Doina Ruști

short bio DOINA RUȘTI is a fiction writer renowned for her originality and epic creativity. She is the author behind the Phanariot trilogy, which includes Homeric (2019), [The Book of Perilous Dishes] (2017) and the The Phanariot Manuscript (2015), but also other bestsellers like *The *Ghost in the Mill (2008), Lizoanca , [Zogru] (2006) and many others. Her most recent novel is Occult Beds. Translated into many languages, including Chinese, her writings have been honored by exegeses and laudatory reviews in numerous international publications. Among others, she received the Writers' Union of Romania’s Prose Award/2008 and the Romanian Academy's “Ion Creangă” Award/2009. Doina Ruști coordinates the Contemporary Prose Library collection, at Litera Publishing House, she is a screenwriter and teaches creative writing at the University of Bucharest. long bio DOINA RUȘTI’s (February 15th, 1957) ancestors are from Montenegro, they are Turks, Jews and especially Danubian Romanians, and her writings are outlined by a highlighted Balkanism and a mythical realm of various sources. She spent her childhood in a village in southern Romania (Comoșteni), raised by a family of teachers, who made great efforts to survive in a communist world. The absurd rules and chaos reigning at the end of the dictatorship are stressed in The Ghost in the Mill, a novel that depicts a fantastic universe, ruled by ghosts and hierophanies. The novel earned her the Writers' Union of Romania’s Award, and it was deemed "one of the most convincing and expressive works of fiction about domestic communism published in the last decade". (Paul Cernat). Translated into German, it was acclaimed in the newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung: "Doina Ruști's book displays a wide range of literary skills, which will surely prevail in the Romanian history of the twentieth century." In J. A. Weinstock's Encyclopedia, the style of the novel The Ghost in the Mill is classified as neo-Gothic. Other novels are written in the same fantasy vein. Zogru (translated into Italian, Hungarian, Spanish, Bulgarian) brings forward an unusual character and a fantasy style akin to the one portrayed in Chagall's paintings, as noted in a daily newspaper from Santiago de Chile: “Full of humor in some scenes, tragic and fierce in others, marvelous and bright at times, like a Chagall painting, this wonderful story is governed by the terrible loneliness that encapsulates the human spirit in the absence of love.” (Pedro Gandolfo, El Mercurio) The novel received the Writers' Union Award, alongside a scholarship from the Hungarian government and enthusiastic reviews, including in Italy. The same style is used in novels such as The Little Red Man (2004), Homeric (2019) and Occult Beds (2021), but especially in The Book of Perilous Dishes. The latter, probably her most translated novel, was awarded the Prize for the best translated book by the Hungarian Writers’ Union (Budapest, 2017), and it was acclaimed for its fantastic narrative and style: The Book of Perilous Dishes – a stylistic delight, essential literature, similar to Süskind’s Perfume up to a point and then to Evgheni Vodolazkin’s Laurus from that point forward. (Dan C. Mihailescu). The Phanariot Manuscript (2015), partially translated into English, distinguishes itself by bringing into play a type of magical, fabulous and lyrical realism. Other novels draw on raw realism. Among them, Lizoanca at the age of eleven, which has been highly praised by both the national and foreign press, was granted the Ion Creangă Award by the Romanian Academy in 2009. The novel was often admired for both its literary value (La Opinion – Murcia, La Jornada, Mexico) and authentic writing: “Doina Ruști gradually unfolds the story and prolongs pain and terror until they reach unsuspected heights, by bringing their roots to the surface. She succeeded in writing about that dark and even invisible part of society, questioning many of its crucial aspects. Doina Ruști has the rare ability to depict the hypocrisy of man and society at large, the many displays of cruelty disguised as most harmless acts which, at the same time and under the guise of apathy in epic development, wield their ceaseless corrosive power. A pictorial and cinematic writing, achieved in part thanks to the perfect use of comparison.” (Ramón Acín, Turia, 2015). A Budapest daily newspaper ranks it among the best books translated in 2015, along with Houellebecq's Submission, and Il Libero (Turin) compares it in style to Camus' The Plague. The Little Red Man was very well received in our country and in Italy, acclaimed for its originality of delivery (La Stampa), complexity of theme (Il Venerdì di Repubblica) and fantasy distinctness (Stato). „…un mondo allucinato, convulso, assurdo eppure coerente e reale quanto sa esserlo la fantasia, un bizzarro e imprevedibile Paese delle Meraviglie elettronico in cui Laura si avventura incantata e indomita come un’Alice telematica.” (Roberto Merlo –“Ritorno a Babele", Neos Edizioni, 2016, Torino) Taking an interest in both the fantastic and the realistic realms, Doina Ruști succeeds in writing about the atrocities of the contemporary world just as convincingly as she does about high ideals. Her characters, whether realistic or fantastic, are memorable and outstanding. Her novels are often populated by rapists, murderers, starving people, corrupt and consumed by petty ideals. But with the same skill wielded by the well-versed novelist, Doina Ruști also builds fantastic characters, elves, goblins, ghosts, enchanted tomcats and sorcerers, a craft that prompted some critics to compare her work to that of Bulgakov, Süskind or Marquez. (apud Dan C. Mihailescu, Bojidar Kuncev). The wide variety of themes, steadfastly moored to present times, as well as Doina Ruști’s distinctive ability to easily switch her narrative style earned her an unquestionable place among the best writers of contemporary Romanian literature. (Nicolae Breban). Doina Ruști lives in Bucharest, is a screenwriter, and occasionally directs films. She directed a short film, after a story she wrote, Cristian, which premiered at Cannes, 2015, and was also nominated for other international festivals. She also wrote the exchanges between the characters in The Miracle of Tekir (received an award for the Best Swiss Film, Zürich, 2016) and the screenplay for the documentary The Greek Slave (directed by Germain Kanda), nominated for One World Romania’s, 2015. Starting with 2019, she gave up teaching, currently only creative writing workshops at the University of Bucharest. She coordinates the Contemporary Prose Library collection, at Litera Publishing House, Bucharest. Convinced that giving up on the names of her ancestors is one of the great challenges man undertakes, she writes under Ruști. Her writings have been honored by exegeses and laudatory reviews in numerous daily newspapers and international literary magazines, including El Mercurio (Santiago de Chille), Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Il Manifesto, Las Últimas Noticias, La Jornada (Mexico City), Stato Quotidiano, Turia, La Stampa, La Opinión, Il Libero, Magyar Nemzet, La Repubblica, Beijing Daily and others. Web page: http://doinarusti.ro