Table of Contents
Friday, 19 December: An Eventful Day
Saturday, 20 December: Commotion
Sunday, 21 December: A good day. With some exceptions...
Monday, 22 December: A Difficult Beginning to the Week
Tuesday, 23 December: The Chance Occurence
Wednesday, 24 December: Christmas Eve
Thursday, 25 December: Presents
Saturday, 27 December: Visiting
Sunday, 28 December: Press Review
Monday, 29 December: Time Passes
Tuesday, 30 December: Time Stands Still
Wednesday, 31 December: Future and Past
Afterword: A Thing of Beauty by Mircea Cărtărescu
Ioana Pârvulescu
LIFE BEGINS ON FRIDAY
Translated from the Romanian by Alistair Ian Blyth
For what you want is that life, and this,
and another – you want them all.
Miguel de Unamuno, July 1906
First published in 2016 by
Istros Books
London, United Kingdom www.istrosbooks.com
First published as Viaţa începe vineri, Editura Humanitas, Romania, 2009
Copyright © Ioana Pârvulescu, 2016
The right of Ioana Pârvulescu to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
Translation copyright © Alistair Ian Blyth
Cover design and typesetting: Davor Pukljak, www.frontispis.hr
ISBN: 978-1-908236-29-6 (printed edition)
ISBN: 978-1-908236-72-2 (MOBI edition)
ISBN: 978-1-908236-68-5 (e-PUB edition)
Istros Books wishes to acknowledge the financial support granted by the Romanian Cultural Institute
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Foreword
For a few years before 1900 the days were capacious. The people thrummed like telegraph wires. They were optimistic and believed, as never before and never again thereafter, in the power of science, in progress and the future. This is why the New Year was the most important time for them: the ever-renewed beginning of the future.
The texture of the world permitted every mad notion and often the mad notions became reality.
Romania was in Europe, and her capital was now a cosmopolitan city, which was making great efforts to become organized and civilised. In Bucharest, as every period document attests, you never had a chance to be bored, night or day.
Sensitive souls were fearful of unknown dangers. A man fended off electric light with his cane. A woman obstinately refused to let her son take her photograph, although she allowed her portrait to be painted. Neuroses were transformed into poetry; pain and opium went hand in hand. Tuberculosis, syphilis and dirt either killed or left deep wounds in body and soul. Evil had not vanished from the world, and ignoring it was not the best method of preparing for the future. There were people who fought it.
The newspapers had become aware of their own power and it was already possible to die for the written word. And already the written word betrayed them. Money was a problem, but not an end in itself, and there were plenty of people prepared to sacrifice all their money for the sake of a beautiful idea. Children were precocious in imitating grown-ups, grown-ups sometimes behaved like children, and curiosity about life was a joy that did not vanish at any age.
Before 1900, people believed that God desired their immortality, in the most palpable sense of the word. Nothing seemed impossible and nor was it. Every utopia was permitted. And playing with time was always the most beautiful utopia. Apart from that, people were quite similar in every respect to those who came before them and those who came after them.
For a few years before 1900 the days were capacious and people dreamed of our world.
They dreamed of us.
Characters
Dan Creţu or Dan Kretzu, 43, a stranger found unconscious in a forest at the edge of Bucharest
The Margulis family:
— Leon, physician, 47
— Agatha, his wife, 42
— Iulia, their daughter, 21
— Jacques (Iacob), their son, 10
Nicu (Niculae Stanciu, Nicuşor), 8, courier for Universul newspaper, the character who links all the other characters
Costache Boerescu, Chief of Public Security, deputy to the Prefect of Police, a friend of Leon and Agatha Margulis since their youth
General Ion Algiu, former Prefect of Police, friend of Costache Boerescu
Caton Lecca, current Prefect of Police
The