As part of “Culture Corner,” a project created by Orange Romania, Doina Ruști spoke about the genesis of her novel Occult Beds, published by Litera, and about the fantastic world hidden behind ordinary things.
The novel follows two literature students who are drawn into a strange adventure after discovering several beds endowed with mystical powers. Each one preserves traces of its former owners and their destinies, as well as a message from a mysterious realm of wild carob trees. The contemporary story gradually opens onto the past, memory, and a subtle reality in which objects become gateways to other lives.
During the interview, Doina Ruști discussed a range of subjects, shared personal reflections on writing, and also recalled the story of her first mobile phone.
In the presentation published by Orange Romania, Doina Ruști is introduced as the novelist behind The Ghost in the Milland Lizoanca at the Age of Eleven, books that received the Romanian Writers’ Union Prose Award and the Romanian Academy’s “Ion Creangă” Prize. The interview is part of the video series “One Person, One Book.”
The interview was conducted by Florin Spătaru.
Watch the full interview below.
The interview is also available on the Orange Romania website:
One Person, One Book — A Conversation with Novelist Doina Ruști
“Their homeroom teacher brought them several forms on which they were supposed to tick the subjects they would take for the baccalaureate, then asked about their plans and which university they intended to apply to. But Flori’s mind was full of beds. For her, there was only one plan: to reach the storeroom of the National Theatre and sit on the bed for five minutes.
‘Apart from Flori,’ the teacher said, ‘I don’t think there is anyone else who still doesn’t know what they will do after high school.’
Although she admitted that the remark did not really matter to her, it touched her somehow, placing her at the end of the line, still standing.
‘She’ll find something,’ said a voice from the front rows. ‘At the very least, she’ll get into Literature. I’ve heard they practically beg you to enrol there.’”
Read more about the novel Occult Beds.
