Modernity, Memory and Identity in South-East Europe
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Modernity, Memory and Identity in South-East Europe Series Editor Catharina Raudvere Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark This series explores the relationship between the modern history and pres- ent of South-East Europe and the long imperial past of the region. This approach aspires to offer a more nuanced understanding of the concepts of modernity and change in this region, from the nineteenth century to the present day. Titles focus on changes in identity, self-representation and cultural expressions in light of the huge pressures triggered by the interac- tion between external influences and local and regional practices. The books cover three significant chronological units: the decline of empires and their immediate aftermath, authoritarian governance during the twen- tieth century, and recent uses of history in changing societies in South- East Europe today. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/15829 Cristina A. Bejan Intellectuals and Fascism in Interwar Romania The Criterion Association Cristina A. Bejan Duke University Durham, NC, USA ISSN 2523-7985 ISSN 2523-7993 (electronic) Modernity, Memory and Identity in South-East Europe ISBN 978-3-030-20164-7 ISBN 978-3-030-20165-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20165-4 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Italics are used if it is a foreign word or phrase, or within a quotation if the author originally employed italics. All translations throughout the book from Romanian and French are my own, unless otherwise stated, or are cited from a previously translated text. Dedicated to my grandparents, my parents and Veronica FOREWORD: AN ARCHEOLOGY OF RADICAL PASSIONS Intellectuals can be proponents or opponents of totalitarian movements and regimes. This story of the seductive appeals of radical ideologies to prominent spiritual figures of the twentieth century is a catalogue of illu- sions, passions, enthusiasms, and bitter disappointments. The search for a completely new order of things, or rather a convulsive disorder, was ram- pant in the 1930s. The story of the attraction exerted by political myths on a number of brilliant intellectuals in interwar Romania bears upon all these topics. It is a fascinating narrative about Faustian bargains, charismatic adorations and absolute hopelessness. Cristina A. Bejan’s book is superbly researched and proposes a new perspective on Romania’s (and Eastern Europe’s) interwar major political and cultural tensions. She invites us into an exercise in the archeology of ideas, an in-depth exploration of the genesis, tribulations, inner conflicts, main achievements, as well as the final disillusionment and disintegration of the Criterion group. This was a constellation of brilliantly creative philosophers, sociologists, writers and artists, all convinced that they had a mission to regenerate Romanian culture by iconoclastically positioning themselves in opposition to their predecessors. They hated any form of parochialism, dreamed of turning Bucharest into a vibrant European cultural capital. This illuminating book enlarges and deepens the existing literature of the Generation of 1927. I wrote myself on Romania’s mystical revolution- aries (Mircea Eliade, Emil Cioran, Mihail Polihroniade, Constantin Noica, to name only the most famous). This work further highlights the immensely deleterious effects played by the fascination experienced by the members ix x FOREWORD: AN ARCHEOLOGY OF RADICAL PASSIONS of the ‘Generation’ with the nebulously organicist, primordialist and anti- democratic ideas professed by philosopher Nae Ionescu. I regard the book as a valuable contribution to a significantly rich body of literature that includes writings by Zigu Ornea, Marta Petreu, Leon Volovici, Irina Livezeanu, the late Matei Calinescu, Constantin Iordachi, Valentin Săndulescu, Marius Turda, Radu Ioanid, Philip Vanhaelemeersch and the late Ilinca Zarifopol Johnston. The circle of friends analyzed by Cristina A. Bejan were young, unhappy with the mediocrity of the Romania status quo, exhilarated by exoticism (Eliade’s fascination with India) and ready to embrace fast forms of expe- riencing the Absolute. The group was comparable with similar associations of friends in other Central European countries, for example, the Skamander group explored by Marci Shore in her book Caviar and Ashes. Although the Criterion movement/group/association lasted only two years, between 1932 and 1934, its impact on Romanian culture was utterly pow- erful and enduring. One can even say that the ‘Păltiniş group’ formed around former Criterion member Constantin Noica in the 1970s and 1980s, resurrected the original grandiose aspirations to cultural universal- ism and spiritual regeneration. The author does a wonderful job in documenting the crucial role played by art historian and philosopher Petru Comarnescu in the Criterionist activities. He was indeed a maverick among his peers: a great admirer of the United States, holding a PhD from the University of Southern California, he was one of the few leading members of Criterion who refused to yield to any form of political sectarianism. Comarnescu was in fact opposed to any radicalism or fundamentalism. He rejected the increasingly magnetizing political religions of the far left and far right. In more than one respect, he is the main hero of this story accompanied by the other dramatis personae: Mircea Eliade, Mihail Sebastian, Emil (later E.M.) Cioran, Eugen Ionescu (Eugène Ionesco), Mircea Vulcănescu, Constantin Noica, Marietta Sadova and, of course, philosopher Nae Ionescu’s Mephisto-like fateful charm. When so many veered to one form of radicalism or another, Comarnescu remained constantly creative and politically democratic. Cristina A. Bejan succeeds in demonstrating the interplay between spir- itual and sentimental values in the development and decline of Criterion. She examines the predominantly male universe and the ambivalent status of women (Sorana Ţopa, Floria Capsali, Marietta Sadova). The association was deliberately iconoclastic, refused automatic labels and was proud of its FOREWORD: AN ARCHEOLOGY OF RADICAL PASSIONS xi contempt for any dogma. I found particularly illuminating the chapter dealing with the complexities of sexual identities in interwar Romania, including the implications of alleged or real homosexual relations. Moreover, I regard as seminal the discussion of the Criterionists’ exalta- tion of experience, a version of what the Germans called Erlebnis, and the post-WWII French existentialism. This book cannot be more timely. As I write this foreword, the world is plagued with the return of what I call fantasies of salvation. The mass mur- derer in the two New Zealand mosques claimed to be inspired by undi- gested Balkan narratives of anti-Ottoman resistance. Cristina A. Bejan’s study adds significantly to the understanding of the interwar Romanian political culture and the long-term significance of polemics regarding national identity, inclusion, exclusion, anti-Semitism, religiosity and so on. Some of Criterion’s luminaries moved further to the extreme right, Mircea Eliade converted to Guardism and wrote unabashedly in favor of fascism (German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese). Later, after the war, he decided to stay in the West, where he became a celebrated historian of religions. Eliade maintained an embarrassed silence regarding his early fascist past (but so did for years Mihail Sebastian who remained faithful to Nae Ionescu in spite of the notorious anti-Semitic preface to his novel For Two Thousand Years). Criterion was not a nationwide movement, but rather an elitist Bucharest circle, an urban phenomenon trying to reconcile a certain wor- shipping of tradition (Romanianness) with an acutely intense modernist sensibility. In fact, one can use in this case Jeffrey Herf’s concept of reac- tionary modernism. The lectures hosted by Criterion placed the circle beyond Left and Right: to the exasperation of the Orthodox fundamental-