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Home , Barbu Brezianu, Eugen Lovinescu, Grigore Cugler, Ion Jalea, Petru Comarnescu, Theodor Pallady

Cultural and Linguistic Communication

PETRU COMARNESCU- A REMARKABLE PERSONALITY OF THE ROMANIAN CULTURE

Ioan - Emanuel STAVARACHE1

1Univ. Assist. PhD Student, Apollonia of Iaşi, Corresponding author: Ioan - Emanuel Stavarache; e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract intellectuals, from almost all humanistic remains one of the top representatives branches. He was a pioneer for personalities of his generation, which includes: , Mircea such as Eugen Ionescu, Alexandru Sahia, Vulcănescu, Mihail Sebastian, , etc. He was a , , Ionel Jianu, well-known Romanian Americanist and Anglicist, we due to him the understanding and knowledge of the English Arşavir Acterian and others. 50 years after his and American literature in Romania. Petru Comarnescu death, I believe that we have the moral obligation was a man with wide horizons and humanistic of remembering and honouring his spirit, as well preoccupations, of a renaissance erudition, that is why it as evoking his role in enriching the Romanian is very difficult to define him, his name is found inart criticism, literary criticism, journalism, memoirs, cultural culture. He added a new spirit to our criticism journalism, philosophy, translations. After 50 years from by setting up journals and cultural societies. his death, I believe that we certainly have the moral Being an optimistic nature and lacking any obligation to remember him and honor his fruitful spirit, to evoke his role in enriching the Romanian culture. He prejudice, Comanescu managed to overcome the added a new breath upon our criticism by setting up fake values and snobbery. All his life he fought magazines and cultural societies. All his life he fought to to disseminate and impose the Romanian culture popularize and impose the Romanian culture, to make and to promote the Romanian values into the known the Romanian values to the universal circuit. Keywords: culture, criterion, literature, universal, universal world. His writing activity took place humanist. between 1920 – 1970 and he approached topics such as essay, prose, art critic, monograph and Due to the complexity of his work and translations (CRISTEA, 2003). interests, to which we add the ignorance and Comanescu’s complex activity is insufficiently, sometimes the calumny to which he was subjected or maybe not at all, known to the young for decades, Petru generation because in the last decades no Comarnescu remains reprints of his books were made, nor were his one of the top cultural contributions highlighted. A remarkable representatives of his personality of the Romanian culture, both generation which is interwar and post-war, Petru Comarnescu comprised of people presented various humanistic preoccupations, such as: Mircea Eliade, of a Renaissance erudition, his name being Mircea Vulcănescu, involve in at criticism, literary criticism, Mihail Sebastian, Emil publishing, memoirs, cultural journalism, Cioran, Eugen Ionescu philosophy and translations. He was a Romanian and others. One of the Americanist and a well-known Anglicist and great merits of Petru Comarnescu is that he we owe him the penetration and knowledge in managed to launch into literature and to promote Romania of English and American literature, through the various journals, newspapers or and the encouragement of the English and cultural associations that he edited some of the American language and culture, at a time when most important youngsters of those times, who society was flirtatious with the French and later on formed golden generations of interwar German languages.

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GENEALOGY, HIS FIRST STUDIES AND were built on that site. For his secondary school HIS TRAINING PERIOD years, he went to “Mihail Kogalniceanu” school, among 1912-1916, on LascărCatargiu street. The first years of high-school we studied at the Petru Comarnescu stated on November 23, National College in Iasi and then he moved to 1905 that he was born “in a happy dream sign”, “Sf. Sava” high-school in , living almost the third child of an intellectual family. “My his entire life with his cousin George Vladimir childhood was enlivened by the beauty of this city and his wife Ana Nether (GROSU, 2008). “When perched among the hills, with art monuments and my dad got sick of arteriosclerosis and my mother historical memories everywhere, where the most could no longer provide for me because she had to take daring ideas and demands were discussed calmly and care of dad, Ana şi Georges took me into their home naturally” (COMARNESCU, 1985). His mother, in Bucharest and starting from my fourth year of Elena Comarnescu, born Cernătescu was a high-school I was like their son, not without some teacher in Iasi, and his grandmother was the suffering and misunderstanding. But all in all, a good sister of the scientist, , his wife Matilda life” (COMARNESCU, 1994). Cugler-Poni being an important poet in Iasi. He His literary debut takes place in 1923 in the had a close relationship with all magazine of the “Sf. Sava” high-school, “Tender members. His grandfather on his mother side, branches”, and he also enthusiastically led the Gheorghe Cernătescu, was a math professor at literary society of the „Ion Heliade Radulescu” Mihailean Academy. Emanoil Cernătescu, one of high-school. Later one, between 1925-1926, he his close relatives, was a former mayor in Iasi collaborated with the newspaper “The bazaar and his son, Radu Cernătescu, a cousin of the world” under the pseudonym Pan the Researcher. author was highly important chemist, who This weekly newspaper appeared in Iasi, in 1924, Comarnescupresents in an exquisite manner: “we having , , spent the entire day among books and when he played George Topârceanu, Otilia Cazimir as its main with us, he asked us about what he read. During the writers. Starting with 1925 names such as Mircea evenings he used to play the piano and he was the one Eliade, Octav Botez, , N.N Tonitza, who told me about Chopin” (COMARNESCU, Al. Zisuand others collaborated with the 1985). Another one of his cousins was the newspaper. diplomat, writer and poet . The He began publishing when he was in school, writer’s father, Petru Comarnescu, a postal clerk, in magazines, periodical and newspapers. At the stemmed from an old Polish noble family which age of 21, Comarnescu makes his journalistic took refuge in Moldova, in Botoşani and they debut at the theatre and art newspaper “Baluster” spoke both Polish and German. In his memories, (1926-1927). Sometime later he takes charge of Petru Comarnescu admits that his father was an the cultural page of the “Politics” newspaper, active and practical being, who understood the where he initiates research on the national essential role of education and that is why he specificity. Here he dealt with the newspaper’s introduced his son to the great personalities of page entitled “Theatral, artistic and cultural those times, such as A.D. Xenopoland Al. politics”, informing the public about various Philippide.“My father, Petru, was a good man and cultural and sportingevents and he initiated he liked making pranks, he was a postal clerk, but he investigations and debates on the topic of the knew that he came from quite a rich family.” national specificity in arts. People such as Nicolae According to his own confession, he lived until Iorga, , Fr. Sirato, Ion Jalea, and he was seven in a house which belonged to the others took part in these investigations. Through “Alexandru Lambrior” primary school, on these actions, Petru Comarnescu consolidated Sararie street, his mother being the director of his strong relations with well-known personalities that school. He later on moved into a house on of the Romanian culture of the time. Carp street, no. 6, a neighbourhood which He collaborated with “The last hour” nowadays does no longer exist, because in the newspaper, where we edited the cultural page 1950s the buildings of the Antibiotice factory from its debut up to 1930. At this newspaper

International Journal of Communication Research 267 Ioan - Emanuel STAVARACHE

Comarnescu wrote literary chronicles, he Kalokagathonin 1946 (research on the ethical- initiated investigations and attracted young aesthetic correlations in arts and in self- collaborators, generation peers, such as: Mihail realization). As a PhD. student in America, he Polihroniade, A. Broşteanu, Octav Şuluţiu, wrote numerous feature reports, articles and Emanoil Buhuţă, , Olga Greceanu studies in the “Romanian life” and “Times” and others. Therefore, he managed to consolidate journals (COMARNESCU, 1994). It was only in his position as intellectual and journalist. His 1966 that his PhD. degree was be equated with a cultural wishes led to the appearance of a new Romanian doctorate in Arts History journal “The literary printing press”, in 1928, together with Camil Baltazar but this journal did HIS DEDICATION TO CULTURE not last for very long. At this journal he dialogued with well-known people such as: , After coming back home he has the unpleasant , Lucian Blaga, , surprise of not being able to obtain a teaching Mircea Vulcănescu, and Vasile Băncilă assistant position at the Faculty of Philosophy. (COMARNESCU, 1994). This deception follows his throughout his life, As a student, he read very much, gaining rich especially as he was the only Romanian citizen information and developing a harmonious intellectual personality, approaching historical, with a PhD. degree in America. Together with philosophical, cultural, artistic and sociological IonelJianu he establishes in the autumn of 1931 topics. He published articles about , the “Forum” group, where they organise a series Lucian Blaga, , and of 12 conferences with the following topic: “The many others. Some years later he wrote the explanation of our time”, where people such as monographs of some plastic artists such as Ştefan Mircea Eliade, Mircea Vulcănescu, Mihail Luchian, Fr. Şirato, N.N. Tonitza, Constantin Sebastian, Ion Cantacuzino, StelianMateescu, Brâncuşi, Nicolae Grigorescu and Rembrandt Sergiu Condreaand others were present. The van Rijn (COMARNESCU, 1994). conferences took place in the he hall of the Royal In 1925, after graduating the Baccalaureate Foundation “Carol I” from Victoria Street. They exam and performing the military service at the had an enormous success; the halls were preparatory school for reserve officers in , overcrowded. The year 1932-1933 included a Petru Comarnescu enrols at the Faculty of Law, new series of conferences with the topic: “The which he graduated in 1928 and the Faculty of great figures of our century.” Together with the Letters and Philosophy, that he graduated in development of the “Forum” group, P. 1929, both at the . He Comarnescu, together with Mircea went to Law School due to his uncle’s wishes, VulcănescuandAlexandru Cristian the attorney Georges Nether, in order to follow Tell,establishes the interwar philosophy, arts his career path. He is not satisfied with being a and letters association Criterion (1932) and the lawyer and he feels that this job prevents him interwar journal with the same name (1934), from developing his literary passion. He practiced whose main purpose was to develop a national it on a number of times at the request of his synthesis that included various cultural friends and relatives, successfully pleading in personalities. The association organises various different trials. conferences on various topics, followed by After graduating in 1929, he benefits from a debates. The conferences organised by the generous American scholarship and leaves for Criterion association had a major impact on the the , the same year that his friend people of those times. There were conferences on Mircea Eliade headed for India. After two years Lenin, Freud, Chaplin, Gide, Mussolini, Bergson, spend in America, he defends his PhD. thesis in Proust, Gandhi, Valery, some of the titles philosophy at Southern California University in triggered fuss due to the sensitive topics Los Angeles, on May 25, 1931. The title of his approached and criticism on behalf of the political thesis was The Nature of Beauty and Its Relation to forces of those times. This is why the association Goodness, published in Romanian under the title self-disintegrated in 1934.

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He translated both alone and in collaboration Having an aesthetic taste, Comarnescu with Margareta Sterian, Eugen B. Marian, Petre remained in our culture also due to a number of Solomon, Alexandra Constantinovand others, monographs dedicated to some well-known many names from the English and American artistic personalities: Magdalena Rădulescu literature. Comarnescu translated, presented, (1946),Şirato (1946),OctavBăncilă (1954), Abgar analysed and commented on those works in his Baltazar (1956),Nicolae Grigorescu (1959), articles and forewords. Due to his translations on ŞtefanLuchian (1960), Ion Jalea (1962), Deneika famous works, the Romanian readers got (1968), Voroneţ (1968) and others. Later on, he acquainted with the character Robinson Crusoe, was to write articles or book in English on the from Daniel Defoe’s most popular book, The life most important Romanian plastic artists, such as: and adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1943), resumed Gheorghe Petraşcu, Theodor Pallady, Nicolae in various editions; with the writer Eugene O’Neill Tonitza, FranciscŞirato, Ion Ţuculescu, The and his works Strange Interlude (1939), Mourning Romanian and the Universal in Brancusi’s Work Becomes Electra (1944); with Mark Twain with the (1970). Comarnescuis the first author who novels The Million Dollar Bank Note (1964) and Life approached the influence of the Romanian on the Mississippi (1964) or A Connecticut Yankee in folklore in the art of Constantin Brâncuşi. King Arthur’s Court (1943); Rob Royby Walter Scott Structurally Camarnescu was his entire life a (1943); T. E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom journalist, possessing all the necessary qualities (1937); George Bernard Shaw,The Devil’s Disciple for this both difficult and beautiful job: fugitive, (1946);Howard Fast,Albert Parson’s struggle (1949) a continuous spiritual restlessness, greed for and many others. information, hard to catch with something he did He dedicated the following series to America: not know, optimistic in temperament and Homo Americanus (1933), The Skyscrapers of conceptions, with an inexhaustible energy, New York (1933), America seen by the young always “in the loop” and incisive. There was man of today (1934), The faces and views of never any silence around him, everything America (1940), America. The new world, the vibrated the moment he appeared somewhere new life (1947), Benjamin Franklin (1957). On (CRISTEA, 2003). April 29, 1948 he confessed: “I had an aesthetic He organised many conferences on various enchantment translating the “to be or not to be” topics, some of them being recorded in kept in scene” between Hamlet and his mother, discovering the archive of the Romanian radio broadcasting new meanings, rendering the philosophy of the station. “He had a unique oratorical gift, he simply original text, finding new understandings and electrified his audience, captivated to oblivion, amazed beauties. You have to be a poet or philosopher to be by the immense amount of information, by his able to translate Hamlet” (COMARNESCU, 2003a). intelligence and by his critical spirit” (CRISTEA, Camarnescu appreciated Eugene O’Neill the 2003). In the last 7 years he held almost 100 most, admiring the way in which he presented conferences on Brâncuşi, being a charming the tragedy and the sorrow of the contemporary lecturer who knew how to attract his audience, individual. He wrote studies and essays on the he spoke a lot with fervour, with passion, he American playwright’s creation: The drama of the made interesting digressions, he quarrelled with present-day individual; Eugene O’Neill, the man of his opponents, which delighted the audience, he the sea and of tragedy; How O’Neill manages to was authentic, alive and well documented. The understand the present-day woman and life; How the rooms where he held his conferences were full playwright O’Neill perceives life and destiny; Dramas of people and this fact made him repeat them. out of great love and others. His words to Ionel Jianu represent a proof of this He also translated and adapted numerous fact: “Yesterday I held a conference on the life and plays such as: Strange interlude, Mourning becomes work of Brâncuşi in the small hall of the Palace. Electra, Desire under the elms by O’Neill; Caesar and Tickets sold out 3 weeks before, as soon as the poster Cleopatra, The devil’s disciple, Pygmalion by George was pasted… The conference will be repeated in Dalles Bernard Shaw; Romeo and Juliet by William on November 21.” On December 27, 1964 he Shakespeare; An inspector calls by J.B Priestley. repeated the conference on Brâncuşi for the third

International Journal of Communication Research 269 Ioan - Emanuel STAVARACHE time “I shall offer new details about his life, details trying to emphasize the error of their political that I obtained during the previous conferences” engagement, but without any success (CRISTEA, (CRISTEA, 2003). 2003). In his diary, in January 1933, Comarnescu Petru Comarnescu suffered a lot because the writes: “Some of the members side with the right- communist regime and of his enemies. He was the wing movements, such as Misu Polihroniade, who only person with a PhD. degree in aesthetics and first tried to win Argetoianu’s sympathy. We will yet he could not obtain a teaching position at the have many surprises for those who understand to do Institute of plastic arts because of Gh. Oprescu, active politics, left or right. Our generation is divided the department head of the History of Arts into two clearly opposite camps and in fierce battle. I (CRISTEA, 2003). In his diary he remembers the do not want to be directly involved in politics, day of Friday, October 31, 1958: “I was a foul enough remaining in an intellectual position, and devoting to sit for the position of associate professor at the myself to culture. Whether I succeed or not remains department of the history of arts (Oţetea’s department, to be seen” (COMARNESCU, 2003b). universal history).It’s a bad moment, I don’t think I’ll In a 1937 essay, Mihail Sebastian wrote that: succeed, but I wanted to try not to blame myself later. “I think there are few of us who resist the double An activity report for 14 years and yet incomplete. So summons that terrorizes the world today, and we were what?” (COMARNESCU, 2003a). In the 1950s, looking beyond the “right” and the “left” went Comarnescu went through a period of (COMARNESCU, 2003b). In one letter, Ionel terrible prohibitions, his name had suddenly Jianu stated that “starting with 1935, ideologies disappeared from cultural life. Being “targeted” replaced ideals and the young generation spread into by the repression bodies of those times, on the opposing camps, some friends turning into fierce grounds that he was pro-American, P. Comarnescu enemies, but my friendship with Petru Comarnescu is denied the right to sign and is fired from all withstood the hostilities of time and history” positions he holds.He hid his identity under the (CRISTEA, 2003). pseudonym Anton Coman. One can notice P. Comarnescu’s American References democratic spirit, during a complicated historical COMARNESCU, P. (1985) Kalokagathon, GRIGORESCU, period. In that period of social unrest and violent D. & TOMA, F., ed. Bucureşti: Eminescu Publishing political clashes, extremist political parties were House. COMARNESCU, P. (1994) Journal (1931-1937) [in born, of the left, but especially of the right, which Romanian]. Iaşi: European Institute Publishing House. became tempting, fragmenting and ideologically COMARNESCU, P. (2003a) Journal pages, 2nd volume [in dividing the young generation into different Romanian]. Bucureşti: Noul Orfeu Publishing House. camps.Comarnescudifferentiates himself from a COMARNESCU, P. (2003b) Journal pages, 1st volume [in part of the generation through non-regimentation Romanian]. Bucureşti: Noul Orfeu Publishing House. and political non-involvement, he oscillated CRISTEA, M. (2003) Petru Comarnescu, a traveler of solitude. Anthology of critical texts [in Romanian]. between the lack of politicism and democracy. Bucureşti: Eminescu Publishing House. He was not seduced by the extremist politics. He GROSU, M. (2008) Petru Comarnescu - a restless man in always had a democratic vision. P. Comarnescu his century: monographic study [in Romanian]. Cluj- argued with his teachers and generation peers, Napoca: Casa Cărţii de Ştiinta Publishing House.

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