Since the European Literature Network’s The Riveter magazine’s launch in 2017 there have been eight issues, previous ones devoted to translations into English of Polish, Russian, Nordic, Baltic, Swiss, queer, and German literature. The latest addresses the Romanian scene and bills itself as ‘the first ever magazine of contemporary Romanian literature in English.’ In fact, it focuses mainly on a particular area of Romania, Timișoara and Banat, though other parts of the country are covered.
With under 180 pages at the disposal of the guest editor, Tudor Crețu, director of one of Timișoara’s literary festivals, this can only skim the surface of Romania’s (and its diaspora’s) output. The emphasis is on fairly recent works, mixing well-known names with some unknown outside Romania. Crețu introduces the selection by explaining the evolution of Banat’s literary history before and after the 1989 revolution, an event in which Timișoara played a significant role. He stresses the richness of the region’s cultural heritage, sitting on the hinge between Central and Eastern Europe and soaking up a wide range of influences.
The rest of the magazine mixes poetry and prose with reviews and more general commentary. Many of the contributors, the poets in particular, will be unfamiliar to a non-Romanian audience, and some have never previously been translated into English, but there are a few familiar names such as Mircea Cărtărescu, Norman Manea, Ioana Pârvulescu and in particular Herta Müller, who needs no help with her career, though her inclusion is justified by her origins in Banat.
Providing further perspectives, Alistair Ian Blyth discusses translations and their publishers and the significant contributions he has himself made, not only working on Romanian literature but also Moldovan; and Susan Curtis of Istros Books looks at the publishing of translations from Romanian, with well-deserved plugs for her own efforts to promote Romanian writing to English-language readers.
The
Riveter aims to celebrate the best of European literature,
and assist accessibility, to which end lists of selected poetry and fiction by
Romanians (in German, Hungarian or French as well as Romanian) that have
appeared in English since 2010 provide a useful source for further
investigation. The Romanian Riveter celebrates a national
literature which deserves to be better known internationally.
