Romanian Literature

Are there any actually good Romanian books?
I never heard about any famous Romanian writer and theirs movies are shit.

dracula

Stoker was Irish, not Romanian.

Max Blecher
Emil Cioran, sort of
Mircea Eliade, sort of
Gellu Naum, sort of
Tristan Tzara, sort of

(sort of meaning they mostly wrote in french or german rather than romanian)

those 20th century's poets are some of the best of their era

(on second thought no, Gellu Naum mostly wrote in Romanian. and Eliade wrote a lot in it too)

and Ionesco, in the same vein

Most of the famous Romanian writers never get translated into english. Eminescu and Caragiale are classics

Thanks man.

nah not even joking but ive never read anything romani-an

no

romanian girls are sexy af tho

What about Urmuz?

Herta Muller is Romanian and won the Nobel Prize in 2009. She writes in German but is Romanian.

Mircea Cărtărescu is a poet and novelist who is probably Romania's best living literary author writing in Romanian.

Max Blecher is a hidden gem of literature.

im usually a great defender of nobel laureates but mueller was wholly underwhelming

Benjamin Fondane, but as someone else said, liek Tzara and Ionesco he wasn't someone who wrote much in Romanian, more in French. Fondane is excellent though, as both a philosopher and poet. The New York Review of Books has published the only English editions I can think of of some of his philosophical essays and poems. He's definitely worth a read. As for Romanians who actually wrote in Romanian, I'd recommend Mihai Eminescu if 19th century romanticism is your thing. It's a bit crude but he's like a Romanian Keats. I'm curious OP, why are you after Romanian lit?

my gf is one. she is hairy

Cartarescu is good.

Thanks a lot,guys.
Well, I'm all about one Romanian girl, and,although i would never have any chance with her, I started to got into Romanian culture. Also, after reading some great Russian books i fought, that the East can have a lot of great books, that I've never heard of, so to start with Romanian lit was an obvious choice.

Novels:
>Rebreanu
>Calinescu (only Otilia's Riddle)
>Eliade
>Cartarescu (only if you hate yourself), >Marin Preda
>Ionel Teodoreanu (very good if you are nostalgic for your childhood, has a Lewis Carroll vibe)

Poetry:
>Alecsandri
>Nichita Stanescu
>Blaga
>Bacovia
>Arghezi
>Topîrceanu (he has some pretty gunny shit)
>Eminescu (he is considered the best Romanian poet, but some prefer Alecsandri over him)
>Macedonski

Drama:
>Ionesco
>Caragiale

Some of these people also wrote philosophy but I'm not going into Romanian philosophers right now.

I'm ambivalent about Cartarescu. He can be an outstanding prose poet, but he keeps dipping his toes into subjects he can't meaningfully address, which can easily make his novels feel shallow and pretentious.

Man, this has been haunting me for a while now. I feel like I should actually take advantage of the only other language I know well enough to read lit in, but there's that nagging extra effort I need to put in over reading English. Maybe I should finish my two library books and actually get on it.

Did you learn Romanian as a foreign language? If so, why?

No, I was born in Romania to ethnic Hungarian and Romanian parents. I went to school for a few years there before moving. I still speak Romanian with my parents. I've largely forgotten Hungarian.

Her works aren't great in English translation because she frequently makes up words by combining German ones together. The english translations usually either cobble them together likeifthiswasalloneword or just altogether leave them out completely.

Her works are hit or miss though.

The Fox was Ever the Hunter, The Hunger Angel, and The land of Green Plums are all great.

The rest of her stuff that's been translated into English is basically garbage though.

There was a Romanian woman who worked at the same office as my dad like 10 years ago, specifically Transylvanian. She would always give candy to me and my little brother.

It's all shit,don't bother.
Try Hungarian literature instead.
Top notch quality!