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Preliminary Notes (1923)

excerpts On July 27th, we had an excursion by automobile to the petrol fields down in the valley leading from Bucharest to Sinaia. Mr. Lecca was with us. Just before lunch, he introduced me to another man who was visiting the petrol fields, and who was the Romanian Minister

Turks, Germans, Americans... And Other Nationalities

An event that happened several years ago and has turned, in time, into an urban legend, goes like this: the employees of a German-owned media trust had become lazy and unruly, would come to work when, and if, they felt like it, and would actually work only between two coffee

The Almsmonger's Lover

excerpt They'd dozed off. The devilish furnace of the sun was blazing fiercely. They were positively stewing as through the shadow cast by their soles two Gypsy women walked by, bent under the burden of a galvanized bucket with a chunk of ice protruding from it. Ice-cold

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

Hutsuls And Their Embroideries

Hutsuls or Huculs, a group of Ukrainian highlanders, live in the Carpathian mountains, to the South-East of the Boykos, a region bordering on the territory of the Romanians. They differentiate themselves from the surrounding Slavic peoples by physiognomy, and by their traditional

Ukrainians

The Ukrainians from Maramures and Bucovina – the GuzulsThe Ukrainian settlements in northern Moldavia and Maramures, situated in areas neighboring the Ukrainian ethno-linguistic massif and its prolongation, are the oldest in the country. Archeological and linguistic testimonies

My Grandfather Mehmed Ali

My grandfather Mehmed Ali was an old-fashioned Turk. He wore a long beard and the traditional Turkish costume. Each morning he would sit down next to the charcoal, the earthenware pot filled with live coals, sip his coffee and puff his long-stemmed chibouk. He would often

The History Of The Dobrujan Turks

The history of Dobrudja, this ancient stretch of land between the Danube and the Black Sea, the territory thereof rightfully has been noted as an authentic ethnic blend, has along the centuries imposed a genuine model of co-habitation. Dobrudja was the trunk carrying the

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

I Kiss Your Ass, Beloved Leader Mine

excerpt Arvinte and Sodapop Marcel were marvellous indeed. When they broke and entered, the crowd would draw back in sheer rapture. The two would arrive at the scene, position their ladder or ropes, as the case may be, apply the skeleton-key or the bulldozer, and before

Dilitufan

* Once upon a time there was an emperor, half snake, half man. This emperor had a daughter. She was locked in a room, so as not even the sun could touch her, until she was twenty-two. At that time, a Gypsy came to the pond to catch fish. He caught two fish, the kings of

The Dynamic Equivalence Of Gypsy Fashion

Gianina lu' Manşonică of Sinteşti interviewed by Tita Chiper Our host's courtyard could be best described as transition in progress, accurately preserving each of its successive stages: it begins with two run-down foreign cars, and ends with an ashen tent proudly