Tradition

Echoes: Excerpts From The Farewell Concert

In an obituary published in the Tages Anzeiger of Zurich, Mario Gerteis draws a suggestive portrait of Celibidache in his youth. A nervous fiery ball, halfway between histrionics and insight, between passion and obsession. His dark locks hanging over his face in disorder,

The Romanian School Of Conductors

It is no secret to anyone that in Romania every person who has a good voice and musical talent has sung at least once, in his or her youth, in a choir. People say about Banat, the western region on the boundary with Hungary and Yugoslavia that it is the land of choirs, because

Traditional And Modern

Showing the electors' arrival in Frankfurt due to the crowning of Joseph II as King of Rome, Goethe mentions the fact that among the most obedient and distinguished personalities some had ridden to Frankfurt according to the old traditional custom, while others had

Peter's Denial

Explanation Je lis comme je voudrais qu'on me lise: c'est à dire très lentement. André Gide A book written clearly. Clarity, being one of the three conditions required for a work according to France, the author claims it as a merit, although he is absolutely

B. Fondane's Exile Or Journey To The Centre

excerptsFondane's departure was the result of a personal choice, decision made in absolute freedom, without any pressure from the outside. And, because he was Jewish, we must add that his departure was not triggered by an anti-Semitic gesture against him or by any anti-Semitic

B. Fundoianu

(14. 11. 1898 – 2. 10. 1944)He was among the first promoters of pure poetry. In fact traditionalism represents a form of modernism. Traditionalists are most of them former symbolists and therefore Baudelairians, keeping their habit of embracing the universe. Poetry, says

Mircea Cărtărescu About The Modernity Of Romanian Literature

* It's not easy being a Romanian writer. There is a double misunderstanding regarding the perception of Romanian culture abroad. Before referring to it, I must say that the idea of national writer is itself a misunderstanding. If in sport a sort of benign vanity makes

Mateiu I. Caragiale

Mateiu Caragiale left us a literary heritage, fragmentary in its outlook that puzzled and amazed through its originality, through an appetite for mystery it seemed to originate in, through the secret inspiration that fed it and through its old-fashioned lyricism which was

Europe Has The Shape Of My Brain

*More than a century ago Europe was not yet known as a cultural construction, an intellectual day-dream, a heap of broken images, a copy in a world without originals. Artists tried to escape the big fortress ensconced in coal smog and torn by wars, social conflicts, and

The Funnel And Stamate

IA well-ventilated apartment consisting of three rooms, glass-enclosed terrace and a door-bell. Out front, a sumptuous living-room, its back wall taken up by a solid oak book-case perennially wrapped in soaking bed-sheets… A legless table right in the middle, based on

Chance Tripper

Travelers may be (actually, have been) classified along various criteria. For instance, there are those who, like Emil Racovita or Dumitru Hincu, to cite only a scientist and a philologist, before going on a trip, document themselves extensively, and their joy of digging

In Four Corners Of The World. A Bunch Of University Professors In South Africa

We are four university professors, invited here in the year 2000 (we have started to use this number with a certain panache) for conferences and for negotiations concerning a possible world congress of the International Society for Comparative Literature – one from Germany,