George Calinescu
Encyclopedia
George Călinescu (ˈd͡ʒe̯ord͡ʒe kəliˈnesku; June 19, 1899, Bucharest
– March 12, 1965, Otopeni
) was a Romania
n literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist
and humanist
tendencies. He is currently considered one of the most important Romanian literary critics of all time, alongside Titu Maiorescu
and Eugen Lovinescu
, and is one of the outstanding figures of Romanian literature in the 20th century.
, then to Iaşi
, where Gheorghe Vişan, the future writer, matriculated at the Şcoala "Carol I." In 1907, Maria Vişan accepted the Călinescus' offer to formally adopt her son, who then took the name Gheorghe Călinescu. As a child Călinescu did not know who his real mother was. Finding out that the housekeeper that he used to humiliate was his real mother caused him a psychological trauma. He tried to hide his real origins for the rest of his life.
's autobiographical novel Un uomo finito and a novella from Boccaccio's Decameron. Again with Ortiz's help, he began work at the literary review Roma, the first issue appearing in January 1921, and travelled to Italy with his university colleagues. Călinescu's first book was written in Italian under the title Alcuni missionari catolici italiani nella Moldavia nei secoli XVII e XVIII, which appeared in 1925 and treated the Vatican
's counter-reformation
ary propaganda efforts in Baroque Moldavia with heavy reliance on unpublished sources found in the Vatican Archives.
, alongside Ramiro Ortiz, Călinescu realized his vocation as a creative artist and scholar, his attention in Rome
was focused on Vasile Pârvan, the director of the Accademia di Romania. Călinescu was captivated by Pârvan's erudition and work ethic, but also by his existential philosophy. Călinescu would always return to this "spiritual father" whenever the difficulties of life seemed to bring him to his knees. Călinescu observed that while Pârvan's natural aptitude was fairly common, his tendency to exercise all the powers of his mind in the ascetic pursuit of an intellectual ideal was transformed into an existential philosophy: Life is transitory, but man can defeat death and oblivion through creation, thus leaving a permanent record of a temporary existence. Călinescu later said, "even if not everyone is in a position to become a Pârvan, everyone can see in him a model, that is to say a way in which he too can accomplish the same renunciations."
whose value he was the first to publicize. In fact, this thesis was an extract from Călinescu's earlier work, Opera lui Mihai Eminescu, which he wrote out longhand in five copies and sent to the members of the Examination Committee. Afterwards he was named Lecturer in Romanian Literature at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Iaşi, after having won the competition for the post with the maximum possible score. In 1945, he transferred to the University of Bucharest, from which point he collaborated on the prestigious Revistă a Fundaţiilor Regale, edited by Alexandru Rosetti and Camil Petrescu
, until the abdication of the King in 1947. After 1947, he was published consistently in such reviews as Gazeta literară (later to become România literară) and Contemporanul, also collaborating on Roma, Universul literar, Viaţa literară, Sburătorul, and Gândirea.
.
, realist novelist Nicolae Filimon
, and poet Grigore Alexandrescu
, fictionalized biographies, scholarly studies, and essays. He continued presiding over numerous academic and radio conferences and writing thousands of critical reviews until his death in 1965.
, often with obvious polemic
al undertones lurking beneath their apparently objective style. The novel he considered his best, Enigma Otiliei, narrates an unhappy love story; Cartea nunţii is a disquisition on marriage; and Bietul Ioanide and Scrinul negru present the problems of intellectuals, all against the backdrop of interwar and immediate postwar Romania. Călinescu also wrote poems (Lauda lucrurilor) and plays (Şun, mit mongol) while continuing to practice journalism, although Cronicile mizantropului abruptly became Cronicile optimistului after the Communists seized power in 1947.
He made numerous research trips to the Soviet Union
(Kiev, Moscova, Leningrad appeared in 1949) and the People's Republic of China
(Am fost în China nouă, in 1953), publishing his impressions in these two volumes.
From 1948 to 1953 Călinescu was mistrusted and marginalized, despite being named to the Academy of the Romanian People's Republic in 1949; even after destalinization began in the Soviet Union
in 1953, the Romanian establishment continued to favor the "wooden-tongued," socialist realist models the Soviets had begun to abandon. Călinescu's total inability to write convincingly in this style resulted in his continued perception as a reactionary conservative. Nonetheless, he was invited to resume his columns on a permanent basis in 1956, marking the beginning of his rehabilitation. Before the end of his life, all of his works, with the exception of his monumental Istoria, were issued in new editions. Istoria would appear (to great acclaim) only in the 1980s, through the efforts of Călinescu's assistant Alexandru Piru.
of the liver and sent for treatment to the sanatorium at Otopeni
. On 12 March 1965, in the middle of the night, he died, leaving behind, in the words of Geo Bogza, "a body of work fundamental to the Romanian people."
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
– March 12, 1965, Otopeni
Otopeni
Otopeni is a town in Ilfov County, Romania, some north of Bucharest along the road to Ploieşti. It has 10,215 inhabitants, of which 99.0% are Romanians. One village, Odăile, is administered by the town....
) was a Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
and humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
tendencies. He is currently considered one of the most important Romanian literary critics of all time, alongside Titu Maiorescu
Titu Maiorescu
Titu Liviu Maiorescu was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the Junimea Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of the 19th century....
and Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the Sburătorul literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the uncle of Horia Lovinescu, Vasile Lovinescu, and Anton Holban...
, and is one of the outstanding figures of Romanian literature in the 20th century.
Early childhood
George Călinescu was born Gheorghe Vişan on 14 June 1899, the son of a housekeeper, Maria Vişan; the child was brought up by his mother's employers, Constantin Călinescu, a worker for Romanian State Railways, and his wife Maria, in their house in Bucharest. The Călinescu family, along with their housekeeper and the child, moved first to BotoşaniBotosani
Botoșani is the capital city of Botoșani County, in northern Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu and Nicolae Iorga.- Origin of the name :...
, then to Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
, where Gheorghe Vişan, the future writer, matriculated at the Şcoala "Carol I." In 1907, Maria Vişan accepted the Călinescus' offer to formally adopt her son, who then took the name Gheorghe Călinescu. As a child Călinescu did not know who his real mother was. Finding out that the housekeeper that he used to humiliate was his real mother caused him a psychological trauma. He tried to hide his real origins for the rest of his life.
A model: Ramiro Ortiz
Ramiro Ortiz, who taught Italian language and literature at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy, exercised a seminal influence over Călinescu's development. Călinescu developed a strong friendship with Ortiz; years later, he would give Ortiz credit for helping him "seize" a literary education of extraordinary quality. Under Ortiz's guidance Călinescu made his first translations from Italian; during his student days he translated Giovanni PapiniGiovanni Papini
Giovanni Papini was an Italian journalist, essayist, literary critic, poet, and novelist.-Early life:...
's autobiographical novel Un uomo finito and a novella from Boccaccio's Decameron. Again with Ortiz's help, he began work at the literary review Roma, the first issue appearing in January 1921, and travelled to Italy with his university colleagues. Călinescu's first book was written in Italian under the title Alcuni missionari catolici italiani nella Moldavia nei secoli XVII e XVIII, which appeared in 1925 and treated the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
's counter-reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
ary propaganda efforts in Baroque Moldavia with heavy reliance on unpublished sources found in the Vatican Archives.
Another model: Vasile Pârvan
If in BucharestBucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, alongside Ramiro Ortiz, Călinescu realized his vocation as a creative artist and scholar, his attention in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
was focused on Vasile Pârvan, the director of the Accademia di Romania. Călinescu was captivated by Pârvan's erudition and work ethic, but also by his existential philosophy. Călinescu would always return to this "spiritual father" whenever the difficulties of life seemed to bring him to his knees. Călinescu observed that while Pârvan's natural aptitude was fairly common, his tendency to exercise all the powers of his mind in the ascetic pursuit of an intellectual ideal was transformed into an existential philosophy: Life is transitory, but man can defeat death and oblivion through creation, thus leaving a permanent record of a temporary existence. Călinescu later said, "even if not everyone is in a position to become a Pârvan, everyone can see in him a model, that is to say a way in which he too can accomplish the same renunciations."
Doctorate in Literature - and beyond
In 1936, Călinescu received his Doctorate in Literature from the University of Iaşi with a thesis on Avatarii faraonului Tla, a posthumous work of Mihai EminescuMihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul , the official newspaper of the Conservative Party...
whose value he was the first to publicize. In fact, this thesis was an extract from Călinescu's earlier work, Opera lui Mihai Eminescu, which he wrote out longhand in five copies and sent to the members of the Examination Committee. Afterwards he was named Lecturer in Romanian Literature at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Iaşi, after having won the competition for the post with the maximum possible score. In 1945, he transferred to the University of Bucharest, from which point he collaborated on the prestigious Revistă a Fundaţiilor Regale, edited by Alexandru Rosetti and Camil Petrescu
Camil Petrescu
Camil Petrescu was a Romanian playwright, novelist, philosopher and poet. He marked the end of the traditional novel era and laid the foundation of the modern novel era.- Life :...
, until the abdication of the King in 1947. After 1947, he was published consistently in such reviews as Gazeta literară (later to become România literară) and Contemporanul, also collaborating on Roma, Universul literar, Viaţa literară, Sburătorul, and Gândirea.
Under Communism
Călinescu was deposed from his position at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest after the establishment in power of the Communist Party of Romania. He was considered a political liability despite having shown evidence of democratic, left-leaning tendencies throughout the interwar period. In the 1950s, however, he became director of the Institutul de Teorie literară şi Folclor and coordinated the institute's publication, Studii şi cercetări de istorie literară şi folclor, from 1952 to 1965. He was reinvited to his post at the Faculty of Letters only in 1961; in the meantime, he produced numerous writings on wide-ranging subjects, from the aesthetic of folk tales to the history of Spanish literatureSpanish literature
Spanish literature generally refers to literature written in the Spanish language within the territory that presently constitutes the state of Spain...
.
Research, criticism, writings
Călinescu was the author of several fundamental texts of Romanian literary history (Viaţa lui Mihai Eminescu, Opera lui Mihai Eminescu, and Viaţa lui Ion Creanga among others). After 1945, he published significant writings on world literature (including Impresii asupra literaturii spaniole, and Scriitori străini.) His study Estetica basmului, devoted to the poetics of Romanian folk tales, underlined the range of his interests. From 1932 to 1962, he published monographs, in separate volumes, on such writers as Eminescu, fabulist Ion CreangăIon Creanga
Ion Creangă was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th century Romanian literature, he is best known for his Childhood Memories volume, his novellas and short stories, and his many anecdotes...
, realist novelist Nicolae Filimon
Nicolae Filimon
Nicolae Filimon was a Wallachian Romanian novelist and short-story writer, remembered as the author of the very first Realist novel in Romanian literature, Ciocoii vechi şi noi , which was centered on the self-seeking figure of Dinu Păturică...
, and poet Grigore Alexandrescu
Grigore Alexandrescu
Grigore Alexandrescu in Bucharest was a nineteenth century Romanian poet and translator noted for his fables with political undertones.Of a noble family, he participated in secret revolutionary societies...
, fictionalized biographies, scholarly studies, and essays. He continued presiding over numerous academic and radio conferences and writing thousands of critical reviews until his death in 1965.
Novelist, poet and dramatist
Călinescu produced heavily descriptive realist novels in the mode of Honoré de BalzacHonoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
, often with obvious polemic
Polemic
A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...
al undertones lurking beneath their apparently objective style. The novel he considered his best, Enigma Otiliei, narrates an unhappy love story; Cartea nunţii is a disquisition on marriage; and Bietul Ioanide and Scrinul negru present the problems of intellectuals, all against the backdrop of interwar and immediate postwar Romania. Călinescu also wrote poems (Lauda lucrurilor) and plays (Şun, mit mongol) while continuing to practice journalism, although Cronicile mizantropului abruptly became Cronicile optimistului after the Communists seized power in 1947.
Civic and political activity under Communism
An intellectual with liberal-left ideas who nonetheless proved flexible enough to write praises of the King under Carol's dictatorship, Călinescu outwardly adhered to the new Communist ideology after 1947, likely noting the practical advantages of such a shift in loyalties.He made numerous research trips to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
(Kiev, Moscova, Leningrad appeared in 1949) and the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
(Am fost în China nouă, in 1953), publishing his impressions in these two volumes.
From 1948 to 1953 Călinescu was mistrusted and marginalized, despite being named to the Academy of the Romanian People's Republic in 1949; even after destalinization began in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1953, the Romanian establishment continued to favor the "wooden-tongued," socialist realist models the Soviets had begun to abandon. Călinescu's total inability to write convincingly in this style resulted in his continued perception as a reactionary conservative. Nonetheless, he was invited to resume his columns on a permanent basis in 1956, marking the beginning of his rehabilitation. Before the end of his life, all of his works, with the exception of his monumental Istoria, were issued in new editions. Istoria would appear (to great acclaim) only in the 1980s, through the efforts of Călinescu's assistant Alexandru Piru.
Final years of life
In November 1964, George Călinescu was diagnosed with cirrhosisCirrhosis
Cirrhosis is a consequence of chronic liver disease characterized by replacement of liver tissue by fibrosis, scar tissue and regenerative nodules , leading to loss of liver function...
of the liver and sent for treatment to the sanatorium at Otopeni
Otopeni
Otopeni is a town in Ilfov County, Romania, some north of Bucharest along the road to Ploieşti. It has 10,215 inhabitants, of which 99.0% are Romanians. One village, Odăile, is administered by the town....
. On 12 March 1965, in the middle of the night, he died, leaving behind, in the words of Geo Bogza, "a body of work fundamental to the Romanian people."
Post-Communist reputation
After 1989 there began a period in which Călinescu's civic activity under the Communist regime was called into question, and in which he was accused of collaborating with the authorities, notably by his former assistant Adrian Marino. A veritable "trial by press" resulted in which all of his works and activities were systematically reevaluated, proving Călinescu's perennial value and ability to offer new generations new perspectives on his own times and the whole history of Romanian literature.Studies in Foreign Languages
- Alcuni missionari catolici italiani nella Moldavia nella secoli XVII e XVIII (On Some Italian Catholic Missionaries in the Moldavia of the 17th and 18th centuries), 1925.
Studies on Aesthetics and World Literature
- Principii de estetică (Principles of Aesthetics), 1939.
- Impresii asupra literaturii spaniole (Impressions on Spanish Literature), 1946.
- Sensul clasicismului (The Meaning of Classicism), 1946.
- Studii şi conferinţe (Studies and Conferences), 1956.
- Scriitori străini (Foreign Writers), 1967.
Drama
- Şun, mit mongol sau Calea neturburată (Şun, a Mongol Myth), 1940.
- Ludovic al XIX-lea (Louis the Nineteenth), 1964.
- Teatru (Theatre), 1965.
Novels
- Cartea nunţii (The Book of the Wedding), 1933.
- Enigma Otiliei (Otilia's Secret), 1938.
- Trei nuvele (Three Novellas), 1949.
- Bietul Ioanide (Poor Ioanide), 1953.
- Scrinul negru (The Black Chest of Drawers), 1965.
History and literary criticism
- Viaţa lui Mihai Eminescu (The Life of Mihai Eminescu), 1932.
- Opera lui Mihai Eminescu (The Works of Mihai Eminescu), 1934.
- Viaţa lui Ion Creangă (The Life of Ion Creangă), 1938.
- Istoria literaturii române de la origini până în prezent (The History of Romanian Literature from its Origins to the Present), 1941.
- Istoria literaturii române. Compendiu (The History of Romanian Literature. A Compendium), 1945.
- Universul poeziei (The Universe of Poetry), 1947.
- Nicolae Filimon, 1959.
- Gr. M. Alecsandrescu, 1962.
- Ion Creangă; Viaţa şi opera (Ion Creangă; His Life and Works), 1964.
- Vasile Alecsandri, 1965.
Journalism
- Cronicile optimistului (The Chronicles of an Optimist), 1964.
- Ulysse (Ulysses), 1967.
Travel journals
- Kiev, Moscova, Leningrad (Kiev, Moscow, Leningrad), 1949.
- Am fost în China nouă (I've Been to the New China), 1953.