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Published by the Romanian Cultural Institute Romanian ditorial

by ANDREI MARGA Book TEhree Solutions The reorganization of the Romanian Cultural Institute in a synchronized concept entailed finding solutions to many unsolved problems. We know the fact that any public institution has to be transparent and acce- ssible to citizens’ arguments . Review One of the solutions for the ISSUED MONTHLY G No. 4 G MAY 2013 G DISTRIBUTED FOR FREE decentralization of the Romanian Cultural Institute was to create historical subsidiaries in the historical provinces of the country. The following subsidiaries were officially inaugurated until now: Oltenia-Gorj (Tg. Jiu), Moldova (Iaşi), Dobrogea (Tulcea), Banat-Crişana (Arad). More and more local authorities file requests for subsidiaries. However, during the public debate, a series of questions were raised. Does the network of inspectorates in the counties become twice as large as it is at the present time? The answer is negative. By law, the subsidiaries − as well as the entire London Book Fair 2013 Romanian Cultural Institute − are assigned the task of making Romanian culture known in the world, of ensuring its visibility and prestige. They deal with the dissemination of Romanian values worldwide (in fact, the cultural centers in the province interact with other countries as well); they do not overlap with the competences of the county inspec- torates for culture. Do the ICR subsidiaries waste precious (especially financial) resources? The answer is: no resources are wasted! On the contrary! As it was pointed out in the beginning, in the documents of establishment, the infrastruc- ture of the subsidiary is ensured by the local authorities. No new positions were created. Every subsidiary can employ personnel according to the extra-budgetary resources it obtains. What are the financial resources of the subsidiaries? The Romanian Cultural Institute, as a whole, functions based on programs announced publicly, and the access to resources is competition-based access. The subsidiaries can accumulate extra-budgetary resources, like anywhere else in the civilized world. Does the level of activities decrease due to the fact that the subsidiaries were set up? There is no such danger, since the historical provinces put forth values which can be ON PAGE 6 successfully displayed internationally. Undoubtedly, the Romanian Cultural Institute has to promote a high level of exigency, but the latter is not jeopardized by In this issue: developments with better ideas. What have the subsidiaries done so far? Here are some examples of activities of “internationalization” of culture carried out in the subsidiaries: a photo exhibition “ The BOOKS AUTHORED BY: Danube Delta ” in Tel Aviv, in partnership G G G with the County Council Tulcea; Contem- Ion Alexandrescu Adrian Alui Gheorghe Ion Beldeanu Lucian porary Dramaturgy in Europe . Support given G G G to the participation of the theatre “Jean Boia Mircea Ioan Casimcea Livius Ciocârlie Dumitru Constan - Bart” in the International Conference of G G G G Contemporary Dramaturgy in Dijon tin-Dulcan Ion Costaş Cerasella Crăciun Gheorghe Crăciun Ion (Dobrogea); The International Symposium G G G G Cultural Tourism, Vector of Promotion and Cucu Dan Dungaciu Ruxandra Garofeanu Paul Gherasim Silviu Valorization of Cultural Heritage in Transyl- G G G G vania ; the International Festival “The Gates Gherman Anatol Grosu Dan Hăulică Antoine Heemeryck Eugen of Poetry” (event dedicated to the promotion G G G of Romanian Poetry); The Congress of Istodor Catherine Naugrette Veronica D. Niculescu Cristi Pante - Translators from the Balkans and Eastern G G G Europe (Banat-Crişana); the International limon Violeta Pătrunjel Popescu Alexandru Popescu Viorica Conference “ Brâncuşi, the International G G Citizen of Gorj ” (Oltenia-Gorj) ; The Cultural Răduţă Gheorghe Săsărman Stan Stoica Caravan in Chişinău (Moldova). It is not much yet, but this is the right direction. In the next issue : The Turin International Book Fair, 2013 02-03 engleza:Layout 1 5/14/13 12:10 PM Page 2

The RCI Bucharest Agenda CONFERENCE The conference “The Story of RCI (inter)national English in 100 Words”, held by the The European Film Festival, Bucharest 2013 well-known linguist David Crystal , took place on Monday the 15 th of April. The event was organized by the British Council in partnership with the The European Film Festival (Bren dan Gleesnon), in 2012. Romanian Cultural Institute. took place in Bucharest, at Cine- During the event, the following A writer, an editor, a conference ma Studio and Eforie cinema- participants took the floor: His speaker , and a producer of radio and TV programs, professor David theque, for three days, between Excellency Oliver Grogan, the the 9 th and the 11 th of May. This Ambassador of Ireland in Bucha - Crystal has published more than one hundred books in the domain of th linguistics and its practical applications, and he was the editor of the 17 edition included movies rest, Mr. Laurenţiu Damian, the reference books The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language from ten countries, as well as a president of the Romanian Film - and The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. selection of cinematographic makers Union, Ms. Anca Mitran, projects made by the students of the general director of the Na tio - ANDREI MARGA AT THE IRCCU VENICE the National University of Art in nal Film Archives , and Mr. Vla- Bucharest. di mir Simon, vice-president of nd In the beginning of the the Romanian Cultural Institute. On the 22 of April, in the conference hall “Marian Papahagi” of th the Romanian Institute of Culture and Humanities Research in Venice, festival, on Thursday the 9 of In addition, the program May, at 7 o’clock P.M, Cinema included the Romanian docu - the president of the Romanian Cultural Institute, the university professor th Andrei Marga, PhD, held the conference “Religion and the State in Studio showed the Irish comedy mentary movie The 8 of Today’s Europe”. The Guard (2011) , directed by March directed by Alexandru Croatia, the Embassy of Finland, The conference dealt with the John Michael McDonagh. The Belc, who participated in a ses - the Embassy of Ireland, Balassi historical point of view of the movie, presented with the help of sion of Q&A after the projection. Institute − the Hungarian Cultu- relationship between religion and the the Embassy of Ireland in Bucha- The European Film Festival ral Center, the Embassy of Ser- State and analyzed the thesis of the rest, was awarded the Prize The 2013 was organized by the bia, the Embassy of Slovakia, the separation of the two , especially in Best Debut Film at the Berlin Romanian Cultural Institute in Embassy of Spain, the Embassy societies which are pluralistic from a Film Festival, in 2011, and no mi- partnership with the Romanian of Sweden, Cinepolitica Festival, religious point of view. Furthermore, nated at the Golden Globes for Filmmakers Union, the National Libra Film, Voodoo Films and new solu tions to the relationship the category The Best Actor Film Archive, the Embassy of UNARTE. religion-state were analy zed. The conference fo cu sed on the process of re-thinking, of re-systema tizing, and of recons tructing the knowledge underlying the religious belief which has been shaping a culture for a World Book Day long time. The importance of the solutions brought by religion in the new context of global society is oriented by Andrei Marga towards an attempt at recovering philosophy as an expression of human experience Book launch: William Shakespeare - Works VI in a world in which religion has an essential role in the construction of the new identities marked by globalization processes. Andrei Marga addressed this subject in the volume Religion in the On Shakespeare day (the 23 rd of April), the Era of Globalization (The Foundation for European Studies Publishing Romanian Cultural Institute in Bucharest hosted House, Cluj-Napoca, 2003). the ceremony of the launch of the 6 th volume of the series Complete Works, re-translated integrally, PROFESSOR IONEL HAIDUC AT THE RCI in verse, a series coordinated by professor George Volceanov. th The Romanian Cultural Institute continued the series of the ICR The 6 volume was published by Tracus Arte Conferences, a project meant to stimulate dialogue and to promote (director Ioan Cristescu), with the help of ICR culture. On Wed nesday, the 24 th of April 2013 , academician Ionel Publishing House (director Mariana Avanu). The Haiduc, the president of the Romanian Aca demy held a conference translators of the three plays: Violeta Popa, Lucia with the title “Confluences between Na tural Sciences and Humanities” Verona, and Ioana Diaconescu were present at the at the headquarters of the Roma nian Cultural Institute in Bu charest. event, next to the rest of the team (George President of the Romanian Volceanov and Horia Gârbea, as presenters, this Academy since 2006, professor at time). Volceanov, and the latter was published with the the Babeş-Bolyai University , and In addition, the first volume of Shakespeare’s help of the Faculty of Arts, Hyperion Uni versity. A a chemist, academician Ionel Notebooks was launched, with a very rich con tents group of actors from this university, coordinated by Haiduc is a scientist who earned of Shakespearean studies, as well as Romanian professor Petre Florescu and introduced by the international renown thanks to his Shakespeare Journal no.1, with studies in the well-known actor Eusebiu Ştefă nescu, presented a activity − more than three hundred English language and authors from several fragment from “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, specialized works, as well as the countries. Both works were coordi nated by George translated by Lucia Verona. initiation and the de ve lopment of a new scientific domain (organometallic che mistry). On the occasion of the mee ting organized by the Romanian The Exhibition “Romanian Contemporary Cultural Institute, a numerous audience were exposed to a new and challenging perspective, the one of the scientist whose intel lectual openness goes beyond the technical Masters” at the RCI London limits of his own spe cia lized domain in order to raise vivid questions and to offer novel answers. Since the 30 th of April the retros pective exhibition which The ICR conferences repre sent an attempt at promoting intellectual will include fifteen to twenty excellence and diver sity by means of a cycle of monthly meetings Brâncuşi Gallery of the Ro ma - between the general public and a series of Romanian personalities, nian Cultural Institute in London paintings from the cycle intellectuals, authors, and prestigious specialists. has become the host of a new “Genesis” and will precede the series of exhibitions entitled artist’s retros pective exhibition THE STORY OF ANI|A NANDRI± FROM BUCOVINA “Romanian Contemporary to be held at Sala Dalles in Masters”. The first artist present Bucharest, starting with the On Thursday, the 25 th of April, a debate and a film projection is Master Marin Gherasim, with a 10 th of May 2013. dedicated to Aniţa Nandriş-Cudla were organized; Aniţa Nandriş is the author of the book 20 Years in Siberia − Memories from Life (awarded the Prize “Lucian Blaga” by the Romanian Academy in 1992). The event is part of the series Characters − Emblematic Biographies of Political Prisoners. The Memorial of Pain , organized by Romanian Book Review the Romanian Cultural Institute in partnership with TVR. The actor Address of the editorial office : The Romanian Cultural Institute , Armand Calotă read pages on the years of the deportation from the Aleea Alexandru no. 38, Bucharest diary of the scholar Grigore Nandriş , a university professor at the London University, Aniţa’s brother. The diary represents one of the most Director: EDITORIAL OFFICE: Mariana Avanu, ANDREI MARGA

6 Simona Br\nzaru, Denisa Mirena

eloquent testimonies about the Siberian deportation and it has been 9

6 Coordinator : Duran, Iacob Florea, Bogdan Popescu,

compared to Solzhenitsyn’s writings. “Such a book should do away 1 - HORIA G~RBEA Andra Rotaru, Mircea T=tar with any inferiority complex that we may have as a people”, said 6 8 Editor-in-chief : Translators: 2

Monica Lovinescu. 2 IOAN ES. POP FABIOLA POPA, MONICA VOICULESCU

The movie is a reconstruction of Aniţa Nandriş-Cudla’s life; it was N

S General Secretary of the Editorial Board: English version revised by S made after her diary and the testimonies of some family members − her I GELU NEGREA ADRIAN SOLOMON two sons, Dumitru and Vasile, and dr. Gh. Nandriş, her cousin. Art Director: GELU IORDACHE E-mail: [email protected]

The review uses information and comment fragments courtesy of and published by the periodicals of the Romanian Writers’ Union as well as information taken from the 2 Romanian Book Review websit e www.agentiadecarte.ro and press releases of the Romanian Cultural Institute . 02-03 engleza:Layout 1 5/14/13 12:42 PM Page 3

In our literature, Liviu Rebreanu is unanimously regarded as a great prose Cwrlitaer,sthescriecatosr of moodfernRRomoanmian anian Literature fiction, a writer of undoubtedly LIVIU REBREANU European outlook and caliber. On a virtual all-time scale of our autochthonous literary Realism, from by Gelu NEGREA let us say Nicolae Filimon to Dumitru Radu Popescu , Liviu Rebreanu’s name is a durable landmark, an essential axiological reference point. And if we BETWEEN PENITENTIARY in his lifetime and posthumously. For many wish to expand our perspective a little, AND THE ROMANIAN years, on and off, he kept Diaries without to continental horizons, which the eyes any special literary virtues, but interesting and consecration ambitions of ACADEMY as autobiographic material. His journalistic Romanian writers have always been writings are abundant, but they do not raise and permanently stay oriented toward, Liviu Rebreanu was born on November to the level of his fiction. we must mention that there are many 27, 1885 at Târlişua , present-day Bistriţa- Liviu Rebreanu’s writings are uneven, voices saying that in 1924 the Nobel Năsăud County, the eldest son of a village oscillating between masterpieces and Prize jury of the Royal Swedish teacher’s 14 children. Under the name limited-interest works, some of the latter Academy did not reach its highest Herdelea, some family members including being downright failures. For instance the inspiration moment when it crowned the future writer appear in various hypos- novel Both (a thriller going through the Polish writer Wladyslaw Reymont ’s tases in the novels Ion , The Uprising , and meanders of divulging a double murder, the The Peasants with the coveted prize to Gorilla , while the tragic story of one of his murderer being a woman), Adam and Eve the detriment of Rebreanu’s Ion , (the story of a couple being reincarnated in brothers, Emil, is seen as the starting point the author favors conscience relationships, published four years before, especially for the action in The Forest of the Hanged . metempsychosis in seven hypostases placed because the motivation of the jurors in seven different historical epochs ), Flame and, instead of daily events of the soul, he At first Liviu Rebreanu trained for a favors great spiritual crises” (Nicolae could have been kept ad litteram : military career. Starting in 1900, he was (the story of a seduction and love abandon “for his great national epic.” conceived like a poem, in the rhythm of the Manolescu). The gradual inner collapse trained at the Real Superior Honvéd School experienced by the protagonist in the in Sopron, Hungary and at the Military months succeeding each other over a year, in an awkward crescendo with a predictable context of being forced to choose between Academy in Budapest; after graduation, he his duty as a military man and his ethnic was assigned to a unit in the Hungarian city epic resolution) , Gorilla (a book the author was very fond of, comparing it with The feeling inexorably sends him to death. of Gyula (at that time Transylvania was part The third of Liviu Rebreanu’s of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). Follo- Uprising , but which George Călinescu, in his History of Romanian Literature from Its masterpieces, The Uprising , “is the only wing some financial trouble he was overall successful fresco-novel . . . , an imprisoned in the penitentiaries of Văcă- Origins to the Present , characterized severely although partially unjustly as immense organ, blowing through thousands reşti , Romania and Gyula for a while. This of mouths, melting the most realistic details restless time also saw his first literary “Liviu Rebreanu’s worst work, displaying the lower level of his means .” into a dense, compact epic cream, cutting attempts, first in Hungarian, then in powerful, hard-to-forget pictures out of Romanian. With a few notable exceptions ( The Catastrophe , Iţic Ştrul Deserter , The reality ” (Nicolae Manolescu). “What we In 1910, aged 25, he abandoned the have here is a collective peasant, mob military uniform for ever and moved to Fools ), his novellas stay at the level of Realistic works, with a slight Naturalist psychology,” judiciously notes G. Căli- Bucharest — a city he left several times nescu, memorably also synthesizing the looking for work, but one he would come flavor, picturesque in their social and psychological details, without the depth and essence of Liviu Rebreanu’s literary back to and settle in definitively. He got language: “The sentences taken alone are jobs at or contributed to several newspapers color of his most valuable novels. His theatrical writings enjoyed a certain colorless like sea water held in one’s palm; and magazines in Bucharest, entering into a few hundred pages have the sea’s green- contact with the time’s Romanian literary degree of success, of respect; but nothing more . black tonality and roar.” milieu. That was also the time he made his It is worth noticing that, like Marin publishing debut with a book of novellas. The movie adaptations of some of Liviu Rebreanu’s works have proved more Preda about whom we wrote in the previous Beginning in 1920 — the year he issue of the Romanian Book Review , this published the first of his great novels, Ion , successful: The Forest of the Hanged (1964, directed by Liviu Ciulei) received the writer is redoubtable, bordering on genius, crowned with the Romanian Academy when his epic matter is placed in the rural Award — he became an increasingly known director award at the international film festival in Cannes; also, the following environment, while his escapes to the city and appreciated writer, some of his books world have mostly insignificant results. also receiving awards from the Society of movies were appreciated both in this Romanian Writers and being reprinted country and abroad: The Uprising (1966, seven-eight times in his lifetime. At the age the Opera Prima award, Cannes), Ion/The CRITICAL POSTERITY of 50, he was already regarded as a classic Curse of Land, the Curse of Love (1979), and as the first European-level Romanian both directed by Mircea Mureşan , and prose writer. Owing to his literary merits he Ciuleandra Dance (1984, directed by The life and work of Liviu Rebreanu was elected member of the Romanian Sergiu Nicolaescu). have always received ample reviews from Academy, his maiden speech being entitled Romanian critics, both in literary syntheses Eulogy to the Romanian Peasant . THREE MASTERPIECES and histories (G. Călinescu, Eugen He served as director of the National Lovinescu, Nicolae Manolescu, and Ovid S. Theater in Bucharest (twice) and chairman Crohmălniceanu ) as well as in stand-alone Liviu Rebreanu owes his prominent of the Society of Romanian Writers. books, mostly of the monograph type: place in the history of Romanian literature Toward the end of his life, ill and Alexandru Piru, Liviu Rebreanu (1965); mostly to the novels written at the attacked by the media for being pro- Lucian Raicu, Liviu Rebreanu (1967); beginning of his career. Published when the German (in 1918 he had even been accused Alexandru Săndulescu, Introduction to author was 35, “ Ion is the most powerful of espionage!) and for supporting the Iron Liviu Rebreanu’s Work (1976); Aurel Sassu, objective creation in Romanian literature ... Guard, he withdrew to Valea Mare, Argeş Liviu Rebreanu, the Feast of His Work the saga of our peasantry caught in the life County, where he died on September 1, (1978); Mircea Muthu, Liviu Rebreanu or cell of a Transylvanian village” (Eugen 1944. A few months later his body was the Paradox of the Organic (1988); Ion Si- Lovinescu). “...A complex icon, alive brought to Bucharest and reburied there. muţ , Liviu Rebreanu - Monograph (2001); without exuberance, rich in noticed details, Ion Bălu, Liviu Rebreanu, Human Destinies still interesting due to its general line (2004); and Dan Mănucă, Liviu Rebreanu ... Ion may be viewed as a true poem of or the World of the Presumed (2011). LITERARY LEGACY Transylvania” (Tudor Vianu). “ Ion is the There is an edition having special philo- work of an epic poet who solemnly sings logical and literary value , the 23-volume Liviu Rebreanu’s work is mainly made about the general conditions of life, birth, Works edited by Nicolae Gheran, who dedi- up of novels, novellas, theatrical plays, nature, and death. The novel is made up of cated a few notable review books to the memoirs, travel notes, and journalism. As a canticles, in the obvious cadenza of the author: Young Rebreanu (1986); Liviu Re- novelist he published at remarkable speed: great epics . . . an epic poem, solemn like an breanu: Noon of a Life (1989); With Liviu Ion (1920), The Forest of the Hanged American river, a masterpiece of quiet Rebreanu and More — evocations and (1922), Adam and Eve (1927), Our Little greatness ” (G. Călinescu). The book documents (2007); Liviu Rebreanu Through King (1929), The Uprising (1932), Flame configures the drama of a young peasant Himself (in collaboration with Andrei (1934), Gorilla (1938), and Both (1940). overwhelmed by the passion of acquiring Moldovan, 2008). His novellas — first published in land by any and all means, but also prisoner Other editions by Nicolae Gheran: Liviu periodicals — have been collected into of an illicit love affair, which will lead to his Rebreanu, Our Little King Horia (1983); volumes such as : The Catastrophe , Luck , death in the end. Liviu Rebreanu, The Hooligans (1984); Dream Nest , Swan Song , and Iţic Ştrul The Forest of the Hanged , whose Liviu Rebreanu, Gorilla (1991); Liviu Deserter. As a playwright, he wrote three themes are outlined in the sketch The Rebreanu, The Forest of the Hanged comedies of medium value: Quadrille , The Catastrophe , “is our first moral novel..., in (1992); and Liviu Rebreanu, Adam and Eve Envelope , and The Apostles , produced both which instead of analysis and introspection, (in collaboration with Ion Simuţ , 1998).

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GHEORGHE CR{CIUN Literature Blue Women Polirom Publishing House, The Loner’s Melancholy Ia§i, 2013 In the lyrical anthology entitled A Shirt for the Passage the poet Ion Beldeanu from Suceava reunites a significant part of his post- 1989 creation, completed with an important Chimeras from number of previously unpublished poems. “Structurally speaking, Ion Beldeanu is an the Immediate Reality elegiac author for whom poetry means song and incantare therefore who, in a period dominated The novel, which is still an unfinished manuscript, belongs to the by irony and intellectualism, has the courage to well-known writer of the 1980s generation, Gheorghe Crăciun; it is a make use (polemically) of a traditional modality book about the initiatic journey of a man who was already an adult whose resources have not disappeared yet . (…) when the Romanian Revolution broke out. The protagonist of the A secret, Bacovia-like flux put forth in the novel, a divorced man, who keeps changing his jobs, but also his Sunday walks in the provincial town, in women , chases a chimera, which he sees embodied in the celluloid boredom and an exasperation visible enough to being of the actress Nicole Kidman. The real women he loves keep its direct expressivity traverse Ion sensuously cannot satisfy him emotionally. Will he remain in the Beldeanu’s poems; the loner’s melancholy is ION BELDEANU arms of the faithful, comforting Ondina, or will he give in to the seldom kind, his irony rarely good-natured: the latter − the melancholy and the irony− express innocent vamp Ada Comenschi? Will he still work in the legal A Shirt for the Passage domain or will he keep on writing detective novels? an attitude and a mood …(…). The theme of “Blue Women , the novel which Gheorghe Crăciun was writing marginality and the literary motive of the Mu§atinii Publishing House, when he passed away, is essentially an exploration of what cannot be province are two of the elements that Suceava, 2012 put into words, of the plurality of objects and of the language, a personalize Ion Beldeanu’s poetry; from The narrative investigation of the moods, the feelings, the thoughts , and Lesson of Melancholy and My Life Trial to Mornings without Glory , the life of the poet the dramas which define the human existence (…) With much verve ION BELDEANU nd and discreet self-irony, Blue Women tells the story of a character who identifies himself with a hidalgo and the (born on the 22 of searching for his own destiny, inclined to relive his past love stories text which oscillates between irony and August 1939, in Zamostea, the county of with an intensity which seems to be missing from his current aversion unfold on the brim of a stage, at the Suceava) is a poet, a prose writer, and existence. Suspended between past and the present − to which he margin of arenas, dreaming of action, of the journalist. For twelve years he was the confers depth by means of successive journeys into the past and fights, or next to the window, levitating in director of Literary Bukovina . At present he projections into the imaginary − Gheorghe Crăciun’s character is drowsiness and illusion…” ( Ioan Holban ) is the honorary president of the Society of extremely vivid, he moves around at ease in a world assaulted by “… With urban pride, leaving aside the Bukovina Writers (which includes authors images: photos of real , but inaccessible women ( like Nicole lamentations of the old deracinated individuals, from North Bukovina− Ukraine). Kidman), faces of women he once loved or he barley saw (in reality Ion Beldeanu does not have the complex of the Selective bibliography: The Groom of the or in his dreams), movie scenes superimposed dangerously on alienated province or the repetitive mechanics Bread, Bucovina Blue, Good Evening, sequences of the immediate reality, all imprinted on the narrator’s of day-to-day life. The reference is not Beautiful Story, Solar Armor, The Afternoon memory.” (Carmen Muşat ). geographical, in fact; instead, it liberates a of a Memory, The Lesson of Melancholy, The moral tension so that Ion Beldeanu’s poetry, Grass of Love, Eternal Seeds, A Morning for GHEORGHE CR{CIUN (1950-2007) was a Romanian novel sublimating such shortcomings, which are Everybody, Even If? (verses), The Poison writer and literary theoretician. He taught literary theory at the absorbed by the rituals of everyday life, Hemlock Bullet (novel), The Aching Faculty of Letters of the University of Braşov . Some of his pertaining to the provincial topos , has no Bukovina , vol I-III ( book of reportages published volumes are: Original Papers. Legalized Copies ; Essay localist support (Gheorghe Grigurcu ). about the two Bukovinas) and others. with Unequal Parallels; The Beauty without a Body; Pupa Russa; Introduction to Literary Theory; Looking for the Reference Point; Drawn to Scale; The Iceberg of Modern Poetry; Two in a Book, Without Counting the Author. Fragments with Radu Petrescu and Mircea Nedelciu; Fluid Mechanics; The Body Knows More; The Competition Continues; The 1980s Generation in Theoretical A Complex Prose Writer Texts; The 1980s Generation in Short Prose.

The short prose anthology The Mystery of the Book comprises a representative selection of the epic creation of an author who has made The Revolution himself known both as a novel writer and a poet. Organized somehow didactically, in three large sections (prose in a realistic note, fantastic and as an Operetta oneiric prose , and prose inspired from history), the fifty-four texts included in the volume are proof of the talent of an author endowed with various skills, who, nevertheless, permanently SILVIU GHERMAN keeps in the meanders of his writings the characteristics of classical epics, enriched with The Male’s Papers recurrent elements of literary modernity. Curtea Veche Publishing House, “His writing is dense, robust, and analytical, Bucharest, 2012 in the best traditional manner. The dynamics of his stories bear passionate, social, even political MIRCEA IOAN CASIMCEA conflicts, and they put forth vivid characters, with well-contoured profiles, cultivating a The Mystery of the Book “Post-apocalyptic fiction, evolutionist fantasy, phallic dystopia polemic and continuously engaging dialogue EuroPress Publishing House, and/or social gendermorphosis, The Male’s Papers functions, thanks (…) The fantastic prose which he writes has a Bucharest, 2013 to its fantasy-parodic dimension, as a possible critique to the human particular specificity − the supernatural is nature. With black humor and sordid atmosphere, full of scenes detected in the most realisic life, in the day-to- abounding in absurdity and grotesque, built with an overflowing day life of his heroes. The historical themes are MIRCEA IOAN CASIMCEA (born on the fantasy and with an organic , Cronenberg-like imaginary, lexically not deprived of contemporaneousness, namely 4th of November 1936 , in the county of Tulcea) inventive and stylistically varied (at a certain point, the Male writes everything that happened in the past is perceived graduated from the Faculty of Letters of Ba- the scenario of the false revolution under the form of an operetta), with the eyes and the conscience of the beş-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca. He was Silviu Gherman’s novel is, by far, the strangest book published last participant in the national history act of today . the director of the Municipal State Theatre year (2012, the editor’s note), singular, and especially promising for (…) Mircea Ioan Casimcea is a complex Turda and he collaborated to literary maga- a future, more consistent , and more visible punk niche in our prose writer (…) with a literary biography which zines in Bucharest, Constanţa, Suceava, Cluj- literature”. (Marius Chivu ) I can rightfully consider the work of a Napoca and so on. Absolute debut − 1967. conscience able to express itself in the Agora SILVIU GHERMAN Other writings: Imagined Memories, The Gib- is an actor (in name only) and he works directly, with no hesitations in its manner of bon’s Song, The Archeologist, Antim’s Hopes in a corporation. In 2008 he founded Mes Quins , a synthetic pop cultivating the verb, therefore original. The and Despairs (novels), The Colony, People in band known as “The Flower of the Underground”. In the same present volume is an irrefutable proof of this the Train, It Happened at Calostra, The year, he started to post regular comic movies on his youtube thing… ”, writes the critic Constantin Cubleşan Knight’s Hallucinations, The Adjustment of the page. in a judicious Foreword. Destiny ( short prose), The Endless Poem, The Good Kamikaze, Let the Words (poetry), etc. 4 Romanian Book Review 04-05 engleza:Layout 1 5/14/13 12:12 PM Page 5

VERONICA D. NICULESCU Literature Red, Red, Velvet. Stories of Past The Refined Book Times Casa de Pariuri Literare Publishing House, of the Old Age Bucharest, 2012 LIVIUS CIOCÂRLIE who imagines his own age”. ( Alexandru Budac ) Simmering , Livius Ciocârlie’s book, is Simmering a diary about the old age, written with Cartea Româneasc[, Publishing House, LIVIUS CIOCÂRLIE (born in (self-)irony and with detachment. The Bucharest, 2012 1935, Timişoara ) graduated from the Slices of Life author registers the manifestations of the Faculty of Philology in Bucharest, in physical decline without being pathetic, 1958, and earned his PhD in French In 2012, Veronica D. Niculescu published a permanently preoccupied with not taking Philology. In 1990 he was appointed book of short stories entitled Red, Red, Velvet — the himself too seriously. His reflections are title is based on a popular children’s song: “Red, scholar who looks at the old age with an professor at the Chair of French based on his readings; most of his notes Literature of University of Timişoara red, velvet/ What’s given will never come back .” are inspired from quotations selected esthetic eye, the entire range of The 15 stories exist under this nostalgic sign of an descriptive cruelties he puts forth is and invited professor at “Michel de according to the criterion of affinity − Montaigne” University of Bordeaux. impossible attempt to recuperate “something given ” which the author comments in his nothing but self-referential teasing, in followed by an original narrative confession — vir - which the author indulges laughing at the He is the author of several volumes of personal vein: essays, literary criticism, memoirs and tual “purely literary embroideries on the fabric of a “«Old age is a permanent humiliation. inevitable surprises brought by the gloomy past” ( Dan-Liviu Boeriu ). twilight years”. ( Sorin Lavric ) novels, many of which have been I have lost any appetite for going out, for awarded prizes by the Romanian ”These are not extraordinary events, quite to the writing, for fooling around ». No way! “Upon reading Liviu Ciocârlie’s latest contrary. Slices of private life, the daily life of peo - book, one cannot fail to feel the perfect Writers’ Union or by other cultural Leaving aside the fact that I never liked institutions. Some of his critical studies ple, children, even a cat, struggling every day to sur - going out and that I still have my appetite combination between the art of vive in the difficult circumstances of the time. Every expressing yourself in writing impeccably are: Realism and Poetic Becoming in for fooling around, old age is the best French Literature (1974) , Black and viewpoint belongs to a narrator-character, telling of period anyway, and, as I was saying, the and the absence of any effort to create a their insignificant events and adventures, an aspect mask. As the author grows older, the White. From the Romantic Symbol to most intense. It is like a breakfast on the the Modern Text (1979), Cioran’s that often makes the small prose pieces delicious. preoccupation for his literary profile and The world seen through the eyes of a child standing grass on the verge of a precipice in which Notebooks (2000, 2007). His diaries, his the image in the eyes of his professional in a line to buy oil, the fear in the mind of a young you know you will fall, but you don’t essays , and his novels include fourteen know when.” circle is less intense; this makes his style woman ready to try anything in the hope of having a freer and more relaxed, and his self-irony titles, among which: A Provincial miscarriage, the universe of a cat which also stands “Therefore, we do not witness any Burgtheater (1985), Fragments about conscience drama caused by painful sharper. The page shelters a sort of in line at the food shop hoping, perhaps, to get frankness and a good nature that the Void (1992), The Derisory Paradise. something from the “goddess” — the seller that all breakdowns, but an intellect soliloquy Diary about Indifference (1993), Life during which a solitary spirit makes reminded me of the special, gentle, and people worship —, and the horrible suffering of a playful personality of old Bunuel. The between Brackets (1995), From Sancho mother with three children who has to feed them literature under the pretext that he Panza to the Knight of the Sad displays his degeneration. Ciocîrlie’s art humor hidden in the witty aphorism, the every day despite the food shortages — such seem - solar reaction to some old fears Countenance (2001), Old Age and Death ingly narrow perspectives, of private details, com - consists in converting his tribulations into in the Third Millenium (2005), Starting a fine expression, observing the rule of formulated in a dull manner make his plete one another to contour life under Romanian prose invigorating. One has the feeling from Valéry (2006). With Woolen Teeth. communism, especially during the impossible literary discretion. (…) And this is who Diary 1978-1983 (2008) Livius Ciocârlie is: a refined literary that they hold the book of a young person 1980s” ( Luminiţa Corneanu ). For example, this is the procedure used by a stu - dent (in the story entitled The Brick ) in a desperate attempt to get a miscarriage: “Take one brick. Heat its center − an axis of traditional literature it on an electric stove and pour vinegar. Lie over it, The Glass Eye which could remind us of a pattern, here spread as much as you can, let that steam get in. As and there. But the break with the pattern, well as you can for as long as you can. Let it get in the unusual way of appropriating the there and do its work. It is no use jumping off a cup - consequence of the “glass eye” reign of pattern, which is swallowed up by the board or hitting yourself with your fist, you will not terror. The novel is not just the story of a imaginary which has other laws, other get rid of it. You will get rid of it with vinegar, this contemporary high school or the one of a reference points, and other ways are is how Ursanca got rid of it. You surely will get rid single woman − a prisoner, day after day, remindful of other books by Viorica of it, I am telling you.” of the dream and of the real world; it is Răduţă . And of the attempt to take a Literary critic Bogdan Alexandru Stănescu also the preamble of a cruel, stance which is different from that of the notes: “The prose pieces in this book are built, not dehumanized future, placed under the traditional individual, the one that lives written: and , to descend for a while to the level of ubiquitous lens of video cameras. The his own capacity to dream.” ( Cornel this construction, it seems obvious to me that they continuous surveillance annihilates the Ungureanu ) were not written in one breath , rather, their minutest VIORICA R{DU|{ personality and modifies the individual, details were wrought... Here I see again Nabokov’s alienating him; one’s own image in VIORICA R{DU|{ debuted in apocalyptic irony, the art of inserting into the text In Two Worlds movement, the gestures, the words 1998 with the poetry volume Passions hints that request a re-reading and re-semantization... become perfidious instruments of According to Me Some of the publi- Veronica D. Niculescu proves special empathy with Cartea Româneasc[ the sensitivity and thought of children, but without Publishing House, Bucharest, 2013 identification, classification, self- shed books are: Missing Psalms,; The denunciation, repression. 13 th Job; When the Memories, Subtle falling prey to excessive sensitivities or simplistic “Viorica Răduţă tries to go beyond the Bodies; Before the Exodus; Hidra- games. Behind symbolizing unities, there is always ordinary limits proposed by the obedient pulper; In Exodus; My Mother Death; a mature thought watching and waiting, ready to Cryptic, acid , and tender at the same creator. (…) The novel In Two Worlds has The Grail without the Grail; decrypt their universe and to assert that the dark time, the novel In Two Worlds is the first a literature teacher, a school, a family at Interpolations and Interpolations . world of the infans -type magic is eventually true. I believe this is the strong point of this short-story book, the Chekhovian quality of the stories: under an apparent feminine delicacy..., of an empathy- filled opening to the world, a horribly tough judg - Epistle from “Nenica’s” Village ment of that same world lies hidden.” VERONICA D. NICULESCU (b. May 4, 1968) debuted in 2004 with a short-story book Anatol Grosu is this year’s winner cow with the bell which slowly comes entitled Adeb , receiving the debut award of the of the most important poetry prize in back home at dusk/ with soured milk in Romanian Writers’ Union, Sibiu chapter. In 2008 Romania − the national prize “Mihai its udder/(…)”. (Ion Buzera) she published a prose book entitled Orange Eminescu” Opera Prima, for his debut “Anatol Grosu’s poetry is both a Orchestra , and in 2009 the Fairy Tale of Quick- volume The Epistle from Filipeni . His funerary lament for his dear beloved, Quick Princess , written in collaboration with poet volume combines candor with the life’s and a lament for his lost childhood.” Emil Brumaru and illustrated by Mircia tragic feeling and sketches a rural (Dumitru Crudu ). Dumitrescu . Her works are included in these universe of fine lines, around the key- anthologies: Prose.ro (2006), Sibiu/Hermannstadt character, the fabulous “nenica”. ANATOL GROSU (born in 1983, in Sentimental Letters (2007), and The Four “Filipeni is one of those numerous Chişinău) graduated from the ANATOL GROSU Dimensions of Being Feminine (2010). In 2007 places where nothing has ever happened Faculty of Letters and Art, with a she began to translate many books from English and where nothing will ever happen, well major in Romanian and a minor in The Epistle from Filipeni for Polirom Publishing House. Their authors are rooted in our inner map, as large as English, “Lucian Blaga” University Max Blecher Publishing House, Vladimir Nabokov, Samuel Beckett (award for Europe, and beyond. A memorable text in Sibiu. He is a member of the Bistri\a 2012 translation of the Romanian Writers’ Union, about this pulsating, slightly stiff nothin- literary club “The New Zone” in Sibiu chapter in 2012 and nominated for the gness is the one on page 57: “nenica was Sibiu, coordinated by the poet Radu Ready for Print Gala - Best Translation for born in a place where bottles are never Vancu and his poems are present in House and Herg Benet Publishing Samuel Beckett , Works , I), Don DeLillo , and oth - full enough / where people slide on their the anthology “The New Zone” House. At present he lives in ers. She won the award for short film script (for galoshes instead of walking/where hens (2011). He published poetry in Chişinău, he is the PR manager of The Courier ) at the National HBO Script Contest lay red eggs in the spring/ and where national literary magazines. The Cartier Publishing House and a in 2010. crickets are silent/where dead people get manuscript of the volume The Epistle coordinator of the literary club out of the ground and the wine gets from Filipeni is the winner of the “The New Barbarians” in Chişinău, scarcer every autumn that goes by/where second edition of the debut contest next to the poet and playwright worms fast on Fridays/where love is the organized by Max Blecher Publishing Dumitru Crudu. Romanian Book Review 5 06-07 engleza:Layout 1 5/14/13 12:13 PM Page 6

Romania at the London Book Fair 2013 A homage to the contribution of translatoErvse, nt editors, and authors

The sixth consecutive participation of books published in English, from Carmen Romania in the biggest book showcase in Bugan’s Orwell Prize short-listed Burying Britain is placed under the aegis of the the Typewriter and Cecilia Ştefănescu’s Sun extraordinary Romanian literary heritage Alley to Romanian crime fiction series created in Great Britain, as well as in the published by Profusion Publishers, the English-speaking world, during the past Romanian books offered by Plymouth decades. At the Romanian stand in Earls University Press, or the academic books by Court or in 1 Belgrave Square, the events Marius Turda and Irina Marin – introduced Eye Witness set up by the Romanian Cultural Institute by the authors themselves with between 15-17 April paid homage to the contributions from fellow writers and London Book Fair — Successful Romanian Participation crucial contribution made by translators, editors. editors, and authors, both in Britain, the Tuesday 16 April the theme of debate In April at the London Book Fair, where the weather gave a helping hand to the United States and Romania, to the was Over 50 Years of Romanian Books in participants, Romania’s stall looked good and our country’s presence was generally promotion of Romanian poetry, prose, and English. Participants: Alexandra Dugdale, successful. The white stall with silver inscriptions and ornaments kept furniture elements and academic writing. Daniel Hahn, Peter Jay, Stephen Watts. decorations out of the enormous stall at Salon du Livre in Paris. Very large, with three open Join us to meet and converse with many Chair: Horia Gârbea. Some of the most sides, it was placed close to the entrance, impossible to overlook. It was surrounded but not of those who have contributed, with influential editors and translators from overwhelmed by the stalls of Turkish publishing houses and cultural institutions. Turkey, the passion, competence and dedication, to a Romania, accompanied by some of the invitee of honor, brought in several stalls , occupying a giant amount of room. There was not better understanding of Romania and its most influential promoters of foreign one moment without visitors at our stall, which hosted interesting debates mostly with literature in Britain and elsewhere. fiction in Britain, revisited their long and British participants, most of whom were translators, but some of whom were publishers. The guests of the organizers – the eventful association with authors and texts Of course, Romanian authors also attended, the main invitees being Cecilia Ştefănescu Romanian Cultural Institute in London - from the other side of the continent in the and Carmen Buganale, whose books had recently been published in Great Britain with great were Lucy Abel-Smith, Paul Bailey, Alan quest to define the enduring charm of success. Mr. Dorian Branea, director of the RCI in London, was the host at the stall, also Brownjohn, Carmen Bugan, Tim Burford, Romanian and European letters. hosting the meetings there, efficiently supported by his team at the London center and by his Susan Curtis-Kojakovic, Alexandra In the evening, at the RCI, an colleagues at the Directorate for Foreign Relations of the RCI in Bucharest. Mr. Ion Jinga, Dugdale, Tessa Dunlop, Horia Gârbea, interesting exhibition of books translated the Romanian ambassador, also attended. There were vivacious discussions about today’s Daniel Hahn, Peter Jay, Irina Marin, Patrick and published in the last 50 years in Britain Romanian literature and its translations in Great Britain, where translations only account for McGuiness, Charlie Ottley, Mike Phillips, was opened. The speakers were Dorian a flabbergasting 3 percent of the market. Still, the public was able to admire books covering a Bronwen Riley, Miranda Spicer, George Branea, director of RCI – London and significant part of our literature by visiting the exhibition of translated Romanian books at Szirtes, Cecilia Ştefănescu, Marius Turda, Horia Gârbea, vice-president of RCI. the RCI office in London, an exhibition inaugurated during the fair. Hence Director Lucian Stephen Watts. From RCI Romania were On the last day, Wednesday 17 April , Branea’s idea to digitalize this capital of translated texts, an idea supported by the present too Mrs. Irina Corni şteanu, head of the last event was: Romania: Travels, management of the RCI in Bucharest. the Department of International Expectations, Discoveries with Lucy Numerous editorial projects, some of which will be possible to finance through the RCI Relationships and Mrs. Simona Brînzaru. Abel-Smith, Tim Burford, Patrick as well, and a consistent publication of Romanian poetry in the magazine Modern Poetry in The most recent Romanian books McGuiness, Charlie Ottley, Bronwen Riley. Translation were configured. The famous translator and poet Stephen Watts, who has also published in English were presented: Chair: Răzvan Marc. The conversation translated Tudor Arghezi’s poetry into English, was invited by the RCI to participate in the Burying the Typewriter by Carmen Bugan, examined the cultural and social idea of International Tudor Arghezi Festival in May at Târgu Jiu, where he will receive the Tudor longlisted for Orwell Prize, Sun Alley by Romania emerging from literary and film Arghezi Award for foreign poets, together with Frenchman Eric Sarner. Cecilia Ştefănescu, Small Changes in travel accounts as well as the perceptions Also attending were Romanian publishers who engaged in an energetic dialogue with Attitude by Răzvan Petrescu, Kill the and emotions about Romania and their British counterparts both at Romania’s stall and at the stalls of foreign publishing General by Bogdan Hrib, Crafting Humans Romanians prevalent among the British houses. They attended all the major moments of this fair alongside the organizers. Among by Marius Turda, and Contested Frontiers public. The event is organized with the others, we noticed the leaders of publishers’ organizations Ovidiu Enculescu, Ion Enescu, in the Balkans: Ottoman, Habsburg and support of the Romanian National Tourism and Silvia Colfescu. Communist Rivalries in Eastern Europe by Office in London. Romania’s sixth participation in the London Book Fair with an RCI-organized stall was a Irina Marin. New books published in significant moment for our literature and an incontestable success. (H.G.) Romania in English were also presented to the public: The Nuclear Secret * The Inheritage by Lucia Verona and Your Cofee, Mr. Secretary by Horia Gârbea, theatre plays edited by Tritonic, and The Past - A Celebration , by Horia Gârbea, poems translated by Elena Nistor, published by Tracus Arte Publishing House. Romanian publishers who joined the stand include: Alcor Edimpex, All, Ametist 92, Asociaţia “Iulia Haşdeu”, Business Tech International, Carminis, Casa Radio, Curtea Veche, Orizonturi, Editura Universităţii din Bucure şti, Humanitas, Igloo Media, The Publishing House of the Romanian Cultural Institute, Istros, Naţiunea, Nemira, Niculescu, Nomina, Paralela 45, Polirom, RAO, România Press and Diana Press, Sigma, Tracus Arte, Teora, Tritonic, Universitaria, Vivaldi, Vox 2000, Vremea. Monday 15 April at the Romanian stand the public attended the debate Romania as a Literary Topos . Participants: Alan Brownjohn, Tessa Dunlop, George Szirtes. Chairs: Paul Bailey and Dorian Branea, with an opening intervention by Horia Gârbea. The discussion, animated by British writers who authored stories set in Romania or with a Romanian topic, explores the uses and abuses of Romania as a literary construct. In the same afternoon were presented New Romanian Books in English , with Paul Bailey, Carmen Bugan, Susan Curtis- Kojakovic, Irina Marin, Ramona Mitrică, Miranda Spicer, Cecilia Ştefănescu, Marius Turda. Chair: Mike Phillips. The public was interested in knowing the latest Romanian Foto: R{ZVAN D{N{IL{ 6 Romanian Book Review 06-07 engleza:Layout 1 5/14/13 12:44 PM Page 7

The Turin International Book Fair, 2013 EvTehenItnternational Book Festival in Budapest CULTURE IS FOOD FOR THE SOUL Romanian presence managed by The Romanian Cultural Institute - many authors and translators

The Turin International Book Fair will host from 16th to 18th May 2013 the twelfth edition of the IBF – International Book Forum, a business area which offers the possibility for purposeful meetings among Italian and foreign publishers, literary agents, and film, TV and new media producers from all over the world. The IBF – International Book Forum will take place at the Lingotto Conference Center. IBF is confirmed as a fundamental stage for international and Italian main players that schedule appointments in Turin to meet, find new interlocutors, do business, develop ideas and projects. A guest of honour in 2012, Romania will participate in 2013 with a big stand (about 75 sq meters) organized by the Romanian Cultural Institute , with great writers and their books recently trans - lated into Italian, such as Nicolae Breban, Gabriela Adame şteanu, Doina Ru şti, Stelian Ţurlea, Geo Vasile, and many Italian transla - Record Audience at the 20th Edition tors who will present the Romanian literature to the public.

Between the 18 th and the 21 st of April 2013, the introduced the poet Ioan Es. Pop from the perspective Constant and growing success Romanian Cultural Institute in Budapest and the of the latter’s importance in the contemporary Romanian Ministry of Culture participated in the 20 th Romanian poetry. The translator and editor Attila F. edition of the International Book Festival in Budapest, Balázs spoke about the editorial plan which comprises The Turin International Book Fair celebrates its twenty-fifth which took place at the Complex “Millenaris” ; more the translations of the most important contemporary anniversary in 2012. Created from an idea of Guido Accornero and than 63.000 people attended the festival , which set a Romanian poets ’ works, and the editor Ioan Cristescu Angelo Pezzana, a historic Turin bookseller, on the model of the new audience record for this international event . spoke about the poetry cycle and anthologies Paris Salon, it surpassed its model in terms of the wealth and vari - On the 19 th of April, starting with 2 o’clock P.M., launched by Tracus Arte Publishing House up to the ety of contents and the number of visitors, reaching the peak of and 15 o’clock P.M respectively, the Ministry of moment and about their wish to collaborate with European events in the sector. Culture welcomed the writer Horia Gârbea, the Hungarian authors and editors. Moving to public management in 1998 through the Fondazione translator George Volceanov , and the editor Ioan The launch was attended by the following: His per il Libro, la Musica e la Cultura, it has recorded constant and Cristescu. George Volceanov spoke about his recent Excellency Victor Micula, the Romanian Ambassador growing success, also due to its mixed nature – exhibition/market, translations: 11 Hungarian Contemporary Poets, The in Budapest, Horia Gârbea, the vice-president of the cultural festival, the opportunity for professional meetings, a special Coat of Arms with Two Swans , by László Bogdán, Romanian Cultural Institute , and Gabriela Matei, the area dedicated to children and young adults – and the warm support and about his implication in the promotion and the director of Romanian Cultural Institute in Budapest, of public institutions and foundations such as the Compagnia di San dissemination of the literature of the two countries. and representatives of the Romanian academia and Paolo and the Fondazione CRT, partners like the Chamber of press in Hungary. Commerce of Turin, and private sponsors, publishers and the media The writer Horia Gârbea presented his poetry th volumes and a revised edition of the volume of The Romanian Stand of the 20 edition of the which have always guaranteed impressive coverage. squibs Duck with Oranges , published in the International Book Festival in Budapest was visited The visitors, who have doubled in twenty years with numbers Hungarian language by Tracus Arte Publishing by a numerous public interested in the books written now stable at over 300,000 every year, have assumed a role as the House in 2013. by Romanian authors, as well as by the true protagonists: strong, motivated and selective readers, who have On Saturday, the 20 th of April, starting with 2 representatives of the diplomatic body accredited to enlivened thousands of meetings, debates, seminars and workshops. o’clock P.M, at the Romanian Stand (B3), Ioan Es. Budapest, among whom His Excellency Ilan Mor, the Thanks to the International Book Forum project, the area for the Pop launched the poetry volume Nem mertem kiáltani ambassador of Israel in Budapest, Francois Laquieze, trade in publishing rights supported by the Ice-Istituto per il soha published by AB-ART Publishing House the director of the French Institute in Budapest, Rosa Commercio Estero and Regione Piemonte, the Fair has been able to (Slovakia) in 2012, translated by Attila F. Balázs, with Sanchez, the director of the Cervantes Institute in open up to an international dimension, attracting publishers and lit - whom he engaged in a dialogue. Budapest. The Hungarian officials were represented erary agents from all around the world to Turin. In 2011 the IBF In the beginning of the event, Mr. Ioan Matei, by Mr. László Sándor-Tibor, councilor for the State reached ten years of life and, with over 6,900 meetings in four days, head of the Office of Written Culture, Libraries within Secretariat for Culture within the Human Resources has made it possible for 700 trade professionals from 30 countries the Romanian Ministry of Culture, took the floor; he Ministry in Hungary. from all over the world to get to know each other. The presence of the countries guests of honour has also been much appreciated, from Holland in the 2000 edition to Russia in 2011 and Romania in 2012, enabling greater understanding of often little-known cultures. The Fair has demonstrated that it knows how to intercept and Literature satisfy the widespread needs of a diversified and well-educated pub - lic, creating new ways to meet authors and the themed series of events linked to the different key topic chosen each year. It offers a and Jazz combination of "high-brow" and popular, general and niche sub - jects. Its success is the origin of the blossoming of cultural festivals and events that has been seen throughout Italy, especially in the last After a period of unsettled the Romanian Cultural Institute in Slovakia. The incursion into the decade. Today the Fair also represents a sort of "book new year", a weather in Romania and Hungary, Budapest, hosted the writer Horia generations of the Romanian sort of snapshot in which the critical assessment of the work done it was almost impossible to tell Gârbea, the translator George literature made by Attila F. Balazs in the world of books and publishing makes it possible to discuss whether the International Book Volceanov , and the editor Ioan was followed by Ioan Es. Pop’s developments in the near future in this vast sector. Festival in the Hungarian capital − Cristescu. Next to the latest poetry recital, which was welcomed with the 20 th edition, 18 th -21 st of April volumes, Horia Gârbea brought joy and applauses, like so many − started with the arrival of the the revised and extended edition times before in so many other Wine, Food and Cooking in 2013 spring, or it was the other way of the volume Duck with places; it was a bilingual recital, around, namely whether it was the Oranges , translated in Hungarian, which made it all the more For this 2013 edition the International Book Fair of Turin will be books that brought the spring. from which he read a squib to the accessible to the public who come presenting Casa CookBook, the area dedicated to all the books on Nevertheless, one thing is for sure: public. Other interesting and in large numbers to such events. A wine, food and cooking: a new project, located in the 3rd pavilion of it was a successful edition and the acclaimed works were the special mention for His the Lingotto Fiere, conceived to give visitors a unique and special Complex Millenaris in Budapest anthology 11 Contemporary Excellency Victor Micula, the environment in which flavors and knowledge blend together. was an extremely welcoming, Hungarian Poets and the ambassador of Romania in If we consider that "culture is food for the soul", then there is functional and central place, excellent novel The Coat of Arms Budapest, who attended both the nothing better than a cookbook to feed our body and soul. The which is very important in the case with Two Swans by Bogdán events at the Stand and a meeting protagonist of Casa CookBook is, in fact, the world of food and wine, of book fairs. László , both translated by the with the writers at the Romanian of culinary pleasure and sharing. An ideal and essential place for all The series of Romanian events dedicated George Volceanov. As Cultural Institute. The traditional th those who love food, wine and cooking, as well as a unique occasion started in the evening of the 17 he intuited the potential in this public was joined by the for trying out different contents. A wide space dedicated to publishing of April at the headquarters of the area, the editor Ioan Cristescu representatives of the diplomatic houses for presenting their catalogues and the best new cookbooks Romanian Cultural Institute in stated that he wished to complete body accredited to Budapest, and published this year. Budapest, where we attended the the series of publications at the representatives of the Casa CookBook offers also a rich cultural agenda of meetings, first edition of the program Tracus Arte Publishing House Romanian academia and press in conferences, laboratories and travel stories for discussions on food, TransArte, a jazz and poetry show with translations from the Budapest. wine and culture, and exploration of international culinary traditions. featuring the band “3 Circles” and Hungarian literature. On Sunday, the last day of the Casa CookBook pays careful attention to childhood, a special the poet Ioan Es. Pop. A The day before the last was festival, the books published by moment in life during which creativity makes kids much more combination of feelings and color another important day at the Romanian publishing houses curious and interested in everyday aspects, in addition to the food born out of jazz, soul, bossa nova , Romanian Stand. Saturday, the quietly went back to their place in experience. Casa CookBook will dedicate a space to kids. Every and samba matched perfectly with 20 th of April, was again Ioan Es. boxes and headed for Bucharest, the profound and expressive Pop’s day, as he launched his for a short rest. In a few days, they morning, laboratories will be organized for kids to explore their poetry written by Pop. poetry volume in the Hungarian will show up in front of a different manual skills in the kitchen, to set free their imagination and learn Then, on the second day of the language Nem mertem kialtani public, this time at the Book Fair how to play. festival, the Romanian Stand, soha , translated by Attila F. in Prague, where they will account organized by the Ministry of Balazs, a volume published by for the state of Romanian 7 Culture in full partnership with AB-ART Publishing House in Literature again. (Ioan Matei) Romanian Book Review 08-09 engleza:Layout 1 5/14/13 12:16 PM Page 8

ION CUCU RUXANDRA GAROFEANAU, rts Photographer 40 Years in 400 Pages DAN H{ULIC{, for Ten Presidents PAUL GHERASIM Casa de Pariuri Literare Subtitled A Memorable Heritage: 600 Works , the present The Artist and Power. Publishing House, album completes the exhibition “The Artist and Power. Bucharest, 2012 Hypostases of Romanian Painting between 1950 and 1990”, Hypostases of which took place between the 27 th of September and the Romanian Painting 2nd of December 2012 at the Romanian National Library. between 1950 and 1990 The exhibition was extremely successful . Album published by the The paintings reproduced in the album are accompanied Cultural Center Art Society, The Treasures of a by succinct information about the plastic artists, sometimes Bucharest, 2013 about their careers, punctuated with comments of their fellow-artists or art critics. At the end of the 400 pages of the Seasoned Photographer album, these pieces of information become a genuine history ourselves as individuals, small creators of the event, but also of Romanian painting between 1950 and 1990. future beneficiaries, happy for what we were made to The book is both an evocation book and a photo “From image to reality, everything has been frightening witness .” ( Dan Hăulică ). album, with pictures taken throughout several decades since the beginning. We had to face decades in which There is also a documentary dedicated to the exhibition by the artist Ion Cucu, whose protagonists are Romanian abundant artistic production could be mistaken for value! “The Artist and Power”. The documentary movie was writers of today and of yesteryear . The selection was much more rigorous than people, our created by Ion Cristodulo and it is 52-minute long. The present volume is the third in a trilogy in which fellow-critics and historians believe. After we decided on Ion Cucu takes the prose writer and editor Cristian what works to select, around 650, because we had to deal Texts – Ruxandra Garofeanu, Dan Hăulică, Florica Cosma a long interview (One Cristian). The interview is with four decades of activity, we started the hanging of Cruceru, Adela Mara, Iulian Pleştiu, Horaţiu Lipot. followed by a section entitled Out of One Hundred works (…) I know there were counter-reactions. Photograph y – Ioana Iepureanu, Ioana Biţin, Veronica Portraits , in which Ion Cucu makes short presentations Everything is based on for or against arguments.” Dănilă, Valeriu Grama. Graphic concept – Graphic studio : of some important writers he has known, accompanied (Ruxandra Garofeanu ). Anna Ciepiela, Ciprian Isac, Alexandra Cor, Florin Pupeză, by the portraits of the respective personalities: Ov.S. “If the exhibition was successful, and I believe that it Tudor Mureşanu. Album made with the help of the Crohmălniceanu, Dan C. Mihăilescu, Ileana and was not only legitimate, but also profoundly necessary, we Monuments and Heritage Tourism Administration and of the Romulus Vulpescu, Eugen Barbu, Ştefan Agopian, succeeded at the level of the expectations that go beyond City Hall of the Municipality of Bucharest. Mircea Sântimbreanu, Irina Mavrodin, Dorin Tudoran, Zoe Dumitrescu-Buşulenga, Nicolae Breban and Şerban Cioculescu . A distinct chapter, which gives the title of the book, puts forth texts and photos of the ten presidents of the Romanian Writers’ Union that Ion Cucu has Journeys in the Heart of Bucharest known: Mihai Beniuc, Demostene Botez, Zaharia Stancu, Virgil Teodorescu, George Macovescu, Dumitru Poştei and Franceză Street, and reach Saint Anton Square Radu Popescu, Mircea Dinescu, Laurenţiu Ulici, Eugen EUGEN ISTODOR and the Princely Court. The traveler can end with the minced Uricaru and Nicolae Manolescu. meat rolls at the restaurant Crama Domnească (Şelari ). Lipscani. A Travel Vlad Ţepeş Route : Blănari – Şelari Passage – Lipscani In 1975, CUCU initiated a column entitled “A – Şelari – Gabroveni – Şepcari – Saint Anton Square – The &Party Guide Princely Palace – Unirii Square – The Parliament Palace History of Contemporary Romanian Literature Seen ART Publishing House, by Ion Cucu”, published in Luceafărul magazine. He The Neoclassic Route (it includes buildings with illustrated numerous dictionaries of Romanian Bucharest, 2012 architecture of Greek and Roman inspiration, whose sober writers and the most important literary histories of facades display unexpected details ): Church Saint Dumitru, the last decades. He organized numerous exhibitions Lipscani is a street in the capital of Romania. The name Church Zlătari, Constantinescu House, Dacia Palace, The of portraits of writers. of this street has been lent to an entire area, between the Uni- University of Bucharest. versity Square and Unirii Square, between the area which The Eclectic Route (it includes academic architecture, hosts the university and the bank, a monumental area, and with free use of Western styles ): Angelovici Houses, the one which hosts the trade, a fragile, volatile part of the Voiculescu Houses, Vlasto Houses. city. Lipscani was the place where, starting with the 16 th The Noble Floor Route (places where one can see the Bridges century, merchants of all nations with merchandises from show of the street ): Şelari 22, Franceză 68, Lipscani 21, Lipsca (Leipzig of today) came to settle down around the Lipscani 63-65, Băcani 6/Blănari, Covaci 4, Smârdan 20. Princely Court. This old area was larger than the one deli- The Romantic Route : Şuţu Palace ( considered a between mitated today. construction of romantic inspiration ) and the red wine glass The author identifies several possible routes to explore at Bruno, on Covaci Street. Lipscani: The Neo-Romanian Route 1900 : Marmorosch Blank Romania The Route of the “Mic-Mititel” (minced meat rolls) − Bank, Kalinderu House, Frunzărescu House . Lipscani Street, from the Statue of the She-Wolf to Victoria The Banking-Monumental Route : Starting from the and Italy Store. One can notice the trade-like and the bank-like spirit National Bank of Romania, Doamnei – Carada – Lipscani – of the buildings. Then, from Calea Victoriei one can arrive at Stavropoleos Streets. Stavropoleos Street. Caru’ cu Bere sells good minced meat The Guide includes a French and an English version of VIOLETA rolls . One can pass by Stavropoleos Church, walk down the text. P{TRUNJEL POPESCU (coordinator) Romanian Cultural Landmarks in the Peninsula Man and City CERASELLA Rediviva Edizioni, Milano, 2012 CR{CIUN This book proposes a new approach through creativity The volume-album deals with cultural Romanian- and a re-articulation of Man’s relationships with the City, Urban Metabolism. Italian cultural interaction over time, with Romanian Sciences, Art, the Sacred, and Spiritual Knowledge by a An Unconventional metabolic assessment of human settlements seen as complex cultural and artistic events in Italy, with subjects pertaining Approach of the Urban to community and society (Romanians at the Second spaces and volumetric entities of temporal, informational, Generation: Where are We at Home? Romania of Those and perceptual protection, intelligent epidermes in a Body Living Abroad ), and makes an In memoriam stop evoking continuous process of metamorphosis and interchange. An Ion Mincu University the personalities of Marco Cugno (1939-2012), Camilian adept of the “Creative by Nature” motto, the author presents Publishing House, Demetrescu (1924-2012) and Rosa del Conte (1907-2011). the innovative idea of a unitary concept of the Human Space with the Natural, Anthropic and Cultural Environment, with Bucharest , 2013 A chapter entitled The Books: White Stones on the Way Architecture and the City seen as living organisms in Home brings together important names in the Romanian connection with this Planet and with the Universe in a trans- Landscape, and Architecture through connected fields, so far and the Italian culture: Nicolae Steinhardt, Ioana disciplinary meaning. Pârvulescu, Dan C. Mihăilescu, Raffaele Taddeo. The seen as difficult to bring together: mathematical theories Wrapped in several enveloping strata, Man is in an inner/ (complexity, morphogenetic field, the constructal theory, guest of the interview pages is the young Italian theatre outer, micro-/macrocosm succession: his own biological director Vlad Scolari, who staged productions with texts cybernetic processes, and formative configurations), physics wrap/Skin/Vestment/Clothes/Costume, Abode/House, (orthophysics, Tao-physics, quantum), music and sonology, written by the Romanian writers Panait Istrati and Marin City/Human settlements, the Planet, the Universe, and the Sorescu. There is also a section dedicated to Prose and one geobiology and metabiology, geomantics, geometry and sa- Cosmos. All these wrapping strata, as well as his biological cred geography (lithopuncture), computer science, and so on. dedicated to Poetry. The entire volume is created around skin, must carry out the same main functions: protection, the idea of the bridges between the Romanian and the isolation, breathing, absorption, evaporation, and, most of all, Architect, Ph.D. in Urbanism, director of the Urban Italian culture. “Latinity was the main factor underlying regulation and communication with the outer environment. Planning and Landscape Department, coordinator of the the development and the consolidation of the history of This inner-outer exchange at urban level depends on a section in charge of Landscape Management and Romanian and Italian relations,” reads the opening text of “communicating skin” that has to maintain a healthy inner Planning and Landscape and Territory Master at the the first chapter, which approaches subjects such as: Italy climate, a “metabolic epidermis,” a “living wrap of the city.” Urbanism Faculty, professor at the Ion Mincu University − The Place of the Common Origin; Italian Testimonies The interactions are not achieved at the immediate of Architecture and Urbanism, Bucharest. A member of about the Romanians’ Origins; The Role of the Italian communicating strata only, but also in an energetic and the RUR, OAR, and UAR, a founding member of the Humanists in the Formation of the Romanians’ Latin vibration-based process of relating , spreading vertically to CC- Corpus Callosum group for trans-disciplinarity. Conscience; Italian Literature in the Romanian Countries; the upper strata (the Planet, the Universe, the Cosmos) and Interested in: trans-disciplinarity — Art/Science/ Great Romanian-Italian Friendships. horizontally to other Connected Fields, in a trans- Spirituality, Urban Metabolism, Cultural landscape and disciplinary, epistemological meaning. Landscape Patrimony, Durable Urbanism and the This work proposes to diagnose and treat the city as well Territorial Planning of Landscape, Sacred Geography 8 as its inhabitants through unconventional treatments for and Geometry, Unconventional Art in Landscape, and Romanian Book Review urban diseases, opening up new research paths in Urbanism, the Scenography of the Public Space. 08-09 engleza:Layout 1 5/14/13 12:17 PM Page 9

LUCIAN BOIA Ideas The Myth of Democracy The Wisdom of a Great Monk Humanitas Publishing House, Bucharest, 2013

Father Iustin Pârvu, “the last About the aggressiveness of great confessor of the Romanians” history: “Force is never justifiable, as he is called by Orthodox it only acts. Aggressiveness has a Is Democracy a Myth? Romanians, was born on February logic different from the mind, from 10, 1919 in Poiana Teiului, Neamţ wisdom.” County. He joined a monastery at About faith: “Man must As far as Lucian Boia is concerned, actual democracy — which involves the sovereignty of the people, liberty, and equality the age of 17 and he continued his believe in order to understand! contemporaneously and without any restriction — does not exist and theological studies. After the With faith, one sees far, farther establishment of the communist will never exist. In other words: democracy is a myth. It is a utopian than with reason. Come to think of project which played a key role in the developments of the past two regime in Romania, he shared the it, faith is the power to love.” lot of many servants of the church, centuries, getting materialized in a manner that was fatally About the fatherland: “The being arrested for his religious incomplete, being more or less successful in a variety of political beliefs. He spent almost 17 years decadence began when the constructions: the American model and the French model, Western in communist prisons. He was Fatherland was humiliated by its democracy and communist democracy, and so on. Symbols must not released in 1964, but his freedom leaders, when the Church was be taken for reality. Words sometimes hide the real meaning of things. was subjected to surveillance until ADRIAN ALUI GHEORGHE struck at its very roots, when the This is what happened to words such as absolutism , democracy , the the 1989 Revolution. Family was despised. After taking Left , the Right , communism , and the Far Right . Lucian Boia invites the inner rules away from a people, the reader to an unprejudiced decrypting of concepts, whose contents After his release, he lived at the The Signs of Our Time. monasteries of Bistriţa and Secu in after offending it out of its pattern, often prove to be different from appearances. Neamţ County, and, in 1991, Seven Encounters With Father one can easily manipulate it, Lucian Boia : “Those disappointed with democracy would be following a vision, he withdrew to Iustin Pârvu detour it.” totally wrong to start looking for other utopias, assuming them to be the mountains at Petru Vodă, close Conta Publishing House, more efficient and hoping that they would finally establish perfect to his native place, where he Piatra Neam\, 2012 ADRIAN ALUI justice and general happiness. Consumed moderately, utopia is an founded a monastery. GHEORGHE is a poet, prose absolutely necessary stimulant; without a certain dose of utopian His life experience, his expe- writer, and essayist. He wrote thinking, the world would still be just matter, a playing ground for rience as a confessor, and his status over 25 books of poetry, prose, primal instincts. But an abuse of utopia is dangerous: the communist as a survivor of the “physical and emphasis on questions and and journalism, he received the experiment must be seen as a warning in this respect. The most moral extermination” camps under answers about several Award of the Romanian perfidious trap of history is unfortunately invisible, separating what is doable from what is not doable (or, worse, from monstrous communism are found in several contemporary issues, seen through Writers’ Union and several the life experience, understanding materializations). It is legitimate to request a lot of democracy. But let books of dialogues by writer awards of the Writers’ Union Adrian Alui Gheorghe, beginning of history , and confusion of the us not request too much of it.” contemporary Christian, who is Iaşi chapter. He has a Ph.D. in in 2005. Of them, we mention : philology and he is an associate LUCIAN BOIA Father Iustin and the Morals of a astounded by the almost is a professor at the Bucharest University professor at the Gheorghe Dima Triumphant Life ; Father Iustin uncontrolled dynamism of a Faculty of History. His work includes numerous books published Pârvu About Death, Sacrifice and society in the process of falling Academy of Music in Cluj in Romania and France, as well as translations into English, Love ; Father Iustin Pârvu: A apart. Napoca, the Piatra Neamţ German, and other languages. Mostly preoccupied with the Romanian and Christian Mission ; Here are some of Father branch. Director of the Neamţ history of ideas and of the imaginary, he has distinguished himself Spiritual Gifts . The book we Pârvu’s memorable “verdicts” in Culture Directorate and director both due to his theoretical works on history ( The Game of the present here places essential this book: of Conta , a quarterly of culture. Past. History Between Truth and Fiction ) and due to works on the imaginary ( A History of the Imaginary ), as well as owing to his consistent research into a wide variety of mythologies. Equally, he has provided new interpretations on Western and French history. In 1997, his work History and Myth in the Romanian Mind was a sensation and since then it has remained a landmark in redefining The Concept of “Nation” in the Early 21st Century our national history.

At the time when the research persistence is also based on the fact included in this book written by that they meet vital needs of Eight Views on Dan Dungaciu was conducted, individuals, in order to replace Euro-optimism seemed to been the them, social forms capable of prevailing mood. The direction of replacing them efficiently and at Globalization this world seemed predictable, the the same depth level must emerge. “laws of history” functioned For the time being at least, the perfectly, in full discipline. European project is unable to ANTOINE HEEMERYCK, CRISTI However, behind the scenes, the embody this requirement. Hence, a PANTELIMON (coordinators) European identity clung to staying variety of crises, which we are “national” — approximately at 80 witnessing today. La Globalisation en perspective. percent. Élites et normes (Globalization in Where are we today? The DAN DUNGACIU is a profe- Perspective. Elites and Norms ) sociological realities, of the ssor at the Bucharest University Niculescu Publishing House, Bucharest, 2013 substratum, are the same and they (Sociology Chair), director of the have sprung out onstage, being Institute of Political Sciences and favored by the economic-financial DAN DUNGACIU International Relations (ISPRI) Even today, more than two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall crisis. But the substance of the of the Romanian Academy, and and the end of the Cold War, there is some reticence in using the word public discourse is the one that has Elements for a Theory of chairman of the Black Sea Uni- globalization . The authors gathered in this book strive to find a remedy changed: now that discourse is Nation and Nationalism versity Foundation (under the for this unfortunate situation. These are some of the issues brought forth: the relationship between politicization and objectification , the incomparably more sober, more aegis of the Romanian Acade- Publishing House of the Institute of uniqueness and plurality of norms in globalization, morality, religion, prudent, and more disappointed. Political Sciences and International my). He has studied at and and materialism (contradictions of globalization), the dynamics of The book written by Prof. Dan Relations of the Romanian worked for various Western global activism, communism as the matrix of political Dungaciu is not a collection of Academy, Bucharest, 2013 institutions: Fernand Braudel de/legitimization, education and globalization, the postmodern state skeptical attitudes on the future of Institute (US), Max Weber Cen- and the hazards of globalization, the development of capitalism and the the European Union, but, rather, an tre for Advanced Cultural and construction of social reality. Overall, the book is made up of eight attempt to explain this concerning Social Study (Germany), Anglia essays written by contemporary French and Romanian anthropologists, change of landscape. Briefly, the the unifying European project, Polytechnic University (Cam- philosophers, sociologists, and economists. Many of the articles are the book seeks to provide a seen , until very recently , as at least bridge, Great Britain), Institut result of a colloquium organized by the Romanian Academy. sociological answer to our current a final and desirable end of the fuer din Wissenschaften vom “Despite the structural resistance of the elites, the moral of globa- economic, social, and identity- European citizen’s destiny, if not as Menschen (Austria), Department lization with its myths — the market as a form of justice and a means of existential impasses. a blatant law of history. of Political Science and Public rational organization, the correlation between money, intelligence, The book reviews the major Nations are not immortal . Not Administration (Greece), Max competence, and merit — continue to be eroded under the weight of theories and academic approaches being divine creations or natural Planck Institute for Social history... Globalization is a configuration of capitalism, which may be in this matter . It starts by starting points of human history, Anthropology (Germany), and so characterized as a regime of crises,” says Antoine Heemeryck in the anticipating elements which, in the nobody can guarantee their eternal on. He is the laureate of several first article of the book, called “ La Globalisation en perspective .” author’s view, may outline a existence. As they had a “begin- national and international Radu Baltasiu, Emilian M. Dobrescu, Mathieu Caulier, sufficiently elastic vision of nation ning,” they will also probably have specialized awards. He has an “end” as well. We must empha- Bernard Hours, Mihai Milca, Cristi Pantelimon, and Monique and nationalism issues, one able to published over 15 books and Selim are the other seven authors. Each article provides solid also explain the daily impasses of size that, since their existence and dozens of specialized studies. bibliographical references.

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STAN STOICA

Romanian Historiography Between Ideological The Ultimate Expression of Evolution Sciences Imperatives and Professional Rigor In the early 1980s, a downright The Intelligence of Matter is a Meronia Publishing House, subversive book, speaking of unique book in the Romanian scientific Bucharest, 2012 spirituality right under the dictatorship, literature owing to the amount of was published in Romania. Now , thirty information provided in an integrating years after it was first published, this synthesis which does honor to revised and expanded edition is Romanian culture. equally revolutionary owing to the “We are here, in this corner of the Twelve Years of Turning exceptional information it offers to Universe, the ultimate expression of researchers and fans of borderline evolution. The hand of an intelligent, This book researches the 1953-1965 period, pointing sciences. unseen architect took us out of the dust out that, although the Soviet army withdrew from Preoccupied with explaining the and built us according to a plan in Romania in 1958, the USSR continued to put pressure biological phenomenon seen in which one can see the uniqueness of DUMITRU CONSTANTIN-DULCAN on our country. For over a decade, the subjugation of connection with the Universe, as the source, step by step, up to the level Romania seemed irreversible. However, step by step, essence and multitude of forms, of the brain that is able to think itself. especially after Stalin’s death, there was a reorientation Dumitru Constantin Dulcan undertakes Everything that has happened has The Intelligence of Matter of our country toward the national issue, which also clinical and lab studies mostly on the happened for us. We are the result of Eikon Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 2013 suited the communist party in this country, a party which informational-energetic dimension of all the fortunate and sad events that (third edition, revised and expanded) had come to power in the spring of 1945 with Soviet the world. A subtle observer of nature preceded us and the cause of those that support and interference. Like the entire existence of this in several monographs, numerous will follow us. We are the ones country, historiography was also subjected to Moscow’s scientific works, articles and speeches, handing down the splendors of the through his bad deeds. When this truth interference. he describes new valences of the spirit and the ruins of our pettiness, permeates us, only then, in the Among many other things, this book deals with the biological phenomenon having because man is the only being on Earth Sternstunden of our development, the detachment of the country from Stalin’s cult, with the cognitive, psychological, and social destined to get involved in the light of intelligence , which has found first signs of its distancing from Moscow, with the de- consequences. In his work The functioning of nature through the itself after a lengthy wandering on the Stalinization wave that shook Eastern Europe. It empha- Intelligence of Matter the author builds extension of his intelligence. This is paths of the Universe , will be turned sizes the new wave of repression (1958-1959), then the an ample and coherent discourse going his responsibility in his existence. Man on in us.” ( Dumitru Constantin liberation from the “liberators,” it evokes the arrested, through any and all information cannot just live, he cannot just have a Dulcan ) humiliated, and purged intellectuals, and dedicates a sources , from science to religion and passive existence. Willingly or not, he whole chapter to the “National Course of Romanian from lab experiments to his own gets involved in the physics of the The author of this book is a Historiography” (1959-1965), going from its detachment clinical experience in neurology and Universe. Through thoughts, through neurologist and psychiatrist, having from the USSR to its resuming the dialogue with Western psychiatry. action, through his good deeds, a Ph.D. in medical sciences. historiography. A “Case Study,” a chapter called “Conclu- sions ,” and an “Appendices” section complete this book.

A graduate and Ph.D. of the Bucharest University Faculty of History, STAN STOICA has published so far: Dictionary of Political Parties in Romania (1989- Espionage From A to Z 2004) ; Romania 1989-2005. A Chronological Study ; and Romania After 1989. Encyclopedia of History . He is also coordinator and co-author of other ALEXANDRU The book goes back in time to the first secret agents in significant books on historical themes. Ancient Egypt, up to the first espionage treatise included in POPESCU The Art of War by Sun Tzu (cca. 544 B.C. - 496 B.C.), it covers espionage in the Bible, Hannibal’s spies, King Five Millennia Decebal’s “false flags,” Julius Caesar’s “secret war,” and the A Moldovan Tragedy of Secret War “recipes” of Empress Theodora of Byzantium. The Middle Cetatea de Scaun Ages and the Renaissance bring forth the activity of “spy- This is an extraordinary investigative book where Publishing House, scholars,” modern times (1700-1900) bring “agencies and readers will meet Ion Costaş , founding father of the Târgovi§te , 2012 agents,” World War One imposes the “secret front,” and police and army in the Republic of Moldova, who uses World War Two launches “atomic spies.” Also dealt with is his storytelling talent to recuperate the unfaked history of the Cold War, famous for the fight between the KGB and the his country’s birth and development. The book abounds This impressive encyclopedia of espionage, the first in CIA, while the contemporary period raises the question “Is in details, most of them completely new, about what the Romanian specialized literature, covers espionage from the Cold War over?” Famous people and operations of all happened in Bessarabia after the breakup of the Soviet the early Antiquity to this day. It includes over 600 entries times appear in front of the reader’s eyes like in a spy thriller, Union and about the reasons why the communist empire referring to various data categories (historical periods, except in this book they are 100 percent real. events, institutions, personalities, wars, methods, categories collapsed. The author — overlying the subsequent Dr. ALEXANDRU POPESCU , meanings of the events, collateral information, and of actions, and so on). The information details are grouped in a historian, incendiary revelations based on documents over his own seven sections: “A Universal History of Espionage”; ethnologist, and diplomat, has written 21 books direct experience — attacks and draws a portrait of the “Agencies/Information/Counter-Information Services”; published in Romania and abroad. These are some of politico-administrative elite in the Republic of Moldova, “Spies”; “Spy Hunters”; “Espionage All Over the World”; them: Secret Vienna ; The Academy of Secrets. he dissects the complicated mechanisms that led to it “Espionage in History”; and “Espionage in Arts.” Intellectuals and Espionage ; Avowed Agents. Diplomats gaining its independence from the Soviet Union, and he “Major states in various areas of the world carried out the and Espionage ; Beautiful Female Agents. Women and describes the weird war in Transnistria and the events first activities of secret war alongside hot war operations.” Espionage ; and Universal Dictionary of Spies . that led to the establishment of the self-proclaimed Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. Ion Costaş : “To love one’s country, one must know its history. For a country to have its own history, that history must be written. Working on this historical study, Economic and Financial Diplomacy I followed my patriotic beliefs and my desire to transmit the truth to the new generation of citizens in the Repu- blic of Moldova.” This book presents Romania’s organization of the European Ion Costaş comes from a Romanian family in joining the International Monetary Fund communist states to establish an Bessarabia. His qualities made him remarkable among (IMF) and the International Bank for equivalent of the European Economic his generation colleagues and the political superiors of Reconstruction and Development Community — and to the IMF and the the Red Army had no choice but to recognize his value, (IBRD) on December 15, 1972. This is IBRD, the financial institutions promoting him up to the rank of general. The one of the most spectacular issues of established in 1944 at Bretton Woods in establishment of the Republic of Moldova made him go Romania’s partial opening to the West the United States. back to his own people in the 1960s and 1970s. The reason why “After Romania joined the IMF and and help with the rebirth our country was oriented toward the the IBRD — upon the almost and consolidation of the IMF and IBRD in 1972 was a lack of unanimous vote of the two institutions’ Romanian spirit across necessary funds for the industrialization member countries — for a decade (until ION ALEXANDRESCU the Prut River . of Romania and for the major 1982) Romania benefited from 33 investments in this country. Out of the credits from the IBRD worth $2,184.3 Romania Between East and West. first funds granted by the IMF, nothing, million. To this was added $60 million General Joining the IMF and the IBRD not one dollar, was appropriated for to repair the factories damaged in the (1972) , (Volume 1) ION COSTA± consumption, as the money was 1977 earthquake. For the first time in earmarked for Romania’s development specialized literature, this book proves Cetatea de Scaun Publishing House, Transnistria, 1989-1992. and its economic support. Until 1982, and explains the process of socialist Târgovi§te , 2012 Chronicle of an Romania was the only country in the Romania’s joining the two international “Undeclared” War Eastern bloc that belonged financial-banking institutions.” RAO Publishing House, contemporaneously to the Council for (Academician Dinu C. Giurescu ) Christian University in Bucharest Bucharest, 2012 Mutual Economic Assistance and a diligent historian of the (Comecon) — created on an initiative ION ALEXANDRESCU is a Romanian economy in the 20 th of the USSR in 1949 as an economic professor at the Dimitrie Cantemir century 10 Romanian Book Review 10-11 engleza:Layout 1 5/14/13 12:19 PM Page 11

Dialogue by ANDRA ROTARU Ioan Cristescu IWnteervRieew fer to NICHITA ST{NESCU as the Poet With a Capital P

Ioan Cristescu is the director of the National Philately Museum, a PhD professor at the Hyperion University in Bucharest, specialized in the history of world theater, and a museographer. Founder of the Tracus Arte Publishing House. Coordinator of several wide-scope cultural projects: Theater at the Museum — producing shows on texts by Matei Vişniec, directed by Mircea Marin; Ioan Flora , directed by Alexandru Dabija; The Road to Momfa in collaboration with the National Theater in Cluj, directed by Mihai Măniuţiu; The Eye-Glass Merchant , directed by Dan Tudor; coordinator of the Evenings of Poetry and Music at the National Museum of Romanian Literature — public readings of contemporary poets accompanied by music —, 60 editions; director of the yearly Jazzy Spring jazz festival in Bucharest — three editions — with Mircea Tiberian; organizer of the project called Ten Years Since Pope John Paul II’s Visit to Romania — an exhibition opened in 15 Romanian cities; organizer of the project called Romanian Comedy — short stories and sketches; has organized national and international exhibitions: Paul Celan — Romanian Dimension ; Marin Sorescu; The Transylvanian School — The Romanian Enlightenment ; and so on; co-producer of the Poetry and Jazz marathons in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. He made his editorial debut with the book The Dramaturgy of Radu Stanca , Publishing House of the Romanian Literature Museum, 2011 (Award of the Association of Bucharest Writers for debut). In the making: The Resurrection of Oratory and Anti-Theater .

LITERARY POSTERITY poem in the presence of the face of the man who has created it. We sought to propose representative poems, diverse in point of poetic expression, precisely to mark the genius of this unique The national Nichita-80 poetry writer. exhibition includes manuscripts and photos held by the National Museum of The photo and poetry exhibition is Romanian Literature, plus photos from part of a synchronized action by the the personal archive of Dora Stănescu, entire network of Romanian cultural the poet’s widow. The celebration of institutes. What reactions did you get? Nichita Stănescu’s 80 th birthday was I believe this is the first synchronized action all over the organized both in Romania and abroad. entire network of cultural institutes and I’m happy that I was However, the National Museum of the one to initiate it; I’m also happy that the management of the Romanian Literature in Bucharest was Romanian Cultural Institute supported it. Both myself and the first to host this exhibition. How Mircia Dumitrescu got praising phones calls and emails from was this celebration envisaged? various countries. I’ve also heard from the headquarters of the We have few writers who have benefited from a literary Romanian Cultural Institute that this action was successful. For posterity wrapped up not only in cultural care, but also in myself, I saw the exhibition at the RCI in Budapest two weeks sympathy and even love. Nichita Stănescu is such a writer, who after the inauguration, and the reactions were positive. has brought to us not just literary beauty, but also human beauty and generosity, highly appreciated by readers. NICHITA WAS A LEGEND What were the main targets you had EVEN WHILE STILL ALIVE in mind as coordinator of this project? I mostly had in mind his work, which we wished to bring close to the public. Then placing his name alongside that of his The National Museum of Romanian good friend Mircia Dumitrescu, the artist who created the Literature is the editor of the first six- graphics for this exhibition. Not least, we wanted it to be a volume edition of Nichita Stănescu’s national and international exhibition, to celebrate the birth of work. one of the greatest Romanian poets, who was also a great Alexandru Condeescu’s edition, with the last volume European poet before Romania joined the European Union. lacking, is an example of preserving and valorizing a writer’s work. If we consider the love and friendship put in its The Nichita-80 exhibition has execution, we see this is a fundamental edition, a landmark of traveled to several cultural centers in Romanian literature. We have few such editions. this country: Ploieşti, Piteşti, Bistriţa, Braşov, and Iaşi. What are the What was Nichita Stănescu’s impact challenges of this exhibition to people on his generation? What is his legacy as who have had no contact with Nichita perceived by people today? Stănescu’s poetry before? Does it I don’t wish to discuss Nichita’s legacy or influence on his encourage people to read, can it be generation or on the literature after him. Literary historians and regarded as a campaign for reading? critics have dealt with this issue, more or less soundly. I believe Any poetry, not just Nichita’s, is a pro-reading campaign. the true legacy is addressed to readers of all ages, who are not Especially Nichita’s. The purpose of this exhibition is not to interested in literary effects, but, rather, in a spiritual experience challenge, but to indicate the normality of reading a superb and love of poetry. What do you think Romanian literature would’ve looked like without Nichita Stănescu? I don’t know and I never thought about this. I don’t think this is a question to haunt us. I wonder what Romanian literature will look like having Nichita Stănescu as one of its incontestable leaders, because now it looks good. The present value is also given by Nichita’s existence.

There are already some translations of Nichita Stănescu’s work, and others are being prepared. Nichita was translated especially in his lifetime. His work has not been included in any coherent promotion program through translations. Still, that could come .

What is the route from being a very good writer to becoming a legend? Nichita became a legend even in his lifetime. His existence was mostly identified with his own vocation. When we refer to Nichita we refer to the Poet with a capital P. This is the legend — an ascension from daily life to eternal symbol.

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Homage-Book Dedicated to George Banu The Babel Library CATHERINE The Road Toward Light A homage-book , Les Voyages ou NAUGRETTE (coordinator) l’ailleurs du théâtre/Călătoriile sau Les Voyages ou l’ailleurs The subject matter is the same, it is generic all orizontul teatrului (Travels or the du théâtre (Travels or the over the 36 tales of this “pseudo treatise in urbo- Horizon of Theater ), dedicated to gony ”: it is the city, with its genesis and evolu- famous Romanian essayist and Horizon of Theater ), Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris III , 2012 tion, and the very destiny of urban civilization, of theatrology specialist George Banu a society of individuals who, building their cities, and coordinated by Catherine Nau- are subjected to their shaping influence. Many will be launched at the International grette, was published by Sorbonne texts start out from actual historical models, Theater Festival in Sibiu (June 2013), Nouvelle III University through the transfiguring them, simplifying, dissociating, and editor Ioana Malau. Institute for Theatrical Studies mingling destinies, embedding contemporary Research in collaboration with the GEORGE BANU, a Frenchman conceptions on a prehistoric trunk, or planting Alternatives théâtrales magazine. anachronous ideas on avant-garde structures. It brings together testimonies and of Romanian origin, is an emeritus professor specialized in theatre Often, the city is but an edifice dilated to gigantic essays by George Banu’s friends, sizes — a ziggurat, a labyrinth, a temple, a GHEORGHE S{S{RMAN artists and academics. These are some studies at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. Editor-in-chief of the Alter- skyscraper, a castle, or even a spaceship. In other of the authors: Peter Brook, Ariane places we find utopian-like models or future- Squaring the Circle Mnouchkine, and Eugenio Barba. natives théâtrales magazine and honorary chairman of the Interna- oriented projects, such as an air-conditioned city Aqueduct Press, Seattle, USA, 2013 Andrei Şerban is present with a covered by a colossal cupola, a polar city, a city touching essay on George Banu’s tional Theater Critics’ Association. An uncontested authority, George under the sea , a subterranean city, a space city, a travels, while Radu Penciulescu tells single planetary city, and a cosmic city. Finally, craftsmanship is visible in the fact that he has about their encounter on the Champs Banu has received the award for best theater book in France five there are also purely imaginary compositions, managed to write such a book without previously Elysées in early January 1974, at the from Surrealist ones to those translating abstract, giving up his right to free imagination. Therefore, beginning of their common exile. times. Books published in Romania: quasi-mathematical visions. he offers us an opportunity to dream about World-famous theoreticians are The spatial structure brands itself into the societies that are different from the ones which present with new essays about the Red and Gold , The Actor on the Path of No Return , The Theater of Memo- organization of society and into the individual make us unhappy (or perhaps happy, who importance of Travel for theatrical personalities, even into their physiology and knows?), endowing them with a persuasion ability practice, or bring personal ry , Oblivion , The Cherry Orchard, Our Theater: A Spectator’s Diary , anatomy. In this isomorphic space , any and all and a representation force which only the great testimonies about great theatrical social hierarchy disappears, with individuals creators of modern metaphysical landscapes have events experienced all over the world: The Last Quarter Century in Theater, A Subjective Panorama , The Trilogy becoming perfectly identical: the inhabitants of reached in their writings: Kafka, Borges, Calvino, Ferdinando Taviani, Franco Ruffini, the underwater environment end up looking like and, why not, Săsărman himself.” Nicola Savarese, Jean-Pierre Sarrazac, of Growing Farther Apart. Rest, Night, Oblivion , Peter Brooke. dolphins, while under the cupola of the perfectly Octavian Saiu, and Leszek air-conditioned city evolution is turned upside GHEORGHE S{S{RMAN (b. 1941, Kolankiewicz. The book is illustrated Toward the Theater of Simple Forms , The Stage Under Surveillance. From down, bringing man back to the stage of an an- Bucharest) is a Romanian architect, play- with previously unknown drawings thropoid ape. The contrast between plans and wright, journalist, and writer who has lived in made and offered by great scenogra- Shakespeare to Genet , The Art of Theater , Theatrical Reforms in the results, between appearance and essence genera- Germany since 1983. He was educated at the phers such as Yannis Kokkos, Richard tes a special drama, often made even more power- Ion Mincu Architecture Institute in Bucharest; Peduzzi, Dragoş Buhagiar, Vittorio Century of Renewal , Art Theater, A Modern Tradition , Shakespeare. All ful by sarcasm. Although made up of short inde- after graduating, he got a job working for the Holtier, Helmut Stürmer, Radu pendent stories, the book creates a whole, a uni- Scânteia daily at the architecture and urba- Boruzescu, Carmencita Brojboiu, and the World’s a Stage , Rehearsals and the Renewed Theater. The Director’s tary entirety. Come to think of it, city and archi- nism rubric, and, as of 1974, he was in charge José Manuel Castanheira. tecture are mere pretexts: the real subject is the of the Contemporanul magazine science page. The Romanian version of this Century , Man’s Back , Beyond the Role , and The Indomitable Actor . long, sinuous road mankind travels toward light. Ph.D. in the theory of architecture. He debuted book With its first edition amputated by censorship in 1962 and he made his editorial debut in — which saw a satire of the “multi-laterally 1969. His speculative and science-fiction developed socialism” in many of these allegories writings alternated with realistic and fantastic — and only published in its entirety after the ones. He published several books of prose and Simion the Liftite collapse of the communist dictatorship, the book fiction, two translated in Germany, and France has been published in France and Spain, and and Spain, respectively; he published tales and recently in the United States as well, masterfully short stories in literary magazines, anthologies, reviewed in France translated by famous writer Ursula K. Le Guin . A and collective volumes in Romania, Germany, new edition, with an ample foreword by literary France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Hungary, and In its issue of April 18, 2013, the historian Mariano Martín Rodríguez , the trans- Japan. One play produced at Gasteig, Munich prestigious Catholic weekly Pèlerin , lator of the Spanish version, is in the process of and at the C.I. Nottara Theater in Bucharest. published an article on the novel Simion being published by Nemira Publishing House: a In 2005-2010, he was director and editor of the the Liftite by Petru Cimpoeşu under the foreword we quote the finale of: “So Săsărman Apozitia magazine in Munich (new series). rubric Coup de coeur de la semaine. manages to avoid the danger of a pure mannerist Selective bibliography: The Mesonic The review mostly places emphasis on display of his extraordinary writing abilities, Catastrophe , The Oracle , Squaring the Circle , the ecumenical aspect of the tale about offering, at the same time, an encyclopedic Chimera , 2000 , The Hemlock Cup , South Versus the shoemaker-turned-ascetic in an panorama of our world, both in its physical and North , Apparitions , The Wondrous Adventures internationally successful book by this spiritual dimensions, starting out from a of Anton Retegan and of His File (prose), speculative analysis of the urban phenomenon, The Lighthouse , Deus ex Machina (drama), Romanian author. whose complexity favors reflection and mature Between Parallel Mirrors (journalism), responsibility ...Among other things, the author’s and so on.

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12 Romanian Book Review