Author of 14 novels and over 300 stories
Romanian Novelist
Short
Doina Ruști is one of Romania’s leading contemporary novelists. She is the author of fourteen novels and three short story collections, widely acclaimed for their blend of historical fiction, fantastical elements, and political depth. Her work is studied in schools and has received major national awards, including the Romanian Academy Prize and the Writers’ Union Prose Award.
Her Phanariot Trilogy — The Phanariot Manuscript, The Book of Perilous Dishes", and Homeric — explores 18th-century Balkan history through magical-realist lenses. [The Book of Perilous Dishes] was published in English by Neem Tree Press (UK, 2022 & 2024). Other notable titles include Lizoanca at the Age of Eleven (translated into 7 languages) and The Ghost in the Mill, a sweeping narrative about Romanian communism.
Her most recent books — Occult Beds), Zavaidoc in the year of love, and Ferenike — are bestsellers in Romania.
Ferenike, her most personal and politically resonant novel, is an autobiographical fiction that spans six decades of Romanian history, guilt, and feminine resistance.
In parallel, she is a university professor and screenwriter, teaching cultural history and creative writing at the University of Bucharest.
Website: www.doinarusti.ro
Select platforms: Instagram \| YouTube
https://www.facebook.com/rustido
https://adevarul.ro/blogs/doina.rusti
Literary networks and thematic resonances: Mircea Cărtărescu, Gabriela Adameșteanu, Herta Müller, Olga Tokarczuk, Mariana Enriquez. More
Featured guest on ALTCEVA cu Adrian Artene – Romania’s most-watched cultural podcast (2025)
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DOINA RUȘTI’s (February 15th, 1957) ancestors are from Montenegro, they are Turks, Jews and especially Danubian Romanians, and her writings are outlined by a highlighted Balkanism and a mythical realm of various sources. She spent her childhood in a village in southern Romania (Comoșteni), raised by a family of teachers, who made great efforts to survive in a communist world. The absurd rules and chaos reigning at the end of the dictatorship are stressed in The Ghost in the Mill, a novel that depicts a fantastic universe, ruled by ghosts and hierophanies. The novel earned her the Writers' Union of Romania’s Award, and it was deemed "one of the most convincing and expressive works of fiction about domestic communism published in the last decade". (Paul Cernat).
Translated into German, it was acclaimed in the newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung: "Doina Ruști's book displays a wide range of literary skills, which will surely prevail in the Romanian history of the twentieth century."
In J. A. Weinstock's Encyclopedia, the style of the novel The Ghost in the Mill is classified as neo-Gothic.
Other novels are written in the same fantasy vein. Zogru (translated into Italian, Hungarian, Spanish, Bulgarian) brings forward an unusual character and a fantasy style akin to the one portrayed in Chagall's paintings, as noted in a daily newspaper from Santiago de Chile: “Full of humor in some scenes, tragic and fierce in others, marvelous and bright at times, like a Chagall painting, this wonderful story is governed by the terrible loneliness that encapsulates the human spirit in the absence of love.” (Pedro Gandolfo, El Mercurio)
The novel received the Writers' Union Award, alongside a scholarship from the Hungarian government and enthusiastic reviews, including in Italy.
The same style is used in novels such as The Little Red Man (2004), Homeric (2019) and Occult Beds (2021), but especially in The Book of Perilous Dishes. The latter, probably her most translated novel, was awarded the Prize for the best translated book by the Hungarian Writers’ Union (Budapest, 2017), and it was acclaimed for its fantastic narrative and style:
The Book of Perilous Dishes – a stylistic delight, essential literature, similar to Süskind’s Perfume up to a point and then to Evgheni Vodolazkin’s Laurus from that point forward. (Dan C. Mihailescu).
The Phanariot Manuscript (2015), partially translated into English, distinguishes itself by bringing into play a type of magical, fabulous and lyrical realism.
Other novels draw on raw realism. Among them, Lizoanca at the age of eleven, which has been highly praised by both the national and foreign press, was granted the Ion Creangă Award by the Romanian Academy in 2009. The novel was often admired for both its literary value (La Opinion – Murcia, La Jornada, Mexico) and authentic writing:
“Doina Ruști gradually unfolds the story and prolongs pain and terror until they reach unsuspected heights, by bringing their roots to the surface. She succeeded in writing about that dark and even invisible part of society, questioning many of its crucial aspects. Doina Ruști has the rare ability to depict the hypocrisy of man and society at large, the many displays of cruelty disguised as most harmless acts which, at the same time and under the guise of apathy in epic development, wield their ceaseless corrosive power. A pictorial and cinematic writing, achieved in part thanks to the perfect use of comparison.” (Ramón Acín, Turia, 2015).
A Budapest daily newspaper ranks it among the best books translated in 2015, along with Houellebecq's Submission, and Il Libero (Turin) compares it in style to Camus' The Plague.
The Little Red Man was very well received in our country and in Italy, acclaimed for its originality of delivery (La Stampa), complexity of theme (Il Venerdì di Repubblica) and fantasy distinctness (Stato).
„…un mondo allucinato, convulso, assurdo eppure coerente e reale quanto sa esserlo la fantasia, un bizzarro e imprevedibile Paese delle Meraviglie elettronico in cui Laura si avventura incantata e indomita come un’Alice telematica.” (Roberto Merlo –“Ritorno a Babele", Neos Edizioni, 2016, Torino)
Taking an interest in both the fantastic and the realistic realms, Doina Ruști succeeds in writing about the atrocities of the contemporary world just as convincingly as she does about high ideals. Her characters, whether realistic or fantastic, are memorable and outstanding. Her novels are often populated by rapists, murderers, starving people, corrupt and consumed by petty ideals. But with the same skill wielded by the well-versed novelist, Doina Ruști also builds fantastic characters, elves, goblins, ghosts, enchanted tomcats and sorcerers, a craft that prompted some critics to compare her work to that of Bulgakov, Süskind or Marquez. (apud Dan C. Mihailescu, Bojidar Kuncev).
The wide variety of themes, steadfastly moored to present times, as well as Doina Ruști’s distinctive ability to easily switch her narrative style earned her an unquestionable place among the best writers of contemporary Romanian literature. (Nicolae Breban).
Doina Ruști lives in Bucharest, is a screenwriter, and occasionally directs films. She directed a short film, after a story she wrote, Cristian, which premiered at Cannes, 2015, and was also nominated for other international festivals. She also wrote the exchanges between the characters in The Miracle of Tekir (received an award for the Best Swiss Film, Zürich, 2016) and the screenplay for the documentary The Greek Slave (directed by Germain Kanda), nominated for One World Romania’s, 2015.
Professor: The History of Universal Culture & Civilization. Currently only creative writing workshops at the University of Bucharest.
Convinced that giving up on the names of her ancestors is one of the great challenges man undertakes, she writes under Ruști.
This is the first exegesis of Eliade's work since the fall of communism, in which both his fiction and his scientific work are analyzed. It contains almost 100 symbols, arranged in two large categories: fundamental opposites and coincidentia oppositorum (harmony of opposites).
This is Doina Ruști's debut book. More
Her writings have been honored by exegeses and laudatory reviews in numerous daily newspapers and international literary magazines, including El Mercurio (Santiago de Chille), Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Il Manifesto, Las Últimas Noticias, La Jornada (Mexico City), Stato Quotidiano, Turia, La Stampa, La Opinión, Il Libero, Magyar Nemzet, La Repubblica, Beijing Daily and others.
Web page: http://doinarusti.ro
Trans Bianca Zbarcea
Leipzig, 2018
Member of The Writers' Union of Romania
Member of PEN Club Romania
Member of Dacin Sara
Writers & Fiction Makers Association (ACF)
Copyro
Doina Rusti lives in Bucharest.
Romanian Publishers (fiction): ART, Bookzone, Litera, Polirom, Vremea.
"The Ghost in the Mill", to Frankfurt
Read, men, what women have written about you!
I was kind of an explorer. I was expecting to discover amazing things, different from what my family discovered in the books they had read. My father loved poetry. My grandmother was reading contemporary novels, often Romanian ones. My mother was fond of the emotional romance books. And my grandfather’s reading taste was extremely diverse. Besides, he was the only one in the family who was reading even the newspaper. In this context, I secretly started to read Balzac at the age of 14. And not just one, but his entire volumes from our library shelf. The broad phrase and the solid structure of his novels gave me such comfort that I was convinced that I would not read any other writer for the rest of my life. Balzac was my first love or, in other words, that perfume that evaporates whenever one wants to retrieve it.
Goangzhou, Shenzhen (2018), Gavoi (2018), Santiago de Chile (2018), Istanbul (2015), Barcelona (2014), Budapesta (2007, 2014, 2015, 2018), Viena (2008), Plovdiv (2009), Torino (2009, 2011, 2012, 2013), Frankfurt (2009, 2018), Leipzig (2010, 2013, 2018), Moscova (2010), Roma (2011, 2012), Granada (2011), Dusseldorff (2013), Berlin (2013) .
Beijing (2019), Madrid (2019), Goangzhou, Shenzhen (2018), Gavoi (2018), Santiago de Chile (2018), Istanbul (2015), Barcelona (2014), Budapesta (2007, 2014, 2015, 2018), Viena (2008), Plovdiv (2009), Torino (2009, 2011, 2012, 2013), Frankfurt (2009, 2018), Leipzig (2010, 2013, 2018), Moscova (2010), Roma (2011, 2012), Granada (2011), Dusseldorff (2013), Berlin (2013).
Contemporary Writers, with
2007-2008 Training internship: Story editing, Script editing. Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning (WBL) & Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (NRDC). Coord. John Vorhaus.
2000 Ph.D, University from Bucharest
1976-1980 Faculty of Philology, "Al. I. Cuza" University, Iași
1972-1976 Garabet Ibraileanu Highschool (Classical Languages), Iași
When I graduated, I was 23 years old and i looked like a starved Asian. I was coming to Bucharest every month, carrying different manuscripts with me and trying to enter a publishing house. Usually there was someone, a janitor, and I could never get past him. Even now I have many files with short prose, that were very fashionable at the time. "The Ghost in the mill" itself dates back to the same period.
Bucharest University
Member of The Writers' Union of Romania
Member of PEN Club
Dacin Sara
Doina Ruști — Selected Works
Ferenike (2025, Humanitas) — 74,000 w; bestseller
An autobiographical novel based on a murder witnessed in a 1968 Danube village, weaving Balkan cultural textures with Cold War intrigue and historical-political ties involving Nixon, Ceaușescu, and Romania.
The Wild Girl (Sălbatica) (Booklet, 2025) — 65,000 w
A YA novel set during the Stalinist deportations, telling an optimistic love story between two teenagers. It explores resilience and hope amidst a dark chapter of history. The entire text is translated into English.
Zavaidoc in the Year of Love (Zavaidoc în anul iubirii) (2024, Bookzone) — 80,000 w
The love story of a famous interwar singer, set in 1923 and told from three different perspectives. A national bestseller and nominee for Bookzone’s Best Fiction Book.
Amorous Oddities from Phanariot Bucharest (Ciudățenii amoroase din Bucureștiul fanariot) (2022, Litera) — Bestseller
Around 50 short stories based on historical records and private manuscripts (lists of found, stolen, or purchased objects, etc.).
The Debauched Man of Gorgani (Depravatul din Gorgani) (2023, Litera) — Bestseller
A thematic short story collection set in the 18th-century Phanariot era, exploring various acts of debauchery.
Occult Beds (Paturi oculte) (2020, 2022, Litera) — 75,000 words
A sensual, esoteric novel set in Bucharest, blending urban realism with mysticism, erotic tension, and a spectral atmosphere. Fantasy and speculative fiction with strong appeal to YA readers.
Adapted into mini-films by 54 high schools.
Homeric (2019, Polirom)
The story of a magical plant, pressed between the pages of the Iliad—a fantasy-tinged mystery and love story, narrated by an enigmatic character whose identity is revealed only toward the end. The third novel in the Phanariot Trilogy.
The Book of Perilous Dishes (Mâța Vinerii) (2017, Polirom) — 80,000 words
The second volume of the Phanariot trilogy, blending magic, history, and culinary arts. Featuring sorcerers and enchanted recipes, the novel explores mystical and political intrigues of the 18th-century Balkans.
Internationally praised and translated into English, Spanish, German, Hungarian, and Chinese. Premiered in Budapest.
The Fiancée (Logodnica) (2017, Polirom)
A Norwegian man paid me to write the story of his great love for a Romanian woman. I agreed—on one condition: I would also tell her side of the story. What emerged is a sharp, ironic bestseller about love, illusion, and the unbridgeable gulf between Eastern and Western Europe.
The Phanariot Manuscript (Manuscrisul fanariot) (2015, Polirom; 2022, Litera)
The first novel of the Phanariot Trilogy — an atmospheric love story set in 18th-century Bucharest, based on a real historical manuscript: an actual contract for the sale of a human being. Richly researched and layered, the novel explores themes of power, desire, and destiny in the Ottoman-influenced Balkans. It has gone through multiple Romanian editions and has been translated into Albanian, with excerpts published in English, Turkish, and Italian. A full Spanish translation is currently underway.
Lizoanca at the Age of Eleven (Lizoanca la 11 ani) (2009, Trei; reissued by Polirom 2017, Litera, in the author’s series, 2023)
A powerful and controversial coming-of-age story set in rural Romania, based on a true case of an 11-year-old girl accused of causing illness in an entire village. Awarded the Romanian Academy’s Ion Creangă Prize. Translated into German, Spanish, Hungarian, Serbian, Macedonian, and Italian.
The Story of an Adulterer (Mămica la două albăstrele) (2013, Polirom; Litera 2024, author’s series)
A psychological, realist novel exploring the hypocrisy surrounding child adoption and the exhaustion of the family institution, all set against the backdrop of an adulterous affair. Featuring elements of crime and deep psychological insight.
Four Men Plus Aurelius (Patru bărbați plus Aurelius) (2011, Polirom) — 50,000 w
A bizarre short novel, told with a comic-strip sensibility, about a woman who seemingly accidentally kills four men, while grappling with a psychosis centered on the belief that she killed Aurelius—the beloved kitten of her grandfather.
The Plaid Shirt and 10 Other Tales from Bucharest (Cămașa în carouri și alte 10 întâmplări din București)(2010, Polirom; 2023, Litera) — 45,000 w
A collection of eleven fantastical urban stories featuring time travel, miracles, love, and death—where Bucharest itself becomes a living character. The tales are subtly interconnected, culminating in a unified finale. Written in a style reminiscent of Mariana Enriquez. Several stories from this volume have been translated individually into various languages.
The Ghost in the Mill (Fantoma din moară) (2008, 2017, Polirom; 2024, Litera, author series) — 110,000 words
My most important novel and greatest success to date. Upon publication, several literary magazines dedicated entire issues to it.
A complex and stylistically innovative novel about Romanian communism, built around a rewritten biography told in the rhythm of a thriller, with a gothic atmosphere. It explores the idea that no crime can be judged by laws other than those that created it.
Winner of the Union of Romanian Writers’ Prose Award. Translated into German.
Zogru (2006, 2013, Polirom; Litera 2022)
The story of an immortal being who lives through history from Dracula’s era to the present—a picaro who dwells in human blood and alters destinies. Also a witty and humorous dismantling of the vampire myth, exploring human solitude with irony. Winner of the Writers’ Union Prose Award. Translated into Italian, French, Spanish, Hungarian, and Bulgarian.
The Little Red Man (Omulețul roșu) (2004, Vremea; 2020, Litera) — 100,000 w
A fable-like fantasy and metafictional manifesto about storytelling and transformation. Set during the early years of the internet, it follows a woman’s rebellion and the uncanny appearance of a little red man—born from the frustrations of a society just emerging from communism.
My literary debut and personal manifesto, the novel explores themes of isolation, feminine revolt, and the mutability of narrative itself.
Awarded by Convorbiri Literare magazine. Translated into Italian (two editions).
Platanos (forthcoming) — approx. 70,000 words
A fantasy novel developing a story studied in Romanian schools. Currently in print.
NB: I have also written nonfiction, including The Dictionary of Symbols in Mircea Eliade’s Work.
Dorëshkrimi fanariot (Manuscrisul fanariot), trad. Maniela Sota (2024, albaneză, Prishtinë).
A malom kísértete (Fantoma din moară), trans. Szenkovics Enikő. (2024, Budapesta),
Zogru, Les Editions du Typhon; Marseille, 2022. Trad. Florica Courriol
The Book of Perilous Dishes(Mâța%20Vinerii%3C) https://neemtreepress.com/book/the-book-of-perilous-dishes/>, Neem Tree Press, London, 2022, 2024 (trans James Ch. Brown).
L’omino rosso, Sandro Teti, Roma, 2021 (trad Roberto Merlo)
Cong Quanshan Dao Pingyuan, trans Siqi Zhu, De Li Zan, Beijing, 2019
La gata del viernes (Mâța Vinerii), trans Enrique Nogueras, Editura Esdrújula Ediciones, Granada, 2019
Freitagskatze (trad Roland Erb), Klak, Berlin, 2018
Zogru trad. Sebastián Teillier, Descontextos Editore, Santiago de Chile, 2018
Das Phantom in der Mühle , trad. Eva Wemme, Klak Verlag, 2017, Berlin
The Truancy, The Stockholm Review Literature
The Phanariot Manuscript (trans Liana Grama &Andrew Davidson), Trafika Europe, Penn State, University Libraries, nr 8, 2016
The lover (trans Andrew Davidson), Trafika Europe, Penn State, University Libraries, nr 8, 2016
Eliza (Lizoanca) trans. Alexandra Kaitozis, Antolog, 2015, Skopje
Eliza a los once años, Ediciones Traspiés, Granada, 2014 (trans Enrique Nogueras)
Lizoanca tizenegy évesen trans. Szenkovics Enikő Orpheusz Kiadó, Budapest, 2015
Fenerlilere ait elyasmasi eser (Manuscrisul fanariot), frag, trans. Leila Unal, Sözcükler , 58, aprilie, 2015, Istanbul
Zogru, Sétatér Kulturális Egyesület, 2014, prin bursa "Franyó Zoltán", oferită de guvernul maghiar (trans Szenkovics Enikő)
Lizoanca, Horlemann Verlag, Berlin, 2013 (trad Jan Cornelius)
Berlin: Jan Cornelius, Doina Ruști, Georg Aescht, Gabriela Adameșteanu
Lisoanca, Rediviva Edizioni, Milano, 2013 (trad Ingrid Beatrice Coman)
Apartamentul 26, trans. Oana Ursulesku, Koracic, Belgrad, 2013
L’omino rosso, Nikita Editore, Firenze, 2012 (trad Roberto Merlo)
Robero Merlo, Doina Ruști, Marco Dotti, Sabian Trzan
Bill Clinton’s Hand, Bucharest Tales, New Europe Writers, 2011, (coord:A. Fincham, J. G Coon, John a’Beckett)
Kareli gomlek ve Bukreș'teki Bașka On Hadise (Cămașa în carouri și alte 10 întâmplări din București), trans. Cristina Dincer, Kalem Kultur Yaynlari, Istanbul, 2011
I miei ginecologi, in Compagne di viaggio, Sandro Teti Editore, 2011 (trad Anita Bernacchia) (coord Radu Pavel Gheo, Dan Lungu)
Ura pri univerzi, Zgodbe iz Romunije, Sodobnost International, Ljubljiana, 2011.
Zogru (trad. Roberto Merlo), Ed Bonanno, 2010, Roma; Catania
L’omino rosso (trad Roberto Merlo) în Il romanzo romeno contemporaneo, Ed. Bagatto Libri, 2010, Roma.
Roma: Stefano Petrocchi, Mircea Cărtărescu, Doina Ruști, Oana Bocșa Mălin, Horia-Roman Patapievici
Zogru (frag.) și prezentare biobibliografică, în 11 books contemporary romanian prose, Ed. Polirom, 2006, traducere de Alistair Ian Blyth
Zogru (roman), Balkani Publishing House, Sofia, trad: Vasilka Alexova, 2008.
Învingătorul - antologia revistei Nagyvilag (trad. Noémi László), Budapesta , sept/ 2010
Cristian (trad. în fr. Linda Maria Baros), Paris, rev Le Bateau Fantôme , no. 8, 2009, ed. Mathieu Hilfiger
Cristián (trad. Sebastián Teillier), Madrid, rev. El fantasma de la glorieta, nr. 16/2008,
The begining (poem), in Under a Quicksilver Moon, 2002, SUA, Library of Congress,
Dicționar de simboluri din opera lui Mircea Eliade(frag.) în La Jornada Semanal, nr. 455; 456, 2003 (traducere: José Antonio Hernández García)
Director
The Soldier’s Book, documentary, 2018
Umbra perfidă a unei iubiri (The insidious shadow of love), SM, fiction
Ascona Film Festival, 2017
Festival Dona i Cinema – Mujer y Cine – Woman & Film, Spania, 2017
Cinefest, Los Angeles, 2017
GOLDEN BRIDGE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Moscova, 2017
185 de ani de existență a ANR (Homage to the National Archives of Romania), Documentary
Cristian (written&directed by Doina Rusti), SM, fiction, 2015. Selected at Goa Festival; CineFest, Los Angeles; Corner Cannes; Independent Film Festival and Windsor Festival; Christian Film (Award for Best Foreign Film); Les Films de Cannes à Bucarest, 2015,
National Archives (written&directed by Doina Ruști), documentary.
Romanian Litterature (written&directed by Doina Ruști), documentary.
Writer
Nuns witch (directed by Marius Barna), L documentary, docudrama, CNC project financing. in post-production
Sun Dance (directed by Cornel Gheorghita), documentary, L, financed by CNC, 2015
Treasure naive (d. Copel Moscu), documentary, financed by the CNC 2015 post-prod.
Servant Greek (d: Germain Kanda), documentary, docu-drama, Elephant Film, co romanao-Swiss project ORW, 2015
Cream truffles, LM, fiction, Libra Film (Tudor Giurgiu) project funded CNC. Developing.
35 minutes after (directed Cristi Toporan), fiction, Short.
Fraud, directed by Cristian Panaitescu independently , fiction, short. 2014.
Apartment 26, indep. (Directed by Alexandra Băilă), fiction, short.
Dialogues and adaptation
Miracle at Tekir (directed by Ruxandra Zenide), Elephant Film, Zurich
LM, fiction, 2015 (completed) Award best picture Swiss, Zurich, 2015:
Ateneu (literary magazine) Prize for Prose, 2015
The Romanian Academy Ion CREANGĂ Prize, 2011
The Romanian Writers' Union Prize for Best Prose/2008
The Prize of the Bucharest Writers’ Association/2007 Convorbiri literare (literary magazine) Prize for Prose, 2006
Nomination for The Book of the Year Award 2008, 2016
Diploma for supporting National Archives (ANR), 2016
The Golden Medal of "Schitul Darvari", for Literary Activity, 2008
Excellence in Teaching - National Award (2000)
"Full of humor in some sequences, in other tragic and ferocious, sometimes fantastic and luminous, like a Chagall painting, which is predominant in this wonderful story [ "Zogru"] is the figure of the terrible loneliness in which lies the human spirit " (Pedro Gandolfo, El Mercurio, August 19, 2018)
"The Phantom is the narrative catalyst that makes secret forces manifest, especially those of a sexual nature, being also the most visible, single faith, dissolved in the last part of the novel." (Markus Bauer, Neue Zürcher Zeitung )
"In my opinion, the confidence, the artistry of portrayal, the exact and original description of the environment, the quest for a subtle epic crescendo, the illusion of stagnation make Doina Ruști a first class prose writer in current literature." ( Nicolae Breban, when granting the Award of Romanian Academy, 2011)
"Extraordinarias cualidades litterarias." (Antonio J. Hbero, La Opinion, 3 01 2015)
"An ironic and seductive story." (Giuseppe Ortolano - The Friday of the Republic , March 23, 2012, nr 1253)
"Amazing is the fire of a row of stunts of pungent and fulminating expressions that the author devises to describe situations and moods of her protagonist." (Alessandra Iadicicco. La Stampa , no 1815, May 12, 2012)
"Stupefacente è il fuocco di fila di trovate di espressioni pungenti e fulminanti que l'autrice escogita per descrivere situazioni e stati d'animo della sua protagonista." (Alessandra Iadicicco. La Stampa, nr 1815, 12 mai, 2012)
"The talented Romanian writer Doina Rusti, who published Lisoanca, the story of an eleven-year-old who infects an entire village with syphilis and makes victims even among her peers, is making a fool of herself, saving herself as an imaginary creature from another world . The book is also inspired by the great "health" novels, such as The Plague of Camus, where crime takes root more easily in a context of widespread disease. These are certainly the models. " (Gianluca Veneziani, Libero , May 18, 2013)
"Fa il verso ai noir fantastici la brava scrittrice rumena Doina Rusti, che ha dato alle stampe Lisoanca , storia di un’undicenne checontagia con la sua sifilide un intero villaggio, mietendo vittime anchetra le coetanee, salvopoirivelarsi una creatura immaginaria venuta da un altro mondo. Il libro si ispira anche ai grandi romanzi «sanitari», come La peste di Camus, dove il crimine attecchisce più facilmente in un contesto di malattia diffusa. questi sono certamente i modelli." (Gianluca Veneziani, Libero, 18 05, 2013)
"With her shocking book about violence against children, Doina Ruști is making a name for herself with us too. The book gets under your skin and is heavy fare. The sophisticated style contrasts with the brutal plot." (Martina Freier, ekz)
"Even the smallest detail of the novel is veridical" (Magyar Nemzet, December 31, 2015)
"A very admirable story, by the way, very well told. Highly recommended." (Miguel Baquero, The storm in a glass , December 16, 2014)
Mâța Vinerii - a stylistic jubilation, a vital literature, such as Suskind's Perfume to a point, and Evgheni Vodolazkin's Laur, from another point on. (Dan C. Mihăilescu)
The Ghost in the Mill is an imaginative novel, in line with autobiographical fiction, in which magic realism and daily realism intertwine. [...] This mill, which is an axis mundi, the center, the hearth and the obsession of the village, where the character has no clue if he has met the angel or the devil, this mill is the place where a murder occurs, as at the dawn of all worlds: a certain Max, an epileptic, is killed by mistake [...] and everybody is obliged to keep silent, thus becoming accomplices in the murder. We have all been accomplices in what has defined and punished us. This is the parable of communism. A novel with substance, a sinewy prose which, I repeat, equals a part or several parts of Mircea Cărtărescu’s Orbitor”. Dan C. Mihailescu, The man who brings the book, ProTV
"Mit ihrem erschütternden Buch über Gewalt an Kindern macht sie sich auch bei uns einen Namen. Das Buch geht unter die Haut und ist eine schwere Kost. Der anspruchsvolle Stil steht im Gegensatz zu der brutaen Handlung." (Martina Freier, ekz)
"even the smallest detail of the novel is veridical" (Magyar Nemzet, 31 decembrie 2015
"Una historia muy admirable, por cierto, muy bien narrada. Muy recomendable." (Miguel Baquero, La tormenta en un vaso, 16 12. 2014)
The love is happiness to be only a rotting cloth in the wound of a stranger.
If there is no reward, there is no play. People need reward to come into play.
“If you need to clear the air with these gentlemen, better remove yourself from the car!” Julia’s boyfriend, or whatever he was, didn’t seem like much. I had fought more fearsome men in my life.
When I heard him mentioning my mother, whom he had started bespattering in something resembling the English language, calling her “a Norwegian whore”, I opened the door and headbutted him without the slightest hesitation. I yelled at the top of my lungs too, so that bitch, Julia, could hear me loud and clear: “I’m an Irish man, you fucking asshole, I’m from Belfast, we would stick some Semtex up your ass" trailer
Full of humor in some sequences, in other tragic and ferocious, sometimes fantastic and luminous, like a Chagall painting, which is predominant in this wonderful story [ "Zogru"] is the figure of the terrible loneliness in which lies the human spirit.
Pedro Gandolfo, El Mercurio, August 19, 2018
The Phantom is the narrative catalyst that makes secret forces manifest, especially those of a sexual nature, being also the most visible, single faith, dissolved in the last part of the novel (the novel The Ghost in the Mill).
Markus Bauer, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Mâța Vinerii - a stylistic jubilation, a vital literature, such as Suskind's Perfume to a point, and Evgheni Vodolazkin's Laur, from another point on.
Raluca Andreescu, The Ghost of Communism Past The Birth of Post-Communist Gothic Fiction, Zittaw Press, 2011
Dan C Mihăilescu
The novel Eliza a los once años by Doina Ruști has exceptional literary qualities
Doina Ruști convierte su novela en una furiosa causa general contra la depravación de los valores éticos que han de regir cualquer sociedad desarrollada. Mas alla de su enorme valor documental, esta novela releva las extraordinarias cualidades literarias. (Antonio J. Ubero, La Opinión, 3 01, 2015)
Antonio J. Ubero, La Opinion
En esta línea, sorprende la capacidad de Doina Rusti a la hora de entrelazar la historia de Eliza (indagación en su personalidad infantil: valor de los zapatos, de los cruasa- nes...) con la historia de quienes la prostituyen (no olvidar las viejas cos- tumbres y tradiciones que sobre ellos revolotean). También sorprende la capacidad a la hora de reflotar, bajo una pátina amable, la hipocresía per- sonal y social o el tema de la violen- cia, impactante esta desde la primera frase, siempre visible en la novela y en permanente función erosiva.
Ramon Acin, Turia, nr 115, 2015
The great novel like Camus's The Plague.
Gianluca Veneziani, Libero Quotidiano
Lizoanca is a groundbreaking book written in a style refined and nuanced.
Martina Freier
Even the Smallest Detail of the novel is veridical ...
Maiorca, ravishing in her unique beauty, but also a little sorceress, the perfect disciple of her witch mother, Tranca, hipnotizes Leun with her Gypsy magic, while heraling him of his swollen nose, caused by bad berries, warning him of devilish side-effects. Finally, they are having a romantic night, in Bozăria, a place where impossible love and magic turn possible. After their night together, his supreme drive will be that of making her a dress so special that nobody can afford, a dress made of the finest silk, fromMalta. Maiorca is however promised to a Gypsy slave, the property of the boier Doicescu.
Puskás-Bajkó Abina, JOURNAL OF ROMANIAN LITERARY STUDIES, nr 9, 2016
A wonderful story, impeccably written.
Miguel Baquero, La tormenta en a vaso
Doina Rusti is an excellent prose writer, of great talent and intuition;
Norman Manea
As regards the literary value of the novel Lizoanca at the age of eleven, I think it is one of the most outstanding in current literature. The narrative intelligence, the fluidity of action, the invariably astonishing eloquence of the text, the shortness, the characters'pithiness, the accuracy of gestures, highly defining within a scene (approached shortly and directly, no introductions, sometimes hardly drafted auctorial reflections) and the way each short chapter enters into the whole - are hall-marks of a great novelist.
Gelu Ionescu, Apostrof,
In my opinion, the confidence, the artistry of portrayal, the exact and original description of the environment, the quest for a subtle epic crescendo, the illusion of stagnation make Doina Ruști a first class prose writer in current literature.’
Nicolae Breban, when granting the Award of Romanian Academy, 2011
... I do not have much time for reading ... but it was enough to open one and I could not close it until I read it through. The other book struck me down, too. Doina Ruști is an excellent prose writer, of great talent and intuition.
Norman Manea, about Four men plus Aurelius and Lizoanca
The product of a powerful original prose writer, a rara avis in post communist Romanian literature, The Ghost in the Mill is not only a first-rate literary event of the current year, but also one of the most convincingly poignant works of fiction addressing the topic of local communism to be published during the last decade.
Paul Cernat - Revista 22, Bucureștiul cultural
The Ghost in the Mill is an imaginative novel, in line with autobiographical fiction, in which magic realism and daily realism intertwine. [...] This mill, which is an axis mundi, the center, the hearth and the obsession of the village, where the character has no clue if he has met the angel or the devil, this mill is the place where a murder occurs, as at the dawn of all worlds: a certain Max, an epileptic, is killed by mistake [...] and everybody is obliged to keep silent, thus becoming accomplices in the murder. We have all been accomplices in what has defined and punished us. This is the parable of communism. A novel with substance, a sinewy prose which, I repeat, equals a part or several parts of Cărtărescu’s Orbitor”.
Dan C. Mihăilescu, Omul care aduce cartea, ProTV
Doina Ruști has the vocation of a builder constructor, the capacity to build a meaningful narrative and exuberant imagination. If asked to recommend certain characters, pages or sequences from the second part of The Ghost in the Mill, I wouldn’t know which to mention first, because almost all of them are remarkable.
Bianca Burța Cernat - Observator cultural
The Ghost in the Mill is, from my point of view, the best novel published last year.
Șerban Axinte – Observator cultural
The characters drawn by Doina Rusti are incredibly genuine: the author has the rare gift of seeing things both in a synthetical and a contingent way, including detail within the portrait. The core of the novel is the second part: The Mill, being slightly over 200 pages and exceptional. It is this time-space condensed sequence that reveals the great qualities of the author; these are the narrative construction and the capacity to suggest the texture (substance) of a certain humanity.
Mihai Iovanel, Cultura
The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary Cinematic Monsters (Routledge, New York)
„Romanian author Doina Ruști’s novel The Ghost in the Mill (2008) exploits the device of haunting to revisit her nation’s recent history, including the effects of the Chernobyl accident in Ukraine, in 1986”
Romanian author Doina Ruști’s novel The Ghost in the Mill (2008), writer Manuel Rivas, The Crpenten’s Pencil (1998) in wich the ghost of an artist executed by Falangist militia haunts a pencil (and its future user).
Jeffry Andrew Weinstock,
Her talent does not necessarily stand for her ability to build phrases, but characters and situations which are not only convincing, but also give you the sentiment of contingency.
The theme of communism suits very well with such a gifted writer, the demoniacal history of the terrible 45 years that Romania has undergone in the isolated space of a village.
Doris Mironescu - Suplimentul de cultură
Doina Rusti joins the elite of our still youthful prose writers with her third novel, both ambitious and masterful. (...)
The whole construction is remarkable: the epic matter, both dense and fluid, typologically diversified and symbolically rearticulated; the varying rhythm, alert or slow, of the narrative; the clever assemblage and great control. And above everything, an obvious artistic maturity.
Daniel Cristea Enache - Timpuri noi, Ed. Cartea Românească, 2009, p. 177
The Ghost in the Mill is, without any doubt, one of the landmarks of Romanian contemporary prose, because of the technical clearness of the writing which simulates innocence, the morbid-exuberant imagination and, last but not least, the convincing manner in which it revisits the totalitarian period, with tender detachment, obsession for details and understanding.
Gabriel Cosoveanu: Ramuri
The novel [Zogru] is filled with an atrocious realism, showing a vision as veridical as possible strictly of contemporary reality, but it escapes in the fantastic in a way as natural as Marquez’s famous Remedios was rising to the sky while she was hanging the laundry to dry." (Horia Garbea in Saptamana financiara Journal, March 27th, 2006).
Horia Garbea, Saptamana financiara Journal
"The fabulous, the miraculous, the supernatural blend with the petty history, in detail, even in the day-to-day life. A substantial and gripping novel, an altogether unwonted presence on the current literary stage.
Daniel Cristea-Enache, România literară Journal
"The protagonist [The Ghost in the mill ] is indeed a scepter, hidden in a ruined mill, a topos of horror, but an obsessive attraction for people of Comosteni-village. In several hundred pages, the novel exposes the story of a family and many individual micro-narrations. The characters are transformed in kafkian style under the influence of totalitarian system, so that the final section, entitled Two days, is a delta for all wild rivers of life with the flavor of burnt rubber.”
Gabriel Coșoveanu, Ramuri
The Ghost of Communism Past The Birth of Post-Communist Gothic Fiction, Zittaw Press, 2011
"Writing The Ghost in the Mill in order to exorcise the haunting spectre of communist times,
Doina Ruști marks an interesting break with the Romanian literary tradition. In tune with
international trends, she follows the pattern of ghost stories to reactivate a dreadful past that would not be stifled or silenced. Through the intrusion of unexplainable spectres in the life of a rural community under dictatorial rule and through the central image of a threatening and luring old mill, Ruști manages to create a Gothic novel born out of a history of fear, secrets, betrayal, guilt and broken ties. In so doing, she moves beyond the magic realism to which many writers resorted in the late communist and early post-communist period in an attempt to escape the levelling pressure of socialist realism and the censorship that came along with it. Although her use of Gothic themes and motifs represents a deviation from both old and new Romanian literary norms, which have never really accommodated the genre, the negotiation of the collective past with the tools provided by the Gothic ultimately proved successful, bringing the author high critical acclaim and international recognition. Ruști capitalizes on the genre’s interest in individual trauma and unrest, in the shattered autonomy of the individual, in the loss of coherence, wholeness and in fragmented consciousnesses, in failed relationships, oppression and suffocating anxiety. She deftly adapts the seemingly unlikely Gothic toolbox to Romanian social realities before December 1989, making the most of the genre’s tried and tested disquieting, disruptive potential"
Raluca Andreescu
Doina Ruști is the same prose writer of driving force, of a misleading volubility able to drag out ambiguous effects from the most low-pitched prosaism.’ (Gabriel Coșoveanu, România literară, 8 iulie, 2011)
Gabriel Coșoveanu
In her novels, Doina Rusti creates scenarios and psychologies that unreel like the windows of a hypertext.’ .
Roberto Merlo
Doina Ruști is a writer who always breaks out from reality restraint, in order to flow, like Aladin, on the enchanted carpet of imagination. Her prose provides all reasons to get confused, and a superficial reader stands the risk to remain prisoner or disenchanted at the sensational level of the topic. This seems to be the case with the recent novel, For men plus Aurelius (Polirom Publishing House, Iași, 2011), a story with literary fast-food ingredients: into a thriller, characters with no psychological depth, an alert simplicity of the narration.
Gabriela Gheorghișor, Luceafarul
This is a book that I would recommend to those who enjoy literary fiction that does not keep rigidly to a timeline and who could cope with the magical realism aspects of the narrative. Whilst this may not be a novel for everyone, I enjoyed it and am glad that I read it.
The translation here is extremely well-done, but it’s the story that shines with a beautiful use of language, a fascinating plot, and characters who are by turns terrible, silly, and enchanting people. Patca and Caterina are especially wonderful, although Cuviosu and Maxima piqued my curiosity as well.
Ruști creates a Bucharest that is enthralling and captivating as she blurs the lines between fantasy and historical fiction. With Patca as guide, the city’s whimsical warrens and mystical machinations provide fantastical fodder for its people. Sure, the curiously fluid timeline of The Book of Perilous Dishes can lead to misdirection and misunderstanding, but that might be the point. If nothing is ever as it seems, then you must respect every possible detail, no matter now fleeting. Cooking can be a lot like writing: it tells you about the environment you’re in through the details of a recipe or story, especially when you engage in the delicate art of stylistic fusion.
Ruști’s writing excels in her descriptions of food, surroundings, clothes, appearances, and more. It’s extremely tactile: you can sense the environment and actions, from feeling the swirls of cloth and tasting the dishes to following the action as it flows throughout the streets, markets, and homes of Bucharest. Ruști also imbues Patca with a precocious fusion of childlike wonder and world-weary mysticism. Our main character has been forced to mature a bit quickly, but she still retains an innocence about the machinations of the grownups in her world.
Although historically affiliated with the 2000 generation, Doina Ruști was trained under the canons of the eighties, which she renounced, hence the difficulty of fitting her in a literary direction, in a biological or creative generation, as she possesses a unique aesthetic formula and style, as several critics, including Dan C. Mihăilescu[2] and Cătălin Sturza[3], have noted.
Doina Ruști has created an epic architecture of great complexity, with thoughtful diegetic discontinuities, as the action builds gradually, with an obvious interest in new techniques, with postmodernist links of great finesse. In fact, she created a reputation as an atypical author from many points of view, and upon brief research of the texts that have been written about her work, we notice that the originality of style and epic resolutions take precedence.
A lot has been written about her novels, around 150 studies and chronicles, most of them overwhelmingly positive, which we must admit represents not only a performance, but also proof of a good reception of her work. Italy, Germany, Spain, England – these are but a few of the 15 countries in which she had her work translated, where her novels had a good distribution and a critical reception to match. A prestigious magazine, such as Turia, edited by the Instituto de Estudio Turolenses, dedicates a thorough analysis to her in the same issue in which another Romanian writer is praised: Mircea Cărtărescu. The exegesis refers exclusively to the novel Lizoanca at the age of eleven, translated into Spanish, and is signed by a well-known writer: Ramón Acín. Right from the start, he notes the literary value of the novel Lizoanca, the epic strength of the prose writer and the talent to create artistic tension: "with a gradual unfolding of the story, Doina Rusti prolongs the pain and horror to unsuspected limits, bringing their causes to the surface."[4] The exegete dwells further on the characters, emphasizing their value within the writing. And it's not simply about construction, it's about characterological subtleties. In the same vein, Antonio J. Ubero writes an extensive chronicle in a daily newspaper with a large circulation, such as La Opinion[5], focusing, in particular, on the "exceptional qualities" that make this novel good literature: "Doina Ruști turns the novel in a general call to action, furious against the decay of ethical values that must govern any evolved society. Beyond its enormous documentary value, this novel reveals extraordinary literary qualities."[6] Antonio J. Ubero's arguments are epic and stylistic. He comments on various scenes, and makes references to the strong message of the book. In Mexico as well, Lizoanca was favoured with an empathetic reception. "The novel distinguishes itself by a singular narrative style, bringing together the reminiscences of communism and quality fiction," writes La Jornada,[7] Mexico City's top daily.
The originality of her writing is also highlighted in reviews of other novels. Along the same lines, Leonardo Sanhueza writes in a magazine from Santiago de Chile[8] about the parabolic layer of the novel Zogru, seeing in it particular meanings, which the Romanian exegesis do not highlight: "it is about a singular book [Zogru]" which examines the history and meaning of "belonging to a territory."
In Italy, Zogru is perceived by its organic side and rather as an escape from myth. Marco Dotti writes in the daily Il Manifesto that Zogru "accesses that temporality of fantasy which, in essence, is nothing but a return of a demon to humanity, an unfortunate connection with the earth[9]", and Roberto Merlo[10] believes that the originality of the text comes from the way it combines various aesthetic categories that support the fantasy register, without falling into the trap of repetition. The novel raised many debates. In Bulgaria, Bojidar Kuncev[11] sees in it a Cioranian writing, through the type of tragedy approached in the novel, an idea that none of the Romanian exegetes noticed, but which is also found in a chronicle from the daily newspaper Il Mercurio,[12] from Santiago de Chile. In it, Pedro Gandolfo, an exacting critic from Santiago, emphasizes, in a consistent review, the tragic vein of the book, seeing in this story a parable of existentialist alienation: "what predominates in this wonderful story [Zogru] is the trace of the terrible solitudes of a human spirit without love."
In this chapter on originality, we must also include the construction of the denouement, not infrequently noting the "unexpected ending", like in this chronicle of The Little Red Man, published in Stato Quotidiano.[13]
Another aspect related to Doina Ruști's work is its visually expressive capacity. "A pictorial story (through the perfect use of simile: ("face crumpled like dirty panties", "hands like carpet beaters", "beautiful like a sleeping cat", "a summer like a jar of jelly", etc.) and a cinematic one", says Ramón Acín[14] about Lizoanca, and La Stampa reinforces this idea, talking about the expressive plasticity in The Little Red Man.[15] In the same sense, Pedro Gandolfo compares Zogru to Chagall's paintings, considering them well-defined and of valuable visual metaphoricity[16]: "Full of humour in some scenes, in others tragic and ferocious, sometimes fantastical and bright, like a Chagall painting..."
The cinematic unfolding of the plot creates the impression of an undoubted reality in Doina Ruști's novels, as the daily Magyar Nemzet[17] notes: "Even the smallest details are lifelike in the novel Lizoanca".
Literary criticism often focuses on a reliable message, with certain social implications. Zürcher Zeitung, commenting on The Ghost in the Mill, sees in this novel a kind of artistic synthesis of communist experiences[18]. But most often invoked are the social reverberations in Lizoanca. Ramon Acin states that "Doina Rusti managed to write about that dark and even invisible part of society, questioning many of its essential elements.[19]", and Zeppel believes that Lizoanca poses problems related to human rights and immigration policies in the European Union[20]. Likewise, Zsidó Ferenc[21] and Nagy-Horváth Bernadett[22] talk about the pronounced moral side of the same novel. And Gianluca Veneziani makes an interesting comparison between Camus' The Plague and Lizoanca in the daily newspaper Il Libero[23].
Perhaps somewhat more unusual are the references to the type of fantasy cultivated in some of her works, which Romanian criticism hardly ever mentions. "The Little Red Man, in its Italian version, is seen as a dystopia and compared to works by Dave Eggers, Tommaso Pincio or Gary Shteyngart.", according to Noemi Cuffia[24]. And placing the novel The Ghost in the Mill in the neo-Gothic style is a new direction. Listed in The Ashgate Encyclopaedia of Literary Cinematic Monsters[25] by Jeffry Andrew Weinstock, Doina Ruști's novel is presented in a new light, which also entails a different kind of reception. The same idea is extensively analysed and argued in a study published in English by Raluca Andreescu[26]. It includes aesthetic arguments, dealing methodically with the "faces" of the ghost, as hypostases of fear and individual complexes that dominate a village. The unusual type of fantasy is also noted by Alyse Mgdrichian, in a chronicle to The Book of Perilous Dishes.[27]
Synthesizing these exegeses, which are not few, we find that, in the view of foreign critics, Doina Ruști's writings are characterized by an obvious originality, by a type of specific truthfulness, often supported by striking and unusual expressiveness, by lexical inventiveness.
Much more numerous, the Romanian critical texts dedicated to Doina Ruști are difficult to manage. Overwhelmingly, these are positive reviews or chronicles. Many important critical voices try either to place her in the landscape of post-Twentieth-century prose, or to identify the structural or semantic marks that display the undoubted particularity of her writing. Dan C. Mihăilescu classifies her as a member of the post-Ceaușescu era[28], because her debut was a non-fictional[29] work in 1997, and her first novel appeared in 2004 (The Little Red Man), during the 2000’s generation’s rise. Although her age can be placed at the end of the 80s, by the date of her editorial debut she remains linked to the 2000s.
There is a system of reference, perhaps more emphasized in Romanian criticism than in foreign criticism, an acute need for analysis that often evokes Lovinescian synchronism. The large number of writers and works invoked in support of this analytical genre gives both the measure of the exegete's culture and that of the prose writer's receptivity towards universality. Some of Doina Ruști's exegetes venture that her fantasy prose is closer to that of Marquez[30], an association that appears in several chronicles and which is rejected by Mihaela Ursa, in favour of a reference to Rushdie: "Rather than the Marquez model, the present novel [The Ghost in the Mill] activates the model of Salman Rushdie in Shame, where an infernal, apocalyptic beast is born and feeds on the fundamental imbalance of a community[31]." Sometimes the referrals are even more distant. Commenting on Zogru, Luminița Corneanu conjectures that "One of the most persistent impressions after reading the book is something of the vitality and freshness in A Midsummer Night's Dream". Others think of Bulgakov: "The procedure of the descent of the miraculous into everyday life reminds, through its humorous effects, primarily of Bulgakov, Ovidiu Verdeș[32] believes. Constantin Dram[33] follows the same idea.
Critical notes lean towards reference fiction. Dana Sala compares Baricco's Silk and Doina Ruști's Phanariot Manuscript[34], Dan C Mihăilescu says that The Book of Perilous Dishes is "a stylistic jubilation, a vital literature, like Suskind's Perfume up to a certain point and Eugene Vodolazkin’s Laurus to another, furthermore[35]"...
In other chronicles, it is said that the prose writer "also sketches a sui-generis mythology of the city of Bucharest, thus joining the series of those fascinated by Bucharest, from Mircea Eliade to Mircea Cărtărescu[36]."
The Ghost in the Mill (2008, 2017) remains the novel which established her. Paul Cernat[37] states about this novel that it is written "by a strong and original prose writer", and it is "one of the most convincing and expressive fictions about domestic communism published in the last decade". It is a laudatory statement, which many other critics make. Paul Cernat wrote about many of Doina Ruști's works, considering that she "writes well, expressively and 'virile', with an accuracy, fluency and casualness, able to simultaneously control multiple registers – imposing herself through the force of the narrative, well tightened in the straps of a substantial composition. Recovering the "need for the Story", the prose writer associates it, justifiably, with the need to recover our historical memory. Paul Cernat is also the most careful exegete of Doina Ruști, not missing any detail. One of his observations refers to the epic mechanism through which the real event goes through the stages of its fictional becoming, or, as he explains it, in Doina Ruști's work the naked fact goes through spectacular metamorphoses, without, however, altering the informative core. The originality of the prose writer lies in the way in which she possesses the rare art of placing the message in a memorable and unusual context[38]. Few of her exegetes have noticed this inclination, and among them, Dan C. Mihăilescu says it most bluntly: "The Ghost in the Mill is a fictional novel, along the lines of an autobiography, in which magical realism and everyday realism intertwine[39]."
The originality of the epic approach, a trait meticulously praised in international exegeses, is also emphasized in numerous local chronicles, signed by Bianca Burța-Cernat, Daniel Cristea Enache, Alex Ștefănescu, Tania Radu, Cristina Balinte, Alina Purcaru and many others. Mircea Muthu, commenting on The Phanariot Manuscript, finds that the novel, among other things, brings as a novelty a kind of "historical grammar[40]". The remark refers to the lexically supported layer of national history. A more general remark, related to the same quality, is made by Tudorel Urian: "The historical novel The Phanariot Manuscript details the extent of the talent of one of the very important authors of recent years[41]. Modest, talented, always original, discreet, removed from the spotlight of worldly life, Doina Ruști naturally became a first-rate author in the library of Romanian prose writers today." In the same vein, Nicolae Breban (upon offering the Academy’s Award[42]) praises, among other things, the "exact and original description of the environment" in Lizoanca. And Adriana Bittel writes about an "original formula[43]", and from Doris Mironescu's perspective, originality comes from the profound way in which Doina Rusti not only freed herself from postmodernist clichés, but gained a unique vision[44].
The key word in relation to Doina Ruști's writings is originality, most of the time with exact reference to the subject or the character. Moreover, it is not difficult to notice that from one novel to another, she approaches themes that are as unusual as they are afterwards eagerly pursued, because what no one has noticed yet is that Doina Ruști creates trends, has the ability to leave behind epigones. As Luminița Marcu, Liviu Antonesei or Mircea Mihăieș noted at the beginning, she mixes fiction and realistic epic, in a formula that is neither magical realism, nor Bulgakovian satire. "Intelligence, including artistry, was of great use to the author in choosing the formula and, above all, in covering it in the text! A novel [The Little Red Man] that you read with the pleasure of reading a detective novel, but with actual aesthetic stakes." states Liviu Antonesei[45], and Mihăieș remarks "the pleasure of creating imaginary worlds, that is, realities that you can touch with your hand[46]."
Each novel brings compositional novelties. None of the characters in Romanian literature resemble Zogru, The Ghost in the Mill has an unusual structure, and Lizoanca starts from a real, metaphorized case.
Next, we need to emphasize her ability to construct, almost unanimously noted. Doina Ruști's novels have a solid epic foundation, a realistic subject and observations. In this sense, Bianca Burța-Cernat also lauds the author in a reference article with the suggestive title: Rehabilitation of realistic illusion[47]. The analysis is careful and well-argued: "Doina Ruști has a gift when it comes to building, the ability to create fiction with stakes and an overflowing imagination. (…) If I were asked to recommend certain characters, pages or scenes from this second part of the novel The Ghost in the Mill, I wouldn't know where to start, because almost every aspect here is remarkable. "
In the same sense, Daniel Cristea Enache[48] places Doina Ruști "in the elite of prose[49]." Cristina Balinte[50] also talks about the well-built epic." Doris Mironescu agrees with this opinion: "Her talent is about construction, characters and situations that not only convince, but give you the feeling of presence. The imagined scenes are compelling, and their cascading sequence overwhelms[51]". In contribution to this vision, Mihai Iovănel notes: "The core of the novel is, among the three parts, the second part, The Windmill: it is slightly longer than 200 pages and it’s exceptional. In this compressed space-time sequence, the great qualities of the author are best revealed: the construction and ability to suggest the texture of humanity[52]."
Some critics have attributed the clarity of construction to the many techniques of portrayal. For example, the novelist Ioan Groșan states that Doina Rusti uses "a science of portraiture[53]," and Tania Radu observes the impeccable construction of the characters: "One of Doina Rusti's critics noticed that all her characters are defined equally well, with an unusual poignancy. The hall of fame in Lizoanca at the age of eleven is no exception[54]." Moreover, this remark is found in many chronicles, and it must be said, here, that the characters gain consistency in the context, most of the time a deeply human one built on traditional foundations. Vintilă Mihăilescu best formulates the idea: "With Petrache Notaru we find ourselves in the first founding myth, even in a kind of cosmogony of sin: if the basis of any human society is the taboo of incest, this world that birthed Lizoanca was founded precisely on the overthrow of this taboo, under the confused protection of some diffuse divinities.[55]."
Profound, with reference to both sociological and mythical facts, the anthropological approach of Vintilă Mihăilescu somewhat widens the space of reception into the area of the epic construction and justifies the impression of strong realism, which Bianca Burța Cernat tackles: Lizoanca "is of a strong realism, solid, built with that self-confident pen of the "objective prose writer[56]". Technically, the construction arouses the interest of criticism. A famous philologist like Gelu Ionescu (the exegete of Eugen Ionesco's work and the unmistakable voice of Europa Liberă) delivers an applied analysis of the novel Lizoanca, insisting on the epic intelligence and composition, which in Doina Ruști's novels is impeccable[57].
After reading the enormous critical material, what is left behind is a talented writer with an indisputable body of work. I noticed that both foreign and Romanian exegeses insist on style, literary qualities, but above all, the originality of her novels. Many of the annotators of her work appreciated the complexity of her fictional worlds, with their historical settings or epic developments, in a never-ending story, but also the veracity supported by a solid construction. (fragment from the doctoral thesis)
Pompilia Chifu
[1] Study partially taken from the doctoral thesis
[2] Dan C. Mihailescu, Omul care aduce cartea, Pro TV, April 15th, 2010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4S8DVDEQxQ
[3] * Cătălin Sturza, Observator cultural, April 16th, 2010*
[4] TURIA. Revista Cultural no. 115, 2015, p. 234
[5] La Opinion, 03.01.2015
[6] Antonio J. Ubero, La Opinión, 03.01.2015
[7] April 5th, 2018
[8] Leonardo Sanhueza, Las Últimas Noticias, Santiago de Chile, May 7th, 2018
[9] accesses that temporality of fantasy which, in essence, is nothing but a return of a demon to humanity, an unfortunate connection with the earth" (t.n.), in Il Manifesto, May 15th, 2011. The text can also be found here: https://www.micciacorta.it/2011/05/i-demoni-della-romania/
[10] Quaderni di studi.., no. 5, 2010, Edizioni dell’Orso, Torino, p. 134
[11] About fate in Zogru, Literaturni Balkani, Sofia, 1/2009
[12] August 19th, 2018
[13] “A substantial novel with a dash of mystery that, by the end, perfectly achieves its goal of leaving the reader enthralled.” Roberta Paraggio, in Stato Quotidiano July 3-5th, 2012. It can also be found here:
https://www.statoquotidiano.it/29/09/2012/macondo-la-citta-dei-libri-89/101608/
[14] ibidem, p. 325
[15] “The explosion of original, poignant expressions is entirely overwhelming.” (t.n), Alessandra Iadicicco, La Stampa, nr. 1815, May 12th, 2012
[16] ibidem
[17] December 31st, 2015
[18] “Doina Ruști's book showcases a wide range of literary skills, which give the measure of posterity in the Romanian history of the 20th century” (t.n.), Markus Bauer, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zürch, 4.01.2018
[19] ibidem, “Doina Ruști managed to write about that dark and even invisible part of society, questioning many of its essential elements.” (t.n)
[20] Deutsch-Rumänische Hefte*, Jahrgang XVII · Heft 1 · Sommer 2014
[21] in Székelyföld 4/2016
[22] Ambroozia 2/2016
[23] May 18th, 2013
[24] Tazzina di caffè, May, 2016: “On the border between health and illness, between real and fantastic, between mysticism and the everyday, this book explores, in a fresh style, a dystopian vision, reminding me of The Circle by Dave Eggers, Panorama by Tommaso Pincio and Super Sad True Love Story by Shteyngart.”
[25] Routedge, New York, 2016
[26] vol . Studies in Gothic Fiction, Zittaw Press, 2011
[27] Shelf Media Group, April, 2022, Los Angeles
[28] vol I-III, Polirom Publishing House, 2005-2007
[29] Dictionary of symbols from Eliade's work
[30] Horia Gârbea, Ziua literară, January 22nd, 2005
[31] Apostrof, no. 11, 2008
[32] Cuvântul, June 2006
[33] Convorbiri literare, February (110), 2005
[34] Weaving a Narrative from Metamorphoses in Alessandro Baricco`s Seta and Doina Ruști's Phanariot Manuscript – ALLRO, Volume 22, 2015
[35] https://www.facebook.com/LibrariaHumanitasDeLaCismigiu/videos/1452430624777965/?pnref=story
[36] Gabriela Gheorghișor, Dilemateca, May, 2010
[37] Paul Cernat, Comunismul românesc în moara realismului magic, in „Revista 22”, Bucureștiul cultural, no. 2, of December 2008, https://revista22.ro/bucurestiul-cultural/bucurestiul-cultural-nr-152008-i
[38] ibidem
[39] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKyeX9uWL6o&feature=youtu.be
[40] Apostrof no. 4 (311), April, 2016
[41] Viața Românească no. November 11th, 2015
[42] See the holograph text in the Annex
[43] Formula AS, no. 854, 21.02/2009
[44] Suplimentul de cultură, May 9-15th, 2009
[45] Liviu Antonesei – Timpul, March, 2005
[46] Cotidianul, August 13-14th, 2005, p. 17
[47] Observator cultural, no. 459, of 29. 01.2009
[48] Daniel Cristea Enache in Timpuri noi, Cartea Românească Publishing House, 2009
[49] Timpuri noi, Cartea Românească Publishing House, 2009, p. 177
[50] Cultura, April 6th, 2006
[51] Suplimentul de cultură, May 9-15th, 2009
[52] Cultura, 29.01.2009, no. 4
[53] Observator cultural no. 792, October 2nd, 2015
[54] Revista 22, April 7th, 2009
[55] Dilema Veche, April 16th, 2009
[56] Revista 22, Bucureștiul cultural, Oct 6th, 2009
[57] Apostrof, no. 10/2009
Pompilia Costianu Chifu: What was written about Doina Ruști
Lizoanca at the age of eleven (Lizoanca la 11 ani)
The Ghost in the Mill (Fantoma din moară)
Zogru
The Phanariot Manuscript (Manuscrisul fanariot)
The Phanariot Manuscript (Manuscrisul fanariot)
The Ghost in the Mill (Fantoma din moară)
The Little Red Man (Omulețul roșu)
The Little Red Man (Omulețul roșu)
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Coord. LECT. UNIV. DR. HABIL. FLORINEL I. OPRESCU
Drd. EFTENIE ANCA LUMINIȚA
Timișoara, Univ de Vest
https://www.uvt.ro/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Rezumat-Eftenie.pdf
By: COSTIANU, Georgeta Pompilia.
Contributor(s): IFRIM, Nicoleta [cond. șt.].
Universitatea "Dunărea de Jos" din Galați 2022
https://arthra.ugal.ro/handle/123456789/9153?locale-attribute=ro
Adina Mocanu - autor (despre Lizoanca la 11 ani):
01/02/2013 - 31/01/2016 FI, Beca per a la formació de personal investigador, AGAUR, Generalitat de Catalunya
A / To Universitat de Barcelona
https://www.euromedwomen.foundation/pg/en/profile/adinamocanu
UNIVERSITATEA DE MEDICINĂ, FARMACIE, ȘTIINȚE ȘI TEHNOLOGIE ,,GEORGE EMIL PALADE”
DIN TÂRGU MUREȘ ȘCOALA DOCTORALĂ DE LITERE, ȘTIINȚE UMANISTE ȘI APLICATE
Coord. Prof. univ. dr. Dorin ȘTEFĂNESCU
Drd. Andrada Giorgiana PARCHIRIE
Univ Brașov
Coord. Prof unv Rodica Ilie
Drd. Oana-Larisa-Oanea
Novels
Sălbatica, Booklet, 2025
Ferenike, Humanitas, 2025
Zavaidoc în anul iubirii, Bookzone, 2024
Paturi oculte, Litera, BPC, 2020
Homeric, Polirom, Fiction Ltd, 2019
Logodnica, Polirom, Fiction Ltd, 2017
Mâța Vinerii, Polirom, Fiction Ltd, 2017, Top 10+, 2018
Manuscrisul fanariot (roman), Polirom, Fiction Ltd, 2015, Top 10+, 2016, 2017
Mămica la două albăstrele (roman), Polirom, 2013
Patru bărbaţi plus Aurelius (roman), Polirom, 2011,
Cămașa în carouri și alte 10 întâmplări din București (puzzle epic), Ed. Polirom, 2010
Lizoanca la 11 ani (roman), Ed Trei, 2009, Polirom, 2017
Fantoma din moară (roman), Ed. Polirom, Ego. Proză, 2008, 2017
Zogru (roman), Editura Polirom, Iași, 2006; 2013
Omuleţul roșu (roman), Ed. Vremea, București, 2004, 2012
Stories
collections
Depravatul din Gorgani, Litera, 2023
Ciudățenii amoroase din Bucureștiul Fanariot, Litera, 2022
Periodics, antologies
Pădurea albastră, manual, clasa a VII, Geanina Oprea
Cocrișel, în Când viitorul era mic (coord.Florentina Sâmihăian) cuvânt-înainte de Liviu Papadima, ilustraţii de Oana Ispir Dan Ungureanu; ART, Arthur, 2021
Herr, în Treisprezece, Litera, BPC, 2021
Platanos, manual pt clasa a VIII-a, Ed. ART, 2020
Secretul, „Antologia Echinox”, nr.1, 2018
Kant and Max, în antologia „PEN95 România”, 2017
Umbra perfidă a unei iubiri, revista „Apostrof”, nr. 8, 2016
Uniune europeană, în volumul Cum iubim, Editura Vellant, 2016
Milițianul pierdut, în volumul Scriitori la poliție, Polirom, 2016
Cream Truffles, „România literară”, nr. 31, 2015
Pădurea Râioasa, „Ramuri”, nr. 2, 2014
35 de minute după, „România literară”, 2014
Vizita, „România literară”, nr. 8, 2013
Fiatul negru, „Viața românească”, nr. 9-10, 2013
Prințul Avolo, în volumul Cui i-e frică de computer? Coord. Tina Sinmihăian, Liviu Papadima, Editura Arthur, 2013
Trattoria Amore, „Catchy”, 30 aprilie, 2012
Cinematograful din mall, „România literară”, nr. 7, 2012
Criptele ADN-ului, „Ziarul financiar”, 15 iunie, 2012
Amantul, „România literară”, nr. 29, 2011
Cum a început blazarea lui Cici Bezergheanu, „Bucureștiul Cultural”, nr. 107, 19 iulie, 2011
Magazin provincial, „Obiectiv Cultural”, 2 mai, 2011
Fluierul roșu, revista „Timpul”, martie, 2011
Apartamentul 26, „Timpul”, martie, 2011
Amănunte pierdute, în „Literatura română contemporană”, antologia „Echinox”, 2011
Cerceii cu topaze, „Bucureștii Vechi și Noi”, Editura Subiectiv, 2011 (coord. Andrei Slăvuțeanu)
Năltărogul, „Bucureștii Vechi și Noi”, Editura Subiectiv, 2011 (coord. Andrei Slăvuțeanu)
Mult așteptatul ceas al D-nei Glodeanu – „revista 22”, „Bucureștiul Cultural”, nr. 103, 2010
Diavolul îndrăgostit, „Revista la plic”, nr. 4, 2010, Chișinău
Mâna lui Bill Clinton, „revista 22”, „Bucureștiul Cultural”, nr. 95, 2010
Mesajul din sticlă, „Mnemosyning”, „Triade”, 2010
Ginecologii mei, în volumul „Tovarășe de drum” (coord. Dan Lungu, Radu Pavel Geo), Editura Polirom, 2010
Amiaza unui manaf ucigaș, „România literară”, nr. 25, 2010
Spiridușul de pe strada Batiște, „Luceafărul de dimineață”, nr. 1-2, 2010
Dincolo de poarta mov, în volumul Care-i faza cu cititul, Editura Art, 2010 (coord. Liviu Papadima, Tina Sâmihaian)
Învingatorul - „Convorbiri literare”, martie, 2009
Darul lui Marțisara, în volumul Bookătăria de texte, „Clubul ilustratorilor” (coord. Florin Bican), 2009 (volum colectiv)
Prăvălia de peruci, „România literară”, nr. 52, 2009
Poveste de Paște, „România literară”, nr. 15, 2009
Domnul deputat se prăbușește, „Nouă nuvele politice inedite”, Editura Tritonic, 2009, coord.
Horia Garbea (volum colectiv)
O crimă și patru oameni care trăncănesc, revista „Hyperion”, 1-3, 2009 (povestire scrisă în 1990)
Lacătul și cheia, „România literară”, nr. 45, 2008
SIGCHLD, fork () and sleep (), sub titlul Lecția de istorie, „România literară”, nr. 29, 25 iulie, 2008
Cireșele din asfalt în volumul „Farse, lacrimi și o găleată de sânge”, Editura Limes, 2008 (coordonator Mircea Petean) - antologia USR
Unchiul meu, poștașul, „Mozaicul”, nr. 4, 2008
Uniune europeană, „România literară”, nr. 48, 2007
Cristian, „România literară”, nr.17/2007
Țâțe, în volumul „Povești erotice românești”, Editura Trei, 2007
Lângă Biserica Sf. Silvestru, „Convorbiri literare”, noiembrie, 2006
Lulu, „Vatra”, nr. 11-12, 2005
Mesajul, „Viața Românească”, nr. 8-9, 2004
b a s m e
Frumoasa din Lapte, Omul Roșu s.a în Basme și povestiri mistice românești, repovestite (în colaborare cu Horia Gârbea și Liviu Ioan Stoiciu), Editura Paralela 45, 2007
Visul spiridușului, în volumul Cel mai mult și mai mult, Editura Art, 2017 s.a
e d i ț i i, texte publicate
în alte limbi
(selectiv)
L’omino rosso, Sandro Teti Editore, Roma, 2021; trans Roberto Merlo.
The Ghost în the Mill* (Fantoma din moară) (frag), in Your Impossible Voice*, 2021, trans Ileana Marin
Lizoanca, ŠTRIK , Belgrad, 2020.
Cong Quan Shan Dao Ping Yuan De Li Zan, Si Chuan Min Zu Chu Ban She, Sichuan 2019
La gata del viernes, Esdrújula Ediciones, Granada, 2019, tans. Enrique Javier Nogueras Valdivieso.
Ártó receptek könyve (Cartea bucatelor rele), versiunea maghairă a romanului Mâța Vinerii, Orpheusz, Budapesta,trad. Szenkovics Enikő.
Zogru trad. Sebastián Teillier, Descontextos Editore, Santiago de Chile, 2018
Freitagkatze, trad Roland Erb, Klak Verlag, 2018, Berlin
Das Phantom in der Mühle , trad. Eva Wemme, Klak Verlag, 2017, Berlin
The Truancy, The Stockholm Review Literature
The Phanariot Manuscript (trans Liana Grama), Trafika Europe, Penn State, University Libraries, nr 8, 2016
The lover (trans Andrew Davidson), Trafika Europe, Penn State, University Libraries, nr 8, 2016
Eliza (Lizoanca) trans. Alexandra Kaitozis, Antolog, 2015, Skopje
Eliza a los once años, Ediciones Traspiés, Granada, 2014 (trans Enrique Nogueras)
Lizoanca tizenegy évesen trans. Szenkovics Enikő Orpheusz Kiadó, Budapest, 2015
Fenerlilere ait elyasmasi eser (Manuscrisul fanariot), frag, trans. Leila Unal, Sözcükler , 58, aprilie, 2015, Istanbul
Zogru, Sétatér Kulturális Egyesület, 2014, prin bursa "Franyó Zoltán", oferită de guvernul maghiar (trans Szenkovics Enikő)
Lizoanca, Horlemann Verlag, Berlin, 2013 (trad Jan Cornelius)
Lisoanca, Rediviva Edizioni, Milano, 2013 (trad Ingrid Beatrice Coman)
Apartamentul 26, trans. Oana Ursulesku, Koracic, Belgrad, 2013
L’omino rosso, Nikita Editore, Firenze, 2012 (trad Roberto Merlo)
Bill Clinton’s Hand, Bucharest Tales, New Europe Writers, 2011, (coord:A. Fincham, J. G Coon, John a’Beckett)
Kareli gomlek ve Bukreș'teki Bașka On Hadise (Cămașa în carouri și alte 10 întâmplări din București), trans. Cristina Dincer, Kalem Kultur Yaynlari, Istanbul, 2011
I miei ginecologi, in Compagne di viaggio, Sandro Teti Editore, 2011 (trad Anita Bernacchia) (coord Radu Pavel Gheo, Dan Lungu)
Ura pri univerzi, Zgodbe iz Romunije, Sodobnost International, Ljubljiana, 2011.
Zogru (trad. Roberto Merlo), Ed Bonanno, 2010, Roma; Catania
L’omino rosso (trad Roberto Merlo) în Il romanzo romeno contemporaneo, Ed. Bagatto Libri, 2010, Roma.
Zogru (frag.) și prezentare biobibliografică, în 11 books contemporary romanian prose, Ed. Polirom, 2006, traducere de Alistair Ian Blyth
Zogru (roman), Balkani Publishing House, Sofia, trad: Vasilka Alexova,
Învingătorul - antologia revistei Nagyvilag (trad. Noémi László), Budapesta , sept/ 2010
Cristian (trad. în fr. Linda Maria Baros), Paris, rev Le Bateau Fantôme , no. 8, 2009, ed. Mathieu Hilfiger
Cristián (trad. Sebastián Teillier), Madrid, rev. El fantasma de la glorieta, nr. 16/2008,
Cristian (trad de Alistair Ian Blythe), antologie ICR, 2011
The begining (poem), in Under a Quicksilver Moon, 2002, SUA, Library of Congress,
Dicționar de simboluri din opera lui Mircea Eliade) (frag.) în La Jornada Semanal, nr. 455; 456, 2003 (traducere: José Antonio Hernández García)
