The Defiance Of Rhetoric. German Diary (1984)
excerptsWhen you arrive in Frankfurt, coming from Eastern Europe, you find too little of what you knew about Germany from the readings of its great writers. Another world, other values, another history. A civilisation of concrete and of computers. It is only when you arrive
Suomi, Terra Magica
excerptsThe most dazzling phenomenon of the long Finnish winter night is the polar lights. The fantastical miracles that move profoundly the foreign traveler, they also impress the local people, who watch them in ecstasy like some genuine miracles of nature. The most impressive
The Romanian Was Not Born A Suicide!
political scientist Let us start from the end: thank God Romanians are Orthodox, have not totally renounced the traditional values of the village (where 45% of them are still living, a record in Europe!), do not seem to show an ethnically-grounded morbid penchant for suicide,
Sorrel Leaves Stuffed With Urdă (Ricotta) Cheese
1. 5 kg. urdă (ricotta) cheese, 1 cup rice, 2 bunches scallions, 3 bunches fresh dill, 2 kg. sorrel leaves, 1 fist-sized ball butter, 3-4 tbs. flour, 1 pitcher sour cream, 2 cups borş**, 1 bowl tomato juice, salt, pepper. Pass the cheese through a grinder. Add 1 bunch
The Weed Talk
I have never met Ştefan Bertalan. A founder of the sigma group in Timishoara, the most influential hub of constructivist experimentalism in Romanian art, Bertalan has always seemed to me somehow ill-timed, included in the canon, and confined therein. I came once into contact
Memoirs Of A Witness
I was born and I spent my childhood in the capital of the country that is called Romania, a state that at that time had prided itself for about a decade with the name of Greater Romania, which was a creation of the preceding generation, but also the outcome of a long series
Doja's Horse, Spek's Tractor And The Missing Hook
Spek Jr. , from Satu Nou, had a tractor called Doja. Since nothing in the world is fortuitous, the name of that machine was not fortuitous either. Spek Sr. , a filthy Jew, as he was called by some people from Iosefin, was a fervent advocate of communism and had been hurdled
The Albanian Bucharest: From Merchant Elites To Cultural Elites
excerpts The gradual development of a cultural Moldo-Walachian elite of Albanian origin, that was able to manifest an awareness of the cultural identity of its origins through certain activities in this respect, an elite devoted to the idea of a modern and independent Albania,
La Fin Du Monde, Une Histoire Sans Fin
C'est même la fin d'une civilisation. Le monde blanc se meurt. Le monde industriel de souche européenne – un milliard d'hommes, 40% des terres émergées, le quart de l'humanité, 80 à 85% des ressources et près de 99% de la puissance – est en
The Childhood Certificate
I once experienced a terrible fright. I woke up one day to discover a different world from what I knew it to be, more clear-cut, more plainly divided into complementary colors and opposite moral categories. It all looked like in a naive painting: clear and graphic. The only
The Wheel Of Fortune
excerpts CHAPTER I How had the members of the Cherry Blossom Club gotten to the town of D. ? That was not a difficult one to answer. First, the little town was not very far from its twin, where the members of the Cherry Blossom Club lived. Then, as it often happens, one
Creangă And Gopo
Gopo's Little Man (see Short History - click on Scurta istorie to see movie) I have been studying the Gopo archive belonging to the National Film Archive for some years, and now the first volume goes to print. It contains only a part of the legacy left by the film genius,