“Jurnal de Doliu” by Roland Barthes launched in Chisinau shortly after presented in Paris and Bucharest

The publishing house Cartier launched the book "Jurnal de Doliu" (Journal de deuil - Fr.; Journal of Mourning - En.) (October 26, 1977 – September 15, 1979) written by Roland Barthes and translated by Emilian Galaicu-Paun, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Jurnalul de Doliu” was launched in Chisinau shortly after presented in Paris and Bucharest. Edited in Paris and in Urt between October 26, 1977 and September 15, 1979, “Jurnalul de Doliu” contains 330 files that come in chronological order. The banality of a life experience – the cruelest one experienced when losing the mother – turns in Roland Barthes’s book into a major literary event. “Jurnal de Doliu” was published on February 5, 2009 at “Seuil” publishing house and immediately resounded around the world. During the launch in Chisinau, the book’s editor Inga Druta said that she took great pleasure in reading the volume. “It is not a traditional diary. It is more a collection of haiku (Japanese poems) and is like a strong tea. It contains many ideas from other books. All those that will read the book, will be impressed because everybody lost someone dear. I think that only a poet could translate this journal,” the editor said. Speaking about Barthes’s book, Mircea Ciobanu, editor-in-chief at “Stiinta” publishing house, said that when he read the volume he had the feeling that he entered a double intimacy. “These are the personal notes of a man who might have wanted not to publish them as they were, but it is simultaneously a mourning diary,” Ciobanu said. “It is the purest diary I have read in recent times. It is hard to narrate this book as it is hard to relate a poem. What is essential is that Barthes transforms everything into writing,” said Eugen Lungu, editor-in-chief at “Arc” publishing house. According to him, Roland Barthes wanted to make “Jurnal de Doliu” into a monument of words for his mother. The editor-in-chief of “Cartier” publishing house Emilian Galaicu-Paun, who translated the book from French, said that he tried to recover the great texts and great thinkers of the 20th century and to synchronize with what is happening now in the cultural capitals of the world. “When you read and translate a book with such a theme, you experience the sentiments of the author. To feel its mood, one should experience the same drama. As my parents are alive, I though about my grandmother Emilia, who was very dear to me. I found many things said by Barthes about his mother in my grandmother,” the writer said. “Jurnal de Doliu” is available from the bookshops of the publishing house “Cartier” in Chisinau for 88 lei.