Eugen Barbu

Eugen Barbu (Romanian pronunciation:

His most famous writings are the novels Groapa (1957) and Principele (1969).[5] Barbu's prose, in which the influence of neorealism has been noted, drew comparison to the works of Mateiu Caragiale, Tudor Arghezi, and Curzio Malaparte.^[6] It was however, considered unequal by several critics, who took into measure Barbu's preference for archaisms, as well as his fluctuating narrative style.^[7]

Barbu also wrote several film scripts,^[8] some of which were for films starring his wife, the actress Marga Barbu (Florin Piersic's Mărgelatu series).

Biography

Early life and literature

The son of writer and journalist

One of the few persons trusted with official criticism on both political and literary issues during the communist regime — under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, and especially under Nicolae Ceaușescu^[11] — he was noted for his early writings in praise of Soviet achievements such as the Sputnik program,^[12] and his progressive move to a more nationalist tone as this became condoned (and later encouraged).^[13] He was also involved in the censorship apparatus, a position which, some have argued, he used indiscriminately against his literary rivals.^[14]

Official appointments

His Principele novel, set during the

In 1979, România Literară published a special section in which it placed side by side a text from Incognito and one taken from a translated work by the Soviet writer Konstantin Paustovsky; the two sections were considered virtually identical.^[19] The ensuing scandal animated the literary world, and has often been cited as a reference for similar and more recent controversies.^[19] Speaking at the time, Barbu dismissed the accusations as character assassination.^[18]

During the 1970s and '80s, he notably launched verbal attacks against Romanian intellectuals who had defected the country, as well as against writers who were critical of the regime^[20] (the latter included Paul Goma, whom, in 1977, he called "a non-entity").^[21]

Barbu's polemic articles were often obscene in tone,

In early 2005, eleven years after his death, the satirical magazine Academia Cațavencu uncovered and publicized a Securitate file which seems to indicate that Barbu had sexual encounters with underage girls, provided by Tudor and paid for their services.^[26] Tudor initially called on the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives to explain if the find was real, and received a positive answer.^[26] He later vehemently dismissed the allegations, indicating that virtually all of the girls' personal data was not found in census records, and that Anita Barton, the only one of them to have actually been found, was aged 19 at the time of her alleged meeting with Barbu.^[26]

He died in Bucharest in 1993 and was buried at Bellu Cemetery, on Writer's Alley, close to Mihai Eminescu's resting place. His wife, Marga Barbu, was buried next to him when she died in 2009.^[27]

Notes