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Advocacy at the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery
- Bistra Zheleva, Amy Verstappen, David M. Overman, Farhan Ahmad, Sulafa K.M. Ali, Zohair Y. Al Halees, Joumana Ghandour Atallah, Isabella E. Badhwar, Carissa Baker-Smith, Maria Balestrini, Amy Basken, Jonah S. Bassuk, Lee Benson, Horacio Capelli, Santo Carollo, Devyani Chowdhury, M. Sertaç Çiçek, Mitchell I. Cohen, David S. Cooper, John E. Deanfield, Joseph Dearani, Blanca del Valle, Kathryn M. Dodds, Junbao Du, Frank Edwin, Ekanem Ekure, Nurun Nahar Fatema, Anu Gomanju, Babar Hasan, Lewis Henry, Christopher Hugo-Hamman, Krishna S. Iyer, Marcelo B. Jatene, Kathy J. Jenkins, Tara Karamlou, Tom R. Karl, James K. Kirklin, Christián Kreutzer, Raman Krishna Kumar, Keila N. Lopez, Alexis Palacios Macedo, Bradley S. Marino, Eva M. Marwali, Folkert J. Meijboom, Sandra S. Mattos, Hani Najm, Dan Newlin, William M. Novick, Sir Shakeel A. Qureshi, Budi Rahmat, Robert Raylman, Irfan Levent Saltik, Craig Sable, Nestor Sandoval, Anita Saxena, Emma Scanlan, Gary F. Sholler, Jodi Smith, James D. St Louis, Christo I. Tchervenkov, Koh Ghee Tiong, Vladimiro Vida, Susan Vosloo, Douglas J. “DJ” Weinstein, James L. Wilkinson, Liesl Zuhlke, Jeffrey P. Jacobs
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- Journal:
- Cardiology in the Young / Volume 33 / Issue 8 / August 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 24 August 2023, pp. 1277-1287
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The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery (WCPCCS) will be held in Washington DC, USA, from Saturday, 26 August, 2023 to Friday, 1 September, 2023, inclusive. The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery will be the largest and most comprehensive scientific meeting dedicated to paediatric and congenital cardiac care ever held. At the time of the writing of this manuscript, The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery has 5,037 registered attendees (and rising) from 117 countries, a truly diverse and international faculty of over 925 individuals from 89 countries, over 2,000 individual abstracts and poster presenters from 101 countries, and a Best Abstract Competition featuring 153 oral abstracts from 34 countries. For information about the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, please visit the following website: [www.WCPCCS2023.org]. The purpose of this manuscript is to review the activities related to global health and advocacy that will occur at the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.
Acknowledging the need for urgent change, we wanted to take the opportunity to bring a common voice to the global community and issue the Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action on Addressing the Global Burden of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Diseases. A copy of this Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action is provided in the Appendix of this manuscript. This Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action is an initiative aimed at increasing awareness of the global burden, promoting the development of sustainable care systems, and improving access to high quality and equitable healthcare for children with heart disease as well as adults with congenital heart disease worldwide.
Raïna Karadjova
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
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- Boydell & Brewer
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- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp 51-54
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Summary
Raïna Karadjova stood in her small garden: a few meager village flowers and two miserable, thin little trees. Her husband entered the garden.
“Good evening, Andrée,” she called, hurrying to greet him. “I am not dining at home this evening,” her husband said.
“Oh, here comes Baï Kolyu!”
“God give you health, Baï Kolyu!”
“Am I bothering you?” asked Kolyu Petrov.
“No. Just come in for one rakia. I’ll get dressed in the meantime. We’ll have a banquet for Vazov tonight, as you know.”
“And your wife?”
“Oh, my God, no! The women have to stay at home, that’s how it is for them. Besides—you know, Vazov forbade women to be at the banquet. But come to the salon now.”
This salon would not have met a European’s taste. The divans all along the otherwise four empty walls, a couple of ashtrays on the coffee table—a gloomy home! They sat down.
“Rakia!” said Andrée. Raïna got up. She walked lazily and without energy, her eyes veiled, her lips swelling and longing for affection.
She brought glasses and poured them. When she approached Kolyu, she trembled a little, and her pale face blushed lightly.
“To your health, Kolyu!” cried Andrée, emptying his glass. “And now wait a bit until I get dressed, then we’ll depart together.”
With that he hurried out.
Raïna walked up to the guest. Suddenly she was completely changed. Her eyes were ablaze. Her hot breath brushed his face as she spoke. “Come back in half an hour, Kolyu! I’m afraid alone, our house is so lonely, we have no servant. You know I am a fearful woman, we women are like that. And you are so brave, come back, come back!”
“No, I can’t, someone could see me.”
“But who will see you when it is night?”
“No, Raïna, tomorrow morning, not now. It is for your own good.”
“My own good! O, you are deceitful like all men! Come today, it is so nice to chat by the lamp and—I love you so much, Kolyu, you know that I sacrificed everything for you, that I am ready to follow you whenever and wherever you want. That’s not supposed to be a reproach, Kolyu,” she said, looking deep into his eyes.
Her gaze made him stagger.
On the Forest Path
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
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- Boydell & Brewer
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- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp 102-104
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Summary
Hella walked with the painter through the forest. It was summer. The hot afternoon sun could not directly blaze through. The leaves of the trees were glowing brighter, more golden, or in a deeper green, depending on whether they were thicker or sparser. The light beamed through the forest like a sun-smile.
Hella and the painter chatted with each other.
Hella spoke with the self-righteous certainty of a young woman: “The portrait is very beautiful, but too austere. You know, it is like the forest here, but the smile from the sun above is missing. And yet, that is the most beautiful part of it.”
The painter answered: “Yes, if only I could always do as I pleased. But I have to appease the people. I have to do it the way they want it, otherwise I do not receive any commissions.”
The girl felt disgusted by this response. She thought one should rather suffer than betray one’s beliefs. Later she was ashamed of her dismissive arrogance—thought about just how hard life can be, and how terrible is the struggle for the basic necessities of life. And then she realized: a few are strong enough to resist and finally assert themselves; others, however, have to give in so that they are able to live. And the ability to live is indeed the purpose of existence.
She then looked at the painter. She had dark green eyes. Almost like the dark parts of a Reseda blossom or a deep green chrysoberyl. But she herself had a cornflower blue linen blouse. Something very ordinary. But this blue, which appeared blunt on the garment because of the type of fabric, was reflected in the painter’s lustrous eyes with tremendous intensity. The black interior of the pupil disappeared. In its place glowed a blue sphere as if from a brightly polished Lapis lazuli. And around it the green-rimmed star of her eye. The white of her eye radiated like a glacier in the sun. It was gorgeous. The sight of this resembled something mystic, demonic. And yet it was only the reflection of the ordinary linen blouse in the painter’s kind eyes. But it is the enigmatic miracle of life that out of nowhere, without our knowledge and participation, meaning arises.
School Friends
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
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- Boydell & Brewer
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- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp 118-123
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Summary
They once attended the seminar for schoolteachers together. How many years had since gone by! With graying hair, they looked back into the past, which seemed so far, oh how far away—and wondered how quickly they were approaching the land of the dead. What an express train through dangers and events! And before they knew it, everything had already passed them by.
And now they involuntarily looked back. There they sat, brought together by mere chance, reminiscing about the years they spent together in their youth, confiding to each other the incidents of the many years they had spent apart.
As is so often the case, they had promised each other as young girls to stay friends for life. But life is more powerful than children’s promises. Chance tore them apart. They were convinced that they would never see each other again and that the whole thing would remain a mere foolish dream of youth. Years passed, and they had forgotten each other.
But life suddenly brought them together. And now they again felt so connected and almost obliged to report to each other what life had brought them, good or bad.
They looked at each other with timidity and nostalgia. There was the blond, her head once full of hair that glistened like golden wheat—now it was sparse and faded.
From too much sun? pondered the poet.
There, another head: eyes like black cherries, jasmine cheeks—once all fragrance and fervor! Now the skin was clay-colored and the hair lay like cobwebs on old walls.
And then this one.
The beautiful body she once had in those days. Yes, how she was envied! She was the first to have a bosom and hips. Oh! How delightful and curvy she looked in a bathing suit! Like a little doll. Even she took heartfelt joy in herself back then! Now she was bloated and looked unhealthily pale, her once beautiful eyes obscured by fat.
This one was haggard. From a distance, she almost seemed youthful. But this illusion was really the pointy angularity of her bones that had grown heavy.
While they looked at each other and tried in vain to recognize the beloved features of youth beneath this horrifying transformation, a pensive gravity came over them.
The Governess: Story from Bulgaria
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
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- Boydell & Brewer
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- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp 23-31
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Summary
In the sultry heat of the midsummer morning, they strode from Sofia to Dragalevtsi. Being true Bulgarians, they were late. They now walked slowly, at a steady pace; the sun and the even rhythm of the Ganges put everyone in a sleepy somnambulant state.
Mr. Panov walked far ahead of the others, thinking about what percentage his latest speculations would earn him. His daughter Mara followed him, a slender eighteen-year-old with beautiful, fiery Bulgarian eyes. From time to time, she chatted with her brother about the next excursion to Boyana and the guests she would invite. Little Ivan danced from one person to the other, glad that he was allowed to miss school for once. From his philosophical standpoint there were only two categories of people: Those who had to go to school, including all the unhappy little boys and girls such as his own poor pitiful self. And then, those who did not have to go to school, including his parents, his sister, his brother, the Count, the lamplighter who lit the lantern in front of the house every evening, and the laundress. All of these formed one category for him: the lucky ones.
Mama Panov, a big forty-something year old woman, fat and horribly laced, gasped behind them. Her waist separated her immense bosom above from her corpulent belly below. Her body, unaccustomed to the corset, suffered under the pressure of the traditional device. Sweat pearled on her fat neck, which sat in a straight line under her face. She had an unpleasant look around her mouth. They definitely walked too fast for her ample corporality; but nobody paid any attention. She was separated from the circle of “usefulness” for good; her children were born; nothing more was demanded of her, not even that she maintained her own painful flesh. So, her duty was done, and now she was an unusable, old piece of furniture for which no one had any consideration. And that’s the way it should be: everyone should be valued according to their capabilities.
Lora, little Ivan’s governess, walked at the very end, with the necessary, submissive distance, as if paid feet could not take as big steps as unpaid ones. She was the only one in the entire group whose mind was really busy.
The Three Sisters
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
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- Boydell & Brewer
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- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp 85-86
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Summary
Goodness! Papa is home. No one is allowed to make a lot of noise, because he is anxious. But he is here nonetheless. Now all three sisters are chatting away around him. Only their lovely Mama walks around, for she has to tend to the flowers. Papa speaks, and Mama only occasionally smiles at them from the window.
Papa always has such beautiful, strange things to say about life. But ultimately, he always asks them: if you had been in this or that situation, what would you have done? And then everyone says what she would have done. It is like math class; everyone listens attentively and thinks feverishly.
One time, though, Papa asks: “What do you think brings the greatest happiness? Or, even better: what would be your greatest wish in life?”
All of their faces become serious. Even Mama comes over and listens.
Bertha, the second sister, says: “I would like a friend who mourns me after my death.”
Mara, the youngest, blushes intensely while she speaks: “I would like a loving heart that beats truly for me.”
“And you, Elsa? Well?”
Elsa stands there, upright, and tousles a flower in her hands—her face suddenly very pale and her eyes glowing.
“Well, Elsa?”
“Me, Papa? I want nothing but fame.”
The sisters burst out in resounding laughter. The mood, which had filled the room with harmony, dissipates.
Papa is suddenly upset. His angry eyes loom threateningly over the two all-too-happy girls.
“You two are foolish,” he says.
Deep down, he senses the tragic inevitability of this woman-child.
Then he turns to the oldest, his otherwise authoritative voice becoming almost timid and a touch softer than normal. He almost whispers: “Then you will always be unhappy, my child.”
“Yes, I know that,” Elsa says scornfully and smiles as though someone had promised her the sweetest thing of all.
She looks out into the far, far distance, where there are no parents or siblings.
She gazes into this land of loftiest promise. Everything is silent. Bertha twists a handkerchief around her thumb, again and again.
Papa’s eyes are moist: how this child had seen straight through him! Seen into all of his hidden secrets. A great, noble ambition was in his blood, too!
Is That Love? Short Psychological Tales and Observations
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
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- Boydell & Brewer
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- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp 1-2
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Innocence: A Modern Book for Girls
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
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- Boydell & Brewer
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- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp 71-72
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Marriage
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
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- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp 79-80
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Summary
Mama was always so pale. For as long as Maria could remember, from her teenage years back to her childhood—she had always seen her mother pale, with serious, wounded eyes, and a soft smile on her lips.
Papa does not love Mama. Definitely not! Maria does not tell this to anyone, to no one! Nevertheless, it is true. Even as a child, she felt it. She knew nothing back then, thought nothing—but she suffered!
There were never any scenes or violence in the house. Her parents always remained well-mannered and cultivated. But there was no sunshine. The softness, kindness, which reveals itself in a glance! And for which children especially, for whom words are still incomprehensible, have a refined sense.
But now she was already a young woman. And it was still the same. She never heard them argue or say a crude word. But it was there, with certainty, sitting like a splinter in a throbbing wound. She knew and fell silent. No one found out her secret.
She suffered.
But today something terrible happened. She sat with Mama. Mama on the sofa, she face-to-face with her in front of the mirror with her back to the door.
It started to grow dark. They both fell silent. They understood each other best like that. How she wished to put her arms around her mother’s neck, whispering with warm kisses: “You poor, poor Mommy!” But it did not work like that. She was not allowed to speak that way with the one who gave her life. How would she be allowed to complain to her daughter — — —
So they both remained silent, but their feelings seeped through the room in delicate waves, flowing into each other, while their lips remained closed.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
The bell rang.
Papa! they both thought, but no one said it aloud.
And suddenly they both felt their limbs growing deeply tired. They wanted to face him, without being able to. Something came over them, like a sleepy child whose eyelids droop—heavy—tired — — —
Papa laughed, he walked from room to room. Finally, he came into the side chamber. He flirted with the maid, who wanted to light the lamp.
Small Child
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Book:
- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp 110-112
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Summary
The farmer’s wife held on to the child and watched the horo.
Say, the young woman from the city asked her, is it a boy or a girl?
No! A boy!
How old?
Already close to two years.
Does he walk?
Oh no, still not yet.
The woman from the city looks at his pale little face, which moans: still not yet, I am so sick!
Fidelfideldidilum!
Look at that one over there, how she dances, the one with the golden glittering dress, that is my daughter!
But your little boy?
Isn’t she beautiful and white and blossoming?
My dear city woman, my sister drinks my blood, she sucks the marrow from my bones, she buys gold sequins with my flesh, and my mother holds on to me, too, so that I can’t get away.
The dress cost a lot, a cow and a calf.
Madam, your little child is pale.
And, quietly, something releases itself from her soul and warmly envelopes the child’s soul.
Then the little boy lifts his painfully indifferent little face.
The head, which the emaciated, unnaturally pale neck could not carry, rested weak on her shoulders.
But now he felt at ease. And his wise eyes, marked by death, looked at the city woman.
The woman shuddered.
A twitching soul flapped upward out of the skinny body and, with a soft shiver, enveloped her being.
And something spoke to her—but not with poor human words, rather something infinitely more beautiful, more divine, flew to her like a fervent gratitude, like a tender understanding, moaning about early death and lonesome dying. And a voice, even more secretly, resounded underneath: you suffer too, you too!
The city woman trembled. Is it possible? Reason says no!
But saying no cannot undo it!
The child’s eyes suddenly opened up, a brightness blossomed within them, which radiated toward her.
I finally found you after all, a part of me, my being, my soul! Now, nothing can cause harm.
Am I dreaming? the woman thought.
And her eyes sank into those of the child, into depths, shallows, infinities.
How vast your soul is, she thought.
And So Shall We Be Sanctified
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Book:
- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp 124-126
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Summary
Severe quarrels emerged within the “Covenant of Violets,” a garland of young girl friends. Isolde, Lina, Bella, and the black-haired Bertha were toying around, flirting with every man they saw, and could not think of anything more delightful than insulting brides or young women by acting coquettish with their men.
However, to the deeper natured members of the Covenant, this didn’t seem funny, heroic, or worthy of wasting the sacred, precious hours of their youth.
They carried something inside them that revealed the tragic gravity of existence to those who knew nothing about life.
Although in their innocence they had not yet experienced anything, they had discovered some things through observation. Their bright souls saw many sordid things thatthey wished were different. They often asked why the ugliness was concealed from them, when it was clearly there. While it was also looming over their life, they would have wished it to be delicate and as pure as the stars! And they trembled at the crudeness of existence.
Some also told each other about the books they had secretly read. It was these serious sad works that gave one a sense of how much it pained the author to portray such people. But these were the people and grievances of our times.
“These books are disgusting,” a young girl with blond hair said. “Why don’t they write something lovely, so that one can laugh at life! Instead, always something gloomy, dreadful, tortured.”
But the motherly one with the soft voice and the greenish gray eyes embraced her and spoke: “Don’t be sad, you will be strong, too.
We live in a time of transition. Many things seem crude to us that have not irritated people before. But don’t you see a ray of hope for the future in this; a sign that people want to change it?”
“Yes,” one said, “Rome wasn’t built in a day. What for centuries has been considered good, can’t simply be changed just by realizing what could be better. Our generation has to be sacrificed for a bright future, in which people can and are allowed to be happy again.”
The blond one spoke: “I would like so much to laugh and be happy.”
Contents
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Book:
- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp vii-viii
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Introduction
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp 73-73
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Summary
To the Young Girls!
You youthful buds of humanity! Your beauty delights all hearts. But who thanks you and also considers you budding souls?
I cannot speak for all of you, for there is no one in the world who could speak for all. My words are not for those of you who value a waltz or a beautiful dress or wealth and glamour more than anything else. Nor for those who go through life as though in a languishing sleep, not looking right or left, not asking, not wanting, and whose silent indifference consummates their fate.
But the simplicity of my life can serve you, most noble ones. Behind your brows, as beautiful as the month of May, the question of fate is clawing.
To you who want to go through the harsh crudeness of life in holiness and beauty.
To you with glowing hearts full of sacrifice, for whom everything offensive, when it passes before your eyes, invites only the thought of kindness bringing healing betterment.
Oh! If only my feelings were also power! I would bless your blossoming life!
Elsa Asenijeff
At the time of the tuberose blossom
1901
Introduction
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Book:
- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp xi-xxxvi
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Summary
Elsa Asenijeff (1867–1941), a well-known and respected writer at the turn of the twentieth century in Germany, is now mostly, if at all, remembered as painter and sculptor Max Klinger’s (1857–1920) muse. Her omission from literary history is by no means an exception, but rather a fate that Asenijeff shares with many women writers who published during the first half of the twentieth century—and beyond. While this “unjust neglect” is certainly due to the fact that the literary canon was mostly shaped by the masculine bourgeoisie, the decline in public recognition that Asenijeff experienced during the last two decades of her lifetime further complicates her case.
Born in Vienna, Asenijeff lived and published in Leipzig for most of her life, where she was engaged in an intellectual, creative, and romantic partnership with Klinger. When he left her shortly before his death in 1920, Asenijeff lost most of her social and financial security. Eventually, she was admitted to a mental institution, where she spent the last decade of her life shunned by critics and forgotten by both her friends and the public. Her work has been rediscovered in the German-speaking world only within the last fifteen years, with the small press Turmhut publishing some of her texts, and the Museum of Leipzig, under the auspice of Rita Jorek, organizing public talks and events on her life and work.
As one of the first women to attend the University of Leipzig, Asenijeff was a strong defender of women’s rights to education and financial and creative independence. In her personal correspondence and literary work she openly advocates for equity in education and professional opportunities—sometimes in line with the moderate women’s movement’s rationale, such as when arguing for women’s rights to education because a woman’s education improved the quality of marriage; other times, however, Asenijeff discards the institution of marriage altogether, which she harshly criticizes as detrimental to women’s creativity and professional opportunities. These and other jarring contradictions in Asenijeff’s texts continue to puzzle her readers as well as the few scholars who critically engage with her work.
Darkness of the Metropolis
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Book:
- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp 76-76
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Summary
Oh yes, in a big city one sees things that one is not supposed to notice.
These women, for example, about whom no one speaks.
The ones who turn their heads toward men and wear such beautiful petticoats.
Marie went with her aunt. How irritating! There was always someone following her. As though this would make life amusing!
To be free as a boy! To not always be sheltered like a sick bird! That would be something!
Her aunt walked with the patience of a saint next to her niece, but one understands such kindness only when one reaches the age of an aunt.
Suddenly a hideous old woman emerged from the gateway of a house pushing an incredibly beautiful adolescent girl in front of her: “Hurry up! If you don’t start soon, you’ll get the cane! There’s one over there—hurry!”
The young girl, however, made a face as though the worst thing in the world was happening to her. As though she were completely helpless and alone, vulnerable to all misery. Completely abandoned! Emitting from her pained gaze, her desolation cried out accusingly toward Marie. Their eyes met for a quarter of a second.
Never in her life will she forget this look. This bottomless, deep, lonely anguish.
Marie’s aunt pulled her quickly to the other side of the street.
And then she sensed something, as though she had suddenly become clairvoyant.
Quietly she whispered to her aunt, who patiently walked next to her: “You, who look out for me, you kind one!”
Girl and Woman (A Chat)
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Book:
- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 12 January 2023
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- 20 September 2022, pp 108-109
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Summary
Woman: You are a modern girl: innocent, but aware—
Girl: yes, I am aware of all of the mysteries, without—
Woman: getting yourself dirty in the process. You only know as much as the sun in the sky knows of the earth.
Girl: Yes.
Woman: And what do you think you’ll do now? Where will life take you?
Girl: It’s easy for you, you gave away your soul.
Woman (bitterly): Doesn’t giving mean receiving?
Girl: No, only you could give someone something. Only the rich give and if you found the one who was worthy of your soul …
Woman: If! If! What if I had not found him? What if I had been mistaken and had again quickly closed my hand, which had been open to give?
(Both remain silent, pondering.)
After a longer while the
Girl: Must one not be unhappy if her sister-soul can’t be found?
Woman: You call her sister-soul. Call her the soul of humanity—that would be better. But your eyes tell me you demand more from life. I am your sister-soul. But you wish for more. Your hungry eyes betray your desire for happiness.
Girl (quietly): And happiness is love.
Woman (sadly): Oh, you girls of the new generation! Is this a deficiency in our adaptation or in our education—will we always have to think like that?
Girl (sighs).
Woman: Would our world really be that narrow? Man has mountains and mountain-valleys, sea and seabed, empires, galaxies and beyond that aspirations, and we, we would only have love? Are we that poor?
Girl: And he also has vast empires that he sees under the microscope: wonder after wonder, awe without end! Is life not the most wondrous fairy tale? You look into a small, thin tube, not larger than your eye, and inside, beyond, suddenly are worlds, empires of unknown things … and always new things, always and again!
Woman: But we, we would only have love?
Girl: Man longs for love, as well.
Woman: As well! You said it. But we long only for love. Have you not observed women who have a profession? A man will take his goal in life seriously, and love will sweeten it for him.
She
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Book:
- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 12 January 2023
- Print publication:
- 20 September 2022, pp 19-22
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Summary
At last, she was allowed! She was allowed to study! She was allowed to be free—that is, not unconditionally, but a little. They granted her an entire semester. Wasn’t that a lot? Wasn’t that gracious? There she could develop her great talent—because she had a talent for writing—and also publish something. Mainly publish something, her husband wished, so that more money could be brought into the household. Mostly develop her talent in order to gain fame, fancied her mother, aunt and cousins.
That was how they decided for her. While the husband had to go to Australia on business, she was allowed to attend the university for a semester. No one asked her anything further; didn’t they know that she wanted to study? So, they also granted her this joy!
She was a languishing little bird that was longing for freedom. First, she had married a man she did not love in order to shake off the burden of her tutors and guardians—this proved to be a miscalculation since now her husband would rule over her in addition to the others, who loved her so much, and did not ease off. They all raised her, and sometimes she wept while thinking they would raise her to her grave. And all she wanted, quite innocently, was a little freedom and to be able to study. She couldn’t help that she was different from the others!
The opportunity and permission finally came! To study, yes! Everyone was so very educational in her family. Everything had to be achieved through a sense of duty, obedience, and goodwill. So, she was told: “We, who are so insightful, kind, and always indulging in your whims, have decided to allow you to become clever, we allow you to become famous and we give you six months to do so. So, hurry up so that you can show that you are not a stupid woman who can never work seriously, but just messes around. Work properly, achieve something original.” They then gave her a ticket and sent her to the famous university town.
Tatjana
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Book:
- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 12 January 2023
- Print publication:
- 20 September 2022, pp 87-90
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Summary
As a very small child, she was already different from the others. She seemed healthy and blossoming—had the full, round cheeks of a child, too. But her young body often experienced convulsions for very minor, almost unnoticeable reasons, followed by digestion problems and severe cramps in her abdomen. Someone would then put her to bed and she would dream.
For her, being sick and lying in bed was the epitome of comfort.
Then, she would stare into space, imagining she was lying in a glass coffin that floated far into the open sea where there was nothing to see but her, the distant clouds and never-ending waters.
This favorite image of her childhood fantasy was characteristic of her nature: herself motionless, dreamily departing from the smallest room out into infinity. Already in this image, the fruit of a mind barely three years old, lay the seed for her entire future becoming.
She remained listless and liked to dream. She detested laughing, skipping, and making noise. No one had seen her laugh until she was twelve. Much less skip or run. She was happiest crouching in a corner or with her hands clasped, wrapped around her knees, while her wide pupils stared aimlessly into the distance.
Later there came a time of unrest, fever, discomfort without reason, out of which the woman is to emerge from the child.
It was then that the first smile was wrung from her closed lips, and with pain, shivers, and pride, she felt herself outgrowing the child, girl, woman.
That was her first joy. Something that united her with others, made them equal.
For the girls whispered to each other, blushing: “Have you already?—hmm?—you understand—???”
And those who were still children were seen as something disdainful! But there was radiance in the others’ eyes, and suddenly, overnight a pride in their demeanor, like in a flower that is about to bloom.
Once when Tatjana came to class, she, who was always early in order to disappear and hide quietly behind her desk, was late.
Almost all of her classmates were already there and looked with surprise at Tatjana’s almost transparent face, her eyes glistening feverishly.
What Girls Are Not Supposed to Know
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
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- Book:
- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 12 January 2023
- Print publication:
- 20 September 2022, pp 105-107
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Summary
Upstairs in the attic on the fifth floor lived a poor, young woman. She was entirely shapeless, and had a haggard, sunken face. Because her legs were swollen, she could not make it down the many floors to go to work.
Fräulein Helene secretly brought food up to her every day.
No one was allowed to know about it, because her parents would have scolded her and never permitted that she associate herself with “just anybody.”
When the delicate young girl climbed the stairs of poverty, carefully lifting her skirts so that they would not get dirty from the grime of the staircase, she felt confused by the complicated nature of life.
Somewhere everything was bright, white, beautiful, and somewhere else everything seemed gray, filthy, disgusting. If only my life remained sacred and beautiful, her soul wished.
This time, the young woman did not come to meet her. She sat on the edge of the bed. And although her poor, sorrowful face appeared to be entirely unmoved, two silent tears ran down her cheeks. Helene did not know what she felt. A lot of sympathy, perhaps, but also disgust. In spite of this, she said gently: “Dear woman, should I send for the doctor?”
“No, no, thank you, Fräulein.” And then she suddenly groaned, as though her body were being ripped apart. The neighbor came in the room. “Little Fräulein, go away from here! If your people were to find out.
“I will get help. Just go away quickly and do not come back again. Otherwise, we poor people will be chastised.”
“Should I get her husband? Where is her husband?”
“Husband? Ha! She doesn’t have one. Her fiancé ran away when she told him that a child was on the way.”
“A child?” Helene cried in shock, while a second, more powerful dread arose inside her. She felt as though she was about to faint in horror, but a feeling of disgust kept her upright. It seemed to her as though she was being pulled along into the swamp even though she only understood half of what was implied.
Her soul secretly begged her parents for forgiveness. Something like that must exist!
But the young woman groaned ever louder, while the old neighbor signaled that she should go away.
Frontmatter
- Elsa Asenijeff
- Edited by Eva Hoffmann, University of Oregon, Alexis B. Smith, Hanover College, Indiana
-
- Book:
- Elsa Asenijeff’s <i>Is that love?</i> and <i>Innocence</i>
- Published by:
- Boydell & Brewer
- Published online:
- 12 January 2023
- Print publication:
- 20 September 2022, pp i-iv
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