Foreword by Cleopatra LORINȚIU
Publisher: Attila KOPACZ
Editor: Irina AIRINEI
Translator: Vanesa MAGHERUȘAN
Lay out: Zita HORVÁTH
Poetry that reaches the soul of the reader. The honesty and clarity of the revelation of some thoughts and emotions make the poems chosen in this anthology, a test of poetic and civic honesty. Here I am as I am, seems to say the poet Maria Găitan Mozes, this was my life, with good and with less good, I assumed them all, and so I went through almost a century of history, a life marked by the soul belonging to these two countries: Romania and Israel. In the first, whose mother tongue formed me, I arrived at the dramatic moment of the war, as a refugee from Bessarabia. In the second I arrived by my own choice, I still live here today and I am grateful to them. I love and respect them both.
I did not put this statement in quotation marks because in fact it was not the poet who uttered it, but I understood that she would want to say it through her literary work. The conquering frankness, the supple rhythm of the verse, her serenity in the face of the trials of life make a good home in clear, bright poems, with often succinct uttering, crystalized and suitable for expression in Hebrew.
In a superb characterization, I would say even incomparable in the way we keep the measure of words, Zoltan Terner writes: “She gives us a wonderful lesson on how you can age beautifully. (…) What defines first of all the superb personality of the poet is the unusual twinning between the bold moral verticality and the delicacy of the soul. (…) Through her writing, Mărioara Găitan brings us a breath of well-being.”
I would add that a kind of reminder over time and space transpires from the question “Who are the heroes?”, obviously under the strong impression of the history of the State of Israel, but the poetry also brings to mind the drama of the war for the liberation of Romania from fascist occupation. pain and trauma, finally, universally human themes, the themes of the struggles for independence and the preservation of the identity of the national being. Those that never expire. When does poetry reach the reader’s soul, especially when it is translated into other languages?
(Memorial park with the monument dedicated to the sacrifice of Shmuel Halfon with 11 comrades in battle in the second war in Lebanon)
For the theme of heroism and personal sacrifice is nuanced by the theme of the survivor, the one who remains, by the theme of the eyewitness marked by pain and trauma, finally, universally human themes, themes of fights for independence and preservation of the identity of the national being. Those that never expire. When does poetry reach the reader’s soul, especially when it is translated into other languages?
Exactly when it touches the universal, generally human string, when it passes, through emotion, through lyrical craft, to humanistic artistic message. In fact, in the poet’s biography comprises everything: war and refuge, and poverty, fight for survival, and hope, always starting from the beginning, and perseverance, love for the innocence of childhood to which she dedicated much of her writings, and unspeakable tenderness of remembrance for her companions from the Mihai Eminescu School of Literature from the 50s of Bucharest, an institutional creation of the time, but which cannot be ignored precisely by the indisputable value of some names that grew there, and assiduous work as an editor, and then the beginnings of a new life in Israel, which opened another vision for her, but also allowed her to write in Romanian in the depths of her heart. A human life marked by literary friends, full of memories, from which, with the same unchanging gentleness and modesty, Maria Găitan Mozes shares with us through this beautiful anthology.
MARIA GĂITAN MOZES: WHO ARE THE HEROES?
Who are our heroes?/And who writes our history?/Those who die cut down by bullets,/Those who are maimed,/Those who remain/To carry through time their pains and memories?/Who are the heroes and/Who writes our history?/The many or those who rule?/ I’m anxiously looking for heroes./But there are only people/Who worry about the day’s petty chores,/Who hurry to work,/Enjoying themselves /when they can/Or/Engulfed by the storm of other troubles/That happen sometimes./I wonder if these /are the heroes?/Do these nobodies write/The history of our land?
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