“Centre for Romanian Studies”

Entries Tagged as '“Centre for Romanian Studies”'

Constantin ROMAN – Love at the time of the Swine Flu (Part I of 2)

November 1st, 2016 · Comments Off on Constantin ROMAN – Love at the time of the Swine Flu (Part I of 2) · Diary, Education, History, OPINION, PEOPLE, quotations, Short Stories & Cameos

Besides, psychologists and sundry therapists, even those with an address in Harley Street, were very strange creatures and odd balls. Often, they took such profession as a result of their own intractable psychological problems, in the first place. Look at Freud, for example, say no more!

Poetry in Translation, (CCXCIX), Elizabeth Barrett BROWNING, (1806 – 1861), ENGLAND: “The Soul’s Expression”, “Glasul sufletului”

September 14th, 2014 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation, (CCXCIX), Elizabeth Barrett BROWNING, (1806 – 1861), ENGLAND: “The Soul’s Expression”, “Glasul sufletului” · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

With stammering lips and insufficient sound
I strive and struggle to deliver right
That music of my nature, day and night
With dream and thought and feeling interwound

Cu buze trenurând şi fără glas
Încerc cu greu ca să înalţ, la cer,
Corala mea din sufletu-mi stingher
Fiind năpădit de gânduri de pripas.

Four Book Reviews by Constantin ROMAN – Biographies of Hugh Trevor-Roper, Salomé Zourabichvili, George Orwell,

May 14th, 2014 · No Comments · Books, History, International Media, OPINION, PEOPLE, Reviews

When in old age he found himself the master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, he reviewed “Religion and Public Doctrine in Modern England” by Maurice Cowling, the history don, who had secured him the Mastership of the oldest Cambridge College. Cowling was the guru to such Conservative Party luminaries as Peregrine Worsthorne and Colin Welch of the Telegraph, and to that extent he was a person of influence. “The subject is the intellectual history of our time and the great spiritual crisis in which we have found ourselves,” Trevor-Roper wrote. “I find, on reading it, that this intellectual history has unfolded itself, and this crisis has been observed, and is to be resolved, almost entirely within the walls of Peterhouse.”

Poetry in Translation (CCXXXIII): Hélène VACARESCO (Elena Văcărescu, b. 1866 Bucharest – d. 1947, Paris): “Romania”

December 5th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCXXXIII): Hélène VACARESCO (Elena Văcărescu, b. 1866 Bucharest – d. 1947, Paris): “Romania” · Diaspora, History, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

You may well recognise in these qualities Romania, land of suffering, land of enlightenment and of valour placed across the promontory against the dredge of Asian invasions and like a beacon being mightily conscious of defending the civilization, which gave it its people and its laws”.

(Hélène Vacaresco, Diplomat, Poet,
addressing the Societe des Nations,
Paris, 27th April 1925)

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.”

Poetry in Translation (CLXXXIV): Jacques PRÉVERT (1900 – 1977), France, Poet: “Cântecul Senei”, “Chanson de la Seine ”

April 18th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXXXIV): Jacques PRÉVERT (1900 – 1977), France, Poet: “Cântecul Senei”, “Chanson de la Seine ” · Poetry, quotations, Translations

Jacques PRÉVERT
Chanson de la Seine

La Seine a de la chance
Elle n’a pas de souci
Elle se la coule douce
Le jour comme la nuit
Et elle sort de sa source
Tout doucement, sans bruit…
Sans sortir de son lit
Et sans se faire de mousse,
Elle s’en va vers la mer
En passant par Paris.

Ce noroc are Sena
Fiind lispită de griji
Şi se duce la vale,
Fără zor, zi de zi,
Când din munţi izvoreşte
Liniştită, tiptil…
Fiindu-i grije să fie
Între maluri curgând,
Să ajungă la mare,
Prin Paris străbătând.
(Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN
© 2013 Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

Poetry in Translation (CLVIII): Remco CAMPERT (b. 1929, The Hague), “Lost Cause”, “Cauză pierdută”, “Verloren Partij”

December 30th, 2012 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLVIII): Remco CAMPERT (b. 1929, The Hague), “Lost Cause”, “Cauză pierdută”, “Verloren Partij” · International Media, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Cauză pierdută

În inima cetăţii
i-am spus urmează-ţi drumul
case de jur împrejur
prăbuşindu-se în curând
din lipsă de îngrijire

cauză pierdută

faţa ta
aşa cum mi-o închipuiam
nu s-a mai arătat nicăieri

noaptea stau la cheiul canalului
unde curge negura apelor
şi cuget nu încă

(Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London
© 2012, Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

Poetry in Translation (CXLVIII): Sergiu MANDINESCU (1926-1964), ROMANIA, “. “Amen – (Prison Prayer)”, “ AMIN (Reeducare)”

November 25th, 2012 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CXLVIII): Sergiu MANDINESCU (1926-1964), ROMANIA, “. “Amen – (Prison Prayer)”, “ AMIN (Reeducare)” · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations, Uncategorized

Sergiu MANDINESCU (1926-1964), ROMANIA, Poet of the Communist Prisons. “Amen – (Prison Prayer)”, “ AMIN (Reeducare)”, “ AMIN (Reeducare)” If I only had an angel’s quill
and the dark ink of night
perhaps only then I might
gather from all my vagaries
to write my memories
telling why I’m bleeding, I will.

“ AMIN (Reeducare)”
Sergiu MANDINESCU (1926-1964), ROMANIA,

De-aş avea o pană de înger
Şi cerneală de bezne,
Poate că abia atunci mi-ar fi lesne
Să mă adun din toate risipirile,
Să-mi scriu amintirile
Şi să spun tuturor de ce sânger.

Era o noapte jefuită de stele…

Poetry in Translation (CVI): Rikardo ARREGI (n. 1958, Gasteiz, Ţara Bască , Spania ) – Promisiune telefonică

June 4th, 2012 · No Comments · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, Translations

PROMISIUNE TELEFONICĂ
(Rikardo ARREGI, n. 1958, Gasteiz, Ţara Bască, Spania, Poet Basc)

E greu de închipuit cum se limpezesc apele.
Iniţiativa se pierde pe drum;
iar ultima umbră de curaj se înmoaie pe asfalt
odată cu punga de plastic. Nu-i vina nimănui!
A trecut demult timpul cănd porumbeii îţi şedeau
pe umeri, acum carnea a căpătat
aspect de piatră. Doar praf şi frunze ruginite,
ape uzate şi ferestre murdare peste tot.
Simt mirosul care l-ai lăsat în urmă.
Aduceţi trompetele, vă rog, trompetele.
Ţintesc ochii pe ele, aşteptând norii
dar cei mai negri dintre ei nu aduc ploaia.
Prin fereastră
zăresc o femeie care plânge, vorbind la telefon,
cu traista de cumpărături lăsată pe trotoar;
când era să termine conversaţia
a luat-o dela început, săraca.
Apele macină munţii aşa cum
o singură lacrimă macină, necontenit, trupul.
Ce poate fi mai tragic decât o promisiune telefonică?

POETRY IN TRANSLATION (LXXXVI): Patrick McGuinness -“Father and Son” (In Memoria Tatalui si Binevenirea Fiului meu)

July 16th, 2011 · Comments Off on POETRY IN TRANSLATION (LXXXVI): Patrick McGuinness -“Father and Son” (In Memoria Tatalui si Binevenirea Fiului meu) · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Patrick McGuinness: Father and Son

(in memory of my father, and in welcome to my son)

In the wings there is one who waits to go on,
and another, his scene run, who waits to go.
I would like to think they met; if not here
then like crossed letters touching in the dark;

the blank page and the turned page,
the first and the last, shadows folding
over and across me, in whom they’re bound.

Published in Metre, Spring 2005

Tata si Fiu

(In Memoria Tatalui si Binevenirea Fiului meu)

In culise un om asteapta sa intre in scena,

iar altul, cu rolul terminat, asteapta sa plece.

asi vrea sa cred ca s-ar fi intalnit, cel putin aici,

daca nu, intocmai cuvintelor, trecand prin ceata;

o pagina alba si una intoarsa,

prima si ultima, umbre impaturite

peste mine si prin mine, o fibra din trupul meu.

Centre for Romanian Studies