One of the nicest things about doing this project has been the way it’s brought me into contact with people all over the world. Nothing cheers me up more at 6.30am on a Monday morning than logging into my stats and seeing the number of visitors who’ve clicked on to the blog from all parts of the planet.
This has also been invaluable when it comes to finding books from hard-to-reach places, so when malinkasstudio visited my site and left a comment in which she described herself as ‘a proud Moldovan’, I seized the opportunity to ask her what I should read from her country. Malinkasstudio confirmed my suspicions that there wasn’t much Moldovan literature in translation out there – in fact she smilingly said that she would probably be one of the first writers from the small Eastern European state to make it into English. However, she was pleased to see that I already had a book by her favourite author, Ion Drutse, on the list. She wasn’t sure which short stories the collection Moldavian Autumn contained, but if it had ‘Frunze de dor’ (an un-translatable phrase which she said would mean something like ‘Leaves of missing somebody’) and ‘The Last Month of Autumn’ she was sure I would like it.
That was enough of a recommendation for me. I tracked down a rather pricey copy of the 2001 translation on the internet, ordered it and sat back to wait for the book to arrive.
And waited. And waited. And, yes, waited some more. In fact six weeks went by without the collection appearing, by which time the bookseller and I concluded it must have got lost in the post. So, I tracked down another, slightly pricier copy and ordered that. A few days later I got a message from the vendor: unaccountably the book was missing from his warehouse. He was sorry, but he’d have to cancel my order.
Time was marching on. I was beginning to worry that I wouldn’t manage to get my hands on a copy before the end of the year, particularly given the long delivery times quoted by many of the rare book dealers on the net.
However, alongside the listings for Moldavian Autumn, I’d also seen another book in English translation by Drutse: The Story of An Ant. There was no information about it, beyond the fact that it contained illustrations. Intrigued by the title and anxious to have some kind of Moldovan reading matter in my life, I ordered that instead.
A slender pamphlet arrived through the post, containing two fable-like animal stories by Ion Drutse. The first, ‘Duck Hunters’, portrays the development of a touching friendship between an old farmer’s housekeeper and a chick hatched from a stolen duck egg. The second story, which shares the title of the book, follows an ant’s epic quest to find some food in a harsh, giant-sized world.
Although ostensibly simple, the stories contain subtle portraits of the motivations driving their characters. From the descriptions of farmer Uncle Trofim, a ‘deeply disappointed old man’, whose sense of identity is bound up with his dwindling flock of ducks and the zama his housekeeper makes from them, to the savage attack launched by the farmyard geese on the pampered favourite, Drutse’s sense of the needs and desires of his subjects underpins the narratives. The first story also contains a powerful explanation of the reason we often feel uncomfortable with the idea of eating animals that tend to be pets: ‘You can’t make zama out of something that rejoices your soul’, as the old woman puts it.
Striking imagery and quirky details help make the stories live. While trouble sticks to Uncle Trofim ‘like a burr’ and the sitting goose laughs at the odd-shaped duck egg hidden in her clutch, the ant’s view of the obstacles in her way – from a massive pair of ploughman’s feet to a dozing muskrat (‘There’s no lazybones like a muskrat in this world and any ant would have stopped and told the rat about it’) – keep us gripped by her quest. In addition, the impressionistic illustrations, which vary markedly in tone between the two stories, help enrich the reading experience.
That said, the text does have some problems. The translation is erratic at times with pronouns and tenses leaping merrily all over the shop. One or two words also seem to have got mangled in the process – the description of how ‘before the frost came, the goslings changed their pubes into feathers’, for example, can’t be quite right.
In addition, the structure of the stories is a little unusual. While the first story seems to shift focus from Uncle Trofim to the old woman, as though Drutse only makes up his mind who his main character is half-way through, the second story ends so abruptly that it seems the author has lost patience with it and is eager to move on to something else.
Reading them, I couldn’t help feeling that I wasn’t seeing Drutse at his best, particularly given malinkasstudio’s enthusiasm for him. However, the quirky touches and striking imagery made me intrigued to try more of his work. If anyone out there has a copy of Moldavian Autumn that I can beg, buy or borrow I’d love to hear from you – maybe I can read it next year!
The Story of An Ant by Ion Drutse, translated from the Moldovan by Iraida Kotrutse, illustrated by Nina Danilenko (Kishinev Literatura Artistika, 1988)
The Rest of the World poll is now open. Vote to choose my penultimate book of the year!
How wonderful to see this! I lived in Moldova for four years but as a speaker of Russian rather than Romanian (or Moldovan) I never got to read Moldovan writing.
Thanks. Wow, that must have been an interesting experience. What was it like to live there?
I hope you are able to find the book. I now have to go do a little research on Moldova. It is a country that I don’t know much about so I must find out more.
I know – I was the same. We hear so little about Moldova over here.
After reading a bit about Moldova, I wonder if you looked for English translations of Ion Creanga.
Thanks – interesting suggestion. From the little I know of Creanga, he seems to be counted more among the ranks of Romanian writers, although, being Moldovan-born he would certainly have been a valid choice. Although I have featured a few 19th century writers in the this project, I have been trying to stick to more contemporary work where possible, but you’re right, he would have been worth looking into if the Drutse proved impossible.
I really like the idea of reading a book from each country. I would love to do that some day. Although, I am ashamed that I have never heard of Moldova *blushes* 🙂
Thanks. I’m sure you’re not the only one! It’s amazing how little we hear about so much of the world. I knew nothing about it so many places when I started this quest.
I can’t make any promises, but I will make enquiries and see if I can find a copy of Moldavian Autumn (in English). I used to have a Moldavian poet friend and she got me interested in some of the Romanian-speaking authors there. But I haven’t kept up with it (or with her, sadly) in recent years.
That would be brilliant – thanks!
I just stumbled upon your blog (coincidentally not doing stumbleupon) and I love this idea! I will definitely be checking back. Good luck on the Moldovan hunt!
Thanks – good to have your company!
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You could also add to the list, in the hope that translations will be released soon enough, Vladimir Beșleagă (Zbor frânt = Interrupted Flight), Aureliu Busuioc (Pactizând cu diavolul = Making Pact with the Devil) and, from the younger generation, Alexandru Vakulovski (whose books are somewhat like Palahniuk or Irvine Welsh). As for poets, Grigore Vieru is the most accessible and popular one (a lot of poems about his country and mother), even though a lot more valuable are the likes of Emilian Galaicu-Păun (link: http://www.connotationpress.com/poetry/803-emilian-galaicu-pun-poetry-translated-by-adam-j-sorkin-a-claudia-serea) or Dumitru Crudu…
Excellent stuff – thanks so much. We definitely need more Moldovan literature in English
There is a new moldovan book in english: The Good Life Elsewhere, by Vladimir Lorchenkov. It’ll be released soon by New Vessel Press. I’ve read it and it’s awesome!
Brilliant – thanks for letting me know Camila. I’ll add it to the list when I next update…
Sorry, LondonChoirGirl, for not being find a Moldavian book with quality translation. Historically Moldova was flourishing with talented writers, musicians and artists. Most of them were sensational around Europe.
Thank you for blogging. What a great idea to read books from all over the world! Congratulations for finding truly astonishing trip in unthinkable cultures!
Thanks Tatyana. It was an interesting read nonetheless. I hope more Moldovan books will be translated into English in future. If you could choose one book for English-language readers to discover, what would it be?
Dear londonchoirgirl, I am from Moldova, and Ion Druță is among my favorite Moldovan authors! I think I read his “Frunze de Dor” 20 times 🙂 and everytime I find something new… It is the countryside and the soul of the Moldovan peasant that take me back to my childhood memories when I read this short novel. Did you get the book yet? Your idea of reading one book from every country in the world is amazing!
Thanks Cati. Wow – 20 times! It must be a good book. I still haven’t managed to get hold of a translation. Maybe next year…
It just happens that a copy is available here, and not very pricey too:
http://www.amazon.com/Moldavian-autumn-Ion-Dru~t%C2%B5a/dp/B004AZC1CG
Ooh – thanks!
I am right now living in Moldova and particularly interested in translated literature from Moldova. There is still not much available in English, but I would like to mention another interesting author, Nicolae Dabija. There is a poetry collection Blackbird Once Wild, Now Tame published in English translation, and according to Moldovan media his novel “Homework”, a major bestseller here, was published in English translation as well at Lumina Publishing House in Stamford, CT, although I haven’t seen any reviews or could track where I can find it (I bought the Bulgarian translation and it is on my TBR pile). In case you read French or German, there are more options, e.g. two more books by Lorchenkov (sequels to the book mentioned above) are translated in French. The controversial Romanian author Paul Goma was born in Moldova and has Moldovan, not Romanian citizenship, so he could be also counted for Moldova. And there is a tri-lingual anthology “Archipelago” (English/German/French) of contemporary Moldovan authors (Editura Cartier, Bucharest, distributed for free by the Moldovan Cultural Institutes and some Embassies). There is also a collection of plays by Nicoleta Esinescu “F**k you, Europa!” published in French translation. The novel “Kinderland” about the fate of the many abandoned children in Moldova is translated only in German as far as I know (as “Der erste Horizont meines Lebens”, Zsolnay).
I forgot: the author of “Kinderland” is Liliana Corobca.
Wonderful – thanks so much. I’ll have to check some of these out!
I’m trying to Read the World with 50% female authors, and also without bankrupting myself 😉 So I’m excited to share this amazing news with fellow book-hunters: There is a book by a female Moldovan author you can buy for £3.99! I haven’t read it yet, but it looks very interesting: https://www.amazon.co.uk/BESSARABIAN-NIGHTS-Stela-Brinzeanu-ebook/dp/B00IRJ9LEM/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Stela+Brinzeanu&qid=1611049229&s=digital-text&sr=1-1
Great news – thanks Sarah! Good luck with that quest. And if you haven’t already come across it, Sophie Baggott’s Reading Women Worldwide is a great source of books by women from around the world https://readingwide.com/
Thanks Ann – I hadn’t come across that site: very helpful! And thanks to you for the amazing resource of your website, too.