Diaspora

Entries Tagged as 'Diaspora'

Romanian Science (I) – Romania’s First-ever Plate Tectonics Model born in Cambridge

July 4th, 2010 · No Comments · Books, Diaspora, International Media, PEOPLE, Reviews

ROMANIA’S FIRST-EVER PLATE TECTONICS MODEL WAS BORN IN CAMBRIDGE – THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN “NATURE” (LONDON)

« Domnikios et Tovaras » (Cosntantin ROMAN)

June 5th, 2010 · No Comments · Diaspora, Translations

« Au commencement, ce fut Domn, et Domn était Dieu, et Dieu était Roi, et ils n’étaient qu’une et unique Foi, et cette Foi s’appelait Domnikios, le Dieu-Roi qui régnait sur Domnikia. »
Mais il y a une chose bien plus profonde qui distingue les Domnikios des Tovaras : c’est la qualité meme de néologisme du mot « Tovaras ». Car l’étymologie de « Tovaras » n’est nullement latine, mais slave, et les Slaves sont arrivés tard dans ces lointaines contrées, très tard dans l’histoire de Domnikia. Ce sont les Slaves qui ont donné le nom « Tovaras » aux serfs sans nom, car ils semblaient peu engageants et ainsi ils les ont appelé « Tovaritch ». En fait, avant que les Slaves n’envahissent Domnikia, on appelait toujours les fils sans nom des traînées avec un court et tranchant : « Hé, toi ! », et les serfs rampaient avec empressement vers leurs maîtres. Mais, maintenant, que leurs terres avaient été piétinées et leurs attributs diminués, les Domnikios, qui ont toujours et de manière congénitale zézayé, ont édicté que les serfs devaient recevoir le nom de « Tovaras », comme une sorte d’acceptation de mauvaise grâce de l’intrusion slave dans les affaires féodales de la Principauté Domnikienne.

Et c’est ainsi que les malheurs ont commencé, que la vie est devenue infernale, et nous allions assister à des siècles de guerres civiles entre les Domnikios et les Tovaras, que, de temps à autre, interrompaient des courtes périodes de silencieuse coexistence.

(Traduit de l’Anglais par Radu Portocalà)

Romanian Foreign Affairs (I): Rebecca WEST and Antoine BIBESCO

May 1st, 2010 · No Comments · Books, Diaspora, PEOPLE, quotations

Rebecca West: in Paris, on her way home, she had a brief affair with Prince Antoine Bibesco (who wore black crepe de chine in bed), a Romanian diplomat married to Elizabeth Asquith, daughter of the Liberal leader. She was to remember her own affair as ‘rapturous’ but at its close felt that some blight still affected her personal life. The evidence suggests that Bibesco’s sophisticated sex inventiveness frightened Rebecca and that she interpreted it as a further manifestation of male hostility and aggression and she continued in analysis when she returned to London this time with Silvia Payne another early Freudian. Neverthelsess the elation of her first days with Bibesco coloured the writing of ‘The Strange Necessity’ in which her meditations on art and literature are embedded in an account of a ‘sun guilded autumn day’ wandering through a magically illuminated Paris.

Maria Mesterou – Galerie Etienne de Causans, Paris 6e, 17-26 Mai 2010

April 26th, 2010 · No Comments · Art Exhibitions, Diaspora, PEOPLE

Maria Mesterou Romanian-born French painter, personal exhibition, Galerie Etienne de Causans, Rue de Seine, Paris 6, from 17 to 26 May 2010

Christopher Georgesco (California) – First-Generation Romanian-American Sculptor

April 25th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Art Exhibitions, Diaspora, PEOPLE

Like his father, Christopher is a talented and inspired artist: he attended the Santa Monica City College at the age of 20 he part took in a group show and at 28 had his first one-man show. Subsequently and with great determination he put his mark on the Californian and the International artistic map, with an impressive array of monumental sculptures:Grand Hyatt Hotel., Tokyo. Japan, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, La Jolla Musem of Contemporary Art, CA, Laguna Beach Museum of Contemporary Art, CA, Santa Barabra Museum of Art, CA, University of California Los Angeles, CA, University of California Santa Barbara, CA, Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA, Plaza Pasadena, City of Pasadena, CA, Valley Presbyterian Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, King World Productions, Merv Griffin, Los Angeles, CA, Knapp Communicatons, Los Angeles,CA, McCrory Corporate, New York, NY, Raychem Copporation, Los Angeles, CA, Sea Horse Corporate, Manzanillo, Mexico, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, “Oasis of the Sea”, Installation Finland, Princes Cruise Lines, Installation Italy, Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Washington, DC, City of Palm Springs, CA

Mircea Milcovitch – “Le Génie du Sphinx” – Confessions sur la gestation d’une sculpture

April 24th, 2010 · No Comments · Art Exhibitions, Diaspora, PEOPLE

En 1991, j’achevais une série de dessins et sculptures. La source d’inspiration était l’ancienne Égypte, dont j’avais essayé d’extraire l’esprit, à ma manière, c’est-à-dire selon mon propre code de formes, et après un long travail d’élaboration. Sans que ce soit l’unique « source » de mon travail, je regardais et interrogeais cet art sculptural depuis longtemps, depuis mon arrivée à Paris. Lorsque je l’avais rencontré au Louvre, j’avais subi un choc. Je m’étais rendu compte que les reproductions ne pouvaient pas rendre compte de la réalité, remplacer la rencontre, le contact avec cet art monumental. J’avais senti une communion, un lien avec ceux qui l’avaient conçu et exécuté. Dans le sous-sol du Louvre, où ces sculptures étaient exposées, j’ai posé la main sur l’épaule d’une sculpture égyptienne en basalte noir. Je suis resté longtemps figé à côté de cette sculpture, ma main sur son épaule. La pierre froide sentait le toucher et transmettait quelque chose à son tour. Ce n’était pas uniquement une impression. La sculpture me devenait étrangement proche.

Scrisoare deschisa d-lui Marian LUPU

April 9th, 2010 · No Comments · Diaspora, OPINION, PEOPLE

Domnule Marian Lupu, uitati-va in inima si vedeti ce sunteti. Daca sunteti Roman intoarceti definitiv spatele trecutului bolsevic si lasati sufletul sa infloreasca pe pamantul lui natal dela Nistru pana la Tisa. Optand sa mergeti catre Europa, asa cum se pare ca ati ales, dar privind tot timpul inapoi spre Moscova, nu veti face altceva decat sa va impiedicati, sa va impotmoliti, si sa tariti din nou si poporul in mocirla.

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“Blouse Roumaine – Antologie de Femei Exceptionale” – Recenzie

March 23rd, 2010 · Comments Off on “Blouse Roumaine – Antologie de Femei Exceptionale” – Recenzie · Books, Diaspora, PEOPLE, Reviews

Pentru ca aceste fiinte pline de viata, femei tenace dar si frumoase, fie ele ca ar fi luat drumul exilului sau ca ar fi optat sa ramana in tara, sub dictatura, au avut fiecare in parte de istorisit o poveste extraordinara sau poate cel putin au putut sa ne ofere un crampei de citat memorabil. Pentru ca “Blouse Roumaine” nu reprezinta doar o ‘Corala al Romaniei’ dar si un ‘Memorial al Durerii’, fiindca firul vietii acestor romance, mame, sotii, surori, reprezinta chiar acea pelicula de film care se desfasoara in fata ochilor nostri si care nu se poate rezuma doar la simple bucate pentru gustul initiatilor academici: aceste vieti sunt de fapt o liturghie ortodoxa, o epifanie romaneasca care, prin ochii mintii, readuc la viata, o realitate fascinanta, dar estompata de sita vremii sau de amnezia preprogramata impusa de vremelnici guvernanti, o realitate care are catene organice nebanuite in subconstientul European.

Acest narativ al ‘iei romanesti’, prin continut lui liric, dar si spiritual, cu accente satirice, fara compromisuri, poate aparea unor cititori, pe undeva, daca nu polemic, cel putin sfidator, prin acele incursiuni in meandrele istoriei recente, care reflecta o realitate politica schizofrenica, a unei lumi plina de contraste si contradictii, pentru ca, in complectarea acestei perioade istorice, cititorului i se ofera o retrospectiva a unei epoci mai emotive a Golgotei ispasite sub comunism de o natiune intreaga: mai precis de eopca intunecata si necrutatoare a Anei Pauker si a Elenei Ceausescu, dar si al poetilor de Curte si ai unor pitici morali si saltimbanci, umbre din trecutul apropiat care explica mostenirea sistemului communist in Romania post-moderna.

Isabela Vasiliu-Scraba despre “Părul lung şi blond al lui I.P.Culianu”

March 14th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Diaspora, OPINION, PEOPLE

In toate cele trei filme dedicate lui Culianu s-a sugerat telespectatorilor că ucigaşul ar fi fost legionar, fără a se menţiona că a fost o crimă “cu semnătură”. Umberto Eco a crezut că a fost un asasinat purtând semnătura KGB. Dar “semnătura” ar fi putut indica si suprimarea unui trădător. Uciderea petrecută după scenariul de execuţie a unui trădător ar implica umilirea celui care a trădat. I.P. Culianu a fost umilit prin împuşcare în ceafă în WC-ul universităţii din Chicago. Presupunând un astfel de scenariu, prin indicarea unui criminal legionar, însăşi victima trădătoare e plasată în rândul legionarilor. O altă variantă ar fi că a trădat Securitatea. După Tereza Culianu-Petrescu, fratele său care-i spusese Gabrielei Adameşteanu în decembrie 1990 că “prostia Securităţii române este epocală şi de o profunzime nemaivăzută” (v. I.P.Culianu în rev.22, 5 aprilie 1991) ar fost asasinat de vechea Securitate “aşa cum opina generalul I. Pacepa” (v. Tereza Culianu-Petrescu, O biografie, Observatorul Cultural, 87/23 oct.2001).

Out of Ceausescu’s Hell: a Romanian at Cambridge

February 25th, 2010 · Comments Off on Out of Ceausescu’s Hell: a Romanian at Cambridge · Books, Diaspora, PEOPLE

In 1968, the Romanian geophysicist Constantin Roman defied Communist restrictions and travelled to England on a NATO travel grant. Under Ceausescu’s dictatorship, obtaining a passport was short of a miracle and in the first chapter we are let into the secret of how this was made possible.
I must confess I admired your inventiveness, perseverance and tenacity with which you focused on your goals, the courage you displayed in approaching influential people, without prior introduction, the manner in which you presented logical arguments in obtaining what you were about to achieve

Centre for Romanian Studies