Una

Anchors Away!

Radu TUDORAN's (penname of Nicolae Bogza) Anchors Away!, a very successful novel, later made into a film (aka Full Sail, 1976, directed by Mircea Mureşan - click to see trailer here), competing in nautical erudition, plot and length with Jules Verne's The Children

Captain Ion's Arrow

excerpt While they were rushing on horseback towards Curtea de Arges, the boy was thinking about Voiena. He could not work out if he still felt something for her. He remembered only the taste of her kisses and the hot softness of the girl's cheek, pressed to his, while

What I Did In The Summer Holidays

excerpt  Then on another day I didnt get up to much apart from loafing around the house aimlessly and especially up in the apricot tree where dad didnt know I could climb and get away with it because what does he know? He comes home in the evening and if he plays with

The Erstwhile Snows

Winters in Ramnicu Valcea were quite mild in those times, though there was plenty of snow (I guess this is the cliché of those whose childhood memories are blurred by their excessive subjectivity); anyway, they unfolded following a certain ritual: at the beginning of December

Toys And Games As Seen By Children And Parents

excerpts In 1888, popular health magazines would dedicate generous coverage to children's games, at the top of their education column. The main endeavor of parents must reside in the education of their infants from their very first day of life onwards, for health,

Across The Border

THE CLASS TEACH' You don't fool me, Ghiţulescu! You've got Kents, bless your wallet! Throw one over, 'cause I'm poor, my mother's unemployed and keeps me only on shots of glucose, she has no food to give me. Come ooooooon, please! Ghiţulescu

The High School Kids

The movie made after the novel (aka The Graduates, 1987, directed by Nicolae Corjos, b. 1935 - click here to see fragment) – a simple, old story (a young man, Mihai, comes to the big city – Bucharest – to learn in high school, where his passion for math and philosophy

I Once Was A Child: School

Between September 15 and June 15, every child's life was hijacked by school. School was the children's only officially-sanctioned pursuit. Their only obligation. None of us got any thrill out of getting up early, eyes heavy with sleep, and trudging all the way

Education Around 1800, Between Accomplishment And Expenditure

In 1803, Maria Barbatescu entrusts her son to the care of ceaush (bailiff) Mihalache Barbatescu and that of stolnic (High Steward) Ghitza Palada. The will, written in the spring of that year, stipulates that the two should supervise the accomplishment of the child and the

Teachings To Do Well And Thus Garner God's Mercy And Forbearance

from the Teachings of Prince Neagoe Basarab to His Son Teodosie At some point, time will thwart and jostle us unto the realm of things eternal and unalterable glory; for death betides this our life all the glory of which will turn to mockery and disgrace, since many of

Investigation Among Minors

excerpts THREE KM. FROM A. , A BEND IN THE ROAD… N. R. 6 (National Road 6) goes exactly through the centre of the small town of A. Three kilometers from the railway gate, after going over the railway tracks which unite this part of the country with Bucharest (distance:

Topsi's To Blame

Why haven't you done your homework by this time? Topsi's to blame! Doina's mother is cross. Such a big girl (nine years old!) and she has to check up on her every step of the way. Look, it's eight o'clock in the evening and she still hasn't