Viața Basarabiei

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For an earlier publication of the same name, see
Viaţa Basarabiei (1907)
.
Viaţa Basarabiei
Viaţa Basarabiei on a 2007 Moldovan stamp
EditorMihai Cimpoi
Categoriesliterary magazine, political magazine
First issueJanuary 1932
CompanyPrut Internaţional
CountryRomania, Moldova
LanguageRomanian

Viaţa Basarabiei (

Chişinău, Moldova. Originally a literary and political magazine, published at a time when the Bessarabia region was part of Romania, it was founded in 1932 by political activist Pan Halippa and writer Nicolai Costenco. At the time, Viaţa Basarabiei was primarily noted for rejecting the centralism of Greater Romanian governments, to which they opposed more or less vocal Bessarabian regionalist demands and a nativist
ethos.

Declaring itself to be a traditionalist venue, interested in preserving local specificity in the cultural field, Viaţa Basarabiei was in effect a voice for cultural innovation and a host to

Romanian Writers' Union and the Moldovan Writers' Union
.

History

Creation

Viaţa Basarabiei, founded as the literary voice of Bessarabian regionalism, was first printed in January 1932. Its first issue included a foreword by Halippa, in which the latter, previously a key figure in the

Yiddish Dos Besaraber Lebn (1918-1940).[3]

The new magazine was, according to Romanian literary critic

Bugaz had their own [literary periodical]".[5]

Regionalist agenda

The localist point of view was a common feature of other Bessarabian periodicals during the

right-wing trends in Greater Romanian politics.[10]

In his column pieces for the magazine, Costenco repeatedly stipulated the existence of a

Russian culture, were marks of both dissimilarity and excellence: "The culture of those who can speak Russian is overwhelmingly superior in its august silence, when compared with the old kingdom's culture, with its chatty and insolent representatives. [...] By combining [the] two cultures, the Slavic and... the Latin one, tomorrow's Bessarabia shall become, from a spiritual point of view, a chain of mountains, the tops of which will be glowing in full splendor over the times and borders."[4]

Costenco's stance mirrored the attitudes of some other Viaţa Basarabiei contributors. The magazine published some of the last political texts by the old anarchist Zamfir Arbore, who stated his bitter rejection of Romanian society.[11] Although a lifelong supporter of unionism, the Romanian Orthodox priest and writer Vasile Ţepordei, who was a regular contributor to Viaţa Basarabiei and other regional reviews, spoke of Romania having treated Bessarabia as an "African colony", creating opportunities for "adventurers" and "nonentities" from the other historical regions.[12] Halippa's own pronouncements of the period expressed his disappointment with centralist policies, leading to accusations that he himself had become anti-Romanian.[13]

Various commentators have noted that Viaţa Basarabiei partly shaped the negative perception of Romanian authorities, as embraced by many locals.

Soviet historiography, was in fact also an answer to the Romanian government's assignment of incompetent officials at a local level.[4] However, Moldovan philologist Alina Ciobanu-Tofan notes, there was a separation between "the provocative statements" made by Viaţa Basarabiei editors and actual interwar accomplishments: "cultural regionalism has stood as the fundamental prerequisite in maintaining the Bessarabian spiritual phenomenon afloat, it being the only way for accomplishing the actual unification of Romanian spirituality, the synthesis of all creative contributions".[1] The regionalist platform continued to tolerate contributions from Romanian men of letters who did not identify with such policies. One such case was that of Constantin Ciopraga, a literary critic who made his debut in the magazine's pages, and who, according to Mănucă, was most likely interested in "supporting Romanianism in the land between the Prut and the Dniester [that is, Bessarabia]."[15]

Traditionalism and modernism

Stylistically, Nicolai Costenco's review was generally committed to the traditionalist and anti-

Romanian literary environment. In articles for the magazine, Costenco offered praise to the publications issued by the nationalist thinker and historian Nicolae Iorga, from the defunct Sămănătorul (the coagulant factor of Romanian traditionalism) to the neo-Sămănătorist Cuget Clar.[9] The Bessarabian journalist merged his rejection of Romanian modernism into his discourse on the regional issue, arguing: "We, as Bessarabians, are pleased that the Bessarabian folk is impervious to the poisoned heat radiating from present-day Romanian culture."[4] According to Burlacu, the use of traditionalist rhetoric is also observable in those articles which speak of Bessarabia's identity, in the magazine's critique of modernist poet Tudor Arghezi, and in poet Sergiu Matei Nica's Orthodox statements of devotion.[9]

In practice, Viaţa Basarabiei was more open to modernism than its editorial policies dictated. The paradox was underlined by Burlacu, who noted that Costenco himself was beginning to incorporate poetic traits from Symbolism, a literary form that Iorga had equated with sickness.[9] The magazine therefore played host to Bogdan Istru, George Meniuc and other writers who illustrated the final developments of Romania's Symbolist movement, and whose work also adopted some avant-garde characteristics.[9] After 1935, Viaţa Basarabiei employed as a member of the editorial staff the modernist poet and communist sympathizer Alexandru Robot, whose articles covered such political issues as the trial of Romanian Communist Party member Petre Constantinescu-Iaşi.[10]

Writing for the magazine, Costenco himself offered much praise to the lyrical work of

titan—the multitudes should follow him, so that, once in communion with his songs, they may build themselves a future without any lies".[16] The critic encouraged Cavarnali to pursue this tendency, in order to provide his readers with "the Great Poem of the native, Bessarabian, soul".[16] Costenco was also a promoter of Robot's Somnul singurătăţii ("The Slumber of Solitude", 1936)—an avant-garde volume which he positively reviewed for Viaţa Basarabiei.[10]

In 1939, George Meniuc used Viaţa Basarabiei to express his thoughts about the similarity between the condition of a poet and that of a

mechanicism. This new rumor casts darkness over his rest and his reverie".[16]

Pre-1940 cultural impact

Overall, the magazine was involved in promoting new voices on the

Octav Sargeţiu, Anton Luţcan, Iacov Slavov, Andrei Tibereanu,[17] Magda Isanos[19] and Alexandru Lungu.[20]

According to Alina Ciobanu-Tofan, "for 13 years, [Viaţa Basarabiei] has had a fruitful activity (without equivalent in its epoch) in the area of Romanian culture in Bessarabia, discovering talents, generating and propagating unprecedented values".[1] She notes that the progresses registered by Halippa and Costenco's tribune, "the most prestigious publication in 1930s Bessarabia", were significant in a context were the "blood-stained prints" of 19th century Russification were still observable.[1]

Beyond its literary agenda, Viaţa Basarabiei had a role in circulating academic studies on various subjects. According to one author's assessment, it published, before 1944: "3,232 articles, sources, reviews, information pieces on the most recent problems of Romanian language and literature, the history of the Romanians, philosophy, psychology, Christian ethics, sociology, statecraft and law, economy, natural sciences, agriculture, education, arts etc."[17] Among the noted social scientists who contributed to Viaţa Basarabiei at the time were Halippa himself, Zamfir Arbore, Vasile Harea, Gheorghe V. Madan and Liviu Marian.[4]

In addition to chronicling Bessarabian and nationwide developments, Viaţa Basarabiei was interested in the life of Romanian-speakers within the Soviet Union, particularly those in the neighboring

Marxism-Leninism, interested Romanian novelist and journalist Liviu Rebreanu, who then published ample but partly erroneous deductions about the number of Romanian writers there.[21]

World War II, communism and disestablishment

After Bessarabia's

Romania during World War II).[4][22] The paper continued featuring articles endorsing Romania's participation in the war, and making negative assessments about the impact of Imperial Russian and Soviet rule. It notably featured articles by the senior Bessarabian politician Ion Pelivan, who argued: "The Russians have plundered, robbed, humiliated us [Bessarabian Romanians], defiled our spirit, destroyed our language, stole our land, colonized it with other plundering populations, and they have murdered our Romanian being".[23] Pelivan's essay reflected on the impact of Russification and its conflict with unionism, all the way back to the Crimean War.[23]

Before and after the

Socialist Realism and mysteriously disappeared shortly after the Axis attack.[10][24] His praise of Soviet power, concentrated in lyrical pieces such as A înflorit Moldova ("Moldova Has Blossomed"), is believed by researcher Iurie Colesnic to have masked his secret disappointment with the Soviet regime.[10] In what has been described as a highly unusual occurrence, Robot had continued to publish articles in Viaţa Basarabiei between its relocation to Bucharest and the outbreak of war.[24]

Discussing the manner in which the Soviet takeover had effected both cultural separation and the promotion of Moldovenism, Ion Simuţ writes about the ensuing paradoxes: "N. Costenco would become a victim of this blockage, enduring 15 years of [Soviet] detention specifically because of his earlier 'nationalism'. His exclusive and rigid regionalism of the '30s was one thing, and Moldovan

Romanian communist regime, he was also handed out to the Soviets and sent to the Gulag, and then again held in Romanian custody.[13] A committed devotee to the cause of unionism, he refused proposals to resettle in the Moldavian SSR, and spent his final years in Romania.[13]

The identification of the regionalist venue with nationalism and

Communist Party of the Moldavian SSR, he suggested that Meniuc's renewed literary activity in Soviet territory posed a political threat: "Some of our writers, for example G. Meniuc, have begun to raise up, like some sort of banners, the shreds of some reactionary magazines that used to be printed in Romania and Bessarabia up to 1940 and during the latest war, Viaţa Basarabiei or Gândirea. Why should we now extend amnesty to these reactionary magazines [...]? After all, all Bessarabian people know that Viaţa Basarabiei magazine has been promoting a shameless campaign, riddled with lies and innuendo, against the Land of the Soviets, against the revolutionary communist movement in Bessarabia."[25] Meniuc, who faced these and other political charges, was removed from his editorial offices upon the end of the investigation.[25]

2002 revival

The status of Romanian literature in the Moldavian SSR was elevated during the late 1980s, when

Soviet collapse, declared itself a successor of Viaţa Basarabiei.[26]

Viaţa Basarabiei was revived under its own title a decade into

Romanian Writers' Union and the Moldovan Writers' Union.[27][28] This custody was also shared by the Moldovan Writers' Union with the Romanian Cultural Institute.[29]

Its creation followed a split within the editorial board of Basarabia journal: Cimpoi and part of the editorial staff voted in favor of the transformation, while poet Nicolae Popa contested the decision and continued to publish Basarabia as a separate periodical.[28] As of 2003, Prut Internaţional publishing company manages the publication process.[30]

The first issues listed as the editorial staff writers from Moldova (Alexandru Burlacu, Emilian Galaicu-Păun, Ion Hadârcă, Dumitru-Dan Maxim) and Romania (Ana Blandiana, Constantin Ciopraga, Victor Crăciun, Eugen Simion).[31] Other noted contributors were Romanian critic Eugen Uricaru, Bessarabian-born novelist Paul Goma (who serialized here his narrative, also titled Basarabia),[31] and Moldovan author Andrei Strâmbeanu.[27] The magazine was also noted for publishing posthumous works by authors from several cultures, among them Marin Preda and Konstantin Paustovsky.[27]

Popa's Basarabia did not survive as the market and culture changed.[32] The rival magazine also faced several problems, including irregular circulation. According to a December 2005 article by cultural journalist Larisa Ungureanu, Viaţa Basarabiei only put out eleven issues over three years, none of which had been published during that particular year.[29] She also notes that Cimpoi's paper, like all other Moldovan literary reviews, was largely inaccessible at newsstands in Chişinău and in public libraries all over the country.[33]

Ungureanu also opines that, among this section of the Moldovan media, Viaţa Basarabiei and

Revista Sud-Est and Semn.[34] The same dichotomy was stated by writer Maria Şleahtiţchi, according to whom the Moldovan publishing industry is essentially divided between journals with an antiquated patriotic Romanian discourse and venues better adapted to the modern scene.[35] Writing for Revista Sud-Est, poet and novelist Leo Butnaru criticized Cimpoi and Viaţa Basarabiei for not maintaining the same editorial standard as Semn or Contrafort: "is it not symptomatic [...] that, even in the very first issue of Viaţa Basarabiei, presided upon by an obviously apt literary critic, Mihai Cimpoi, no room could be found for at the very least simple bibliographies, reviews or axiological commentary?"[36]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f (in Romanian) Călina Trifan, "Variaţiuni pe o temă", in Contrafort, Nr. 4-5 (90-91), April–May 2002
  2. ^ Grossu & Palade, p.15, 19
  3. ^ Grossu & Palade, p.17-18
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l (in Romanian) Ion Simuţ, "Există o critică regională?", in România Literară, Nr. 27/2005
  5. ^ a b George Călinescu, Istoria literaturii române de la origini pînă în prezent, Editura Minerva, Bucharest, 1986, p.968
  6. Revista Sud-Est
    , Nr. 2/2003
  7. ^ Grossu & Palade, p.20
  8. ^
    Revista Sud-Est
    , Nr. 4/2000
  9. ^ a b c d e f (in Romanian) Alexandru Burlacu, "Poezia basarabeană: Arcadia în negativ (I)" Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, in Convorbiri Literare, March 2002
  10. ^ a b c d e (in Romanian) Iurie Colesnic, "Alexandru Robot – poetul enigmelor (90 de ani de la naştere)" Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine, in the National Library of Moldova's Magazin Bibliologic, Nr. 1/2006, p.72-73
  11. ^ Maria Lidia, Martin Veith, "Memoirs of an Anarchist in Romania. Zamfir C. Arbure (Ralli)", in KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library, No. 57, March 2009
  12. ^ a b (in Romanian) Ioan Lăcustă, "Din lacrima Basarabiei...", in România Literară, Nr. 35/2005
  13. ^
    Revista Sud-Est
    , Nr. 3/2003
  14. ^ (in Romanian) Dan Mănucă, "Obsesii regionaliste", in Convorbiri Literare, January 2003
  15. ^ (in Romanian) Dan Mănucă, "Cumpătarea umanismului", in Convorbiri Literare, May 2008
  16. ^ a b c d e (in Romanian) Alexandru Burlacu, "Poezia basarabeană: Arcadia în negativ (II)", in Convorbiri Literare, April 2002
  17. ^
    Literatura şi Arta
    , March 10, 2010
  18. Literatura şi Arta
    , April 29, 2010
  19. ISBN 978-9975-934-61-9
  20. ^ (in Romanian) Gheorghe Grigurcu, "Un poet în oglinda dialogului", in România Literară, Nr. 5/2006
  21. Vladimir Beşleagă, "Destine trans(i)nistr(i)ene", in Contrafort
    , Nr. 7-8 (105-106), July–August 2003
  22. ^ Grossu & Palade, p.20-21, 23
  23. ^
    Literatura şi Arta
    , April 8, 2010
  24. ^ a b (in Romanian) Vladimir Prisăcaru, "De hramul oraşului. Două evocări, două 'vase comunicante'. Tîrgul basarabean al anilor '30 şi talentul literar al lui Al. Robot" Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, in the B. P. Hasdeu Library of Chişinău's Biblio Polis, Nr. 3/2006
  25. ^
    Vladimir Beşleagă, "Conştiinţa naţională sub regimul comunist totalitar (VI) - R.S.S.M. 1956-1963", in Contrafort
    , Nr. 1 (135), January 2006
  26. ^ Şleahtiţchi, p.92-94
  27. ^ a b c (in Romanian) Pressofag, "Din valurile presei", in Convorbiri Literare, October 2002
  28. ^ a b (in Romanian) Vasile Gârneţ, Mihai Cimpoi, "Despre spirit critic în Basarabia, despre Eminescu şi Ion Druţă, despre poliţia politică, Uniunea Scriitorilor, postmodernism şi polemici literare", in Contrafort, Nr. 9-10 (95-96), September–October 2002
  29. ^ a b Ungureanu, p.37
  30. ^ (in Romanian) Oleg Bodrug, "Când nu vom mai trece Prutul cu paşapoarte 'internaţionale', Editura Prut Internaţional se va numi simplu - PRUT", in Contrafort, Nr. 5-6 (103-104), May–June 2003
  31. ^
    Revista Sud-Est
    , Nr. 3/2002
  32. ^ Şleahtiţchi, p.94
  33. ^ Ungureanu, p.36-37
  34. ^ Ungureanu, p.39
  35. ^ Şleahtiţchi, p.93-94
  36. Revista Sud-Est
    , Nr. 3/2002

References

External links

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