Doina Rusti

Doina Rusti was brought up in a village in the south of Romania by her parents, teachers, struggling to survive in a communist world. Her blood accommodates ancestry ranging from Montenegrin to Turks, Jews and especially Danuban Romanians, all with long names ending in -escu, most of them teachers, store keepers and horse dealers. Her childhood home in Comosteni preserved the experiences of a Balkan world, collected throughout hundreds of years. Doina Rusti's youth was spent in a house which had saved the traces of a past rich in events, carriages, coffers and period clothes, crowned by plenty of books and objects which incited her imagination. However, this world had brutally come to an end. When she was eleven, her father was murdered under mysterious circumstances, which have not been elucidated even to this day. The insecurity, oppression, absurd rules and chaos installed at the end of communism blended with the fantastic universe of a village governed by ghost tales, mysteries and underground forces, and this dramatic and magical setting inspired the novel "The Ghost in the Mill". For this novel Doina Rusti was awarded The Prize of The Writers' Union of Romania. It received positive literary reviews and it has since been translated into German. Considered one of the most appreciated female voices of contemporary literature, Doina Rusti made her mark especially through the wide variety of topics covered in her novels and their systematic construction, which led to some of the books being translated into international languages. We will first of all mention the multi-awarded Zogru (2006, 2015), a meta novel which delighted both the general public and the literary critics (translated into Italian, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Spanish). Just as popular is the novel "Lizoanca at the Age of 11" (2009, 2017), awarded the "Ion Creanga" Prize of The Romanian Academy - one of the most powerful contemporary Romanian novels, from the point of view of its themes and typology construction (according to Paul Cernat, Gelu Ionescu). On its publication, Lizoanca caused flamed debates, as it brought to the public's attention the story of a child almost unanimously accused of the atrocities committed by the accusers. Translated into German, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, the novel incited strong feelings through all its versions, having great reviews and kindling debates on taboo themes, such as pedophilia, domestic abuse, the issue of children with incompetent parents (Ramón Acín, Gianluca Veneziani, Marina Freier, Magyar Nemzet). For that matter, the topic of family decay as an institution is obsessively recurrent in all the novels written by Doina Rusti. Just as popular was her bestseller "The Phanariot Manuscript" (2015, 2016, 2017), which novelizes an 18th century's love story. It was followed by " Mata Vinerii" ( The Book of Perilous Dishes), 2017, a charming tale about sorcerers and magical culinary recipes, novel already translated into German, Spanish and Hungarian. These two books bring a fresh perspective on a quite controversial historical period: the 18th Phanariot century. The stodgy style, the poetic overlay, but also the narrative fluidity ensure the success of "The Phanariot Manuscript" and "The Book of Perilous Dishes," in relation to both the general public and literary criticism, which applauded the refined storytelling. These qualities are perfected by a prolific and unusual imagination. Doina Rusti brings a specific vision into literature, exhibited throughout all strata of her work, but especially from a linguistic point of view. The creativity of expression lends the unmistakable marker of her writing (La Stampa, La Opinion, Turia). Doina Rusti is also the author of the novels The Little Red Man (2004, 2012) awarded the Prize of the magazine Convorbiri Literare, very well received in Italy, The mother of two chicories (2013), Four men plus Aurelius (2011), The checkered shirt (2010), The Fiancée (2017). She also wrote an impressive number of short stories, published in periodicals and anthologies. Taking an interest in both the fantastic and realist genres, Doina Rusti succeeds in writing as persuasively about the atrocities of the contemporary world and high ideals. Her novels often feature rapists, murderers, people who are starving, become corrupt or consumed by trivial commitments, reminding us of Faulkner's typologies - writer who has always inspired her. With the same steady hand of a trained writer, Doina Rusti also brings to life fantastic characters, elves, sprites, ghosts, magical cats and sorcerers, which prompted some critics to compare her work with Bulgakov's, Süskind's and Marquez' (according to Dan C. Mihailescu, G. Cosoveanu, Marco Dotti). The diversified themes that are strongly related to the present, as well as the rare ability of Doina Rusti of switching between registers, place her among the finest writers of contemporary Romanian literature (according to Breban, Norma Manea, Bianca Burta-Cernat, Paul Cernat, Daniel Cristea-Enache). Doina Rusti lives in Bucharest; she is a university professor and script writer, on occasion, she also directs. Among the films to which she contributed (as either script writer, director or producer), we mention the following: The Miracle of Tekir (feature film), The Sun Gate (documentary), Cristian (short film), The insidious shadow of love (short film), 35 minutes after (short film) - some of these are in fact her stories adapted for the screen. She signs with the writer name "Rusti", as she is convinced that renouncing the name of your ancestors represents one of the great challenges a person must face.