reuşise în 1950 mutarea în cadrul Patriarhiei a Comisiei de pictură bisericească de la Ministerul Cultelor, numit de el “Securitatea popilor”. Probabil că fără această trecere n-am fi avut azi nici frescele religioase şi mozaicurile Olgăi Greceanu de la Manăstirea Antim, nici “predicile vii” (apud. Nichifor Crainic) pictate pe zidurile bisericii de la Drăgănescu de fostul stareţ al Mânăstirii Prislop (http://www.isabelavs.go.ro/Articole/IVSbisericaDraganescu4.htm ). În al doilea rând miraculoasă este însăşi supravieţuirea monumentului de artă pe care-l reprezintă micuţa biserică aflată la vreo 30 de km de Bucureşti. E suficient să ne gândim că ea se află pe malul lacului de la Mihăileşti, unde Ceauşescu vroia să construiască un port, neapărat în locul bisericii. Si cum Părintele Arsenie nu putea fi de acord cu aşa ceva, academiciana cu şcoala pe puncte (cum mai sînt si alţi academicieni chiar din ziua de azi) nu s-a sfiit să-l pălmuiască în mijlocul bisericii în sfânta zi de Paşte a anului 1989. Înverşunarea lor împotriva călugărului iconar nu s-a stins până nu l-au condamnat la o moarte martirică (v. Isabela Vasiliu-Scraba, Moartea martirică a Părintelui Arsenie Boca, un adevăr ascuns la Centenarul sărbătorit la Sâmbăta de Sus).

În al treilea rând, ca o minune apare chiar supravieţuirea picturii Bisericii executată de două ori de Părintele Arsenie Boca din 1968 şi până în 1989, în condiţiile în care fresca pictată de el în Biserica de la Bogata Olteană a fost îndepărtată nu prin văruire, ci prin lovituri de ciocan, după ce Părintele Arsenie Boca a fost (a cine ştie câta oară) arestat de Securitate în 1963.

They came by Orient Express – Cameos of Times Past by Constantin ROMAN (I)

January 13th, 2013 · Comments Off on They came by Orient Express – Cameos of Times Past by Constantin ROMAN (I) · Books, Diaspora, OPINION, PEOPLE, quotations, Reviews, Translations

It must have taken the future English bride infinitely longer to get used to her picturesque, yet desperately primitive, adopted country. The couple got married, in spite of the many differences that separated them – Antoine being Elizabeth’s senior by 19 years and Elizabeth herself still being rather bruised from an emotional relationship with a previous English suitor. In the event it was quite understandable that the Asquith parents, while finding the Romanian prospect quite charming, would still have preferred their daughter to marry an Englishman of the best type. Nevertheless, the wedding to the Romanian diplomat, Prince Antoine Bibesco, took place in London’s fashionable St. Margaret’s church Westminster, in April 1919. It was a time when the Romanian nobility married frequently into French, German or Italian aristocratic families. The Bibesco-Asquith wedding was London’s wedding of the year, with the great and the good attending, from Queen Mary to George Bernard Shaw.

Centre for Romanian Studies