CONVOIUL (XIII) de Gheorghe Schwartz Tradus de / Translated by Eugene MATZOTA ▲▲▲ ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE Nr.106, 06/2026 ▲▲▲ Noi încă mai credem în cultură! Abstract Title: “THE CONVOY (XIII)” — Part I: The Body of the Snake (23) Author: Gheorghe Schwartz Translated by: Eugene Matzota Publication: ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE no. 106, 06/2026 “We still believe in culture!” Overview Sitting isolated in a quiet hotel lobby, the protagonist observes former members returning from the massive, collective entity known as "The Convoy" to rejoin civilian life—reunions that appear noticeably devoid of warmth or joy. With only three days of accommodation vouchers remaining, he faces growing uncertainty about his future while grappling with the reality of his covert recruitment by a secretive system. Through a communication device concealed as a business card, the protagonist learns why Convoy attire is heavily targeted by criminals: impostors use the uniforms to pose as law enforcement, carrying out robberies and murders under the guise of official authority. As he continues his assigned mission to investigate why individuals abandon the security of the Convoy for a life of hardship, the protagonist discovers that his own thoughts—and those of all marchers—are constantly harvested, processed, and analyzed by advanced computer algorithms, revealing a pervasive system of total surveillance.
„SALVAȚI-MĂ, DOMNU’ TONY!!…”, de Nicolaie Dincă ▲ ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE Nr.106, 06/2026 ▲
„SALVAȚI-MĂ, DOMNU’ TONY!!...”, de Nicolaie Dincă ▲ ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE Nr.106, 06/2026 ▲ Noi încă mai credem în cultură! Abstract Title: “SAVE ME, MR. TONY!!...” Author: Nicolaie Dincă Publication: ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE no. 106, 06/2026 “We still believe in culture!” Overview In this harrowing personal account, a veteran police officer reflects on the emotional toll of nearly three decades in law enforcement—particularly in rural areas. Guarding the invisible line between civilization and darkness, he confronts the stark reality of domestic abuse and systemic limitations before comprehensive legal protections were enacted. The author recount his desperate efforts to save Liliana, a seventeen-year-old girl, from the abusive grip of a career criminal known as "Cartoafă." Despite exhausting every legal, personal, and unconventional avenue—including confronting the abuser and pleading with the victim—he finds himself powerless against the perpetrator's manipulation, a lack of legislative framework, and a tragic misunderstanding of the offender's deadly intent.
Metafizica iubirii între ieri și azi, de Ciprian Cristea ▲ ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE Nr.106, 06/2026 ▲
Metafizica iubirii între ieri și azi, de Ciprian Cristea ▲ ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE Nr.106, 06/2026 ▲ Noi mai credem încă în cultură! Abstract: The Metaphysics of Love Between Yesterday and Today – A Reflection by Ciprian Cristea In this poignant essay, Ciprian Cristea explores the erosion of human depth in the age of instant connectivity. By contrasting the ceremonial, slow departure of the early 20th-century train with the sterile, high-speed travel of our era, the author illustrates a profound shift in the nature of human relationships. The central thesis is that while we have conquered distance and compressed time, we have inadvertently sacrificed the "sacred intervals"—those quiet spaces where love once grew through absence, patience, and longing. Cristea skillfully dissects the paradox of modern intimacy: - The loss of transience: The transition from the deliberate, emotional weight of letter-writing and waiting to the brutal, surgical speed of instant messaging. - The crisis of presence: The irony that we traverse continents through video calls while feeling more isolated than ever, and that the abundance of digital images has replaced the cherished, singular photograph. - The demand for slowness: The author argues that love, in its essence, is not a product of speed but of time—a slow, almost painful duration where the soul can breathe. The essay serves as a philosophical wake-up call, reminding the reader that true love begins precisely where the speed of the modern world stops. Cristea invites us to reclaim the value of silence and the sanctity of the "interval," challenging the reader to consider whether our technological "progress" is, in reality, a form of spiritual impoverishment.
AMALA ▲ ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE Nr.106, 06/2026 ▲
AMALA ▲ ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE Nr.106, 06/2026 ▲ Noi mai credem încă în cultură! Abstract: Amala – The Tragic Horizon of a Stolen Dream In this poignant excerpt from Sub semnul lui 12 (Under the Sign of 12), Ion Bogdan Martin reconstructs the harrowing reality of the late communist era in Romania, through the fate of Amala and Carmen. Set against the backdrop of the summer of 1989—a time of systemic crumbling and desperate individual aspirations—the narrative transcends a simple story of star-crossed lovers to become a testament to the suffocating rigidity of the regime. Amala, a young man of dignity and ambition, and Carmen, caught in the web of an activist father’s prejudices and political zeal, represent the collision between the human desire for a "Superior Time" and the cruel, immutable gravity of the "Inferior Time." Their journey towards the Danube—the ultimate frontier—is not merely an escape attempt; it is a desperate search for a world where their love can exist outside the constraints of origin and social status. The tragic finale, where the two are reunited in death in the waters of the Danube, serves as a searing critique of the inhumanity of the era. The irony of the activist father calling upon God in his moment of despair, only after his own rigidity had catalyzed the catastrophe, highlights the moral bankruptcy of the system. Through the image of their hands reaching for each other in the depths of the river, the author encapsulates the ultimate sacrifice of the individual before the altar of a regime that sought to control not just the body, but the very right to dream of a better life.
Eu parcă simt că vine ceva…, de Ciprian Cristea ▲ ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE Nr.105, 05/2026 ▲
Despre iubire, memorie și rezistență în „EstePi”, de Eugen Matzota ▲ ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE Nr.104, 04/2026 ▲ Noi mai credem încă în cultură! Abstract Title: Of Love, Memory, and Resistance in "EstePi" Author of Review: Eugen Matzota Subject: The Dictatorship of Silence – EstePi Love by Ciprian Cristea In this compelling review, Eugen Matzota introduces a new voice in contemporary literature, Ciprian Cristea, whose debut into the world of philosophical dystopia marks the beginning of an ambitious nine-volume series. Matzota, who acted as a mentor to the author, explores the manuscript titled The Dictatorship of Silence – EstePi Love, a work that transcends simple storytelling to become an urgent radiological examination of the present. The text analyzes a frozen, perfectly administered world where human essence—emotion, longing, and identity—has been surgically removed in exchange for a sterile and controlled order. In this universe, individuals are stripped of their names and reduced to mere statistical functions—exemplified by the chilling identification of a loved one as "7-241." Matzota argues that Cristea’s work is not merely a projection of a bleak future, but a meditation on the dissolution of the soul within a society that confuses absolute control with happiness. Ultimately, the review highlights the central theme of the novel: love as the most radical and illegal act of spiritual resistance against a world governed by algorithms and programmed conformity.
CONVOIUL (XII) ▲ ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE Nr.105, 05/2026 ▲
CONVOIUL (XII) de Gheorghe Schwartz Tradus de / Translated by Eugene MATZOTA ▲▲▲ ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE Nr.105, 05/2026 ▲▲▲ Noi încă mai credem în cultură! The Convoy (XII) by Gheorghe Schwartz Translated by Eugene MATZOTA ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE No. 105, 05/2026 Abstract: In this introspective chapter, the protagonist navigates the unsettling reality of life after exiting the "Convoy"—a regimented, utopian-like structure he refers to as the "Body of the Serpent." Trapped in a city that feels both alien and hauntingly familiar, he seeks refuge in a hotel lobby during a relentless rainstorm, searching for answers among other defectors. His attempt to decode the motives behind their "unthinkable" abandonment of a secure life culminates in a strained, enigmatic encounter with a fellow exile—a man of refined, diplomatic demeanor who embodies the very contradictions of their shared past. Through their dialogue, the story masterfully explores the existential cost of uniformity, the illusion of personal initiative in a world governed by rigid hierarchies, and the subtle, psychological surveillance that transcends the boundaries of the Convoy itself. This segment serves as a profound meditation on the struggle to maintain one’s individuality—and the "small habits" that anchor it—within the crushing pressure of a controlled society.
Sala de așteptare, de Viorel Ploeșteanu ▲ ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE Nr.105, 5/2026 ▲
Sala de așteptare, de Viorel Ploeșteanu ▲ ALTCULTURE MAGAZINE Nr.105 5/2025 ▲ Noi mai credem încă în cultură! The Waiting Room by Viorel Ploeșteanu Abstract: In this poignant narrative, Viorel Ploeșteanu masterfully delineates the slow erosion of a life through the story of Evelina, an octogenarian living in the heart of Bucharest. Her existence is inextricably bound to the physical landmarks of her past—the decaying apartment on C.A. Rosetti Street and a towering plane tree planted in her childhood. As she faces the isolation of a post-communist society where neighbors are strangers and her family has long since emigrated to the United States, the tree stands as her final companion and silent witness. The sudden destruction of this living monument serves as the ultimate catalyst for Evelina’s detachment from the world she once knew. The Waiting Room is a melancholic meditation on the fragility of memory, the pain of abandonment, and the quiet dignity with which the elderly confront their own obsolescence. It is a powerful portrait of a soul realizing that her entire history has been reduced to "sawdust swept away by strangers," leading to an inevitable, resigned surrender to the final sanctuary.