Ion by Liviu Rebreanu – another note on this work is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/ion-by-liviu-rebreanu.html - 9 out of 10

 

Ion by Liviu Rebreanu – another note on this work is here http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/ion-by-liviu-rebreanu.html

9 out of 10

 

 

Liviu Rebreanu has marked my adolescence, if not for the right reasons…it was not the literary quality of the books that interested me, and my high school mates (or was it just before that), but the limited sexual knowledge to be gained from the volumes, seeing that there was no such education, and parents would shy away from the subject, my father would try and push me towards having a first experience (and presumably more after that), my mother would embarrass and infuriate me when I have had some visits with the purpose of looking into sex in real life and not between the covers of…Rebreanu

 

Rascoala or The Uprising http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/11/note-on-rascoala-aka-uprising-by-liviu.html was the most ‘explicit’, if I remember well, and the one to be canceled first if Cancel Culture would work its way here, and then into the past, for the intimacy scene involved a rape (or just about, there is also the feeling that something was gravely wrong there, but I may not remember it correctly, perhaps just confusing one book for another) as the protagonist enters the room of a boyar woman

As the name states, we have a rebellion at the center, and when the peasants decide to take revenge on the nobles aka boyars, they turn violent, willing to pay back for decades, or centuries if we talk of their ancestors of humiliation and oppression, and when the main character walks into the mansion and finds one of the representatives of the rich, he takes her down and makes the poor soul pay for all the others

 

Now I see that this was atrocious ‘instruction’, for the point was not to commend the man, but see what injustice can bring about, ever more pain, trauma, violence and suffering, but as stupid boys, we reveled in the sex…mind you, these were the communist days (and another age, other lands would not encourage any sexual education, and if we think of Florida and so many other places, there is a backlash and push to keep any such knowledge out of schools) and we had very little to look for in that department

Never mind the internet, I remember paying through the nose, at about fourteen, for some photos of (just naked) women, which an entrepreneur avant la lettre (he sold so many things, including aquarium fish) was selling, and long into adulthood, I had no idea about cunnilingus, felatio, or just very vague notions, sometimes wrong ones…it might have been late twenties for squirt or other such subtleties…

 

It is worse than unfair to limit Liviu Rebreanu to the lurid passages that have been mentioned, he was celebrated as one of the greatest writers of this land, one of his major works, The Forest of The Hanged has been adapted, and given its compelling, tremendous story, and the accomplished director, lead actor, cast it won  major prize at the Cannes Film Festival http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/06/padurea-spanzuratilor-by-liviu-rebreanu.html in 1965 when it was also nominated for The Palme d’Or

 

Ion would be translated as John, but I doubt if the translation (if there is one) would choose that title, to me it sounds a bit laughable – maybe it has to do with the joke where a mosquito knocks at the door of the elephant and asks for the female (his daughter maybe) elephant, and when the elephant demands to know who is asking, the mosquito says ‘John, for the discotheque’ and the teller of the blague is supposed to make the move which will send a very long hair back from the temples, in a dramatic sweep

 

The main character could be really seen as a ‘negative personage’, especially in the light of the new culture that is seeping through here as well (I do not know about Saudi Arabia and places like it, indeed, Iran has just passed a new law that is harsh on any women showing a bit of hair, they already had had a drastic regime, many women have been abused, killed on the matter, but clearly, there are realms of the world that are moving towards the middle ages) for ‘John’ was a brutal sexist and social climber

We could say that the main theme would be that of greed and obtaining a better status, social climbing by means of marrying into money, if he is attracted by a handsome, but less wealthy (that is not the word, however different wealth could be measured) woman, Ion will try and seduce Ana Baciu (not that she needed much seducing, there is the Romeo and Juliet effect, when parents oppose one relationship, considering the partner chosen by their offspring as inappropriate, dangerous, inferior, the young ones feel ever more enticed, inclined to pursue the ‘forbidden path’) to get her fortune, dowry…

 

What John should know is that money does not equal happiness, as demonstrated by positive psychology studies today – back in his day, some one hundred and fifty years ago or so, he could have found this with the Stoics http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/08/stoicism-stoic-approach-to-modern-life.html but he was not exactly a fervent scholar – which looked at the effect of coming into a million dollars

Harvard Professor Daniel Gilbert has written a classic of psychology http://realini.blogspot.com/2013/06/stumbling-on-happiness-by-david-gilbert.html Stumbling on Happiness, in which he looks at the myths of wellbeing, we think that moving to California, a Pacific, Caribbean Island would have us hit the jackpot of merriment – it could work, if the transfer is made from Somalia – but in practice it is not so…on the matter of money, a study looked at lottery winners that have made one million or more overnight, and if their levels of life satisfaction increased impressively for some months, after that, they returned to their base level, due to what is called Hedonic Adaptation…ergo John was looking for the elusive and he would be much better off with…Love, for the happiest have been also studied and it was discovered (or known for ages) that what the most merry have in common strong bonds with family and friends and not huge fortunes…being dirt poor, homeless does not help either, it must be mentioned, a limit of between 60k and 120 k was found some years back, but for more details ask me

 

 

Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world  – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

From To The Heritage:

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life. As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality. Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“the Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”