Romanian Royal Cavalry 'The Redcoats' (Rosiori) Regiment - whose Honorary Colonel in Chief was Princess Marie of Edinburgh, spouse of Prince Ferdinand of Hohenzollern- Heir to the Romanian throne.

From the 1840s onwards the children of Romanian nobility were educated in Paris, Rome, Vienna, Budapest or Berlin, bringing back some modern and even revolutionary ideas: manners, dress, culture, emancipation, freedom. It was only with the consolidation of Romanian monarchy first as a Principality, under Alexandru Ioan Cuza  (1859-1866) and from 1866 onwards under Prince Carol of Hohenzollern  that Romania was recognized as an independent Kingdom, following the  1877 War of Independence sealed by  the Treaty of Berlin. As a result of these historic changes the urgent need for skilled professionals increased  and Romanians started to graduate in significant numbers from native Universities in Bucharest and Iasi respectively. The peasantry remained largely illiterate with the exception of  village priests who could read and write  and who doubled as village teachers. By the 1880s, after the War of independence, the children of these Orthodox prelates aspired to a higher education in the cities – the daughters went to private colleges – either convent schools, often run by the Catholic nuns (Baratie cathedral School, Notre Dame de Sion) or private boarding schools (such as Pensionul Pompilian) where they were taught foreign languages, music, painting and embroidery.
From 1890s onwards we find some young ladies who, after graduating from boarding colleges or convent schools, wanted to be  gain a University education  at  the Faculties of Pharmacy, Medicine, Architecture Law or the Music Conservatoire, although for them professional emancipation was slow to come. By contrast, their male counterparts  benefited fully from the Kingdom’s economic growth   to start filling civil service positions previously held by foreigners -  Austrian, German or French graduates. This marked the birth and ascendancy of the native Romanian professional and political classes from 1880 to 1947.

With the occupation of the Soviet armies in 1944 and sudden imposition of a new (communist) order, those professionals who resisted the change and who practiced liberal professions (in Pharmacy, Medicine, Law, Finance or served in  the Army) and did not join the Communist Party,  were at best expropriated, or marginalised, left without any means of survival. This fledgling middle class  was systematically destroyed by being dragged to jail on trumped up charges, forced into hard labour  camps, digging the Danube-Black Sea Canal, harvesting reeds in the Danube Delta, or working as  slave labour  in the Carpathian copper mines.

From 1949 onwards  the Communist Party devised fast-track courses for “reliable” substitutes, selected  from people with no previous college education to “qualify” as engineers, leaders of Industry or hospitals: this system involved a few months of “intensive” education (…). If, as a result of incompetence, or lack of experience, the new ruling class-on-the make, failed in its duty, then the old professional class served as convenient scapegoats: by the mid 1950s, those Romanian professionals who were not yet reduced to pulp were blamed instead for the ensuing failures and charged with ‘economic  sabotage’. Once the educated elite was effectively decapitated, Romania became a prison-state under the iron fist of  dictators Gheorghiu-Dej (1948-1965) – an electrician  and his cobbler successor Nicolae Ceausescu (1965-1989).

Doamna Stefania Livovschi (nee Burada) with her son Valeriu. ( L.A. Hirsch Ploiesti 1908. Fotografia Bulevard)

The  lady seen in this photo is Stefania Burada,   whose ancestors during the 19th century founded schools and parish churches in the vast steppes of the Danube Plains, which became the ‘granary of Europe’. Born in the 1880s, in rural Romania,  Stefania was herself the daughter of  Reverend Constantin Burada, a  parish priest who founded the local rural school where he served as School Master.  She was the youngest of a large brood of children most of  whom died prematurely of diphtheria. From amongst  these  only two children survived, being isolated, away from home, on the country estate of their  maternal grandfather’s  himself a priest in another village of the Danube Plains. Stefania and her younger brother Constantin reached adulthood, both of them receiving higher education: Constantin Burada  read Law in Bucharest to become a judge at the High Court of Appeal (Inalta Curte de Casatie), whilst  Stefania was educated at the Pompilian Boarding College in Calea Rahovei, Bucharest. Here  she proved to be a gifted pupil  in the class of a Transylvanian painter, Sava Hentia (1848 – 1904), who was schooled at the Accademia di Luca in Rome. This famous art school, founded in the 17th century,  produced an array of artists of international repute, such as Simon Vouet, Charles Le Brun, Antonio Canova, to name just a few.

At the Pompilian College Stefania Burada became a close friend of  Ecaterina Livovschi who like herself was the daughter of an Orthodox prelate, a teacher of Religious Education and Rector of St Nicholas cathedral in  Tulcea.  Ecaterina  went on to study Medicine to become an Ophtalmologist. Stefania married Ecaterina’s eldest brother Vicentiu  a graduate in Pharmacy, from the University of Bucharest. In the early 1900s the couple settled in Ploiesti, where Vicentiu bought a short lease on a Pharmacy.

Vicentiu Livovschi as Captain of the Tulcea Regiment of the Royal Romanian Army. After graduating in Pharmacy at the University of Bucharest he married and leased at Ploiesti the "Farmacia Mihai Bravul"

The Livovschi offspring  were all born before WWI (the eldest of whom is seen in the picture above, with his mother). All children became University went to University Applied Chemistry and Pharmacy or modern languages.
At the turn of the century Ploiesti was a booming city with a fast economic growth,  due to the oil Industry. Oil was extracted on an industrial scale since 1856 to make Romania Europe’s second largest oil producer, after Russia. Here were present French, Dutch, Belgian, American and British oil companies drilling for oil and refining it locally to export it  from the Danube ports to Central Europe or respectively  from the  Black Sea port of Constanta to Western Europe. By the early 1900s when the Livovschi moved to Ploiesti the surrounding countryside looked like the American   ‘Wild West’, with a forest of oil derricks and Canadian pumps called ‘nodding donkeys’.

Ploiesti oil wells 1916 (courtesy furcuta blogspot)

Before WWI Stefania’s family gained in Ploiesti a high profile and social status  as her husband got the lease of a main pharmacy in downtown – the “Farmacia Mihai Bravu”.

"Farmacia Mihai Bravul" Ploiesti leased by Vicentiu Livovschi (seen on the balcony with his wife and son) Photo 1908. The man in a three-piece suit standing in front of the Pharmacy entrance below is the father of the composer Paul Constantinescu.

The pharmacy belonged to a Mr Schmettau (probably an Austrian national) and was leased for a period of five years (1906-1911) to the 30-years old  Romanian pharmacist, Vicentiu Livovschi.  Vicentiu represented the first generation of home-grown professional middle classes, educated in Romania. Beyond his professional activity he  played the violin whilst his two sisters, Ecaterina a graduate in Medicine and Emilia a Pharmacist played the cello and the violin respectively. Together the three siblings founded in Ploiesti  the first classic music orchestra – “The Excelsior”. Although Vicentiu and Stefania were newcomers to Ploiesti they already had in the city several uncles, one of whom, Reverend Anghel Burada a paternal uncle was rector of St Basil Orthodox Church (Biserica Sf Vasile) and a maternal uncle Rev. Chiriac Dobreanu was Rector of Sf Ilie Tabaci Orthodox Church. So far as the intermarriages were concerned it is noteworthy  that that the wife of Rev Anghel Burada, known as  ‘Mitza Presbitera’, or ‘Coana Mitza’, was related to the artist painter George Ioachim Pompilian, who  in 1872 was busy painting the iconostasis of St Basil church Ploiesti. Ioachim Pompilian studied Fine Arts at the Accademia di San Lucca in Rome  and was himself the son of yet another Orthodox prelate, Reverend Ioachim Ioachimescu,  One must recall that Stefania Livovschi, nee Burada, was educated at the Pompilian College run by Ioachim’s family, which was related to her uncle the Rev Anghel Burada.  Ioachim Pompilian went on to restore and decorate the internal frescoes of the Metropolitan cathedral in Bucharest.

Judging from the perspective of narrow family angle one could say  on the whole  that the social life in Ploiesti during the 1900s was very tightly knit, being based on strong tribal links. This is understandable, as all family cousins in Ploiesti were part of the new crop of professionals destined to play a crucial part in the economic, social and political life of interwar Romania, a pattern which was replicated throughout the country.  The Livovschi family passage through Ploiesti was curtailed by the First Balkan War when Vicentiu was conscripted to serve as a Captain in the Royal Romanian Army which occupied Bulgaria. As a result of this war Romania gained the territory of Southern Dobrogea which included Balcik a seaside village made fashionable by Queen Marie who built a retreat there: artists soon followed suit to form a small colony known as the “School of Balcic” – of post-Impressionist and fauvist persuasion. On being demobbed and returning to Ploiesti Vicentiu was faced by Mr Schmettau requiring a substantial increase in renewing his lease. As a result, by 1914 we find vicentiu Livovschi a Pharmacist owner of the “Drogheria Centrala” opposite the Townhall of Buzau. (see THE EMERGENCE OF THE ROMANIAN PROFESSIONAL CLASS (2) – BUZAU – 1914 – 1948)

St Basil Orthodox Cathedral church (biserica Sf. Vasile) Ploiesti - marble plaque commemorating Rev. Anghel Burada

Belfry of St Ilie-Tabaci Orthodox parish church Ploiesti, where Rev Chiriac Dobreanu was Rector at the end of the 19th century (Photo courtesy Eyebrowed, flickr)

Rev Chiriac Dobreanu (ca 1850-1910), rector of Sf Ilie Tabaci Orthodox church, Ploiesti and maternal uncle of Stefania Burada. He had eight children all of whom were graduates.

"Margaret Thatcher - the Path to Power" (Harper Collins, London 1995, ISBN 000 255806 8, 656 pages)

Interesting insight on her visit to Ceausescu in the mid 1970s: “Margaret Thatcher – the Path to Power” (Harper Collins, London 1995, ISBN 000 255806 8, 656 pages)

pp. 354:

“Ceausescu was playing a ruthless game in which ethnic tensions (with Hungary), East-West competition (between NATO and the Warsaw Pact) and rivalry within the communist world (between Soviet Union and China) were exploited as seemed appropriate at any juncture. (…) Although he became ffective leader in 1865, it was not until 1974 that he united the functions of Party Leader and Head of State and Government. From now on he was freer to indulge his political fantasies. For what we Westerners did not sufficiently grasp was that Ceausescu was a thrawback both to Stalinism whose methods he employed and indeed to a more traditional Balkan despotism for which the promotion of his family and flouting of wealth and power were essential trappings. Ceausescu himself never struck me as anything out of ordinary, just cold, rather dull, spewing forth streams of statistics and possessing that stilted formal courtesy that communists adopted as a substitute for genuine civilization.

Ceausescu and Nixon

We discussed the Soviet threat and he gave me a long account, faithfully mirrored later by guides, diplomats and factory managers of the astonishing successes of Romanian economy. He was particularly proud of the level of investment which, as a share of the national economy certainly dwarfed that of the Western countries. In fact, of course, misdirected investment is a classic feature of the planned economy; it was just that Romania whose people apart from its ruling elite its lived in poverty, misdirected more than other.”

pp. 355:

Elena Ceaausescu – from polymers to polygons:

Elena Ceausescu: she began to indulge in a personal fantasy world which matched her husband's absurdity.

I was also shown around a scientific institute specializing in polymer research. My guide was none other than Elena Ceausescu who had already began to induulge a personal fantasy world which matched her husband’ absurdity, if not in human consequences, she was determined to win a Nobel Prize in chemistry for work on polymers. it subsequently emerged that she could barely have distinguished a polymer from a polygon. But behind the defences of translation and communist long-windedness she put up quite a good show.

NOTE: For more information on the above visit and its bearing on human rights in Romania read:

“Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Romanian Women”.

"Once Upon Another Time" - Memoirs of Ceausescu's Romania

Once upon Another Time
by Jessica Douglas-Home.
Michael Russell Publishers, Norwich, 2000,
Hardback, 231 pages
ISBN  0 85955 259 4

Memoirs of Ceausescu’s Romania of the 1980s
——————–

Jessica Douglas-Home (pronounced Hume) is a British  painter, theatre stage designer and writer who during the 1980s dour period of Communist dictatorship got involved in the fledgling Human Rights movement first in Czechoslovakia and subsequently in Poland, Hungary and Romania. Jessica’s husband was   a defence correspondent for The Times who was jailed in Prague during the Soviet invasion of 1968. He was later to become Editor of The Times and a friend of PM Margaret Thatcher. Unfortunately he died before the fall of the Iron Courtain, but his widow continued her involvement in a cloak-and-dagger series of visits which are described vividly in the pages of this book revealing the sinister face of communism, the malnutrition of ordinary folk and the systematic destruction of the historic monuments and memory of a cowered society.

Having come under the radar of Romania’s Secret services – the infamous Securitate, Jessica is described as:

a very dangerous lady

However and quite surprisingly, this does not seem to have precluded the same Secret services in allowing hand-picked individuals such as Andrei Plesu and Gabriel Liicianu to frequent the same dinner parties given by the British Envoy in Bucharest in honour of the visiting Mrs Douglas-Home – quite extraordinary given the circumastances (see quotes below), but then the whole book is full of such extraordinary episodes.

Quotation from page 169-170;
"the Arbuthnots (British Ambassador to Romania, – LC note) second party took place that evening – a lavish buffet for twenty. As with the first one, people sat in huddles whispering on the stairs and in corners.  A gaunt professor of architecture entered and for a time seemed frozen by the sight of the two tables piled high with unheard of delicacies. A waiter broke the spell by handing him a glass of wine from a silver tray whereupon he fell on the food like a starving man.

(LC note- Romanians had next to nothing to eat under Ceausescu in the 1980s, except chicken claws).

I have a picture of Plesu and Liicianu stretching their legs out from the deep velvet sofa, arms clasped behind their necks, their eyes glinting amusedly at me, relaxed and at peace with themselves.

COMMENTS:
* it speaks volumes for the bad manners of Plesu and Liicianu to

stretch their legs out of the deep sofa,

with their arms behind their necks (sic);

- at best a posture of ill-bred rugger muffins, completely out of place for the occasion, although perhaps quite acceptable at Communist Party rallies.

looking amusedly

and

completely relaxed and content with themselves

as opposed to the rest of the guests who were

whispering on the stairs and in corners…huddled together …

Plesu and Liicianu’s contrasting  body language compared to the rest of the guests again speaks volumes about the two “philosophers” who after 1989 were going to improve their privileged position. But what cries out loud from the above paragraph  is HOW WAS IT AT ALL POSSIBLE for Plesu and Liiceanu to frequent the British Embassy during the harshest period of communist terrorism in Romania AND feel so relaxed, even content with themselves???

The above situation, whereby the Plesu-Liicieanu couple were allowed to visit the British Embassy in Bucharest in the 1980s, is even stranger if one  thinks that their host – HE Hugh Arbuthnot, British Ambassador to Romania was the butt of some very rough treatment in the hands of the Securitate agents in Cluj where the  Ambassador went to visit the dissident Academic Doina Cornea.

Clearly in such context, Messrs Plesu and Liicianu  knew very well at the time  what it was all about and they also knew what they were doing! Any further speculative questions about the real meaning of their visits to the British Embassy during Ceausescu’s dictatorship are therefore superfluous, to say the least!

"Curierul Romanesc", a romanian language Quarterly, Sweden, Oct-Dec 2009

“Curierul Romanesc”, Suedia (nr 4, 2009):

Interviul luat de Silvia Constantinescu autorului Antologiei

‘Blouse Roumaine -the Unsung Voices of Romanian Women’

(Partea II-a):

Doamna SilviaConstantinescu (Suedia). Courtesy: Octavian Ciupitu.

Silvia Constantinescu: Fii, te rog, amabil si prezinta cititorilor CURIERULUI ROMÂNESC problemele avute în munca de cercetare si realizare a antologiei.

Constantin Roman: Sunt obisnuit cu munca de cercetare de când eram în liceu si mai tarziu din profesia mea, ceea ce îmi permite de la început sa am o ideie clara în care sa încadrez o lucrare de genul Antologiei femeilor din România. Nu este usor din mai multe motive: ignoranta si desinteresul publicului larg din strainatate fata de România si tot ce reprezinta ea în afara de stereotipia: Dracula, Ceausescu, orfelinate, coruptie, infractiune. Am fost întrebat fara menajamente de un editor strain:

“Femei din România? Care femei? Nu cunosc decât trei!”

La care i-am raspuns ca

”aecsta este un început promitator”…

Omul avea dreptate! Cautând pe Google doua cuvinte cheie ”Romania + women” am gasit pagini întregi doare de anunturi de servicii sexuale, agentii de escorta si retele de bordeluri. Trist, dar adevarat! Dar gândindu-ma mai mult mi-am dat seama ca nici eu nu eram mai breaz, daca m-ar fi întrebat cineva câte nume de femei celebre as fi putut enumera din Bulgaria, Ungaria sau Polonia? Desigur ca sufar si eu ca toti românii de complexul apartenentei unei “tari mici”, exprimându-se într-o limba de circulatie redusa… Poate din acest motiv simtind povara acestui handicap încercam în mod eroic si naiv sa corectam pe undeva aceasta realitate incomoda! Dar unde si cum sa începem?

S.C.: Care este ideea de baza a antologiei “Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Românian Women”?

C.R.: În primul rând trebuie sa atragi si sa mentii atentia unui public amorf, care în general nu se intereseaza de un asemenea subiect. Este evident ca ”Antologia” vizeaza un public inteligent, care sa aiba în plus o minte iscoditoare, o pasiune pentru un unghi nou, pentru o perspectiva noua, un subiect poate inedit. Ca sa îl interesezi trebuie sa-l atragi pe un teren cu care sa se simta familiar – prin aceasta vreau sa spun, sa ofer o punte de legatura între polul de cultura ai istorie româneasca pe de o parte, ai, la celalalt capat, un punct de interes international. Acesta din urma poate fi un eveniment istoric care leaga România de exterior. În acest scop am facut trimiteri la personaje de statura internationala cunoscute cititorului, un om politic sau un scriitor, critic sau artist de reputatie mondiala. Deci am încercat sa nu privesc la România si la românce în mod izolat, ci în concertul unor natiuni si culturi universale. Bine înteles ca asemenea legaturi trebuie gasite si prezentate convingator, inteligent si chiar anecdotic. Asta este o conditie absolut sine-qua-non pentru ca o carte arida despre un subiect specializat si în mod evident “obscur” pierde în mod automat interesul publicului, dar mult mai important, pierde interesul unui editor sau agent literar care s-ar interesa sa publice o asemenea carte.

S.C.: Ca bibliotecara am remarcat imediat importanta acestei lucrari de referinta, mai ales pentru ca fiind prezentata în limba engleza, are marele avantaj de a putea fi consultata de o paleta forte variata de cititori, de la elevi de scoala, la studenti, cercetatori si alti interesati de informatii despre România. Ea aduce astfel un mare serviciu României prin difuzarea cunostiintelor despre România unui public larg.  Cum a întâmpinat Institutul Cultural Român si alte institutii de cultura din România aceasta lucrare? Ai primit vreun sprijin?

C.R.: Institutului Cultural Român si editurile din România au  aratat un dezinteres total! Sigur pentru a corecta ignoranta despre România nu ajunge o singura carte si nu ne putem astepta la miracole, dar ar fi poate un început, dar pentru a creea un interes mai larg ar trebui sa se ocupe guvernul român si oficialii lui din strainatate. Ori stim prea bine lipsa de competenta si de interes al acestora, daca judecam cel putin dupa nivelul realizarilor – suntem prost reprezentati de persoane care nu înteleg limba si cultura, carora le lipseste ’suprafata’ si modul de comunicare cu publicul tarii unde sunt afectati. De patru zeci de ani de când sunt în Occident nu am vazut nici un articol de fond al vreunui atasat cultural sau diplomat român sau mai târziu al vreunui reprezentant al Institutului Cultural Român în strainatate care sa apara într-un ziar sau revista prestigioasa de circulatie cu maximum de impact, nici macar când România era sistematic denigrata de presa straina. Cu ce îsi justifica existenta acesti lefegii? Evident perceptia competentei sau a patriotismului lor care se face cu surle si trâmbite este complect strâmba, iar banii si timpul se irosesc de pomana. Ca un corolar al celor de mai sus desigur ca ideea lansarii unei antologii de genul acesta ramâne un fenomen izolat si nu un substitut a ceea ce ar trebui sa fie un produs sprijinit oficial de România sau macar de acele edituri românesti care îsi aroga întâietatea în panegericul culturii noastre: ori aici va dau doar doua exemple: mai intai ca editurile din România sunt insensibile la o astfel de oferta – am plimbat timp de un an si jumatate, poate chiar mai mult macheta antologiei “Blouse roumaine”, începând cu târgul de carte Bookarest si apoi la o duzina  de edituri, pe care nu le mai numesc, si toate încercarile s-au soldat cu esec si o pierdere de timp colosala cauzate de persoane care în principiu ar fi trebuit sa promoveze valorile culturii noastre în strainatate – al doilea exemplu – Institutul Cultural Român de la promisiuni fara acoperire la invocarea unei ”Românii sarace” (sic).

Despre practica promisiunilor fara acoperire a domnilor Buzura si Patapievici, în alt context,  nu-l mai pomenesc. Însa mai recent, la Paris, am fost îndemnat de un personaj important  sa solicit sprijinul ICR-ului din Franta.  Gasisem un editor cunoscut care ar fi fost interesat sa publice în traducere manuscrisul din engleza înainte chiar ca acesta sa fi aparut în Anglia si Statele Unite. Deci aveam recomandarea unui istoric francez marcant care sprijinea aceasta initiativa si îmi facuse contactul cu ICR la Paris. Trebuie sa spun ca am umerii largi si nu ma formalizez de un raspuns negativ, care în mod previzibil l-am si primit, dar am ramas consternat de maniera agresiva cu care am fost tratat – bine înteles nu chiar la nivelul mitocaniei care o înfruntam în cotidianul din tara, dar o atitudine care mi-a amintit de limbajul de lemn al proceselor de vrajitoare al anilor stalinisti, citez:

“Dar de ce nu traduceti Dvs cartea, caci vad ca vorbiti frantuzeste foarte bine!”

Desigur o întrebare care nu i-ar fi pus-o domnului Plesu a carui teza de doctorat tocmai o publicau în Franta (o teza de 190 pagini tiparita la editura ‘Somogy’ in Sept. 2007, contra unui cost de 28.500 de euro platit de ICR) si au cumparat-o integral înainte sa ajunga în librarii – episod despre care a vorbit domnul Portocala. Oare traducerea a fost platita de ICR pentru ca dl Plesu nu stia frantuzeste, ori pentru simplul motiv ca banii contribuabililor erau automat canalizati spre o asfel de destinatie?

Si mai departe:

“Vai, domnule, cum sa va platim o asemenea traducere? România este o tara foarte saraca!”

Sigur ca nu i-am raspuns:

de ce suntem saraci? pentru ca se fura ca în codru si ca putinii bani care mai ramân sunt folosti în înteresul cumetriilor!

Dar ceea ce a pus bomboana pe coliva a fost o gaselnita, un argument stalinist folosit de altfel si în celebra ”Istorie a literaturii Române” a lui George Calinescu, publicata de România la UNESCO la sfarsitul anilor ’80:

“Cartea Dvs nu este româneasca (sic!) pentru ca manuscrisul original este scris în engleza!”

Exact cum spunea acel George Calinescu care servea regimul comunist decretând ca:

“Scriitorii români din strainatate care publicau în limbi straine dovedeau o lipsa de patriotism.”

Explicati-mi, va rog, ce anume s-a schimbat în mentalitatea Tranzitiei, chiar dupa ce am intrat cu oistea româneasca în gardul Europei?

Înterlocuoarea mea, pe atunci adjuncta la ICR Paris si acum ocupând primul post dupa demisia colegului sau în urma scandalului cunoscut (din 2007), era o distinsa poetesa care prin definitie ar fi trebuit sa demonstreze o convergenta de idei si sa sprijine propunerea, iar daca nu mai avea fonduri (pt ca le cheltuise pentru filosofia tanarului student Plesu) , sa sugereze alternative.

Atitudinea era cu atât mai neverosimila cu cât venisem cu acea înalta recomandare fata de care ar fi trebuit macar sa ma trateze cu mai multa curtoazie, daca nu era capabila sa tina seama de personajul respectiv. De abea dupa aceeasta conversatie epica am înteles, asa cum se întâmpla cu ”mintea românului cea de pe urma”, ca reactia dumneaei era de fapt previzibila în cea mai buna traditie a educatiei primite – în spiritul literaturii tractoriste - pentru ca mai avea si alti barzi prin familie:

”un caz unic de doua generatii lirice în aceasi familie, fenomen ce nu a mai existat în literatura universala de la Alphonse Daudet încoace, unde tatal si fiul erau poeti!”…

asa ne informa un interviu dat la Bucuresti de înterlocutoarea mea pariziana.

Dar sa lasam la o parte aceste mici neajunsuri si sa revenim la dificultatile de cercetare întrinseca a acestei Antologii. Surse de informatie sarace si încomplecte ceea ce a necesitat confruntarea acelorasi detalii din surse diferite de multe ori fara rezultat. Am cumparat sute de carti în diverse limbi, am facut cautari infinite pe Internet, am telefonat în România si în strainatate, am intervievat persoane în diverse tari direct si la telefon. Sigur ca în cursul acestor cautari am întâlnit niste femei exceptionale în România, dar si în multe alte tari care mi-au pus timpul lor la dispozitie fara nici o reticenta. Am tradus în engleza circa sase sute de citate românesti inclusiv versuri, am compilat discografii, liste de spectacole si de expozitii personale.

(Urmare in Partea a III-a)

"Curierul Romanesc" Oct-Dec 2009, Romanian-Language Quarterly, Sweden

Curierul Romanesc, Suedia (nr 4, 2009):

Interviul luat de Silvia Constantinescu autorului Antologiei ‘Blouse Roumaine -the Unsung Voices of Romanian Women’ (partea I)

CONSTANTIN ROMAN:

“ÎN REALIZAREA LUCRARII MELE ‘ANTOLOGIA FEMEILOR DIN ROMÂNIA’, M-AM IZBIT DE IGNORATA SI DEZINTERESUL PUBLICULUI LARG DIN STRAINATATE FATA DE ROMÂNIA SI TOT CE REPREZINTA EA, ÎN AFARA DE STEREOTIPIA: DRACULA – CEAUSESCU – ORFELINATE – CORUPTIE – INFRACTIUNE.”

—————————————————————————————

Constantin Roman, autorul antologiei “Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Romanian Women”.

Foto: © Constantin Roman.

Doamna SilviaConstantinescu (Suedia). Photo Courtesy: Octavian Ciupitu.

Pe Constantin Roman l-am prezentat cititorilor deja în numarul 2 din 2003 al CURIERULUI ROMÂNESC. Avusesem atunci o discutie lunga despre viata petrecuta în România comunista a anilor ‘50-’60, despre anii de doctorat si activitatea profesionala în Anglia, despre furtul de idei si obstacolele puse de colegii români, atunci când a încercat sa-si prezinte lucrarile stiintifice în România, despre persistenta gândirii staliniste la cei mai multi intelectuali români chiar si dupa caderea regimului stalinisto-ceausist, despre sentimentele pe care le-a nutriti si le nutreste pentru etnia careia ii apartine, despre experienta de exilat-diasporit-expatriat-destarat român, dar si despre recunoasterea meritelor personale prin aprecierea acordata de catre presedintele Emil Constantinescu, al carui Consilier personal pentru Energie si Resurse Naturale a devenit în 1998, care l-a investit cu Ordinul pentru Merit cu gradul de Comandor, si prin conferirea titlul de “Professor Honoris Causa” de catre Universitatea din Bucuresti, acea universitate la care studiase si absolvise în 1966 geofizica.

De data aceasta doresc sa vorbesc cu Constantin Roman despre realizarea lucrarii deosebit de importante, nu numai pentru unicitatea ei în istoria literaturii române, ci si pentru contributia ei la cunoasaterea României în lumea întreaga despre “Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Românian Women”.

În meseria mea de bibliotecara de informatie în Suedia, am întâlnit zilnic elevi, studenti, cercetatori care s-au izbit de lipsa de informatii despre acea Romanie care n-a fost creatia ”partidului comunist si a lui Ceausescu, fiului cel mai iubit al poporului”, ci despre adevarata Românie, care dainuie de secole, înaintea comunismului si a ”eliberarii” tarii de catre armata rosie.

Sunt o femeie cu studii superioare îndelungate, efectuate în doua tari si stiu cât de multa munca cere cercetarea si nu diminuez munca enorma depusa de Constantin Roman pentru realizarea unei astfel de lucrari, dar sunt si bibliotecar de profesie, cu practica îndelungata numai în informatii, la mari biblioteci populare din Suedia si aceasta mi-a dezvoltat capacitatea de apreciere a lucrarilor de referin]a în general si în limbi de mare circulatie în special. Eu stiu din proprie experienta ca în biblioteci nu puteam oferi informatii despre România cititorilor mei, pentru ca ele fie ca erau numai în limba româna, fie ca nu existau de loc.

Lucrarea lui Constantin Roman si-ar fi capatat, desigur, un loc în istoria literaturii române, dar ar fi ramas limitata la aria limbii române, falindu-ne noi între noi cu personalitatile feminine din istoria noastra. Lucrarea lui Constantin Roman si-ar fi câstigat, desigur, un loc în istoria literaturii române, dar pe plan international n-ar fi ajutat sa se împrastie ignoranta cititorilor despre o tara despre care informatiile existente sunt numai despre ”Dracula, Ceausescu, orfelinate, coruptie si infractiune”, informatii primite prin scurtele buletine de stiri din ziare, de la radio sau TV.

Prezentata în limba engleza, a treia limba vorbita pe aceasta planeta, dupa chineza mandarina si spaniola, antologia “Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Românian Women”, da posibilitatea a peste 380 de milioane de vorbitori si cititori ca prim FEMEILE românce, sa fir cunoscua România. Cine poate arata mai bine mentalitatea, sufletul unui popor, daca nu femeile acelui popor, caci ele sunt mamele, logodnicele, sotiile. Si mai vreau sa evidentiez lucrarea lui Constantin Roman “Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Românian Women” pentru ca eu o consider un omagiu adus femeilor românce. Când am primit direct de la Constantin Roman informatia despre aparitia acestei lucrari, m-am oferit s-o prezint imediat cititorilor CURIERULUI ROMÂNESC, considerând ca astfel îmi fac si datoria de bibliotecara, dar si de românca, ajutând astfel la propagarea informatiilor despre România.

I-am pus câteva întrebari lui Constantin Roman despre imensa munca de cercetare necesara în realizarea unei lucrari de referinta de aceasta anvergura, dar si despre problemle financiare pe care le ridica munca în sine de la strângerea de informatii pâna la tiparire.

(Continuare in Partea a II-a)

I

SFIDAREA IDIOCRATIEI

Constantin ROMAN

Prefata Acad. Prof. John F. DEWEY (Oxford si California)

Centre for Romanian Studies, London, 2010

(Recenzie – Partea III)

SFIDAREA IDIOCRATIEI

Pe parcursul cartii urmarim autorul desprinzandu-se dintr-un regim totalitar de opresiune absurda si ajungand pana la varful celei mai inalte si distinse piramide de invatamant din Anglia. Din aceasta coliziune de culturi atat de diferite ies niste scantei de o bogatie si o frumusete spirituala  pasionanta.

Iarasi il gasim mai departe in numeroasele lui vizite din Europa: Franta, Italia, Belgia, Olanda, Luxembourg, Germania si Irlanda, cu ocazia prezentarii unui articol stiintific, al unor cercetari seismologice, sau, alergand dupa o fiinta fermecatoare. Ori si care ar fi fost motivul sau locul acestor peregrinari dintr-odata ne dam seama de niste paralele, pe masura ce muzeele, galeriile si panoramele arhitectonice ale catedralelor si metropolelor isi desvaluie perspectivele, isi deschid ferestrele si comorile, adeseori comparate sau reflectate intr-o oglinda romaneasca plina de nostalgie.

Dar din tot acest cadru, cel mai important apocalips este reprezentat de un fapt inevitabil de care incepe sa isi dea seama si anume neputinta de a se intoarce in Romania si in consecinta imperativul de a se stabili in Anglia. Ori, mai intai, aceasta cerere ii este refuzata, intru cat in calitatea sa de student Constantin Roman a primit doar o viza de sedere temporara in Anglia cu ingradiri specifice acestei categorii. De aici porneste o lunga campanie la care se alatura prieteni si cunostiinte din elita stiintifica si politica a Angliei care incearca sa sprijine cererea studentului roman, personalitati care cer autoritatilor britanice si romane sa faca o exceptie.

Lord Goodman (1973), by Graham Sutherland (1903-19280. Tate Gallery

Celebra printre aceste scrisori ramane epistola lordului Goodman, avocatul primului ministru britanic Harold Wilson si negociatorul international in problema Rodeziei, scrisoare adresata ministrului de interne britanic in care face aluzie, in mod hiperbolic la posibilitatea unei razmerite la Cambridge, daca acest caz nu s-ar rezolva in mod satisfacator. Iar ca si cum aceste dificultati ne fiind suficiente, in mod ironic la ele se mai adauga si greutatile nestavilite  puse in calea planurilor sale matrimoniale de catre o viitoara soacra care se opune cu indarjire perspectivei unei casatorii.

In ciuda acestui purgatoriu neanticipat, cartea, care  pe tot parcursul narativului pastreaza un stil optimist,  nu  are deloc ca obiectiv inventarul exaustiv si precis al unor acceptari stoice ale greutatilor intampinate, ci mai degraba desvaluirea refuzului obdurat de a accepta absurdul. Aceasta pozitie  rezulta inevitabil in ciocniri de proportii Quixotice, de unde titlul editiei romanesti de “Sfidarea Idiocratiei”. Ori cand aceasta sfidare se transforma in situatii comice, comparabile cu o adevarata  Commedia dell’Arte,  desnodamantul ei trebuie sa fie un model altor hedonisti. Caci de fapt, in adancul sufletului, Constantin ROMAN ramane  un hedonist: nici o  placere cat de simpla nu este ocolita, iar in aceasta cavalcada vitalizanta, doar gastronomia intrece pasiunea pentru stiinta si arta. Ori nu exista nici o experienta care stimuleaza papilele gustative, nici o bucata delicioasa demna de ghidurile gurmande cele mai rafinate, care sa fi scapat atentiei autorului. Aceasta predilectie, ca sa nu o numim, pur si simplu, o obsesie, conduce inevitabil la refuzul unui important post, la care autorul a postulat la Haga, cu care ocazie, meniul baroc  consumat  iesise din limitele conventiilor birocratice. Explicatia acestei slabiciuni, acestei obsesii pentru gastronomie autorul o pune pe seama memoriei a mai multor generatii de stramosi – tarani infometati si mai recent, sub regimul comunist, a cozilor interminabile pentru painea ce de toata zilele.

Ca si gastronomia placerea infinita care rezulta din admirarea arhitecturii, picturii si ale gradinilor care il inconjoara la Cambridge  reprezinta un fundal mereu prezent:  aceste toate formeaza un comentariu, ca un hemiciclu, sau o tema muzicala, o reflectie permanenta a fiecarei miscari, o bucurie pe care autorul o impartaseste pe indelete cu cititorul, pe masura ce  intoarce paginile cartii.

NOTA:

Mai multe detalii despre “Sfidarea Idiocratiei” se afla la linkul:

http://www.constantinroman.com/continentaldrift/

17. Lord Dewar’s rescue

No sooner that I accepted, with great glee, my Presidency of the Peterhouse Grad. Soc. the style of leadership had to change. New blood was needed to inject some tonus in the proceedings and I was determined to encourage more social contacts amongst its members, by creating  more diverse and interesting venues. As much as I would have liked to, I could not easily ask the College Housekeeper to change curtains or fitted carpets, or indeed the furniture.  I decided instead, in close consultation with James Thring, a student in architecture, to create  a bar area with a kitchenette, hidden behind a wooden screen. A new notice board was installed and the room was extended to the East to include an adjoining space and in the process we discovered an exciting  15th century Gothic  archway, hidden in the masonry. This was opened and preserved, enhancing the character of the room.

Still , I felt that the room lacked warmth and could do  with some period paintings. Rumor had it that there were some College paintings “hidden away” and I was determined to inspect and see if any might be available for our enjoyment, to cover the barren walls of the GCR.

I wrote to Professor Clark an  Archaeologist, who was in charge of the paintings held in storage.  I did not expect to find any long-lost Rubens, as I had no illusions that the best paintings the College had were actually hanging either in Hall,  in the Master’s Lodge, or the Fellows’ rooms. Still, it was worth trying.

Graeme Clark took me to the  William Stone building and there, in its dry cellars, were piled a series of oil paintings, which I felt were unfashionable, unloved and forgotten. I chose two  portraits – one of them was a Victorian oil of the Archbishop of York.  Poor fellow, he had collected a lot of dust and he deserved to be resurrected – he had a cheerful well painted face, quite a distinguished little painting, which should bring some style to our room.

Far more exciting, amongst the paintings in storage, was though the second sitter – Sir James Dewar, Fellow of Peterhouse, Fullerian Professor at the Royal Institution, in London  and Jacksonian Professor at Cambridge.  He taught at Cambridge since 1875 and was responsible for a series of inventions, one of which involved obtaining liquid oxygen and hydrogen. The  double-walled vacuum flask,  represented in this canvass and named after him, was used in all Chemistry laboratories round the world. This is the ubiquitous “thermos” flask, more politely known as the “Dewar flask”. The painting had  an uncanny resemblance with my grandfather’s Victorian photograph, in his Apothecary Lab in Buzãu and I took to it immediately.

In Romanian  textbooks Dewar was revered as a world scientist and I was shocked to find him relegated, by some unseen  if silent “Cultural Revolution”, to a corner of a College cellar. True, Dewar had not endeared himself in Cambridge, where he indulged in severe bullying of his staff: neither did he form a “school” around himself, although his early experiments in low temperature Physics (the liquefaction of hydrogen, in 1898), preceded by a good generation work done by Rutherford’s pupils on the liquefaction of helium, which he tried but did not succeed. To this Continental scientist, Dewar was an icon and his abandonment to a college repository, was an unmitigated piece of iconoclasm.

Sir William Quiller Orchardson, RA (1832-1910), who painted this portrait, was better known for his painting, “Napoleon on Board  the Bellerophon”, hanging in the Tate Gallery and other works in the “Uffici” of Florence. Dewar’s portrait was an important work, which  was probably commissioned soon after the scientist was knighted in 1904.  The style of the brush prefigured the  Edwardian taste and the chromatics of the portrait was characteristic of Orchardson’s muted colors, of predominant yellow and browns.  I felt a sense of urgency in rescuing  Dewar’s rubicund face straight away and bring it to light.  Today it still hangs  in its rightful place, amongst research students, in the GCR, at Peterhouse

2. Bishop’s Money

Peterhouse has the oldest Hall in Cambridge, going back to its foundation, in 1284. The Hall was restored in the 19c century when it was decorated by William Morris. It could take up to over one hundred undergraduates, but as their number grew,  two sittings were introduced and eventually  a self-service system. Formal dinners got fewer and attendance was no longer compulsory. However, as meals were heavily subsidized from college funds and benefactions, it made sense for all students to eat in College. There were, in all some 240 undergraduate students at Peterhouse and 60  postgraduates.

The College had charitable status, being a seat of learning, which gave it considerable tax advantages. This meant that all donations or “benefactions” were exempt of tax and so the wealth of the College could accrue accordingly. Revenue was not taxed either, whether it came from arable land let to tenant farmers, or from rent of property in London and elsewhere, or indeed from financial investments in the City. The affairs of the College were looked after by the Bursar, who was accountable to the Master and Fellows, the custodians of these “livings”. Peterhouse, not being a Royal foundation and  being one of the smallest of Cambridge colleges, was not the richest either. But its benefactions accumulated in value over seven hundred years of its existence. Like other Colleges in Cambridge Peterhouse had certain benefactions intended solely for scholarships, with specific clauses attached to them. The Research Scholarship which I was granted by Peterhouse, together with three or four other postgraduates, had its source in a fund established by the Bishop of Ely, in the 13th century. It therefore gave me a tremendous pleasure to acknowledge this, especially to those who would say:

“This is the British taxpayer’s money”.

“No”, I would retort, “not at all, this is Hugh de Balsham’s money”.

“Who is he?”

“Why? The Bishop of Ely, of course! He lived in the 13th century, when your ancestors probably were herding the swine”.

————————————————————————————————————

Cambridge and Romanian Memoir

NOTE: Extract from the Cambridge Memoirs: “Continental Drift – Colliding Continents, Converging Cultures” by Constantin ROMAN, Institute of Physics Publishers, Bristol and Philadelphia:

http://www.constantinroman.com/continentaldrift/

HM Queen Anne de Romania, Princess of Denmark and of Bourbon-Parme
——————————————–

http://www.blouseroumaine.com/orderthebook_p1.html

Regina Anna de Romania, Printesa de Danemarca si de Bourbon-Parma se trage, asa cum spune numele, din Bourboni, care au fost regii Frantei si Spaniei, mai precis din ramura spaniola a Bourbonilor care erau si Duci de Parma.

Pornind pe linie directa ascendenta a familiei de Bourbon-Parma, deci pe linie barbateasca, ajungem la Ferdinand I de Bourbon, Duce de Parma (1751-1802) nepotul lui Filip V regele Spaniei si Duce de Anjou (1683, Versailles – 1746 Madrid).

Acest Ferdinand I Infante de Spania (1751-1802), care preceda cu sase generatii pe Ana de Bourbon-Parma a noastra [sper si a domniei tale], era casatorit cu Printesa Louise Elisabeth de France (1727-1759), fiica lui Ludovic XV regele Frantei si a sotiei lui Maria Leczynska (1703-1768) regina Frantei, care la randul ei era fiica lui Stanislas Lesczynski regele Poloniei si Duce de Lorena (1677-1766).
Acum, ca sa ajungem la Movilesti trebuie sa trecem pe ramurile femeiesti:

Bunica materna a lui Stanislas Lesczinski (socrul lui Ludovic XV) era Maria Ana Printesa Jabolonowska (1643-1687) nascuta contesa Kasanowska, iar bunica materna a acesteia din urma era Domnita Maria Movila ( 1591-1638) (fata lui Ieremia Voda), domnita moldoveanca al carui sot era Contele Stefan Potocki, Palatin de Wroclaw si prin care casatorie era cunoscuta in Polonia drept Marya Mohylanka.
Aceasta inseamna, bine inteles, ca prin stramosii ei Movilesti, Regina Anna de Romania se trage, prin Iermia Voda Movila, chiar din Petru Rares si din Stefan cel Mare si Sfant, iar prin acesta din urma din Dragos Voda primul descalecator al Moldovei.

Despre domnita Maria Movila contesa Potocka ne vorbeste istoricul Constantin GANE (1885-1962) in celebra lui lucrare “Trecute Vieti de Doamne si Domnite”.
——————————————————————————————————————

“Blouse Roumaine – the Unsung Voices of Romanian Women”

Presented and Selected by Constantin ROMAN

Anthology E-BOOK (11BM)

DISTRIBUTION: Online with credit card

LINK: CUMPARA:  www.blouseroumaine.com/orderthebook_p1.html

CONTENTS:

2,250,000 words, 1,100 pages, 160 illustrations in text, 160 critical biographies, 60 social categories/professions, 600 quotations (mostly translated into English for the first time), 4,000 bibliographical references (including URLs, discography, exhibitions and performance credits), 6 Indexes (alphabetical, by profession, timeline, quotations, geographical  place names,  and surnames)

AUTHOR: Constantin Roman is a Scholar with a Doctorate from Cambridge and a Member of the Society of Authors (London). He is an International Adviser, Guest Speaker, Professor Honoris Causa and Commander of the Order of Merit.

INDEX BY PROSFESSION: 60 CATEGORIES by Call, Profession or Social Status

Academics (22), Actresses (9), Anti-Communist Fighters (14), Architects/Interior Designers (2), Art Critics (9), Artist Book Binders (1), Ballerinas (6), Charity Workers/Benefactors (20), Communist Public Figures (2), Courtesans (3), Designers (2), Diplomats (4), Essayists (11), Ethnographers (6), Exiles & First-generation Romanians born abroad (87), Explorers (1), Feminists (12), Folk Singers (1), Gymnasts, Dressage Riders (2), Historians (5), Honorary Romanian Women (15), Illustrators (3), Journalists (13), Lawyers (4), Librarians (3), Linguists (2), Literary Critics (1), Media (15), Medical Doctors/Nurses (5), Memoir Writers (16), Missionaries and Nuns (4), Mountainéers (2), Museographers (1), Musical Instruments Makers (1), Novelists (24), Opera Singers (16), Painters (14), Peasant Farmers (6), Philosophers and Philosophy Graduates (4), Pianists (6), Pilots (4), Playwrights (5), Poets (29), Political Prisoners (30), Politicians (5), Revolutionaries (2), Royals and Aristocrats (34), Scientists (8), Sculptors (4), Slave (1), Socialites/Hostesses (20), Spouses/Relations of Public Figures (51), Spies (2), Tapestry Weavers (4), Translators (25), Unknown Illustrious (6), Violinists (4), Workers (3)

NOTE:
Most of the above 160 Romanian women, in the best tradition of versatility, are true polymaths and therefore nearly each one of them falls in more than just one category, often three or more. This explains why adding the numbers of the 60 individual categories bears no relation to the actual total of the above 160 women included in Blouse Roumaine.
———————————————————————————————————–
LIST OF 160 CRITICAL BIOGRAPHIES (each supported by Quotations and Bibliography)

AA *Gabriela Adamesteanu *Florenta Albu *Nina Arbore *Elena Arnàutoiu *Ioana Raluca Voicu-Arnàutoiu, *Laurentia Arnàutoiu *Mariea Plop – Arnàutoiu *Ana Aslan *Lady Elizabeth Asquith Bibescu

BB *Lauren Bacall *Lady Florence Baker *Zoe Bàlàceanu *Ecaterina Bàlàcioiu-Lovinescu *Victorine de Bellio *Pss. Marta Bibescu *Adriana Bittel *Maria Prodan Bjørnson *Ana Blandiana *Yvonne Blondel *Lola Bobescu *Smaranda Bràescu *Elena Bràtianu *Élise Bràtianu *Ioana Bràtianu *Elena Bràtianu- Racottà *Letitzia Bucur

CC *Anne-Marie Callimachi *Georgeta Cancicov *Madeleine Cancicov *Pss. Alexandra Cantacuzino *Pss.Maria Cantacuzino (Madame Puvis de Chavannes) *Pss. Maruca Cantacuzino-Enesco* Pss. Catherine Caradja *Elena Caragiani-Stoenescu *Marta Caraion-Blanc, *Nina Cassian, *Otilia Cazimir *Elena Ceausescu *Maria Cebotari *Ioana Celibidache *Hélène Chrissoveloni (Mme Paul Morand)*Alice Cocea *Irina Codreanu *Lizica Codreanu *Alina Cojocaru *Nadia Comàneci *Denisa Comànescu *Lena Constante *Silvia Constantinescu *Doina Cornea *Hortense Cornu *Viorica Cortez*Otilia Cosmutzà *Sandra Cotovu *Ileana Cotrubas *Carmen-Daniela Cràsnaru *Mioara Cremene *Florica Cristoforeanu *Pss. Elena Cuza

DD *Hariclea Darclée *Cella Delavrancea *Alina Diaconú *Varinca Diaconú *Anca Diamandy *Marie Ana Dràgescu *Rodica Dràghincescu *Bucura Dumbravà *Natalia Dumitrescu

EE *Micaela Eleutheriade *Queen Elisabeth of Romania (‘Carmen Sylva’) *Alexandra Enescu *Mica Ertegün

FF *Lizi Florescu, *Maria Forescu *Nicoleta Franck *Aurora Fúlgida

GG *Angela Gheorghiu *Pss Grigore Ghica *Pss. Georges Ghika (Liane de Pougy) *Veturia Goga *Maria Golescu *Nadia Gray *Olga Greceanu *Pss. Helen of Greece *Nicole Valéry-Grossu *Carmen Groza

HH *Virginia Andreescu Haret *Clara Haskil *Lucia Hossu-Longin

II *Pss. Ileana of Romania *Ana Ipàtescu *Marie-France Ionesco *Dora d’Istria *Rodica Iulian

JJ *Doina Jela *Lucretia Jurj

KK *Mite Kremnitz

LL *Marie-Jeanne Lecca *Madeleine Lipatti *Monica Lovinescu *Elena Lupescu

MM *Maria Mailat *Ileana Màlàncioiu *Ionela Manolesco *Lilly Marcou *Silvia Marcovici *Queen Marie of Romania *Ioana A. Marin *Ioana Meitani *Gabriela Melinescu *Veronica Micle *Nelly Miricioiu *Herta Müller *Alina Mungiu-Pippidi *Agnes Kelly Murgoci

NN *Mabel Nandris *Anita Nandris-Cudla *Lucia Negoità *Mariana Nicolesco *Countess Anna de Noailles *Ana Novac

OO *Helen O’Brien *Oana Orlea

PP *Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu *Milita Pàtrascu *Ana Pauker *Marta Petreu *Cornelia Pillat *Magdalena Popa *Elvira Popescu

RR *Ruxandra Racovitzà *Elisabeta Rizea *Eugenia Roman *Stella Roman *Queen Ana de România, *Pss. Margarita de România *Maria Rosetti *Elisabeth Roudinesco

SS *Annie Samuelli *Sylvia Sidney *Henriette-Yvonne Stahl *Countess Leopold Starszensky *Elena Stefoi *Pss. Marina Stirbey *Sanda Stolojan *Cecilia Cutzescu-Storck

TT *Maria Tànase *Aretia Tàtàrescu *Monica Theodorescu *Elena Theodorini

UU *Viorica Ursuleac

VV *Elena Vàcàrescu *Leontina Vàduva *Ana Velescu *Marioara Ventura *Anca Visdei *Wanda Sachelarie Vladimirescu *Alice Steriade Voinescu

WW *Sabina Wurmbrand

ZZ *Virginia Zeani

© copyright Constantin ROMAN, 2001-2009, all rights reserved

Amici de demult, tovarasi de drum
Cu pasii pierduti
Prin ce tari ratacind prin coclauri de scrum
Sunteti toti disparuti?

La ce lupte ne luam
Trup la trup inclestati
Ne credeam neinvinsi, desi fragezi eram
La cei doua’s’ de ani.

Rasul nostru voios rasuna peste tot
Cand pe lume-am venit
Cu nevolnice maini ne strangeam cot la cot
Rascolind din adanc un oras amortit.

Printre voi mai zaresc, doar priviri din trecut
Doar vre-un zambet fugar
Pe o poza de-album dintr-un timp nestiut
Si uitata-n sertar.

Caci la voi ma gandesc, amici de demult
Retraind un parcurs incercat de destin
Cu speranta aprinsa intr-un proaspat tumult
Ca pe-un vesnic taram sa ne reintalnim.

Amici de demult, tovarasi de drum
Cu pasii pierduti
Prin ce tari ratacind prin coclauri de scrum
Sunteti toti disparuti?

(Mes Amis d’hier, cuvinte de C. MESLE pe muzica de S. Xarhakos,
pentru Melina Mercouri, 1971)
(In Romaneste de Constantin ROMAN
Londra 20 August 2006)

Constantin Roman © 2006-2009. All Rights Reserved.

MES AMIS D’HIER …

Mes amis d’hier, mes compagnons,
Mes amis perdus,
Dans quelle île, quelle ville, dans quelle prison
Où avez-vous disparu ?

Nous prenions la vie au corps à corps
Nous mordions dedans
Nous étions fragiles et pourtant si forts
D’avoir ensemble vingt ans

Nous avions des rires à faire chanter
Les taudis du port
Et de ses révoltes à faire se dresser
Une ville qui s’endort

Aujourd’hui je n’ai de vos sourires
Et de vos regards
Qu’une ou deux photos qui s’en vont jaunir
Dans un livre ou un tiroir

Et pourtant c’est vous mes camarades
Que je vois toujours
Quand l’espoir nous prend dans ses embuscades
Quand nous parlons de retour

Mes amis d’hier, mes compagnons
Mes amis perdus
Dans quelle île, quelle ville, dans quelle prison
Où avez-vous disparu ?

Melina MERCOURI
Paroles: C. Lemesle
Musique: S. Xarhakos
(1971)