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ROMANIA VAZUTA “ALTFEL”: ‘Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Romanian Women’

October 22nd, 2009 · Comments Off on ROMANIA VAZUTA “ALTFEL”: ‘Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Romanian Women’ · Books, Diaspora, PEOPLE, Poetry, Reviews, Translations

ROMANIA VAZUTA “ALTFEL”: ‘Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Romanian Women’ (O carte ilustrata, in limba Engleza, 1.100 pagini, 160 biografii, 600 citate, 4.000 referinte bibliografice.) De ce si pentru ce “altfel’? Din mai multe puncte de vedere: In primul rand mesajul lucrarii NU este unul ‘oficial’, parafat de cei care ne dramuiesc adevarul. […]

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The Best Times, This Side of the Atlantic…

October 20th, 2009 · Comments Off on The Best Times, This Side of the Atlantic… · Books, International Media, PEOPLE, Reviews

All these events were chronicled by the Irish Times during its twists and turns of fortunes and soul-searching which remains truly amazing in being able to secure a steady readership AND survive through thick and thin. Dermot James relates these events from within with the sharp eye of the journalist and his story is riveting – it is not just about the humdrum of life of editors but reflects the beating heart of a whole nation: he tells it with zest and irony in the best tradition of Irish humour. The reader is certainly not disappointed – there is no dull moment, just an alert pace where light stories intermingle with hard facts which caught the staff of the Irish Times at the core of each historic event.

This particular phenomenon of change and adaptation through choppy waters merits in itself the attention of the media in other countries which were equally visited by revolutions, civil wars, strife and radical changes of government and of political directions. Such is the case of the young nations of Eastern Europe, in a broad way going through a same process of renewal as Ireland did, but also of nations of Central Europe who lived through upheavals which toppled monarchies brought in dictatorships, suffered the indignity of defeat or the weighty burden of victory: how might their newspapers been affected? The difference between the Irish Times and its counterparts on the Continent of Europe is that the former has survived through constant change, whilst in most of the other countries, especially behind the Iron Curtain newspapers disappeared overnight. So far as the ethos of this web site is concerned the comparison with the Romania media is of special interest, as one feels that the Irish Times offers a good template for comparison.

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“Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Romanian Women”: what the Readers say:

September 3rd, 2009 · 2 Comments · Books, Diaspora, PEOPLE, Poetry, Reviews, Translations

Constantin Roman invites us for a walk, during which he enjoins past and present alike, in a brisk coming and going of the narrative. It is a narrative that cannot suddenly end, but rather one which compels us to start all over again and revisit. It is a truly wonderful gift, a very happy surprise indeed of an inherently original book, which haunts us like the persistent music of those Romanian women’s voices.” (French Government Adviser, Paris)

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Cu boii lui Grigorescu pe Calea Vacilor

June 17th, 2009 · 4 Comments · Art Exhibitions, Diaspora, OPINION, Reviews

Din Codrii Vlasiei la codrul Barbizonului – sau cu boii lui Grigorescu pe Calea Vacilor (Comentarii pe marginea expozitiei Grigorescu de la Barbizon, 2006) Cand ai un deficit intelectual  si iti lipseste suprafata de cultura europeana, atunci cauti sa o carpesti cum poti, sau, parafrazand zicala englezeasca, in vernacularul romanesc s-ar zice ca incerci sa […]

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GENDER STUDIES: Blouse Roumaine – Les femmes roumaines exceptionnelles, Avant propos de Catherine DURANDIN

May 17th, 2009 · Comments Off on GENDER STUDIES: Blouse Roumaine – Les femmes roumaines exceptionnelles, Avant propos de Catherine DURANDIN · Books, Diaspora, PEOPLE, Reviews, Translations

Catherine DURANDIN Professeure d’histoire (Inalco). Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Romanian Women by Constantin ROMAN Foreword by Catherine Durandin Constantin Roman est, quand bien     même il se veut observateur et peut-être militant de l’anti- communisme, avant tout un artiste. Son ouvrage, récit ? étude ? hommage aux femmes ? “Blouse Roumaine – the […]

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Pourquoi Matisse?

May 6th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Books, Communist Prisons, Diaspora, Famous People, History, International Media, OPINION, PEOPLE, Poetry, POLITICAL DETENTION / DISSENT, quotations, Reviews, Translations

Après la chute de Ceausescu, l’image de la Blouse roumaine retrouva graduellement sa place, lentement, comme le réveil après un cauchemar surréaliste : est-ce que la transition existe ? Est-ce pour de vrai ? Le passé va-t-il se répéter ? Dans ce sens, une mise en garde fut émise par le porte-parole du Parlement polonais lorsqu’il déclara : « Il ne faut que quelques semaines aux Empires pour s’écrouler, mais la mentalité impérialiste a besoin de plusieurs générations avant de disparaître. »

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Romantic Travels on the Lower Danube (1800-1940)

April 28th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Books, quotations, Reviews

EXAMPLES OF SAMPLE PAGES
This is an area covering parts of the former Ottoman, Russian and Habsburg empires, with a special focus on the historic regions of Wallachia, Banat, Transylvania, Moldavia, Bukovina, Bessarabia, Black Sea and the Lower Danube.
These engravings could be historic maps, or showing views, architectural monuments, costumes, military battle scenes, battle plans, uniforms, costumes, transport, traditions, historical portraits or political cartoons.

Some Distinguished Travellers: to mention only a few, would be Lady Mary Wortley Mantagu, the Bishop of Aleppo, Count Alexander Demidoff, Sir Samuel Baker, Gordon of Khartoum (former British Consul at Galatz), Sir Samuel Baker and in the 20th century Satcheverel Sittwell and Patrick Leigh Fermor.

Some distinguished artists: Theodore Aman, Bartlett, Pierre Francois Basa, Bouquet, Cham, Daumier, Heath, Auguste Alexandre Hirsch, Lancelot, WH P.F. Preziosi, Raffet, Schlotterbeck, William F. Sorrieu, Tardieu, Turner, Valerio, Emile-Louis Vernier, Claude Vignon.

Notable Cartographers: Castaldo, De Fer, La Feuille, Hondius, Homann, Lotter, Mercator, Merian, Munster, Moll, Ortelius, Probst, Ruscelli, Schenk, Sanson, Stackhouse, Valk, Winter .

Further reading about the Collection:
http://www.constantinroman.com/pages/interests.html

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An Alternative Anthology of Romanian Women

April 26th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Books, PEOPLE, quotations, Reviews, Translations

‘Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Romanian Women’
An E-Book Anthology by Constantin ROMAN
Synopsis

A Spanish grandee and Ambassador to the Court of St James’s once compared the success of an Anthology to that of a culinary chef d’oeuvre: for Santiago de Mora Figueroa y Williams, Marques of Tamarón, a great Anglophile but also a refined European:

The perfect anthology, like the perfect hors d’oeuvre, should turn us into gluttons. The many small dishes add up to a balanced and nourishing meal, but they are so exquisite that they whet one’s appetite for more. And the anthology should also include unexpected delicacies, things that even the literary gourmet had not heard about.

blouse-roumaine-cover2On a deeper reflection, Tamarón’s metaphor encapsulates perfectly well the ethos of the ‘Blouse Roumaine’. Yet, as an Anthology of Romanian women, this corpus was initially conceived to connect with a French painting of Henri Matisse – the eponymous canvas, ‘La Blouse Roumaine’ (1940), which hangs today in the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris: for every and each biography contained in this Women’s Anthology is like a minutely embroidered stitch on an ethnic tapestry, such as we have admired, not so long ago in the Retrospective exhibition of Matisse’s collection of textiles, presented at the Royal Academy in London and later also shown in New York. For those of us who missed this exhibition the analogy to the current book is like a roll call of women presented in a sequence of biographical cameos. These sketches are displayed like a series of miniatures in a virtual National Portrait Gallery: they are all glittering stars from Western galaxies and Eastern nebulae, in all 160 of them…

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Le rayonnement de la culture Roumaine en France

July 5th, 2006 · Comments Off on Le rayonnement de la culture Roumaine en France · Books, PEOPLE, Reviews, Translations

Le rayonnement de la culture Roumaine en France

(Plaidoyer pour la traduction en Français de l’Anthologie “Blouse Roumaine” par Constantin ROMAN – Juin 2006)

Blouse Roumaine – The Unsung Voices of Romanian Women (Centre for Romanian Studies, London, 2009) http://www.blouseroumaine.com/freeexcerpt_download.html
Blouse Roumaine – The Unsung Voices of Romanian Women (Centre for Romanian Studies, London, 2009) http://www.blouseroumaine.com/freeexcerpt_download.html

Inspirée de la toile homonyme de Henri Matisse, oeuvre exposée au Musée d’Art Moderne du Centre Pompidou à Paris, “La Blouse Roumaine” est une anthologie des Femmes de Roumanie, présentant des personnalités incontournables de la culture universelle. Cet ouvrage contient une majorité des femmes francophones – des femmes qui se sont exprimées a un moment ou un autre dans cette langue, ont écrit ou écrivent en Français, ont vécu en France ou bien y vivent actuellement, contribuant à la culture française comme professeurs, écrivains, peintres, sculpteurs, psychologues, philosophes, médecins, analystes politiques, poètes, actrices de cinéma ou de théâtre (sociétaires de la Comédie française), des femmes qui ont tenu des salons littéraires à Paris, les égéries qui ont inspiré les artistes Rodin, Brancusi, Renoir, Vuillard, Matisse, Fantin Latour, les compositeurs Chausson, Poulenc, Gounod, Fauré ou Saint Saens et Ysaÿe, des écrivains comme Proust, Colette, Cocteau, Morand ou Anatole France et Sacha Guitry, des cinéastes comme Jean Renoir, Marc Allegret, Christian Jacques, Jean Boyer, ou Pierre Colombier et Claude Autant-Lara, des pianistes et violonistes, des chanteuses d’opéra, des ballerines, enfin, des françaises qui ont épousé des Roumains ou la cause de la Roumanie et qui ont eu par la suite une contribution à l’histoire culturelle et politique de ce pays, des conseillères politiques, ou des Roumaines naturalisées françaises ou des Françaises d’origine Roumaine.

Le fait qu’une partie du public français ne connaisse pas ou ne saurait concevoir l’apport de la Roumanie au rayonnement de la France n’est point étonnant si l’on pense que la seule femme écrivain dont l’appartement soit minutieusement reconstitué et conservé au Musée Carnavalet de l’histoire de la ville de Paris, Anna de Noailles, poétesse Parnassienne soit présentée comme étant d’origine “Grecque”, alors qu’elle est née – Princesse de Bassaraba-Brancovan, issue d’une famille historique Roumaine. Malheureusement, ce genre de malentendu est emblématique en France.

Countess Anna de Noailles, nee Pss Bassaraba-Brancovan (by Ignacio Zuloaga)
Countess Anna de Noailles, nee Pss Bassaraba-Brancovan (by Ignacio Zuloaga)

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“Defying the Idiocracy” – Cambridge and Romanian Memoirs

May 24th, 2006 · Comments Off on “Defying the Idiocracy” – Cambridge and Romanian Memoirs · Books, Diaspora, PEOPLE, Reviews, Translations

“Defying the Idiocracy” Constantin ROMAN SYNOPSIS The world from which Constantin ROMAN emerges, is blurring gently through the lens of time. Once landed on the British Isles, the faraway country which he left behind is thoroughly destroyed by the bulldozers of Ceausescu’s cultural revolution and its ruins remain behind hostile frontiers. Being shipwrecked on a […]

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