Babel

Author: Sonia Andras

  • On Being an Intellectual…

    education
    education (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

     

    Some people would think being smart means talking in big words about things nobody really understands. Of course, if one has learned enough SAT words from their SAT prep course with more than ten letters and is probably pronouncing them correctly (or, in some cases – like I sometimes do – use obsolete, long-dead words or their archaic pronunciation, pour l’amour de l’art (for the love of art), so to say, or, if this is indeed a linguistic troll/punk (as in the music and all, not necessarily the original meaning) – again, like I sometimes am –  most likely doing this pour les fleurs de coucou (for no apparent reason). (more…)

  • Unnamed soldiers: secret heroes, great causes, death and glory

    Napoleon Crossing the Alps
    Napoleon Crossing the Alps (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

    We all watched and maybe even loved stories of great heroes – kings, queens, generals – leading their armies to victory or glorious defeat. Each country or culture has its own such historical names that may have existed or not, and there are international names acknowledged and respected internationally. Nevertheless, we know about Caesar, Charlemagne, Napoleon and so on to name some less politically controversial names, but what do we know about all the nameless foot-soldiers that fought in the first lines?

     

    This post will be dedicated to these people and their portrayal in literature and in media, more or less contemporary. (more…)

  • Londoners: a great way to understand London without necessarily visiting it

    I must say that London has become my third favourite city in the world (after Targu-Mures my hometown and Bucharest which both started in times immemorial). There is something about it that either makes you fall in love on the spot now matter how hard your life is, or you hate it and don’t know how to escape from it.

    I found a really interesting book, with a cover-long title that would make people know, understand and love London even more (or just understand it if you are one of the London-haters): LONDONERS – The Days and Nights of London Now – As Told by Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Left It, and Long for It by Craig Taylor.

    The book is basically a series of interviewswith various Londoners, from the lady who gave her voice to the London Tube, to tourists, immigrants, people who became Londoners, who were Londoners all their lives and those who are no longer Londoners.

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  • The Question of Time Travel: From Movies and TV Shows to Philosophy

    English Heritage plaque for inventor of time t...
    English Heritage plaque for inventor of time travel (Photo credit: jaywood_uk)

    I remember a couple of years ago China (I mean the People’s Republic of China, of course) banned time travel movies. For some reason, at least in Eastern Cinema (I’m not sure about the rest, I haven’t been watching new stuff from Hollywood & co – but I did see at least a high-profile movie with a sort of time-travel plot – Looper, was it called?) there’s quite a trend of time travel and time-slip movies often running on the same time, in the same country.

    Because I’ve been watching mostly oldies and Korean, Japanese or Taiwanese dramas and movies (and some Chinese – I’m watching Myth – the drama – interestingly enough, considering the movie Myth with Jackie Chan, I researched it a bit and he’s a producer for the 2010 drama too!!! – now, but it may be a while until I can finish it for technical reasons – and I must admit I’m anxiously watching Faith), I couldn’t help but notice this trend. I mean I don’t mind – I love time travel movies. But only specific ones: to and from the past, preferably someone from the past coming to the present. I could blame it on my stars. After all, I’m a Cancer, and the Zodiac says I should be drawn to the past. I don’t mind that, although I don’t think I’d be able to adjust too quickly without all the present-day gooodies.

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  • Face to Face with Propaganda: Romania presented to the English-speaking world in 1985

    Blue communist graffiti on marble wallWell, I’m not going to comment much, for the ones who know how the (not only Communist) propagandistic wooden language sounds like, this post will be as clear as the day, for those who don’t – read my comments, and don’t take any quote literally!

    My source today will be from Prof. Andrei Oțetea’s A Concise History of Romania (English edition edited by Andrew MacKenzie), published at Robert Hall Limited, London. Here it goes…

    Romanian history is not a chronicle of kings and queens such as British children, learning the history of their own country, once had to commit to memory. True, there were Dacian kings, but the last of these, Decebalus, took his own life when his forces were overwhelmed by the Roman Emperor Trajan in A.D. 106. When the Emperor Aurelian withdrew from Dacia in A.D. 271 a long period of chaos followed until the separate principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia emerged in the fourteenth century. These to principalities merged under A.I. Cuza in 1859 and he may be said to be the first prince of Romania. His reign, however, was brief; he was deposed, and in 1866 Prince Charles de Hohenzollern Sigmaringen, an officer in the Prussian army, was elected Prince of Romania. He was crowned king in 1881. His descendant, King Michael, abdicated in 1947, so the reign of the Hohenzollern kings may be said to be a comparatively brief one. (pp 15-16) (more…)