This collection of short stories and poetry set in post-Ceauşescu and post-cold war Romania takes readers on a journey through the author's home town of Brăila in the east of the country. Exiled Romanian author Bogdan Tiganov explores social, religious and political issues with insightful frankness, through an array of colourful characters and narratives focusing on this newly, supposedly liberated world. Tiganov's stories offer an honest and rounded view of immigration like never heard before: the opportunities and the pitfalls, the reasons for and against mass migration, the pains suffered, the euphoric hope and optimism, the naivety and the greed. This revised edition features brand new short stories and a new introduction from the author. Candid and exposing, this warts-and-all look at Romanian life with its dark undercurrent of wit cuts to the very heart of the country's culture.
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With Tiganov, the intricateness of reality does not lose perspective of the intricateness of the imagination. In this way, the realm of detail becomes a political asylum. --Lucas Hüsgen, The Labyrinth is Unwilling
A collection of short stories and poems, The Wooden Tongue Speaks uncannily distills the very essence of Romanians, from the small joys and beauty to familiar warts-and-all everyday domestic blights. --Andrew Begg, Vivid
These moving memories, stories and poems explore the mind-warping paranoia created by Romania's notorious dictatorship, and are a brutally honest insight into the bleakness of its post-communist disillusion. --Helena Drysdale
A mature book from a young author, whose writing already carries the fingerprints of a personal style with powerful lyrical accents, that decants in a language crossed by a rough, uncensored sensibility contrasting images from a disintegrated universe recomposed in words from the substance of nostalgia. --Ilinca Bernea
The wonderful prose pictures that the exiled Romanian writer Bogdan Tiganov paints of everyday life under an oppressive regime are both vivid and revealing. The dialogues and arguments which punctuate many of his stories unmask the tensions and the feelings, both of profound love and intense hate, that arise within families and friendships. The `Wooden Tongue Speaks' is a worthwhile and impressive addition to the literature of Romanian exiles.
--Esther Lipton, Exiled Writers INK
A collection of short stories and poems, The Wooden Tongue Speaks uncannily distills the very essence of Romanians, from the small joys and beauty to familiar warts-and-all everyday domestic blights. --Andrew Begg, Vivid
These moving memories, stories and poems explore the mind-warping paranoia created by Romania's notorious dictatorship, and are a brutally honest insight into the bleakness of its post-communist disillusion. --Helena Drysdale
A mature book from a young author, whose writing already carries the fingerprints of a personal style with powerful lyrical accents, that decants in a language crossed by a rough, uncensored sensibility contrasting images from a disintegrated universe recomposed in words from the substance of nostalgia. --Ilinca Bernea
The wonderful prose pictures that the exiled Romanian writer Bogdan Tiganov paints of everyday life under an oppressive regime are both vivid and revealing. The dialogues and arguments which punctuate many of his stories unmask the tensions and the feelings, both of profound love and intense hate, that arise within families and friendships. The `Wooden Tongue Speaks' is a worthwhile and impressive addition to the literature of Romanian exiles.
--Esther Lipton, Exiled Writers INK
About the Author
Bogdan Tiganov is a writer and artist, born in Braila, Romania, on August 1, 1981. It was there that he started his lifelong interest in the arts, attending the Nicolai Balcescu School of Music at the age of seven, where he learned to play piano as well as composing. In London, UK, he studied visual arts under the supervision of Don Pavey, world-renowned expert on colour. Tiganov finished writing and illustrating his first book by the time he was fourteen, and attracted considerable interest from leading children's book publishers.
Since then, he has studied English Literature at degree level, received a CELTA teaching diploma from IH Barcelona, and has had various jobs, including as an English teacher, a call-centre operator, an editorial assistant, and a content editor. His short stories and poems have appeared in magazines and periodicals worldwide.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I soon realised this book was not about complex plots and long narratives, rather, it was giving me snapshots - of people, relationships, situations - in post-communist Romania. Not a country or time I was particular familiar with, and not a style of writing I'd experienced before. The author threw me into a candid Romanian world, with real stories, real people and very real situations. There's an education for ignorants, as you discover the struggles of people in run-down towns and poor communities, leftover bureaucracies from communist times, the history of the place, and the bleakness of the now. But my love of the book lies in the minds you're placed in: men, women, children, elderly, the vulnerable, the confident, the tortured, the unfortunate. I found the author very skilfully adapted his style with respect to new situations and intricate thoughts. Exploring different psychological themes, he provides believable, and very often familiar, characters - but telling us in completely different ways. There's bold page formats, regular prose, some of the best poetry I've read this year, and no chapter reads like the last. I'm now reading it for a second time. One of the most original books I've read in recent years.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By AlexaV
Format:Paperback
A powerful collection of short stories and poems by Romanian exile, Bogdan Tiganov, offering a penetrating insight into a world the popular media has failed to fully acknowledge. I certainly learnt something. My favourite parts were `Lost and Found' and the `Poet of a Thousand Love Poems', but I found all of it engrossing. Each part offers a new insight into what it was like to live in Romania after the Cold War and Ceau'escu's autocracy, but also what it is like to be a young exile. Happily, Tiganov's prose style is no-nonsense, but then why embellish stories that are already so strong? At times I am reminded of Carver. Very candid and very moving storytelling.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Bogdan Tiganov has created a wonderfully open and brutally honest account of his experiences and thoughts of Romania in his early life. The mixture of styles, layout of copy and air of dangerous unpredictability in his writing are both refreshing and compelling.
While this approach may put off some readers of a meek disposition, I found it to be reminiscent of the scrawlings of Charles Bukowski and subsequently in tune with my own subversive tendencies.
The poetry segment in the later reaches of this book offers up a wide range of insites into Tiganov's psyche. Some are suggestive of a smattering of words and subconscious emotions that have yet to pass considered thought (which can often produce the best and most emotive work). Others are collections of beauty and clarity which are indicative of a analytical and reactive mind.
As a body of work this makes for a quite a ride. Fasten your seatbelts...
While this approach may put off some readers of a meek disposition, I found it to be reminiscent of the scrawlings of Charles Bukowski and subsequently in tune with my own subversive tendencies.
The poetry segment in the later reaches of this book offers up a wide range of insites into Tiganov's psyche. Some are suggestive of a smattering of words and subconscious emotions that have yet to pass considered thought (which can often produce the best and most emotive work). Others are collections of beauty and clarity which are indicative of a analytical and reactive mind.
As a body of work this makes for a quite a ride. Fasten your seatbelts...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable read offering a unique insight
This book offers us a unique insight into a country as it struggles with social and political change. Read more
Published on 3 May 2011 by Gonzo M
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good read
Very interesting to read of Romanian life during these troubled times. The book explores normal life without a hint of the mundane - quite an achievement. Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2011 by RM
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