Martha Bibescu – Jurnal berlinez ’38: From History to Self

Abstract

Jurnal berlinez ‘38 [ʼ38 Berlin Diary] is a diary sequence which Martha Bibescu, an emblematic and controversial figure of the political and literary circles in Romania at the turn of the twentieth century, did not intend for publication at the time of its writing, and which presents her visit to Berlin where her husband, George Valentin Bibescu, was invited as the president of the Congress of the International Aeronautic Federation. As she was in connection with many diplomats and historical figures, Martha Bibescu wanted to record in writing a few moments of the history of that time, together with some glimpses of her private story. This travel diary impresses by the subtlety of the author’s observations, the inventiveness and originality of the logical connections made in the description of some characters, acid irony, but also by the presentation of the Nazi Reich. The identity of the woman who relives the memories of her youth and remarks the changes in her and the
others is built from behind the narrated events.