Although
Romanians view the last twenty years with a degree of burned out
idealism that verges on jaundice (doubtless to the surprise of many
Americans), this is the year to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall
and the mockery of human rights for which it stood. In June, the Guardian posted Stories from Easter Europe, a collection that
included “Zgaiba” by Romanian novelist, Stelian
Tănase. This spring, Absinthe: New
European Writing will publish an anthology of Romanian fiction
that does its share of looking back in anger. And now, coming up
soon, we can look forward to an anthology of writing from former
Soviet Bloc countries compiled by Words Without Borders and published
by Open Letter Books. Timed to commemorate the Fall of the Berlin
Wall (November 9, 1989) The
Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain,
“dwells extensively; humorously, poignantly, quirkily, on different
views of the fall of the Iron Curtain. The Wall includes
writing from the generation that witnessed the fall of communism as
well as writers from the generation that inherited a memory of the
Cold War and who write in its shadow.” There is no way to live here
without “a wall in my head,” and in this context (of migraines
and tenacious optimism), The Wall includes writing by two
Romanians, Mircea Cărtărescu (Translated by Julian Semlian) and Dan
Sociu (Translated by Oana Sanziana Marian).
The publishers
hope “that The Wall In My Head will prompt discussion about
the events of ’89 and their relevance to today’s world.” To
encourage exchange of ideas, Three Percent has asked a variety of
writers, translators, scholars, and witnesses to the events of those
last years of the Cold War, to contribute to a blog that will grow
online over the next few months. “Their dispatches will range from
discussions of the contents of the book to observations about current
events and important anniversaries, as well as posts on the art,
photography and film of the last years of the Cold War. The blog
begins with a
post by Oana Sanziana Marian about Dan Sociu’sUrbancholia.” Those wishing to contribute to the blog are
invited to write to chad.post@rochester.edu
Readers of
literature in translation should be pleased to see that The Wall
in My Head has a table of contents that includes:
Introduction by
Keith Gessen
From The Art
of the Novel by Milan Kundera (Translated by Linda Asher)
From Paris
Lost by Wladimir Kaminer (Translated by Liesl Schillinger)
From Omon Ra
by Victor Pelevin (Translated by Andrew Bromfield)
“Petition”
by Mihály Kornis (Translated by Ivan Sanders)
From Moving
House by Paweł Huelle (Translated by Michael Kandel)
“Nabokov
in Brasov” by Mircea Cărtărescu (Translated by Julian Semlian)
From Waltz
for K by Dmitri Savitski (Translated by Kingsley Shorter)
“On Eugen
Jebeleanu” by Matthew Zapruder
Poems from Secret Weapon by Eugen Jebeleanu (Translated by Matthew
Zapruder)
From Imperium
by Ryszard Kapuściński (Translated by Klara Glowczewska)
From The
Tower by Uwe Tellkamp (Translated by Annie Janusch)
“My
Grandmother the Censor” by Masha Gessen
From The
Wall Jumper by Peter Schneider (Translated by Leigh Hafrey)
“Farewell to
the Queue” by Vladimir Sorokin (Translated by Jamey Gambrell)
“Tower of
Song: How the Plastic People of the Universe Helped to Shape the
Velvet Revolution” by Paul Wilson
“The Revenge”
by Annett Gröschner (Translated by Ingrid Lansford)
“The Souvenirs
of Communism” by Dubravka Ugrešić (Translated by Ellen
Elias-Bursać)
“The Road to
Bornholm” by Durs Grünbein (Translated by Ingrid Lansford)
“Regardless of
the Cost: Reflections on Péter Esterházy’s Revised Edition“
by Judith Sollosy
“Author’s
Preface to Revised Edition“ by Péter Esterházy
(Translated by Judith Sollosy)
From Mandarins
by Stanislav Komárek (Translated by Melvyn Clarke)
“Brother and
Sister” by Christhard Läpple (Translated by Steven Rendall)
“Faraway, So
Gross” by Dorota Masłowska (Translated by Benjamin Paloff)
From Urbancholia
by Dan Sociu (Translated by Oana Sanziana Marian)
“That Fear”
by Andrjez Stasiuk (Translated by Michael Kandel)
“Speech at the
Opening Session of the 13th German Bundestag” by Stefan Heym
(Translated by John K. Cox)
“The Life and
Times of a Soviet Capitalist” by Irakli Iosebashvili
“The War
Within” by Maxim Trudolubov (Translated by Alexei Bayer)
“Any Beach But
This” by David Zábranský (Translated by Robert Russell)
“The Noble
School” by Muharem Bazdulj (Translated by John K. Cox)
