Books

Entries Tagged as 'Books'

What has President Nicolas Maduro got in common with the late (dearly departed) President Nicolae Ceausescu?

September 22nd, 2013 · Comments Off on What has President Nicolas Maduro got in common with the late (dearly departed) President Nicolae Ceausescu? · Books, Diaspora, International Media, OPINION, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Christmas Carol, 1980 –
(A Parody sung by Romanian Gypsy Children)

Father Christmas we do beg
Bring us butter, bring us egg.
If you ever come on foot
Bring some cabbage, or beetroot
If your bag is large enough
Add some maize and garlic cloves.
Christmas Father don’t miss either
The potatoes and the flour.
Should you come, though, in a sleigh
Don’t forget for the New Year
Toilet paper that’s so sparse,
To wipe at least our arse.”

Romanian Dictionary of Quotations, Selected & Translated by Constantin ROMAN: Letter ‘B’

July 18th, 2013 · No Comments · Books, Diaspora, International Media, PEOPLE, quotations, Translations

“A book is a delayed suicide.”
Emil CIORAN, (1911-1995), philosopher, writer

“I still have the Babel of this fabulous land in my ears: Romanian, Ukrainian, German, Yidish, Polish, Magyar, Armenian…”
Gregor von REZZORI, (1914-1998), Writer

Romanian Dictionary of Quotations, Selected & Translated by Constantin ROMAN: Letter ‘A’

July 16th, 2013 · No Comments · Books, PEOPLE, quotations, Translations

“Awake, awake Romanians from your lethargic sleep,
In which your foreign tyrants have sunken you so deep!
It’s either now or never to shape a fate for you,
To whose behest should cower your cruel enemies too!”
(Alexander Muresanu (1) (1816, Bistrita-Brasov, 1863),
Transylvanian poet, author of the national Anthem
(“Desteapta-te Romane”)

Love at the time of Swine Flu

June 21st, 2013 · No Comments · Books, Diaspora, PEOPLE, Reviews, Uncategorized

Hysteria has gripped the city: I wonder what might have been like living in London, centuries ago, at the time of the Black Death?
As always, the blame was left on the doorstep of hapless immigrants, foreign sailors, or refugees fleeing the horrors of repression on the Continent: Flemish Huguenots, Jewish Estonians coming from Russia, Spaniards who brought the decease with them, decimating good Christians, like us, living in fear of God… Yes the ‘Spanish Flu’ most certainly came from the Peninsula. What the Spaniards of Armada memory did not succeed, they certainly managed rather well with this pandemic. We were very lucky indeed to avoid it during the Peninsular War, but what, with the rock of Gibraltar still being British, the border acted more like a sieve than a proper filter. We may have won the battle but surely not the ongoing war: in 1918 one million of our people died of Spanish flu, caused by this mysterious virus called H1N1. After such massive population cull, do you think, Britain might have become a better place? I doubt it: the flu unleashed the beginning of the end, the very decline of our great British Empire, as both WWI and the Spanish flu had a propensity of killing sturdy young men. It caused our genetic pool to be frustrated of the best input: look at the result of these insipid pen pushers in our Civil Service not to mention greedy MPs, or incompetent financiers!

Love at the time of Swine Flu (fragment): by Constantin ROMAN

March 11th, 2013 · Comments Off on Love at the time of Swine Flu (fragment): by Constantin ROMAN · Books, OPINION, PEOPLE

‘You know, my dear boy, Catholicism is a very good religion to die in’.
She left all her millions to the Vatican, to consecrate her in a gigantic statue in the guise of Virgin Mary, no less, opposite a copy of a gigantic ‘Christ the Redeemer’, of Rio de Janeiro, only, this time, perched on an African mountain peak. In her lifetime she was no saint, to put it mildly, but she compensated by her good looks. You know? She was not unattractive and many a hopeful bachelor passed between her bed sheets, hoping for a share of the spoils. When they did not succeed to woe her, she offered them an honourable exit, which they could hardly refuse: she made suicide respectable. After she became a reformed rake, only weeks before she died, she was persuaded that she was a reincarnation of Mother Theresa, as she retired to a Convent of Dominican nuns. Her less charitable friends and relations, being frustrated of the spoils of any material windfall, spread the rumour that ‘she now tried to seduce God’….

«COMPTES RENDUS D’OUVRAGES – BOOK REVIEWS – BOEKGESPREKINGEN». Geologica Belgica,

February 28th, 2013 · Comments Off on «COMPTES RENDUS D’OUVRAGES – BOOK REVIEWS – BOEKGESPREKINGEN». Geologica Belgica, · Books, International Media, OPINION, quotations, Reviews

“Cambridge was almost like a mythical mistress, whose eroticism would excite my resolve against obstacles put in the way by sundry bureaucratic tormentors and moral dwarfs”.
This is an exhilarating book and I can fully subscribe to Professor J. F. Dewey’s view (Oxford), who wrote the Foreword of the book: “Continental Drift offered me a relaxing excellent read full of humour, wisdom and good science, way beyond the History of Science”.

Nina Arbore (1889 – 1942): Les femmes roumaines peintre (extrait de “La Blouse Roumaine”)

February 23rd, 2013 · Comments Off on Nina Arbore (1889 – 1942): Les femmes roumaines peintre (extrait de “La Blouse Roumaine”) · Books, Diaspora, PEOPLE, quotations, Translations, Uncategorized

Nina Arbore est née à Bucarest. Elle est la fille de Zamfir Arbore. Ce dernier militait en faveur de l’émancipation de la Bessarabie. C’est peut-être sous son influence que sa fille a suivi la tradition paternelle de la liberté d’expression dans son art, tout d’abord comme une artiste d’avant-garde, puis en prenant la défense des intérêts des femmes artistes en Roumanie. Nina Arbore a lancé en 1916 le Salon des femmes roumaines peintres et sculpteurs, qui s’est tenu de 1916 à 1927 sous le parrainage de la famille royale. Tout en prenant part à de nombreuses expositions de peintres modernes roumaines, elle a aussi laissé sa marque en tant qu’artiste, en réalisant de monumentales fresques religieuses. Parmi ces dernières, on retiendra l’intérieur de la paroisse de St. Élie, à Sinaia, dans les Carpates. Elle termina cette commande en 1941. On se souviendra aussi des ‘Saints empereurs Constantin et Hélène, à Constanta, sur la côte de la Mer noire (œuvre de 1934).
Arbore a été l’élève de Matisse, à l’école qu’il fonda en 1907.

Isabela Vasiliu-Scraba: Despre lipsa individualizării în personajul anchetatoarei din romanul eliadesc “Pe strada Mântuleasa”

February 7th, 2013 · Comments Off on Isabela Vasiliu-Scraba: Despre lipsa individualizării în personajul anchetatoarei din romanul eliadesc “Pe strada Mântuleasa” · Books, Diaspora, International Media, OPINION, PEOPLE, Reviews, Uncategorized

În L’epreuve du Labyrinthe (entretiens avec Cl. H. Rocquet, Paris, 1978), este inserată o discuţie (3) în marginea acestei cărţi, considerată de critica europeană drept una dintre capodoperele literare ale scriitorului Mircea Eliade. De aici aflăm părerea hermeneutului credinţelor religioase cu privire la “universul nesecat al vechilor poveşti care ne încântă mereu”.
In Le vieil Homme et l’officier (Paris, 1977, 189 p.) ceea ce contează ar fi în primul rând “faptul că Fărâmă se face ascultat”, că “cititorul, ca de altfel şi poliţia, este sedus, fascinat”(Mircea Eliade, Încercarea labirintului, trad. rom., Ed. Dacia, Cluj-Napoca, 1990, p.155).
Sensibil la tragedia românilor ajunşi după 23 august 1944 să fie martirizaţi cu sutele de mii prin puşcăriile politice şi în lagăre de muncă forţată, Eliade sublimează “teroarea istoriei” în pagini de literatură filozofică la care ştia bine că nu mulţi vor avea acces (4). Căci literatura poate deveni o “cale de cunoaştere”, când ajunge a “mânui verbul în toată amploarea lui, şi nu numai o parte din el, specializată într-un sector sau altul al cunoaşterii” (cf. Vintilă Horia, Despre numele exact al lucrurilor, in Revista Scriitorilor Români, Muenchen, 21/1984, p.129).
Mircea Eliade (din 1970 membru al Academiei Britanice, din 1973 al Academiei Austriece şi din 1975 membru al Academiei Belgiene), în conversaţia sa cu Rocquet, l-a îndemnat pe acesta să rezume subiectul romanului său (5), foarte citit în occident, fiind tradus în germană şi olandeză fără nici o schimbare de titlu cum s-a întâmplat cu traducerea franceză şi cu unele traduceri în alte limbi.

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.

Mircea Milcovitch – Un irréversible journal de retrouvement, by Thiery Jolif (www.unidivers.fr)

October 21st, 2012 · Comments Off on Mircea Milcovitch – Un irréversible journal de retrouvement, by Thiery Jolif (www.unidivers.fr) · Books, Diaspora, International Media, OPINION, PEOPLE, quotations, Reviews

Comment faire d’un chemin d’exil une marche de « retrouvement », de retournement sans retour ?
Si, ainsi qu’aimait le rappeler Claudel, « Dieu écrit droit avec nos lignes courbes », l’écriture pourrait bien alors se révéler être le vecteur de ce ré-embrassement à la fois charnel et spirituel, demeurer étranger à son pays, à son passé et pourtant présent à tout et à tous.

Il aura fallu plus de quarante années de maturation pour que l’artiste Mircea Milcovitch publie son « journal d ’exil ». Un journal qui n’est pas le fait d’un scrutateur de soi, d’un « indiscret observateur » de soi-même mais une toile écrite comme est tissée celle de l’araignée. Les gouttes de rosées qui ici s’irisent à la lumière du soleil de la mémoire sont des souvenirs. Ecrits, ils sont pris dans la toile fine, subtile, prisonniers ils étaient destinés à l’oubli…

Il faut écrire la pensée pour la dérouler. (p. 225

Centre for Romanian Studies