Bucharest Literary References Route no. 2 - Plural (download .pdf)

Boulevard Hotel, at whose restaurant used to came many writers, until 1920.

There, for instance, right at the hotel, Al. Kiritescu wrote his theatre play Gaitele/The Jays.

Gaitele/The Jays is one of the few satirical works, written during the period from between the two world wars, which comes close, through its satirical virulence and literary value, to the spirit of the classical satirical comedy of I.L. Caragiale. The Vesipary – this was the original title of the play – is mainly represented by the three „jays”: Aneta Duduleanu and her sisters, Lena and Zoe. A triptych of an exquisite social expressivity, representing the remains, still durable, of a class that still had enough force to maintain its privileges. Under the mask of naïve, secondary habits: the card play and the funerals, the playwright succeeded in pointing out two main features of that class: the desire for possession and the fight for maintaining the old social system. These features are strengthened also through other characters of the play: Georges and Ianache Duduleanu, submitted to the tyrannical will of the aunt, Aneta Duduleanu. This world is completed with the presence of Wanda, an adventurer who seeks to kill her boredom in Paris’ taverns or in the casinos, ready to „pick the voluptuousness like a ripen fruit”. On the other side, Mircea Aldea, former journalist, is the intellectual who cannot adapt to this environment. His attempts to evade from the world of corrupted press fail through his marriage with Margareta Duduleanu. The calm and piece of the patriarchal life from Duduleanu estate attracted him, but only when he met the „vespiary” he realized what kind of compromise meant his marriage with Margareta, a possessive psychopath. His conclusion – after Margareta’s suicidal and the failure of his adventure with Wanda – resignation.
„The Jays “ is still performed at the theatres from Bucharest and from the country.

But there are many other literary works from the inter-war period in which many characters beats around in Bucharest. So are the novels of Hortensia Papadat Bengescu – the Hallipa Cycle (the novel Drum ascuns/Hidden Way: pg. 386 - „had descended to the Boulevard Hotel (Bubi)“.

Regina Elisabeta Boulevard became a Corso of the high class after 1920 – the segment up to Kogalniceanu square.

The headquarters of the newspaper Universul/The Universe where many writers worked; the newspaper appeared in 1884 and it was the first important Romanian daily newspaper.

Cismigiu Park, mentioned mainly by the publicist T. Oraseanu in the 19th century and later by Radu Cosmin in the novel „Bucharest-Babylon“ (1924), by the novelist Constantin Toiu in the novel „The Arcade with Wild Vine“ - pag 39- „Siripeanu played chess and backgammon in the stone square from Cismigiu“ (Litera International Publishing House, Bucharest, 2002).

Gheorghe Lazar High School, where both readers and writers lived their adolescence.

Cotroceni Palace, where, at least until 1916, the literary meetings of Queen Carmen Silva alimented the creation of many writers, such as Eminescu, considered in the canonical literary histories as the greatest Romanian poet.