1 Editors LitVest County ș Timi oara at ș THE EDITORS INTRODUCTION BY , the Banat region and Rosie Goldsmith and West Camel ’s two literary festivals, and oara ș County Council for making this oara With Covid-19 making travel to ș ș Timi magazine of contemporary Romanian literature in English. We’re launchingit withSeptember in both some Timi specialand London at events the RomanianInstitute. Cultural this Details on our website! Romania difficult, we ofedition hope our will offer magazine you the that this next best thing: a tour of the literature of wider Romania. Enjoy your trip! manager of ‘Sorin Titel’ Library, director ofTimi LitVest, onean of esteemed poet, novelist and literary critic. Our thanks go to him for curating a fascinating and eye-opening selection of writingTimi from hismagazine city, possible, and the to first ever . is u, ț The Riveter County. As you is a very special ș Timi The Romanian Riveter oara ș and Timi oara see from the diversity of form, This edition of ș a collaboration between the European Literature Network and Tudor Cre presents some of thethe literature rest from of the country. magazine. In fact somegreatest of contemporary Romania’s authorsfrom hail this region. Our magazine also fertile groundwill for writing,language as and style you presented in this Serbia anda Hungary, crossroadshistory. of This it has both made sits it culture particularly on and volume, place. Located inRomania, close the to far the borders west with of Timi can see fromadorns the our cover architecture and that illustrates this European writing, we focus not just on a country’swriting literature, from a specific but city and region: on the Welcome to With this edition of our magazine of 2 BY EDITORIAL etkonlrc vrwitn written Phoenix’ ever the – for lyrics writer prose a best-known as career his started who director film of outstanding literature Foar the Timi which generation around sixties the to belonged he Ungureanu, Cornel and Ciocârlie Livius Dumbr Anghel Alongside and era. his poets and of outstanding the personalities of writer one and essayist, short-story Titel important most Sorin novelist, great our was a (1935–1985), of literature notion Banat the created and map literary the on region this material put who with writer The values. spiritual than culture, rather than civilization rather with Banat connected area an the as of Timi which speak of region, people Many UO TUDOR oainrc ad Lrc o for ‘Lyrics band: rock Romanian a ș ță aasatdt luih flourish. to started oara Ș rt,wt nriUjic Andrei with wrote, ra Foar erban 17) ycnrs,Pte Petre contrast, By (1976). CRE Ț ă U ș en,adciis critics and veanu, ță aai h capital, the is oara , er tia Stoica Petre , US EDITOR GUEST Ș ă ra erban h the – otpwru ru fwiesfo from writers the of group generation, powerful sixties most the of talent the generation. and among his of poets him finest daily place domestic, the the chronicling people, the of man of achievements, cloak his beneath hidden lyrical great Stoica’s ol os httersuet were students their that boast could Cre Tudor Vasile Pantea, Cheie Iosif Mioc, Simion Cornis-Pope, Toh Letters of Faculty of professors eminent the remarkable which in one a environment, from came generation Her 2009). (in Prize Nobel the awarded in recognised underground Timi the a of figure became literary and in County born author was the who that Müller, Herta coincidence no is It oppression. and communism of darkness, time a 1980s, the of out came Banat ă ș eetees nsieo h ra great the of spite in Nevertheless, en,Lvu icri,Mre Marcel Ciocârlie, Livius neanu, oara nteegte,wsltr later was eighties, the in Timi EgnTdrn .. G.I. Todoran, (Eugen ș oara ț n others) and u University’s Timi ș 3 oara ever generation ș ti ș Optzeci oara prose are Daniel ș The paradigm shift that Among the major representatives has beenAmerican rightfullypredominant culture model, to the recognised: detrimentof became Romania’s traditional the links with produce such an ideal combinationdifferent of registers:criticism, humour, and oneirism social –movement the literary definedimagination and hallucinations bycountered the realism that and surrealism of dreams, the establishment. All this, weto need remind ourselves, occurring underone of the most oppressive communist regimes in the world. thecharacterised but then turned tosubstantial novels projects, and more likeTrilogy the (2016), Corso complex one works about Timi ofwritten. In the Viorelstories most Marineasa’s short andfiction novels, gains socio-historical aesthetic dimension, a newPora while writes the and most Mircea poeticthe original prose three. This of does notthe detract from strong narrative elementswork, however. In of fact, few his writers can poems and in hismanner: own unmistakeable footsteps ‘areown lost labyrinth’ in or their theysilence’.Footprints are ‘like ‘listen tiny insects to the/ crushed underfoot’.Steps, footprints, streets – these are some of thefound ‘knots’ in Bunaru’s poems. of 1980s Timi Vighi, Viorel MarineasaPora and – all Mircea featuredVighi in started by this writing magazine. short stories, Instead, he moves the street into his ti ș Vânt : on oara Optzeci ș Timi (‘Moderate to la tare ă Eugen Bunaru is another The literary underground had not colloquial and prosaic, nor does heuse virulent language or messages. noteworthy poet of(‘eighties’) generation. this He take does poetry not onto the street; he is among the mostcollections of the decade. influential poetry potrivit pân Strong Wind’, 1982), the anthology ofGerman poets from Romania, is reminiscent of thatcontemporaries, down to of earth, direct his and German autobiographical. Indeed he did not takewould have been too off much like entering his bootsa – sacred that temple. His writing style is you want to trample all over literaturewith your boots?’ Butpart Mono of literature. became And, ever rebellious, of the literary VIPs ofperiod the communist onceeagerness: berated ‘What is him it with for you? his Do squares, to encourage and strengthen the protests. After his deathhebecamesomethingofalegend.One in 1993, which kickedthe off 16th of December in he stopped thetrams in one of the city’s central Sea must havepipes’, flown through he these a wrote. role significant in the 1989 revolution, Monoran played in thecommunist basement block ofunderground.‘ThewholeMediterranean of flats a literally – typically considerable importance tootime. at this TheMonoran (‘Mono’), worked self-taught as a stoker poet, Ion among thewolves’ of most Romanian literature. talented ‘young 4 Timi publishers. or / known and well editors as also them of both and voices, Bodnaru European Robert enjoys Adrian now political, recognition. poetry and erotic her reflective, and Vehement generation. new this of light post-1989 new, authors. the of generation Gheorghe to belonging Monoran, Pruncu Ion the poets communism: under of publish to unable those debut: Optzeci their made authors of categories two Revolution, József. Méliusz Mist Timi of great novel first the that mentioning worth also is It 1987. in Germany Herta of Federal Republic the through to emigrated who and Müller, region), the Banat in created movement resistance literary German-speaking (the Banat Aktionsgruppe of activity the through example, one take Austrian to Trakl, Georg the Petre poet of through translations role, Stoica’s major a played follow. to Joyce, were which Mih American literature, through Mircea and Romanianblazer in studies Ilie Petru Marcel poet Professor the by American poetry from translations through Timi In French. ă a rte yaHnain Hungarian: a by written was , fe h 99rvlto, revolution, 1989 the After leading a is Draghincescu Rodica Romanian the after 1990s, the In also culture German-language ș ie oara’s ș ț ș ssuisaotFuke n and Faulkner about studies ’s dinDre t;adtoe those and etc; Derlea Adrian , ti Ş ra r te oal notable other are erban eeainwohdbe been had who generation ieayotu xeld excelled, output literary ș ș aa oara, aa h hf occurred shift the oara, Cornis-Pope h iyLs n in Lost City The fEgihad English and of trail- a , ș n and u lcoa a huddn omr former deny should law ‘the that electoral requested the 8’ Timi ‘Point famous document: of Proclamation political tionary post-revolu- involvement important most country’s the Timi was of times these publications country. cultural the across in in drops of similar circulation caused decline country economic the the and 1990, press In government’s half. newly by the fell circulation Mineriad After copies. the thousand 50,000 than more of run print a enjoyed periodical, Orizont repressed, brutally were Bucharest in protests democratic the when and 1990 Mineriad, June publishers to Up Brumar 2000. and after by 1990s the in Marineasa published of collections poems and series the through acneuneo t unique its of multi- multiculturalism consequence its and (a and lingualism identity, Mittel- Banat’s europa the explored Timi in which based College, were Third Europe the of millennium activity the new by influenced the of years the authors of the among were Vighi George Daniel Lucian Szabo, Popovici, Vasile Viorel Vasile first legislatures’. the Marineasa, running for list three any Police as on nominated be candidates Secret to right and the officers activists party eakbepeoeo f of phenomenon remarkable A h n fte19sadtefrt first the and 1990s the of end The Proclamation Timi , ș aaswiesi rfigte the drafting in writers oara’s ntle post-Ceau installed rcdw ntefe free the on crackdown ș aasmi utrl cultural main oara’s , . h aaies magazine’s the ș oara Ș ra n and erban hs whose , ș ș aa oara, escu 5 i ș ș a ț Timi Via has become (‘The Life and oara ș – while Mrakić is con- Timi , who died this year at the and two new literary ță over the last decade: open, tefan Aldea, as well as puszta , who started as a poet, only to Ș ă writers have also made their oara ș Through the ‘Sorin Titel’ Literary life has been revitalised in Other important writers of this independent bookshopa true Two cultural hotspot. Owls, County Library, as the worldThe most of names relevant in poetry after football supporters. 2010 are AleksandarMarius Stoikovici and Gun Mariana age of far only – twenty-five too young. Timi public readings of prosehave and poetry turnedexperiments intofestivals have been launched, as has the social-literary Bogdan Munteanu. Theportrait biographical plays awriting, and special humour is part oneingredients. of in Two his his key Serbian fiction poets and names in our region and beyond: Borko Ilin and Goran Mrakić. Ilin is particularly attracted to the landscape of the Banat plain – the cerned withfolklore, urban dealing mythology withexplored and by contemporary prose, topics such rarely reverse process – lyricised prosequite – rare, however. is new millenniumPotcoav include Alexandru shift to proseHis and most narrative poetry. importantîntoarcerea unui novel, Halle Return ofexpressive a work Halle’, inanimates 2019), which history the – isAnother plot writer and an of vice this versa. generation is more realistic and narrative. The ă iu ț nil ă Disco , has (‘Good ă nil ă , copii iu and St oara Students’ ă ț ș , Cornel Ungureanu i, Livius Ciocârlie, ț ș ie their poetry, making it ă Noapte bun their prose seems to have (2016). Blending realism and collide. Both Ra Of the prose writers, who shone Another important literary estab- poets, influenced thisauthors contemporary who writepoetry. While both most of these generation: prose started as and ments are also emergingdraws attention to novelists, another feature which of shifted from religiouspolitical poetry to in markedlySoviet which and the new post- Western environ- person, fordemeaning instance, epithetsAnother mock poet, such as Moni ‘darling’. St past fewcultivates a caustic years. poeticHer discourse. poems Daniela written in Ra the second with the drama of those whounder grew up communism. Buthave women gained great too prominence in the Night, Children’,Titanic 2010) andelements of the fantastic, they deal after 1990, Radu Pavel Gheo is onethe of leading lights. His most importantnovels are House and since 1996 its coordinatorhas been Eugen Bunaru. Founded in 1958,running it society of is its kind the inIt Romania. longest- is based at the Timi lishment to gain importance overyears is the the Pavel Dan Literary Society. Adriana Babe Mircea Mih and Smaranda Vultur. geographical location), anda centre became of intellectualAmong development. its defining figures were 6 nti avlosntrlstig e We setting. natural marvellous this in events the cultural organising renovating and life, houses to back of brought artists visual the Cara neigh- the bouring towards in Socolari, as shifting such villages gradually gravity of centre its boundaries, its the expanded grown, have literary festivals these As Robert writer fellow by run is and October in follows (which Festival run) I which and and September in place 2012: in began and diversity representation. their broad both in Romania mini are a creating public protagonists, and musicians The observers folk singers. as and well as and teachers, students elderly, the featuring and players sports prisoners, democratic, and guards security totally library’s comprehensive and The socially are readings activity. private, individual a of as means and cohesion a community as both We reading other. promote each to and books of world the to closer culture and bring art in engaged to is traditionally not have goal who people those our and library, public original a As Romania. most in events reading the largest among Blanket are Reading The as known picnic urban the and event ConCentrica The performance intooneoftheinstitution’skeyactivities. literary an in as started experiment what We turn Readings. to tried Public have of Capital The Timi h iystonwfsiasbt both festivals new two city’s The ș bohème oara ș SvrnCut,wih which County, -Severin nentoa ieaue Literature International LitVest fof Timi Timi wihtks takes (which ș ș oara oara Ș ra) erban). aehave a has iigi h et vntog though national even and local West, our them the without in living the to or able writers, deceased or older been the of many haven’t include and writers Timi living mainly chosen invitation. We’ve our accept to able not were participate to invited we and those – of some space of reasons be for to – had selective We’ve Romania. of from rest of writing the of writing coda short additional the showcase Timi to status new and this celebrate to created the be likely 2023). most of will year because the pandemic, (however, its 2021 obtaining in Culture of in Capital European city as status the for crucial magazine. this writing for are whom of several festivals, come to to authors international invite to Romania beyond reached also have uueo h etwiigfo u our from writing city. best great and the offering present of past, future the and into glimpse a names, established its and newcomers its both introducing of diversity the of view first unparalleled an readers in many give will magazine included this English into translations magazine. another for maybe are incomplete. They be would history literary aae fte‘oi ie’TmșCut Library County Timiș Titel’ ‘Sorin the of Manager Timi Timi l hsnwatvt a en been has activity new this All u pcal omsind commissioned specially Our ș oara h oainRiveter Romanian The ș ș oara oara n h aa,wt n an with Banat, the and opriiaei hs these in participate to sltrr pcrm spectrum, literary ’s Timi ș oara uo CreTudor a en been has isoadiaspora ș Writer aaoara ț u 7 161 163 156 169 , ...... 133 rescu, ̈ller, ă rt ă ...... 112 ...... 137 ...... 107 ...... 150 ...... 154 by Herta Mu ...... 131 ...... 153 ...... 126 ...... 148 ...... 128 ...... 142 by Mircea C ...... 145 by Ioana Pârvulescu ...... by Ioana Pârvulescu by E.O. Chirovici, by Magda Cârneci, ...... by Andrei Codrescu, ...... 114 rescu ...... 122 ...... 139 ...... ă rt ̈ller niec ă ș by Magda Cârneci niec ller

by Norman Manea, ș Ü by Mihail Sebastian, The Prophecy FEM The Fox was Ever the Hunter Blinding: The Left Wing With an in Unopened Umbrella the Pouring Rain TheFeelingofElasticityWhenWalkingonDeadBodies Romanian Riveter Biographies My Romanian Revolution by Rosie Goldsmith Afterword by West Camel A Listing of Romanian PoetryEnglish & Translation Prose (since Fiction 2010) in by Stephen Watts Captives reviewed by Rein Raud Women reviewed by Max Easterman No Time Like Now reviewed by Anna Blasiak The Book of Mirrors reviewed by Barry Forshaw reviewed by Lucy Popescu Ioana Pârvulescu From Life Begins on Friday reviewed by Cristina Muresan Romanian – Literature a Perspective Publisher’s by Susan Curtis Ludovic Bruckstein From by Ludovic Bruckstein Translating Romania by Alistair Ian Blyth More Romanian Reviews From A Silence Deafening reviewed by Vesna Goldsworthy Matéi Vi From by Matéi Vi Herta M From by Herta Mu The Fox was Ever the Hunter reviewed by West Camel Mircea Cărtărescu From by Mircea C Blinding: The Left Wing Magda Cârneci 1 ....105 ...... 74 ...... 48 ...... 54 ...... 91 ă ...... 37 ...... 75 ...... 41 ...... 23 ...... 70 ...... 8 u ...... 77 ...... 32 ș ...... 17 ...... 82 an ă ...... 83 ț Robert Şerban ...... 88 ...... 74 u nil ...... 97 ...... 66 ...... 25 ...... 78 ș by ă ă ...... 85 ...... 62 ...... 67 Ebb of the Senses ț u ...... 72 ca ț ţă by Goran Mrakić ș Tudor Crețu ...... 13 by George Szirtes...... 95 and ...... 59 by Petru Ilie Cre by ...... 80 by Alexandru Potcoav by Sorin Titel by Simona Constantinovici ...... 2 ...... iu u ț by Bogdan Munteanu ț by Moni St by Rodica Draghinescu by Adrian Bodnaru erban Foar by Ana Pu by Mircea Pora by Alexandru Col Ş by Petre Stoica by Tudor by William Totok by Ana Blandiana by Marius Aldea by Mariana Gun by Ion Monoran by by Eugen Bunaru 20 Seconds escu in the Snow A Handful of Words ș by The Editors by Tudor Cre CONTENTS Introduction Ana Blandiana Poems The Sun of Hereafter by Ana reviewed by Blandiana, Fiona Sampson Romanian Literature: Lost (and Found) in Translation by Gabriela Mocan Poems Poems Reading Timișoara Madame Bovary and David Poem) Lynch (Pandemic by Daniela Ra DiaryFootball Sequences Through the Wall Corollaryvirus My Darling Exorcism Poems Rap in Novosibirsk Poems Seasons A Multicultural Third Europe: Poetsby from Stephen Timișoara Watts Poems Registers The Foundations Timișoara Poetry From The Walk Whispers Ceau The Overcoat by Andreea Scridon Jacob’s Death (I) Draft of Requiem by Viorel & Marineasa Daniel Vighi Timișoara Prose From The Porous Borders of Timisoara Romanian Literature: Editorial 8 a.Lo ti, esodo ite n rbe t–‘oge ‘rougher – honest.’ it sandpaper, grabbed than and tiptoes on stood he – it,’ at Look bag. my begin can I TV, on not I’m …’ since so – with sentence ‘So door. the on nail a courtyard: Darius’s in insisted, had days. himself old minister the The in like just bag, raffia rough so scruffy, a the along, in and cans, whisky beer child the bottles, his the lug brought to someone had was there that them of one friendlier a Only incline, slide softer opening. simply a across would came they they as river, soon as the down for aiming were men The then and now every stopped wondered: They and now. lower. narrower were was they at river trees since The was other, The were. It each it as seen Peltova. together, had from been they had mates since his years ten of least some and he grass: were They knees. the above off now. shorts them torn jeans, tan old his SEXY. WAS CULTURE FOR MINISTER THE RNLTDBY TRANSLATED BY FROM EXTRACT

UO TUDOR Prose S,ItikCeau think I ‘So, in. chimed host please,’ his damn you whatever do can ‘You from hanging bag the at finger his pointed he And ‘That!’ greenish. Dark, them. on spying were waterholes The …?’ it hasn’t while, a been it’s ‘Shit, honey-coloured long, the through walking were They

CRE 0SECONDS 20 AACRĂCIUN DANA ȚU ș suhmefqee o odwt hs this with food for queued himself escu ehdrpe ripped had He 9 Marcu chimed in, shivering: ‘The They started making their way down, ‘I think I’ll go straight in,’ the minister The kid made to open the bottle, but ‘Here!’ The minister downed a big gulp of water will wake usthe up.’ They night had before drunk assome sense well. back into us.’ ‘It will knock one by one.and crumbly. The earth was yellowish mumbled and then jumped. his dad grabbed it from his hand. Jack Daniels and passed it on. ‘Spook ’em,’ the kid said. The others had encircled a small island in the river, and The child passed the bag to his dad and cursed under his ‘Minister, you take the fishing net. Just like in the old Darius had already pushed his arms into the slimy mud ‘You.’ Darius turned towards the child. ‘Go over there to The water was surprisingly warm. ‘Right you are!’ And Marcu jumped too. The clouds were lower and lower. The men had broken ‘Pop open a bottle. Come on, pop it open!’ And he threw the bag to the kid. ‘Go to your mother,’ Darius instructed his son, ‘and bring the left and don’t letyour feet anything and shake past. your legs.’ And, you know, stamp submerged their arms all the way to their shoulders beneath it. days.’A smile softened the look on Darius’s face.here, ‘Stick under it the right willow.’ of the bank andwas told. winked wickedly. The minister did as he breath. He was not allowed to jump. into a sweat. AtA some clearing appeared point near a poplar. they A steep gave path, barren. up wiping it away. whatever she gives you. She’ll know what.’ And hefinger pointed too: his at the kitchen door. the fish’s head. He’d were he square. Finally, arms. Adiță was to trying managed to almost grab it. water and out stretched his squash was the chainsaw strongest ac layMarcu back in the murky against the rotting wood. He worker in the His village. nails hard and was now it slamming given up simply down pressing His were the inside fingers fish. 10 Yusahdi.Wthot ’ edn nte n or your one tail.’ another the by sending it grabbed I’m I way. out, Watch it. smashed ‘You picture. a took kid The bloody. was fingernail hb o tlater.’ it for chubs meeting. net. find the to expecting suspense wasn’t the He too. in liquid anything he seemed sensation. that fish murky A true feet. The It’s his at slowly. movement tins. faint net some the felt fishing of had top the on lifted it The minister tossed white. The and all shivering, was it, belly grabbed Its child bobbing. was head Its surfaced. to managed fish. he the Finally, inside were fingers square. His it. were grab almost nails in His worker chainsaw village. strongest the the was He against wood. it slamming rotting now the was and hard down pressing simply Adi arms. roots. of tangle fish a The in gills. caught its got had into straight nails his poked He underneath. O-g ’ …’ ‘Oh-ugh smile. a with off him cans. told beer Marcu it,’ the squashed you among ‘Careful, bag, the into fish the threw he And Catch!’ ‘Here. His palm. his as big as about fish chub a out pulled he And goes!’ ‘Here Adi think.’ I hole, barbel’s a hole, a ‘It’s Adi barbel?’ ‘A Darius: cabinet a in if as nodding said, he it?’ believe you ‘Would chub The could. he as hard as it on pulled he And you!’ ‘Fuck his out stretched and water murky the in back lay Marcu think?’ you do ‘What mate?’ enough, cute it’s sure you ‘Are go.’ it let you Now … it ‘Got Adi bigger. way was chub second The ță ță ță Abat,adta’ h rt!Il rd o w two you trade I’ll truth! the that’s and beauty, ‘A : wloe oewtradsa tot frowning. out, it spat and water some swallowed a rigt qahtefs’ ed edgvnu up given He’d head. fish’s the squash to trying was h e.Teso,aoiigmvmn rlne prolonged movement agonising slow, The net. the u upebre a hahn bu n in about thrashing was barbel purple a But . ță rbe tfo from it grabbed 11 , mouth to mouth. They both had Baywatch ‘Ugh-ugh!’ Darius: ‘You won’t catch anything else here even if …’ ‘Go ahead, minister,’Marcu barked, ‘stick the net in. Better The minister threw it over with enviable precision. The net A distant cousin of his had died a little further down the They were moving upstream, through rapids. The banks ‘Here.’ Marcu frowned and dashed over to the dry bush The barbels’ bellies were even whiter. He’d been still, give it to me.’ – it was finely meshedhand swelled. – and Marcu jammed it grabbed in it the with mud, one immediatelyHe behind started the to bush. shake it hard, to stomp his feet. could in the heart area, trying, as he’dof later the stated police to station, to the him. ‘resuscitate’ head The skin of the corpsehad started to dry. ankles getting thinner. As oldburst hags in would say, him; his went heart pop,Perpelea had had like dropped him a onto his back plastic on bag. a strip of HeHe’d been wet hesitant to sand. was ‘kiss’ him even thirty-six. there, in the wilderness, to do what he’d seen in moustaches and ponytails. He had pounded him as hard as he the way to my knees. You pull me out when I giveflap the my signal left – foot I’ll three times, OK?’ river. The first Saturdaypulled of him his out holiday. of Perpelea, the his hollow mate, like a stick. He’d felt the guy’s bellied out. growing on the bend. ‘This is where I caughta one that kilo. weighed I don’t know whenCome on, that Darius, hold was my now. feet. I A need to year get ago under the perhaps. bank all never kept bait in or matchboxes cartons, but – and the minister learned to do this too – in smallwould jars line of up various on kinds, a which windowsill, he just as someone mightin in a a room hostel. He would alwaysleast a put little. some soil at the bottom, at obsessed with this species ever since he was aold little next-door neighbour to boy. Their the right, the one beyond the stone wall, always caught them like crazy. He would preparethe his bait night before, raking through the manure for worms. He 12 rnltdb aaCrăciun Dana by Translated Crețu Tudor By this.’ watch ‘Dad, was darker, but anus. poop, fish’s the like of out looked leaking that Something mates. one. by one water, the from emerged when was out. him that pull But fly. to decided arched. its a Darius and into were writhed teeth it creature his The if plunged back. as he it then And catching instinctively. it, Almost at snatched the in He straight him slapped forehead. fish The second. split a for eyes his too. disappeared soles Marcu’s grabbed down. him Darius pushed and copper-coloured. ankles Marcu’s cracked, were heels surfaced. His feet his of soles the though, seconds, two than less In maggot. playful. a or and worm broad a bite were would they they then and them: in now them Every liked of He few a bag. catch raffia to his tried child The coloured. were fins bait. as used be even couldn’t loach, unlike with crawling was It net. the out ogv e u hn ewnst i newtr iehs his like underwater, die to wants he cousin.’ think I but me, forgive n ehne i ahrtepoe phone. the father his handed he And out. burst boy little under,’ the were you seconds ‘Twenty his frighten to trying if as suddenly, turned Marcu But they nothing!’ caught he as ‘Fuck, hands Marcu’s of pictures snapped child The …’ legs his spread he woman, a ‘Like opened Marcu bank, the under more, maybe in, feet Five timer. the started and out phone the took child worry.’The don’t minute, a half for OK be ‘He’ll disappeared then and water, the cross-legged in sat Marcu Their could. he as high As air. the into fish the threw He speak!’ to so change, ‘Small pulled seconds, ten about after Tarzan and, like howled He Adi ță H’ o fad htswa ieaothm o God him. about like I what That’s afraid. not ‘He’s : l ă ci ș ci ml,bte ih hc, which, fish, bitter Small, . . THE POROUS BORDERS OF ROMANIAN LITERATURE: TIMIȘOARA BY ANDREEA SCRIDON

When Romanians think of the city of a region that sits at a crossroads Timișoara, the first thing that comes to between Central and Eastern Europe. mind is the revolution. The first I say ‘Romanian’ as a nod to the rumbles of this historic event took region’s multicultural status, which is place in this multicultural city, which a result of centuries of imperial has always had a proud history of processes – Austro-Hungarian primarily, turning its face towards the rising sun as well as Ottoman. After 1920, the – perceived to be the West. In the Banat was divided among Romania, bitter winter of 1989, which would Yugoslavia and Hungary, and the soon represent a monumental, Romanian Banat’s current ethno- destiny-disrupting shift in Romanian cultural balance is mainly composed of history, the following Romanians, Swabians, slogan spread through Hungarians and Serbians. the country like wild- The word ‘border’ is This multicultural status fire: ‘Today Timișoara, intrinsic to defining has promoted a con- tomorrow the whole cultural history itself, tinuous process of country!’ In Romania, almost always signifying exchange, creating great changes: just this demonstration compare the concept a tolerant, cosmopolitan of bravery and of a cosmopolitan, free attitude in the city emancipation was always Europe with thevery often attributedtoaspirit accredited to the city’s phrase‘Iron Curtain’. of European Enlighten- geographical proximity ment brought in with to Western Europe. the Habsburgs. More precisely, Timișoara is the This said, the region is not Romanian capital of the Banat, a utopia. Like anywhere else, the 13 14 oai ihgoa n nvra universal and life global of with details cohabit mundane and micro- scopic it, In spirit. rebellious of city’s also case the anecdotal Foundation’, an presents ‘The ironic, Potcoav story Alex short while era, the of modern of deal revolution repercussions bloodiest to the Europe’s irony with bitter directly and dialogue ‘Ceau Goran hierarchies, cultural old-fashioned. than rather moving the is readers of as us impact on piece the archaic although are filial, and concepts region: Banat the in poetry to ‘dialectal’ akin of prose tradition the a is it prose, in the ancestral write pair Though of inheritance. matter and honour which a in is Requiem’, a resistance Viorel of as ‘Draft story such haunting Vighi’s Daniel works and Marineasa literary magazine this by is in This demonstrated system. well incompatible communist the clearly with although life, of way inter- a been long city’s has mosaic national the indeed Timi and Vienna’, called Miloš phrase writer Crnjanski very Serbian the Curtain’. ‘Iron with Europe free cosmopolitan, a just of concept the compare changes: great signifying always almost itself, history cultural defining diversity. of sense a by is characterised identity local entrenched firmly the and however, verifiable, historically is cohabitation peaceful of sense An overall hierarchies. by characterised are, Timi and Banat, ihnti otx f of context this Within to intrinsic is ‘border’ word The ș sui h nw ssvvd vivid uses Snow’ the in escu ș aaisl,wr,ad and were, itself, oara ș aa‘ite ‘Little oara rkćsMrakić’s multi- ă s’s ihRmna rtr ngnrl n In general. in writers Romanian with with popular Timi are reverie literary As and literature. local realism magic like choices stylistic the such, in and, course, streets, the of in of heard medley languages the local cuisine, the architecture, Central in echo former to of of continue empires ghosts fringes the where the Europe, at porous themselves. explain to fail life, real in as friendship, and love fantastic as absurd the with juxtaposed is cheeky, banality dry Its its humour. with wonderfully is colloquial, Overcoat’ ‘The short story Munteanu’s Bogdan Serbian heritage. author’s the to nod a with also Mrs in tethered of Dalloway evocative formal consciousness stream-of- against a with boundaries Pora’s pushes stylistic Mircea Walk’ world. ‘The modern of our absurdity the highlighting themes, ih vrersmtigta could everywhere, that Romanian something overhear lurking the might Police, that fear Secret hushed decades: for in tones for held were society conversations our and scarred the families that of paranoia regime of the repressive for ‘river is metaphor symbolic a itself Whispering highly remembrance’. the as read such spaces, metaphysical invisible being into borders through pass children we were fairy-tale, a we if of As depictions universe. unknowable fundamentally Conrad’s a reminiscent Joseph is of ‘Whispers’ colourful Col Alexandru magazine, this vntefoteso iebcm become time of frontiers the Even ș aaspoewies swl s as well as writers, prose oara’s rMly Molly or uoi,lclatmosphere local bucolic, a lo,btremains but Bloom, ț nsan’s ihyrichly , be deemed inflammatory. Now, in the whisper reappears as the titular these new times of freedom, once character, imprisoned by death, again, Eastern European writers have whispering his son’s name. The room in the opportunity to be the voice of their which Jacob is effectively imprisoned is people, unrestricted in all ways, also hauntingly grim, suggestive of the by ideology. age-old subjugation that Romanians Geography is another constant in consider their sinister dowry. The the literature of Timișoara: the city’s looming sense of lurking danger rises to manicured public gardens, the ever- fever pitch in this story as we approach churning Bega River and the flat plain the border between life and death. of the Banat, stretching out to the Another contemporary author to horizon, give a sense of airy liberty, or, introduce you to is Radu Pavel Gheo. if we were inclined to pessimism, of His pre-and post-revolutionary bildungs- futility and debilitating heat. romans speak directly and deeply to Given this inheritance of idealism the generation that experienced both and civic engagement, it will come as no the bad and the good times, before and surprise that quintessential examples after 1989. These two conflicting of political dissidents connected to traditions of cosmopolitanism and Timișoara and the Banat include Herta communism run through the literature Müller, recipient of the Nobel Prize for of this city on the banks of the Bega Literature in 2009, and Ana Blandiana, River, so often informed by its contender for the 2020 Nobel Prize for history, and so often autobiographical. Literature. As well as the other writers A literature also frequently mentioned here, this magazine and the characterisedby a remarkable clarity awarding of the status of 2021 of expression. As a result, some of European Capital of Culture to the these notable works of ‘autofiction’ Timișoara region mean we can focus on have reached the big screen, including several important authors who fully Tudor Giurgiu’s Parking and Stere deserve to be translated into English. Gulea’s I Am an Old Communist Hag. Names to remember here are Sorin Timișoara’s authors have been able to Titel, a novelist from the 1980s famous create a distinctive imaginary space for Woman, Behold Thy Son, as brilliant precisely because of their unique as Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose location straddlingCentral and Eastern in its narrative drive and intertextuality, Europe, which has given life to, and managing to roll William Faulkner, showcased, so many different realities Thomas Mann and Julio Cortázar into and historical events. one imaginative landscape. Read Sorin Titel’s morbidly trenchant short story ‘Jacob’s Death’ in a special translation Andreea Scridon

for The Romanian Riveter. The trope of 15 16 17 TITEL SORIN BY ANTUZA GENESCU JACOB’S DEATH (I) light of the room, his grey TRANSLATED BY immaterial hair, litmoon’s from behind, obscuresummer resembles aura evenings the on (eveningsdaylight when holds long, out the for a long the while, flows night into until veryit, late the and white, discolours dead moonsign that being the brightness the of only the day is long to last forevercomes from – behind and therefore now,an when the with unexpected light switch gesture he in flips the the heavy, grey, almost able to see what lies on the other side if he turned around, might remember this hour: the silver horsesswollen with hot, bellies fragile, lying on ain dull which green the field, horses theTo step muddy the and holes right, splash also themselvesmomentitswingsopenwithalong,wailingcreak,hewouldbe behind all over the … old man there is a door; the gone, a grey, dreary moon hanging in a bluish void); he daylight, which comes from only one place,behind a window the high old up man, whichbuttoadimlylitcorridor–somebodyhasbrokenaglassoran goes through not to theashtray outside, there and the shrill echo of the broken glass seems washed walls – dirtytheywerewaitingfortheoldmantodie–supporttheweight white walls, repainted recently, whileof the ceiling from which a thin, blackof string the string, hangs; a at dirty the bulb end – with small,the dark reddish dots that freckles resemble on the old man’s facehits – spreads light the that shoebox-like rectangular walls; then there is the The room should have a veryupwards high you ceiling, so can that barely if discern you look the area where the white- As soon as the sound of the corridor beyond the the old man starts singing the yellow daylight comes, broken glass fades away in song must sound as natural nook window through which as possible, it must be long, in a loud, cracked voice. The ete oooos like a wail. monotonous, gentle, 18 Co beyond understand, Iosif, can’t, please from I … me through right cutting wind’s biting ‘The disgust. in bitter again them out some them like spit them or drugs chew can reproduce he that so mouth, will his into back they man’s whining, old endlessly; the childish absorbing his of an play instead words, will this: walls The in sentence. part a important of middle of the all in break sudden, will voice a his Then notes. shrillest he high-pitched, the why be reach leave, must must I can’t voice His …?’ me. understand through you right won’t cuts it fiercely so Co blows from wind The he can’t. I if understand please say,leave, better talks can’t also will ‘I is man he And it lament. endless old window, long, a little the into words dirty his if joins the better at is up It looking while …’ think think you you heartless, go, I’m to why want leave, don’t can’t I ‘I think himself: You understand? to you talking won’t man old the of voice the and stamps dull the hear can You boots. his off snow the stomps door the and near somebody the and time, in in bursts snow heard of to cloud is corridor. voice, A time child’s a from as opens clear sound, the prolonged that a bell to then opens a door with a door corridor, the a street, of end the man old At hours, the down. and calms for comes finally chairs, lasts night this until the weeks, maybe All dusts days, chairs. nearly kitchen moustache blue grey ordinary, those thin his so that head his low bends He for eyes. short-sighted searching his always another, with something to chair one black from a running him from thither, and hither square chessboard, moves a somebody on pawn left pawn a only the resemble the might window, cobwebbed man dirty, old a with nook the from in perhaps squares black-and-white the the touching bent almost body low, his and nicotine, very knotty with nose stained his moustache hunched, start his back hooked, should his man room, old the the in now, fretting By intervals. equal at strings long a by see would He lit so. do corridor to as curious humbly so were he if ș hsbadlk eetfor eas enfo above, from seen Because floor. cement chessboard-like v. h od r oigbc raial,disjointed, erratically, back coming are words The ava.’ oawieoeadbc;ti shwyuimagine you how is this back; and one white a to nwy etik h od emnlswl oe come will mangles he words the thinks he anyway, iia ub agn rmvr hc lc black thick very from hanging bulbs similar ș v ava 19 beyond the nook window through which the corridor As soon as the sound of broken glass fades away in calves could move their wet bellies closer to the tram windows. Then the old man willthe stay kitchen in chairs, searching for his somebody with tiny his room inquisitive eyes.‘AnahasjustbeenherewithMilan’smuteboy,’hemumbles, again, bent over his tongue a bit too thick,When so he gets you tired of can searching, or barely when understand he him. merely gets tired, resemble the horse-drawn trams. Onceoutskirts, it it would be has better if reached itit the didn’t moved stop very at slowly, all, so but that instead off. the The hurried passengers ticket can seller get cancabin; sleep then on the tram the could stop tickets in in a her small narrow forest where some man’s words. ‘I’ve left the horses inI the woods, must they are cover cold, themman, uttering with random words. a It would blanket,stopped be at you better the see,’ if end says theleave, of the tram get the old on corridor the so almostan that empty older he tram. vehicle, could It one finally is of better the to first choose electric trams that slightly his round head on a neck asto thin as try a not child’s. to He shout will also thetogether, have words; so instead, he that should they blend them sound Allpersistently. like this time, one at single the word endwill of repeated hit the corridor, the the door wall, blown by the wind, in rhythm with the old the yellow daylight comes, the oldcracked man voice. starts The singing song in must ait sound must loud, be as long, gentle, natural monotonous, like as aaround, nobody possible, wail. should be He able must to turn see his face,his just head, the his back silver-grey hair of with two knots on top of his head, The warm nosestanding on of its spindly legs the pushes the swollen playful, udder, thebucket overturns, the milk thin milk spills – newborn all over the calfsteamy place manure in and the middle warm, barely … although the oxen andthe the broken heifers horn andbellies and the are the old there, horses cowgrass, on with with summer’s hot their the ashes. hot, deserted Heunderstand says, plot I swollen ‘I can’t.’ No of can’t more leave, tears land you to must of shed; his burnt eyes are dry. 20 thnwiig h l a lmsdw wwrl n and awkwardly down climbs himself man drags old attempt The first first schoolboy’s handwriting. the a at were it after if as tired crooked, the shaky, a scribbled in dust, gets dusty, an i and hand the unfinished, left an on is his name name letters, the his But scrawl window. will narrow he hand, shaking a with room, other Then, the reach. can’t tomatoes he the in at staring keep to on have will going he is that everything watches I’ve he harshly, as And so …’ I blowing now and them, wind’s cover to blankets woollen the the prepared cold, with horses shivering my go, are to like wouldn’t I think you you can’t, do understand, ‘I thicker. must growing more as started freely, has together be tongue mingle man’s will will old words the they lament, the a time than This excuse glass. an dusty cold, the by Co crushed there, remain words mouth from his his and window, pressing little wind aloud, filthy the man to the old the Iosif, leave, says leave, …’ can’t that can’t fiercely ‘I so I tomatoes. see of shining you basket two, can’t the in of room half other only the separating on light remain. should of window streak man’s unexpectedly old A the off from turned light the be only be should and should light door the attic shut, the slammed them Then short-sighted. see cannot is man old he the because but room, be the also drops in must baskets water There other bulb. with the ago, of light time strong the short reflected were that a that there ago, while and ripe little here of a washed full just is picked through were looks that man tomatoes old the window little the to closest basket man The window. old dusty his the through carefully studies that baskets wicker should big It very room. man’s but old nothing contain the in like white, and and red black but not a chessboard, blue, on like have squares definitely with must floor cement It a attic. the of hole to rectangular leading dark, ladder the wooden a and walls whitewashed room with rectangular A one, a came. not square, a glass chosen, be broken should own mysterious his of to similar sound the the into where window from little room dirty the he through tiptoes After on look stand effort. to to great has he with it, onto window climb to the managed finally has to chair a draws he oteohredo h om eplsotanother pulls out room. He the of other end the to ș v blows ava 21 chair, lifts it with difficulty and tries to stand it on top of the old man will haveremarkably to be alike. surprised He whenbecause he will he sees cannot squeeze they probably through look the haveother narrow side nook to and to the the door be ishave locked. sad Or to maybe he think too, will about not eventhough this. he He won’t will be only able have to to hear tell him, his ‘I son, can’t leave, please his legs, he slips,weight, falls stands up on again and them the bright-red and juicehis oozes chest crushes across and them shoulders, his with hands and hiscovered thighs, in even that his sweet, face bloody is fluid. Hethat signals he to doesn’t the have a old chair, man so he can’t reach the window. The withhiswrinkledhand,sothathecanseehimbetter.Heevenwhispers his name as heThe places young his man mouth doesn’t answer; against he just the standsat glass. still him. and stares The old man won’tbasket give of up, so grapes Iosif finally closerawkwardly. His moves feet the turn to red from the the grapes, the grapes window melt and climbs on it Theystareateachotherforawhileinsilence.Thentheyoungman starts moving his lips asswollen if and asleep. moist Obviously, lips his cannot utter slightly any words.man Finally, the realises old he knows the youngerhe one. tells ‘He is himself my in son, Iosif,’ amazement and wipes the dirty window to it, feeling the strongside, smell the of light dust is and on again dirt. andin On the a the middle young of other man the stands room, half-naked among grapes the fruit baskets. and There are apples. Onlybecause he now is can in the aslightly higher old parted, place. the man Head young bent see man to looks them, at one him side, with lips wide eyes. one with the skill of a circuschairs, artist. He stands clambers still, on triumphant, top of and thehigh gazes up. at It the looks totally room different fromand to touches him the now. ceiling He with lifts a anThenheleansonthewindowoncemoreandpresseshisnose finger, arm which fills him with joy. first chair. The chair falls downbetter and hits if his he legs. It didn’tconcerned would with shout be his thoughts in to be pain. awarethe of He chair the again pain. should with He great be lifts effort and much balances it too on the other 22 on ilcm u fhsmuh xetta otnos continuous, that except mouth, his of out no come because talking, will is he sound that imagine to Or have …’ will can’t I man old fiercely, the so blowing wind’s the can’t, I me, believe rnltdb nuaGenescu Antuza by Translated Titel Sorin moving. feet. without idiot’s village him the kiss watch to to down bend well, will he as Then up three turn him, will After men incoherently. man, old old mumbling the and of him front in at chair staring a on village sitting the up, boy, turn mute might Milan’s will idiot, end, the room In hostile. the means and white no and surface, by round disappear smooth, a will be will It angles circular. become the all that many so be walls various will there take point will certain a They at find. and forms will geometrical faster he the walls and more five, the then counts, four, count he will he first, At walls. the counting start will he time, long a After gibberish. meaningless 23 VIGHI BĂRĂGAN DANIEL & gan Plain, harvesting ANTUZA GENESCU ă r ă DRAFT OF A REQUIEM z and were among the richest ă MARINEASA TRANSLATED BY a, a cow, a horse, some sacks of wheat THE PENTECOST ’51. FRAGMENTS ț under the eaves and the dovecote ontall the pole behindgatheredaroundhim.Therearenowords the grainto describe barn his desperation. andfingers through He his hair ran and leant his his head againstthewallofthehouse.Injustafewdays, his hair had turned grey. Mita went into his courtyard.at He the stared deserted outbuildings,starving heard cattle the bellowing, the dogchain, on barking, its the chickenstheir cackling pens. in Hungry pigeons flew from ON THE DEPORTATION IN VIOREL FROM triconis, toiled on the B BY ă Sofia Mezin, Mita’s wife, was found by the militiamen and the soldiers after a longwall search. where She was the hiding family inreached kept from a their the double attic. grain. She was The sittinga between place the pile could walls, on be of wheat.noticed When something beside they her. shone ItMichaelofRomaniaattheageoffourteen,whenhehadbeen the was torch a photograph on of her, King they station for a fewMezin, days. went back The home headwatching for of them a granted the him while; household, this the Mita favour. soldier The who next was morning, cotton. What happened to everybody happened to themthe too: army and the secret police turnedMezins up took at their some house. The clotheswardrobes and they would food need from to build thethe themselves field a pantry, shelter near two in Ciulni and maize and a few chickens. They had to wait at the train The Mezins lived inpeople in Giulv the village. Two branches of theirand family, the the Cipors P We have washed their and, as he is putting his one of them turns around they are going to the spa, replies: ‘We are taking our remains with wine and now backpack on his shoulders, we are bringing them home.’ When asked by a traveller if families home from Bărăgan. 24 oBno atei atdanb orwiehorses. white four by the drawn cart been a prince in crown Castle had young Banloc the to father taken once Sofia’s had he and Iulia. mayor village Alba of Voivode Grand h luh fte the of ploughs the B of land the body his of half upper fainted. pointsman the The only intact. remained that saw he up, Iepta pointsman sleepers the picked As the neck. on pointsman’s the man around the hands on, his put going was what check moved he to When closer points- tracks. a the on darkness, moaning he the someone train, In heard man wheels. the the on under getting fell was and he slipped as evening, the pointless In much so suffering. endured had he where places the revisit to Ciulni at brother, stopped Mita’s Vasa, son-in-law of the Iepta, had he after just cancer years, of house. died six his reclaim them to after managed of only One village sick. and native leave. old to their came to time the returned easily when could They ground they the so grave, from shallow a her remove in first her bury B would the leave to Giulv able to back her take they to her because going peace, on were in lying rest was could she she her While told they home. deathbed, back her take to sons her started villages neighbouring the them. adobe visiting from an built people they and year following house, The deep. more feet was that 130 well a than dug they thirst, of of died many had After animals winter. their entire an spent them around every- else and the Mezins body the how area, paper That’s dugout. tar a godforsaken the later, with then, covered and and in shelters field into turned deserted wardrobes a into from train down climbing the journey, long the peasants: deported of eighty-oneyearsold.Thefamilysharedthedestinyofthousands et a uidntfrfo h l oa’ rv,i in grave, woman’s old the from far not buried was Iepta Manyyearsafterthedeportation,onhiswaytoasanatorium, begged had She fields. the in there died woman old The M mother, Mita’s took also soldiers The ă r ă a,teln undoe wc erwt with year a twice over turned land the gan, gostat ă r ă a atln.Te rmsdte they promised They wasteland. gan . ă sso ste ee were they as soon as z ă i ei,te then Mezin, rie ț a EPILOGUE

Twenty years after the deportations, in the capital city’s North Railway Station, three men of about thirty, one older and two younger, board the train bound for Timișoara. They carry heavy green backpacks, like forest rangers or hunters. Theysqueezethroughthenarrowaisle,checkingtheirtickets against the enamelled seat numbers. They stop, slide the compartment door open, greet the other passengers, take their heavy burdens off their shoulders and rest them care- fully on the luggage net above their heads. They sit silently on the bench until the train approaches Băile Herculane, where they intend to get off. When asked by a traveller if they are going to the spa, one of them turns around and, as he is putting his backpack on his shoulders, replies: ‘We are taking our families home from Bărăgan. We have washed their remains with wine and now we are bringing them home.’

Viorel Marineasa & Daniel Vighi Translated by Antuza Genescu

THE WALK BY MIRCEA PORA TRANSLATED BY ALEXANDRU NEMOIANU

Autumn was unhealthy because of the warm air rushing in fromeverywhere,throughthecrownsofthetrees.Theatmo- sphere was calm, even dull, resembling those fallen hours that set in after a funeral. The buildings emerged from the night as dry as the streets, as the summer drought continued. No one was pushing my son and me to make our way out of our warm beds on which the strange torches of the night were barely extinguished. Let’s take a walk, even if we have to go through a rain of stars ... The asphalt is so clean, it looks like

a strip of milk, as you can see it is undisturbed by any impurity. 25 The great achievement of modern roads. My son is so quiet, 26 eas h aiswowr lyn h in,trd a ad laid had silence, tired, sudden piano, the a playing is were who there ladies the where because rooms those he to thought you a with sends that failures, his by overwhelmed perhaps udy,hldy pn nde lsns ontr,other nature, to closeness Solemn deep schools. in in spent about holidays talked Sundays, longer ago, bygone no of are years wonders which mute times, infrequently hundred not the have two would opened it then fan, them a Like perfect. on been have would everything appeared carriage a once if and had roads, country intersected burrows. hedgehog roads and mole Country of full We plain landscape. a the with dealing at were looking kept and forward cyclist, bank. a moving a was onto I ditch, a to into given all, and nudge bicycle flown, small have the could a who under train, right high-speed railway a driving of the nose over serious crossing ruffled a make that feathers, overtaking not many an braking, would uninspired we An mistakes. that rare convinced went the we end on, with the In drivers, ... you accompany basic you that thoughts our business of flickers meet your indecently about or Go discussion, a needs. that so finish stopped could had we we that by thought probably them, driven us, of Many at services, landscapes. looking for care funeral little too had that prolonged who dreams drivers after like us, you behind we disturb passed As cars so … heavy fades stuck that the life was quickly, called it moment which the eternity, into about earth thought of fallen wood mound ... symbolic the day that of into, had light oblivion bright deep the what Lord, in Oh, it, of front familiar his in with one son, stopped My At sensibility, cross. a miles? road, the for of side hear the on could point, its we on driving, erosions while microscopic which, the walls, about office, sobs mayor’s the now about the say nests, of I can storks’ What the greatness. of of full but rotations deserted, almost the also gathered but church, had of covered the dome the autumn was reassuring entirely most strong The chest. passing her almost to rich, everything was The houses I leaves. with night. in village of a straps the through from released freshly landscape, the in tasted I but while effortlessly regulations, the driving with drove, accordance He keys. the on heads their 27 places with white was driving and the scenery was forgotten, bloodless,metre swallowed by milli- horizon millimetre that by seemedson the so distant gloomy. spectacular. My Empty starlight, ditches for restingalleys in choked at with creeping night, plants, walls left behind like abird, shot until swan. recently This so greatthe hot, tongues floating of over so much turmoil, now lay of thorns. For a few seconds the car, although natural beauty, a new village appeared under a regular lover of local here is not a my son mistake’.Both and I took the announcement seriously, we found ourselvesthe temporarily sheltered branches, which under resembleda the massive feathers chestnut. of From a itsof raven, air leaves towards of us, it which seemed blew to have a itseyes origins vague in of the breath deep blind cracks in the ground. ‘Let’s go slowly,’ I told my hanging from the sky like hooks. Here,miles finally, of after miles and mountain moving slowly, jumped off the roadpiles and of we weeds, saw, beyond a the large sign that read: ‘Stopping for a while hills that seemed to barelyclumpsoftrees,whichasthecarpassedcouldbetakenasthe breathe under the autumnconcrete sun, expression of somewhere the agonist’s mountains began under agonies. blue lines, Far aprobably moving speck, a away, hawk, undisputed master ofof those course heights, were which barren. Later, they were just question marks, where time had faded, the last shudder of life. Further on, parents, priests, groom, bride, modest guests lending a helping hand, some of whom may have died already of cancers malignant or heart attacks. Moving alongautumn, like towards this the on vaulted the soulsyou of road, could for so in a many moment, the at settlements, least, not think about the summer waystoreducethefearofdeath.However,amongthepapersand mosses, along thecould small see, ditches in the a less rain thanflowers. had perfect A wave dug, state, of joy, it one of is relaxation, immediately true, settledthe bouquets over car. of I now had clear evidence of a wedding. With god- plump face, of great renown, teacher, Serbian, a bit through the cemetery. severe, reserved. For so mountains, Grandmother, Grandfather was a doctor, long, their shadows fluttered 28 bu t’W ohfl h tagns,tepsiiiyo of possibility the strangeness, the felt both me We tell it.’ ever hundred, about a of age the passed my who did grandmother, nor village; this about anything know don’t really ‘I son, xrie,b edn ntems xtclnugs and languages, exotic most by the in Fortified looks. reading of by exchanges exercises, significant to were reduced road checks the fact, all the In time. long along a for which ‘miracle’, about officials the known seen had they had the too we All that aware again. be to seemed off deep few set a after we waiting. and breaths anything was on car commented us the the of for branches Neither headed whose I under and with son tree Perhaps my chestnut ago, flight. hour from an plucked than courage had less frost the that migratory and birds cages in frozen the pigs maid, across came the also dancers, I teacher. the choir, the knees, embraced in had their arms stillness to her the fallen inspector, had kindergarten a officials before city making presumably few loud, a out bacon, laughing at frozen, eyes asleep, others caught licences, been some- driving had for pencils, outstretched coloured either hands icons, feet, cups, their their thing, with or on smooth, leave sleeping a to into were ready slipped Some those have All sleep. to ... seemed hopeless words met few had a we in whom saw we fearing road, we the still what on summarise darkness and the would walk by surprised longer be a would we in that the engaged in Being happens what ... see houses Let’s initiative. our muscles, the of son of sharpening strengthening my a a Then felt looked we sea. courage, which long-dried gained I a plateau, and of white bottom the the Not like on scenery. strikingly appeared the hen of in stillness a square, the the even silenced. in stillness, moments the gradually few with a had for conflict rose diseases dust secret of trumpet that A place a adversary an into by thrown being were you no that were guards, there and dogs where prison a of through walking rows were you air, imagine that to the easy was of It encouraging. movements optimistic, terraces nothing slight and trees, the balconies the In of collapsed. Most had time. of passage the affected badly by or repaired poorly could either eye were the houses as the far see, As took. we steps first the from surprises, 29 don’t even know, it rises upyour to eyes, you you and are as soondoesn’t one as with you seem what wipe to itinexplicably bright once pieces move. of moved your life From and and of the now lives the thatclose were to depths you come of to thethose surface your and depths. lie brain, There on the are landscape also of images that once tormented I did notabsorbed, lean as if on I anything, couldresonates leave I the in earth. absorbed There your is oraccompany a it, ears I you song look when that was into the suchmultiplies abyss deeply below around situations you, you. everything The arise. water You below, the darkness, you particularly heavy, but people were a littleit. reluctant Not to exactly touch unconsciously, but fuelled by a strange courage, I took a few stepsstopping, but in the there. hesitation passed, For and a whatto was moment me, to I it happen thought happened ... about trying to I look through that had abyss that I pushed had sensed was the beneath. stone aside and was chains, princes, deeplywomen all enlightened got out spirits,hands of on and cars, the Stone. out Now famous of nobridge carriages, one was was to swirling here, place over only the theirrecognise, it. railway With I a approached boldness the I Stone. didn't It really was neither big nor something. The forests, the grey autumn clouds,ofwaterescapingfromthestrengthofthemountainswillpay the streams homage to him. Further up, where eternity truly begins,will there be one to take carethe of this. Written And Stone suddenly, round appears. a Great curve,are emperors, in whose the chronicles, deaths passed by, kings dressed in decorative passed through a village whosewith recent an history uncle is of mine, connected who proveddid not beyond care For about death. his deeds any he a deserved monument, doubt that he a small statue, a plaque,planted something in commemorative, his a memory. tree They will pay homage to him with modestly, using the strictest common sense,way my forward, son following led his the instinctsharassment, unevenness. as Both if our to beards had avoidsince grown potholes, we a left, little our cheeks developing astill red appear patina, in but a I could movie, in a play. With our heads bowed we 30 eoe yprnso h ak aho hi w,lk w two like own, their on them each walk, seen the I’ve on remember, parents I my before, what that’s right, That’s freedom again. to right their demanding phantasms, of kinds all you, hi hdw ltee hog h eeey ewere We cemetery. the through fluttered long, shadows so For their reserved. severe, bit doctor, a Serbian, a Grand- teacher, mountains, mother, local was of lover Grandfather renown, great ago. of face, plump years seventy died than had my more They for great-grandparents. meant had was son’s one It my no hypocrisy. grandparents, or face profit whose for on thirst wedding priest read a ever to diamond or general, a to or made was who be colonel a to golden given or be they bride forbid their God anniversary. any for celebrating intended not couple award- were any They melancholy. biology. for history, intended and physics, mathematics, in not ‘Olympians’ any pathos for were student, winning they joy, say, to between Needless inter- states the lady, all knew Viennese who mediate a terraces vast by and chosen balconies of been lover back had a They the way. flowers, in the The us all ... seat followed bouquet had the together, with gathered issue Here beautifully the village. solve another in to stopped had we we up, dozen us a cut least had at who spared cats I the after of windshield, rid face. the got hit to I that have after hawks rocks, you the what between matter bends several no to After walk it, a accomplish take to to have end You on. the keeps moved that I blood which of flow after the alive, at is you looks else spade a what like say, then it, we at Stone, I looked Written the can Stone, the What replaced I … say? it to walk there as back our it continue put let’s and now looked was you’ve Stone, ready, the ... under mud what’s the at of enough out get to whistle you sharp a warns like voice, that son’s my and ... where know streets, don’t which I know if don’t I on strangers, again two and like parents, gardens, my her coming through but walking shattered, again, strongly moment back a for loneliness, unexplored anyone, river by a of mouths frozen from the igniting, yellow moment, turning to man, before moment a of all, face the above with history plane of period a a one, capitals two as me, together to coming sign any make don’t they look, strangers, 31 Mircea Pora Translated by Alexandru Nemoianu advertising the Beer Festivalwindows. Beyond were that, pulled one down thingattached ourselves was over to anyone for the or sure, anything on we this walk had ... not was. And, what did I see ... our grandparents,parents our had great-grand- not left but had comeeach out of other, their standing, graves next slightly to supportedI returned by home their late, red crosses withrooms ... fatigue. The was monotony of no the greater than when we had left. Shutters empty pits. They wereCountless all wreaths, the bouquets, same: promises deep,brance, of blind, tins, eternal what deserted. may remem- have beenamong decorations, tufts lumps of of grass earth,bouquet wet, at dry. random. Eventually To leave wefront, the because threw cemetery that our I was went where out the the grave I was looking for cemetery, dear visitors, dear gentlemen, will beelectricity, modernised, internet,entertainment, Facebook sports fields, pages, mobile phones,its blogs, legal and inhabitants until have been then, sewerage, transferred. I can’tmore.’ tell My you any son and I walked as far as we could between the approaching it, with flowerscoming up in from behind, our from the hands railway,us. something puzzled Why As … were there wemany so were graves? A many young piles man born ofcompetition well earth after the in between times of front free of factories so explained to us: ‘The 32 RNLTDBY TRANSLATED BY WHISPERS hmu ucl,‘n eme gi tSra Shedding!’ Stream at again meet we ‘and quickly, up them them. with up from caught came had which whispers darkness, and those the calls of Eerie souls drowned. the once and had who torches their of reflections the away close. so which seemed on walked river death the Jacob had Never shore. place. the the recognised against longer the neck no – its river rubbed wide that the on monster mist dark the in danced ghosts eyes, their of smells the one, by them. welcomed one river as, the happy, been have must for others circle white moon’s the at up moment. a looked all some they for and voice reason, strong clear, a had He protests. mumbled huge, a like shrink sky stomach. blue himself the watching told time, Jacob now,’ hundredth the longer for much ‘Not ground. back the willows, disappearing before into the up skirted jumping them, they startled When otter an feet. their knocked under and trunks them tree before rustling shrubs sharp-leaved rotten through storms, by over down carefully stepped fall. and stumble They to not trying on, pressed they but scratched, sky. the in glimmering stars first torches, the their seen beyond have reed, would up they looked of the they jungle started Had a foxtail. and and through up sedge way stood their men working the down, while, journey a After other air. each the to called in birds Night their ends. their rags held the around lick men wrapped them watching The flames, the down. of last die the above to clubs beginning were fires The LXNR ALEXANDRU Fo eeo ewl npis’dcddBodu,piig pairing Bloodnut, decided pairs,’ in walk we on here ‘From carry water the watching while, a for silent kept They Before ridge. the on trees the reached they last, long At The behind. from voice a said job,’ good a do we’ll think ‘I men’s other the ignoring singing, started Bloodnut arms their and torn shirts their thick, was grass The NUAGENESCU ANTUZA COLȚAN 33 They stumbled over clods of earth. tighter in hisbecome palm. a It fisherman was andwith his Bitu. he turn Just was his to luck. stuck nut Why had not Blood- sentdownstream, him towards the with log dam? the other lads, ended up with this silent,never wild caught anything? man He who squeezed the fork his father had tied to a hazel branch Then they went down a trail descending among burdocks. The boy looked at Bitu’s fur coat and cursed under his They squeezed hastily through the thick foliage that In the torchlight, they looked like strange creatures with found another beaten path concealedThe smell by of the wild mint undergrowth. was so strong you could chew it. White clouds unfolded loweradream.Furtherdown,Jacobfoundsomestepscarvedinthe and lower in theground sky, and as two well-anchored if rods with in tiddlers writhing on The path made a hairpinThey bend left and it then and followed kept the along fields. the wall of vegetation, until they the river roaring underneath their feet, as though fromthe under ground, biting the shore with longand monster harder. teeth, harder breath. This was his first fishing expedition. Why had he grasped at them like aclaws, pushing aside huge vines and weeds monster that grew freely, treading with greenon teeth dead and branches covered inthey fungi. walked along Torches the in shore. their Theydressed hands, passed in by ivy and creepy dense figures grass, throughbushes,theyduckedunderlichen-mottledtrunks.Theyheard tall ferns and thorny disappear suddenly into the heart of thewas night. standing He knew behind Bitu him, waiting forlost him in in the silence, dark. his No facetruth, time Jacob didn’t to know the waste, way they back home. had to move on. In red, misshapen faces,creaking ruffled tree crowns billowed, invisible in hair the wind. The and village had glowing eyes. vanished, The asHe though was it the last had to leave. never He been saw Bloodnut there and at his brother all. dead; they rode on ghost horses, chased by wild beasts. closely behind him and froze on the spot. He knew the river on-fteSap barking Hound-of-the-Swamps carried away the souls of the Once he thought he heard the 34 h ry wmaon ti ice n vnulygtcuh caught got eventually at and sniffed circles predators in it the around night; swam prey, their the the leaving during of bank habit a the by made lines had fishermen The hooks. the codwt idog h aesa pt h warmer the to up swam nase the birdsong, forest the with when came, echoed about spring village when whole that the to knew brag Everybody one, it.’ big a catch was it, find must prey ‘I their but trunks, seen. moved tree be to They nowhere sunken light. the around by attracted slowly feet, their later. at there food for swarmed get looking tiddlers to spiders, time water critters, had of down- Hundreds They hurrying boy. weren’t the they thought thing stream, good a was It water. the fish. found dead a of been those like eyes had his dam, swollen, the who belly of his wires Roli, the in tangled to hopelessly later, days happened several the were in had riverbank pits the It the by swallowed riverbed. to or currents down the by went under pulled who those More once, strike. to ready than He fork you.’ his his surface, shining hear glistening water, the them the on over torch let bent now don’t was you, who Bitu, see followed tell them would he let ‘Whisper,’ wrinkled. ‘don’t all him, water face his drinking mug, father tin his a saw from suddenly deeper and trap, and cold deeper a sinking into was he sensing obeyed, boy follow. to The Jacob beckoned and anything. down hear climbing not already would was He Bitu but heads, their above sky the criss-crossing were birds Frightened there. finally were They remembrance. of river the river, big the to close very roots, and heavy so fish it. the lift cart, barely a could in Once, he salmon friends. huge a his hide him to caught saw he sold Jacob how he That’s pike-perch tree. common a sharp-toothed to the was fastened had he It that hook waters. on a duckling a stuck dangerous Bloodnut day other in every that knowledge fishing or impenetrable otherwise their places in lines taking bait their lads tying about and out heard boats often had Jacob themselves. I hudb oehr rudhr, eie Jacob. decided here,’ around somewhere be should ‘It trouble to not trying cautiously, advanced Bitu and Jacob leaves the between opening narrow a reached had They 35 b watched as his companion’s silhouette, reflected o Once he thought he heard the Hound-of-the-Swamps ‘We’re separating,’ mumbled Bitu. ‘Stop following me. Go Jac He was all alone now. The thought made his hair stand on He waded on for a long while, stumbling over the shiny Bitu stopped and crouched down to scrutinise the red the night’s blue sky, faded away in the veil of mist. ‘He’s his fork forwards, to keep it at bay for a while. barking closely behind him andthe froze river on carried the away spot. He theghost knew souls horses, of chased the dead;Surdu, by they who wild had rode lost on beasts. his marbles He after knew meeting with this a young from He flinched at every suddengrass movement, and but reeds it whispering. was At some only point,substance the he of felt the the night whole gather in theominous round, yellow spirit eyes of that an shoulder. was He felt its studying breath like a him cold gust curiously of wind and over thrust his towards the dark abyss that wasthing. calling I’ve him. got ‘I’ll to catch catch something.’ some- pebbles, among insects as tiny asthe nails, only which living seemed creatures tolowered be in his that fork water. Now in and order again, to he relax his tense arm muscles. in worried I may trouble the water and catch his fish,’he thought. end.Heshiftedhistorchtotheleftandshoneitontheshore, surface of the water. Suddenly, hehis fork thrust struck his something. arm The boy down froze and hand. with Then the he torch saw in Bitu his recover his weapon. that way.’ separated into groups. Those living closer toriver knew the from edge experience that of at the that timeswam of year, blindly the and nase were quite easyvery to catch. They good, didn’t taste they nonetheless had – fish were a meat, and lot meat was life. of bones, but they were fish waters of the brooks to lay their eggs. Thatthe year it children hadn’t been patrolling the bankit, with but forks the who fishermen. announced Rumoursthe waterhole that spread the all nase around the had canton.nets swum Immediately were gill by lowered, pens were mended, the men met and 36 ewog thpee l h ie fe l,wa i hy they did what all, After time. the all fishermen happened could It Older people wrong. older whistle. even be a but nonsense, with such in dogs believe didn’t its called that devil rnltdb nuaGenescu Antuza by Translated Colțan Alexandru him. Hound-of- of ahead the just wildly heard barking the-Swamps he moment hidden on, That slept away. Life far it. lit somewhere and bag fishing his from torch new a fields. the and forest the both feed could cows, pus, like yellow river, the dead how currents strange was the It beds, river. the where on stronger floated were their roofs whole flooded and brooks trees uprooted the and was ice the melting when back, year A fell. nearly and slipped He foam. eyes. his before came would face still mother’s he his then of laughter, so fits into water, bursting boys dead the saw into Jacob empty-handed. return here, him sent doubt, No had anything? Bloodnut caught they Had what doing. wondered were others He anymore. the light any gave barely muscles. torch leg his His through body colder, his leave was to water seemed fatigue the and now, stronger was current The water. come? have they could how come not had blossom, in weren’t nase trees even cherry surprise The there. damned No yet. The now. that of sure was had fishermen he The lied, catch. to him for fast too foot, his by darted whirlpools? the into lads the lure to bride, a as dressed the waters haunted and legs, goats’ and hair green had miller’s who the daughter, about stories telling ones the they Weren’t know? ln-ln-ln.Ngtwsfligi ml rp.H ok took He drops. small in falling was Night Plink-plink-plink. yellowish of crowns small spinning rolling, were waves The the into further went he if better be would it Perhaps fish a Suddenly, ready. weapon his searching, kept boy The . 37 MRAKIĆ with Miloš ¹ vinjak GORAN BY MIHAELA BURUIANĂ CEAUȘESCU IN THE SNOW ask him what it was like during the TRANSLATED BY Square. I’m having aand Dobrila, whomusic they will are take to the discussinghours. It’s party 31st After tomorrow, December. in the a few history will have atelling new us prefix. about Miloš apsychoses is that book preceded on the year the 1000. I general NATO bombings. ‘What can be left other than madness andInstantly, mockery?’ I realise this is true. Dozens of jokes are made ‘What do you think it was like? We went out to concerts I throw Dobrila a confused look and he‘When laughs death heartily. becomes a common – daily – thing, waving ‘And what’s left?’ Snowflakes have begun floating down and I’m watching The world is getting ready to step into the new millennium, the mind-blowing whirl of onefear of vanishes.’ Anton’s guitar solos, then about the bombings that took place a few months ago. The a bomb to fall on our heads and not giving a flying fuck.’ at you from behindlittle every cloud in building, the sky; street when children corner learnmusic to of or fall sirens, asleep every to and the when you throw all your vain hopes into every day, playing rock music on the bridges, waiting for the cassette and CD sellers in frontCentre of the are Students’ Cultural smoking weed,young people unhindered are making by plans for New the Year’s Eve police, parties. and them settle on the roofs of the market stalls in Zeleni Venac The end of 1999 found merubble in and a soot Belgrade of still the NATO shaking bombings. off the groups of football supporters are downingbehind beers the in the Sveti park Marko church,pigeons pensioners are among feeding the the statues of the Kalemegdan fortress, the umbilical cord of old that destroyed them just We’re crossing the Danube, Europe. Bridges are made to

connectpeople,andthesavages intudrtn rockdidn’t understand ’n’ roll. eba brandy Serbian 1 38 en iiue vno h upradfig tcessl sold stickers is fridge alliance and military bumper the largest on world’s even the ridiculed being and power, Milošević in teeth, its still baring is is poverty rocks, the on is country n18.O,toewr h as… … the days the back saw were Istria, those in he Oh, army, 1984. the in that in serving boasts was he Knele when ...’ live ‘Atomics’ the you I’m but sing to fifty-fifty, is everything we shore ‘The giving full, lungs: our glasses of top and the at chorus mouths Atomsko band our the With by Sailor’ Sklonište. back ‘Tempest hear comes we on of radio counter round small he the the a From home. with then his house, Montenegro, from the brandy hatchet, on a us, and serves outside with and steps called, them is of owner back threatens the the as at cook. Knele, crates shack. and on the bartender pissing are both people is homeless owner Some The bar. and Bitka skewers Cerska stop some We a.m. five eat around smoking, at to there drinking, of out dancing, walk singing, We fun. he’s are having ‘cool’, he’s People us’. but Albanian, of half ‘one he’s that from out there find people I music. the playing is Fedja named guy A party. Eve …’ city a of hell a Belgrade, crocodiles.” That’s many pond, “Small ago? years six or five said Trlaja Bata busybody that what look to not try Miloš laughing. cough. back, the I I on throat. me my head. pats in stuck the Cuban gets drink of in my but rhythms shot shocked, sugary was the someone bar into picturesque music, and sinking small while the in, of toilet we’re the that, in casually ago, mention they days and two thickening is snow the side, fire. good Very …’ Požar means. JDP what him Pozorište’. uses ask the Dramsko I He ‘Jugoslovensko saved April. – that in JDP back abbreviation volunteers fire, the of a is from group Miloš Theatre a market. Drama Yugoslav flea of the story or the stalls telling pavement at gypsies by espordik,te eha f o u e ers Year’s New our for off head we then drinks, our sip We know you Do special. nothing gangsters, between run-in ‘A Out- laughter. strange and savage into burst both They says: and cigarette a himself lights Dobrila pljeskavica pcdma tte the at meat spiced loza Jk oa Dobar ‘Jako rp grape – 39 to go, so we ‘have ćevapi meat rolls that engulfs the small pub. escu in the snow!’ ș ćevapi ‘So? Is there a problem? Did I offend you in any way?’ the ‘No, not at all,’ I say, ‘it’s just funny, the whole scene …’ Knele points at him and cries: ‘Ha ha! Look at that bastard It’s my turn to burst out laughing likeKnele an looks idiot. at me, confused, but Miloš explains: ‘The boy ‘I was a butcher at the slaughterhouse in Kragujevac for We listen in silence, we eat and, from time to time, we The atmosphere at Cerska Bitka is more fun than at the He takes the bottle of brandy and puts it on the table. is from Romania, I forgot to mention …’ ruddy-faced bar owner asks me, slurring his words. to write somethingA with few feet our away, we pee noticeunnatural posture. a jets drunk in guy, collapsed the in a soft very snow. sleeping, like Ceau waiting for the tram andto wonder on where a Saturday the morning, hell on they’re thenium. first off The day of owner the new packs millen- something twenty to nibblebehind on’ the when tram we stopDobrila, wake who to up. ventures empty out We our to line bladders, the up except bar’s seedy for loo. We try raise our shots of brandy.the Flesh land and we blood live on, arethirsty and the and hungry. our food Outside land the of day is hasness a begun, god but the inside who’s dark- constantly us is getting heavier. We watch the people cigarettes and The owner tells usfront of line the during the horrors civil war. he lived through on the ten years, but I’dhuman never blood in seen Bosnia …’ as much pig’s blood as I did sober up at the same time, it’s arising damn slowly good feeling. above The our sun post-apocalyptic is Belgrade. Itquite snowed a bit last night, coveringhouses, the the tram cars stop, in the the tiles parking onwould lot, the all in like a to blanket stay of captive white. as We long as possible in the fog of ‘Here, drink as much asfuck you it, want. it’s It’s New Year’s on Eve!’ me. The food, too, New Year’s Eve party we’ve just been to. We get drunk and 40 alpae eertn olsrone yhsteammates.’ his by surrounded goal a celebrating player ball Ceau executed ote hc adt Miloš. to the the hand in I over brandy which of smiles bottle, mouthful a sun still There’s The Marko. Sveti DNA. of our dome them in break lawlessness we the and with rules, dysfunctional bland, They some roll. ’n’ create rock understand didn’t just them destroyed savages that the old and people, of connect to cord made are umbilical Bridges the Europe. Danube, the crossing staggers We’re and on away. up bottle wakes beer drunk a snowed-in opening The doorframe. is the who Knele, at wave we window, at drunk too were we was, ever ...’ problem wake time, the The long act. a first for death the of since fired.” smelling be should been it act had next house the in Our then wall, the on gun a hung rescue?’ the to come to dead the for waiting were they if felt have must people wretched ‘how space, …’ alone weren’t they sign a for Timi Yu-go-sla-vi-a”.’ “Yu-go-sla-vi-a, square chanting into entire started the when get goosebumps got to he me told journalists He They 1989. foreign station. TV first Sad the Novi the were for working was who friend a destinies. masters and eternal things the of as themselves un- see ugly, who those An to civilisation. ruthless a of end dignified, the of black and in haze sarcasm The drunk of humour. stacks a ridicule, by is after bombings made remains NATO that the joke All drunk. a another about – country another Europe Eastern of dictator Ti swa eebrfo h V fe hy they after TV: the from remember I what is ‘This Aew on oe’Iakhim. ask I home?’ going we ‘Are dirty the through and, on get We in. pulls tram The you act first the in “If said: Chekhov what know ‘You …’ yet dead wasn’t Yugoslavia then, ‘Back into staring and bottle his caressing Knele, says ‘God,’ help, for waiting were People was. it way the that’s ‘Yes, had ‘I bottle: a from swigging story, his continues Knele most-feared the of myself, to think I left, what’s is this So rtsu n.Teeeuinsudo itr s is history of squad execution The end. grotesque ș su ejs a hr nteso,lk foot- a like snow, the in there lay just he escu, ș aai in oara ‘Are you crazy? We’ve just entered history and you want to sleep?’ ‘Then what should we do?’ Dobrila shakes the mud off his boots, fixes the red lock of hair that has escaped from his cap and, counting the cigarettes in his rumpled pack of Bond, says: ‘We’ll buy a few beers from the stall, then go to Kališ to watch the Sava meet the Danube at Ušće.’ We get off the tram and cross the city centre towards Kelemegdan.Weparkourselvesonawoodenbenchandgaze at the Danube. A seagull flies down and lands on a cast-iron railing in front of us. We watch it silently, admiringly, and feed it thećevapi Knele gave us. ‘It’s one of the few birds that has stayed loyal to us, for better or worse,’ says Miloš eventually. ‘Yes,’says Dobrila, ‘I was going to get a tattoo of a swallow, but I think I’ll get a Danube seagull instead.’ It’s started snowing again. The invisible camera moves up, towards the sky, while we are left below in a static frame. A dot in the ever-flowing universe, like the river at our feet, where no Ceaușescu can ruin the beauty of the landscape through his acrobatic death.

Goran Mrakić Translated by Mihaela Buruiană

THE OVERCOAT BY BOGDAN MUNTEANU TRANSLATED BY TARA SKURTU AND TIBERIU NEACȘU

I’m standing like an idiot in front of Gigi’s house, wrapped in his new overcoat. It’s December, it’s cold, and the wind is blowing. Bummer. GigiisdyingandIneedtogetmyhandsonathousandlei. HowthehellcouldIsaynotohim?He’sdying.AndIdon’t have the money, where am I supposed to find it? And I’m also 41 talking to myself on the street. Enough, hush, calm down! 42 ’lcl ywf.Tepoe ar,hr eg.Fc.Oto of Out Fuck. go. we here Laura, phone, The someone. wife. at my scream call scream, I’ll to want I visit, stupid this about te o er.W eebt iteoe hry ht What thirty. over little a both were this: was happened We years. for other booze, later, a then was it ship secrets, – bigger but little secrets, more women, leapfrog, he gambling, Foot- however perfectly. team me and tag, suited whenever that ball, burp exchange was an was do It to wanted. with had fight a I picked All me with Gigi. fight a under picked me Whoever took wing. immediately we’re … Gigi his and air more, on one floating more, was I one every done! for laughter me with asking dying kept were and they kept time and they it, – do again time, to more me laughed one asking they again, it Then dinosaur. Do off. a asses heard their they’d First if seduced. as were others froze the they and Gigi thus And my life. of entire drew burp monstrous back, most step the a unleashed and took breath, I deep anyhow. a anytime, burp to so able gang, was old my I in guys the against competitions in been of I’d wasn’t city, hundreds face. the to my He moving in Before me. burped go. saved and what was close to That got the me, else at into anywhere scowled He moved having pleased. just not having and about building something here? muttered doing grunted, you he I are What dad, belly. my my into finger and just his pushed me he and to was out, belongs me block sniffing This the he curious? what was likeable, know didn’t I Was I was. shivering, deal was He I boy. me. fat at this straight for except came me, to attention feel any out. went didn’t paid and courage Nobody something my up if mustered I anyone day One him. slap to he’d right and the age, all of Gigi our fattest seen and kids I’d biggest the outside. was go he window; to the courage through the had two I for house before the weeks in stayed I B12. into moved recently I’d and me? are to what doing man, you my Gigi, Oh debts. Only nothing. job, No credit. tsntwrig att e talot att ogt forget to want I out, all it let to want I working. not It’s n e,fratm,w u l is edd’ pa oec each to speak didn’t We ties. all cut we time, a for yet, And B11, in lived He high. yay were we since Gigi known I’ve mosbet break. to impossible friend- 43 Loredana was, but not ; that’s not important though – the ă linc ă p – he didn’t say ithemeant,oratleastthat’swhatIthoughthe like his, but that’s what meant. He was soheforgottoaskmetoburp–thatwasafirst. in love that oneIt hurt a lot. day Hurt so bad that I was incapable atof anything all. saying off, kept going on about how welland he how was awesome only he that, have because married wouldn’t her after only three months forLoredana this, Loredana that, nothing; and get your andmind together marry a woman like mine to 2.2: The third or fourth time I visited, Gigi remembered 2.1: On the rare occasion Gigi remembered I existed and After the I wedding saw him less and less. He was me pissing 1: Gigi badly – really badly – fell for a girl, Loredana. I’m fact is when Gigi went to the toilet, Loredanaaround snaked me her and arms whispered you pig, and bit my earlobe, andmade me this forget about tag, team leapfrog, gambling, friendship, and all the Gigis in the world. You’re the pig, I said, and Iher pinched ass, and she burst into laughter and – because Gigi hadflushed just she – slapped me, and it was the best slap ever I got. but then immediately slouched – thereI didn’t was want to a be woman rude. But there, theygone both insisted to – the their wine had heads. Iburp said so OK I and wouldn’t let get outgreat, I anyone took a a upset. shot common-sense of They applauded, I felt nest, Loredana would laugh harder at mywould jokes look than me at in Gigi’s, the eyes more oftenShe than she looked was at Gigi. awesome.I Had wouldn’t have hesitated it for a second. not been for thatour old habits. friendship, Yo, man, burp! he shouted. I perked up at once, invited me over – only to preserve appearances – to their love I said, and pretended I was glad. getting married, he said to me one day. I thoughtand he I was joking let out a light burp tojoking; from defuse his the chest situation. pocket he But took he out an wasn’t invitation crowded with hearts, balloons and little birds. Congratulations, I’m glad, down, to rewind, maybe things will come together. left. I begin to walk, damn, I need to try to calm myself I want to cry, I want to scream, n ok IAnd look, any have credit don’t the bus stop. I light a cigarette, I want to about this forget visit. I want Laura to calm me down, hscl sanyn me. I is cold this get annoying 44 ewt oeyupg fyudntcm eeIl elhm him tell I’ll here come don’t you if pig, terrorising you kept love she I and with me hysterical, and insistent became or ’ nw o w otsta ewsi a,bdshape, bad bad, in was he that months two for known I’d poor. L. was poor Gigi a fry. was small I was XXL, I an mighty, and high rich, was was Gigi Gigi poor. money. was Gigi’s I ate with We always jerks, laughed. like and drank and dirty talked backgammon, played We but tears. hurt, my jaw for My reason Loudly. the church. burp! wasn’t the that Now of it. front over in grunt I’m a done, gave it’s I OK, said, just he wedding the then at and cigarettes, guest froze, every our that as finished hard so we was me slapped After Gigi Sanda pathetic. feel if me more made him and that thought more asking stupid a of – you Loredana thinking as glad kept awesome very I I’m ummm, but and, came, you, thank said awkwardly congratulations. church. bluntly, the I more of even front me, wished in he cigarette that a After having while this of told bluntly all he me – money of lot a we’d made business, pretended into got Sanda, both woman, another We married He’d happened. come. had – what to up just forgotten showed him love Gigi expecting in when wasn’t fallen froze I I’d I awesome. whom was with she Laura, because to wedding my to the boy. been a he’d was he that, since type expecting impulsive got was he I but me, – stab immediately to come regretted divorced didn’t and He up friend. shut my I hurt him. I’d to that exist And didn’t gasps. I between on day shouted that he from you, or up stab as Shut and mad? naturally over gone come you and have I’ll man, innocently my Gigi, as What, – next reacted could happened I I what she’d clear. and and pretty earlobe, rogue was the gone about had him Loredana told on. even so and you, started how man, shouted could you, and could I how me lover-boy, you called then. garbage, Gigi of piece late. you happens too was what it but see her, avoiding you’ll and everything :Awoemnhhd’ vnpse,adLrdn Loredana and passed, even hadn’t month whole A 3: o iiwsdig n a on sabl,adjs s as just and bell, a as sound was I and dying, was Gigi Now basis. weekly a on meet to began we wedding the After him I invited when later, years five some peace made We 45 * he knew he wasbefore Christmas. dying. It’s done, he rattled. It’llIwanttocry,Iwanttoscream,IwantLauratocalmmedown, be done I want to forget aboutcredit left. this I begin visit. to walk, And damn, this look, cold is I annoying me. don’t I get have any it was, in short, itsolve was my problems bad. in Gigi the was blink of dying,for an I eye, money but knew I precisely he didn’t dare could because askI he could pay was was dying. that of TheI being only a told good debt him friend. I stories, paid I him visits, left. I didn’t even have to entice him, at a newspaper, come on, Gigi, II touched told the you. blanket We in were which he laughing, wasI wrapped, didn’t but carefully, want to feelforgot his about bones. him at I once. snuck I out hadme my of off own the problems, right room they’d after laid and hehaving got a sick, hard time, I we couldn’t were find living off Laura’s job, a money, little we as were I can stay awake, look, and heshow kept his me eyes he wide wasn’t open asleep. just tohand, He I touched felt pity me for him with – I his didn’tblackmail want skeletal that, me I and didn’t I want him was to lying tome him, for my boss being is late going to to work, scold what, didn’t I tell you I found a job moment of silence sucked a bit of life out of Gigi, Ion was rambling and on aboutabout childhood, do that you time remember when, when,whenIletoutaburp,seeminglybymistake,hesmiledtoo,but I what was gesturing,ghostily. making And faces, just and likehomie, that I’ll let a you sleep, half-hour your eyes had are shutting, passed, he begged alright, no, sunken cheeks, a pile of bones almostlast piercing week his he skin. didn’t In even his have thehe strength was to just get lying out there, of his bed,morphinedose.ThemomentIsteppedintohisroomIstarted only concern appeared to bechattering, the I couldn’t stand the silence, it seemed like every they’d discharged him from the hospital, theydo weren’t able anything to for him any more.imminent I death visited became him so a often casualshake that thing. his when My I legs didn’t saw evenlooked him. terrible. He’d lost Frog-like about eyes, forty popped kilograms, out he of their orbits, 46 otebsso.Ilgtacgrte edt r ocl yef myself together. calm come to will try things maybe to rewind, need to I down, cigarette, a light I stop. bus the to ml il,fvs es n hoigtemnyi h air, the in money the throwing in lei and tens, thousand a fives, withdrawing bills, myself small imagining the was in Hugo Gigi I look couldn’t the eye. I and with hard sweating was ridiculous, I me, and on middle Boss dumbfounded the in room, standing was the I dying. of was Gigi out the like found shaking I were time legs at My looked smiled. she she And and idiot. bag, an like the me in coat old my any- saying stuffed not she’d was, thing, she there And something! joke, say something, to sinister a dying, had they’re she when joke just of was sort this this make people confirm could she maybe him, new. Brand ten. at it indebted. leave I’ll and bomb: the bad dropped he feel then And someone off make tags price don’t the You take You What’s presents. anything? me? with to do this to saying got he price was the Why froze. I Boss. for Hugo paid it. I what that’s million, And bag. twenty Gigi. again: a rattling care, him take in door, heard coat I the old towards left my turn put day to to about the Sanda was or I to sign tomorrow a back made be you, I and I’ll thank after, joke), said weight stupid some I on a gift. put to what good have (God, a I joke, was a make it to still, wanted smiled, But I best. me at XXL, an L was, an know, you – or, is, the He done known beginning. I’d the have me, on from would big that was I it overcoat, me. the on to tried it I thing. gave same He it? Gigi with could done what really, have And present. a it for thrilled, moment was good I a fact was I made in but necessary, on. not it it’s Try no, fit? oh, it gesture, Does a he him: then what’s And it? whispered, with she do to it’s anymore, going arms, it my need in doesn’t it put he What’s and new, overcoat? coat What the confused. brought Sanda been catch? had the I it. get to wife h vrot iihdsi eky n aeasg ohs his to sign a made and weakly, said had Gigi overcoat, The okdhllsl tSna ab h ol otait contradict could she maybe Sanda, at helplessly looked I me!? to it selling he Was steal? What what? Ten What? steal. A 47 Bogdan Munteanu * Translated by Tara Skurtu and Tiberiu Neacșu Oh, the overcoat. I sold it. For five hundred, don’t I know Nothing came together in that cold. Only stupid things how to Half negotiate. of the money went to medicine for Laura and the funeral wreath, I drank the rest when I heardI Gigi burped died. an entire day in bars, but it didn’t have the same charm. out a bit. But the priest justmy prolongs nerves. the I service look and to gets my on left.got My sick. wife Nothing should bad, be it’ll there, pass. but I shecrying. look She leans to into my me, and right. that Loredana livens is me up a little. to offer wasn’t measurable in hismy currency. hands Nonsense. on I’d a get thousand lei and that was that. It’s New Year’s Eve. I’m at Gigi’s funeral.two My autumn sweaters coat are and no match forpriest to start this making the cold. sign of the I’m cross, maybe waiting then I’ll for thaw the I started to dotogether, how much the money he’d spent on math, pork chops how and duckand many turkey and times beef and whisky, we’d and other gone thingsourselves we’d stuffed with out and drunk. I came to the conclusion Iten owed overcoats, not him one, and I felt bad because everything I had were going through my mind. Gigi loved money, I knew that. He loved me too, sure. Let’s playdrink. some Let’s. backgammon. Let Let’s. me Let’s tell youfoifdx. a One secret. more Tell me. time! Gmanpsosaea. Burp! I Boajahjg- tooI loved money, didn’t but know how to make it. Maybe that’s why I loved Gigi. comment! Ummm, I’ll get the money to you, ummm,Imumbled,andIleft,wearingthatstupidovercoat.Onthestreet next time, I realised I’d the forgotten bag with my old coat. They hadn’t said anything, Gigi or Sanda. They saw the coatthink about? What and a steal. Or what maybe that did I was they disturbed. I could see how the money wouldskeletal body, how fall he’d rise over happily Gigi from the and pile cover of his money start and counting it, and how I’d announce, burping every triumphantly, hundred. But I didn’t have that kinddying, of and, money. Gigi because was he was dying, I had to indulge him. No THE FOUNDATIONS BY ALEXANDRU POTCOAVĂ TRANSLATED BY THE AUTHOR

Before dawn, the workers descended into the giant crater, some thirty metres below ground, and manned their stations. They had almost reached the depth required to lay the piled raft foundation of the nineteen-storey skyscraper. The soil was muddy, the diaphragm walls and heavy-duty pumps could barely cope with the groundwater infiltration. Beneath Paris, there was an immense swamp just waiting to surface. The only way to keep it at bay was to pour reinforced concrete over the piles anchored in the bedrock seventy metres deep. The excavators still had a lot of dirt to remove from one corner, and were being pressed on by the steel fixers who were tying together the horizontal skeleton of rebar cages. At the opposite end of the building site, the concrete mixing trucks were already discharging their viscous load through long hoses guided into the formwork. The deadlines were very strict, there was no room for hesitation. The workers were supposed to reach ground level by the summer and welcome the autumn from the tenth floor. Which was doable for a steel-frame building with glass curtain walls. Theoperatorsippedfromhiswhiteplasticcoffeecup.He drove the excavator bucket deep into the ground, scooped up soil, swung the arm over to the dump truck, unloaded it and swung back. He was about to sink the steel teeth forward anddownagain,whenhesawamanclimbingoutoftheditch, waving his hands at him. The operator froze the boom in mid- air. The sudden halt shook the machine violently and his coffee spilled all over the dashboard. He swung the cabin door open and shouted out: ‘What are you doing there, you bloody idiot? I could’ve killed you!’ The man crept up towards the excavator. Apparently, he didn’t understand what the operator was saying. The operator grabbed a crowbar from under his seat, lit a cigarette, got down and squished through the dark, petroleum-jelly-like bog. 48 49 , his lookalike died, but Ja !’ ?’ Otto The operator knitted his brow. Who pointed towards the mouth of the tunnelhe had come from. ‘Thelike a Earth ball. is Football?’ he said, hollow, describing an imaginary sphere with his palms,letting before it drop tohard. his ‘Gooaaal!’ He feet started and jumping kicking withhis arms it raised in the air. the fuck was this crazy guy? Better put him to sleep with the crowbar and find out who he was later. But the stranger was out of ,’ said the stranger in a friendly tone and !’ repeated the ‘I,’he stranger. pointing explained, ,’ Otto went on, ‘the Earth is hollow, has a sun in the gods. You thought Hitler died. Ja, ja Ich heisse Otto Wir sind in Frankreich, ja Frankreich ‘ ‘ was like ‘I’m the Vasile.’He Romanian, worker. ‘Vasile,’replied ‘ ‘What?’ Vasile frowned at the intruder who two-metre-tall ‘ Tk a‘Take good look at this crowbar, ’cause I’m gonna shove it their the Aztecs, who thought they were safeThey were all forever Wagnerianly slaughtered – down it was there. like the twilight of he lived with us long enough to build a newSpeer’s Berlin plans. according to When he finally passed away, the realPétain Maréchal came to power and laid his body in a mausoleum like middle and is inhabited by the Aryans who foundafter refuge there the Second World War, fleeing theplanet.TheyallwentbelowneartheNorthPoleandthenrushed outer surface of the like the Horsemen of the Apocalypse over the Atlanteans and reach, and there was a gun on his belt,better to so work Vasile an decided unpaid it extra hour was to complete the day’s work than to take a bullet. arm and a wearing with helmet German a on headlamp it. miner’s to himself again, ‘come from the interior of the Earth.’ Then he all the on other site. ‘So workers that building why are you here?’ had wormed his way out from under the earth, dressed in whatlooked like a black SS uniform with a swastika band on the left up your ass! You understand that, don’t you?’ pointed a finger to himself. ‘ sadbtnoCiasisland,butoneofChina’s andwentontosecureitby before,soitwasabandoned. ersranreednsteterrestrialnerve-endings;the ehradtildttrioyNetherlandstripleditsterritory methodicallyexpandingitsdams; Veniceemergedentirelyfromthe lagoonandbegantostinkasnever Overnight,Japanwasnolongeran Napoleon’s. You have to bow in front of him when you see it, and on top is erected a tower – baptised Eiffel – to cast your eyes over after you’ve bowed. The ruler of the Fourth Reich, who created a civilisation without Jews, Arabs and Negros, a purely French civilisation, as he called it, went on to change the name of the capital to Paris and that of the river down there to the Seine. His successor, Führer Lepen, kept these names and ordered the construction of a mausoleum topped with an arch of triumph for his predecessor and another one, with a glass pyramid above it, for when his time would come. And now he has sent me, his Deputy Führer, toFrankreich , to establish contact with its leaders and start negotiations to reunite us with our motherworld. Don’t think of it as incest, butrather as the kind of symbiosis not at all uncommon in nature. But I’m afraid I’m in a bit of a hurry, which is why instead of following the North Pole route, I’ve decided to take this shortcut. By my calculations, I’ve reached the right spot, so I’m asking you to …’ ‘Do you speak French?’ asked the operator. He couldn’t make out anything of the endless flow of words. ‘Was?’ asked Otto. ‘I, Romanian!’ ‘Rumänisch?’ Otto slapped his forehead. ‘Here is Romania?’ ‘Ja, ja,’Vasile mocked, laughing. ‘You traitors!’ shouted Otto, taking a map of Europe out of his pocket. ‘This means I must dig another thousand kilometres to the west.Scheisse ! I can hardly wait to meet you again, Vasile. We will wipe out all of you, you subhumans. It is because of you that we, the French, have lost two world wars.’ ‘Whatever,’ said Vasile, shrugging as the tall guy turned around and left. Otto disappeared back into his tunnel. Vasile climbed back into the cabin and set the bucket in motion. * A month after this encounter, the foundations finally reached the right depth. Although Vasile had tried to block it up, Otto’s tunnel seemed like a bottomless pit. The chief engineer decided to place a large slab on top of the entrance and pour concrete

50 over it. Once this was done, everybody forgot about it. 51 , which is now more an obese Octagon, a never- while Cuba part became of the USA – the High Fidelity This was the drop that made the glass of globalisation A couple of months later, having dug a thousand kilo- tate. Its licence plates called it the Car Museum State. The only an ungrateful but strapping extension of France or, on the contrary, is the Gallic roosterperfidious nothing raven but of a Albion, vocal travesty but ofruffled impotent, the perched feathers with on thel'Hexagone manure heap ofending European-style strike the taking place in an continent? Africa that is Is on overflow. For several historical controversies werebeing far resolved and the from draining of the English Channel and the Mediterranean Sea helpedagenda reinstate – them much more on effectivelyTunnel or the than arrival the of the opening last refugee boat. So public the is Great Britain Channel discarded, leading to a sharp increase in theand price of crude a oil general Theresources. planet took its time switch to adapt to the from geographical and climate fossil changes, but it to eventually regained itsand most renewable usual countries carried pace on much energy as before. although nocompensate farmers if insurance they lost their tractorsthe and company fields; ploughs in wouldS promiseidea to of deepening the Suez and Panama Canals was soon a high-heeled leather boot, but a round-toed rubber one. Most seas drained away, the deltas turned intoUSA cascades, while and the Russia massedrockets border and patrols, radar masons installations, onformer their Bering Strait, also new called the terrestrial New border CheckpointThe Charlie. – Bermuda the Triangle was now opened for agriculture, Japan was no longer an island,nerve-endings; the but Netherlands one tripled its of territory China’s and terrestrial went on to secure it byemerged entirely from methodically the expanding lagoon and its began to dams; stinkbefore, as Venice so never it was abandoned; and Italy no longer resembled metres to the west, Otto surfaced underwater poured the into his Atlantic. tunnel Ocean and filled the hollow centre ofplanet, the drowning the inner world. On the outside of the planet,sea levels dropped abruptly by hundreds of metres. Overnight, social care … or vice versa? Has Europe transformed itself into a giant hinterland of its former colonies or into a vast demo- graphic and economic débouché of the Chinese? Besides these, there are other issues – such as what was more damaging for humanity,Nazism or communism; the rights of an individual versus those of the majority; liberty, equality, fraternity or death; why Romania and Bulgaria are in the Schengen Area and Russia in NATO; was there or was there not an Armenian genocide in Turkey; do ETs exist or are we alone in the Universe? (in which case nobody sees us from on high, so we can stop pretending) – all issues still to be debated some other time or, even better, forwarded to the UN for a resolution. Once an issue, global warming became just a joke the Cana- dians played on the Eskimos. And since fossil fuels were no longer in demand, all terrorists lost their jobs and were sent home, where each of them received an oil well, to use as they pleased. Anyway, humankind was saved.

Alexandru Potcoavă Translated by the Author

Originally appeared in Romanian in Ce a văzut Parisul (‘What Paris Has Seen’), Herg Benet Publishing House, 2012. 52 53 54 hc a oeta huadpg book. thousand-page a than more say which is. intention have your who what guess era, reader in the any thing Making important literature. of most the not poets is naming best that aware the been always of think eco- Such one reason. makes good without nomy used is word foremost No and concision. first his said, on have I as relies, which language, poetic his who those it. seen to never Romania have explain and and stories novelist, many a tell not books is his he yet in; lives he place and time the about much silence loves who writer, shy The a is He more simplicity emotion. direct of his depth for out and stood He Union. Writers’ Romanian many granted languages. been many prizes, translated thirty as countries some into has and in books, twenty published has He city. his in literature of festivals organising and magazine, a editing show, TV a hosting literary life, Romanian in present much very is he and 2021, editor.HelivesinTimi Robert NRDCDBY INTRODUCED BY TRANSLATED BY FROM POEMS

OETROBERT Poetry hre h om oee,temr nes. intense. more the however, poem, the shorter eo saslcinfo ml ru fsc mt’pes poems, ‘mute’ such of group small a from selection a is Below of strength the is poetry Robert’s of quality major the me, For very are poems Robert’s impact, emotional their Besides the for a book English into translated I when him read first I hnwrs–wihmgtse aaoia o ot poet. a for paradoxical seem might which – words than Ş

ra swl-nw nRmnaa rtr oraitad journalist and writer, a as Romania well-known in is erban ADU FWORDS OF HANDFUL A ŞERBAN II IN VIANU LIDIA II VIANU LIDIA ş oara,designatedEuropeanCapitalofCulturein AND NESTEWART ANNE 55 MIRROR the sky is always beautiful because the sky is the mirror in which we never see ourselves however hard we might stare all the way up there * whenever I look at the sky I wonder if God does not feel nauseous watching us from a fresh grave and tries to catch my hand I write very fast, in forceful handwriting while the words fill the thin page the same as clods cover the author’s name surfaces now and then like a drowned body IN ORDER TO WRITE BETTER in order to write better Iplacethesheetofpaper ontopofabook 56 ’lctofyu tongue your off cut I’ll MOTHER MY FROM GIFT A ohthtechicks the hatch to birds the for waiting now is and nests in them arranged already has she but truth the her tell to mind a half have I eggs brown lays that tree a found have to happy so is and yard the of middle the in chestnuts heaps Crina YARD THE OF MIDDLE THE IN TREE enough than more be would it me left had mother my all were this if damn say to me allow never would died close someone when or resort some in vacation a spent we when only church a into steal would who member party mother, but damn damn damn standing while sweetshop the at street the in damn said people school high later and school nursery village the in neighbours block our in neighbours relatives damn said everybody absolutely child a was I threatened mother my damn say you hear I if unseen bus the on or queue a in 57 I wait a few moments Ilookup careful transparent then I dive line after line down to the last as an old unsafe staircase I am cautious speechless wary very wary OLD AND UNCERTAIN I climb down poetry line after line carefully well friends are like broken glass even though they make your hands bleed you continue to pick them up BROKEN GLASS have you ever broken a bottle? have you picked up the broken glass? have you cut your fingers? 58 l htwl elf fme of left be will that all STORY LOVE SCARY rnltdb ii in n neStewart Anne and Vianu Lidia by Translated Robert mankind rescued has which story love scary a like mouth to mouth from travel may howl my years million a years thousand a in that so ever and ever for howling like feel I painter clumsy a by drawn least at lines and spots me of part was I as me remember to time the take will nobody and matter will nothing means which nothing for good shitty a scoundrel a bastard bloody a silly insignificant kind obliging bloke hardworking good a was he well, maybe, forgotten say, completely they’ll be will did ever I thing little every life my all did I what doing spent I energy the faults unforgivable my behaviour principled my words of handful a suspicion gossip rumour impression an be will Şerban 59 WATTS identity. a multi- oara than ş of what has ‘Third Europe’. poetries present the vanguard of It seems no fluke STEPHEN that the great Danilo Kiš was born inSerbian a Vojvodina, city far incloser to Timi to the capital Bucharest. Or that the eminent In athese very realexamples way been called cultural BY so vividly at susoverthrow. escu’s ş All the poetries presented here are Vojvodina poetRomanian antecedents, Vasko or PopaGadjanski was that from the Ivan Banat. Or had that it represents a different stand Ceau written in Romanian, yet there is latent in them a sort of – convergence cultural away from and identity national towards anger at totalitarian uniformities. They bothcelebratethatspacebeyondpolitics and lament Language current dystopias. matters in these but poetries, is beyond any specific Romanian identity, rather to oara beingonthemargins. ş agaeadrvk languagesandprovoke nentoahbisihinternationalhybridswith aysdddniisn many-sidedidentitiesand osblteeprecdypossibilitiesexperiencedby ohpstvadeaietothepositiveandnegative (cf. Václav powerless’) rssacttersoo aresistancetotheerosionof hpereoTmşaar ThepoetriesofTimişoaraare fedm’teofrces‘freedoms’;theyofferaccess Timi of oara ş Timi region as oara may not have produced ş oara ş A THIRD MULTICULTURAL EUROPE: POETS FROM TIMIŞOARA Timi of the powerHavel’s principle’ ‘power and of the which allowed thing innate to that ‘a facilitates critique markets. Witha broad cultural such range, there is surely some- the range of thearchitectures as city’s byopen-air its food and craft from the combining surrounding cultures, exemplified as much by culturalism, comingthe as particular intellectual much corridorthe of from presenting in thisenergies are both magazine. real and These result varied, the also of the region’s multi- culture as a whole,after 1989, both can be before clearly and andively definit- identified in the poetries we are its own ‘school’ of poetry orbody a of defined works, somenecessary for of a rethinking of the Romanian energies While Timi 60 etr Rpa Novosibirsk’ Daniela at century and ‘Rap Monoran: Ion poetry from of lines these consider Or issue). this in Vighi Daniel andViorelMarineasademonstrates(also by work prose the as too, Romania. poetry wider of the energising and in vital is that much share Timi of poetries these Bucharest: Timi of edition this in is who ( Moldova of for or Poland), Ia initially leaving Czernowitz, before Bucharest in years five twenty- spent Manger words; four into crushed be can life his that not Paris, for left (Celan born were Manger, Itzik and Celan Paul poets, Romanian major two where Bukovina, of Transylvania; or of internal borders unmarked or the within Ia of said be could same diversity. The and unity between can aborderlandisalsorichwiththetensions and possibilities time, same provoke poetries. the with open At rich are Timi these orthe‘crevice’toseepbothintoandfrom ‘crack’ the of richness the and openness hybrid allowed has Serbia) and Hungary (Timi ‘borderlands’ these practice of living the aaewti yvoice.’damage within my with how thesky-nailedmoon/inflictsaheavy feel riddled I somehow And are / worms. palms my blind and is body / My like effigy am wooden a I Lord, evening, an ‘What ş rra er Ilie Petru read Or painful openness is of clash the And ş aat iei Chi in live to oara aaadteBntbt odr border both Banat the and oara ş aa otis Borderlands poetries. oaran ş ,o fCu n ii, Sibiu, and Cluj of or i, ş ş in h Riveter The ’ end-of-the- u’s oiSt Moni ă ) ree f of even or u), ş n and i ă ş aaoara nil , etleft ă , oiieadngtv osblte possibilities of negative erosion the and to the access positive offer to they ‘freedoms’; resistance a provoke and languages and identities many-sided with hybrids international stagnation. return to a dangers of the experience,current possibly obviate and ‘multiple versions’ ‘re-versions’, and our of offer much-needed ‘aversions’, perhaps or to lives threats our freedoms. our and unfamiliar These poetries and familiar the lockdown, repercussions political of quotidianand the addresses also in – years France many for lived has she – poem current lockdown:the Ra ain ai,i en implicitly being in with anti-authoritarian. Marin, Mu Mariana closely Alexandru and more C Mircea Romanians him fellow align Riveter of issue this Ion in (included of Monoran poetry Oskar 1970s the and in or Pastior) Totok William and Wagner, Richard 1972, Müller, Herta in literary included which founded (the group resistance Banat’ ‘Aktions- the gruppe of József German of the Hungarian Méliusz, the in margins, whether the on being by experienced l o e ntenews.’ the on see you all That’s / streets the in wailing lances Ambu- / hands their see cannot you eyes, their coveralls cannot You see / white in People / streets city ‘Empty ţ us‘admcPe’wihevokes which Poem’ ‘Pandemic iu’s h otiso Timi of poetries The ‘Cororallyvirus’, Rodica Draghincescu’s hs xeietlwiig writings experimental whose ) ş n,o ih with or ina, ş ă aaae are oara rt ă rescu h The 61 ² erban Ş Stephen Wa�s Or in the words of a poet from hug her / you only feel dry skin’ ‘without anyone tellingpeople know that / poetry them is all that /is left of life / after you have lived it’ ‘life’s not an equation / when you a generation earlier,(b. Robert 1970): that ¹ subverts (1995–2020) ță Romanian Literature Now. oara in ‘History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Vol. 2’ (John Benjamins ş oara acts as a sort of ‘city-text’ or ş It has been argued margins, which inevitably 1 Some of the termsliteratures of in Timi this brief preface chime with ideasPubl. expressed by Co. Marcel 2004) essay Cornis-Pope’s Ed. on Marcel the Cornis-Pope & John2 Neubauer. Tr. Ana-Maria Albu in the younger poetswhat included Mariana herealluded – Gun to when she wrote: created of memory andalso imagination, works onfeeds the a current, intimate dystopias of personal level and That is as true now as it wasof during any the previous regimes. But preciselythis public resistance, this poetry trcswa atr to what matters theattracts ‘peripheries’ or attempts to centralise or normalise. Timi ‘node of confluence’. It instinctively 62 RNLTDBY TRANSLATED BY POEME/POEMS h lodta,wa osne scle called is nonsense, what that, almond The of difficulty, dehiscent with pubescent, almond: lactescent me ... the remind rather you −, hair fine of helmet the your and of chestnut gaze your of almost-green subtle the smile, your your of white the considering and – trecolori walnut cerebroid astringent strawberry, juicy quince, apple, smooth the aside Leaving though? you, are fruit of kind What Renoir. from them know we peaches, the for exoticism); as weird almost an of (and scaly too pineapples, and themselves, into gathered too Nuts, ... Valéry) (Paul …’ hazelnuts pineapples, peaches, are There fruits. are ‘Women AMANDI ARS EBNŞERBAN tevr aea hs fIeadadteIoyCat: Coast): Ivory the and Ireland of those as same very (the FOARŢĂ AIL RAI DANIELA amande ! 63 ,–andtheone ... One, lunules Amore mio or on a yellow, will be Madam’s cipher. wouldgiveyouasagiftsomuchredto write in fog, like in stone,the letters, one by one, of maybetwo,inred,likeonastone byone(notlikeastone, but like a cherry), by turns, on both hands. Madam’s nails, ten minus two, fogged up, in a yellow dusk in late summer closed inside hands of the madam, −that sticks her nails, one by one, in the back of theAs hand, you yellow. try, between your teeth, the yellowto reveal the red core of herself, tear Madam’s nails, one inthemorning,onebyone,−play in her angle between two fingers, with scales, red at the tip.Don’t forget: there are ten red acesinapackasopaqueasstone;don’t let them be reversed in those two nail polish looks like the yellow iris of the feline between two naps, the opening of an eye isMoisten stone. every stone from the slabs of madam’s nails as the tiles that are bathing in yellow steam within a circle of yellow gold, silver or only red copper (greened by time). Steam up Madam’s nails with pale withtheblackspotthatinthered AMORE MIO Steam up Madam’s nails, one by one, minus those two on the fingers without precious stones, 64 o’ ogt seeigfls omk utrle butterflies make to falls, evening as forget, Don’t FARFALLA AMOROSA flvl er,i h vnn,mk o e butterflies. her for make evening, the in tears, lively of dew the in cheek her on wings, like lashes and lids your Fluttering ... butterflies betrothed of swarms of wings the on slowly trickle that dew of beads the as heavy as tears, only, tips their at with, lashes, radial with eye an on superposed dissolve eyelids of dozens tears, in when, − themselves angelically, water wings’, their between caterpillar the ‘wear that butterflies the which from that as clear as dew in eyes with hers, than other lashes from because Rejoice lashes. own her from poured been not have that tears, with glistening cheek her on flutter you that sleep, without eyelids as way same the blink that wings these of rustle the in or dew, in bloom peach her Bathe dew. of full crammed are eyelids pearly whose tree peach a like butterflies by invaded cheek her on lashes your flutter you when dry that tears, many so by moistened dusk at wings, your fluttering fluttering, stop Don’t wings. quicklied more ever like flutter eyelids the if only melts that lashes the between frost to turned dew, for thirsty are autumn, in which, butterflies, unfaltering these tears, the enjoy them Let dew. of place the takes tear a of water insipid the which for eyelashes, of frills and semitransparent wings, two with butterflies palpebral eyelids: your fluttering cheek, her on 65 ...’ Şerban Foarţă Translated by Daniela Rai human voice ,’she persisted. Chinese voice doyoumean,andthenImurmur,ofthe‘No,ofthe ‘A li,’ said, added Lia, anyway, ‘only in the Yellow Empire is a vocative standard.’ itself, Lia, − saying to me, smiling, that one li was (and still is) adistance of 360 steps (=644.652 m) and that the same li would be theof equivalent the beat of the Chinese voice. ‘Lia, Then, I turn around towards Lia, asking her the next question: ‘Lia, from one li, did you say something?’ I’mit saying in a low voice on purpose, I’mI’m whispering murmuring it, it. It’s strange that she canOnly hear that me. she doesn’t answer the question I heard she said, but not what sheMaybe Lia said. shouted, but the distance of one li has changed Lia’s shout into a whisper; it became a whispering, a murmur ... Maybe this li is notfor helpful her: it doesn’t suit Lia’s voice ... very well what Lia said, from the distanceBut, of she one said li something ... (that’s for sure), she whispered, mumbled something, which from the distance of one li, I should’veheard. I should’ve heard what Lia said, from the distance of one li. is apparently, the equivalent of the beat of the human voice. − After Lia walkedthe distance of one li, she said something;from the distance of one li, she said,she whispered something. I don’t know LI Li, unit for measuring distance, specific to the Middle Kingdom, consisting of 360 steps (=644.652 m), 66 RNLTDBY TRANSLATED BY REGISTERS Verse in English in appeared first poem This Ioniţă Daniel by Translated Stoica Petre living the of world the left who’s man a of name the name my on time last the for register fall thick will the of coffin the on lid the day the until time on repaid not debts many so for thoughts for illnesses, for registers: the in present Stoica Petre again over and over too register the in recorded son: our you for love eternal my meekly, sealed resides headings coarse with pages some between register the recorded and punished you was to I it give to rose, a stealing time a upon once registers school of mountains through up followed – laziness my of and diligence my of diagram the too register the into calligraphed is baptism my register the in recorded is birth My ER PETRE d ailIoni Daniel Ed. , STOICA AILIONIŢĂ DANIEL ţă dtr iev,(2016) Minerva, Editura , etmn nhlg fRmna Romanian of Anthology Testament - 67 POEMS BUNARU EUGEN MARION EMANUEL ANTUZA GENESCU, BY AND TRANSLATED BY AGNETE EMANUEL correctness, details their bunkers unite! by step, bodies – and his death car the black-and-white chasm musty in the album of history. cannon fodder. They know everything about what we have to do from nowTogether on: we shall overcome! Europeans of allLittle by little, countries, like dancing a waltz or(a going on a Radetzky march march?), they show us the path to political Frantic journalists from all over the world report on-the-spot ‘that may impact you emotionally’. World leaders express their indignation, their solidarity, on Facebook. From they send their deepest sympathy to the grieving families. vanish, fading into the anonymous world of globalism, into of the surveillance cameras. On the big screens, death is broadcast live, in full colour. body after body, explosion after explosion. Piles of hackedwherever you look. Blood mumbles indistinctly on the wide metropolitan boulevards, flows into theirrevocably. Sliced-up gutters bodies run mechanically here and there screaming in all the languages of the world. Even the terrorist It sprawls in the books on the shelves stinking of praises and Somewhere in the world death spreads methodically: step THESHOWGOESON Gloss) (Post-Trans-Humanist Another day settles down in the almost outdated tempo of the evening. It lies already 68 anu,tesrtgsstahu.Waosaesilsold still are Weapons us. teach experts strategists the the on, us, goes warn war, hybrid the war, the that, than … Other on now from victory to path only the rnltdb geeEauladMro mne Emanuel Marion and Emanuel Agnete by Translated Bunaru Eugen destination. same the at later) or (sooner arrive to order in direction different a in each it carry we preoccupation of air vague a with indifference of air assumed an with haste own his at one each ridiculously it carry we grace with it carry We hope and sweat effort with beaded precipitated, prudence, with obstinacy with it carry we attentively it carry We nothing with loaded baggage carries us of Each BAGGAGE Genescu Antuza by Translated Bunaru Eugen performance funeral pre-dict-a-bly the is enriching anthem death national there, the salutes, and gun rank, in promotion Here posthumous a tomorrow. no there’s like euiul and beautifully decoration, a with for compensated ls h idsnig‘h hwms oon’? go must show ‘The singing died who Alas, . 69 Eugen Bunaru Translated by Agnete Emanuel and Marion Emanuel the gold watch of the family, and holds it a while, in the strangeAfterwards wax he air places of it the on room. his calmly breathingso belly as to see several times a daywhat time it is … his hair of soft snow combed with a side part. Iseehim how he takes out from the pocket of the waistcoat with calm-ceremonial gestures that – for the child me – fabulously shining object passed on from generation to generation. Now I remember eaten up with remorse the solemn figure of my grandfather his imperial moustache SOLD POEMS For these poems Isold–fortwohundredGermanmarks–(really, for nothing!) – 70 RNLTDBY TRANSLATED BY NOVOSIBIRSK IN RAP* lgigtotrerw rows three two gardens aligning tiny and houses wooden the and translators the Russia Mother of power ‘sleeping’ the of enormity the chocolate from Siberian off of peeling tinfoil the and flash camera the in world toasting poor a celebrating champagne of bottles from corks laughter airports Moscow in another to hand one from phones mobile their tossing empire former the blastsofsomemassivemendressedinleatherclotheswithimmenseshoulders of tide human the and reams paper indecipherable September of 12th a of 99 room in champagne unopened of bottle a and like words treacherous few A city academic the in hall conference the of stairs cosmetics the merchandise on to trying black in dressed posh women two rooms of thickly smells and strong recently the painted in flashing lips the on soul the with ex- the of hotaeroplaneticketshavingamelodyathousandkilometresawayfromthefringes fog and oranges apples cups in honey scented look cheeks soft pale and olive of forest mixture the a in away women oblique-eyed far mega-buildings trees birch with landscape a in Russia Mother ER PETRU h rgacso saadteGoga wine Georgian the and Asia of fragrances the world our of suburbs the night the by torn air cool fretting slow beer of bottles and smoke cigarette ears my for necessarily not something saying Tarkovsky Andrei the over projected candlelight-trees Huge breath one in all conversations abrupt The Thevibrationsofan rnCurtain Iron ILIEȘU OOH DOROTHY Aeroflot AND inanimaginarylandcrossedbytheNGOsof eorc ntttoslglorfroniet reformo legalno institutions democracy TATELFORD STUART JET s internet ofamiliar so 71 Translated by Dorothy and Stuart Elford Petru Ilieșu (Novosibirsk–Timișoara 1997) swimming in the ‘foams of eternity’ at the end of 20th century … Aeroflot apocalypse froman and die for ever tomorrow morning I am crying brother Vysotsky Brother Vysotsky the disease of your anxiety is grinding harshly I cry brother Vysotsky in your imperial language because I can speak ForIhaveseenyoubrotherVysotskygalvanisingtheflashesofthediscotheque from an antique shop a tiger eye ring rolling along to the end, brother Vysotsky and ancient Volgas and Japanese automobiles with the wheel the structure of a new world and of a new way of accounting

thenewdropofvenom to spit it in anguish into the cataractlike a of poem the New World’s eyes through the marble hall of the discotheque ofthrough the the Siberian tens core of comrades who will disappear when a loyal gigantic white will rock me into another world in which I will carry under my tongue aboutthesamecurelesstormentthatpullsmymindunderthebirchtreesin search of what you have succeeded in finding now with my lips cut by the glass with my inept language and the memory ofwhile imaginary you touches are spiralling in disguise go arm in arm and hit the air with their roiling blood asIclenchmyfistsandwipethewineflowingfrommyeyeswithmysleevewhile shrieking in Russian curses imagined but never understood with my soul at most one prayer away’ brother Vysotsky in a fabulous endless marble hall disguised into ghostlike pairs who in the buttresses of intelligentsia hidden in the middle of the tundra my past for I heard that ‘God is right within us, of cabbage heads among which heads with long straight cut beards are sliding slowly ontheright a ui er,peoiatydsusv n htmc rhythmic and discursive predominantly genre, music = Rap * 72 RNLTDBY TRANSLATED BY POEMS acsu oainrvltoay perdo 0 e banknote. lei 100 on appeared revolutionary; Romanian Balcescu: peasants. Russian moujiks: misery youthful our beauty, plebeian O you. to belong I birth, eternal – Venus’ by mornings agitated these in – beauty plebeian O cane. sugar potent and fresh its with bogs, of future muddy a whirlpools in of world – flags snapping tiny fanfare, narratives. Heroism, absurd most the of dais the on floats gas yellow or blue-green gas black smoke vision. Black your darken furnaces the of hailstones blue The lands. mouldy these without on runs man. life Your fifteen-hundred soiled a man, a of blister A operator. bulldozer and lathe locksmith, Soldier, waist. the to stripped December, in foundations digging wagons, discharging graffiti, boy girls’ host ‘we in splattered barracks in dozing stew, vegetable of tins eating building, the of noises munching the in seized that of belches the and spittle the with overalls bespattered those in and yourself) repair to hope you twenty (at man old your like moujik A you. within swells paper glittery zero. That a blister, a man, a of blister A lies. of piles beneath dwell to swords, swallow to forced not You’re Balcescu. a you guarantees treachery what pallor, what power, what lei, hundred one of colours the into chow, of plate moujiks’ the collapsed that gnashes and curses of flood the under – tears not – Rain TEARS O ION engine, MONORAN AISSREC SURLEAC MARIUS AND ACVINCENZ MARC 73 Ion Monoran asymptotejournal.com River, ș Translated by Marius Surleac and Marc Vincenz These poems were previously published in English on Asymptote: confused that there are no distances between our villages, a lonely room far up in the blue remoteness. that this will change no one. I believed in you like a big bad beast of burden with gentle salt-lick eyes, without knowing that for you destiny is no chasm, even if it opens a similar perspective; as long as cities and factories will benew built, generations will be forced to comprehend I trusted you with our terrible love. Reading the newspapers at random, not suspecting that the tastes of the eracompletely might change the tradition, I avoided the villages, skipping back and forth over the Timi crashing into high-voltage power lines, into tractors and ploughs. *** Towards evening, I believed in your sunburnt pasture, and like a vagrant in a red sweater, 74 rnltdb nuaGenescu Antuza by Translated Constan�novici Simona nothing lies wall the beyond incandescent bewitching again blooming is meadow the table snooker the over balls like wide and far on rolls time graze goats white and orchards in grow trees lemon Senegal with border the near Mauritania in camels tiny on desert the from return tourists several peels apple burnt and ashes across scurry voles BY GERMAN THE FROM TRANSLATED BY SEASONS RNLTDBY TRANSLATED BY WALL THE THROUGH Elsie Robert by German the from Translated Totok William sand. the into seeps Petroleum lightbulbs. burn-out two now are eyes barns. Your the in quiet it’s snow, the Under cracking, are trees the of branches The miss, to else back. nothing There’s your behind keys their rattling are guards The come, has time The ILA WILLIAM IOASIMONA CONSTANTINOVICI TOTOK NUAGENESCU ANTUZA OETELSIE ROBERT COROLLARYVIRUS BY RODICA DRAGHINCESCU TRANSLATED BY DIANA MANOLE

God help us we’re at a standstill any form of glory any form of boasting is over neither yellow nor green garbage men come by we begin to understand how much we consume i carved a window in the wall the wind knocked over an empty glass on the kitchen table and broke it this is the only form of activity here a good opportunity to flinch when no more buses pass by not even Bofrost frozen food trucks no pretzel sellers no Fish & Chips no grannies with kids in strollers noGaborsontheroofsnoTurkishrugmerchantsthestreetseemsmuch more kind-hearted much more fair-minded no mailman calls out no tax collector nobody puts up posters and ads nothing’s enough anymore I wash my face with yesterday’s coffee could I finally get lucky? come on, it’d be too easy to have a virus change a woman’s destiny mom reaches me on the phone with news from home daddoesn’twashhishandshegoestothepuboutofspitehe has a screw loose mom criespeople have died here and they lie dead in their houses like in Italy no one comes to note the time of death they don’t even give them the certificate to be mourned and buried like they should be it’s a conspiracy against the elderly they invented the crown virus to avoid paying our pensions in the spring! I waste my breath explaining to her that in France there’s no more room in the morgues the dead are kept in skating rinks at least this way they can skip the qualifiers for the Olympic triple somersault 75 76 rnltdfo yDaaManole Diana by from Translated Draghincescu Rodica fence. quarantine the on happily pees dog a street the on leash its slips it after summer in sorbet like bars the between windows the lick children the street the across door wax-sealed the at look I land. parched on parched are we drink to nothing to have six noise we from pipes six orderly water our and breaking started sharp just has only company Siegvo the the outside ringing are hammers French hiccup. I phone the up hang I attackers flowers the the to or lost straight be heads will our fruits keep and to way the is work only and work ’cause spray and prune to vineyard whitewash to trees it: at keeps mom sink kitchen the but else everything and polymorphism the CIA the conflicts political supremacy and economic Europeanisation globalisation of because it’s that age third the against conspiracy or war no her is tell there to sure system healthcare 100% world’s I’m the that of state the on it blame to use no moon the at howling wolves like light to comes always truth the help for vets the call they and nurses and doctors of lack only the are get they likes the ward strength the on of tanks drops oxygen final their with FB on fatal the enèechance dernière oeo ybsns aeagre ostart to garden a have I business my of none hl tesgv hi atbet iestreaming live breath last their give others while MY DARLING, BYADRIAN BODNARU TRANSLATED BY ANTUZA GENESCU

A shelf of powdered milk jars stood where once our table had been.

I found a chair andsatinfrontofit– that was how much I missed you.

Later that afternoon, the pharmacist asked me if I needed anything else.

I asked her for honey powder so she disappeared into the back room for a moment.

Then she asked if I could wait only until the autumn, when the place turned into a casino, because it would not be long.

Adrian Bodnaru Translated by Antuza Genescu 77 78 hs r h ecig ntewietset fpaper of sheets whitest the on teachings the are these out come tremor and deluge toxin a whirlpool a are you furnaces) of instead postcards burning the candles in (red town the and house lord’s the is it shelter man’s kind a is this out come screech brake any than louder hiss your shoe old an with hit mutt a like run will you rolls fat your fur your scorch shall I grill the on burning effigy flesh the your into deep effigy the poke shall I manhole opened the to back go and crawl out come hut old an of ashes and soot cauldron charred of smell a out come you are where out come you are where air open in gardens in clash poker we the with it hit it call me let wound gory a from rising steam grin leper’s a and fur of ball a but nothing is eyes it the between it spit it invoke me let shovel the with away chased beast wild a sticker a like inside the on stuck something steam coal locomotive swarthy and blind entity this RNLTDBY TRANSLATED BY EXORCISM UO TUDOR fafnygpycoppersmith gypsy funny a of CREȚU NUAGENESCU ANTUZA 79 Tudor Crețu Translated by Antuza Genescu come out of the smoker’s lungs and the darkness of the smoking houses come out you old hag you shrew wagging your tail leave a round hole behind in the window like a bullet like a projectile this is the house of honeycombs and kindness of plain garments and clean asses come ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut you have come out and if need be of an earthquake letandifneedbeofafireletmybarnburndownnow the shore collapse now it is the here meadow lord’s and the have only sundays mornings come out the clean air will suffocate you come out the women’s scarves are – all – white come out the sound of the keys is the invocation the little hammer that drives you crazy that flattens your skull my shirt my dirty rags out you do not exist you do not existyou’re you but do a not painting exist on the carpet wecome wipe out our feet on shrink wriggle and spring out through my ears my nostrils or better myin head that – moment under a ceiling covered in bronze candelabra shining in broad daylight I’ll stand smiling fainting andifneedbeoftremorletitbenow come out letmespitandwring 80 odesmrhn nepyct streets city empty on marching Soldiers pigeons deer, whales, dolphins, Then cinema the to go motorways not on Do drive not do plane the take not Do tram the on get not Do street the Cross kissing No anybody hug anybody not touch Do not do doorknob, the touch not Do enough not Still soap more More, soap more Use harder and harder rubbed be must inch Every compulsively wash We dry and itchy are hands Our time same the at tired get all We the Then paper toilet and cans of mountains among homes Sleep their in themselves barricade they scared are People home at bathroom their in tube the Taking clothes street wearing themselves film they scared singing are People and laughing themselves film they scared are People cities European through wandering deer of images Then soundtrack everyday Our news the on see you all That’s streets the in hands wailing their Ambulances see cannot you eyes, their see cannot You coveralls white in People streets city Empty masks wears planet gloves whole and The masks wearing people about news TV the dying Then was she as just life for lust Her skin porcelain Her saw I then And RNLTDBY TRANSLATED BY (PANDEMIC POEM) LYNCH DAVID AND BOVARY MADAME AIL DANIELA Pope ln n in alone aaeBovary Madame RAȚIU NUAGENESCU ANTUZA tPtrsSquare Peter’s St yn ntefilm the in dying 81 Daniela Rațiu click click click Translated by Antuza Genescu dying shedding tears sits by her bed and takes her hand in his says we will be kinder ,yourfilmsdonotcoverthis enoehrnarnehraroteiafaeleansoverherandarrangesherhairforthefinalframe Madame Bovary empty benches Then Bitter like poison Crying for her life DavidLynch David Lynch They both look into the frame Beyond the image Emptiness The city is a lover you may notThe touch pavement is his skin Thieves stealing the air of the city touching leavesThen trees blocks of flats on boulevards People in window frames Staring into space Police sirens Plastic bags whirling in the wind Tags, paper wristbands for cancelled shows Will we? David Lynch Empty cities millions of faces pressed against theYour films windows do not cover this People walking out in the silence of theHungrily night breathing in the air Listening to the night wind rustling the youngThe metallic sound tree of leaves touching each leaves other People sneaking out like thieves Afraid they may get caught Voluptuously stepping on the pavement David Lynch We will be gentler 82 rnltdb lrn Luminos Florina by Translated Stănilă Moni world.) the the of after end Nor championship. the after Neither Moldova. Nor won’t which army Russian the Ukraine. for Neither leave. love of out Everything the for Everything and non-champions. crowd the of championship A as Putin FIFA. just ordered! Umbrellas. carpet. referee so the on VAR when next Medvedev the only and to used arbitrarily glory Chernobyl and But of variably shield. forest a red under the hedge- hog a like after question into put toxic championship ugly An bit burned. a that’s rain shallow someone a and us between Moldova Transdnistria a being there of despite Republic the threatensuswiththeRussiansandwearenotverycomfortable in here (Sometimes qualifying patience? their their lose or place Germans the the did in wonder: accommodation I in – played Stalingrad the was match deciding of the so and site Union Germans Soviet former the and Turks by with Turks offended the were After 4. him. like didn’t Italians the because substituted Boateng was Müller and and Neuer injured Reus, were After 3. Alonso. Xabi friend his Kroos for exchanged Guardiola and time its of ahead retired was Bastian. soldier-doll 20. RNLTDBY TRANSLATED BY DIARYFOOTBALL .AtrMuih adn n neot adn n h ol doll the and no said Ancelotti and no said Mourinho After 2. .AtrteCieerlae notemre h emn German the market the onto released Chinese the After 1. OIMONI STĂNILĂ LRN LUMINOS FLORINA 83 PUȘCAȘU SEQUENCES THE AUTHOR ANA BY TRANSLATED BY , they’ll tell you, but watch , they’ll tell you, just watch we’re getting old just watch the poverty, a lazy mother tuckingfences, in thrift stores, and gambling establishments skinning conveyor-belt layers fiddling their concert-worthy electrodes, harvesting nails gauging heavy vices abandoned on workbenches bending their backs, cursing, and lifting furthermore rummaging, searching, skinning, fiddling harvesting, gauging, cursing, and lifting furthermore just before the heat tightens like a screw in theirforcing skulls them to zigzag between ventilation ducts those who sleep a lot and barely cry will show you their heart beating to the rhythm of the recycling centres expanding over collapsed structures and machines it will build you a spiral staircase, warily overlooking the beams, to the outskirts we’re getting old the sparkling spines of those magnetic men rummaging, searching each workshop to learn more about the world before you’ll have to ask the youngest among us those who sleep a lot and barely cry are just ripe once the coal dust hardens their skin they start forgetting meaningful sequences they get old, contaminating each other 84 ac h ieo h is nogvn iess diseases unforgiving first the of rise the watch bunkers nuclear their in crocuses chewing leaders world defeated the watch just rnltdb h author the by Translated Pușcașu Ana missiles ballistic intercontinental by pulverised get to about planes board to waiting volunteers the them: watch bread buy to leave will ones loved your of none house the sky, the watch bankers naked sweaty with packed containers around orbiting women 85 ALDEA POEMS ILINCA GRADEA MARIUS BY TRANSLATED BY from his neighbours from his parents when he came home drunk he got beaten with a wet rope and growled at grandpa if you weren’t my dad i’d slit your throat neluta sank the axe between the calf’sand horns finished him off to amuse foreignersstuck at his the sickle fair in a watermelon liftedthen it let to the the juice sun trickle down hisneluta face smoked bare chested in the shed and spat out the blood from his gums neluta never had a woman and never wanted kids neluta drank water just once in hisneluta life slept in the fields with wolves on the hardest nights he angered god yelling in the rain under the apricot tree in front oflord the you’re house a brother of mine when god struck the tree down neluta took it on his shoulders as you would with a drunk friend neluta stole from the c.a.p NELUTA neluta buried grandpa in the ground neluta ate grandma’s days away neluta swung his knife to the left and to the right, stayed hidden. kissed gypsies on the mouth broke their instruments neluta played the leaf lute 86 er him hears one no that and alone he’s knows he grandma and grandpa with cracks the through talks neluta ground the in fork his sticks neluta mine of brother a you’re lord alone is neluta knows world the but boy you called i answer you didn’t why morning this you called i dreadfully yells and water laughs from away phone mouth his grabs his keeps still he but ago old years he’s ten now baccalaureate my got i that knows baccalaureate he my got i if me asks neluta grandma and earth grandpa the with of cracks the between talk will and everything in fork his plant will give neluta to food more any have doesn’t he cause him in fork his plant he’ll soon dog chained the at laughs pain the about whines and alone always was he that knows alone he’s now old he’s away days grandma’s ate neluta ground the in grandpa buried neluta afwater half mud half were buckets the noon at garden the watering started and heart empty an on brandy drank dawn at up woke day beautiful truly a had once city i the in dead countryside the in born * 87 Marius Aldea Translated by Ilinca Gradea that night the dog slept outside a white cow snowflakes melted on its hot muzzle i took the shovel and loaded thewith burlap snow sacks from the front of thethrew house them on my back carried them to the pit 44 i counted by the end one by one i emptied the sacksit in was the already dry dark mouth out of when the i well my rolled trousers up to my knees again i looked into the well it seemed like i’d loosened the collar on the dog poured in his broken bowl half mud half water drink i told him the sun had disappeared the snow had settled quickly it covered the rope with which the animal was tied my feet sinking in sludge trousers lifted to the knees 88 ieaboe a f of jar broken a like me to back your with asleep fell you * fingers your lick & breakfast for them eat nominatives & accusatives of string a is equation the drainpipe a in grenade a like heads our explode hangover of kilograms argument no & yours on skin dry feel only you her hug you when equation an not life’s stars the reach to ‘muuu’ long very a into break doesn’t she tail her pull you when equation an not life’s * BY TRANSLATED BY POEMS si h einn fteworld the of beginning the in as paranoid here got we how & milk with games play we cereal eat we morning the in crashes nothing quietly here sit we bed water the in deflate memories the lifebuoy a like duvet the under you for looking I’m MARIANA NUAGENESCU ANTUZA GUNȚĂ zacus č a 89 there they are swirling ghosts we smile at them with our heads turned they will do something tonight they will manage to sneak in between the bricks & fall asleep like a puppet until it evaporates in small points brilliant street dancers * an outstretched hand catches the steam that comes out of our mouths she plays it with her fingers the wind moves a little nothing is more static than this waking state I’m polishing the room I see him get onto the chair & how I slowly evaporate from my body in a surplus of yellow wax the body’s asleep as an expression I’m more awake & I hear rats nibbling on human wrists I hear the water boiling &howaflyhitsthewindow * the body’s asleep as an expression I’m more awake than ever 90 rnltdb nuaGenescu Antuza by Translated Gunță Mariana heaven from sample a us with back take will we that big so grow will we campfire a light will we eyes their open slowly will floor they the under from out come will children our grass cold the in sleep will we & fish will we spoons and forks wooden library a tables, chairs, with wood of made is house our knees the at cut jeans with poor & old fishermen be will we tomorrow * 91 SZIRTES What’s left of life GEORGE trip by minibus (because the were trains on strike) was a long and tiresome affair through an equally many people with ampu- tations. Cluj looked like a European third-world city, a barelydemoralised working, dystopia. Uncle Feri was a darling, but we stayed onlyafewdaysandthereturn for erban– BY poetry is what’s left of life Ş READING TIMIŞOARA after you’ve lived it through Robert PrettysoonIwasbackagain,courtesy of a British Councilinvolving tour a of number Romania writers. of other This British invitations, primarily then to the led Days and to further ytpa,dsoldlandscape. despoiled dystopian, with rubbish, publicpatched paint, with buildings ill-matched transport waslooked dilapidated and the I orange. bright had seen never river before so was escu but of Mao in Chinese ş rtn.Stories ofwriting. the from its child victims. has not from vanished The ghost of Ceauşescu epcs likerespects, the figure the scene. He is, in some CulturalRevolutionarestill mrig ahrgingerly, rather emerging, Cluj still shocked me. Themostly shops bare, the were streets were cluttered there and we took a taxi to his flat in thecentre. I had read and heard a lot about the terrible times under Ceau Cluj, the station smelled of urine. My longelderly uncle, lost, Feri, was waiting for us was a long delay atborder the and wheneventually we arrived at old history ofopposite France uscompartment. in There the toilet was off its hinges. A very pristinewoman young was reading an a where my to train mother Cluj-Napoca, hadspentherchildhood.Thetrainwas andfilthy the door to the My first visit to Romania wasWe in were 1993. already in Budapest and took 92 ie.TeRmna eiehdbe been had regime Romanian The War lines. Cold between read who those to familiar become and had that veiled ways in coded poetry was there Instead allowed. not simply was it 1989 Before themes. political with directly dealt that writing was – Eastern Europe Central or territory. different had they that or territory, material in were poems clearly the but ferocity, of kind a and nature to appeal deeper a perhaps, was, There verse. patterned regularly to applied when traditional (not not or were formal was – that little was modern. There poets exclusively writers the were that not was It say. cannot I based substantial anything was on impression with. this familiar Whether was the I than work Hungarian ‘Western’ urban, less less of altogether magical, was and elemental more readings something as writing Romanian and titled meetings sonnets of set a Romanian Brown was personal my work for female chiefly result The be territory. to me to appeared evidence, that from poetry, Romanian mostly Ieronim, Com Ioana Denisa places, Ursu, Grete Liliana Tartler, as such such women extraordinary in poets to recently more Timi also and but Bucharest, Neptun to at Poetry of Nights prah twsjs htter their that just was It approach. ş htwslcig–lk nweei anywhere like in lacking – was What my from gained I impression The aa e ra ayRomanian many great a met I oara. n eonsbymodernist recognisably and a aigte nodifferent into them taking was ă ec n ayothers. many and nescu htapae n1998. appearedthat in oty,i h es f of sense the poetry), in odImc ie like much I word a started n hy they and – rmfrom rmteods icaPr n irl Viorel and Mircea Pora continuity, oldest – the of from terms in it at look can We know. to hard it’s changed, things have Ceau under maturity into grew all then back met and read I poets changed. The things have And now. the city the all in not live authors though prose, and poetry Timi language Timiin sparked was it our László Tby that on was unfold screens, saw TV we which 1989, revolution of the fascinating about thing to The while. good likely a unresolvedremain for look them underlying Ceauissues under high very street. Feri the in talk Uncle scared to was and population the least of very 15% the at employ was Securitate to estimated The deeper. lie to have had might codes the so others, many than punitive more harsher, and stricter etvrewt nironic an with verse beat Bukowsky and through realism-turned-fantasy politically through several cemetery), to a visit (Alexandru covers his in family one who of generations Pora, Mircea as well as Vighi, Daniel with Marineasa Pu Munteanu, Ana Bogdan Col (Alex poetry and prose in realism episodic from runs won’t yield entirely an satisfactory answer. yearafterourfirstvisittoRomania;butthat the born twenty-five was of and age the Mariana Gun youngest, tragically the to – Marineasa hsi rnial Romanian- a principally is This Hungarian-Romaniantensionswere h ag fvie nti magazine this in voices of range The ş ş su o uhadi htwy way what in and much How escu. oara (Temesvár Hungarian). in ő kés, ță ş h idjs hsya t at year this just died who , aamgzn fbt both of magazine oara ugra clergyman Hungarian a ț n oa Mrakić, Goran an, G i n s b e r g ş suadte the and escu ş ca ş Potcoav -inspired ,Voe Viorel u, ulof curl loaded ă ), 93 escu ş George Szirtes escu has not ş oara in particular. The ş What all the writers offer here is What is notable here is that there is The ghost of Ceau eons rmm w akrud but from myI own background, recognise also as the world wewheresimilarshadowshangoverallofus. live in right now, at least inconjure subject Timi matter, doesTransylvanian-Hungarian side not ofhistory is missing entirely for all its kinds of understandable reasonsconditions of and lifediffered only in the under degree from life Ceau or Hoxha. Honecker underHusak, energy, ambition and imagination. This is a strong selection of writingown with its particular flavour, flavour a vanished from the scene. He is, in some respects, like theChinese writing. Stories figure of the of Cultural Revolution Mao are in still its child victims. gingerly,from emerging, rather very little of nature or of the in atavistic the collection. This is,produced by after citizens all, of work aalthough, in specific so city far as all cities resemble each otherdiffering in in others, much of some the work, ways while ) ă nil ă erban), Ş u and Tudor ş ’spoemsareakindofplay- ţă iu, Draghincescu). Rodica escu is the point of the story ț ş u’s realism concerns an entire escu. The executed figure of the ş ş One might distinguish further. These are very broad-brush terms u), hard-bitten, darkly witty lyric ca ț ş erbanFoar byGoranMrakićwhichissetinBelgrade. the harsh lives of a specific family under Ceau dead Ceau Pu way of with Daniel Vighi life, collaboration recounts and Viorel Marineasa’s Bogdan Munteanu’s story about male Ana has quality, friendship a Salinger-like kind of fable from adapted folk tales that Vasko Popa might have but written, is in factanaccountofarealfigureinrurallife. William poem Totok’s harks back to the age of political imprisonment.Aldea’s poem Marius ‘neluta’ starts out like the at once or start from somewhereŞ else. ful engagement with female presence. mentioned above work beyond thosemap descriptions and expandtheminthattheymaycoverseveralareas beyond and are only intended as a rough map of All terrain. thethe writers contemporary oc fps-oens Mn St (Moni a of touch post-modernism and work about the pandemic Covid-19 Ra (Daniela the lip (Borco Ilin, Petru Ilie Cre poetry (Eugen Bunaru, Robert 94 ROMANIAN LITERATURE: LOST (AND FOUND) IN TRANSLATION BY GABRIELA MOCAN

We're not leaving Timişoara–farfrom I worked with wonderful British and it–butIdowanttointroduceyounow international colleagues whose friend- to some of the best of the rest of shipandinsighthelpedmealongtheway. Romanian literature. Back in the It was a challenging but rewarding time. summer of 2013, when I arrived in Despite being less well known than Londontotakeovertheroleofproject itsotherRomancecousins–partlyowing manager for the Romanian Cultural to the very few translators that take on Institute in the UK, Nichita Stănescu’s its challenges, but also to the general words were ringing in my head. The difficulty of entering the impenetrable famous Romanian poet’s witty first canons of world literature – Romanian impressions of Britain, recorded under literature should surely be seated at the title ‘In Engliterra’, accompanied the international literary table. Over the me as I embarked on a roller-coaster years, it has not only mirrored Romania’s ride without a seatbelt. turbulent history – a country disputed How would youdescribe by empires and cowed by communist Romanianliterature? What makes it oppression – but has also served as stand out among the a foundation for the many literary traditions? nation’s cultural identity. Which are its most Much of the work has Since 1989, it has prominent representat- been about war, forced encompassed new ives? These were some migration and flight, and writing styles, topics and of the tricky questions tells of a multiplicity autofictional experiments, I had to answer as I took of horrors. and has offered literary charge of the Institute’s inspirationtomanyother literary programmes.Trying to do so nations, with some of the most notable

through countless events,designed to Romanian authors living and working 95 put Romanian writing on the map, abroad. These include the renowned historian of religion Mircea Eliade (who heldbypoetry–andthiswasreflected lived and worked as a cultural attaché to during my London years by the positive the Romanian Legation in London in response of UK literary festivals 1940, later the very address of the and publishers to Romanian poets and Romanian Cultural Institute); existen- new works. As a popular saying goes, tialist philosopher Emil Cioran; Eugène ‘Every Romanian was born a poet’. Ionesco – one of the foremost play- Throughout its tempestuous history, wrights of the Theatre of the Absurd; Romania has developed both an Tristan Tzara – founder of the Dada indefatigable spirit and a rich poetic movement; tragic Jewish poets Paul tradition, a combination that has Celan and Benjamin Fondane; Vintilă nurtured valuable authors across all Horia – winner of the Goncourt Prize; generations: from Romania’s ‘national Nina Cassian and Monica Lovinescu – poet’ Mihai Eminescu – one of the icons of the anti-communist exile; and great romantics of his time – to Lucian Holocaust survivor and winner of the Blaga, the commanding personality of Nobel Peace Prize, Elie Wiesel. More the interbellum period, Herder Prize recently, some of the top representatives laureate Marin Sorescu and surrealist of Romanian émigré literature: writer Gellu Naum and, more recently, and professor Norman Manea, poet outstanding poets like Ana Blandiana, Andrei Codrescu, and two writers Magda Cârneci (also featured inThe featured in this magazine, the 2009 Riveter), Ileana Mălăncioiu, Nora Iuga, Nobel Laureate Herta Müller and the Ioana Ieronim, Ion Mureșan or Ioan dramatist Matéi Vişniec. Es. Pop. In terms of the contemporary Some of these names might ring Romanian literary scene, despite their a bell; all I trust will appeal to your small number and rather limited curiosity and sense of discovery. distribution, remarkable English However, so much more Romanian translations of Romanian fiction have literature remains to be explored, been released over the years, inviting much of it still unavailable in English. readers to discover exciting new It’s my personal hope that many more voices, such as Mircea Cărtărescu, titles will be found in translation, Ioana Pârvulescu (both featured in making their appearance on British this edition ofThe Riveter), Gabriela bookshelves and touching readers in Adameșteanu, Dan Lungu, Lucian Dan unexpected ways. There may be gaps Teodorovici, T. O. Bobe, Răzvan between our two cultures, but let Petrescu, Bogdan Suceavă, Filip and books inhabit them! Matei Florian, Ruxandra Cesereanu and CeciliaȘ tefănescu, to name but Gabriela Mocan a few. But an even stronger grip on international audiences, I would say, is 96 POEMS FROM FIVE BOOKS BY ANABLANDIANA TRANSLATED BY PAUL SCOTT DERRICK AND VIORICA PATEA

This selection of poems is part of a larger volume, Five Books, soon to be published by Bloodaxe Books. Our thanks to the publisher for permission to publish these poems.

FromOctober, November, December (1972)

OH YOUR BODY

Oh I still see your body through the ink, Ink that stains us even in our dreams Like bitter animal sweat. I want to reach you And my fingers slide, I can hardly see you, I can hardly hear you, Tell me, tell me once more that The whirlpool I plunge into Darkens us both the same. I call to you,

But the ink runs violently out 97 Between us, as though from a wound 98 rmFrom me? for wait Still me? know still you Do oyu kiss? your To words, with bruised lips, And mouth trembling my offer can I So tears in and Speechless seas, desert The fields, blue These to back come still you Will mud? purple the From me receive still you Will back, go me let still you Will oia pathways Logical open splits eye your And mist the through move You fears: their calm To shoulders their on hands Your them, guide effortlessly you As amazement in tremble They – death from worlds garners That meanings, out Metes that spirit a tall, and Lucid mist: the through move You air. the thickens That bitter, and Shifting fog, powdery a In humankind All up swallow to grow and grow That coffins Insatiable cold be to seem Don’t clouds the therefore And do, you know I And mist the through move You MOVE YOU rdtrStar Predator (1985) 99 The same maddening proof With a bell in my skull Whose constant chiming Fractures the bone and Makesupfearsconnectedbyrhyme;If I weren’t always given On narrow banks of streams That flow through grasses With ancient scents; If I hadn’t been made IF If I had been created To stroll among the leaves of mint To eternity the peaceful, intense thrill of Living as ragged bodies of cloud. Tall and austere, Exterior to history, innocent of meaning and sense. Enormous moments, floating in shreds through the air. And vanish in the light that brought them there. Guilty of impermanence, multiplied reflections Of chimeras on complicit snow, arranged As though such fragile beings had to haveTo exist. a Or, reason bewildered, wanted to explain THROUGH THE AIR Enormous moments, floating in shreds through the air, And moving shadows on barely tinted snow, I watched them form, and row across the land Through the chaos of life: You move, love, AndIknowyoudo… 100 oehue n evs– leaves and houses Some light, of ray tenuous A snow, of smattering A pebbles, few a comma, A SCREAM THE … often so ears my in echoes That commandment great the Beneath soften mountains and away flow stars That ihft uvrn rays, quivering fat, With sun a Forming asphalt, the On wheel a of spokes the Like tails slithering terrifying those By longer made bodies Their prey, dead same the Into stuck snouts their With seven or six are There TABLEAU From silence. endless In clenched Savagely teeth the to Up unsteady, Balance pile, a In pieces Broken walls, Glass down back slips always And nails its with on cling to straining Is scream The scream! a off set To props modest What rhtcueo Waves of Architecture (1990) 101 Omphalos and bud, from which the whole Murdered universe Will grow again, When the god that was shattered Into equal stones Will rise up as a barricade. Into a poisonous mixture Of yesterday and tomorrow, Astoneisaseedoftheworld Still alive, The shrivelled sense that remains, As we cannot ask A wave, A cloud To understand the ocean. When everything collapses And afterwards dissolves A stone is a god that Moves so slowly My swiftly dying eye Cannot perceive the motion, Of garbage. OMPHALOS A different age of sewers and drains Trickling toward the day of hereafter, A rodent god That gobbles up the years With a halo Risen from the canal. Asunofrats In the asphalt sky, Apollo of garbage, a future Star with fur for 102 nsieo h ik aeus wake risk, the of spite In sleep, much But, so from gills to turned have lungs Our survive, not may We air! of insomnia the Into us Pour out, us bring And waters our into nets your Cast sleep, our from us wake and moon, Come, MOON FULL ob bet ra htImdreaming. I’m that dream to asleep able I’m be To that dream to wait hardly can I And up waking Of dream a only it’s know I up wake I if even And self. same this of dream to willing Always I, always am I that know I other, each terrify Who characters other several I’m Though myself. about dream only I ON SO AND ON SO AND From hope. with crazed eye, lunatic your into Staring hells, two Between rope a like stretched horizon A waves, of architecture shifting the On waters, the across Forward care, infinite With move, slowly can we So sea: at free, and alone us, leave And lc ihu Hours without Clock (2016) 103 If it’s true that you can hear it grow … Covered in tin, Is uglier now. In spring The grass will be the same – You’ll see! I’ll come back then to ask you As everyone has gone To harvest strawberries in Spain, The empty town looks almost like it did When you were a child, Except that the dome of the church, They say the snow gives warmth. Gives warmth? Are you content beneath the walnut tree You used to climb? Do you recognise the town? That our presence Infects When the wound tries to heal … BENEATH THE SNOW Whose body it belongs to, Nor why. The only certain thing is the pain That surrounds us, Pain IN A WOUND We live in a wound And do not know How marvellous it is, this game of beingA myself! game without an end! Because the end Will also be something I dream and Soonandsoonandsoon… 104 rnltdb alSo erc n irc Patea Viorica and Derrick Sco� Paul Translated by Blandiana Ana rmm childhood, my From line a It’s conversely, Or, me for meant it’s If knowing even Without it decipher to try I creed. a Or message a it’s That understand only can I message. Indecipherable MESSAGE ienmdNever. named time A – time without time A to pointed they that knowing Not to. pointed they what knowing Not another, to hole one From dial the around blindly Groping hands The turning on Kept wheels cog The machinery, of Inferno great the seen be Could which Through universe the of holes black 12 only now were There numerals 12 of Instead blind. it make To eyes animal’s an Out pluck you’d way The clock the from hours the plucked They HOURS WITHOUT CLOCK read. being Without now And then between out Wiped halo A 105 he SAMPSON BLANDIANA VIORICA PATEA FIONA ANA AND BODX OK,2017) BOOKS, (BLOODAXE BY

EBB OF THE SENSES and death / At home’ – dangerous rhetoric of the isoneofourmostimportant AND ‘Mandala’: REVIEWED BY But occupying a ringside seat history isn’t by itself enough generate great literature, and Becomes a ring, Deep within their endless roots The peoples of theinto the world same delirium. all fall While,inafarfromNewAgeJustasthesnake,whenitbitesitstail, , Viorica translators Patea and Paul mirror reflectsBetween ‘the life towith and the fro / and not only whatStanley the Spencer British called artistdirt’. Her ‘angels extraordinary and breathyhigh-pitched and readinga voice, chant, nevertheless almost dominateslargest the of auditoriathe darkest of and material. It’s both articulates fierceand stagily feminine.these On apparent paradoxes the ofplay page, gender out in poems thatintimate draw together vulnerability – a wardrobe for to Blandiana European writers.poetic strategy Central is the yoking to togetherof her apparently opposing principles; oara PAUL SCOTT DERRICK ş Ebb of the Senses

THE SUN OF HEREAFTER and TRANSLATED BY urchin ti Square’ appeals: escu, pre-corruption Civic ş ş The sustained intensity of her […] That still displays the teeth marks Of the angel. OhLord,letthemongrelandthe Bite into the same piece of bread Their charged images‘Buze are cathartic. nightmares, interiors and cityscapes,from the chaotic yearstransition of to Romania’s unfettered capitalism. poetry reflectscollections, this. originally2000 and published These 2004, contain in two dreams and make a difference during the worsther of country’s times. Ceau Alliance and laterRomanian the PEN, President she of has worked to sometimes touted by theregime, communist especiallyPresident in the of 1980s. the early post- during the Secondwhose World father War and wasprisoner, was sometimes later banned and a political Blandiana, who was born in Timi ct erc eert e orgoslaesi asScott her leadership Derrick celebrate a courageous poet of witness. In to their introduction persuasive the English edition of Ana T Blandiana’s Sun of Hereafter 106 ulcwrd Telws n ot humanity’. Most Of / / level and burning lowest ‘The world, public eso iigi n an fearful- in own living the of ness records witnesses her she as she experiences emotion, if than as rather It’s verse. in extinguished her almost the seems person, ‘I’ first lyric the in mainly she writes con- though furthest Even or traditions. lyric fessional the from these among of removed is millennium. the of Blandiana turn the at poetry Romanian dominated Ursu, Liliana and Nina Tartler Grete Marin, Mariana Nicolaie, Com Cârneci, Denisa voices, Cassian, Magda women’s strong including of exceptional An cohort poems. consolatory not are These registers. both in speaks tsn oniec htdah death that coincidence no It’s unheimlich ă ec,Iaa Ioana nescu, ol:world: otcatoiygosee oe more ever essential. grows urgently authority poetic Blandiana’s Ana world crises, between today’s reels one As just society. can not particular And society itself. which understand with apparatus ship. things and use. public shared thought for – observed things – of types gallery arche- like almost a objects imaginative invents She more collective. much something undertaking is Blandiana fact, In expressionist. and gyadeternal. and Ugly essence, the of face the From foam dirty like away drained And rotted have Appearances Thistooisaformofcreative surreal both seem metaphors Such h otcets creates poet The ocpul conceptual a in Sampson Fiona leader- 107 ,

FEM CÂRNECI (DEEP VELLUM, 2021) EXTRACT FROM MAGDA BY SEAN COTTER TRANSLATED BY Then I stared for a long time, avidly, at my young body, my We are grateful to Deep Vellum for allowing us to publish this exclusive extract. (Editors) ant was hurrying over the tip of my left shoe. What is happening why aren’t I right with myself, whatdon’t have I I forgotten, understand? or what Obsessively, thethrough same my thoughts mind, passed as my unsettledparent gaze nylon rose socks over wrapping the my trans- thincurved calves, thighs then under the the white gently dress I had on. I drew my eyes whitish-yellow, like an old leper. hands, arms, chest, I passed quickly over myover abdomen, slowly my legs. I studiedI was my seeing them pointed for white the first shoes, time. At as that moment, though a brown millionth time. Why wasn’t it working,me, what where was did wrong I with gohypnotised, wrong? at I the sycamore stared trunks without stained white blinking, anddamp almost brown, with dew. Why was I not satisfied withnot myself, what was right? The benchwas was peeling, old and underneath and you rickety, could the see green a lighter paint colour, MY BODY Isatthere,onthegreenbenchinthecitypark,inthedesolateand luminous morning, thinking about myself for the slowly, more and more curious, over my womb, domed some- what,thenIcametothebodice,Iheldmygazeonmybreasts, as though I were surprised by their round crests beneath the dress. For a second I imagined my small, flat sex, pressed between my thighs, indifferent, providing me no sensations. Then I embraced myself in a single gaze, head to toe, seated politely on a green and slightly damp bench. I tried to under- stand my body, to love it. It seemed so strange,thisbodywhichenclosedmeas I sat there for a long time on though in a hermetic box, this liveried the rickety, green bench, and absurd body, as though it had watching people pass. There grown by itself, without any effort from were men and women and my part; I almost couldn’t recognise it, it children, women, women, almost wasn’t mine. A kind of surprised many women. I was also a young woman, like the pity passed through me, mixed with others, one of hundreds of disgust. Who had stuck me in this pinkish- women, one of thousands white package, from which I could and millions of women in this never remove myself? Who had put me, hypnotic reality, and I could without the possibility of escape, in this not grasp it. uniform of flesh, bone and hair, with limbs that ended in ridiculous protuberances, with hands and feet that ended in claws? I looked around me at the park. Noisy packs of students skipping school passed down the path in front of me, and an older man with a cane and white straw hat, two old women hauling a voluminous sack, a nanny pushing a bright, white stroller. Young couples passed, kissing hungrily, almost biting each other, then some stumbling drunk soldiers, and a lone high school girl, small and clutching her elbows. I stared at each of them in turn; I saw another old woman, a lady in a hurry, another girl. Young women, like me, timid and trembling like reeds, mature women sure of themselves, like proud, multi-coloured battle towers with feathered turrets, then aged women resigned like sad, smouldering ruins. I stared at them, marvelling at their existence, that women existed, like me, many women, so many women, it seemed so bizarre … this multitude of versions of me, these almost identical copies … 108 109 – who knows who chose this part Onthegreenbench.Inthepark.Wheredidthisevilcome Their existence seemed more incredible to me than the I want to play my part,part my for me, who gave meforced this it into burden, my reflexes who and brain. trained And me, precisely the whoglossy strange, gaze of themorning abruptly men reminded me I to start playing encountered the part again,to on identify the myself street with each the uniform I brought from home. even mine, even though I keep it atarcane my and house. complicated, The uncomfortable costume is but luxurious,skirts, full of bows, zippers, embroidery;have to it take is care a of, to costumecostume, brush, I one clean I always and have repair. to A employ borrowed with a certain seriousness if don’t I like myself, whatWhere can’t did I I accept, get the whatwhere, idea am that that I I I missing? had hadtimes I made forgotten understood a myself without something mistake a sex, some- important? asin though the Some- I morning woke like up a newborn with nothingonly between to my remember legs, later that I have to put a costume on, not Something was not right with me, that muchthing was was clear; missing. some- But what, exactly? from? I repeated themyself with question my in arms as my though head, I dizzy, were holding suddenly cold. Why I looked at myself again, wrapped in anot white dress, and I stop could wonderingimpossible form, one at so contradictory, unacceptable, the painful.And it fact made me that ill, Iin felt I my an solar empty plexus, spot existed, just under like my every indanger, diaphragm, time I or this was in facing some physical some difficult and important decision. fragile, so mixed-up and hidden …front,theside,theback,Imarvelledathowtheymovedfreely I looked at them fromthrough the space, forced bysurprising, undulating no forms of one, their bodies. At independent once beautifuland of me, odious. the Extravagant and base. Exhilarated yet pitiful. existence of men. Them I accepted, soimportant, obvious, self-evident. massive, Weren’t they self- the important ones, the trueandthestrong,asmyfatherwouldsay?Butwomen,howcould they exist? And for what? Something so incongruent, 110 hlrn oe,wmn aywmn a loayug young a and also women was I and women. men many women, were women, There children, pass. people watching wrong mistake? my was was what what what forgotten, body, I so had supple – what me, snake young, with a my or about sparrow, like orangutan, a I or an didn’t bee, world or this a into platypus or come earthworm a have could an goat, I elephant, wild an or a or dog crocodile or a a born sheep been a have cat, could I a start; the play from to beautiful, able call even it be some costume, would bizarre this I in if been I’ve know part; another even don’t I now by Clearly, oetIcud’ rah.Hrfc hwda unbelievable an showed face Her breathe. couldn’t I moment for a and me, shocked beauty Her woman. beautiful strangely a slowly pink, and expanse. azure the gold luminous against explosion floral with quiet a sky, like tinged the unravelling spreading, in edges clouds white irregular the in their rose vaporous gaze, vaster, my a Lifting saw expanding. I undulating, drift, to grey began of my mind convolutions drop whose a over solidified, like and rose, compressed obscure, lava, its asphalt hides ashen, time like An same centre, core. the tenebrous unseen at and deep, shows a that flower from and a unravelling dust grass, dark of of at full bits absorbed, cracks, more circular and perfectly more almost down, stared, these irregular I the glancing asphalt. in the rose then, in multi-petaled cracks grand, lawn; of kind a watered noticed the I and over shadows my mown blue around cast freshly labyrinth trees the a perfect bench, like rickety luminous, spread green, paths the park exultant, The sphere. whole, harmonious, unifiedand was what splits brain, the cleaves that cuts, like that filaments, blade neural a the through burns that flash black a Like same. the yet And unbearable. un-understandable, something absurd, Something unidentical. No, identical. unidentical two yet into And into awkwardly halves. person broken one coin of gold division a Like curious two. This it. grasp not of and could reality, one hypnotic I this women, in of women of hundreds millions and of thousands one others, the like woman, a hr o ogtm ntercey re ec, bench, green rickety, the on time long a for there sat I hnawmnpse ybnh h a al haughty, tall, was she bench, my passed woman a Then 111 In the end, exhausted, I turned back to my green park When the flash of this inner vision had passed, I saw the park’smainentrance.Iranafterher,ItookthestreetIthought bench, I lay down and drifted off to sleep. I don’t know howI long was asleep, in the coolWhenIopenedmyeyesagain,afewmetresinfrontofmeon air of the bright and sunnythepath,Isawanotherwoman,completelydifferentfromthe morning. one I had just lost. Shehard was a face, squat housewife, a with a square round, body and modestly dressed, holding even in men, ina precious all hologram were broken into the thousands of fragments people heand shards, and encountered, every shard as held a bit though ofa an glimpse of image, the an whole allusion, face, of the face of his beloved. I became tired, Itowards stopped, the park. I I looked gave around at up. people’sI faces, I I spied thought turned fragments slowly ofateenager,inachild’sgaze,butitwasnotthesame,itwasnot back that magisterial beauty inher. the I seemed face ridiculous even of to myself, Ithought was like he a lover saw who his lost love everywhere, in every woman, the she had taken, but Ithrough could the streets not for find a while, her. the She ideaunbearable, was I of felt losing gone. that her inside seemed her, ran in I thatkey, woman, a was vital a answer, hidden something crucial for me, but what? Then – draped in a purple cloaka with gold narrow embroidery, halo outlined by of lightclimb towards – her, she waved called to me to me, her. she beckoned me to tall and haughtyperfect woman figure again, disappeared beyond moving the wrought-iron quickly gate at away, her mysterious, something I knew long ago, but what? As I followed her at a distance,erupted an from intense inside and me;a strange fragment of in image an old suddenly my dream: on mind, themountain, peak not of in far a away, perfectly a a conical tall and flash, haughty woman, a goddess I relived harmony, unbearable to look at, impossiblecomplete, to such withstand, distinct so nobility. As thoughmagnetic in attraction, a I trance, rose or from by the proud bench woman, and followed I this followed her throughHer the figure, paths her of the gait park. reminded me of something, something

112 n fPNCu oai,amme member a Romania, Club Romania’s on PEN of ent is presid- former figure scene, cultural broader Cârneci significant a poets, contemporary known. better be to deserves it it appearance: its about after out years three found now, sadly only is I It that telling silence. deafening that of audacious but small a poetry, is Cârneci’s Magda of decades two across ranging Shearsman, by publication This Tzara. Tristan century or Eugène Cioran Emil as Ionesco, such mid-twentieth exiles Francophone of still readers think British even well-educated and writing Romanian Mention traditions literary in varied most richest, the of accessiblecontemporary English. is in one it little Europe, of has yet Romania UK. the in Silence Romanian writer – Magda Cârneci, first thought title its that my was belatedlyOn discovering stunning but slim this bilingual selection the verse by of BY REVIEWED (SHEARSMAN BOOKS, 2017) BY TRANSLATED SILENCE DEAFENING A Co�er Sean Translated by CârneciMagda a idni noddayadfrotn n nta that in movie of me. internal And inundated an avalanche like forgotten. an Something within. and and from flowed me, diary images photo inside old a broke an something overalls, in moment, hidden wearing had children I two young a holding of photograph, woman yellowed old, an remembered I And overalls white and yellow in girls, two children, two with hands swl sbigoeo t edn leading its of one being as well As ih elb borrowed describe reception Romanian be to the might well of writing – EN VESNA DMSRI,MDLN ĂUU BĂNUCU MĂDĂLINA SORKIN, ADAM GOLDSWORTHY BY tpot out step AD MAGDA n and Parliament, Cultural European the of olcieya teegte eighties of world ‘the a in up as grew generation’, collectively Nicolae of years last Ceau the literary in Romanian scene the Com on emerged Denisa and poets Firan Carmen – Marin, Mariana female as such generation wonderful that including literary of part influential is Cârneci year significant. the is revolution That Romanian the with 1989. ended until used she which Ghica, Magdalena name pen the first CÂRNECI hs ot n rtr,kon known writers, and poets These oal r itra.Hr Her historian. art notable a olcin eepbihdudr under published were collections ş susrule. escu’s AND H AUTHOR THE . ă ec ht that – nescu ADeafening 113 conveys the Vesna Goldsworthy of 1989. How do you write poetry when Silent waters keep resurfacing, Cârneci’s is a modernist, neo- speech is dangerous butbecome unbearable? Cârneci silence starts by has naming human pain, both as ita was, vast, on tectonic scale in the Romania ofthe 1980s, and as itwhere now recurs in else- theread, world. the The moreA clearer you it Deafeninginevitability becomes Silence that last page ofnever the peaceful. book, Cârneci’s verse but isof they full foreboding, are oftension. increasing surface Poems startthen, with like stillnessgradually gather musical forceviolent to compositions, crescendos: eruptcataract of blood in / a ‘an huge wave of(‘fugue love’ for immense unknown instruments’)‘the or stuttering / of anwaiting enormous to song start’ (‘now we’). avant-garde, urban andsensibility, yet intellectual there isher verse something that is in mythical andThe ancient. eighties generation was called the ‘blue jeans generation’,little but of there that is verse: ‘denim it moment’ is not in anchoredtime. her in Rather, place and shephysics revisits of the creation meta- again and and again. its violence they are here on the first and on the escu’s Romania may ş Infact,Ithoughtofdoublethinkas frequently repeated words in the book. (‘fugue forBlood unknown comes instruments’). instreams: drops, trickles it and is one of the most broken organs, / brains, hearts, fingers, / the groan of living cells,the / the living, sobs of the dead, the unborn’ humans. They are infused with strongsensory imagery, swelling to burstingwithskinandflesh,with‘thescreamof Cârneci’s poems are both abstract and densely populated. Theyhumanity are full but of not of individual an abilityseveral, to often contradictory, meanings. createLike a poem paintings with by Francis Bacon, but,Ihope,notmylastencounterwithCârneci’sworkinEnglish–arepurposed, poetic doublethink, here representing one of its forms. I read this superb collection – my first limited freedom of movement and even more limited freedom of speech, unless you count Orwellian doublethink as not haverivalled perhaps been only by Albania, it North was as close Korea to it as but, Europe had. It offered were all pervasive, and an abortion ban produced armieschildren. Ceau of abandoned twenty-watt light bulbs, with atelevision channel single showing two hours of programming a day. Food shortages shoddily built apartment blocks so cold in winter that water frozeand in in the taps the lavatories, in rooms lit by

114 ptm fclua eitne h nopoiigPenegaru uncompromising the resistance, the cultural As conditions. of totalitarian epitome in freedom to risks aspiring the in and involved minds, creative of translator, responsibility social the and artist, the a writer Vi for Penegaru, emblematic Sergiu character fictional INTRODUCED BY BY TRANSLATED BY BODIES DEAD ON WALKING FROM EXTRACT isdn nelgnsai h 90.Teohrfloste the follows other The 1950s. the of in ‘re-education’ the intelligentsia Romanian in the dissident specialising in Sighet, prisons at notorious most gulag, the communist of one the in of of set strand One is victims suffering. play personal the of price the commemorate at often culture, to other, Romanian the communism of on (himself Ionesco one and, Eugène the origin), to on homage aiming, pay to characters, hand, real-life and fictional together Vi concerns. stylistic and thematic major Vi playwright’s Matéi by play landmark a Bodies is Dead Over Walking When Elasticity of Feeling the On permission. kind their for Books Seagull to thanks Many 2015). Plays Books, Other Seagull and Patients Mental to Communism of History the anthology translation Explain the to English in How published in was Dishes?’ play the this Do to of Going Who’s version Now earlier ‘And entitled An Vişniec. Matéi 2009 © Copyright Note: AÉ MATÉI n eeltecnrbto ftoewodfe official defied who those of contribution the reveal and VIŞNIEC

AÉ INE VIŞNIEC MATÉI H ELN FEATCT HN WHEN ELASTICITY OF FEELING THE OEIAKOMPORALY JOZEFINA ş icsrcretpecuainwt h oeo of role the with preoccupation recurrent niec’s ş icadi ersnaieo h the of representative is and niec AND JOZEFINA KOMPORALY ş e.J Komporaly, J. (ed. icbig brings niec aé Vişniec Matéi : 115 ¹ , eminent ă niec’s own anti- ş niec as the inspiration for this ş niec, the absurd helped ‘to denounce : bitter humour takes centre stage in ş SCENE 11 aswellasforVi Bald Primadonna ă, Highlighting the imminent dangers of transgression, censor-

roaring with laughter all night long, from Saturday to(Beat) Sunday? Well? Have youPenegaru, got I asked you nothing a question to … say?THE POET: Yes, Huh? Comrade Governor. Prisoner THE PRISON GOVERNOR: So then, I expect anTHE answer. POET: It wasn’t all night long, Comrade Governor. MINISTER and THE FORMER MAGISTRATE are interrogated byTHE PRISON GOVERNOR. = THE PRISON GOVERNOR: I’mI asking assume you may you not have once heard my again, question: why as were you humour being foundational to culturala resistance lifeline for and survival. acting as THE POET, THE PHILOSOPHER, THE FORMER GOVERNMENT the prison governor makes the prisoners retaketheir for virtual the performance third game, and time engage in theimprovisation very for process which of they were reprimanded inFor the Balot first place. the absurdity of the regime and provided a shield against it’, Romanian writer and literary critic, whose experience in communist prisons has been credited byplay. In Vi this extract, the inmates discoverinherent the subversive in energies unstifled laughterIonesco’s as they improvisethe ensuing a scene interrogation, where from absurd blends into clownery as ship emerges as a central theme inset in the a play. so-called In re-education prison, the the extract protagonists below, experimentwith the cathartic potential of laughter, seenin as a maintaining key instrument human dignity:prevent ‘You yourself have to going laugh mad’, in claims order Nicolae to Balot becomes the dissident writer par excellence, echoingcommunist actual resistance anti- in 1980s Romania,of such blacklisted as the activism poetestablishment poetry. Ana Blandiana and Vi

eeen,Seu 20) o 7-8. no. (2007), Steaua Cesereanu,

ă ae yRxnr Ruxandra by taken , Balot Nicolae with Interview 1 116 a tta a o nsice ni he ntemrig ’ I’m morning? the in Penegaru. three Prisoner until What listening, with stitches re-education. in roar for you had place to that a it in was dared prison, you state a prison, in laughter communist a in in be to hysterics audacity the had you Yet GOVERNOR: PRISON THE Governor. Comrade not, really I’m POET: THE obviously you’re Prisoner. Comrade are, leg, my you pulling Yes, GOVERNOR: PRISON THE Governor. Comrade not, I’m No, POET: THE Comrade Prisoner? leg, my pulling you Are GOVERNOR: PRISON THE ol ee aet aefno hs h r ncag f of charge in are who those re-education. of our fun make We to you. dare never of would fun make never would We PHILOSOPHER: of. fun THE made being like don’t I GOVERNOR: PRISON THE Governor. Comrade No, PHILOSOPHER: THE me. of fun making you’re four, You GOVERNOR: theatre. PRISON a THE in staged is that play A POET: THE play? a of sort What GOVERNOR: PRISON THE theatre. the for play a Yes, POET: THE play. play? a A about GOVERNOR: them PRISON telling THE was I fault. my all is This POET: THE not. Absolutely MAGISTRATE: FORMER THE all. at Not MINISTER: GOVERNMENT FORMER THE weren’t. we No, PHILOSOPHER: THE you? each weren’t telling jokes, political were other You then? So, GOVERNOR: PRISON THE Beat drink. and two food for for water confinement and bread solitary dry in only you with months, of four all have I’ll straight- away answer correct the me in give don’t three you until If break morning? a the without and loudly so laugh you did time: you’re why last the know for you I asking I’m bastard. cackle! reactionary you the lying, Cut GOVERNOR: PRISON THE … we Yes, PHILOSOPHER: THE ... memories sharing were You GOVERNOR: PRISON THE THEPHILOSOPHER:Hewassharingsomememorieswithus… . 117 ) Beat . training foreign languages? THE POET: I’m a teacher of French byTHE PRISON GOVERNOR: So instead of serving the language of your own country, you translatethe from name the of French! the bloke What’s who wrote thisTHE play? POET: His name is Ionesco. everything from memory. This is a playFrench myself. I translated from the THE PRISON GOVERNOR: From the French … THE POET: Yes. THE PRISON GOVERNOR: Where on earth did you learn the situation. You are tellinga each story other, that’s here, happening in in my Paris?Gettheplaytextoutrightnow,orI’llorderafullbodysearch. Are prison, you kidding me? ( I’ll personally check yourbowels if bum need be! holes! I’llTHE even POET: check But we your don’t have a written text, I was telling the play from the French … it’s onTHE in PRISON Paris. GOVERNOR: It’s on in Paris?! THE POET: Yes, it’s staged in Paris. THE PRISON GOVERNOR: Thisdreaming. You’re can’t either complete be idiots or totally true. unaware of I must be it with me, so I can laugh, too. THE POET: Well, the play iswhat they a call bit the theatre … of different, the absurd.THE it’s PRISON a GOVERNOR: piece The theatre of of thein absurd. Romania? Here THE POET:No, in fact … only the is I author Romanian. translated before coming here. THE PRISON GOVERNOR: And why wereboisterously? they laughing so THE POET:Because the play is very Comrade Governor. funny, THE PRISON GOVERNOR: Great, then be so kind and share THE PRISON GOVERNOR: Prisoner Penegaru, step forward. THE POET: At your command, Comrade Governor. THE PRISON GOVERNOR: Tell ustalking about. what exactly you wereTHE POET: I was telling them about a play that I had read 118 H RSNGVRO:Imakn o gi.Wohs has Who again. you asking I’m GOVERNOR: PRISON THE Beat has? who Then GOVERNOR: PRISON THE person. in him met never I’ve POET: THE PRISON GOVERNORTHE ( Eugène. Ionesco POET: THE else? what and Ionesco GOVERNOR: PRISON THE Ionesco. Yes, POET: THE Ionesco? GOVERNOR: PRISON THE H HLSPE:Ys nPrs nFrance. in Paris, in Yes, PHILOSOPHER: THE Paris?! In GOVERNOR: PRISON THE who Paris. origin, in lives Romanian of writer a He’s PHILOSOPHER: THE Ionesco. this about know to want I GOVERNOR: PRISON THE Governor! Comrade Yes, MINISTER: FORMER THE ( Understood? if to. speak spoken you’re only You gob! your Shut GOVERNOR: PRISON THE any- do didn’t Governor. Comrade we wrong, thing honestly, But MINISTER: FORMER THE soon? get time any will here shenanigans of out these you think you with cooperating Do of re-education. instead your fun having are You prison! … my in Here plays. foreign traffic You GOVERNOR: PRISON THE Governor. sleeve, Comrade my up laughing not I’m MAGISTRATE: FORMER THE THEPRISONGOVERNOR:Whyareyoulaughingupyoursleeve? command! your At MAGISTRATE: FORMER THE Steinhardt! Prisoner GOVERNOR: PRISON THE absurd. it’s that means He POET: THE mean? you do What GOVERNOR: PRISON THE bonkers. completely is was which play, did this I to listen All Governor. Comrade No, PHILOSOPHER: prison? THE people’s a in here absurd, the for propaganda doing are you Noica, Prisoner So, GOVERNOR: PRISON THE together. university to went We PHILOSOPHER: THE Ionesco? this met . oalfour all to Beat :Weeddyume him? meet you did Where ): ad understood? said, I ) 119 … . The Bald Primadonna The Bald Primadonna THE PRISON GOVERNOR: You startedo’clock laughing at at night eleven and onlyo’clock ended in your the pandemonium morning. at Youfor were two three laughing without hours. aapproximately You break 115 burst times. out This means laughing, that all you roared four with of you, a maid who terrorises everybody and afires fire to fight. chief who has no THE PRISON GOVERNOR: I see, I’m literally dying laughing. Beat. THE PRISON GOVERNOR opens a file. THE PRISON GOVERNOR: And you find this funny. THE POET: It’s funny because … as ITHE said … PRISON it’s GOVERNOR: a You bit were absurd. laughing atplay in an a absurd high-security prison. Riiight. Tell meTHE the plot. POET: It’s the story ofanother a bourgeois bourgeois couple … couple who … visits that’s about it. There is also French literature. This is how he came acrossTHE the PRISON play. GOVERNOR: What is this play called? THE POET: THE PRISON GOVERNOR: THE POET: Yes. HPIOGVRO:elteesoobtaw’laeTHEPRISONGOVERNOR:Well,there’snodoubtthatwe’llhave our work cut out for us. are You in agents. with foreign contact THE FORMER MAGISTRATE: Comradewere laughing Governor because … this was Wefellow a prisoner, funny Comrade play, that’s Penegaru, all. is Our also a translator of THE POET: Yes, I do. THE PRISON GOVERNOR: Shut it! Beat. THE PRISON GOVERNOR is pacing up and downthe in four front prisoners. of THE PRISON GOVERNOR (to all four): Andin how touch did with you him? get THE POET: We aren’t in touch withplays. him. That’s I all. have only read hisTHE PRISON GOVERNOR: You really think, that’s all? 120 o e xcl si apndta night. that happened it as it Exactly re-enact me. shall for you then Good, GOVERNOR: PRISON THE Yes. POET: THE … Yes GOVERNOR: PRISON THE Yes. POET: scene. THE first the out acted You GOVERNOR: PRISON THE scene first … the dark out the in acted … we … because was This POET: THE asking I’m why. know Penegaru. to comrade you, want I minutes. two every laughter H OT Mr i h nls oaosvr well.’ very potatoes English the did ‘Mary POET: THE across grocer the from street.’ oil the the than quality better of is the corner on grocer the from drunk oil ‘The MAGISTRATE: FORMER have THE children English water.’ English ‘Our PHILOSOPHER: THE o’clock.’ English … nine ding it’s … ‘There, … POET: ding ding THE … … ding ding … … ding ding … … ding ding … … ding ding … ding … Ding FOUR: ALL again. scene the re-enact prisoners four The that clock Again! English GOVERNOR: PRISON an THE There’s play. strokes. the English strikes in It’s POET: THE clock? What clock. GOVERNOR: English PRISON the THE … of because laughing are We POET: THE laughing? you are Why GOVERNOR: PRISON THE laughing. out burst four All o’clock.’ English nine ding it’s … ‘There, POET: … ding THE ding … … ding ding … … ding ding … … ding ding … … ding … ding … ding … Ding ( FOUR ALL scene. the re-enact prisoners four The hyae‘cigot h hrensrkso h clock the of strokes thirteen the out’ ‘acting are they :): 121 Matéi Vişniec rnltdbyTranslated Jozefina Komporaly THE POET: We didn’t have a play text, weTHE improvised. PRISON GOVERNOR: Here, inAgain! a communist prison?! THE PRISON GOVERNOR: You are making fun of our regime. THE PHILOSOPHER: No, we’re not. THE PRISON GOVERNOR:People’sRepublic.Youaremakingfunof…Wheredidyouget You are makingthe play fun text from? of our the doorbell?’ THE FORMER MAGISTRATE:anyone at ‘Anyway, the there doorstrokes and when the is doorbell the rings.’ never clock THE strikes FORMER MINISTER: ‘In seven fact, when English one hearsbell the ring door- it is because there is never anyone there.’ ALL FOUR: Ding … ding … THE POET: ‘Look, it’s ten English o’clock.’ THE PHILOSOPHER: ‘This wasn’tdoorbell.’ the clock, thisTHE was POET: ‘No, the it was the clock! Why are you saying it was THE FORMER MAGISTRATE: ‘Yoghurt isstomach, excellent the kidneys, for the appendicitis, the and apotheosis.’ THE POET: ‘No! “Only the Royal Navy is honest in England”ALLFOUR:Ding…ding…ding…ding…ding…ding…ding… …’ THE POET: ‘Look, it’s two English o’clock.’ EXTRACT FROM THE FOX WAS EVER THE HUNTER BY HERTAMÜLLER TRANSLATED BY PHILIP BOEHM (PORTOBELLO BOOKS/GRANTA, 2016)

THE MAN INSIDE HIS OWN HEAD

A shadow follows a woman, the woman is small and crooked, the shadow keeps its distance. The woman walks across the grass and sits on a bench outside the apartment block. The woman sits, the shadow stops. The shadow doesn’t Hunter the Books/Granta. Ever Portobello Was of Fox permission kind the with Reproduced belong to the woman, just as the shadow of the wall doesn’t belong to the wall. The shadows have abandoned the things they belong to. They belong only to the late afternoon, which is now past. Dahlias have been planted below the lowest row of

windows in the apartment block. The flowers are wide open, 2016 (c) Boehm Philp trns. Müller, Herta , the hot air has turned their edges to paper. The dahlias peer into kitchens and into rooms, into bowls and into beds. Smoke reeking of burned onions flies out of one of the kitchen windows and onto the street. A tapestry over the oven inside shows a stag in a forest glade. The stag is the same brown as the colander on the table. A woman licks a wooden spoon, a child stands on a chair, crying. The child has a bib around his neck. The woman uses it to wipe the tears from his face. The 122 123 to she seed. spit right out of my ass than at it, says Youwereontheroof,saysthechild, and I saw your butt. Thethe man window spits right past out the dahlias.naked He’s from the waist up,several his chest blue has marks.see, What’s he there says, between watch your and eyes. I’ll His spit lands on back inside your mother. The man jerksthe woman by the hair andthe slaps face. Then her the in woman stands crying next to the child, whilestares the at boy the window. quietly close. You’re laughing, you’re growing, Every step of the sidewalk is spattered with spit and The child is too big to be standing on the chair, too big to School-day handwriting, the letterstheir in back one and word in fallingchildren’s another fingers, on dirt on on the their warts, clusters face. of wartsberries, And like fingers gray like warts turkey necks. on the sprinkled with cigarette buttsAnd now and and then sunflower a seed squashedtorn dahlia. from husks. On a the school curb notebook isof a the with blue page the tractor sentence, is six thered times tractor. speed greater than the speed of the the man. The child laughs, the womanchair and lifts holds the him child from the says, you’re getting bigger and bigger, andme he’s to going to death. beat The manhim up laughs on quietly, the roof then didn’t loudly. you, says You the took woman. the sidewalk, together withThere’s a the lot more shell to see of looking a sunflower pot, blows into the smoke. In aahead, quiet, pack stern voice your she shitty says, go things in a suitcase and crawl right be wearing a bib. The womanA has man’s a blue voice mark shouts, on thoseacowbendingoverthepotlikethat,I’mgettingthehelloutof her elbow. onions stink and youhere, and look as like far as I can go, too. The woman looks inside the hlrnarechildren full of all The wart on clusters the hvn,andshoving, full of all the uligandbullying They bruising. and and squeezing kicking, the all grabbing, the pushing and and neighbors strangers. snubs, the cunning calculation of relatives and mothers fathers, contain eager crushes and cruel 124 n ulo l h uligadbusn.Te oti ae eager contain They bruising. and bullying the all of shoving, full and and squeezing kicking, and pushing the all grabbing, for searching neck, fingers. her and at away face eats chalk The her wart. a studies She mirror. the looks in and bathroom teachers’ the to goes Adina the and Then listening. rings, bell not are they tired, are faces wart. the a in eyes into The turn could writes she word every blackboard, the against scrapes chalk The hands. and notebooks touches children’s Adina the day Every skin. any onto migrate can they Paul, hnteso atr olne us n adebrsa the at burns candle a and hums, longer factory no shoe the Then his inside a man becomes hand. own He disappears. he flashlight, the on turns he minute The next. the the into White until falls street waiting little one he’s of on, end flashlight street. his turn the to yet has of man The end spoons the stainless and through tureens thread his the and white holds pulls man Evening piece, last The backward. one pointed sound. bulb a of the but with nothing all flashlight is is foot on night person the a streets pitch-black hand. On the of extension an are flashlights power, without often than darker are trees. they other twilight the in streets, the poplars all The over low. tower too lie that branches from sidewalk drop the leaves onto trees, the into sparks spray horns The electricity. has city the moving is trolley the If air. evening the than warmer is and hairs, fine with gray, is dust The bellows. the from billows dust closes, and opens accordion the overhead, wire the along glide horns The accordion. an sleeve, rubber-coated wrinkled a connected sections two lit, windows by, passes trolleybus simply A is there bleeds ear an or shoulders. the breaks of shrug tooth a a or up well eyes if And strangers. mothers and neighbors of and relatives calculation fathers, and cunning the snubs, cruel and crushes h atcutr ntecide r ulo l h the all of full are children the on clusters wart The said objects, with contact through spread also can Warts h lcrct s’ wthdofutli’ opeeydr. dark. completely it’s until off switched isn’t electricity The flashlight. is Adina, carrying city a of The front in walks man A hme ntedslywindow. display the in shimmer by 125 Herta Müller rnltdbyTranslated Philip Boehm Only occasionally do the puddles glow, but not for long, The roses the outside block weave a apartment full covering The poplars advance onto every street. The houses crowd Where the shrubbery is dense, night lurks poised between of holes, a colander of dirty thepushes roses out of leaves the city. and dirty stars. The night ht lwr ihahayissetfarne dn wthson Adina switches fragrance. withwhite flowers heavy,insistent a her circle falls flashlight, a into the dark, an egg. Inside the is circle a head with a beak. Theenough to light is make sure not the night enough can’t to devour all see ofonly half. by, Adina’s back, merely night comes from below. First it cuts off the legs. The shoulders are still with draped a gray light, just enough for heads shaking or But eyes. notshutting to enough see by. thebecause ground is and thirsty the summer is dry, after weeks and weeks of has dust. A restless shoulder.It Adina’s shrub grazes together. Candles are lit behind upchildren curtains. to the Parents light they because want hold to look at their their cheeks one more time the before next morning. the foliage and If assault. the city is without power and dark, the gatehouse,whereaman’ssleevecanbeseenbesidethecandle.In front of the is gatehouse a dog except invisible that’s completely for a pair of eyes. But glowing his bark can be heard, and his paws on the asphalt.

126 oa cace esl with herself counter stitch the scratches and needle knitting a descriptions. woman illogical to A and themselves attach unlikely objects so language, that of structure the The down to filters even words. reality of version between state’s creates relationships she linguistic the in it details, these expresses demonstrates through she ways the also through simply she imagery, control regime’s day: the for leave they as gatekeeper band contra- for the bags workers’ the central searches works, a where factory character wire the In the with physical and around world them. other each with interactions humans’ – and descriptions invaded simple of Ceaușescu regime the which in way pervaded the Romanians’ fly every aspect of dead communicated lives is – carrying a size’ through is precise but its ant ‘The times three – opening image the details. From of book a is Nobel prize-winner’sThe published English be recent most novel in to translation BY REVIEWED BY TRANSLATED HUNTER THE EVER WAS FOX THE i ogetrsbte.His bitter. turns tongue his in rancid, his are kernels seeds few a If mouth. sunflower the of taste the on and shade, the gatehouse on depends also decision ‘His hil h ign ace nte the on catches is ringing telephone The The shrill. cat. the of the eyes inside and between teeth gap woman’s the the in caught ‘gets eyes his stubborn.’ grow up, clench cheekbones u ülrdentrfette the reflect doesn’t Müller But ETWEST HLPBEM BOEHM PHILIP CAMEL (PORTOBELLO BOOKS/GRANTA, 2016) is per ssc ugsie suggestive, a such detail: disconnected as appears first h er-tpigmmn s is thought simple moment a through revealed heart-stopping intentional. is rug The the to damage the realise – we and half- a – she that quince eaten finds and kitchen her into goes she when only is It away. comes tail the finds Adina has childhood, she since treasured rug to fox-fur a needs on Stepping she say. everything details express the allows to Müller – her it know want to and apartment, her in been discovers explicit BY h hdw aeaadndte the abandoned have shadows The wall. the to belong doesn’t of wall shadow the to the as belong just woman, the doesn’t stops. shadow shadow The the sits, woman The … woman a follows shadow ‘A stomach.’ cat’s ringing the the into climbs The into hand. climbs gatewoman’s yarn the wool, hnste eogto.’ belong they things ET HERTA h antrs ftenraie narrative the of thrust main The u hntesrelac s is surveillance the when But hnta oa,Aia Adina, woman, that when – htteScrtt ae have Securitate the that MÜLLER 127 escus, escu is ș ș West Camel escus are ș escu’s eyes ‘saw the before being shot on ș Ceau This, for Adina and Paul, is a ‘bullet- Müller’s response to the At the end of the novel we do see country’s story. peered into the room’. pierced image that swells until it bursts through the skull because the image isbigger than their heads’. impossibility of truly capturing such an image inthefinestofdetails,describingthemin words isthe to simplestof focus ways, but onthe in most most doing creative so human offering aspects us of her terrified, so we knowis under the way. revolution the televised deaths of the Ceau but again thesimple details – and are the linguisticcontinues. bare Just disruption and screen, nail clipper on the table next to Adina’shand’. In death‘two the Ceau old peasantsground, and … the soles lying of their on shoes the the toes in a single day.’ Ceau ever it was who ate the escuhesays,‘Ifthatwerethe ș oara, the setting for this novel, ș The fur continues to lose its limbs, case, his hair would growfrom all the way the forehead down to grow faster.’ But Paul, her companion, contradicts her. Pointing to aof Ceau picture since they’ve been cutting the fox,nails my grow faster’ saysyou Adina. live ‘When in fear, your hair and nails else,theskinonacooledbowlofsoup,and in an unexpectedimage, and the significant cutting of fingernails. ‘Ever but rather thanfocuses relate instead them, on the Müller details a – using chamber pot in front of someone partner, seismic eventsThese take began, place. Timi we now know, in attached. The Securitate isand closing the in time has comehiding to out in flee. the While country with her ex- one by one.home Each to find day leg a Adina cutin off comes but place, put back so to the observer it is still just lying there, otherwise it would dry out like a fur.’ about who quince: ‘You’d have to remember thatno one would ever leave half a quince 128 RNLTDB BY TRANSLATED BY FROM EXTRACT af huh ol hc n rgtnyu edeead and acne. like eye cheek the dead over spread a hopelessness you: mouth, tragic frighten a and shock would though, see half, other The would beautiful. you almost half, man, left young adventurous the open, covered an and face my of picture a circles. violet asymmetry precisely, the more within or heavy eyes my emphasized my moustache razor, stringy A a phantom, as chandelier’s thin the as of face blossom triple the under glass, yellow subtle the in perverse, myself saw a I suffering. me and pleasure giving of blend burn, would feet would I my winter of in soles and window, the glass. the under transparent radiator the the on feet in my prop reflection my of eyes into hypnotized, the staring, bedstead, the in cabinet small the and on pyjamas perched enormous afternoon torn long the in spend the would adolescent vest, stretched-out sickly into a thin, deepened a I, it and as window, of yellower one glass, even space yellow green turned reflected The of ago. long globes chipped been with had which chandelier a in asparagus pots, and aloe clay some with table a mirror, and dresser wood, yellowed a of set bedroom a – furniture cheap room’s my above in room window my triple the from night the street, through to Bucharest the used watch I suffocating, across and off blocks screened was apartment everything before the built they Before ICAMIRCEA

CĂRTĂRESCU LNIG H ETWING LEFT THE BLINDING: Ş ENCTE ( COTTER SEAN ea e ae h idwuulyreflected usually window The Mare. cel tefan

fm niefc.I o ok took you If face. entire my of h smer fm mouth, my of asymmetry the RHPLG OK,2013) BOOKS, ARCHIPELAGO ulse ykn emsino rhplg Books. Archipelago of permission kind by Published 129 cartoons or thick like acrucifiedbodywith triptych, shining like glass, endless, inex- haustible. Below, I could seethe street a where there part were of light poleslike metal crosses that heldandrosylightbulbs,polesthatinwinter tram lines nights attracted wave after wave of and Bucharest explodedlunar blue outside glass. The city was a the nocturnal . faces toward the moon. would stop to gaze at the nearest Christ, raising Across the street were the state bakery, a few houses I only really felt like myself when I turned out the lights. adankhovel,alwaysdark,whereanoldwomaninawhitecoatkneads bread that looks and smellsmystery like at a the rat, top but of a aThe space staircase, of weak long and light difficult bulb, toa mystical climb. significance. The hanging woman is now from young and two beautiful and the bare stacks wires, of bread gains racks are as high as a Cyclops. The with small yards, aseltzer round bottles, and tobacco a kiosk, grocery. Possibly a becauseI the shop ever first crossed time that the street filled by myself wasmost to often buy about bread, that I dream building. In my dreams, it is no longer a crown of thornsbodies on were every pole bony inaround and that their long-haired, endless hips. with Their line.cars tearful wet The over eyes towels stony followed streets. tied the Twosome wash or reason, of three children, outtheir late triangular for snowfall, furious or gentle, sparse like infur.Duringthesummer,forfun,Iimagined stead,whereIsatdownagainandputmyfeetontheradiator, oftheendlesssadnessthatwasmylife.WhenIclickedoffthelightswitchbehindthewardrobe,theroomturnedintoapale aquarium. I moved like an old fish aroundfurniture the that pieces stank of like putrid the residue ofjute a rug, ravine. I stiff crossed under the my feet, toward the cabinet in the bed- At that moment, electric sparks from the trams thaton clattered the streets fivewalls stories in below phosphorescent blue would andbecame rotate green aware across of stripes. the the I din of suddenly traffic, and of my loneliness, and a few wooden chairs, The tram comes, without walls, just the chassis and only later, in other dreams and Silvia gets on and is lost to a part of the city that I found 130 rnltdb enCo�er Sean Translated by CărtărescuMircea ei.Iwne,hligawr akt hog h hle f of shelves the through basket, wire caves a holding the wander, dreams, I begin. my in Here, newsstand. and supermarket cornerthe grocery the toward of store. Looking Toward the name. their them gave who dog skeletal the over tripping cardboard, tarred with over patched wife shack their his of and out and He in trash. there, and with here filled dazed wander lot empty an zone, war a like is C street Nenea the up Further enough. have I if to tell can’t start and I track because cry, lose I then chimerical but palm, the my in in glitter they coins as light my count I tall. towers herself woman n ivagt nadi ott ato h iyta on ny only found dreams. I other that later, in city the of part a to lost is and on gets Silvia and chairs, wooden few a and chassis the just walls, without comes, snowfall tram while the a for wait both thepharmacywindowandtherestaurant her see I street, snowy in the cross we holding hands, itself leave spends We excitement gestures. and my not words all am of abstractions woolen I and dream, Silvia, this have have I to when meant man a already am Even I timid. though and curly-haired me, of for waiting one alcove, is girl-dolls the these in and ground, the into deep goes staircase The light. electric an with spiral alcove small a a down in ends climb staircase, which and door closest the open I of dreams, one these In uncovered. breasts small hair her her pillow, sleeping, is the girl over young spilling a bed each strange, in a and bed, see high very can I window each base- Through apartments. of rooms ment the by with row lit brightly a one, in each doors between ten windows are here – reality in like door, not one is only there now But cheese. sell they where table white a is me of front in and boards, broken of made crates of mounds among block, the behind I’m hand. my in still jars boxes and of basket the with stars, the under outdoors, myself find I and existed, never that one store, the of area another into door swinging a through go little I say). kids with the so (some or inside, hidden cans sugar metal orange or green of sacks and napkins jam, and sherbet ăţ l,asab n ayodmn hs aeyr ok looks yard bare whose man, old lazy and shabby a elu, oesorfcs h rm tram The faces. our covers aeHr,ntew namedHora,andthenwe icsgonsaete the are grounds circus iao a e just see can Dinamo, I bluehairinthelightsof 131 - Los POPESCU LUCY CĂRTĂRESCU ACIEAOBOS 2013) BOOKS, (ARCHIPELAGO MIRCEA REVIEWED BY BY When Maria later returns to as ‘a major discovery’, praising musings and surrealimagination. flights Cedric ofregales the sisters the the with a fantastic tale from drummer New Orleans’ French Quarter, before being fetched homedistraught peasant father. by their Bucharest andhusband, meets she her indulgescinema.Herpassionservestorepresent her future lovea generation’s of attempts to escapeincreasingly an Intertwined totalitarian with linearMircea’s parents’ courtship, accounts a working of reality. class upbringing and mundane hospital visits, are passages of fantastical experiences beforeDuring the he war, fifteen-year-old Maria wasand her born. older sister,long Vasilica, worked hours as seamstresses.they At night enjoyedBucharest, meeting a the colourfulof array jazz characters, includingvariety bars actress the Mioara Mironescu famous and ofCedric the black drummer from –Orleans at performers the New Gorgonzola survive Thecabaret. miraculously sisters the wartime bombing of Bucharest SEAN COTTER Blinding , hailed TRANSLATED BY

BLINDING: THE LEFT WING , it called Boyd Tonkin ‘a intensity’. novel of visionary rescu’s narrator shares his ă Blinding circles around Mircea’s Mircea enjoys a happy childhood, rt ă for a writing life. family and his mother Maria’s enriches the boy’s imagination, hones his senses, consolidates hismake desire connections, to and prepares him a ‘rays’a machine blind masseur and former and Securitate officer. However, this long kneaded confinement by but hisa adolescence disfiguring is faciallong marred palsy. weeks He by in spends hospital hooked up to ‘The past is everything, andnothing, time the has no other meaning.’ future is statues, labyrinthineunderground passages. streets We are told: and memories andthe follow history him andBucharest through – in neighbourhoods particular its numerous of adolescent self,imaginings as and he writes this book.pick his We our fevered way through his tangled a hallucinogenic journey throughfictionalised Mircea’s the past his – childish mind, his heightened sense of his Independent C first name, and we are taken on ătrsus‘iino h hl ol’ ra fatgnsi ocscnegn converging forces of of array ‘vision the world’s whole antagonistic expression Cărtărescu’s literary through accomplished image, larger-than-life in one ultimate that that beyond anything reaches our in senses Meanwhile, can the perceive’. rnltdby – Sean Cotter istranslated in the volume To first call it trilogy. a challenging a read is of something Bogdan an Suceavă, writing in understatement. theAngeles Review of Books A mix epic of three-part memoir and seamlessly – Mircea Cărtărescu’s fiction, 132 auecrepnst i ohr mother, his to corresponds feminine wing’s nature left the while father, masculine butterfly’s the two represent to are volumes meant three the and creativity novel. Blinding the throughout runs that motif wings. its from sheets made and flesh its ate butterfly, giant a killed they while Danube frozen the Romania: crossing in Bulgarian arrived Maria’s ancestors how learn we and h utrl si atapwru powerful a fact in is butterfly The ig n boe h ih right the – abdomen and wings sas bu h aueo of nature the about also is igrpeet icas Mircea’s represents wing rast raeahpoi, hypnotic, a create world. and carnivalesque sprawling, to events women’s real dreams folklore, pregnant memory, from abdomens, erupt and tattoos book, the throughout pyjamas, dreams and adorn Indeed butterflies proportions. butterfly- mythic that a on hip takes left has her on birthmark also shaped who Maria, sC as ă rt ă ec obns combines rescu uyPopescu Lucy 133 PÂRVULESCU ISTROS BOOKS, 2021) THE PROPHECY IOANA BY EXTRACT FROM LSARIANALISTAIR BLYTH ( They decided to sacrifice the goat, good a choice given RNLTDBYTRANSLATED We are grateful to Istros Books for allowing us to publish this exclusive extract. (The Editors) the men talking about how aorder major to sacrifice give was required thanks in forsea their monster. escape from both plague and that they no longer hadscrawny. anything to Apart feed from it the and it old was man, quite who knew the ritual of the eagle across the sky, the serpent acrossship the across rock, the and the sea. Elishawas,buttheoldmansaiditwastoosoonforhimtoknowand wanted to know what thebesides,hewoulddiscoveritnotfromhim,butfromawoman. fourth One evening, still standing in the same spot, the boy heard setting sun. Eli stood for a long timesunset and on never the tired of prow the before flashes, the each gleams, theflight glittering of the soft-edged beads, nowred, yellow, that now the orange, sun scattered now over the water. Jacob,no who missed opportunity to recite a parable,are three reminded things him that leave that no there trace in the world, or even four: BOOK TWO. THE TEMPEST THE GOAT The wind now drovepecked the the ship swath onward, of and diamonds its that stretched bird’s away beak to the 134 o oehn mainl,btntee eke hti was, it what knew he even not waiting but was impatiently, He something deeper. for grown had to voice count his could And He thousand. letters. a the combine to how knew He had 400. he Jacob letters: From final livelier. the were learned they down now but and eyes narrow, his swallowed, tangled, still still he were eyebrows apple His when lip. Adam’s upper throat his shaded his long broader, his grown in for bobbed had body one chest exchanged had His He another. man. boy young the weeks a real few become the a had of But space gone. the in almost that was was transformation limp every his it and examined and thereafter) it day tended had man old (the healed had foot sick His of knapsack. pair his from large scissors a with toenails made his cut had him Jacob it. stiffened had wind salt the though even curled, it now and clean was hair no His was recognisable. He longer life. his the had changed indeed had as most, who one the was he curiosity.obvious with them at gazing them, lad towards turn the did now Only language. own his of those resembled they since well, quite words those understood Elisha words. the into as poured were sea blood its of cups long three bleated and terribly, goat and justified The in simplifications. themselves and found shortcuts but they certain details, position small the fully the tell, for to had care truth any He without priest’s, sacrifice. the rather method than make butcher’s the chose and He strength. thanks his regained give greater to the of had reason all who Phoenician, for the on priest fell as honour the officiate them, to refused Jacob again. because ship the Then, approach not would god, Leviathan own his that to imploring pray each heads made captain their The troubled thing. a never such had over others the ones, only Jewish albeit immolation, the of types various the and well sacrifice ic hi eatr rmJpa Joppa, from departure their Since h heiinmmldsm some mumbled Phoenician the shin toh,s 0,ad and 300, s, ‘tooth’, , iebrh n h ero of fear the and berth, wide them a given had monster spread, the not had plague causes, the other or envy, disease, or of died had ship; nobody his aboard reigned peace that the for Trebaruna, and Nabia Iberian Endovelico, the heaven, of gods great the thanked he when in gratitude veins his through blood seething the felt captain The thdbogtte nygood. only them brought had it tav sg’ , t, ‘sign’, , 135 turned, that the slave had become Zeuxidamos’s That evening they all ate goat’s meat and cast a fatty The others too had noticed the change in Elisha. At first, Trebaruna, for thenobody peace had died that of reignedplague disease, had or aboard not spread, envy, his the orberth, monster and other ship; the had causes, fear given of the it them had ainto brought them wide the only future good. he Farther also glimpsed handsomeself, earnings but for he him- did not find it fitting to speak the to gods that, of for the first time sincePhilistines they its had departure, purchased all in they still Azza, needed. Itthat and seemed everything from the was goingseething well. through The his veins captain in felt gratitude whengreat the he thanked gods blood the of the Iberian heaven, Endovelico, Nabia and master, but this was asever yet be wholly unclear. And well, it sincewith enmity. was nothing now can Deimos who regarded him morsel into the seavegetables for and wine. the The monster. week They before, the also ship had had landed fresh eyebrows, sought to beimploring close to him, him. begging Itpreviously something was feared as that obscure. if Zeuxidamos Eli, wanted hesensed to were who that kill him, had he now had been him in his power, that the tables had sometimes imploringly, begginglearned for – and this mercy. happened with The eachtheir passing eyes more day, as could fast see, he as since he assimilatedthe knowledge more easily – he learned, thewith more mindfulness the and a men kind began ofthe to intimidation. view The hooked Greek him nose with sought his eyes, shaded by their bushy although he was Jacob’s servant, he served themfelt all entitled and to each beat him. As he wasBut inured lately, to he it, he had didn’t refused care. totake be orders beaten anymore, from nor the did others,Jacob. he He obeying answered them only back, the impertinently or captain maliciously, and and many timesirascible, or he more often waxed than not, emotional sad.on He the was for ship bored and with wanted no life to behe reason, free wanted, again, as he free or had to been do when whatever Jacob first found him. and instead he shared his joy with his ship, his little girl. On the evening of the sacrifice, they all lay themselves down to rest with full bellies and at peace. It was also then that Zeuxidamos lay down beside Elisha for the first time, protecting him as if by chance with an out- stretched arm across his slender waist. It seemed to him that the lad was asleep and with exquisite delicacy he slipped his hand inside his shirt and softly caressed his chest, causing himtoshudder,hemovedhishandlower,downtohisbelly,he gently turned him over, caressed his firm buttocks, twisted him around once more, grasped the tender snake between his legs, rubbed its tip with soft fingers until, as swiftly as could be, he felt it harden in his ever greedier palm. Astonished, Elisha made no resistance. For the first time since they had left Gat-Hefer, Jonah felt joyful and free. Perhaps he really had chosen the best course, that of assisting Jacob ben Benjamin, his father’s cousin. He fell peacefully asleep. The same as every night, Abiel nestled in the prow and, as had happened only once before, he dreamed of colours, not knowing what colours were. On waking, he was certain that that day something very bad would happen.

Ioana Pârvulescu Translated by Alistair Ian Blyth 136 137 MURESAN PÂRVULESCU ISTROS BOOKS, 2016) CRISTINA Pride and Prejudice. andoneofmyfavouritesis IOANA BY The characters often make The novel’s ending leaves a lot to I enjoyed the complexity of the The language is well-suited to REVIEWED BY Is theirsreincarnation and a shared past lives? story ofpredictions time travel, self), the sharp(who detective Costache remindedPoirot),the lovely newspaper boy Nicu me (likened by many of to Gavroche), orinsightful the Hercule Iuliamature understanding Margulis, andwriting journal- reminded whose Bennet me from of Elizabeth the imagination,unsolved as clues. Why, for well one,Margulis do and as Iulia Dan Kretu look many so alike? nineteenth-century Bucharest and issprinkled with an appealing variety ofFrench, German andwith English humour, metaphors, philosophical words; truths (‘Perhaps all thatbe was and is will comforting now, lines in (‘Ifstock only up the on you laughter present’) for couldgo badly when for things you’). and characters, especially the dreamy Dan Kretu (who might be the reader him- LSARIANALISTAIR BLYTH ( RNLTDBYTRANSLATED

LIFE BEGINS ON FRIDAY ourselves in a world of thieves,policeandaristocrats, With such a wide selection of mmersing and a wealth of duels,social reforms and debates. political famous crimes, crime, ori even playingjournalists, historian, ihrpaigpioohradreflecting philosopher,and playing either on time anddetective, trying time to solve travel, an or intriguing playing themes and ideas, asfaced readers we with are the delightful dilemma of eldcmne akrudof background stories, well-documented characters andeveryday life in Bucharest. events, depicting detective story, seeminglyby Agatha inspired Christie.a central theme, providing a History fascinating, is also Kretu. These two characters open two of thefantasy main themes and of time the travel, book: and the outskirts of the city, anda the death young of aristocrat,wounded originally in found the same place as Dan plot unfolds as it follows the appearance of a mysterious stranger,found Dan Kretu, lying unconscious on the Set in the time when cosmopolitan and European Bucharest was‘Little Paris’,a well-structured, known intricate as a beautiful account of awith bygone nostalgia. era, which many Romanians now think of tackles very different themes fromwhich tends most to contemporary focus Romanian on prose, communism ortransition. Set the in pitfalls of Bucharest the at post-communist the end of the 19th century, the novel is This is a daring book notgenres only (crime, because it fantasy skilfully and combines three historical different non-fiction), but mainly because it 138 saqett enetorevsas ourselves reinvent to quest a as C Mircea the author by Romanian Described and law governance. of good rule the justice, for demonstrations calling peaceful mass, with revolution, citizen’s true a destiny. undergoes currently its country the as words, fulfill Timely eventually might of part as mechanism.’ cosmic closer, a and closer ‘every moves everything and where aim hidden billiards, a has of move game a will as melody seen it’s the Or, flawlessly.’ together concert, come the ‘at but orchestra’ ‘as an seen is Romania Procopiu. Mirto Mr. conversation Pavel and journalists a the during between which place Romania, of takes future the about o h rdcini htRmna Romania that is prediction the So, hti silrhasn, rehearsing,’ ‘still is that ă rt ă ec rescu o ieaue hnpbihdi in published then 2016. in English 2013, Literature, Prize Union in for European first the Romanian was awarded It in series. TV published or film a made also into it see to wish with me made plot that thrilling read, a and ending enjoyable surprising a and written Friday on begins Life its billiards. Romania and of game win historic social to deep process a political of beginning be just the might protests these nation, a etsdwe o oteedo of end the to got I when sad felt I hsi RvtnRve is ulse on published first #RivetingReview a is This uointokcmi eray2017 February in eurolitnetwork.com tssc well- a such it’s : rsn uea Muresan Cris�na 139 ș , The CURTIS SUSAN BY the reader the never-ending , his previous novella published by of and customs a way of particular life in the Carpathian region ofwhere his Maramure work isimprint on set, as well as to rcsenscleto,I was collection, immediately Bruckstein’s reminded of Eliade’s words; the author sums up in theory eloquently Eliade’s the final words ‘the spell waseverything returned to broken Indeed, normal’. and throughout this collection and inTrap Istros, Bruckstein uses therepetition to trope reveal of the long history , With an Unopened Umbrella in the Pouring Rain The Myth of the Return Eternal ROMANIAN – LITERATURE A PERSPECTIVE PUBLISHER’S After the final strains of the hymn died away, the spell was broken and everything As I was editing the extract above, otcmn fromforthcoming Istros Books, 2021) (From Ludovic Bruckstein’s returned to normal.’ heard them from his who grandfather, had heard them from and hisso great-grandfather, on. And the whole family, Rifka and the sons and would daughters, hum along. that the week, the the‘Hamavdil’, old coming hymn of week, bidding the might Sabbath farewell, whose words be he butunderstand, which didn’t really he luminous. had … heard sung exactly And the same way Schmiel by would his father, who sing had pour slivovitz in a little glass, to thethat brim, the ready to week, the pour coming it week, might over be the full. corner Rifka,which of his she wife, gave the would to table, light one two of candles, the smaller of their sons, to hold them up as high as he could, ‘For, on after evening, Saturday he counted at least three stars in the sky, Schmiel would ardtimesacred upon the act. from the first and title story of Ludovic performed by This ancestors. repetition of the ‘exemplary event’, as hesuspends calls it, profane time and confers a consecrated space at aconferring meaning sacred through time, repetition and by imitating the archetype once of religion, the and scholar Romanian writer Mircea Eliade explains how ritual unfolds in In his 1954 seminal work on the history 140 n uigtemn usqetones subsequent many the during and of slate 1970s. the family in Israel his with to the from immigrated he wiped when literature national be to only Romania, communist now the in author and playwright a build as career successful a to managed Bruckstein camps, Nazi the survived and war of the vagaries was by obscurity eventual latter to respected assigned the inter- reputation, a an national become with writer to and researcher on and period went post-war escaped communist first the the whereas different: era. very previous be would destinies the However, their the of from empires War ruined World First the after formed was which Romania, of country united newly the from emerged both they that in compatriots younger were (1920 –1988) Bruckstein the Ludovic and 1986) final windows’, their before ventilation the over nailed wire barbed and planks with cars ‘freight the journey their then ghetto, Jewish local the of incarceration the of description a by followed theme, that on variations or ‘At …’, 1944 May in words day one dawn the with graphs para- the closing their start of book stories thirteen the of Most war. deprivation of and horrors ic yvr is ii oRmna Romania to visit first very my Since (1907– Eliade Mircea etnto,Ashiz Auschwitz. destination, population ria tter their at arrival cuainadte the occupation and oiis aig Having politics. nte the in non hs otwrs works, lost these rcsencm came Bruckstein rnltr rm from translators i o orvv revive to son his through fanfare, n hog h the through and nls okn working English aetadgo good and talent oa lsar Alistair – today omteto of commitment om ihls less with me to es foeo of one of sense euiu work beautiful h eybs best very the oaint to Romanian h ute subtle, The fLdvc Ludovic of h oig loving the a Blyth. Ian esnlaheeetatr after achievement personal a history, publishing nine-year of highlights been have the to been have I count, rough a (at aaie o h uoenUnion European the won Fridaymagazine) on Begins novel historical lyrical charming, whose Pârvulescu, Ioana novelist, and Books contemporary work the of historian best very Alistair Blyth. Ian working today – English the to Romanian of from one translators of sense good and talent the through and works, lost commitment with me less to came Bruckstein Ludovic holder. rights spending Alis of work beautiful subtle, The afr,truhtelvn loving the through fanfare, t i a lobogtt srs Istros to brought also has air w er erhn o h the for searching years two Eminescu, Mihai poet, national tury cen- nineteenth the with along Eliade, Mircea was it years) many as over times twenty than more country h follow-upthe student novel, seventeen,and just was he when written Adolescent Short-Sighted a work – Eliade Mircea of fictional early the Müller. Herta more and, recently, Nobel the Laureate Cioran Emil Ionescu, Eugène Manea, twentieth century: Norman the mid- the ‘émigré writers’ of with acquaintance an came Then literature. the to introductions first fhssnt eietee these revive to son his of rvee nti this in (reviewed h eem my were who srsBooks’ Istros Gaudeamus swl well as Publishing ir of Diary ieLife as , , 141 just Susan Cur�s either to remain itself or turn to ash. DefinitionofanImpossibleAlternative The fire has no other choice: eiiinofDefinition an Alternative Impossible about sums up why I do whatwhysomanysmallindependentpublishers I do, and do what they do,too: that not (although profit for financial and indeed writers would always befame, but for welcome), the sake of great not literature forin itself. oit ciit cainPlr His Paler. short Octavian activist, society intoEnglish–theUniversityof committed. When I founded company in 2011, one of the first Perhaps Istros Books has not been poems by the writer Romanian and civil- most the publications was a small collection of Enterprise award for its 20Writers Series, Romanian which ran from 2008 to 2013 – but I hope we are one of the the biggest publisherliterature of RomanianPlymouth Press won an International London, while the rain asoutside, if in protest. poured down on the eve of theelegant Brexit surroundings of results in the the Romanian Cultural Institute in Belgrave Square, Prize for Literature in 2013published and was in thecelebrated English I publication, remember, in 2016. We

142 RNLTDB TRANSLATED BY RAIN POURING THE FROM EXTRACT ofbr,wihi osy ofsMuti.Tecm spr part is camp The Mountain. the Wolf’s say, on to camp is which labour Wolfsberg, the in cardboard, green-painted thick of Hungry. Hungry. hungry. merely You’re head. hit doesn’t the it over knife, you a with you cut doesn’t doesn’t it It pin, a else. with you anything prick about thinking from Like you prevents hunger. It peace. moment’s nagging a not you leaves persistent, which spirit, evil relentless, A a hunger. cold, Terrible BREAD OF SLICE A Editors) (The extract. exclusive this publish to us allowing for Books Istros to grateful are We edo i e sabedrto.Adnesieo oabread. soya of slice the dense at A ration. straw bread the a is in bed And his hunger. of head agonising dull, Hunger A sleep. him. cannot nags head, his over pulled with blanket up black curled the 37013, Number camp. the of rows perfect the number. a spoon, become has and each say, plate to tin is Which a number. same a stripes, the and blue of made dark cap with like a grey cloth, uniform, stiff material, of striped a made pyjamas of received pair a has The is inmate camps. orders Each of flawless. execution concentration the of organisation, the cluster administration, Grossrosen the of nterudht ihtetprn al n of ae made roof, and walls tapering the with hut, round the In n hs ubr le nterudht htform that huts round the in sleep numbers these And

LSARINBYH BLYTH ALISTAIR IAN IHA NPNDUBEL N IN UMBRELLA UNOPENED AN WITH BY UOI LUDOVIC ( SRSBOS 2021) BOOKS, ISTROS BRUCKSTEIN 143 him, from his nags him. He cannot fall asleep. Is it mid- night? Maybe iteternity. is When will past morning come? midnight. Not for An an eternity will morning come …stretches He out his hand, rummages in bread ration for the nextslice day. And of the bread isthe beneath straw, his ten head,mouth. in centimetres And the hunger torments , the extra. And he sleeps like the dead. The zulag And that evening, after he received his bread ration, he And so, he has made a firm decision. He will leave half his He bought the pencil and the verymeal same break, day, after during the the thin brief gruel, hefrom wrote the on a cement piece sacks. of What paper did know any he more. Something write? very important, obviously. He doesn’t even carefully cut half a slice of bread and paid for the pencil. And cement. The haggling began. A quarter of a bread ration for the pencil. The other number demanded the whole ration. Dowant you to kill me? Should Iman go agreed a to day receive without payment bread? ina The ration, two and other instalments. that’s No, final. More half than that would be impossible! A few days after that, at the labour site,prisoners he saw had that a one of pencil. the Goodthe God! stump of a A thick pencil. But carpenter’s a pencil! pencil nonetheless, Actually, itwith was which you could write. Witha which you thought could on put a down piece of thick paper torn from the sacks of the straw beneath his head. Yes, it’s still there. He takes out thebread and begins to gnawcrumb. it. And he He sleeps like eats a log. it. All of it. To the last next day, at the crack of dawn, when the prisoners receive their ‘coffee’ – water muddied with a kind ofhas coffee not one substitute crumb – of he bread left. Every evening, after he comes back from hissite toil where at they the are labour building a railway throughhe a the receives slice of mountains, soya bread and an a extra, cube of margarine substitute or marmalade. Every day, number 37013 eats all his bread and the The old uniforms are left on them? Who knows? Very scribbled. What was written important things, obviously. the cement on which he has behind. Along with his pencil and the scraps of paper from 144 rnltdb lsarInBlyth Ian Alistair Translated by BrucksteinLudovic a cibe.Wa a rte nte?Wokos ey Very knows? Who them? he on which written on was cement What the scribbled. from has paper of of scraps his the with reeking and Along pencil behind. uniform, left are striped uniforms old another The disinfectant. get barrack. receives long they the each of end, end Here, other one the at At out come the barrack. They under shower. pass long they skeletons, living A naked, Stark bath. undressed. the Wustegiers- to to valley, dorf, the into down go They March! up! Line of cube the log. with a like slept along he night away, whole the straight And substitute. margarine ate he half other the motn hns obviously. things, important 145 BLYTH (published in Matei Brunul ALISTAIR IAN BY RNLTN ROMANIA TRANSLATING escu personality cult and one of ș The 1990s was a decade of social, Stalinist regime cynically tries to mould into a communist ‘newyoung man’ puppeteer a who naïve memory as has a result lost of brutalisation in his attempt at an historical reckoning with a communist past thatquietly. refused It to go was decade from of not about post-communism, until the2000, and second with the benefithistoricaldistance,thatwriterswereable of greater to begin to traumatic explore Romania’s past through fiction. One outstanding novel in this Teodorovici’s respect is LucianEnglish under the Dan same title by Dalkey Archive Press, 2018), in which the an excellent introduction to therange sheer and fiction. qualityRomanian of contemporary and chaos ineconomic political Romania, with the psychologicalCeau scars ofEastern the Europe’sregimes worst still raw. totalitarian Much inpublished the of of aftermath immediate what was the fall of the regime was an non-fiction, i, north-eastern ș writers in total, and the web- publisher’s provides site (www.romanianwriters.ro) anannualcatalogueofexcerptsfromfiction by Polirom authors. Asthe of catalogues last have year, featured 123 of Romanian novelists are published by Polirom, based inRomania. Since Ia 2006, I have translated fiction finally came into itsawholegenerationofuniqueandtalented own, with Manyvoices emerging. of this new wave project such as a translating novel, but it was also not until the 2000s that post- communist contemporary Romanian niiulpoets.individual One of the reasons for this was that at the time there were few abletranslators to take on a large-scale nhlge ofanthologies Eastern poetry European that after appeared immediately the fall of communism, but also volumes by o-ito,rmadotyBfrtenon-fiction,dramaandpoetry.Beforethe 2000s, most of the Romanian literature translated into English was poetry: the theendofthelastcenturyandhavebeen from the fortranslating Romanian about sixteen years, mostly fiction, but also I have lived in Romania since just before 146 iue ftescn afof half Dumitru century: second the twentieth the of figures literary Romanian of important one most the translate to privilege my the been also has it above, of mentioned novelists account also Genocide. Armenian harrowing is Romania’s and a of community, stories Armenian and lives through the seen as history, Romanian of UniversityPress,2017),spansacentury of novels Varujan Vosganian’s period, important One post-communist most the fiction. the literary of and genre of and conventions the with plays mystery ingeniously that of romance tale evoke a 2016) Bucharest’s Books, Friday on Begins Life Pârvulescu’s Ioana bring, was to century next the that communism and fascism of the before and hope of time a Also century, nineteenth state. the in nation set a as Romania emerging was when century, mid- nineteenth the to back us takes which of prose, luxuriant in a tale told imagination is baroque 2011), Harcourt, Mifflin second Florian’s novel, past. the of traumas grave becomesanallegoryofalltheunresolved mass a discovery of the of tale its post-communist in Romania, set but also is 2009) Harcourt, Mifflin (Houghton Florian’s Filip people. the of enemy convicted an being prison after as swl stecneprr contemporary the as well As h aso h King the of Days The rms o oai Romania for promise h oko Whispers of Book The el époque belle aatohscatastrophes Ito (Istros nin iteFingersLittle (Houghton o e translation me, For nls ore f of journey endless rmhvn ie given having from palisriches. its all up ieauei a far literature is icvr,addiscovery, and a ena an been has Yl (Yale oainRomanian ok r o en ulse n in published being now collected are his works and from the revolution, after vanished 1989 until literature books in Romanian was His decree citizenship presidential 1975. by his revoked in after exile into France the forced was during 1970s. Tsepeneag the banned of crackdown was totalitarian that and late the realism literary otherwise) (socialistculture of or official of post- the challenged ‘thaw’ 1960s the partial during Stalinist literary that a ‘oneirism’, movement of founder the was Tsepeneag 1937). (b. Tsepeneag tre yMloa rtr being writers the Moldovan by on short stories work of translations my to led anthology and Romania, in unavailable or overlooked often too all is which literature, Moldovan to discover opportunity literary unique a was it distinctive me, For highly tradition Romania’s of smaller neighbour. the by to edited anthology introduction an writer Vitalie Ciobanu as contributed Centre PEN I 2010, t In vastly been same different. and has the historical experience cultural whose shares but Moldova, that language country of a literature Romanian asain o to ranslations xl,btteei lote the also is in there but exile, literature Romanian of examples individual Romania. are in Tsepeneag literature written just than more is literature Romanian that Press. Archive Dalkey English Archipelago ti ot remembering worth is It rnlto y by translation n rcsen Bruckstein and Moldova a , 147 Alistair Ian Blyth For me, translation has been an Moldavia during the Brezhnev period. endless journeyRomanian of literature is far from discovery, having given up and all its riches. set in the Soviet Socialist Republic of un’s ă series. My was published . Both novels are Living Tissue. 10x10 Before Brezhnev Died this year byalong Dalkey with Archive Press, Emilian Galaicu-P included in DalkeyBest Archive European Press’s translation Fiction of Iulian Ciocan’s novel

148 ulcto fMnasnvlis novel the Manea’s why of is This publication house. reputable any publishing of editor assistant acquisitions an of desk the than of further it make nowadays classics would prose aforementioned modern none possibly the quite of and gone, challenge long now of are times degree These posed. texts the their by not and they terms, artistic that on judged their be confident only would trust be could and readers authors which time distant first in a from comes sense: also novel the another 1970, in miracle, by if in as published, world also a true is appraisal this now But past. the in is happily of Romania atmosphere like Stalinist depressed today the that sound meaning era, another from may message a book the that remarked time. has long himself a author for The not go, you let not will it opens does, that it novel when a can but lightly, not warning, up indeed reader to compared is masterpiece a reading and the easy debut relatively and Manea’s book. as are praise this titles unrestrained This, these of of Riichi. some statement Yokomitsu as especially a by both stories is of understand, volume a and AlexanderplatzBerlin, Captives BY REVIEWED TRANSLATED BY CAPTIVES eevst tn ntesm hl ihJyes Joyce’s with shelf same the on stand to deserves ENREIN BY ENHRI HARRIS JEAN OMNNORMAN RAUD alnrs Faulkner’s , MANEA NWDIRECTIONS, (NEW h on n h Fury the and Sound The htmk pti soy odta that word a – ‘story’ this up make that critical the deserves. richly all so it rare attention receive this and should times, gem our in miracle a ftesoy u nygtt hr the share to get only but story, the coordinates of spatial the about idea no have we Sometimes why. and matters these of which show to distinction any only without present, we objects the see and to get surface the over narrative glides the Sometimes and over again. told, over are things perspectives which from the no among should is one there available we correct probably most events multiple as the prefer, the together of versions of puzzle which know the the never we so put even and ourselves, to of need We pieces – little. here by caution little with used be should egtt icvrteeet events the discover to get We 2014 ) ak’ Kafka’s , Ulysses ölns Döblin’s , h Trial The 149 Rein Raud It is a book that masterfully a politicalindividuals fully conscious and thinking orderabout the world as imposedbut as we a debilitating normally state of do, on mindslowly, that yet inescapably develops even in the mostcommitted person, intelligent who has remained or long ethically enoughembrace. Needless to in say, weconsider should its ourselves verywecanonlyfeelthisembracewhenwe suffocating lucky that read books like this. broken, each in theirthe own regime, way –circumstances, by by and the bywho times, other do not hesitate people to by take advantage of the any smallat edge least that atheir gives peers. little them bit of powercombines over a highachievement modernist literary withdiagnosis of totalitarianism a –we not, are as devastating accustomed to think of it, problems. As people, they are all The book is divided into three ‘She’ is a teacher of French and ayoungmanofgreatpromise,butnow quite unable to sort out his own live with his wartime‘I’ memories; is and the namelessengineer main working narrator, in an a factory, once unsatisfactory liaisons. ‘You’ refers to the daughter ofcommitted an suicide, because officer, he cannot who has it. music, and an avid readerads, of which personal constantly entangle her in parts, ‘She’, ‘You’making and up approximately ‘I’, one the half of latter phony, do we get a chance tohas see what taken place,cannot and really be sure. even then we towards the enda of threatening the clarity starts book, tofrom when emerge within the kaleidoscopic poly- anyone does what they do aredeeply, always deeply human,deeds even themselves if the are not. Only themselves from unexpected angles,details falldislodged into again. But place, the reasons only why to be narrator’s random impressions,these, too, and can jump back andtime forth without in warning. Motifs repeat

150 el e,‘nelgn n iefryu your for he wise as and and ‘intelligent old, her, tells years desperate; eighteen at Odette, and in- Renée, experienced Marthe, invulnerable; different: and mature very all three at women, cap his sets he hotel, his lakeside in independence; and freedom his keep to is priority greatest of His love, women. of experience the for but love, exams. of rigours alpine the after French lake a early by his relaxing in twenties, student medical book a as in one, meet, first we whom Valeriu, through linked novellas, four seriesof a fact in is it novel, a as described Although book. unfinished deux à rejection; successful comfortable, of a and pain the others’ relationships; of affairs; observation casual superficial of the odyssey an love: of experience the into insight piercing a is found I What expect. to what knowing to came I and before had read I author an not is Sebastian Mihail devastating is its intellectuals. and Jewish Europe work 1930s on effects antisemitism in best-known of car rise the a His of in document a die 1945. to only Holocaust, in the and his accident war in the life survived public He from country. him where home Bucharest, drive eventually in would student It a became rife. he was antisemitism when 1927 he in Danube; name the on his Brăila changed in 1907 in Hechter Iosif born was Sebastian Mihail BY REVIEWED TRANSLATIONS BOTH (UK)) 2020 NOVEMBER (US), 2019 HOUSE, RANDOM (PENGUIN TRANSLATED BY / TRANSLATED BY WOMEN Ș ea sloignts uhfr for much so not looking is tefan hc scs sd iea an like aside cast is which , BY IALMIHAIL AIRIH REIGH GABI HLPÓCEALLAIGH Ó PHILIP EATA SEBASTIAN Women Women ARR METRO, (AURORA éaeménage Ș ea tefan A MAX o not sis (ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AS EASTERMAN itr fteps he as days, three past the entire of the stroke victory one in … destroyed response quietly ‘Her she defeated: him meeting leaves last their his at ignore. But then him; challenge, to is intimidates response maintains self- distance, who the her with Marthe, spars he confident He which win. game a must are liaisons these For That intelligent.’ stay virgin. me a helps ‘I’m ripostes: She age’. bu usdr. outsiders. 1930s in about outsider and an Romania, be to driven but heal. transient not do be memories may love his option, not an is forgetting that realise to realises comes but loss; only and love with of him, memories left are They at shallowness. herself throws who Renée, Even explanation. walks away immediately and yields, then finally him, rejects trout, a like him plays who Odette, move.’ one in checkmate AC 2020 MARCH ialSbsinws saJw Jew, a as was, Sebastian Mihail nruld ihu odo of word a without untroubled, o w huadYears Thousand Two For Women ) Ș ea n the and tefan FEMEI sesnily essentially is N1933)IN Ș Ș ea,tefan, ea tefan , 151 tefan Ș Women tefan’s role as Ș tefan’s odyssey. Ș and the process has been an It’sunusualtohavetwotranslations Mihail Sebastian’s books are appropriate, I think, givensetting the of 1920s the book –in and the which US the one, dialoguevery in modern American (of particular course, that is the women: their voices are oftendominant the ones in of the samecompare, book tointeresting contrast one. and There arebe bound stylistic to differencesinstance, and there’s a inbetween clear this the divergence UKthe publication, language and where tone areand ‘European’ thefashioned dialogue and period slightly – old- not in- But he ishe also an does experimenter, begin and complexities of to his understand relationships.moves He from the towards a self-confident women suspicious toadmiration hostility an for them;attitudes he are often accepts cruel, his so thatis ‘love’ rarely permanent; but heopen begins up to to his to womenvulnerability show. Mihail Sebastian’s and allows his skill is to balancestories the telling of these between the man and the inevitable partingsimple comes, and shoulder-shrugging it’s as as the way they first got together, and is left once again with only memories. essentially experimental andsees Sebastian tryingalternative narratives. out different, the ‘link man’places, yet is it works: he tenuous tries his hardest into several manipulate the womenthough he he meets, doesn’t always succeed. bear all of life’s hardships’. But when of Paris, tefan and her tefan with an Ș Ș banlieue tefan’s last woman: Ș tefan. But she too knows her Ș Arabela is Maria, the woman in book three, tefan’s, another social misfit. Their She accepts his irresponsibilitiesorganises and his life. She is ‘someone … to left with nothing but memories. practical, amatter-of-fact, home-maker. has the insight and sophistication that elude relationship will end and she will be that you love me …complication’.Her is story an is told unnecessary entirely from the woman’s point of view. She loves her and she reproachesimperilling him their for friendship: ‘Whyyou did end up like the others? The fact is a long-time friend of story is a letter to him; heentirely is otherwise absent. He has confessed he worldly-wise, yet fearful her love affair with a youngercompromise her social position. man, Maria Andrei, will lative role in the affair. is the polar opposite of Émilie: older, extraordinary mixture of compassion, glee and self-justification. Heaccept cannot the impact of his own manipu- meet Irimia, a former schoolfriendȘ of story is narrated by a world of loose moralsa where virgin ‘to be olderembarrassment’. than Her fifteen tragedy was is an to them can escape.meet in Émilie, book two, whom is the we saddesta virgin of in all, the low-life ovnin dte o xml,is for Odette, example, ‘a boy convention. in a blue beret’. But theof complications being misfits are just what none of women in his life are all to someat extent variance withtime, the mores bent of on their escaping or ignoring 152 rnltosdvreo atr f of suffice: matters will example One fact. on the where diverge cases translations are there that was of matter surprising find did a I personal What taste. entirely is read to choose you Which expressed. are precisely more attitudes and thoughts the women’s and smoothly more Gabi flows it, Reigh’s to power and directness prose a Ceallaigh’s has Ó forthcoming Philip while that, the in P are Americanisms ‘translated’ the if change may nunU dto) vrl,Ife feel I Overall, edition). UK enguin ae,cmliigta h ny only breaststroke.’ knew she that the complaining over water, victory his admired crawl and front vigorous who his yesterday the watched from perhaps girl English voice, woman’s ‘a etra,teoeh’ ace watched he’d one the yesterday, from Englishwoman the ‘Perhaps and erc rmteoealipc f of impact not overall version. either did the conflicts from these detract say, to glad I’m words. other’s the might reading on translator react either do I how and wonder found I conflict such the only the but not is new; This order. different the a of in is and above old thrust the of the sense reproduce to in text, order their of emphasis with and tone liberties the take to even, expected entitled, are they And mistakes. make right. be Romanian? both cannot the They of the rendering is correct wonder, I Which, reversed. are h emdt nwol h the only know water; way breaststroke.’ to the seemed the with she by struggled she had surprised He been powerfully. swimming rnltr r nyhmn hy they human: only are Translators characters two the of roles The a Easterman Max 153 ) r 2019 BLASIAK ). CODRESCU ANNA ANDREI BY REVIEWED BY orsuisCodrescu a shrewd commentato What Codrescu sees is bitter- iec toLicence Carry a Gun ‘My farewell party is tomorrow just like my welcome / party which was Noyesterday. time at all has passed but fashions / change. Explain that, science,andyoucanhavemytestes.’ media, by allby the OSs ‘tweets’ and Googling; and heby ‘likes’, is what saddened he perceives asbooks; the he death of scratches his head when sweet, at(often times in a hilariously dead-panagonisingly way), at funny sad others His or even poemswith ominous. absurdity area and linguistic also level paradoxes, too.words and He on brimming turns often them inside takes out,looking as if for theirwhat lining, surprised he at finds themreshuffles like stack a there. of cards. He frequently on modern life. He is puzzled by social protagonist of thiswhich volume, lives and the breathes, has cityblood red-hot running through its veins,affected by little ‘the hot grease of time’. he returns after his timethe in Romania, city which becomes the main (UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH PRESS, were No Time

NO TIME LIKE NOW No Time Like Now and remains his main . language (after German and There is a clear connection, times are still troubled’.the New city York of Codrescu’s is youth, to which written between 2016As Codrescu and says 2018.)later himself, the ‘Decades city has changed and the troubled secondtwenty-first decade century.making of (The up the poems two sidestroubled of late 1960s the arethe same mirrored in equally coin: – the albeit differently – a sturdy bridgelatest linking his poetry firstmainly volumes and about New – York. They are both like are of his latest poetry collection, like Now Hungarian).remained However,language – English and this is the language Romanian poetry.started As a writingthird result in he Romanian, his Romania, tochanges for American media. That cover also gave him the a chance political to reconnect with also taught literatureseveral and American universities. In poetry 1989 at he took the plunge and returned to Since then he has notonly written,but English came out a few years later, in 1970 ( born in and Sibiu in moved to Transylvania the US in the 1960s, first to Detroit, then to New York, where he met Allen and Ginsberg the At Beatniks. thathe time didn’t speak much but English, that soon – changed his first poetry book in Author of of more than as essays, collections novels, fifty books, including well as quite a few volumes of poetry, Andrei Codrescu is a prolific writer. He was

154 aaeykle thshm n18, 1987, in home celebrated his at killed the savagely to was Wieder Wieder. Joseph Professor closeness and his 1980s the in Princeton at studies English his describing memoir a Flynn, book Mirrors a title the reading with submission Katz, Peter agent, almost in his approval. unalloyed basking among Golding inspirations) Hemingway, and numbers Steinbeck (who author the with book, the of sheer accomplishment the in subsumed to missteps than more occasional are themselves its and it, over praise falling had language new a critics in outing first but crime- his country, own ten his in written novels related had author The 2017. publication in before novel the secured books, unpublished on punt publishing in publishers a takes among a global rarely which Iceland, war bidding as places such a even of of and twenty-three countries, subject something the became was book English The sensation. in written novel his before years three first only took it Romania, native his from England to Chirovici came Eugen After beginnings. strange have can stories success Literary BY REVIEWED MIRRORS OF BOOK THE its gaining everything form: ‘reverse-Ikea’ with faced oepce hnNietzsche.’ than packed more Christianity, of Ikea the is Bible The / translators. bad the all hung James who King with lucky was ‘Jesus h oe eiswt ieay literary a with begins novel The rma uhrnmdRcad Richard named author an from AR BARRY FORSHAW h oko of Book The BY ..E.O. HRVC CHIROVICI ra es a frvaigteidentity revealing the of way a least at or murder, is the book to confession his a essentially game: curious the a playing for is charged Flynn that believe to ever starts Katz crime. one no with not’ ‘not – term own … generous and his warm use to – is he ieayaetbigsdcdby seduced being fragments agent literary a author’s – premise novel’s the The milieu. an American through of filtered result origins Romanian a perhaps – ethos off-kilter its by enthusiastic seduced admirers, of slew a acquired swiftly darker into What territory. psychological darker men case. and both the leads into follows look to commissions Keller Katz John is so journalist investigative tenacious hospital, manuscript a expiring is in The author its and killer. unfinished, the of u vnwe ei ctl rtcl critical, acutely is he when even But h oko Mirrors of Book The fabo sbt oenin modern both is – book a of ARW 2017) (ARROW, sanvlta that novel a is naBlasiak Anna 155 Bad Barry Forshaw ? a really That’s matter jeu d’esprit , is worthy similarly of attention. Is the novel a murder mystery or revealingfinale,butthereisnoslackening in the pace. a literary for dispute between critics – the casual reader will want to know the answer to one simple Will question: the novel keep me comprehensivelyanswer gripped? to that The isthe definitely author’s yes. other And recentBlood novel, involving than the opening and the The . Chirovici adroitly juggles Perhaps its central section is less setal,the novelEssentially, is a puzzle with the various componentsintriguing presented fashion in for the reader. remains from his characters –concentration makes movement of on the itself narrative crucial. the forward murder case in the 1980s),might seem initially to be and a disadvantage what – the cool distance at which the author the multiple voicessection is here presented via (thethe the ex-policeman who final voice was part of of the feel and satisfyingly old fashioned in its resonance; think of Henry James’Aspern Papers 156 rnebr ae hs atto two past These Gate. Brandenburg Ceau of fall the with last our Wall, Berlin the of BBC first Radio Our time. amazing an What London December – 23rd 1989 very unknown. the thoughts, a into unedited stepping reporter Western raw, young personal is a privileged witness, in Romania then, a I extracts. saw few what the is a this of but are impressions today country different youthful Here my ago. revisit years thirty to Revolution curious Romanian 1989–1990, of winter dark that from diary my out sought funding. Recently, I the secured who Crețu, Tudor editor, guest our contributors and the and editors generous to thanks and gifted and adversity many over triumph of indefatigable teamwork huge this produced a have is pandemic, we a that during now, fact magazine The Covid-19. then and funding, and bureaucracy by time each stalled a was discoveries, literary create but many my to you longed with share have to years, several I endured. has country the horrors by appalled the and wonders, natural architecture and blouses, crafts, Timi arts, its to by seduced Cluj from visit, each with journal-writer deepening journalist and and maturing a young impressions as first those I forged 1990 January in trip adeeploveforthisblightedandbeautifulcountry,whichIhavevisitedmanytimessince, first my after my and The writing erupted. life Romania my and changed Revolution Then Romanian documentaries journals. private BBC in country making each another, of experiences after personal revolution one plate, ona spinning Europe ground, the touching hardly feet my Germany, on Czechoslovakia producer and and reporter as 4 new Radio BBC for the working began I 1989, of autumn the In BY REVOLUTION ROMANIAN MY OI ROSIE ş suadteoeigo h the of opening the and escu Eurofile Eurofile GOLDSMITH eisbgnwt h fall the with began series eis iie uolva oad ugr,Blai,Abna Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia, visited I series. RIVETER-IN-CHIEF , Ș aa uhrs oBra to Bucharest oara, o et hr.Ihv eninvolved, contribu- some been make to able have been have I I there. to me for right feels it because simply is it maybe yet; been in sunk have not has I it Maybe witness! and a – most life my the of ordinary been have months Ș v edn t literature, its reading ov, oainRiveterRomanian extra- o for 157 escu ş ulig,lotrnhntl,buildings,almostFrenchinstyle, it has revealed communist and In the evenings Bucharest is even I popped into a today. supermarket After one day I am already wizened apples, carrots and lettuce – is sad and unstimulating. more like a war zone. The rare street I was Warsaw thought an place unhappy but it seems and bustling by prosperous comparison with Bucharest. Bucharest can boast magnificentmaniacal and megalo- buttheyarethebackdropforthepoverty of there Prague the lovely Unlike streets. about Bucharest. is endearing nothing Everything, absolutely everything,scarce and is what you do see – shelf upon shelf of jars of beans, maybe some milk, lation; the tendencies; opposition authoritarian of hundreds is are Securitate ineffective; still running free; is thetrustworthy?Thisisadangeroussociety army entirely for us and forpossible Romanians that – there it coulda purge after only is one complete month. have im- been to Itaccustomed Bucharest. is very poor, ugly, gloomy, grim. People don’tbecause there smile is nothing to smile about. oa IToday met a of range who people tested my powers of deduction. Employees at RadioRomanian and at the State Tourist Office. All of them had been part ofsystem, the but what does thisthey Had Securitate? mean: they been secretly are harbouring dissident opinions all along? Can they really change their at mind-set amoment’snotice?Thisquestionisatthe heart of the dilemma of post-Ceau Thesociety. Front National Salvation no longer has the support of the popu- 0hJnay1990 30th January escu ş escu was toppled. ş they hope for and believe. Is it they because have up been bottled for so long? interpreters or to helpEverybody is in willing to some talk. Romanians way. whospeakEnglishclingtous,telluswhat simply hanging about. People are milling everywhere – especially inlobbies to the change hotel money or to act as brown, grey and barely filthy, nothing in shop windows. But there are numerous people on the or streets, demonstrating about being in few thisdark, redeeming oppression, passive city is unfamiliar, features. Very, very poor, everything eouin It’s but midnight revolution. I’ve been up since 4.30 a.m. so won’t write much but I could write pages already. Everything experience I neverhappen, one thought of wouldjournalists a here handful to of document BBC the 29th January 1990 – HotelBucharest Modern, I’m in Romania, a weird and wonderful I am shocked atin the Romania. speed of change And a couple of dayswas later executed!!! Ceau Whatcould you else, do with though, the man? … But even vr day. every 25thDecember1989–Cornwall,home is shivering, rippling, shuddering withenthusiasm, joy and fear. It is thewonderful time most to be alive. Milestones ofhisbrutality.TheonecountryIthought would never change. MaybeIwillgotoRomania.ThewholeofEurope one day tion and to learn from others. Yesterday the detested Ceau I feel when revulsion I think of him, read 158 eoeadAtrteDcao’(epe (people ‘Education Dictator’ the After formed: and Before being is feature we’re here. That’shome. why back idea, no have They work. we work, is it possibletofunction.Howeverharditisto but turmoil, in wasn’t She is Bucharest work? clear. my for or safety my for – volatile too was situation the that panicking up phoned had editor My OK. andPaulReynolds,waitingtocheckIwas two stand diplomatic foyer correspondents, Brayne Mark hotel seedy in there and – forbidden previously timetheyhadhadaforeignerintheirflat, first the – home Romanian first a in my evening from back Arrived quickly. so another upon Unusual events one follow January31st 1990 ago. month one only of horrors the weeping. reminder, of again, A people and letters of wreaths, dead flowers, dried Candles, revolution. the the to shrines bedraggled C. are there centre that city boulevard the through forged main the on points certain At … of buildings strategic front certain in parked tanks are there And guns. machine and helmets tinpot with uniforms green 1950s in dressed place, the into over all bumping soldiers are There and soldiers. streets pitted the over stumbling – down burned from almost was Library National – gutted the fighting and the the burned streets, buildings shell-pocked through BBC my night in colleaguesandIwalkedtotherestaurant other is city The the darkness. of rest the and dimmed lights–onlyonthemainboulevards–are oa a oey yfrtBC BBC first My lovely. was Today BBC ymy h g fnn.Te r ugyfr for hungry are They nine. of age the and – children started learning often classes English at few too were there that except certain extent – a regime to the of language teaching strictures escaped the Foreign- English! spoke they had! well they How energy What now. happy are how they and ‘HIM’ hated they about how unanimous were They excited. so were they teenagers spoke with – and eyes. her in tears often there were and freedom new is the She by moved English. of and teaching of love her lost never has who woman gifted University. A Bucharest at teaches She learning and The me? English it for help. is textbooks or writes BBC, to the of happy prestige and and Warm cheerful uncorked. bottle cham- a pagne like is if English, fluent old-fashioned speaks She her. about book a write could I interpreter. and guide my now Georgiana, academic English Met name). actual his mention to bear can’t English ancient from works She books. cost of price will the of idea which no has her, fortune. She a to send back to buy home to books text mostly books, The goodwill. and unstable. so situation is here energy this will they lose or help to done be must thing some- – schools Romanian adopt schools might English that suggested pupils The world. outside the with contact and books need they light; little heating, no classrooms have the But music! pop and classtotellthemaboutEngland,America the of front in stood we knowledge and evstdtogamrschools grammar two visited We erin aem ogls f of list long a me gave Georgiana aaie,wt tre bu about stories with magazines, Practical 159 patter, without taking I drive, Georgiana keeps up My dinner: a jar of cherriesThey’re in playing the Lambada a constant a breath. In the car, Iwhole have learned the historytogetherwehaveupdatedandrevised of Romania and outside Bucharest totalking record about the people systemisation of thevillages – Romanians forciblyfrom evicted their farms and villagesto by live in HIM concrete blocks inorder the city, in for HIMbuild to centralise monoliths power,populace more productive. and But thesepeople are peasant make farmers, theyidle, are the theychickens. It has miss ruined their lives. their cattle and downstairs in thea hotel party! Live tonight! music, food, wine, It’s women dressed and flirtingmake-up and lots dyedsays of the hair. Romanians bright love Georgiana entertaining … butdiscouraged under from ‘his mixing,was rule’ suspicious everyone of they everyone else.tragedy were of The this country becomes more apparent by therevelations day; break your thewe heart. constant Today, drove to a demolished village extreme kindness was like a millstoneround my neck.My It got one me interviewa nowhere. charismatic man today from the Education was Ministry. He with spoke about thenew utopian society. He is‘Group a member for ofI Social the believe will play Dialogue’, an important which the renovation role of in this society. alcohol and a fresh pear. very kind, want to help, but this District Nr … No names, just Visited Georgiana and lugubrious the systemisation of the villages –BBC my story number two. People are phone lines were cut off … Ithe wandered streets lookingwho for could speak an English to architect talk about did the mud on thewith streets (plastered it) andThere the was pollution no water in in the the hotel, tele- air. a telephone andactivity. Sub-motivation. The a confusion newspaper. Sub- ofRomaniaenteredmybloodtoday,as cracies, apathy. Ugly officewhere buildings men sita behind couple of a pieces of desk paper with on them, s eray1990 1st February Kafkaesque day. Monolithic bureau- some ceramics. It was overwhelming.These people have so littlegiven so and much. I was my first plumcontact with brandy Romanian art. G. and insisted on my giving me a first book on miniatures and and little else.pottery, G. by collects friends,parts of Romania. art So from this evening I and had different An inhuman environment. Their flat issmall but full of books.apples A tray and of farm carrots were on display numbers. All the buildings awaythe from central boulevards ofare concrete blocks, Bucharest identical and ugly. signs). Their address:Street Nr … BlockFloor Nr …. Nr Stairway Nr … … Flat Nr. husband Danconcrete-block flat (in my rental Dacia tonight car, anarchic, appalling roads, in no road their black cab drivers and havingthe Queen. tea with 160 yclege n r eadda as regarded are I and colleagues My Overwhelming. kindness. What more Such arrived. irony. been I when have than up would loaded I – apples, cheese farm cake, crafts, – I’d given everything been taken had I If course. of Georgiana, of Courtesy home? back jam of bottle strawberry of a jars two and carrying brandy plum I am hell the And why slow. very very, and bureaucracy Bureaucracy, checks. baggage petent incom- soldiers, with crawling Airport LeavingRomaniaisahideousexperience. Otopeni Airport February – 5th 1990 the for time! first textbooks in appear school will ‘video’ Romanian word the me to for post-Ceau textbooks English-language her ş supbiain hns Thanks publication. escu o a endiigbcwrsal all backwards driving miles: time? that been few I had too the so, that showed insisted with milometer up they it Then filled hadn’t petrol. I wrong that the but returned told car I’d was that I only and itself) not in feat up with (a it when petrol filled just I’d the Office. to Tourist rent-a-car Dacia bureaucracy my returned I Romanian for aid and villages. food and universities schools, books, to letters am requesting Britain authorities in various personal I me responsibility. with carrying and – privilege world a another from ambassadors ial,a psd fbatfl beautiful of episode an Finally, oi Goldsmith Rosie 161 , EDITOR The Fox Was oara, but the ş AFTERWORD CAMEL , I was struck by some- WEST BY oara, the city and the Banat region While writing my review for the ş takes place in the Timi city, countryside seems ever-present, and seemmemories linked to rural locations. As Rosie discovered in the winter of a Requiem’ byDaniel Viorel Vighi, which Marineasa relates the and story of afamilybeingforcedofftheirland,‘What happened to everybody happenedthem to too’. magazine of Herta Müller’s most recent novel in English translation, Ever the Hunter thing that has been articulated byown our Rosie Goldsmith in herdiaries from poignant the revolution. The novel Timi around it are a melting pot of languages and cultures, a place of shifting borders and mobileRomania’s peoples. only Herta Nobel isliterature, Müller, from Laureate the region’s Swabian, for German-speaking population, whose history of is deracination andattempts subsequent migration, shared state-making with groups across the country. As we are ominously told in ‘Draft of has a strong of place – the way these writers oara's and the surrounding Romanian Riveter ş As Andreea Scridon (herself I do mean location in terms of rnltr discusstranslator) in their essays about our selection of poetry and prose from a Romanianand Watts Stephen writer (the poet British and and translator) motnl,the placesimportantly, they have left, all leavetheirmarkontheRomanianliterature we to present you here. of the people that inhabit areasons place. why The people livethe culture they bring somewhere, to that place and, omnct the and atmosphere, communicate land- and cityscapes in which they butcreate; I live also mean location and in terms we cover in this edition. a sense I have developed a stronglocation sense is that a powerful influencethe on all contemporary Romanian writing region's prodigious literary output and great festivals. But inand commissioning editing the magazine’s content, focus on location a geographic particular and isTimi designed to celebrate Our 162 ntemgzn,o ore ial Mihail course: of magazine, the in published time first through the for Romania might reach he work now later because His Israel. writer to a moved as Romania by de-recognised then was and Holocaust, Auschwitz survived who dis- Jew, these of location the marked tales. Bruckstein Romanian a was perhaps sharply most is of Bruckstein story Ludovic The country. as home to had his prison’, he leave reasons work, the on ‘re-education focuses in still his set Romanian play a a but by here demonstrated France, in the Vi Play- Matéi edition. wright of this in cover several we writers mark deportation lives.’ their chickens. ruined has and It cattle their miss they … city the in concrete blocks in live to HIM by villages and farms their from evicted 1989–1990: forcibly ‘Romanians [were] ThereareotherexpatriateRomanians and exile eviction, forcible Indeed h nls rnltosbig being translations English the yIto ok. Books. Istros by ş iccamdayu asylum claimed niec n h the and ovnro orRmna or will Romanian your souvenir tour. of a this and cherish offer, and home to take have country this and city literature this of wealth the on feasted have whole, a Romania as to and Timi to trip your enjoyed have you hope English-speaking we world, the in when most time impossible for nigh-on travelling highly is a At Romania. and in regarded long-established despite being English, in published been has work their time first the is this many For Timi from writers prose and poets of work the magazine the is of core The one. productive and positive a too; journey a readers, our on taken you, have Mirrors of Book bestseller, his wrote often also Chirovici and US E.O. writer crime English, while in the writes Andrei in lives poet Codrescu Paris, in lived Sebastian u ihti aaiew oew we hope magazine we this with But nEnglish. in , ş aaitself. oara etCamel West Riveter ş aaoara h The as 163 WATTS niec also lived ş STEPHEN BY , Herta Müller among them, oara Mention of Paris is apposite: many ş work ofwrights these such as latter. Eugènemore Major Ionesco recently Matéi and Vi play- in France and wrote in French, as did the German ofwritten Celan’s in Paris. later poetry Romanian poetsSome, have like Arghezi, lived whoa there. stayed year only or so,who or lived like there Magda muchued longer, Cârneci, writing contin- in Romanian; while others, great writers among them – Benjamin Fondane, Tristan Tzara andwrote more mostly – in included French, translations so of I the have French Timi and also fromRomanian-language Bukovina, poetry theCelan, of but also early many translations Paul from

ENGLISH TRANSLATION (SINCE 2010)

A LISTING OF ROMANIAN POETRY & PROSE FICTION IN certain choices,including,for instance, English translationslanguage writers from of the Banat and German- major Yiddish and Hebrew poets were also born in greater Romania. Forspecific this Riveter bibliography I’ve made written insignificantly in Romanian,and German, in Roma Hungarian but languages, while several also of Romania – fluid and varying bound- aries historically, often painfullypoetry so and – prose have been, and are, wonderful linguistic, the diversity.Within boundaries cultural thematic and Additionally, Romanianwhich from literature, themonoglot outside and can solid, seem in fact has It’s partial in anotherfor sense, reasons because of spacedown, I’ve especially trimmed the it poetry section. who have no current e.g. translations, the wonderful poet Tudornot Arghezi, are here either. a bibliography of twentieth- and poetry twenty-first-century English and translation (so it prose doesn’t in include, for example, Mihaiof Eminescu) and translations published in book form since 2010 – so some major writers Romanian literature isbibliography is only very partial, but I rich, hopethese it gives and some rich idea of, rich and and access to, also fluid in trends in translation: this contemporary poetry and prose. It’s 164 l all space of reasons for included, not largely I’ve and Romania now is poets what in born novelists Hungarian classic great contemporary but only Hungarian, mostly in write who writers as such Cioran. Emil philosophers influential Hxa K 1p pe.91,nt .12 08ppronly. paper 2018 112) p. note 9–10, (pref. Books Bloodaxe 112pp only. UK) text (Hexham English poet. pref. Sorkin Vianu J. Lidia Adam & tr. Poems Selected RETURN BARBARIANS’ THE cloth. & DINESCU paper 2019 135pp NY) (Merrick Communications Cross-Cultural texts. English & Romanian Lungu. Arip Ultima / WING LAST THE only. paper BC) 2017 (Victoria 94pp Editions Libertad/Ekstasis Libros Aligizakis. only. Manolis text & English Friggieri Oliver tr. COLORS AND SHADES only. paper 2017 93pp NY) Glasgow, Maria Nicol Diana & Friggieri Oliver tr. TAPESTRIES SAND original. Romanian DEACONESCU the of poet the a by probably Translation reworking only. paper vii-x, 2015 (intro. 71–78) 78pp etc. NC) biblio. (Asheville Press Britt. MadHat Alan only. text intro. English (poet) named not tr. QUARTER LATIN THE English. in only. writes paper also 2012 Poet 128pp only. MA) text (Somerville English Press poet. Barva the Cervena tr. ONE NO TO KNOWN PATHS ON COSMA not texts Bilingual poetry. given Romanian the on by and essays Celan 2 on With translator only. paper 2015 (intro. 23–66) 85pp essays NY) 1p, (Rhinebeck Press Meadow & Sheep Romanian texts. Cassian. English Nina essays with tr. POEMS ROMANIAN CELAN 2017 94) p. only. (note paper 94pp UK) (Bristol Books Shearsman texts. M with Sorkin J. T O CÂRNECI zones & prose & Poetry between. only. paper 2019 72pp Press MA) Wakefield (Cambridge only. text English Cotter. Sean tr. CURL BOBE Festival. Silence’ & in ‘Speech Nights Kong International Hong 2019 the paper for 2019 trilingually 90pp Published Kong) only. (Hong Press Kong Chinese Hong texts. of English University & Chinese Romanian, only. POETS. paper OF 2017 SHIP 9–19) (intro. Bloodaxe 134pp only. UK) text (Hexham English intro. Books Patea. with Viorica tr. & SENSES Derrick THE Scott OF Paul EBB only. / paper HEREAFTER 2014 OF 99–111) SUN note THE & essay 9–24, (Hexham (intro. Books Bloodaxe 111pp only. UK) Viorica text & English Derrick poet. Scott essay Paul aft. intro. Patea with tr. A4 LAND NATIVE MY 1989. from revised BLANDIANA & New only. MA) paper (Boston 2019 Press 220pp Widow Black Andrei only. intro. text with English tr. Codrescu. Poems Selected SLEEP OF PRAISE IN Self-published. only. paper 2018 Translator 39pp (UK) / Named Not Publisher only. text English Reigh. Gabi tr. LIGHT OF POEMS BLAGA 2013. in was Cluj edition in earlier published An only. paper 2018 (Cluj/ 158pp eLiteratura Bucharest) texts. English & Romanian Diana- Burlacu. tr. WOLVES Viorela THE OF SIGN STAR LUPILOR/THE ZODIA BATI LANGUAGE ROMANIAN Ă Ş EEAUZTAE/ADAEIGSLNEt.Aa Adam tr. SILENCE DEAFENING A / ASURZITOARE CERE ă nface en hs agae n rigt to trying and languages these .O (b.1969) O. T. , su nls etol.HnyobPes(uln (Dublin, Press Honeycomb only. text English escu. TE hl itn rnltosfrom translations listing While Romanian included course of have I al(1920–1970) Paul , uin(1895–1961) Lucian , lva(b.1938) Flavia , âzaa(b.1943) Sânziana , ne alia inter ica(b.1950) Mircea , ad (b.1955) Magda , . n (b.1942) Ana , ă o (b.1947) Ion , d ă iaB lina . ă uu&tepe.Rmna nls English & Romanian poet. the & nucu ă d ilWlc r eoia Veronica tr. Wolack Bill ed. ns h the ones; POETRY IERONIM given Preface only. (wrs.). Romanian only in paper 2014 5–7) Aius (pref. Editura 95pp texts. (Craiova) English & Romanian Ciolac Micu. Ioan Daniela pref. Alin tr. STATION NOVEMBER / NOIEMBRIE GARA HINOVEANU only. 104pp paper LA) 2014 Orleans 100–104) (New (note Books the Diálogos & only. text Iamandi Petru English Sorkin, poet. J. Adam tr. WOMB STARRY THE G cover translator. a the With by Series. photo Writers 99– Engaged only. notes paper 9–17, 2011 (fore. 102) New 102pp of LA) University Orleans / (New Press Press UNO Orleans only. Sorkin text J. English Adam Cârâc. fore. Alina with & tr. MACHINES WAR HER AND MEDEA FLORA earlier from translations editions. Collects small-press only. paper 2010 74) 74pp p. NY) (notes (Riverdale-on-Hudson Press Meadow Sheep English only. Sheffer. text Isaiah poet Semilian, & Julian Sorkin Codrescu, J. Andrei Adam (mostly), tr. Poems Selected DEW AND ROCK FIRAN only. paper 2014 41pp MA) (Somerville only. text English Sorkin Genescu. J. Antuza Adam with tr. OBJECT LUXURY DOUBLE-EDGED SHARP A DRAGHINCESCU angeMlo otyi rnlto Series. Translation in only. Poetry paper Mellon 2014 Carnegie 72pp only. (US) text Press English University Moscaliuc. Mellon Mihaela Carnegie tr. VIPER THE OF HISS THE only. LEONTE paper 2015 55–63) 63pp note UK) & (Cardigan (aft. Books Parthian only. Diarmuid text aft. English with Johnson. tr. NETTLES WITH HAIR MY WASHING only. paper IVANCU 2016 Bitter 120pp texts. NY) English (Fayetteville & Press Romanian Oleander Manole. Diana & Sorkin J. Cocu Adam Co Autobuzul / BUS HUNCHBACKS’ THE IUGA With Chirita. Alexandra cloth. by & illustrations paper for 2019 Center [152pp] only. (..) text Studies English Romanian Isanos. Elisabeta intro. aft. Isanos Brackob Magda K. of A. Prose and Poetry SING ANGELS WHEN ISANOS 109–164) only. biography paper & 2013 illustrations letters, bil. ix-xli, 164pp intros. Athens) (bil. Zurich, Vegas, (Las Publishing Parmenides texts. Console- Cyrus intro. & with Paula tr. DRACILOR MOARA / GRINDER DEVIL’S THE IONESCU-QUINTUS 105– only. etc. paper (note 2019 107pp text 107) Kong) English (Hong Vianu. Kong Lidia Hong & Proverse Kacian only. Jim & Iacob Olimpia tr. VIOLET ILICA subject Ceau on of texts with Bilingual collaged writers/commentators. Ieronim many by Ioana by prose Poetry only. 70pp paper & 2016 p.7) p.7) (pref. (pref. 70pp (Bucharest) & Vremea Romanian Editura H. Colfescu. texts. Ernest Silvia English pref. & poet (poetry) with Sorkin (prose) J. Jr. Adam Latham tr. / Beautiful Poporului Not Casa Is PEOPLE Big THE When OF HOUSE / DELIR ÎN CIFRE Ă ntedcd ic 2010. since decade the in available made Englishbeen translation in Romanian- modern language of poetry prose fiction and breadth has that the of briefbibliographyistogivesomeindication this of thrust main the Romania, within demonstrate L ĂŢ oa(b.1931) Nora , aoia(b.1951) Carolina , amn(b.1958) Carmen , on(1950–2005) Ioan , ş ANU ad (1916–1944) Magda , susplc rhtcuepeetdtête-bêche. presented architecture palace escu’s mla(b.1979) Emilia , amla(b.1964) Carmelia , on (b.1947) Ioana , ial(b.1963) Mihail , iin (b.1956) Liliana , oia(b.1962) Rodica , ica(1917–2017) Mircea , Ş ia rf ot oain&Egih English & Romanian poet. pref. oican h ag fltrtrs literatures of range the Č reáBraPes Press Barva ervená tpe Wa�s Stephen ş a ţ r ihito intro. with tr. i 165 , ţ ţă / An An i, Romania) nescu. ş ă ă tef Ş An Anthology of Modern An Anthology of ă nescu, Vasile Gârne ă tr. Florin Bican (mostly), ed. with pref. & intro. ed. & tr. with notes Daniel Ioni ă : An Anthology of Romanian Poetry ed. & tr. /POETRY AND SCIENCE Modern (Cluj-Napoca) 91pp (bil. prefs. 6–21, bil. aft. ă ā ŢĂ nescu. Romanian & English texts. Editura , George (b.1951) ă (with Eva Foster, Daniel Reynaud & Rochelle Bews) Antologie De Poezie Român Anthology of Modern Romanian Verse / Antologie , Floarea (b.1955) tef TIIN ţă Ş Ş I Ş , Dumitru (b.1948) an aft. Al. Cistelecan. Romanian & English texts. Editura , Alexandru (1950–2015) , Liliana (b.1949) ş UIANU Ţ U coala Ardelean small photo or portrait. POEZIE Contemporary Authors from Romania ed. withTartler & intros. Peter Grete Forbes tr. eds. &Romanian others & essay English Solomon texts. Marcus. Editura Vremeaintros. (Bucharest) 11-–52, 255pp notes (bil. 235–255) 2016 paper34 only. poets With & work 32 by translators. Romanian & English texts. Editura Minerva(intro. (Bucharest) & 255pp notes 8–33) 2012 paperC20th only. poets. With work by 55CONTEMPORARY mostly ROMANIAN POETS Adam J. Sorkin & others fore.Branea. Graham Romanian Henderson & pref. English Dorian texts. RomanianPublishing Cultural House Institute (Bucharest & London) 71pppaper (prefs. only. With 5–15) work 2012 by 6& contemporary brief poets, note: each Andrei with Bodiu, photo DenisaBogdan Com Ghiu, Claudiu Komartin, Miruna Vlada.‘Poet Published in with the City’(London). MOODS & WOMEN & MEN &Anthology ONCE of AGAIN Contemporary MOODS Romanian Erotic PoetryRuxandra sel. Cesareanu tr. Margento, Martin Woodside,Sorkin, Adam Florin J. Bican & others intro.Editura Margento. Tracus Arte English (Bucharest) text / only. CalypsoCA) Editons 209pp (Los Angeles (intro. 9–33, notes 201–209)work 2015 by paper 48 only. contemporary With poets. TESTAMENT Anthology of Modern Romanian Verse ed.Daniel & Ioni tr. with pref. & notesintro. Alex Minerva (Bucharest) 415pp (bil. prefs. 8–53,415) notes 2015 & paper index only 394– (wrs.). Revised2012 & above. enlarged With 2nd work edition by of 98 mostly C20th poets each with a 128pp (Romanian text pp. 1–63, Englishpaper text only. pp. Bilingual 65–128) texts 2011 not presented en face. ANTHOLOGIES THE VANISHING POINT THAT WHISTLES Contemporary Romanian Poetry ed. with intro.with Paul Adam Doru J. Mugur Sorkin & Claudiawith Serea Claudia tr. Serea Adam (esp.) J. & Sorkin others. (mostly)House English (Jersey text City only. NJ) Talisman 366pp (intro.paper 2–7, only. With notes work 353–366) by 2011 40 translators. younger contemporary poets & 19ROMANIAN WRITERS ON WRITING Norman Manea (with Sanda Cordos) tr.Baricz Raluca (mostly) Manea & & others. Carla English textPress only. (San Trinity University Antonio TX) 321pp (pref.297–321) xi–xii, 2011 intro. paper 1–6, only. index With etc. workprose by but 80 with writers, translations mostly of [20]Series poets. (Series The Ed.: Writers Edward World Hirsch). OF GENTLE WOLVES Martin Woodside. Romanian & English texts.(Los Calypso Angeles Editions CA) 66pp (pref. vi–vii,With note work p. by 66) 14 2011 poets paper fromtranslated only. C20th before. & C21st, some rarelyTESTAMENT De Poezie Român (with Eva Foster & Daniel Reynaud) intro. Alex Giannetti. English text mostly (& some(Washington Romanian). DC) Plamen 71pp Press (fore vii–ix, noteWith 69–71) 6 2017 poems paper also only. in Romanianthe & poet. with 6 colour photo-collagesURSU by A PATH TO THE SEA tr. poet,English Adam text J. only. Sorkin Pleasure & Boat Tess Studio Gallagher.notes (NY) 123–130) 130pp 2011 (prefs. paper 13–15, only. CLAY AND STAR Selected Poems tr. withMoscaliuc. pref. English & text note only. Mihaela Etruscan Press66pp (Wilkes-Barre (pref. PA) 2pp, notes etc. 4pp)back-cover 2019 photos paper of only. the With poet 2 & smallVELEA the translator. XERXES AT THE HELLESPONT tr. withGardner. notes English Mariana text Zavati only. Editura Contrafort (Craiova)notes 63pp 58–63) (bil. 2010 paper only. VLAD POEMELE/THE POEMS tr. with pref. VirgilMure Stanciu fore. Ion Ş 78–91) 2015 paper only (wrs.). WithAlexandru drawings Pasat. & designs by VULTURESCU ALTE POEME DIN NORD / OTHERtr. POEMS with FROM intro. THE Adam NORTH J. SorkinEnglish with texts. Olimpia Editura Iacob. Fundatiei Romanian Culturale & Poezia (Ia pref. p. 5) 2010 cloth only.throughout Book by of the paintings artist. with First poems published Ţ 1984 in Cluj. SYLLABLES OF FLESH tr. with fore. Adam J. Sorkin & Irma oara) 108pp (tril. taru (Engl.) pref. ş ă a) 117pp (bil. fore. 6– (Timi ţ ă sescu) ă n ă nescu & S. D. Curtis. English text ă a) 366pp (bil. notes 342–366) 2014 ţ tef CERE / QUIETNESS SILENCED / Ş Ă AH / ULYSSES AND THE GAME OF Ş LA T Ă TEA VORBIND / HEAR SILENCE SPEAKING , Ileana (b.1940) Ş (b.1970) (Chris T . English text only. Longleaf Press (Fayetteville NC) , Nichita (1933–1983) , Ion (b.1955) ţă , Peter (b.1960) , Felix (b.1970) LINI , Diana , Ofelia (b.1976) , Margareta (1897–1992) , Andra (b.1980) , Mircea (b.1952) , Marta (b.1955) Ă I JOCUL DE AN Max Blecher (Bistri , Gavril (b.1951) , Gellu (1915–2001) , Dan (b.1978) , Octavian (1926–2007) , Viorel (b.1941) NCIOIU Ş Ş ă TE REDUS Ă , Ioan Es (b.1958) NESCU Ş L Ă Ă STERIAN CULORILE CANTECULEI / Les Couleurs DeColours La of Chanson the / Song tr. withEnglish pref. texts. poet. Editura Romanian, Muzeului French de & Art 2012 paper only. Poet writes inTexts here English, translated German into & English. Romanian. ST WHEEL WITH A SINGLE SPOKE andSean Other Cotter. English Poems text tr. with only. Archipelago aft. Books(aft. (NY) 307–315) 315pp 2012 paper only (wrs.). Mihaela Ni 36pp 2012 paper only (chapbook). SRAGHER ASCULT Romanian & English Poems tr. thetexts. poet. Lapwing Romanian Publications & (Belfast English UK) 54pp (notes 53–54) SAVIN EXILAT IN STRIGT / EXILED INRomanians) A tr. SCREAM Mariana (Third Zavati Letter Gardner to &Romanian the John & Edward English Gardner. texts. Editura Ateneul234pp Scriitorilor 2014 (Bacu) paper only. SOCIU MOUTHS DRY WITH HATRED tr. Adam J. Sorkin & poet with CHESS tr. Florin Bican fore. AlexandruEnglish Matei. texts. Romanian Editura & Charmides (Bistri 15, bil. note 4pp) 2011 paperROTARU only. LEMUR tr. Florin Bican. English textDame only. Action IN) Books 90pp (Notre 2018 paper only. NO WAY OUT OF HADESBURG ANDintro. OTHER POEMS Adam tr. J. with Sorkin & Lidiaof Vianu. Plymouth English Press text (Plymouth only. UK) University 114pp 112–114) (intro. 2010 16–22, cloth notes only. With 10Aurel colour Alwexi. paintings University by of Nicolae Plymouth 20/20PRODAN Series: 2010. ULISE PETREU THE BOOK OF ANGER tr. AdamIllias J. & Sorkin, Liviu Christina Bleoca. Zarifopol- English textOrleans only. LA) Diálogos 117pp Books (note (New 114–117) 2014back-cover paper photo only. of With the a poet. POP PETEAN LINI CALME RÉDUIT AU SILENCE tr. Cristinapoet. T Romanian, French & English texts.Napoca) Editura 111pp Limes (tril. (Cluj- pref. 5–19, tril.paper notes only. etc. Trilingual haiku 100–111) with 2011 Romanian English text & translations. French & illustrations by Monica Hayes. PALER DEFINITIONS tr. Ileana only. Istros Books (Bristol UK) 46pp(small (note format 1p) chapbook). 2011 Short paper prose only poems,aphorisms. definitions, Tanasescu) & Martin Woodside. Romanian &Calypso English Editions texts. (Los Angeles) 106pp (intro.2013 ix–xvii, paper note only. p. 106) NICOLAU KAMCEATKA/TIME IS HONEY tr. Margento (RalucaTanasescu) & with Chris poet. Romanian & English(Bucharest) texts. Editura 121pp Vinea (note 119-121) 2014 paper only. With 6 Plymouth Press (Plymouth UK) 104pp (intro.publisher’s 22–28, list notes 92–104) & 2011 cloth only.reproductions With of 16pp work colour by Ciprian Paleologu.20/20 UPP Series: Romanian 2011. NAUM ATHANOR & Other Poems tr. with intro. Margento (Chris VANZATORUL DE VISE / THE DREAM SELLERZavati tr. Gardner. Mariana Romanian & English texts.Napoca, Editura Romania) Grinta 110pp (Cluj- (bil. note 108–110)MURE 2010 paper only. THE BOOK OF WINTER AND OTHERAdam POEMS J. tr. Sorkin with & intro. Lidia Vianu. English text only. University of Editura Tracus Arte (Bucharest) 182pp 2015MARGENTO paper only. NOMADOSOFIA / NOMADOSOPHY Poem Graf /Poem A tr. Graph poet & others. RomanianEditur & English texts. Casa de paper only. MOISA LEGEND OF THE WALLED-UP WIFE tr.Chuilleanáin. with English pref. Eiléan text only. Ní Gallery PressMeath) (Oldcastle, 74pp Co. (pref. 9–11, notes [….])Translator 2011 also given paper as & author cloth. on MANOLE title page. B & W tr. Adam J. Sorkin & poet. Romanian & English texts. M 166 EMNLNUG LANGUAGE GERMAN LANGUAGE ROMANIAN ee) iiga dto f&sihl eie rm19 above. 1995 from revised slightly & Boase- of Jean edition Editor: Bilingual (Series Beier). Series Classics Arc cloth. 2014 & 122–123) paper note 11–18, (prefs. 123pp Publications UK) Arc (Todmorden texts. & English Vivis & Anthony German prefs. Boase-Beier. with Jean tr. BREATH DRAWING AM I WHILE AUSLÄNDER Book. Letters World of Margellos Republic A memoir. paper huliganului’; 2013 ‘Intoarcerea 385pp of Tr. London) only. & CT Haven Yale New Jianu. Press Angela University tr. Memoir Book. A Letters RETURN of HOOLIGAN’S Republic THE World Margellos ‘Vizuina’ A of Tr. novel. only. etc.; cloth 2009 2012 323pp (New London) Press & University CT Yale Haven Marian. Sânziana Oana tr. LAIR Book. THE Letters of 1996. Republic in World (London) Margellos Faber A & (NY) first Giroux translation Straus, Farrar, This novel. published (wrs.). etc.; only 1986 paper Negru’ 2012 ‘Plicul 321pp of Tr. London) & CT Haven (New University Press Yale Camiller. Patrick tr. ENVELOPE BLACK THE fromFrenchedition.MargellosWorldRepublicofLettersBook.(NewHavenCT&London)259pp2012paperonly.Tr.of4novellasCOMPULSORYHAPPINESStr.LindaCoverdale.YaleMANEA bab o University ‘Sînt of Press Tr. only. comunist paper 2017 Archive 174pp Dalkey TX) Blyth. (Victoria Ian Press Alistair tr. COMMIE! OLD AN I’M Florian). Filip brother LUNGU his with co-written (title above See FLORIAN Delamare. Atanasiu University Ioan Plymouth by of paintings Press Romanian ‘20 of reproductions Writers’ colour Series. 14pp With (b.1979). Florian Matei brother his with etc.; Co-written novel. 2006 ‘Baiuteii’ of Tr. only. cloth 2010 173–176) etc. notes 20–22, (intro. 176pp UK) (Plymouth Press Plymouth Blyth. of Ian University Alistair intro. with tr. LADS ALLEY BAIUT novel. THE etc.; 2008 regelui’ cloth ‘Zilele 2011 of 197–207) Tr. only. (notes 207pp Mifflin Houghton NY) Blyth. & Ian (Boston Alistair Harcourt tr. KING THE OF DAYS THE FLORIAN Spuyten Series. novella. Novella ‘Infernul’; Duyvil of Tr. only. Books paper Duyvil 2011 Spuyten 64pp Semilian. (NY) Julian & Motz Dorin tr. INFERNO FIRAN ‘Gaudeamus’ of Tr. only. 1989etc.;novel.Writteninlate1920sbutnotpublisheduntil1980s. paper 2018 215–231) aft. 231pp 7–13, (London) (intro. Books Istros Alexandrescu. Sorin aft. Rennie Bryan intro. Bartholomew Christopher mid-1920s. tr. in GAUDEAMUS Written novel. etc.; ‘Romanul 1986 of Tr. miop’ only. adolescentului paper 2016 3pp) (notes 191pp (London) Books Istros Moncrieff). Christopher (rev. Bartholomew Christopher tr. ADOLESCENT SHORT-SIGHTED A OF DIARY novel. ELIADE etc.; 2015 2010 ‘Angelus’ 234–236) of (aft. Tr. only. 236pp paper Orleans) (New Ink Diálogos Lavender Conkan. / Marius Books aft. Blyth Ian Alistair tr. ANGELUS novel. etc.; CESEREANU 2008 1996, ‘Orbitor’ 2013 of Tr. 464pp only. (NY) paper Books Archipelago Cotter. Sean tr. BLINDING Series. Writers of Romanian University 20 Dan. Plymouth: Suzana by 16pp paintings With of stories. reproductions short colour 21 iubim of ce collection ‘De etc.; of Tr. only. 2004 femeile’ cloth 2011 126–136) 20– etc. (intro. note 136pp 23, UK) (Plymouth Blyth. Press Ian Plymouth Alistair of intro. University with tr. WOMEN LOVE WE WHY C Series. Original Classics NYRB text. prose ‘Via 2018 of Tr. vii–xiv) only. (intro. paper 145pp (NY) Books Manea. Review York Norman NYRB/New intro. Mitchell Breon & tr. Calinescu LICHTER Adriana ZACHARIAS OF OPINIONS AND LIFE THE C 1300. Paperback Directions New prose. Tr. only. paper ‘Întîmpl 2015 of ix–xxviii) (intros. 116pp Directions (NY) New Co. Müller. Publishing Herta intro. Codrescu Andrei pref. Henry Heim Michael tr. IRREALITY IMMEDIATE IN ADVENTURES BLECHER etc.; Series. 2013 Literature ‘Intalnirea’ Romanian of Tr. novel. only. paper 2016 Press 248pp Archive TX) Dalkey (Victoria Blyth. Ian Alistair tr. ENCOUNTER THE of Tr. only. cloth ‘Diminea 2011 388pp IL) (Evanston Press University Northwestern Camiller. Patrick tr. MORNING WASTED ADAME Ă Ă RT LINESCU Ă amn(b.1958) Carmen , RESCU ica(1907–1986) Mircea , a (b.1969) Dan , Ş omn(b.1936) Norman , ţ ă pierdut a TEANU ǎ ae (b.1979) Matei , (b.1968) Filip , 01ec;nvl akysRmna ieaueSeries. Literature Romanian Dalkey’s novel. etc.; 2011 ’ a (1909–1938) Max , iî raiae imediat irealitatea în ri , uada(b.1963) Ruxandra , ae (1934–2009) Matei oe(1901–1988) Rose , ica(b.1956) Mircea , area(b.1942) Gabriela , ă 94ec;novel. etc.; 1984 ’ ţ a ş pnl u ahra ihe’16; 1969; Lichter’ Zacharias lui opinele i ǎ 96 uoigahcl autobiographical 1936; ’ POETRY PROSE ă OE UOAt.PtikCmle.Dle rhv rs Press Archive Dalkey Camiller. Patrick tr. EUROPA HOTEL TSEPENEAG novel. Series’. Literature etc.; ‘Romanian 2011 Archive Brunul’ Dalkey ‘Matei of Tr. only. note paper vii, (pref. 2018 394pp 3pp) TX) (Victoria note Press Lodge Archive David Dalkey pref. author. Blyth Ian Alistair tr. BRUNUL MATEI TEODOROVICI archives. author’s a the With from novel. photo etc.; frontispiece 2007 poveste’ only o paper ‘Miruna, 2014 of Tr. 129–141) (wrs.). notes & Spoon (aft. Twisted author. 141pp aft. (Prague) Blyth Press Ian Alistair tr. TALE A Series. MIRUNA, Europe etc.; Unbound 2004 an diez’ from timpul Writings din novel. ‘Venea of Tr. only. paper 201– 2011 (notes 212) 212pp IL) (Evanston Blyth. Press Ian University Alistair Northwestern tr. TIME OFF-KEY AN FROM COMING SUCEAV (London)260pp2013paperonly.Tr.of‘Intrareasoarelui’2008etc.;novel.SUNALLEYtr.AlexandraColiban&AndreeaHöfer.IstrosBooksŞ an Banville. with John Penguin by Viking introduction from & 2020 edition late Another due novel. is etc.; translation 1933 ‘Femei’ of Tr. 168pp only. (London) paper Books 2020 Metro Aurora Reigh. Gabi tr. WOMEN novel. ‘Ora etc.; of Tr. 1935 only. paper 2019 Metro Aurora 224pp (London) Reigh. Books Gabi tr. TREES ACACIA WITH TOWN THE above. 2016 of dou edition ‘De 2017 of Tr. 1p) (wrs.). note only v–x, paper (fore. 229pp Mark (NY) fore. Press Ceallaigh Other Ó Mazower. Philip tr. YEARS THOUSAND TWO Series. FOR Classics Modern Penguin dou novel. ‘De etc.; of Tr. 1934 only. paper 2016 Penguin 231pp Ceallaigh. (London) Ó Books Philip tr. YEARS THOUSAND TWO FOR Biblioasis International novel. etc.; Translation 6. Series: ‘Accidentul’ Tr. of (wrs.). 1940 only paper 2011 244–257) (aft. 257pp Henighan. Biblioasis Stephen ([Canada]) aft. with ACCIDENT tr. THE SEBASTIAN Casematepublished 1967. Classic Fiction in War Series. spanzuratilor’ translation edition novel. of New war etc.; first 1922 Havertown only. paper ‘P Tr. 2017 336pp PA) & (Oxford of UK named. Casemate HANGED not tr. Publishing THE FOREST OF REBREANU Series. Writers Romanian B Daniel by reproductions artwork colour of 16pp With 17 collections. of Tr. various only. from cloth stories 2011 232–240) etc. note 240pp 20–23, UK) (intro. (Plymouth Press Plymouth Christian of James University intro. Brown. with tr. ATTITUDE IN CHANGES SMALL PETRESCU ‘Via of Tr. only. paper 2016 Mircea aft. Blyth Ian C Alistair tr. FRIDAY ON BEGINS LIFE PÂRVULESCU am N 0p ito i–xi 00pprol.Wt oe cover a Celan-Lestrange. With Gisèle only. by paper image 2010 vii–xxii) (intro. Pointe 109pp (Grosse MN) Press Farms Marick texts. English & David German intro. Young. with tr. THRESHOLD TO THRESHOLD FROM CELAN Book. Letters of Republic World Margellos A novel. etc.; ‘Cartea 2009 of Tr. only. cloth 2017 343–346) etc. vii– note (intro. xi, 346pp London) & CT Blyth. Haven Ian (New Alistair Press University note Yale & intro. with tr. WHISPERS OF BOOK THE VOSGANIAN novel. K. etc.; ‘Domnul 2010 of Tr. eliberat’ only. cloth 2020 280pp (Chicago, Books Calcutta) London, Seagull Komporaly. Jozefina tr. RELEASED K MR VI Archive Dalkey Series’. novel. Literature etc.; ‘Romanian 2004 paper Roumaine’ 2017 Belle 1p) ‘La (note of 188pp Tr. only. Dublin) & Press IL Archive McLean Dalkey TX, Blyth. (Victoria Ian Alistair tr. ROUMAINE BELLE LA Series. 2010 Literature bulgar’ Romanian ‘Camionul novel. of Tr. etc.; only. paper London 2016 IL, 224pp (Champaign Dublin) Books & Archive Dalkey Sky Blyth. Open Ian the Alistair Beneath tr. Site Building A TRUCK BULGARIAN THE Series. Literature of Tr. only. paper ‘A 2013 135pp London) Dublin, IL, Press (Champaign Archive Dalkey Camiller. Patrick tr. Stories WAITING Romanian Series. Archive Literature Dalkey of Tr. novel. only. etc.; paper 1996 2010 Europa’ 1p) ‘Hotel (note 476pp London) & IL (Champaign TEF ă ş Ș rt etr’17 t. olcino 8sois oain Romanian stories. 18 of collection etc.; 1971 teptare’ NIEC ă Ă ec.Ito ok Lno)27p(ps f.2727 257–267) aft. & (apps. 267pp (London) Books Istros rescu. NESCU al(1920–1970) Paul , Ă aé (b.1956) Matéi , odn(b.1969) Bogdan , R , ii (1885–1944) Liviu , ial(1907–1945) Mihail , uir (b.1937) Dumitru , ă aua (b.1958) Varujan , eii (b.1975) Cecilia , on (b.1960) Ioana , vn(b.1956) zvan uinDn(b.1975) Dan Lucian , ă l ă ec.Uiest fPyot:2 20 Plymouth: of University nescu. ţ neevnr’20 t. novel. etc.; 2009 vineri’ începe a ă i eai 94ec;nvl S US novel. etc.; 1934 ani’ de mii ş ş lc acm’ salcâmi’ cu ul atlr oaptelor’ ă i eai ani’ de mii ă ue durea 167 , Zoltán (b.1951) , Stella Vinitchi b.1946) (Poet also writes in , Ernest (b.1952) , Sándor (1929–2018) , Ilana (1924–2011) , Herta (b.1953) , Tristan (1896–1963) , Géza (b.1953) CS Ő (London) 624pp 2014 cloth only. Tr. ofnovels ‘Erdélyi (2nd Történet & 2 3rd & of 3’; trilogy). Many other editions of THE TRANSYLVANIANpublished, TRILOGY were by Arcadia in UK &publishers Metropolitan in Books separate in volumes NY before & 2010print other & between have 2010 remained & in 2020. THE ENCHANTED NIGHT Selected Tales tr. LenPress Rix. (London) Pushkin 256pp 2020 (due October)BÖSZÖRMÉNYI paper only. THE CLUB AT EDDY’S BAR with(Dublin) tr. 440pp Paul Sohar. 2014 Phaeton cloth Press only. THE REFUGEE tr. Paul Sohar. Iniquity Press(Island / Heights Vendetta NJ) Books 208pp 2019 paper only. THE FOX WAS EVER THE HUNTERBooks tr. (London) Philip 237pp Boehm. 2016. Portobello Tr. of ‘Derder Fuchs Jäger’ war 1992 damals etc.; schon novel. Katalin Bánffy-Jelen. Alfred A. Knopf / Everyman Editions CRISTINA AND HER DOUBLE Selected EssaysMulligan. tr. Portobello Geoffrey Books (London) 197pp 2013Tr. of paper ‘Cristina & und cloth. ihre Attrappe’ 2009THE etc.; PASSPORT essays. tr. Martin Chalmers intro. PaulTail (London) Bailey. 113pp Serpent’s 2015 paper only. Tr. ofgrosser ‘Der Fasan Mensch auf ist der ein Welt’ 1986 Classics etc.; (reissue novel. of Serpent’s 1989 Tail translation). A CRY IN THE SNOW andtext Other only. Seagull Poems Books tr. Luke (Calcutta, Hankins. London,cloth English Chicago) only. 120pp Seagull 2019 French List. TZARA NOONTIMES WON tr. with intro. &French notes & Heather English Green. texts. Octopus BooksCO) (Portland 107pp OR (intros. & 3–6, Denver notes etc.With 101–107) a 2018 b/w paper photo only. of the poet from 1937. essay 137–143) 2010 paper only. BlackSeries. Widow Prose Press poems Translation / surrealist texts. SELF-SHADOWING PREY tr. with intro. Mary& Ann English Caws. texts. French Contra Mundum Press2012 (NY) paper 210pp only. (intro. Bilingual o–x) French &face, English but texts as not separate given whole en sequences. RADULESCU Romanian & English) Books (Island Heights NJ) / Concord2018 Media paper Jelen only. (Arad) 97pp KÁNYÁDI IN CONTEMPORARY TENSE tr. with intro.fore. & Helga note Lénárt-Cheng Paul note Sohar Alan Britt.Iniquity English Press text (Island only. Heights NJ) /342pp Irodelmi (intros. Jelen 18–28, Könyvek aft. (Arad) etc. 331–342)poem 2013 has cloth title only. in Each Hungarian also. SZ LIBERTY, RATS AND SANDPAPER tr. Paul SoharEnglish fore. text Alan only. Britt. Iniquity Press (IslandKönyvek Height (Arad) NJ) 112pp / (fore. Irodalmi p. Jelen 9,cloth. notes 101–112) 2017 paper & FATHER’S ON THE PHONE WITH THECooper. FLIES German tr. & Thomas English texts. SeagullNY) Books 163pp (Calcutta, 2017 London, cloth only. Germancut-outs text of collaged varied by font poet sizes from &en colours face. & Seagull with German English List. translationSHMUELI TOWARD BABEL Poems and A MemoirGerman tr. Sandra & H. English Gillespie. texts. Sheep Meadow160pp Press 2013 (Rhinebeck paper NY) only. WICHNER CHRYSANTHEMUMS tr. Leonard Schwartz & RosmarieWaldrop. German, Chinese & English texts.Hong Chinese Kong University Press of (HK) 74pp 2019Chinese paper & only. English Published translations with for theNights International in Poetry Hong Kong 2019 Festival. MEMORY ROSE INTO THRESHOLD SPEECH Collected Earlier Poetry tr. with intro. & comm. 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Ekstasis Editions (Vancouver) 106pp 2012 paperTranslated from only. the Romanian edition. Books (NY). wär ich mir lieber nicht begegnet’TRAVELLING ON 1997 ONE etc.; LEG novel. tr. Valentina GlajarLeFevere. Northwestern & University Andre Press (Evanston IL)2010 149pp paper only. THE HUNGER ANGEL tr. Philip Boehm.(London) Portobello 290pp Books 2012 paper & cloth‘Atemschaukel’ 2009; (paper novel. ed. Also 13). published Tr. of by Metropolitan MÜLLER THE APPOINTMENT tr. Michael Hulse &Portobello Philip Books Boehm. (London) 214pp 2010 paper only. Tr. of ‘Heute Music & Art Series. LUCA INVENTOR OF LOVE & OTHER WRITINGS tr.Semilian Julian intro. & Andrei Laura Codrescu essay Petretext R only. Black Widow Press (Boston MA) 143pp (intro. 9–14, texts. New York Review Books /aft. NYRB etc. (NY) 209–220) 220pp 2016 (intro. paper vii–xiii, only. between Includes editor an & interview E. M. Cioran.ULYSSES Bilingual NYRB Edition Poets tr. Series. with intro. NathanielBrody Rudavsky- fore. David Rieff. French &University English Press texts. (Syracuse Syracuse NY) 149pp (intros.147–149) ix–xxxi, 2017 biblio. paper & cloth. Judaic Traditions in Literature, FONDANE CINEPOEMS AND OTHERS ed. with intro.ed., Leonard Mitchell Schwartz Abidor, tr. Nathaniel Rudavsky-Brody, HenryAndrew King, Rubens, Marilyn Hacker & others. French & English HUNGARIAN LANGUAGE p. 1, note p. 125) 2018on paper contents only. page. Titles With also 4 given b/wa in images colour Hungarian by cover Bodond by Részegh the & sameFARKAS artist. TUNNELS IN THE SNOW tr. Paul Sohar. Iniquity Press / Vendetta MISSA BESTIALIS tr. Lucia Gorea. EnglishLibertad text (Victoria only. Libros BC) 120pp 2015 paperBLUE only. / KÉK tr. Elizabeth Csicsery-Rónay.texts. Hungarian Libros & Libertad English (Victoria BC) 98ppBÖSZÖRMÉNYI 2016 paper only. THE CONSCIENCE OF TREES Selected PoemsEnglish tr. text Paul only. Sohar. Ragged Sky Press (Princeton NJ) 125pp (pref. HUNGARIAN LANGUAGE BALÁZS GERMAN LANGUAGE BREATHTURN INTO TIMESTEAD The Collected Latertr. Poetry with intro. & comm. PierreFarrar Joris. Straus German Giroux & (NY) English 654pp texts. (intro.biblio. xxix-lxxix, etc. comm. 459-654) & 2015 paper & cloth. PAUL CELAN: 70 POEMS tr. Michael HamburgerBraziller. English note text Michael only. Persea Books (NY)2013 85pp paper (note only. New p. edition v) of 2002. works A first Karen published & in Michael 1987 BrazillerNO Book. ONE’S & ROSE tr. with intro.texts. David Marick Young. Press German (Grosse & Pointe English Farms 15) MN) 2014 161pp paper (intro. only. 9– Cover image by Gisèle Celan-Lestrange. nls et.Mrc rs Gos oneFarms MN) Pointe 103pp Press (intro. (Grosse Marick texts. English image 2012 by paperv–xiii) only.Cover Celan-Lestrange. Gisèle CORONA Selected Poems of Paul CelanSusan tr. H. with Gillespie. intros. German & & notes English (Barrytown texts. NY) Station 254pp Hill (intros. Press vii–xxiv, notes254) & 2013 index paper etc. only. 233– AGAEBHN ASt.ihito ai on.Gra & German BARS BEHIND tr.with Young. David intro. LANGUAGE 168 169 , - Two oara, oara. , ș ș Orizont The Book , Balkans: a an has been ț Timpul , Conjunctions paigol.h speakingworld.She has published eleven (Adela’s Lacery), and Tribuna (Continuous Fragments. , (Witness Tapes). is a linguistics researcher, . He is Associate Professor Wheel with a Single Spoke and is a poet, novelist, and essayist, ’swritinghasbeenpublishedin is a Senior Lecturer in American Vatra was born in Sibiu, Transylvania, wasborninRomaniatoaRomanian AN Exquisite Corpse: a Journal of Books Ț nescu’s teaches 20th-century literature and riile Adelei ă RESCU ’s translations from the Romanian ă is a writer and the manager of the ‘Sorin setupIstrosBooksin2011topromoteand Ă Casete martor U , which was recipient of the 2012 Best RT Ț CIUN County Library. He writes prose, poetry and Ă Ă Translation Review ș Dantel , was published in January 2017. He now lives . He was a regular commentator on NPR’s All rescu is the winner of several literary prizes, oara, since 2007. ,and ă ș rt ă of Ana Blandiana's poetry into English. RODICA DRAGHINCESCU cultural expert,performance bilingual poet,twenty-two and writer books in translator eight countries. (Romanian-French),Romania, and Born she in has Timi lived has in Lorraine,years. France published for the She last 15 Romanian was women’s poetry named of the the 1990s. Amazon Warrior Poet of of Texas at Dallas, Center for Translation Studies. DANA CR American Studies at theHerotherresearchinterestsincludepost-9/11crisesof West University ofrepresentation, Timi criticalconspiracy theories. theory, and,TUDORCRE moreTitel’ Timi recently, literary criticism, and organisesthe cultural International Festival events LitVest. His such poetryinclude as collections Fragmente continue. Poeme live Live Poems) won thethe Poetry Book Romanian of the Writers`fiction Year includes award Union, of the BanatSUSANCURTIS branch. His publishtheliteratureofSoutheastEuropeandthe region much neglected in the English- isbothdirectorofthecompanyandthechiefeditor. PAUL SCOTT DERRICK literature at the University of Valencia. He has editedco-translated into and Spanish a number of critical editions ofAmerican works. He and Viorica Patea have translated all He is the author ofessays, numerous books: and poems, founded novels, andand Ideas Things Considered and has taughtat literature and poetry JohnsBaltimore, and Louisiana State Hopkins University. ALEXANDRU COL University,the the literary periodicalsand University inawards. five He of anthologies. isand currently He working has a ona a won book volume member several ofTimi of literary prose of literary theSIMONA criticism. ‘Pavel CONSTANTINOVICI Col Dan’books of Literary poetry, prose, Herlexicography. poems stylistics, and Association, semantics short stories have and appeared literary in many RomanianShe anthologies has and been honoured literary with several awards. periodicals. SEAN COTTER include Nichita St Other Poems Translated Book Award forand Poetry. His translations essays, articles,Lines have appearedof in Literature and Literary Translation at the University MIRCEA C and wasC part ofincluding the 2000 Romanian the Writers’ Association Prize, and 1980s the 2012 Berlin International ‘Blue-jeans Prize for Literature. Generation’. EUGENO.CHIROVICI Hungarian-Germannewspaper family and TV journalist.novels. and His He first has is book publishedof in Mirrors eleven a the English prize-winningin language, Brussels. ANDREI CODRESCU Romania, and emigrated to the United States in 1966. ,and oara, Normal ş by Renia An Air of by Lucian by Bogdan ’s work was oara branch. He ş Renia's Diary Café by St Wren's James- , he received the award by Ioana Pârvulescu. and has received several , by Max Porter, and Our Circus Presents Best European Fiction 2015 Orizont is an English / French / Romanian isoneofthemostactivetranslators , is out from Holland House Books. is a poet, editor and member of the was born in 1942 in Timi Ă isapoet,artessayistandprosewriter. ,isoutnow. , a poet and journalist, has published has published two poetry collections is an art historian, poet and translator. LUDOVIC BRUCKSTEIN is a playwright and translator. He has Coming from an Off-Key Time is a writer, reviewer and editor. He oara. ş A Shadow’s Youth Life Begins on Friday Attend by Filip Florian; and ; and ă , by short Goran Sally Mrakić’s story Rooney. sees her actively involved inRomania. Awarded a the Ph.D. in political artshe and history in was Paris cultural in director 1997, scene Paris of and in the is Romanian currentlymember of Cultural president the Parliament. European Cultural of Institute in PEN Romania and a WEST CAMEL edited Dalkey Archive’s is currently workingdebut for novel, new press Orenda Books.MAGDA CÂRNECI His After the revolution of December 1989, Cârneci became MIHAELA BURUIAN She has closetranslator. to translated forty books, including Grief Is the Thing withPeople Feathers into English. literature Romanian hertrying hand translating EUGEN BUNARU seven volumes ofNobleness poetry. Forof the two Writers’ Union of ofis Romania, them, Timi the Society coordinator of Timi of ‘Pavel Dan’ Students’ Literary Romanian writer erased from the nationalmoved literature to catalogue Israel, whenyears. and he remained undiscoveredCarpathian His for many region including, writing during World War the II. centres years proceeding, on and the multicultural PHILIP BOEHM translated numerous works from Germanauthors and including Polish Herta by Müller, Franz Kafka,Chwin. and He has Stefan received awards from,American among others, Translators the Association,Authors, the the National Endowment for UKAmerica. the Arts Society and PEN of ADRIAN BODNARU Writers’ Union of volumes several of poetry.Since 2003, he Romania has had a (WUR) poetry column and in the has periodical awards for published his poetry and translations. ALISTAIRIANBLYTH working from Romanian intoSunderland, England, Blyth English has today. resided for A manyBucharest. His years native in many from translations of Romanian include: Little Fingers Dan Teodorovici; Suceav and, mainly as Anna Hyde, Polish into (withtranslator English. Marta She Dziurosz) of is a co- Spiegel. Her poetry bilingual book, Lunchtime in-the-Fields, annablasiak.com. work has been into translated She languages. twenty-four has won numerous literary international awards andawarded was the highest distinction ofthe in Légion d’Honneur, 2009. the French Republic, ANNA BLASIAK She has over translated 40 books from English into Polish ANA BLANDIANA Romania. She isa an position in to Romanian culture comparable that almost of Anna legendaryAkhmatova figure and who holds hasliterature.She books fourteen published Vaclav of poetry,two Havelof in short stories, nine Russian books of essays and and one novel. Czech Her MARIUS ALDEA and co-created theFacebook’ A anthology. award-winning physical ‘The theatre play based writers on his arepoems and by directed in Andrea premiered Gavriliu on 2020 at the National Theatre Marin Sorescu. 170 opee eea ieaytasain sawyo of has data way she a a as company, as literature. contemporary working translations with touch pharmaceutical and in literary staying UK several a the completed for in manager living Timi University, Currently West at Literature and Language LUMINOS FLORINA recent Mihai Her by Vi Matéi theatre Chicago. on and have volumes M two London translations and include in script translations Romanian Her produced from English. been translates into and and Hungarian London, Arts Australia the KOMPORALY in JOZEFINA Australian- the anthologies Culture. of for president Academy current Romanian several the is He been Romania. in Published has work His Sydney. poems. own included his Technology of volumes three of and University include works the at IONI DANIEL studies. historical and essays under poetry, of dissidents books the twenty of one Ceau down was the closed and was authorities it the before by theatre experimental an ran ILIE PETRU in magazines. published be literary future. will near Romanian collection the debut important post-mortem most Her some in the poems published of and Circle Literary Dan Pavel currently She GUN MARIANA French. of and translation Bucharest. English in lives the into Aldea on Marius working currently play, Singapore, the including translated Outfit countries, She Scotland. different Canada, of number a GRADEA ILINCA entitled eighties’ novel the of ‘poets a Com recent, Denisa most Karenin into her Ka translated Monsieur been and have books third Romanian, her was her of She English, in Four BBC. writes into language. and the Belgrade by translated in 1961 serialised in been born and and languages have academic dozen books a writer, is Anglia, whose prize-winning East broadcaster and and Exeter bestselling of a universities the at GOLDSWORTHY writing VESNA andwithMaxEastermanamediatrainerfor‘SoundsRight’. journalist, presenter, linguist, arts an today is and years 20 LiteratureNetwork.ShewasaBBCseniorbroadcasterfor GOLDSMITH ROSIE Vinge, King. Stephen Vernor Hobb, Gene Robin Heinlein, Card, like Scott Robert authors includes Orson Asimov, fiction Isaac science Sampson, as also Woolfe, Fiona well has as Szirtes, Sywor work Kamanda), Kama Tokman, she Erkut George of Notley, Alice Portante, Sen, Jean her which the volumes (Sudeep around poets albums, world English, various several of Romanian art into translations into Besides and translated writer. poetry Romanian and teacher GENESCU ANTUZA Reviewer. Riveting a regular as well as fiction, crime Noir Brit Guide Reader’s A FORSHAW of – books BARRY ninety than more published translations.poetry, and literary criticism, essays, prose, has sixty and for poet years, a as worked has and 1942 in born was poets, Ş second language. a Be’er-Sheva English as teach in they where live University, Israel. now They Gurio Ben at Linguistics and Literature Timi Sisters Romania of Germans Transylvanian Danube the & jazz of anthology: Right’, the of editor ‘Sounds ELSIE ROBERT with trainer writer. and musician media lecturer, university – translator, BBC the with broadcaster senior a EASTERMAN MAX RA FOARERBAN ă niu ș aa oai.Bt fte tde English studied them of Both Romania. oara, ietdb nraGvii,it nls.Sei is She English. into Gavriliu, Andrea by directed , ţ AGNETE u(otasae ihNclt Cinpoe Nicoleta with (co-translated iu n21,wsabssle.Vsai ru ht that proud is Vesna bestseller. a was 2019, in esoeo rti’ etkonrveeso of reviewers best-known Britain’s of one He’s . ş ș icsniec’s surgm.Ilie regime. escu Ș ă n ulse yHmntsa as Humanitas by published and U ec,hrRmna dtr soeo h the of one is editor, Romanian her nescu, ȚĂ etmn 0 er fRmna Poetry Romanian of Years 400 – Testament , salnus,tasao n rtc ei is He critic. and translator linguist, a is , ŢĂ sawie,ats n oilatvs.H He activist. social and artist writer, a is rKReleased K Mr uoNoirEuro n and ȚĂ ece raiainlipoeet improvement organisational teaches a oni rne u a ie in lived has but France, in born was , n ftems motn oain Romanian important most the of one i 19–00 a ebro h the of member a was (1994–2020) orait–h pn 5yasa as years 35 spent he – journalist a s AINEMANUELMARION ’ ok nld include books s b 98 safelnetasao, translator, freelance a is 1968) (b. h idPes otmoayvre Contemporary Poets: verse Pied The tde oainadEgih English and Romanian studied sDrco fteErpa European the of Director is n h etn Award-winning Keating the and ș etrsa h nvriyo of University the at lectures a ulse oeta than more published has u rfso ncetv creative in professor , . rm Fiction: Crime eebr n in born were h nk’ Snake’s The Sinistra oserMonsieur (1990). ş ș n and ) aa oara. yby ulse,bttemnsrp a mgldt to including name, (2009). her Literature she for to smuggled Prize prizes 1987, Nobel literary the of In string was since. a ever 1984. Berlin has in She lived in manuscript has and factory. there Germany to machine emigrated published the a and in Germany but translator a published, as job Nadirs her Securitate, the lost service, refusing secret she Romanian After the Romania. for of work region to Banat the in minority MÜLLER including HERTA Serbian, and Romanian Requiem newspaper both Punk in novels, Serbian short during the Timi published at were journalist in MRAKIĆ books death. circle his GORAN since his literary appeared have four Dan but of 1976 lifetime, Pavel his in none the published poetry, at were lectured Timi poems he first and His publisher. MONORAN and PR Studies. ION Cultural organisation’s in Arts PhD the a led holds Visual She also in communications. Literature, she Institute Cultural where of Romanian London, the Head and at Architecture 2013 was And Between Gabriela Cluj-Napoca. Babe 2019, in at University Communication Bolyai Intercultural and Purposes MOCAN GABRIELA of in people support its 40,000 in Moscow. regime Department of Vighi over communist Romanian of Daniel the by deportation the with 1951 mass together the books in about several Timi written of professor University has Romania West the PEN at of Journalism associate member a is and He editor. and journalist MARINEASA VIOREL Galaicu- John Emilian 2018 the of in Competition. prize Translation Dryden Sorkin 2nd won J. poems of selected Paun’s Adam books co- Her with Poets. nine Canadian translations of Small League Very of the 2020 of the author Contest won Verse poetry Her the drama. and and poetry be translator, to literary writer MANOLE Romanian DIANA first the about Fellowship. McArthur is American the granted and and and Prize America National Literature Romanian Romania, the for of in Laureate writers a work is He his Europe. foreign for awards cultural important and received has He issues. essays literary contemporary Romanian and short reviews essays, writes frequently about novels, also comprises he and writing prose His City. York MANEA NORMAN rnltdit utpelnugs h scurrently where Letters, is literature. of Romanian Faculty She modern Bucharest teaches she the languages. at professor multiple a book into her Friday for translated and Literature on for Prize magazines Begins EU the of in winner and PÂRVULESCU historian, analyses IOANA Romania. and and political US the archivist in publications and an historical as articles, essays, 1982. cultural translates in and worked US on collaborates the has in refugee He political a becoming before NEMOIANU ALEXANDRU and in Bidart, appeared Ends recently Shallow Frank most have poetry, Boyers, translated and and American internationally published Peg are poems of of His Schwartz. translator Lloyd work a the and including collections, full NEAC Relations. International TIBERIU in PhD a holds published and blogger she a 2015 In Dust London. Angel in based Transylvania, and MURESAN CRISTINA events pe won Gala. Industry which Book Romania’s cultural sunt at 2014 Facebook’), campaign PR/marketing best on Scriitorii for award are the organises coordinate writers (‘The helped Facebook also and He campaigns being recent most (2016). the collections, story MUNTEANU BOGDAN ș ş aa ehspbihdper,ahrssad and aphorisms poetry, published has He oara. his for prizes several received he While oara. e is ok a evl esrdwe tws was it when censored heavily was book, first her , oko otyadsotsois h sas also is She stories. short and poetry of book a , . 21)ad and (2015) Ș eea fhrnvl aebe been have novels her of Several . U saRmna ot uhro w two of author poet, Romanian a is saRmna-aainshlr scholar, Romanian-Canadian a is saRmna rtr iigi e New in living writer, Romanian a is a okda ulse n and publisher a as worked has 15–93 a otad and poet a was (1953–1993) sfo h emnsekn German-speaking the from is salcue nEgihfrSeic Specifc for English in lecturer a is saRmna rtrfo from writer Romanian a is aaeStories Garage sapoewie,esys, essayist, writer, prose a is saRmna rtr n and writer, Romanian a is a ulse he short- three published has okda uegahr museographer a as worked (2018). iutts uitat Ai aaRe Naša ș aa n e he and oara, ă č h The râzi ieLife ș nin - 171 , . Zeppelin .Heisthe The Merchant of Ilanot Review (‘A Box of Snakes’). erpi ș The Long Journey of the and the cu published his first book of ă , appeared in Ludwigsburg, in wasafinalistforthe2015Cliff was co-founder of the oara and president of The Solstice ș Republic of Dogs / Republic of Birds is a Romanian physicist, poet and O caset is a poet, editor and translator. In has published eight collections of Becoming the Sound of Bees is a poet and reviewer. In 2014, she is a multi-award-winning Romanian- (1931-2009) was one of the most (1935–1985) is one of the most is a writer, professor of contemporary and the Lifetime Achievement Award , a poet, novelist, critic, and translator, is NIEC Ș GEORGE SZIRTES (1971), was translated into French by Marie and a bilingual collection of translations. His recent a bibliographer ofand prose modern in translation. and contemporary poetry UniversityAriergarda of Culturalprose, Association. Timi essays, book He publisherand civic is and events. organizer an of cultural author MARC of VINCENZ poetry; his latest is translator of manylanguage French-, Romanian-, poets.Unexpected and Development German- HisBecker Book Translation Prize translation andWhite is Pine Press. forthcoming of from MATÉI Klaus VI born Merz’s novelist, playwright,been poet, based in and Paris journalist. sinceat 1987, He Radio where he has France isseveral awards Internationale. a including journalist He the 2016for is Jean Monnet European the Award Literature recipientFirst for of the Sentences novelfrom the Romanian Union of Theatre Practitioners. STEPHEN WATTS 2017 he wasPoetry Translator International in andrecent Residence books National include at Poetry which Southbank’s Library. His is being made into a film. He is also France Ionesco.tetralogy published His between 1974 most and(re)define 1983. Its Banat significant novels influences as project the – ishis nouveau literary a writings are the roman, theme. both Chekhov, innovative and oneirism Mixing tragic. WILLIAMTOTOK diverse – Aktionsgruppe‘propaganda against the Banat socialisthas order’. Since lived 1987, and in he...Anger Berlin. Rages His on was the most2016. Masts He recent has imprisoned volume alsoas of published well as poems, several literary, volumes political for and of historical essays studies. LIDIA VIANU professor ofwhere English she is at Directorand of the Interpretation the Centre University of forwhich the of the she Contemporary Translation established. Text Bucharest, (CTITC), She at has the been University Fulbright ofUniversity lecturer California, Berkeley, and ofpublished the literary State New criticism,a two York, novel; booksmanuals; edited of anthologies; Binghamton. three and four interviews; translated books. Vianu poetryDANIEL VIGHI collections; has literature English-learning at the Faculty of Letters of the West published in Bucharest. PETRE STOICA important poets ofbecame known Romanian for post-war thedefines ‘camouflaged’ literature. volumes refinement like He which Irony, everyday life, domestic chroniclessharp or, by socio-political contrast, observationscharacteristics are of his some writing. of the keyMARIUS SURLEAC translator from English toan Romanian. He original has collection publishedJack of poetrywork in has appeared Romanian: in Born in Hungaryuprising, in 1948, apoemsin1979.ItwontheFaberPrize.Hehaspublished child refugee ofmany the since 1956 then, winning,Prize among in others, 2004. theprizes T. He S. has for Eliotincluding also the Man his won Booker International various award. translations internationalSORIN of TITEL important Romanian Hungarian fiction writers of literatureOne the 20th of century. hisPrisoner best known works, ANNE STEWART was awarded a Hawthorndenhas Fellowship and been her workanthologies. widely published She in has poetry magazines had and two bilingual collections (2015), was born (Vagabond i. Her poems Pavel and His ș , The Jar Central Eastern Of Course I’m . She writes for county, Romania. ş , and The New Aristocracy (2019). . is a writer and translator has worked as a journalist oara, Romania. ș Ă (2016), is a documentary film director MIHAIL SEBASTIAN , among other journals. , focusing on the experiences of oara University of Arts. His films is writer and journalist, and is ș is a Romanian writer, cultural ER is a leading British poet and writer Asymptote Journal Ț is a writer and critic. Her anthology, is Associate Professor of English and (2000), and studies in the area of is a Romanian poet and scholar. Her runs the ‘Republica’ literary circle with is a Boston-based poet, teacher, and IU is a writer from Timi Ț FAI Ă U Ș Ș is an Estonian writer and academic. Three , was awarded the Romanian Writers’ Guild How Are You, Master? ERBAN World Literature Today NIL Ș CA , Ă The Death of the Perfect Sentence Ș Our Country’s Scouts Must Always Be Cheerful! , oara (FILTM). His first book, ș The Life and Return of a Halle collections, a novel,a a literary biography fantasy of novel Constantinhave Brâncu been for translated teenagers into multiple and languages. translator currently living in Romania. TaraFulbright is grantee, a and two-time she has receivedAmerican two Academy of Poets Fellowship in prizes Poetry. and aMONI ST RobertAlexandru Pinsky Vakulovski Global and has published four poetry and producer,photography as and wellprofessor as photographer. at the He a Timi have video is beenfestivals artist, an and exhibitions director across presented associate the world. of TARA and SKURTU awarded at numerous Prize for atwelve debut further volumes publication. of poetry, ItHis interviews poems and has prose. have been beenand translated followed into by published several languagespublications in in Romania and numerous abroad. anthologiesGHEORGHE and literary war and the Holocaust,early he in was 1945. killed in a roadROBERT accident president of theTimi International Festival ofExaggerating Literature at Asymptote European London Review Playwright and novelist in Romaniaa in lawyer 1907 andhim writer as to until Iosef abandon antisemitic his legislation Hecter. public forced He career. Having worked survived the as of south-east Europe. ANDREEA IULIA SCRIDON from Romanian toLiterature at King’s English. College London She andCreative is now Writing studied studying at Comparativeassistant the editor University at of Oxford. She is Voices, 2017). FIONA SAMPSON whose twenty-fivethirty-six books languages and have woninternational a been awards. number of translated Anbroadcaster, national she has editor, into and a critic, special interest translator in the and literatures the 2015 HBO screenplaya contest, as screenplay a about co-author,leaders with Ana of Pauker, the one 1950s. of theREIN communist RAUD of hisrecently novels have been published in English, most poems have been published in severaljournals. Romanian literary She isthe currently West a University of postdoctoral Timi researcher atDANIELA RA journalist and TVbooks, novels producer. and She dramas. She has was one published of the poetry finalists in His poetry, short-storyAlexandru collections Potcoava and and BiancaPeople novels Sat on include Alex and ANA PU first poetry collection was published in 2012 and her He has been a(USR) member since of 1998, the and Romanian hisI Writers’ books Guild include Lived(2018), and in Communism ALEXANDRU POTCOAV for many years and is a member of PEN Club Romania. LUCY POPESCU A Country to Callyoung Home refugees, waschair of the published Authors’ Club in Best First JuneMIRCEA Novel PORA Award. 2018. She is American Literature at the University ofhas Salamanca. She published critical studiesThe of Sylvia Waste Plath,witness T.S. Land Eliot’s literature in Eastedited, European translated countries. She andSteinhardt (2007) has and analysed Ana Blandiana the (2008, 2011). work of Nicolae VIORICA PATEA 172