I always had this theory about Romania. Well, not a proper theory: more an observation, I suppose. Have you ever realised how, in various fields, Romania has managed to produce one - but only one - significant artist? It's as if the race only has enough strength for one of anything, like those plants which channel all their energy into a single bloom. So: one great sculptor - Brancusi. One playwright - lonesco. One composer - Enescu. One cartoonist - Steinberg. Even one great popular myth - Dracula.

LRB 18 February 1982 | PDF Download