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Entries Tagged as '“Centre for Romanian Studies – London”'

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’….

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Poetry in Translation (CLXXI): Ar-Ruşāfī de Valencia (XIIth c.), Hispano-Arab Poet – “Una tarde clara”, “A clear evening”, “O seară senină”

February 24th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXXI): Ar-Ruşāfī de Valencia (XIIth c.), Hispano-Arab Poet – “Una tarde clara”, “A clear evening”, “O seară senină” · International Media, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Poetry in Translation (CLXXI): Ar-Ruşāfī de Valencia (XIIth c.), Hispano-Arab Poet – “Una tarde clara”, “A clear evening”, “O seară senină”
Ce plăcut e sa bem un pahar de vin,
în ciripit de vrăbii
si de turturele
la umbra acestui pom bătrân
sorbind vinul roşu al serii.
(Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2013 Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

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Poetry in Translation (CLXX): Rumi (1207, Afghanistan – 1273, Anatolia), PERSIAN Language Poet – “E rândul tău”, “It is your turn now”

February 22nd, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXX): Rumi (1207, Afghanistan – 1273, Anatolia), PERSIAN Language Poet – “E rândul tău”, “It is your turn now” · Poetry, quotations, Translations, Uncategorized

Poetry in Translation (CLXX): Rumi (1207, Afghanistan – 1273, Anatolia), PERSIAN Language Poet – “E rândul tău”, “It is your turn now”

Acum e rândul tău,
ai îndurat cu răbdare,
iar clipa a sosit să purcedem
la schimbarea ta.
Din perla suflului tău vom face
o vatră în flăcări.
Ştii, oare?
Eşti o mină de aur
ascunsă în adâncul pământului.
Acum e rândul tău
să fii trecut prin foc,
defectele tale, toate, făcute cenuşă.

(Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2013 Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

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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.

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Poetry in Translation (CLXVIII): D.H. LAWRENCE (1885 – 1930), England, – “Volcanic Venus”, “Erupţie vulcanică”

February 7th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXVIII): D.H. LAWRENCE (1885 – 1930), England, – “Volcanic Venus”, “Erupţie vulcanică” · International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Erupţie vulcanică
D.H. Lawrence (1885 – 1930)

Vai, în ce lume trăim!
Femeia e ca un vulcan
într-o erupţie aproape nesfârşită.
Suntem cu toţii tensionaţi, umblând într-o lume de vulcani
ce aruncă valuri de cenuşe.
Este tulburător, chiar, să te culci cu o zeiţă în miniatură
şi extenuant să pătrunzi craterul de lavă, al acestui mic Vezuviu
neştiind când vei provoca vre-un cutremur.

(Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London,
© 2013 Copyright Constantin ROMAN)

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Poetry in Translation (CLXIV): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “Notre légende”, “Legenda noastră”, “Our Legend”

January 30th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXIV): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “Notre légende”, “Legenda noastră”, “Our Legend” · Poetry, quotations, Translations

Ce soir-là, sur un fond de graves tumultes
quelque chose ineffablement changea
ici, dans la terrestre époque de brumes et d’argile
et dans les contrées lunaires voisines de là-haut.
Le pays acquit des carat
qu’aucune balance n’a pesés.

D’argent se firent, ô, les marches, les fronts,
des purs témoins aux créations de l’univers.
Et nous deux, nous nous devinions, delivrés des pénombres,
comme deux êtres de soie en marche.

À cette heure exaltée, d’alchimie célèste,
nous obligeames la lune – et quelques autres astrres
à tourner
autours de nos coeurs.

En Français par Constantin ROMAN
Bucarest 1967, Londres, 2013
© 2013, Copyright Constantin ROMAN

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Poetry in Translation (CLXIII): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “To my Readers”, “Aux lecteurs”, Către cititori”

January 30th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXIII): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “To my Readers”, “Aux lecteurs”, Către cititori” · International Media, Poetry, Translations

Here is my house. There is the Sun and the garden with beehives.
You are passing along the road, peering through the slats of my gate
Expecting me to speak. Where shall I start?
Believe me, please, believe me,
one could talk as long as one wants, about anything:
of Destiny and the snake of goodwill,
of archangels tilling
the land of man,
of heavens towards which we aspire,
of hatred and fall, of sadness and Calvary,
but, above all, about the great passage.
Yet our words are only the tears of those who wished
so much to cry and could not.
Bitter are all those words
and that is why, please, allow me
to pass in silence amongst you,
crossing your road, eyes closed.

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Poetry in Translation (CLXII): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “J’ai compris le péché qui pèse sur ma maison” , “The sin that burdens my house”

January 26th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXII): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “J’ai compris le péché qui pèse sur ma maison” , “The sin that burdens my house” · Poetry, quotations, Translations

J’ai compris le péché qui pèse sur ma maison
Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961)

J’ai compris le péché qui pèse sur ma maison
comme une mousse ancestrale.
Oh, pourquoi ai-je interprété les temps et le zodiaque
autrement que la vieille qui rouit le chanvre dans l’étang?
Pourquoi ai-je désiré un autre sourire que celui du tailleur de pierre
qui fait jaillir des étincelles au bord du chemin?
Pourquoi ai-je aspiré à un autre sort
dans le monde des sept jours
que celui du sonneur de cloches qui conduit les morts au ciel?
Passant, donne-moi ta main, et toi qui t’en vas
et toi qui viens.
Tous les troupeaux de la terre ont des auréoles saintes
au dessus de leurs têtes.
C’est ainsi que je m’aime dorénavant:
un parmi beaucoup d’autres
En Français par Constantin ROMAN
Bucarest 1967, Londres, 2013

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Poetry in Translation (CLXI): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “Lettre” (Scrisoare)

January 26th, 2013 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CLXI): Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961), “Lettre” (Scrisoare) · PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

LETTRE (Scrisoare)
Lucian BLAGA (1895 – 1961)
Je suis plus vieux que toi, ma mère,
mais toujours celui que tu connais:
les épaules un peu voutés
et penché sur les questions des hommes.
Je ne sais toujours pas pourquoi tu m’as fait voir le jour.
© 2013, Copyright Constantin ROMAN

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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.

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