Anthology of Romanian Fiction gets published in Germany

The launch of an anthology of Romanian contemporary fiction titled Das Leben wie ein Tortenboden. Neue Rumanische Prosa ("Life as a Cake Batter"), recently released by Transit Publishers in Berlin, was one of the highlights of the International Book Fair in Leipzig, held over March 15-18, where Romania was guest of honour. The anthology comprises Romanian contemporary texts published between 2002 and 2014 by writers such as Gabriela Adameşteanu, Bogdan Costin, Petru Cimpoesu, Adela Greceanu, Nora Iuga, Dan Lungu, Marin Mălaicu-Hondrari, Ovidiu Nimigean, Ioana Pârvulescu, Marta Petreu, Răzvan Rădulescu, Adina Rosetti and Lucian Dan Teodorovici. After the launch at the fair, the anthology was also presented at the Romanian Cultural Institute headquarters in Berlin.

The texts were translated as part of workshops hosted by the Romanian Cultural Institute in cooperation with the Romanian Department of the University of Humboldt. The workshops, which began in 2015 and were coordinated by translator Anke Pfeifer, are aimed at shaping a new generation of professional translators of Romanian and German. Another goal is to facilitate contact between Romanian writers, translators and publishers in the German-speaking space, with a view to promoting Romanian writers on the German book market.

Anke Pfeifer, one of the editors of the volume, has a close connection with Romanian literature. Her PhD thesis is titled "Elements of the Picaresque in Romanian Literature". She has given Romanian literature lectures at prestigious universities and has written articles on Romanian literature, as well as reviews of books translated into German. Anke Pfeifer believes the recently released anthology of Romanian prose will provide German readers with an overview of Romanian contemporary fiction. In an interview to RRI, Anke Pfeifer explained how this anthology was born as a result of the workshops held by the Romanian Cultural Institute in Berlin:

"The Romanian language workshops that I give are open to everybody. The participants are usually Romanian language students, former students or native Romanian speakers. But they are not designed as permanent courses. Two years ago there was a translation workshop coordinated by translator Ewa Wemme, but the participants only translated poetry. Then the Romanian Cultural Institute in Berlin organised a new project, focusing on prose translations, with a view to publishing an anthology. There were some texts by contemporary Romanian authors already translated at the Humboldt University, but these were only 6 texts, not enough for a volume. This is why myself and the other editors, and I would like to mention Daniela Duca and Valeriu Stancu especially, chose a few other texts as well. And the workshop participants, some of them students, translated the respective works. Obviously, during our classes we discussed the translations and decided on the final version. I can certainly say that it was a pleasure and a challenge alike for us to translate these works. And of course, the fact that they were supposed to be published in a volume was a great incentive for translators."

Anke Pfeifer also tells us that there were several stages in the compilation and editing the contemporary Romanian prose anthology published by Transit Publishers:

"Eight years ago, professor Valeriu Stancu from the Romanian Language Chair of the Alexander von Humboldt University in Berlin chose some Romanian texts that had just been published. But it was actually the students who worked on the translation proper that had the last say in the selection of the texts. They chose both short prose pieces and excerpts from novels, by authors like Dan Lungu, Lucian Dan Teodorovici, Bogdan Costin and Razvan Radulescu. We noticed that only male writers had been chosen, and because contemporary Romanian literature also has some very good women writers, in the second stage of the selection process we picked texts written by women. Some of them are writers that are already known in Germany, like Nora Iuga and Gabriela Adamesteanu, others are less frequently translated into German, such as Ioana Parvulescu, Adela Greceanu and Adina Rosetti. Our anthology was talked about in the media, for instance in the publication Neue Zürcher Zeitung, or in special shows devoted to the Leipzig Book Fair. Two weeks ago, at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Berlin, we presented it to quite a large audience. We are planning further presentations, in various cities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. And we hope many readers will show up in those cities as well."

At the Leipzig Book Fair, Romania was the guest of honour, and so were the Romanian literature projects organised by our guest today, Anke Pfeifer:

"At the Leipzig Book Fair, readers were quite interested in Romanian literature. Romania presented more than 40 translations, and the Romanian stand was constantly swarming with people leafing through the books. People attended the presentations given by the guest authors, as well as the debates concerning the Romanian culture and literature. I believe this year's fair and the newly released books will be a good starting point for those who want to know more about the Romanian literature. As far as I'm concerned, I'm planning a number of reviews, one on a novel by Stefan Agopian that has just been translated into German, and another one on a new book of poems by Ana Blandiana."