Surprise

The August issue of the cultural magazine Arges arrived with yet another beautiful surprise. Special thanks go to Mrs. Simona Fusaru. 

Oana Ninica – Shaorma with ice-cream

Fall down 7, get up 8! (a line from a movie)

Every one of us fights their own battles. From outside, everything seems easy and we sometimes give ourselves hard times for not being able to deliver some things, make true some plans, just as easy as it seems for others, anyway. We have expectations, realistic or not, and they worn us down or their reflection wear us down when we look at ourselves in the mirror and ask about what we did wrong.

‘Shaworma with ice-cream’, Oana Ninica’s book, starts from there – faced with the reflection, after the fall. In hindsight, if you have courage to look, you can analyse what went wrong and you can choose if you are going to struggle some more or if you will give up. Fear is the embedded character, in all pages of the book. It does not do anything, but it is there, you feel it, you know it, you recognise it from the things that happened to you. Sometimes, you laugh at it and at the ridicule of letting yourself get carried away by it; and other times, fear seams a Colossus that laughs at you and your try to measure your strength with it.

 

‘Fear kills. The opposite of fear is not courage, as most would say. The opposite of fear is only the TRUTH.’

 

And at the end, something sublime.

Vlad lives on!

If it were up to me, Vlad’s books would be studied at school and mentioned in the Romanian language and literature handbooks, and also always be present in the bookstores in the section ‘Bookseller's recommendation’. 

But until then, my dear master still keeps on springing in his impish manner. I randomly ordered some books from an old books store, and the surprise of finding his and his wife’s names filled me with a tender joy. Vlad lives on!

Armenian Reflections

Ever since I found out that the Master Manole’s legend can also be found in the Albanian culture, I kept wondering if I am really that open towards other cultures. Sure, an important condition is to also have contact with other cultures, not only to keep your mind open.

Here’s where literature does its magic. One can travel and visit the entire planet and, fortunately, there are enough books to support such a craving. And besides other lives to live through reading, one can get some knowledge from more or less enchanting fragments of various cultures and traditions that one can read about in books.

My folks raised us up on reflections and sayings. Rare were the situations when mom and dad did not have a saying to relate it to. So once I saw this book, I gladly embraced it. These below are the reflections that I loved the most, maybe they inspire and soothe you as well.

“….

Just like a commanding officer with many troops cannot be seen as courageous, so a person with many opinions cannot be seen as intelligent.

 

For the evil person, a bad person is better than one thousand reasonable persons.

 

The heart is not like a tablecloth, to open it in front of anyone.

 

To write well means – in the same time – to think well, to feel well and to express well.

 

Just like rain or flood cannot extinguish the fire that burns inside the ground, so must one not let the failures, which are inevitable at the start of a new and especially noble creation, get the best of one and make one loose hope. If a good creation were to happen without failures and difficulties, then it would definitely loose its significance.

 

.... “

Fire

 

Inspirations for the Corporation

At the end of 2010, I discovered an extraordinary sketch with Toma Caragiu. Back then, I could not imagine gathering that much experience with grovellers that could result in me writing a book. But anyway, at that particular moment, I laughed bitterly and felt avenged hearing about the character Garneata, just like probably many readers feel like when they read my book ‘Corporation. Typologies and survival guide’.

All has been already talked about, as they say. And while listening to it again today, I put down some excerpts from Toma’s sketch called A Convinced Alpinist:

Oh, it seems there are risks when you are tree, too... some may come and dig you into a hole.. well, they do that whether you are or not a tree, as well.

Again, participate in meetings were actually nothing is set and we are forced to waste time in vain!

As if the manager does not know he is a groveller. The manager knows, but still he lets him get away with it. Unfortunately, they are still getting away with it!

The manager invited me to exchange opinions about the groveller. After the exchange was made, I was almost changed into an unemployed person position.

He knew exactly what to do and say to make sure he would get the best payment.

As for the writing style, Adam Kay's 'This is Going to Hurt' served as inspiration.

Time Shelter - Gheorghi Gospodinov

From the very beginning, I must mention that I am fascinated by Gheorghi Gospodinov’s writing. His rough and yet gentle style, the artistry of the way he chooses the words (a very important role plays the translator who translated this book, like any translator, for that matter, when it comes to translating literature) in order to move you around rooms filled with stimuli for all the senses are just a couple of reasons why I’ll be passionately reading any book signed by this Bulgarian author.

The past as alleviation and not a vessel for all complaints regarding the present is the theme of the novel. If you were to live in a period from the past, which one would you choose? Started as an experiment to alleviate the pains of Alzheimer patients, the past as solution is welcomed by sane people and nations, and one cannot help as spectator (for Gospodinov has a certain gift to make the reader feel like they are inside the narrative) to ponder upon the dilemma.

Even from the very first novel that I read by him, Gheorghi Gospodinov has equipped me with a certitude – there is a magical connection between nations and time clearly visible through literature. Wherever and whenever they might live, the writers seem to be connected through a muse that speaks the same language and manifests more or less similar preoccupations. This idea was even clearer when I read this book by Oscar Wilde and found similar thoughts about the past, what it means to be a writer, the relation between a writer and their characters and many more.

And to convince you to read the book, see below some excerpts from the ‘Time Refuge’:

“Thus, I was to present myself as a writer, a more innocuous profession but for which no identification card is given. “

“Gaustin, the one that I met in flesh and blood only after having created him.”

“To become satiated with a foreign past, just like with the bananas you craved for all your life. The past is not only what happened to you. Sometimes, it is also what you have imagined.”