Have you guys read any Romanian literature? Only asking those who aren't from Romania or Moldavia

Yes, I've read an anthology of Romanian prose. Authors I liked: Ion Creanga, Bratescu-Voinesti, Stancu, Sadoveanu and Calinescu. The stories were pretty okay but I can't really see a motive for a foreign person to delve more deeply into your culture to be honest. Nothing special to offer, I guess.

Wait, I forgot Eliade, he's pretty relevant as well.

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no, the gypsies come from India and they cheap clothes with "italy" on them because they buy them from cheap clothing stores.

E.M. Cioran, his first book.
I don't know if it's translated in your language: Craii de Curtea Veche (The Old Court Libertines?) By Mateiu Caragiale.
Some stuff by Mircea Eliade is awesome and dark.

No,I did not
I couldn't give less of a shit about that gypsy outhouse

Could you post the name of that anthology?

Also, a poet called George Bacovia is really gloomy and depressive, but I don't know if you can find decent translations.

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lmfao

Sorry, but the book is in Portuguese, my mother language. Its name is "Antologia do Conto Romeno" nonetheless.

Pakistan. More irrelevant than Romania I guess.

op here, could you recomend some of your Pakistani favourites?

Haven't read much prose, and I don't think we have much good prose in Urdu desu. It doesn't get translated too I think.

Poetry is much more important in Urdu literature, but of course it's hard to translate. A lot of emphasis is on love in Urdu poetry - many seem to be inspired by the romanticists.

My personal favorite is Iqbal, a philosophical poet, probably the only true genius. Hard to understand even if you are a native speaker. Here's a sample.

beyond the stars are even more worlds
there are still even more tests of passion

these expanses are not devoid of life
here there are hundreds of other caravans too

don't be contented with the world of color and scent
there are other gardens, other nests, too

if one nest was lost, what's the [cause of] grief?
there are other places for sighing and lamenting

you are a falcon, flight is your task
before you there are other skies as well

don't become entangled, and remain, in this day-and-night
for you have other times-and-places too

the days are gone when I was alone in the gathering
here, now, I have other secret-sharers too

Not any that is any better than its foreign counterparts

Ive read a decent amount of Ionesco but im not sure if he actually counts or not.

This. French-Romanians don't count that much, even though there's quite a few of them.

At least you guys have nukes.

American here, I've read a good deal of Cioran. He's too indulgent but says a lot of things that need to be said, I suppose.

In my years on Veeky Forums I have noticed that pretty much everyone seems to have heard of Cioran, Ionesco and Eliade. Anons with interests that are a bit more niche might have heard of Tristan Tzara, Urmuz, Max Blecher, Gherasim Luca, perhaps Dumitru Țepeneag, Gellu Naum or Mircea Cărtărescu. You'll notice that most of the above share having left Romania for France and wrote some of their works in French (USA and English in the case of Eliade). They all have multiple works translated in English, too. It's very rare (I think this is the second time) to see someone mention Caragiale, Sadoveanu, Creangă or Eminescu--those who we, Romanians are being taught in school are our very best--and it's always by non-Anglos, like this guy . Come to think of it, I don't remember any mention of Eminescu, ever. This guy was semi-deified when I was a school lad; turns out he is pretty much irrelevant outside our borders.

I only speak english but are any of those writers besides Cioran, Eliade and Lonesco available? I read Mihail Sebastian already.

Yes, I noticed that too. I think everyone in Romania knows about Eminescu and Creanga. I'm not a scholar but I believe what Cioran, Eliade etc. wrote in other languages is NOT considered Romanian literature.

Didn't know gypsies and vampire feed could read and write.

I enjoy Sasa Pana's poems translated by Google.

Yes
No
Yes, gypsies are a pain in the ass.
I think Romanians didn't knew that either.

Actually if I think about it, I think it's pretty well know that gypsies are illiterate.

I have some Cărtărescu, Blecher, Naum and Urmuz ebooks in English, but that's only because of my interest in surrealist, dadaist and magical realist literature. This, incidentally, seems to be the only claim for relevance Romanian lit seems to be able to make--and no, I don't think literature not originally written in Romanian is Romanian literature . If anyone is interested I can post the above in this thread. For all I know there might be plenty more in English, so go look for your favourite authors in the usual places.

Maybe not the same one, but I found this collection on Project Gutenberg. It's all right, from what I remember:
gutenberg.org/ebooks/38991

I would love if you did. Please do.
Thanks as well.

As your southern neighbour I only have read Mirca Eliade fiction and some short stories by his father. I find romanians to have invented magical realism before the spics.Garden of Adonis is a mindfuck.

Bacovia is bae boss

Avoid. All major prose is part of the horrendous Westernization movement started in the 19th century. It's parroted tripe at best.

Wut?

One of the better threads right now lads.

chinaman romanian-aficionado from the other thread here. Read Bacovia. He's very dark but awesome, and also important in the canon. He's a poet though so you need to enjoy poetry in the first place. I don't like poetry but I can respect his writing.

>Craii de Curtea Veche
Thanks, it looks promising. Also "Baltagul" sounds pretty good. It delves into romanian folk-lives and has a darker story.

Ok, here's what I got--Blecher, Urmuz, Luca, Țepeneag, Cărtărescu in English:
ge[dot]tt[slash]2Q9KD3j2

Yes, George Bacovia is good.

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I've read something from precisely the writers this one mentions and have indeed barely heard about the last four, spot on

I really recommend Craii de Curtea Veche (The Old Court Libertines). It's really unique in our culture and beautifully written.

I've only read some Cioran and Ionesco.

Does Mircea Eliade count?

Depends on what you have read. His early writings are in Romanian, then he switched to French and English.

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Theres a contemporany author named Alexandru Ecovoiu and has a great book 'Saludos'. Check it out.

Go to bed, Alexandru Ecovoiu.

>American
>I don't think I've read any literature.
>I don't think
Checks out