Stea

The Russian Woman

excerpt The more we drew near the little hamlet, the more I felt in my heart the finger of a tremor stirring up the layers of tranquility. And although I tried to shake off this unwanted mood, my eyes were looking round stealthily, for the hillock we would climb, on which

The City Of Acacias

Chapter 5. The first and last nightsOne evening they were returning from a concert. It was getting late, but they still lingered on the streets, in spite of the cold, damp weather outside. They wouldn't part with each other after the two beautiful hours they had spent

Women

excerpt  Stefan Valeriu left early in the morning and didn't come back until late at night, after dinner. He wandered through several neighboring villages, smoked a lot and talked, very earnestly, about the harvest and the weather with some peasants he met. 'Perhaps

The Procrustean Bed

excerpts  I passed dizzily from one room to another… nowadays, cubist furniture is commonly used and has long ceased to make a big impression, but four years ago there were extremely few lodgings that were furnished like that. Maybe a couple of banks had dared to introduce

The Wedding Book

excerpt  A few violent knocks on the door startled him. Vera hid under the blanket again, and Jim pushed the door ajar. It was the maid, who wanted to know if they were still there, puzzled by the fact that they hadn't come out of the house till noon. They hurried

Return To The Interwar Bucharest

excerpts  So closeSuddenly, the interwar people make the body visible: men are allowed to shave off not only their beards, but also their moustaches – a facial change that overthrows an aesthetic canon with centuries-old resistance – and women, punished and ridiculed

The Vacant Ground Of Slummy Love

Chapter IX. The Blackbird And The Yellow CuckooAfter the adventure between his wife and the railway station doorman, Gore had left home dizzily, reeling on his feet as he walked away, and determined not to come back. Without having the guts to tell him the story, Safta sent

The Uprising

excerpts Titu Herdelea found out about the divorce from Nadina during their trip by train. He wouldn't believe it. It was only ten days later that Grigore's words confirmed it for him. And then he exclaimed in a sad tone of voice:She was, nonetheless, such a nice

Princely Nuptials

Marina, I had a fantastic dream… I'm writing it down for you.  I was getting out of bed, naked, just as I was, and left. Outside the house a beautiful orchard extended in all directions. The shadows of the trees, the moonlight, and I – walking the tender grass

A Death That Proves Nothing

excerpt I will retell now a typical argument between us which might show that the multiple interpretations that I give to her present silence are not just the games of some sick imagination. She moved to the little country town, so it was in the last phase of our relationship,

A Concert Of Bach's Music

excerpts The contact with the air, the world, dazzled him as if he had been a novice passenger on a ship. He knew naught – whether he was sick or well; whether his frame would master the novelty, or if he was at peril with that new diet of his. Therefore, Ada had quickly

Thalassa

excerpt Dies iraeThey had loved each other since the second day, and in the days to come, as no one had loved before. Their love had been angelic and earthly both in one. Their souls had been suffused by heaven and brought almost to extinction by kisses with no end. They