Blizzard In Bucharest
a fragment from The Blind, Chapter Two of Corpuri de iluminat/ Dark Bodies Through Sfântul Ştefan, beyond the old Height and over the tramline in Bărăţiei, a phanariot and decayed Bucharest drained under the snow; a balcony fallen onto its side reminds you that once,
Once ...
The Cries of BucharestCities have their own special humming. Church bells, tram noises, horses, sergeants' whistles, car horns (banned in Bucharest), dogs barking, army trumpets, and so on, and so on – all combined, heard from a distance, forming a characteristic
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
Political Diary 1939-1941
Paris, February 7th, 1939The phone wakes me up: it's George, who calls me from Algiers. He keeps waiting for his plane to be repaired. The thought that he left on an old jade – as he says – worries me. I remember my mother-in-law's words and I agree with her:
Sergiu Anghel
I made my debut in 1974. I had graduated from high school the year before and in the summer of '73 Adina Cezar, Nataşa Trăistaru, Anca Mândrescu, Cristian Crăciun and I decided to establish a contemporary dance troupe. As far as I am concerned, the decision to put
Marinel Ştefănescu - Interview, 2000
Marinel Ştefănescu graduated from the Choreographic School in Bucharest. He is awarded the 1st prize at the International Contest in Varna and the Special prize of the International Contest in Moscow. He becomes first dancer of the Opera House in Bucharest, being invited
The Psychology Of The Romanian People
Chapter IX. The Romanians' Religion and CultureIt has been said and very often repeated that the Christian church and religion saved our nation and country from destruction. This is a statement too often made and too little controlled. With as much grounds one may state
Emil Gayk
* Gayk is the only civilian wearing a pauldron for supporting rifles on his right shoulder. His Adam's apple is sucked in and his morale is always very high. He cannot be hostile to anyone for too long, but judging from his slanting looks, from the direction sometimes
The Defiance Of Rhetoric. German Diary (1984)
excerptsWhen you arrive in Frankfurt, coming from Eastern Europe, you find too little of what you knew about Germany from the readings of its great writers. Another world, other values, another history. A civilisation of concrete and of computers. It is only when you arrive
Journey Into The Unknown
For centuries now, every once in three years, The Feast of Immortality – Kumbh Mela, takes place alternatively in four Indian centers : Allahabad and Hardwar (Uttar Pradesh state), Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh) and Nasik (Maharashtra). Descending from Vedic mythology, the feast
Love In The Waste Lot
Safta was a victim of her past of love affairs and amorous generosity, but also of the human decay from the madhouse times and from all times. The former chanteuse had decided, the night when she ordered the enamoured shopkeeper to break the fiddles of the fiddlers, to give
Idle Hours
In the olden times, in the Year of Our Lord 1937, as soon as the vernal wind had started wafting, I would cross the Danube with a handful of companions, to hail the passage of woodcocks in some of the parts of the Dobrudja. We reposed in propitious places, groves and copses,