ISVOR LE PAYS DES SAULES

by Martha Bibescu

Revenant dans sa Roumanie natale, la princesse Bibesco trace le portrait d’un pays avec ses coutumes, ses légendes et ses travaux saisonniers. « Isvor m’a été inspiré par la vie quotidienne des villages, par les rites traditionnels observés dans leur existence millénaire, par les paysans de ce domaine forestier de la montagne où j’étais venue vivre (…) Ce livre était fait de notes que j’avais prises au jour le jour ; il ne contenait pas une seule histoire qui ne fut vraie, un seul épisode inventé », confiera-t-elle plus tard. Avec délicatesse et précision, l’auteur décrit les jeux des enfants le long des routes, les femmes aux champs, les mariages, les rituels de la mort. On découvre ainsi l’intimité d’une société rurale attachée à ses pratiques ancestrales. Guidée par Outza, une vieille paysanne, Marthe Bibesco nous raconte la vie simple et profonde de son peuple qui a conservé des habitudes héritées du temps des Romains : « Eux aussi comme moi, furent des étrangers venus d’ailleurs, obéissant à une loi mystérieuse. »

« Comment ne pas aimer la Roumanie après Isvor ? » écrivait Rainer Maria Rilke. Le général de Gaulle avait fait savoir qu’il appréciait fort le livre de cette cosmopolite éclairée. Quant à son compatriote Mircea Eliade, il voyait en la princesse Bibesco le « modèle exemplaire d’une Européenne de l’avenir ».

Genres: French Literature

346 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1923

About the author

Martha Bibescu (also known as the Princess Marthe Bibesco) was a Romanian-French writer of the Belle Époque. Bibesco's papers are at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
Born Marta Lucia Lahovary (also spelled Lahovari) in Bucharest as the third child of Ioan Lahovary and Princess Emma Mavrocordat, Marthe spent her childhood at the Lahovary family estates in Balotești and the fashionable French sea-resort of Biarritz. On her first introduction into society, in 1900, she met Crown Prince Ferdinand, the heir apparent to the Romanian throne, but after a secret engagement of one year, Marthe married at seventeen Prince George III Valentin Bibescu (Bibesco), scion of one of the country's prestigious aristocratic families. I stepped onto the European stage through the grand door, she wrote on her wedding day. Her father, who had been educated in France, held the post of minister of the Kingdom of Romania in Paris and, later, that of minister of foreign affairs of Romania.

Fluent in French at an early age (even before she could speak Romanian), Marthe spent the first years of her marriage under the tutelage of her mother-in-law, Princess Valentine Bibesco (née countess Riquet de Caraman-Chimay), who saw to it that the extensive education in European history and literature Marthe already had was reinforced. An old peasant woman, Baba Uța [Outza], saw to it that she was also well-versed in Romanian folk traditions and tales. Meanwhile, her husband, George, was chasing fast cars and other women, but adding to the family fortune at the same time.

Reviews

[Marina the Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed. The images of the Romanian village are depicted as from a distance, as if seen through a lens. There is not the slightest breath of true life in this book. Very disappointed.

[Flori din călimară · Rating 4 out of 5]

În această carte apărută în 1923, naratoarea ne prezintă călătoria sa din Franța în România, pretext pentru a vedea dacă le va lipsi celor din viața sa. Partenerul său Emilien afirmă că o va aștepta timp de șase luni.

Aceasta descoperă câteva elemente negative din Romania (refuzul oamenilor de a merge la doctor pentru a se trata, superstițiile, viața dură a femeilor, predilecția pentru zile libere în loc de a merge la muncă de bunăvoie), însă admiră alte lucruri ce formează universul acestui popor: sărbătorile de Paște trăite de oameni cu bucurie la biserică și vopsind ouăle, apelativul „mândra mea” din cântece în loc de „my sweet heart” sau „ma belle”, hainele tradiționale, locurile frumoase din Imoasa, sărbătorile și colindele de Crăciun.

Prin această călătorie inițiatică, naratoarea se descoperă pe sine și profunzimea țării sale. Este o carte despre tradițiile poporului român, despre caracterele și peisajele acestei țări.

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