Al. T. Stamatiad
Al. T. (Alexandru Teodor Maria) Stamatiad | |
---|---|
Communist Romania | |
Pen name | Adrian Alexandru |
Occupation | poet, journalist, translator, playwright, schoolteacher, censor |
Nationality | Romanian |
Period | ca. 1903–1945 |
Genre | lyric poetry, prose poetry, haiku, fantasy, fable, short story |
Literary movement | Symbolism Literatorul Sburătorul |
Al. T. Stamatiad (common rendition of Alexandru Teodor Maria Stamatiad, or Stamatiade; May 9, 1885 – December 1955) was a Romanian Symbolist poet, short story writer, and dramatist. A late arrival on the local Symbolist scene, he was primarily active as a literary promoter and, in 1918, editor of Literatorul review. Discovered and praised by Alexandru Macedonski and Ion Minulescu, he combined his presence in radical Symbolist circles with stints on more culturally conservative ones, crossing between the extremes of Romanian literature. By 1911, he had established himself in cultural and social circles as an exotic and vocal, sometimes violent, cultural debater.
Stamatiad's parallel career as a schoolteacher took him to the city of
At the center of controversies with Macedonski, and later with the youth at
Biography
Early life
Born in Bucharest, Stamatiad(e) was the illegitimate son of Maria Stamatiade and of Lieutenant-Colonel Theodor Pallady. Painter Theodor Iancu Pallady and actress Lucia Sturdza-Bulandra were cousins of his, while Alexandrina Cantacuzino, the feminist campaigner, was a half-sister.[1][2] Through his paternal grandmother, Alexandru Teodor descended from the prestigious Ghica family, and, according to literary historian George Călinescu, was always overly preoccupied with his origins and his illegitimacy.[3]
The poet used as his full name Alexandru Teodor Maria Stamatiad,[4] including his patronymic, adapted as Teodor (although sometimes shortened to Th., as in Al. Th. Stamatiad). His eccentric styling with the matronymic Maria was a subject of ridicule among his literary peers.[5] To his friends, he interchangeably was Stamatiad or Stamatiade, even as late as 1920.[6] Dropping the final e of his foreign-sounding surname, which most likely indicates a Hellenic heritage, signifies a voluntary Romanianization.[7]
In 1903, at the
Making his full debut under Macedonski's auspices, Stamatiad was also active in rival Symbolist milieus. Another Symbolist mentor, Ovid Densusianu, hosted his poem, Singurătate ("Solitude"), in the Symbolist tribune Vieața Nouă.[11] In 1906, it also published Stamatiad's versions of Horace's Odes. According to researcher Nicolae Laslo, they read "more like adaptations" than sheer translations, being both simplified and personalized.[13]
Stamatiad and Macedonski continued to correspond even during those periods when Macedonski was out of the country, on a self-imposed exile, while Stamatiad had not yet passed his baccalaureate examination.[6] Together with Cruceanu and Sperantia, he took up the cause of popularizing Macedonski's Symbolism in Henric Streitman's newspaper, Prezentul.[14] Soon, Stamatiad became a favorite among the disciples: Macedonski referred to him as "a very great poet", "brilliant and powerful",[15] seeing him as the Romanian Rollinat.[16] As noted by Călinescu, these were patent exaggerations. Stamatiad, he argues, was in fact "mediocre".[17]
At Convorbiri Critice
Macedonski continued to tout Stamatiad when the younger poet also joined the
Like Minulescu,[21] Stamatiad also courted the traditionalist, nominally anti-Symbolist, camp, publishing works in Sămănătorul review. According to nationalist culture critic and Sămănătorul contributor Nicolae Iorga, Stamatiad's presence there indicated that the magazine was yet "unclear" in its direction: Stamatiad could contribute, even if "the magazine's ideology was indifferent to him, if not indeed hostile to him."[22] Another reading is provided by literary historian Paul Cernat, who sees Stamatiad's participation in traditionalism as indicative of "an split identity within the 'conservative' side of local Symbolism."[23] At the other end of the political spectrum, Stamatiad also cultivated a friendship with the socialist poet-publicist Vasile Demetrius, who featured his poetry in the review Viața Socială.[24] In 1909, Stamatiad was a registered witness at Demetrius' civil wedding ceremony (another was critic Ilarie Chendi).[25]
With such universal backing, he put out his first volume of verse, Din trâmbițe de aur ("With Trumpets of Gold"). Although it went through four editions between 1910 and 1931,[26] and was reviewed with sympathy by Haneș,[27] the work was not popular with most critics. It rather made Stamatiad the object of derision in the literary circles.[20] Stamatiad persevered and worked with dramatist Constantin Râuleț on the play Femei ciudate ("Strange Women"), published in Convorbiri Critice in November 1910, and as a volume in 1911.[28] It was first staged in Bucharest by the "Modern Theater" company of Alexandru Davila.[29][30] The text intrigued the public with its frank display of a sexual masochism disorder;[29] according to Dragomirescu, it is "well written, but strange."[31] In 1912 and 1913, Stamatiad completed and published translations from Maurice Maeterlinck's plays: Intruder, Interior, The Blind. They were all grouped together, as the "Cycle-of-Death" plays, in a 1914 edition at Cultura Națională publishers.[32]
As early as August 1909,
He diversified his contributions to the Symbolist literary press, rallying with Densusianu's
Between Literatorul and Sburătorul
In 1914, having graduated in literature from the University of Bucharest, Stamatiad was named professor of French in Arad, followed by a post in Bucharest.[2] In January of the next year, he and Minulescu were among the newly elected members of the SSR Committee.[33] As Macedonski's right hand, and as a regular of coffeehouses and bars such as Kübler and Casa Capșa, Stamatiad became a legendary figure in bohemian circles, involved in cultural disputes as well as brawls.[40] Cartoonist Neagu Rădulescu describes Stamatiad at this moment in time: "Al. T. Stamatiad, with his mustache curled up to the brim of his hat, with his cane in 'shoulder position', could not be resisted by any young lady."[41] According to Macedonski's novelist friend, I. Peltz, he was a spectacular presence on their circle: contentious, even "furious" and "terrorizing", lacking literary value, but forcing his pupils to read his work in class.[42] Peltz writes that the only other person who could stand up to him was a Stan Palanca, the perennially unemployed poet-bohemian.[43]
After the 1918 peace agreement, Stamatiad restored his links with the Symbolists in Bucharest, which was still administrated by the Central Powers. When Macedonski's Literatorul reappeared there in summer 1918, several months before the sudden end of occupation, Stamatiad agreed to act as editor-in-chief. He worked intensely on publishing a dossier of favorable replies to Macedonski's poems, with the goal of restoring his mentor's reputation (the project was discreetly managed by Macedonski himself).[15] Stamatiad enlisted literary contributions from Peltz (who also helped edit the magazine), Demetrius, and Tudor Vianu.[48]
Nonetheless, Stamatiad soon renounced his Literatorul position, following a political dispute with Macedonski. Specifically, he asked Macedonski not to publish a praise of the military governor, August von Mackensen, but found himself ignored.[49] A parting letter from Macedonski shows that they could not agree over "what [Stamatiad] calls patriotism", and rejects all of Stamatiad's suggestions about maintaining a low profile. The dispute was amiable, with Macedonski implying that Stamatiad could always return to Literatorul if he so wished.[6] Peltz, who left at the same time as Stamatiad, also disavowed Macedonski's initiative, calling it "inane".[50] The magazine soon went out of print—according to Iorga, the "shame" of Mackensen's homage piece "could not be washed off".[48] The friendship was not mended before Macedonski's death in December 1920, but Stamatiad remained in correspondence with the writer's eldest son, Nikita Macedonski; one such letter includes a full and early account of the circumstances in which Macedonski died.[51]
After parting with Literatorul, Stamatiad became one of the old-school Symbolists affiliated with the generic-
1920s
Following
Together with his old friend Davidescu, Stamatiad took over artistic leadership over the Bucharest magazine
While teaching at the
Also in Arad, Stamatiad published a series of essays and memoirs popularizing the work of several poets, from
1930s and World War II
Stamatiad's full Khayyám translations were published as a volume in 1932, at Cartea Românească, followed, the next year, by an anthology of Li Bai's poems,[26] 36 of which had been hosted by Convorbiri Literare in its October 1932 issue.[69] He was under contract with Romanian Radio, where, despite having a "cracking" voice,[70] he recorded readings of his own poems. The literary magazine Viața Românească gave them a sarcastic reception, calling his reading an "Orphic" feast of "flutes and trumpets", and implied that Stamatiad should not have ever been allowed airtime.[71]
Stamatiad's career peaked in the later interwar period, when he was honored with several prizes by the SSR and the Romanian Academy.[68] In 1936, Adevărul published, as a standalone brochure, his Peisagii sentimentale ("Sentimental Landscapes").[26] A year later, Dem. Bassarabeanu issued a critical review of his entire work, thought to have been the only one such monograph in existence before 2002.[4] Stamatiad was awarded the National Poetry Prize in 1938,[2] and had "definitive editions" of Cetatea cu porțile închise and Pe drumul Damascului republished by Casa Școalelor.[26] The latter came out with a set of illustrations by Mina Byck Wepper.[72] In 1939, Stamatiad produced his own version of the Chinese poets' anthology, The Jade Flute;[26] it brought together disparate pieces that had seen print in Mihail Sadoveanu's Însemnări Ieșene review during 1935 and 1936.[73]
By then, the old Symbolists were losing favor with the modernist youth. His sympathetic reviewer, V. Jeleru, complained in 1943 that "Mr. Al. T. Stamatiad no longer seems to be as appreciated as is deserved by the younger writers and readers of poetry. They look upon him with an infantile superiority, even though they only address him publicly as 'maestro'."
The start of
A collection of Stamatiad's best poems came out in 1943, at
Final years
Shortly after the
By the war's end, and the gradual imposition of a
Stamatiad reportedly died in December 1955,[64][91] although his death date is often recorded as 1956.[2] Rumor spread in the literary community that he had spent his last months bedridden, helpless against visitors who stole his more valuable possessions.[92] His notebooks were posthumously recovered by researcher Mihai Apostol, who published them, together with Stamatiad's letters, in a 2002 set of volumes.[4]
Work
Călinescu describes two sources for Stamatiad's own brand of Symbolism: on one hand, the "grandiloquent" form of Oscar Wilde, Dimitrie Anghel, Ștefan Petică, and a young Ion Pillat; on the other, the "euphoric" aesthetics cultivated by Macedonski's circle.[93] Contrary to Stamatiad's nods to Baudelaire, Călinescu assesses, actual Baudelaireian influences were largely absent from Stamatiad's true work.[94] Likewise, Perpessicius ties Stamatiad more to the "orator" tradition of Macedonski than to any other recognized influence.[95] Observing such traits, Eugen Lovinescu noted that, despite his use of neologisms, free verse, and other modern devices, Stamatiad was in fact an old-generation Romantic.[96]
Stamatiad's early work is largely focused on amorous themes, often depicting affairs as a struggle of character, or an agony.[97] According to Lovinescu: "Mr. Al. T. Stamatiad's sensitivity has a short path to follow: a violent outburst, followed by a moral breakdown."[98] Unlike his mentor Macedonski, who was "saddened by the indifference of his contemporaries", Stamatiad "expressed the joy of being a Poet", of having "conquered" his place in life. This belief in his own artistic mission, Călinescu suggests, was "illusory", leading Stamatiad to invent himself a literary persona and a "boisterous" love-life; but it also produced "a likable psychology", with "fragments of genuine literary interest".[94] He cites as evidence one of Stamatiad's Christian-themed reveries:
Am ridicat un templu — minune de minune — |
I worked on a temple — o wonder of wonders — |
Stamatiad was more appreciated for his contemplative poems, including the pastel Noapte ("Night"), seen by Dragomirescu as a small masterpiece.
The fantasy prose poetry of Cetatea cu porțile închise is heavily indebted to Oscar Wilde's "gracious infatuation", but, Călinescu argues, is generally humorless.[3] Essentially fables discussing each an archetype (The Gardner, The Three Princesses, The White Deer, The Bird-catcher, Happiness, The White Ghost, The Stonemason), they are described by Fortunescu as a major accomplishment: "the poems comprised in this volume display a rare stylistic mastery and verbal richness."[103]
Notes
- ^ a b Călinescu, p.702, 1016
- ^ a b c d e f g Lidia Bote, Antologia poeziei simboliste românești, Editura pentru literatură, Bucharest, 1968, p.255
- ^ a b c Călinescu, p.702
- ^ a b c d e f g h i (in Romanian) Cornelia Ștefănescu, "Viața documentelor" Archived 2012-03-11 at the Wayback Machine, in România Literară, Nr. 45/2002
- ^ Cruceanu, p.57-58; Rădulescu, p.140, 159, 185
- ^ a b c Călinescu, p.1003
- OCLC 3662349
- OCLC 8994172
- ^ a b Cruceanu, p.26
- ^ Cruceanu, p.29-30
- ^ a b Haneș, p.205
- ^ Cruceanu, p.57-58
- ^ (in Romanian) Nicolae Laslo, "Horațiu în literatura română", in Gând Românesc, Nr. 11–12/1935, p.545 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library)
- ^ Cruceanu, p.40
- ^ a b Călinescu, p.532, 1003
- ^ Cruceanu, p.33
- ^ Călinescu, p.532; Mitchievici, p.359
- ^ Vianu, p.379
- ^ (in Romanian) Ion D. Tîlvănoiu, Vasile Radian, "Ion Minulescu - Mihail Dragomirescu, Corespondența inedită", in Memoria Oltului, p.39-40
- ^ a b (in Romanian) Simona Vasilache, "Anul literar 1910" Archived 2014-03-27 at the Wayback Machine, in România Literară, Nr. 8/2011
- ^ Călinescu, p.601
- ^ Iorga, p.216
- ^ Cernat, p.18-19
- ^ Iorga, p.219
- ^ Călinescu, p.727
- ^ a b c d e f g h Călinescu, p.1016
- ^ Haneș, passim
- ^ Angheluță et al., p.92, 343; Călinescu, p.722, 1016, 1018; Mitchievici, p.597
- ^ a b Lazăr Cosma, "Cronica teatrală", in Noua Revistă Română, Nr. 22/1910, p.312-313
- ^ Angheluță et al., p.92, 343
- ^ Dragomirescu, p.167
- ^ Mitchievici, p.145, 397
- ^ a b (in Romanian) Cassian Maria Spiridon, "Secolul breslei scriitoricești", in Convorbiri Literare, April 2008
- ^ Universul Literar, Nr. 35/1939, p.5 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library)
- ^ Călinescu, p.634
- ^ Călinescu, p.684; Cernat, p.55; Mitchievici, p.144-145
- ^ Iorga, p.242
- ^ Cernat, p.31, 97, 304
- ^ "Revista revistelor", in Noua Revistă Română, Nr. 12/1912, p.80
- ^ Peltz, p.77, 105; Rădulescu, p.16-17, 18, 19-20
- ^ Rădulescu, p.17
- ^ Peltz, p.105, 129, 132, 142-145, 178
- ^ Peltz, p.143-144
- ^ a b Iorga, p.251
- ^ V. Curticăpeanu, "Lupta lui Octavian Goga pentru realizarea statului român unitar", in Studii. Revistă de Istorie, Nr. 5/1969, p. 938
- ^ (in Romanian) Constantin Stan, "Dimitrie Marmeliuc – luptător pentru unitate națională", in the University of Galați Anale. Seria Istorie, Vol. IV, 2005, p.143
- ^ (in Romanian) Iulius Popa, "O concluzie despre Cronica Basarabiei", in Literatura și Arta, February 26, 2014
- ^ a b Iorga, p.214
- ^ Vianu, p.383
- ^ Peltz, p.75
- ^ Călinescu, p.1003; Vianu, p.385
- OCLC 490001217; Iorga, p.258
- ^ (in Romanian) Barbu Cioculescu, "Firul vremii în concertul vocilor", in România Literară, Nr. 6/2001; Cornelia Pillat, "Voluptatea lecturii", in România Literară, Nr. 35/1999
- ^ Angheluță et al., p.343
- ISBN 973-28-0222-7
- ^ See credits for Cenzurat: Alex. T. Stamatiad, in the (in Romanian) August 29, 1920 issue of Românul, p.4 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library)
- ^ (in Romanian) "Patrimoniu. Din Colecția de Memorie locală 'N. Iorga' a Bibliotecii Metropolitane București", in the Mihail Sadoveanu City Library Biblioteca Bucureștilor, Nr. 1/2004, p.11
- ^ Călinescu, p.1016; Iorga, p.251
- ISBN 973-98919-5-0
- ^ Călinescu, p.1016. See also Perpessicius, p.139-140
- ^ Iorga, p.263
- ^ a b c d e f g (in Romanian) Ion Mierluțiu, "Un 'cvartet' modernist la Arad, în perioada interbelică", in Revista Arca, Nr. 7-8-9/2010
- ^ (in Romanian) Marin Vătafu, "Mișcarea culturală. Cărți și reviste. Înnoirea", in Gând Românesc, Nr. 1–2/1938, p.545 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library)
- ^ a b c Gheorghe G. Bezviconi, Necropola Capitalei, Nicolae Iorga Institute of History, Bucharest, 1972, p. 254
- ^ (in Romanian) Alexandru Ruja, "Ovidiu Cotruș – începuturile literare", in Orizont, Nr. 1/2007
- ^ Iorga, p.268
- ^ Călinescu, p.1015, 1016; Perpessicius, p.174
- ^ Universul Literar, Nr. 10/1943, p.3 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library)
- ^ (in Romanian) B., "Dări de seamă. Reviste primite la redacție", in Țara Bârsei, Nr. 1/1933, p.91 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library)
- ^ Cruceanu, p.88
- ^ P. Nicanor & Co., "Miscellanea. Al. T. Stamatiad la Radio", in Viața Românească, Nr. 11/1933, p.38
- ^ Fortunescu, p.375
- ^ (in Romanian) "Însemnări Ieșene în corespondența fondatorilor" Archived 2014-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, in Însemnări Ieșene, Nr. 1/2011, p.93
- ^ (in Romanian) Barbu Brezianu, "Curs de literatură politică", in Convorbiri Literare, February 2008
- ^ Martinescu, p.52-53
- ^ Fortunescu, p.375, 376
- ^ Martinescu, p.53
- ISBN 978-973-50-3533-4
- ^ Raluca Nicoleta Spiridon, "Excluderi profesionale în perioada de instaurare a comunismului: destinul criticului literar Șerban Cioculescu (1902–1988)", in Caietele CNSAS, Vol. VI, Issues 1–2, 2013, p.246-247
- ^ (in Romanian) "Vitrina literară. Cortegiul amintirilor", in Societatea de Mâine, Nr. 11/1943, p.172 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library)
- ^ Chelaru, passim; Marcel Mitrașcă, "Japan in Romanian Books before World War Two", in Acta Slavica Iaponica, Vol. 23, 2006, p.244, 246
- ^ Chelaru, p.157
- ^ Chelaru, p.157-158
- ^ Chelaru, p.158, 159
- ^ Chelaru, p.159-160
- ^ "Ședința publică de la 3 iunie 1945", p.544, 546
- ^ (in Romanian) Adrian Marino, "Cum citesc americanii literatura română", in Observator Cultural, Nr. 59, April 2001
- Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore)
- ^ Ion Călugăru, "Jurnal (V)", in Caiete Critice, Nr. 9/2012, p.27
- Familia, Nr. 7-8/2009, p.17
- ^ (in Romanian) Eugen Dimitriu, "Dimitrie Iov către Leca Morariu" Archived 2014-03-28 at the Wayback Machine, in Convorbiri Literare, 2002 almanac
- ^ (in Romanian) Pavel Chihaia, "Pagini de jurnal", in Ex Ponto, Nr. 3/2008, p.43
- ^ Călinescu, p.686, 701-702, 858
- ^ a b Călinescu, p.701
- ^ Perpessicius, p.117-118
- ^ Lovinescu, p.286-287
- ^ Călinescu, p.701; Haneș, passim; Lovinescu, p.284-285; Perpessicius, p.118-119
- ^ Lovinescu, p.284
- ^ Călinescu, p.701-702
- ^ Dragomirescu, p.99, 149
- ^ Perpessicius, p.116
- ^ Lovinescu, p.287, 330
- ^ Fortunescu, p.375-376
References
- "Ședința publică de la 3 iunie 1945", in Analele Academiei Române. Desbaterile, Vol. LXIV, 1946, p. 527-581
- Lucreția Angheluță, Salomeea Rotaru, Liana Miclescu, Marilena Apostolescu, Marina Vazaca, Bibliografia românească modernă (1831–1918). Vol. IV: R-Z, ISBN 973-27-0501-9
- George Călinescu, Istoria literaturii române de la origini pînă în prezent, Editura Minerva, Bucharest, 1986
- ISBN 978-973-23-1911-6
- Marius Chelaru, "Alexandru T. Stamatiad și lirica niponă", in Hyperion, Nr. 7-8-9/2013, p. 157-161
- OCLC 82865987
- C. D. Fortunescu, "Note pe marginea cărților. Cetatea cu porțile închise", in Arhivele Olteniei, Nr. 97-100, May–December 1938, p. 375-376
- Mihail Dragomirescu, Istoria literaturii române în secolul XX, după o nouă metodă. Sămănătorism, poporanism, criticism, Editura Institutului de Literatură, Bucharest, 1934
- V. V. Haneș, "Noutăți. Poetul Alexandru Teodor Stamatiad", in Noua Revistă Română, Nr. 15-16/1910, p. 205-206
- Nicolae Iorga, Istoria literaturii românești contemporane. II: În căutarea fondului (1890-1934), Editura Adevĕrul, Bucharest, 1934
- Eugen Lovinescu, Istoria literaturii române contemporane, II. Evoluția poeziei lirice, Editura Ancona, Bucharest, 1927
- (in Romanian) Pericle Martinescu, "Pagini de jurnal (VI)", in Ex Ponto, Nr. 1/2006, p. 48-54
- ISBN 978-606-588-133-4
- OCLC 15994515
- Perpessicius, Repertoriu critic, Editura Librăriei Diecezane, Arad, 1925
- Neagu Rădulescu, Turnul Babel, Cugetarea-Georgescu Delafras, Bucharest, 1944
- OCLC 7431692