Near, Far, Wherever We Are
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The only questions that made me sort of suspicious thinking about Viorel’s ultimate purpose in writing such a study were: "Can you identify the moment in your life when you first think of yourself as being an American in relation with the rest of the world? How does it feel to be an American? Are Americans expected to take more action than others in an emergency case simply because they are Americans? Who, how, and why gave them this responsibility?
I put the papers as far from me as I could because I have never enjoyed working on taxes and figuring out the correct balance sheet. And as I said, since my life looked to me as a bank account, what if I discover I am bankrupt?
"This is not going to be easy.... It is not going to be easy at all," I said to myself, really worried and embarrassed because after all, who’s this person plunging into my life like that? Who is he, Saint Peter to tell me, " Well I am sorry Allan you don’t seem to have done enough good deeds in your life time to be accepted in The Eternally Beautiful Gardens?"
I started to work on another papers for my students. After all, Viorel told me to take all the time I needed. But I couldn’t do my work. Something was calling me back to the first question. "What is your oldest memory from childhood and why do you think you kept it so fresh in mind after so many years?
I concentrated and concentrated again and realized I have never thought about such a thing before. Probably because I had an ordinary, quiet childhood with no dramatic happenings in it. It was a sort of a happy childhood of a boy that was born in a small town in Missouri, a peaceful farmer’s town of only 2500 inhabitants. I didn’t seem able to find anything of relevance. Relevance for what? Ai draci! (This is a Romanian expression showing one’s in a sort of trouble that gives a headache. Dana used it so often that I adopted it and it can be translated for the French "Par les diables")
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About the Book
Here is a novel that is more like a very strong, vivid realistic documentary about human lives, human nature, human values, set in the context of the characters varied environments: the American scholar who wants to share his good fortune with others; the rocket scientist who was forced from one side of his native land to the other, then to Germany and finally to the United States; the Romanian lady who endured the communist deprivations under Nicolae Ceausescu yet found solace in a group of students who were able to transcend the mindless governmental control. The three lives intersect in the 1990s and take on new challenges. The primary message is, "Keep being curious about life and you’ll stay in good health. Curiosity killed the cat, not the person and if it kills someone once in a while, the person dies happy in the midst of doing something exciting."
About the Author
Doina Virginia Vladuca is a Romanian citizen living in the capital city of Bucharest. She is a graduate of the University of Bucharest and has been both a high school teacher and factory administrator under the Ceausescu regime. Now a mother of two sons, she writes fiction and travels to nearby countries to get new ideas.
James K. McCollum is a professor of business in the United States. He has traveled to Eastern Europe several times and has taught at universities in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. Most of his previous writing has been on academic subjects and this book is his first foray into fiction.