2014 January

Entries from January 29th, 2014

POETRY IN TRANSLATION (CCXLIX): IRELAND – Oscar WILDE (1856 – 1900): “Sonnet On Approaching Italy”, “Sonet Italiei”

January 29th, 2014 · Comments Off on POETRY IN TRANSLATION (CCXLIX): IRELAND – Oscar WILDE (1856 – 1900): “Sonnet On Approaching Italy”, “Sonet Italiei” · International Media, Poetry, quotations, Translations, Uncategorized

POETRY IN TRANSLATION (CCXLVIII): IRELAND – Oscar WILDE (1856 – 1900): “Sonnet On Approaching Italy”, “Sonet Italiei”

Sonnet On Approaching Italy
Oscar Wilde (1856, Dublin – 1900, Paris)

I reached the Alps: the soul within me burned,
Italia, my Italia, at thy name:
And when from out the mountain’s heart I came
And saw the land for which my life had yearned,

I laughed as one who some great prize had earned:
And musing on the marvel of thy fame
I watched the day, till marked with wounds of flame
The turquoise sky to burnished gold was turned.

The pine-trees waved as waves a woman’s hair,
And in the orchards every twining spray
Was breaking into flakes of blossoming foam:

But when I knew that far away at Rome
In evil bonds a second Peter lay,
I wept to see the land so very fair.
* * * * *

Dar când, în vechea Romă stau zăcând,
În fiare, sfinţii tăi fiind priponiţi,
Cu lacrimi, am văzut al tău temei.

Versiune în limba Română de Constantin ROMAN,
© 2014, Copyright Constantin ROMAN, Londra

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Cambridge History of Science – BOOK REVIEWS: CONSTANTIN ROMAN – “CONTINENTAL DRIFT – COLLIDING CONTINENTS, CONVERGING CULTURES”

January 29th, 2014 · Comments Off on Cambridge History of Science – BOOK REVIEWS: CONSTANTIN ROMAN – “CONTINENTAL DRIFT – COLLIDING CONTINENTS, CONVERGING CULTURES” · Books, Diaspora, International Media, OPINION, PEOPLE, quotations, Reviews

Prof> John D. Dewey, FRS,
(Universities of Oxford and California, Davis)

“Continental Drift” offered me a relaxing excellent read full of humour, humanity, wisdom and good science, way beyond the History of Science. This book is an Ode to the Joy of Freedom, of a kind celebrated in Enesco’s Rhapsodies, or the cosmic vision of Brancusi’s “Column of Infinity”: this is Constantin Roman’s “Ninth Symphony”. I trust the reader would share with me pleasures that have derived from reading ‘Continental Drift’.

POETRY IN TRANSLATION (CCXLVIII): ENGLAND – Louis de BERNIÈRES (b. 1954): “Romance”, “Romanţă”

January 28th, 2014 · Comments Off on POETRY IN TRANSLATION (CCXLVIII): ENGLAND – Louis de BERNIÈRES (b. 1954): “Romance”, “Romanţă” · Books, International Media, Poetry, quotations, Translations, Uncategorized

“Te iubesc!”- a spus ea, surprinsă să fi rostit-o prima oară,
Şi intrebându-se cum ar fi: a descoperit
O situaţie interesantă!

“Şi eu te iubesc!”- a răspuns el, repetând o frază obişnuită,
Plină de anticipări nefaste, şi sperând
Sa o îmbrobodească şi pe ea.

‘I love you’, she said, never having said it before,
And wondering what it was like; she found it
An interesting experience.

‘I love you too’, he said, having said it many times
For nefarious purpose, and hoping it would
Work with her as well.

POETRY IN TRANSLATION (CCXLVII): Louis de BERNIÈRES (b. 1954, London), ENGLAND, “Le garçon maudit”, “The doomed Boy”

January 27th, 2014 · Comments Off on POETRY IN TRANSLATION (CCXLVII): Louis de BERNIÈRES (b. 1954, London), ENGLAND, “Le garçon maudit”, “The doomed Boy” · Books, International Media, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Il n’aura jamais été vu dans les rues du port,
Avec ses lèvres idéales et ses membres idéales,
Tourbillonnant et dansant dans les boites de nuit,
Ou bien faisant le pied de grue, dans l’ombre,
Au coin des rues sombres, réchauffé brièvement par des joies passagères,
Voletant et glissant, un chapeau rabattu sur son visage
Comme tous les autres garçons beaux et maudits.
Version Française par :
Constantin ROMAN, Londres

POETRY IN TRANSLATION (CCXLVI): Louis de BERNIÈRES (b. 1954, London), ENGLAND, “Tânărul chipeş”, “The doomed Boy”

January 26th, 2014 · Comments Off on POETRY IN TRANSLATION (CCXLVI): Louis de BERNIÈRES (b. 1954, London), ENGLAND, “Tânărul chipeş”, “The doomed Boy” · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

He was handsome as Endymion, cast about him
The scent of virile cologne, showed brilliant teeth
When he smiled, made confident conversation,
Lived well on his father’s wealth.
………….
He wasn’t detected down in the streets of the port,
With his ideal lips and his ideal limbs,
Whirling and dancing in basements, standing in shadows
On dim street corners, warmed briefly by transient joys,
Flitting and gliding, his hat pulled over his face
Like all the other doomed and beautiful boys.

POETRY IN TRANSLATION (CCXLV): Giuseppe Gioacchino BELLI (1791-1863), Italian Trasteverin Poet: “ “La scrupulosa”, “Scrupule”

January 24th, 2014 · Comments Off on POETRY IN TRANSLATION (CCXLV): Giuseppe Gioacchino BELLI (1791-1863), Italian Trasteverin Poet: “ “La scrupulosa”, “Scrupule” · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations, Uncategorized

Inzomma, cazzo, se pò avé sto bbascio?
se pò ttastà un tantino er pettabbotto?
Ma nnun avé ppavura, che ffo adascio:
cuanto che ssento che cce tienghi sotto.

Ce naiba, n-o să-mi dai nici un sărut?
Nici sânul n-oi putea să ţi-l alint?
N-ai teamă, o s-am grije când te prind:
Doar vreau să aflu ce-ai pe dedesubt.

POETRY IN TRANSLATION (CCXLIV): Pierre REVERDY, (1889 – 1960), FRANCE, “Tard dans la vie”, “Late in life”, “Amurgul vieţii”

January 24th, 2014 · Comments Off on POETRY IN TRANSLATION (CCXLIV): Pierre REVERDY, (1889 – 1960), FRANCE, “Tard dans la vie”, “Late in life”, “Amurgul vieţii” · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Reviews, Translations, Uncategorized

Je suis dur
Je suis tendre
Et j’ai perdu mon temps
A rêver sans dormir
A dormir en marchant
Partout où j’ai passé
J’ai trouvé mon absence
Je ne suis nulle part
Excepté le néant

Centre for Romanian Studies