Stea

Who Needs No Theater

I get up one morning and, you know me, I take Gazetta dello Sport, to see how goes Il calcio after the Bosman sentence, which represents such a situation that you can't even begin to understand what will happen to this much cherished game. And lo and behold, what do

100 Years At The Gates Of The Orient

excerpts Episode no. 33At the Vizier[1] Meanwhile, not long after the crescent had entered a Christian cloud, much to the heathens' grief, three men's shadows on three horses' shadows were more like crawling than riding towards the vizier's palace.

Revolution In Vintileasa

Almost no one in Vintileasa saw on TV the scene when the revolutionaries broke into the famous Studio 4 in the afternoon of 22 December 1989. The villagers were busy doing other, more important things. Some were killing their Christmas pigs. Others were stealing wood. Most

The Soccer Match

The match, said the propaganda secretary, ought to represent the clear expression of the class solidarity of the Vintileasa agricultural workers with all the peoples of the world. And the match between the teams of Impetus-Vintileasa and New Road-Ţifeşti, decisive for

Glossary

Constructive dialogue: two high-ranking dignitaries (over 6 ft. tall) chat about this and that, while they arrange little, cute, colored cubes, make them look like buildings, each according to his own judgment. This tiresome work, which involves not only gray matter, but

Where Is Ascona?

The three of them are filling in soccer betting slips and drinking cold beer. About the beer they seem to agree. Over the match results there is much argument. Cut my head off if these don't lose, the one in an otter fur hat says. The one in the very large rimmed hat

In An Empty Room

Grandfather has turned 90. This event has immediately brought to our attention the need of finding someone to look after him. He is all by himself in his flat. His sons and grandsons have no time to pay him but short visits. He is so bored. He quite rarely leaves his flat.

Hypnosis

On one of the central avenues I ran across a very good friend of mine, one of the most gifted poets of our generation. Shall we have coffee together? Of course! So we entered a restaurant. It goes without saying that what with one thing and another, coffee was followed by

Blind Man's Buff

It's two o'clock in the afternoon. In Mr. Nae Huiduma's inexpensive eating house (various hot and cold meals for prices that defy any competition) there are no more customers. The last one, Mr. Codica, from the Clerk's Office of the court, has left as

The Apprentices Of Saint Anthony

excerptIAfter Shrovetide Reverend Ghelasie, mighty tired after the evening of Shrovetide that expended to till the matins service, spent in the company of his friend and neighbor Ghervasie, opened an eye only when the early March sun, also fatigued, cast a reddish-yellow

The Gods' Humor From Vishnu To ... Caragiale

God Himself had a great sense of humor when He allowed us to be born into this world… The gods' smile is a kind of gentle answer to human ignorance, but also the preparation of the human mind for understanding the mystery. Why are mysteries also revealed through

Local Civilization

'Make your stores - they're cutting it off,' calls the bobby, pushing the entrance door ajar. And every member of the household hurries to grab a pail, a mug or any of the tinier pots and pans, dashing forward to the tap (the house is endowed with a tap -