Beast

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

Ţăndărică Hand Puppet And Marionette Theater

www. teatrultandarica. ro ŢĂNDĂRICĂ theatre was founded in 1945 and its first department (that of marionettes) was led by actress Lucia Calomeri, helped by scenographers Elena Pătrăşcanu, Alexandru Brătăşanu, Lena Costache and Ileana Popescu. Director Nicolae

From The Musical Folklore Of Children To The Comic Opera For Children

In 1954, the great Romanian ethnomusicologist Constantin Brăiloiu (1893-1958) held a scientific presentation at Colloque de Wegimont in Belgium that amazed all specialists present in the audience, because it unsettled all theories regarding the musical culture of children

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

Memories Of Childhood Days

In 1964, Creangă's memories were made into a movie (click here to see preview) by Elisabeta Bostan (b. 1931), whose filmography extending back to 1956, includes the Naica series (Naica and the Stork, Naica and the Squirrel, Naica Leaves for Bucharest), another film

The Old Man's Good Girl

Once upon a time there was an old man who had a daughter famous for her diligence. The old man got married for the second time to an old woman who had a girl as well. But the old woman demanded that the old man's daughter see to all the chores of the house while her

The Squeak-Squeak Family

excerpt I asked my neighbour to lend me his tomcat one more time. When he's at his wits' end a man will try anything. Come on then, let's give the tomcat another try. Maybe he'll have learned his lesson by now, especially since the neighbour was determined

The Colored Continent

excerpt AUREL FRECKLE ENTERS ZOOLOGY COUNTRY SUSPECTING NOTHING OF THE UNEXPECTED EVENTS THAT AWAIT FOR HIM THERE.  So, Aurel got out of the car, ready to head for Zoology Country, and Rodica Pencilcase slammed the door of the colored car with all her might, started the

The Enchanted Grove

Almost sixty years after the first edition, Lizuca – Victor Hugo's Cosette escaping into Lewis Carroll's Wonderland – became the heroine of a fantasy film directed by Gheorghe Naghi (The Enchanted Grove, 1980 - click here to see preview). excerpts II: MISS

Tales From The Night Of The Milk Sun

excerpt No, I have not forgotten about Fear-of-Darkness. I have certainly not overlooked her, as little Cantemir does with certain commas and full stops when he writes down his homework. Fear-of-Darkness sat before him, sparse and finicky, you would not have believed it.

Whirligig With Wing

excerpt I May the flame of Saint Vitus strike you, bubblehead! and the slaps shot out in pair like two barrels firing in unison. The one to give them was a very upset Simion Mandruta, and the one to receive them was his rascal of a son, Toader, thin like a rake, fair-haired,