Poetry
Cântice țigănești
Not translated into English
Miron Radu Paraschivescu · 1941
Synopsis
Songs that bring into poetry the picturesque world of the mahala, the poor suburbs of Bucharest: a vulgar but passionate world, made of small acts of bravado, which Constantin Cubleșan links to the Balkan romanticism of tavern songs. One hears the song of a girl admired by the whole neighbourhood, and the ballad of Rică, a handsome ruffian of the Obor district, who walks with a boyar's stride and wears an earring. According to Jurnalul, the book adapts street songs and urban folklore in the manner of Lorca's Romancero gitano.
Context
The collection appeared in Bucharest in 1941, at the end of the interwar period. From its publication, the critic Pompiliu Constantinescu compared it to Anton Pann and to Arghezi's Flori de mucigai, in which the world of the Roma had already entered poetry; according to Cubleșan, this comparison perhaps fuelled the grudge the poet later bore his elder. An edition illustrated by Marcel Chirnoagă appeared in 1972, and the radio has kept the poems the author recorded from 1964 to 1968, since gathered in book and record form.
Who it is for
A collection of songs in Romanian, in the language of the outskirts; no French or English translation has been found.
Prizes and reception
Its author's only masterpiece according to Jurnalul, and the book that established his reputation according to Constantin Cubleșan.