Radu Vancu Talks Anti-Americanism

We are excited to launch the online edition of the LEON FERARU CONFERENCES, one of our permanent programs that provides a voice to the rich and diverse Romanian expertise of all things American, offered by historians, social scientists, international relations specialists, and cultural critics. Named in honor of the unsung founder of professional Romanian cultural diplomacy in the United States, this series of conversations aims at illuminating the Romanian contributions to topics relevant on both sides of the Atlantic and at stimulating the Romanian-American dialogue. We begin these weekly virtual and interactive exchanges with an exploration of the dark, ambiguous world of anti-Americanism in the company of writer and academic Radu Vancu, the President of PEN Romania. 

Join us live on Facebook on Wednesday, 15 April, 2 p.m. New York & Toronto time / 11 a.m. Los Angeles & Vancouver time / 9 p.m. Bucharest time. Registration is not necessary.

Watch also on our blog and other social media accounts after the show.

See trailer on YouTube.

RADU VANCU (born July 13, 1978) is a poet, translator, academic, journalist, cultural critic and activist, and the President of PEN Romania. He is one of the most active, versatile, and influential authors on Romanian, and increasingly international, literary scene. A prodigious polygraph, at home in poetry, autobiographical prose, children literature, academic research and essay, he authored more than 13 books among which Letters to Camelia (Epistole pentru Camelia, Imago, 2002), Biographia litteraria (Vinea, 2006), The Happy Monster (Monstrul fericit, Cartier, 2009), Sebastian in Dreams (Sebastian în vis, Tracus Arte, 2010), The Blooming Rope (Frânghia înflorită, Casa de editură Max Blecher, 2012), 4 A.M. Domestic Cantos (Cantosuri domestice, Casa de editură Max Blecher, 2015); Mircea Ivănescu: The Poetry of Absolute Discretion (Mircea Ivănescu: Poezia discreției absolute, Vinea, 2007; 2nd edition, ART, 2015), Eminescu: Three Essays (Eminescu: Trei eseuri, InfoArt Media–Argonaut, 2011), The Mistique of Poetry: Readings in Contemporary Literature (Mistica poeziei: Lecturi în literatura contemporană, Muzeul Literaturii Române, 2013), Vertebrate Romania (România vertebrată, Adenium, 2016). His books, which brought him several national and international prizes, have been widely translated all over the world. Radu Vancu teaches at the “Lucian Blaga” University in Sibiu and works as an editor for Timpul, Transilvania and Poesis International magazines. He is one of the most competent observers of the American phenomenon not least as the exceptional translator in Romanian of Ezra Pound and John Berryman.  

Photo by Rareș Helici