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Moş Anghel. Codin. Ciulinii Bărăganului
- GenresRomanian Literature
318 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
3 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Panait Istrati
224 books172 followersPanait Istrati was a Romanian working-class writer, who wrote in French and Romanian, nicknamed The Maxim Gorky of the Balkans. Istrati was first noted for the depiction of one homosexual character in his work.
Born in Brăila, Istrati was the son of the laundress Joița Istrate and of a Greek smuggler from the village of Faraklata in Kefalonia (whom Panait never met).
His first attempts at writing date from around 1907 when he started sending pieces to the socialist periodicals in Romania, debuting with the article, Hotel Regina in România Muncitoare. Here, he later published his first short stories, Mântuitorul ("The Redeemer"), Calul lui Bălan ("Bălan's Horse"), Familia noastră ("Our Family"), 1 Mai ("May Day"). He also contributed pieces to other leftist newspapers such as Dimineața, Adevărul, and Viața Socială.
In 1910, he was involved in organizing a strike action in Brăila. He went to Bucharest, Istanbul, Cairo, Naples, Paris (1913–1914), and Switzerland (where he settled for a while, trying to cure his tuberculosis). Istrati's travels were marked by two successive unhappy marriages, a brief return to Romania in 1915 when he tried to earn his living as a hog farmer, and long periods of vagabondage.
While in the sanatorium, Istrati met Russian Jewish-Swiss Zionist writer Josué Jéhouda, who became his friend and French language tutor.
Living in misery, ill, and depressed, he attempted suicide in 1921 on his way to Nice, but his life was rescued in time. Shortly before the attempt, he had written to Romain Rolland, the French writer he admired most and with whom he had long tried to get in touch. Rolland received the letter through the Police and immediately replied. In 1923 Istrati's story Kyra Kyralina (or Chira Chiralina) was published with a preface by Rolland. It became the first in his Adrien Zograffi literary cycle. Rolland was fascinated with Istrati's adventurous life, urging him to write more and publishing parts of his work in Clarté, the magazine that he and Henri Barbusse owned. The next major work by Istrati was the novel Codine.
Istrati and communism
Istrati shared the leftist ideals of Rolland, and, as much as his mentor, placed his hopes in the Bolshevik vision. In 1927 he visited the Soviet Union on the anniversary of the October Revolution, accompanied by Christian Rakovsky during the first stage of the journey (Rakovsky was Soviet ambassador to Paris, and by then already falling out of favor with Joseph Stalin). He travelled through large sections of the European part, witnessing celebrations in Moscow and Kiev. He was joined in Moscow by his future close friend, Nikos Kazantzakis; while in the city, Panait Istrati met Victor Serge and expressed his wish to become a citizen of the Soviet Union. He and Kazantzakis wrote Stalin a congratulatory letter that remained unanswered.
The political opinions Istrati expressed after his split with Bolshevism are rather ambiguous. He was still closely watched by the Romanian secret police (Siguranța Statului), and he had written an article (dated April 8, 1933) in the French magazine Les Nouvelles littéraires, aptly titled L'homme qui n'adhère à rien ("The man who will adhere to nothing").
At the same time, Istrati started publishing in Cruciada Românismului ("The Crusade of Romanianism"), the voice of a left-leaning splinter group of the ultra-nationalist Iron Guard. As such, Istrati became associated with the group's leader Mihai Stelescu, who had been elected as a member of Parliament for the Iron Guard in 1933 and whose dissidence was the reason for his brutal assassination by the Decemviri later in the same year; Istrati was himself assaulted several times by the Guard's squads.
Isolated and unprotected, Panait Istrati died at Filaret Sanatorium in Bucharest. He was buried in Bellu Cemetery.
Born in Brăila, Istrati was the son of the laundress Joița Istrate and of a Greek smuggler from the village of Faraklata in Kefalonia (whom Panait never met).
His first attempts at writing date from around 1907 when he started sending pieces to the socialist periodicals in Romania, debuting with the article, Hotel Regina in România Muncitoare. Here, he later published his first short stories, Mântuitorul ("The Redeemer"), Calul lui Bălan ("Bălan's Horse"), Familia noastră ("Our Family"), 1 Mai ("May Day"). He also contributed pieces to other leftist newspapers such as Dimineața, Adevărul, and Viața Socială.
In 1910, he was involved in organizing a strike action in Brăila. He went to Bucharest, Istanbul, Cairo, Naples, Paris (1913–1914), and Switzerland (where he settled for a while, trying to cure his tuberculosis). Istrati's travels were marked by two successive unhappy marriages, a brief return to Romania in 1915 when he tried to earn his living as a hog farmer, and long periods of vagabondage.
While in the sanatorium, Istrati met Russian Jewish-Swiss Zionist writer Josué Jéhouda, who became his friend and French language tutor.
Living in misery, ill, and depressed, he attempted suicide in 1921 on his way to Nice, but his life was rescued in time. Shortly before the attempt, he had written to Romain Rolland, the French writer he admired most and with whom he had long tried to get in touch. Rolland received the letter through the Police and immediately replied. In 1923 Istrati's story Kyra Kyralina (or Chira Chiralina) was published with a preface by Rolland. It became the first in his Adrien Zograffi literary cycle. Rolland was fascinated with Istrati's adventurous life, urging him to write more and publishing parts of his work in Clarté, the magazine that he and Henri Barbusse owned. The next major work by Istrati was the novel Codine.
Istrati and communism
Istrati shared the leftist ideals of Rolland, and, as much as his mentor, placed his hopes in the Bolshevik vision. In 1927 he visited the Soviet Union on the anniversary of the October Revolution, accompanied by Christian Rakovsky during the first stage of the journey (Rakovsky was Soviet ambassador to Paris, and by then already falling out of favor with Joseph Stalin). He travelled through large sections of the European part, witnessing celebrations in Moscow and Kiev. He was joined in Moscow by his future close friend, Nikos Kazantzakis; while in the city, Panait Istrati met Victor Serge and expressed his wish to become a citizen of the Soviet Union. He and Kazantzakis wrote Stalin a congratulatory letter that remained unanswered.
The political opinions Istrati expressed after his split with Bolshevism are rather ambiguous. He was still closely watched by the Romanian secret police (Siguranța Statului), and he had written an article (dated April 8, 1933) in the French magazine Les Nouvelles littéraires, aptly titled L'homme qui n'adhère à rien ("The man who will adhere to nothing").
At the same time, Istrati started publishing in Cruciada Românismului ("The Crusade of Romanianism"), the voice of a left-leaning splinter group of the ultra-nationalist Iron Guard. As such, Istrati became associated with the group's leader Mihai Stelescu, who had been elected as a member of Parliament for the Iron Guard in 1933 and whose dissidence was the reason for his brutal assassination by the Decemviri later in the same year; Istrati was himself assaulted several times by the Guard's squads.
Isolated and unprotected, Panait Istrati died at Filaret Sanatorium in Bucharest. He was buried in Bellu Cemetery.
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June 18, 2021
În seara aceea de început de april, cătunul Baldovineşti, din apropierea Brăilei, sărbătorea întâia zi a Paştelui. Prin toate ogrăzile, ţăranii aprindeau glugi de stuf uscat: de peste tot răsunau focuri de puşcă – închinăciuni creştin-ortodoxe aduse de sătenii noştri pomenirii Aceluia care fu cel mai bun dintre oameni.
În căsuţa lui moş Dumitru – mezin între doi fraţi şi două surori – veniseră de la oraşul vecin mama Joiţa şi fiul ei unic Adrian, ca să petreacă împreună sfintele sărbători.
Mama lui Adrian era întâia născută în familie, rămăsese văduvă încă de pe când îşi purta pruncul în braţe, şi acum, când acesta împlinea optsprezece ani, tot văduvă se afla, trăind din munca braţelor sale.
Nu prea era loc de găzduit în fostul cămin părintesc, căci fratele Dumitru, deşi tânăr, era înconjurat de o numeroasă familie. Buna soră se mulţumea însă şi cu un colţ al încăperii, în vreme ce Adrian – bucuros să-şi revadă leagănul copilăriei – se ducea să se culce cu unchiul său în fânul din podul grajdului, să-i asculte poveştile ca altădată şi să-i istorisească fapte de pe la oraş.
De altfel, chiar şi fără musafiri, unchiul Dumitru tot prin pod, pe câmpuri şi prin bălţi îşi petrecea nopţile de vară, ceea ce făcea pe Adrian uneori să se mire:
— Matale te culci în pod, iar nevasta, cu copiii; ce viaţă e asta?!
— De, băiete, sunt nevoit… Altmintrelea, cum să-ţi spun: copchiii să-mbulzesc prea repede!
— Iaca vorbă! şi când te dai jos din pod?
— Mă duc la baltă, să tai stuf!…
— Şi când te-ntorci de la tăiat stuf?!…
— Mă urc în pod!…
— Atunci de unde vin „copchiii”?!…
— Dumnezeu îi trimete.
Deşi oameni săraci, se mai aflau la masa lor şi alte câteva neamuri din sat. Cina strămoşească – un borş de miel, cu miel fript, cu cozonaci şi ouă roşii – fu veselă, plină de glume; la sfârşit, moş Dumitru ieşi afară ca să dea şi el foc glugii şi să sloboadă focurile de puşcă tradiţionale.
Toată laia de copii, ba chiar şi cei mari, îl urmară. Noaptea era înstelată. Dumitru trase cu urechea la zgomotul îndepărtat al trenului care se ducea spre Galaţi, şi zise:
— Trece „ixpresu” de opt…
Apoi dădu foc stufului. Numaidecât, flăcări fumegânde se înălţară drept către cer, în mijlocul ţipetelor asurzitoare ale copiilor, cari dănţuiau împrejurul glugii ca nişte drăcuşori cu feţe roşii. Zarva fu şi mai mare când Dumitru descarcă cele două ţevi cu fultuială oarbă ale puştii sale de vânătoare, zicând, cu credinţă creştină, după fiecare foc:
— Christos a-nviat!
În clipa asta, mama Joiţa îşi luă fiul de braţ, îl trase mai la o parte şi-i zise pe un ton poruncitor şi cam sugrumat:
— Dă fuga la părintele Ştefan, vărul nostru, şi roagă-l din parte-mi să vie aici pe curând. Apoi, întinde-o până la moş-tu Anghel şi adu-l cu tine!…
În căsuţa lui moş Dumitru – mezin între doi fraţi şi două surori – veniseră de la oraşul vecin mama Joiţa şi fiul ei unic Adrian, ca să petreacă împreună sfintele sărbători.
Mama lui Adrian era întâia născută în familie, rămăsese văduvă încă de pe când îşi purta pruncul în braţe, şi acum, când acesta împlinea optsprezece ani, tot văduvă se afla, trăind din munca braţelor sale.
Nu prea era loc de găzduit în fostul cămin părintesc, căci fratele Dumitru, deşi tânăr, era înconjurat de o numeroasă familie. Buna soră se mulţumea însă şi cu un colţ al încăperii, în vreme ce Adrian – bucuros să-şi revadă leagănul copilăriei – se ducea să se culce cu unchiul său în fânul din podul grajdului, să-i asculte poveştile ca altădată şi să-i istorisească fapte de pe la oraş.
De altfel, chiar şi fără musafiri, unchiul Dumitru tot prin pod, pe câmpuri şi prin bălţi îşi petrecea nopţile de vară, ceea ce făcea pe Adrian uneori să se mire:
— Matale te culci în pod, iar nevasta, cu copiii; ce viaţă e asta?!
— De, băiete, sunt nevoit… Altmintrelea, cum să-ţi spun: copchiii să-mbulzesc prea repede!
— Iaca vorbă! şi când te dai jos din pod?
— Mă duc la baltă, să tai stuf!…
— Şi când te-ntorci de la tăiat stuf?!…
— Mă urc în pod!…
— Atunci de unde vin „copchiii”?!…
— Dumnezeu îi trimete.
Deşi oameni săraci, se mai aflau la masa lor şi alte câteva neamuri din sat. Cina strămoşească – un borş de miel, cu miel fript, cu cozonaci şi ouă roşii – fu veselă, plină de glume; la sfârşit, moş Dumitru ieşi afară ca să dea şi el foc glugii şi să sloboadă focurile de puşcă tradiţionale.
Toată laia de copii, ba chiar şi cei mari, îl urmară. Noaptea era înstelată. Dumitru trase cu urechea la zgomotul îndepărtat al trenului care se ducea spre Galaţi, şi zise:
— Trece „ixpresu” de opt…
Apoi dădu foc stufului. Numaidecât, flăcări fumegânde se înălţară drept către cer, în mijlocul ţipetelor asurzitoare ale copiilor, cari dănţuiau împrejurul glugii ca nişte drăcuşori cu feţe roşii. Zarva fu şi mai mare când Dumitru descarcă cele două ţevi cu fultuială oarbă ale puştii sale de vânătoare, zicând, cu credinţă creştină, după fiecare foc:
— Christos a-nviat!
În clipa asta, mama Joiţa îşi luă fiul de braţ, îl trase mai la o parte şi-i zise pe un ton poruncitor şi cam sugrumat:
— Dă fuga la părintele Ştefan, vărul nostru, şi roagă-l din parte-mi să vie aici pe curând. Apoi, întinde-o până la moş-tu Anghel şi adu-l cu tine!…
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