Quote
In Bucharest, people are pleased to hear [the comparison with] 'Little Paris'. The city has definitely distanced itself from its Oriental tinge, but despite the trendy attire, the temperament and outlook have remained unchanged. Men are articulate and think fast;
Romania Between Transaction And Contract
In D. Draghicescu's terms, this transactional spirit (Cough up more, sir! – Knock some off, mister!, as a folk saying goes) is the legacy of the Orient, a stamp of the Levant on our past, present and, presumably, future. In this key, the transaction points to a polymorphous
Quote
Romanians… The peasantry is perfectly sound, perfectly conservative, like all ancient races… The idea that this people and country belong in the Latin culture is pure swindle. The Romance language alone does not mean a thing. It is the spirit that matters, and it is
The Nature And Texture Of Peoples
I must admit I didn't quite understand in the beginning why, shortly after 1989, the Western mass-media has so hastily labeled us as suffering from a deep identity crisis. I was downright indignant: after having sadistically experimented Communism on us for half
Portrait Of Romania
excerpt It's lunch time. Instinctively, I make for Calea Victoriei, where this hour is set for the fashionable to meet between the Royal Palace and [Elisabeta] Boulevard, as on rue Vivienne during the Restoration. The beautiful shops that border the narrow sidewalks
A Useful List For Those Who Want To Know The New Village Better
excerpts I did a great deal of field work in my life. I was on the road a lot, I slept in official rooms, good rooms (for guests), camping grounds, cheap hotels, and especially villages. I visited very different worlds, though some were neighboring. What was preserved in
Quote
Hurried tourists who, after visiting superficially a few Romanian towns, go back home and talk about a certain native indolence of the Romanian people, do more than an injustice – they put a real affront on the peasantry that, from the beginning to the end of the year,
Quote
Ancientness is also confirmed by our energetic fatalism (which is not at all an Oriental aspect). Newer peoples are more stirred by desires, the achievement of which will barely endure, whereas Romanians cultivate a sound skepticism toward any pointless undertaking. New
Quote
Many are the peoples that crossed the land over which Romania extends today. They left their mark in ancient Dacia, Moesia and Thrace, in the Greek colonies, Roman provinces, and Byzantine themes. The indigenous populations blended with the newcomers and produced a Romance
Quote
When we are angry with the country and ourselves, our own people appears to us like a horde of cowards, thieves and idlers; when things go slightly better, we are instantly tempted to raise the temperature of our assessment by two or three degrees. Some believe that there
Music - A Mirror Of Specific Romanian Psychology
It has been justly stated by foreign researchers that the melancholy of the Romanian folk doina, transposed by the brilliant George Enescu into learned creation, in the characteristic and unmistakable lyricism of the people at the curvature of the Carpathians and the mouth
Mioritic Fatalism
I don't know how it happened, but I have been hearing lately, in various contexts, the well-known adage of our Mioritic fatalism. The meaning was approximately the same every time: nothing is done and nothing can be done because the Romanian is a fatalist, resigned,