Matter

About Drama

Honestly, Corneille bores me. We probably only love him (without believing in him) out of habit. We are forced to. They imposed him on us in school. I cannot stand Schiller. For a long time I thought Marivaux' plays were unserious games. Musset's comedies are thin,

Constantin Brâncuşi: The Temple Of Liberation And The Hieratic Emblem Of The Chimera

The Chimera, a sculpture carved in oak wood between 1915 and 1917-18, currently exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, has so far attracted but limited exegesis. Petru Comarnescu, in a conference held in Craiova in 1957, made reference to the body streamlined as to

Brâncuşi And The Significance Of Matter

In a holographic note drawn up in Romanian in the third person, Brâncuşi speaks about himself as about someone else and makes an important remark in connection with his relationship with materials. Turned down in 1910, he exhibited fully carved stone and marble for the

Nicolae Iorga And Music

It comes as no surprise that a genuinely encyclopedic spirit of Nicolae Iorga's caliber, conversant with history, literature, religion, church, army, commerce, education, trades, guilds, arts, etc. , etc. , should be passionate about music. His existence was markedly

Nicolae Iorga

When at only 19, Nicolae Iorga (1871-1940) defended his university degree examinations one of his examining professors characterized him as a true phenomenon both in point of memory and power of ratiocination. Then Iorga worked hard in Paris and in Germany, obtaining a

The Cultural And Intellectual Life Of Bucharest

As a princely seat Bucharest was once, for the Romanian authorities, a citadel watched over by God just like Byzantium was for the Eastern Christian world. Then, naturally, it was also the place where scholars needed by the Prince's Chancellery made their studies. They

Our Defense Abroad

Let us not be deceived by articles and books issued by courtesy or for which we pay, and this so seldom. We are not loved abroad. Even if people remember the fine welcome we give people – which is so comprehensive according to the customs, and at times even sufficiently

Language As An Element Of The Romanian Soul

Among the elements making up the soulful repository of the Romanian people there is none to include more and to bespeak truer than its very language. In connection with this Romanian idiom – which, with due additions, proved apt to voice any idea, no matter how lofty,

Where Do We Stand?

'Where do we stand with the Bulgarians?' I ask my friend, X…'Neither here, nor there. ''What do you mean?…''What, don't you see?''I don't actually… for, as you said: neither here, nor there means we don't

Tempora

A few years ago, among the most brilliant students of our University was a young man named Coriolan Drăgănescu. He was the possessor of a brisk intelligence, a character of bronze, and the temperament of a hero; besides, nature had endowed him with an oratory talent impossible

Report

About fifteen years ago, during the Brătianu Cabinet, I was editing 'The National Revolt'. It was an essentially combative paper, in strong opposition to the government. Our strength however lay not so much in the leading articles or in the polemic pieces as in

The Romanian Nation

Very few people today will remember a famous newspaper that used to appear at some point in the capital, during the war of independence. I mean here 'The Romanian Nation' that Frédéric Damé and I published together. The life of that paper was as short as it