Writer and Translator Nora Iuga

Nora Iuga is the recipient of the Federal Republic of Germanys “Knight Commanders Cross

Luana Pleşea, 07.11.2015, 14:00

Writer and translator Nora Iuga has been awarded the “Knight Commanders Cross by the Federal Republic of Germany, in token of appreciation for her literary merits. It is not the first time that Nora Iuga receives a distinction from Germany. In 2007, she was awarded the Friedrich Gundolf Prize by the Deutsche Akademie fur Sprache und Dichtung, a reward that goes to personalities who contribute to the promotion of German culture around the world. The acceptance speech Nora Iuga gave on the occasion of being granted the Federal Republic of Germanys “Knight Commanders Cross was not a typical one. “My entire family was made up of stage artists, Nora Iuga said. “I never liked the idea of being one voice in a choir. I always wanted to be different. Being like that may pose a risk. Usually, nobody loves such people. As a rule, at the awarding ceremonies I have attended, the acceptance speech sounded completely impersonal, like a mandatory dress code, totally unimaginative, very much like a desert with no vegetation. Nora Iuga:

“Again and again, I feel tempted to touch upon such a statement, so that people can understand why I am the way I am. I am well aware that this trait annoys everybody, people appreciate those who comply with a certain style, with a certain mindset, with a certain mentality. The moment you do not come into line, people view that as an exception to the general rule. And, by and large, it looks like common people, the grassroots, and by saying that I dont mean to offend anyone, set the general trend. But it seems to me that we stagnate if we do nothing, apart from sticking to that generally accepted trend. That is why I think we should break off from that string of uniformities. Uniformity fossilizes.

In the “laudatio “ he gave at the awarding ceremony, ambassador Werner Hans Lauk provided an overview of the writers prestigious record, underlining that Nora Iugas ties with Germany had an early beginning. Thanks to her parents, both of whom were dancers, Nora Iuga began her education in a nursery school in Germany, and continued her studies in a German language school in Sibiu. She taught German in Sibiu for one year, then she was sacked, for political reasons. In 1968, Nora Iuga got her debut volume of poetry published. Having worked as a bibliographer with the Central State Library, she then got employment with the “Neuer Weg newspaper, actually the predecessor of “Allgemeine Deutsche Zeitung. Nora Iugas second volume was published in 1970, but the communist regime in Romania banned her from publishing.

In 1977, Nora Iuga had to renounce the editor position she held with Encyclopedic Publishers. However, she remained faithful to the German language through her contributions published by the “Volk and Kultur magazine. In the late 1970s, once she got her first translated work from German into Romanian published, Nora Iuga began her career as a literary translator and promoter of German literature. “Nora Iugas translations from E.T.A.Hoffman, Oskar Pastior, Gunter Grass, Elfriede Jelinek and Herta Muller had an essential contribution to the dissemination and reception of German literature and culture in Romania, enabling Romanian-language readers to gain access to those texts. Nora Iuga has always focused on intercultural transposition, something she achieved perfectly, the Federal Republic of Germanys Ambassador to Romania, Werner Hans Lauk, was very keen on mentioning. Little wonder then that Nora Iuga is one of the intellectuals who advocate the idea of “resistance through culture as being valid in the grim communist years as well.

“Yes, it is true. Resistance though culture is viewed rather badly by everyone today. The first time I noticed that kind of reluctance, a nearly brutal one, was with Nobel-prize winner Herta Muller, who vowed there is no resistance through culture, we can only speak of resistance if youre willing to take the most serious risks possible, if you risk your life telling the tyrant all you have to say, in other words. I believe every human fights in his or her own way, not all of us are born heroes, I keep wondering how many in our country were real heroes. Paul Goma took huge risks, Gheorghe Ursu suffered enormously, he was a victim, and so was Doina Cornea, and then I cannot help wondering why there are still voices which keep saying we were coward and we just brag about putting up resistance through culture. Yes, I believe in the resistance through culture, as right now, when I happen to reread all the poetry volumes I got published in those grim and fated years, when censorship worked, I realize that, nonetheless, rather much could be said. And I believe artists were able to find formulae by means of which they conveyed their messages, with no compromise whatsoever. It is terrible how much Romanian writers said in those times of censorship. And the public read poetry as in poetry they found not only an attitude of vocal dissent, but even of resistance, a stance it was impossible to take in the media, in the newspapers or on television.

We also spoke with Nora Iuga about the time when, under the communist regime, her books were banned for nearly a decade. With details on that, here is Nora Iuga herself.

“As for my being banned from publication, I can say I dont really like to be vocal about that. However, I must admit I was so proud when at that time I heard I was on the list of those who were undesirable for the regime. As a first reaction, I was so very vainglorious; I thought that I was indeed a strong and important personality if they feared me. However, in time, doubt literally tore me apart, since I said to myself that in a country like Romania, where personalities and values did not necessarily come in great numbers, they can dispose of me in the long run. As I was banned from publication for eight years and the ban was enforced o me when I was 40. The moment they placed the ban on my work I had only got two volumes published, so for me, the ban was something suicidal. I might have been disheartened for good.

Many of Nora Iugas volumes of poetry and prose have been published abroad: the novels “The Sixty-year old woman and the Young Man, (Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Slovenia, Bulgaria) “Leopold Blooms Soap (Bulgaria), “Lets Steal Watermelons (Bulgaria) and poetry “ Dangerous Whims (an anthology, published in Germany and Slovenia), “The Bus with the Hunchback (Germany), “October Poem (Germany), “The Heart as a Boxers Punch (France), “A Heart Coming on Stilts (Switzerland). Nora Iuga is the happy recipient of the most substantial DAAD (The German Academic Exchange Service) scholarship, offered by the German state to a foreign writer. In 2014, a documentary film was launched, “Nora Iuga Here, directed by Vlad Rotaru and produced by Cristian Cosma, who also wrote the screenplay.