Alexandru Toma
Encyclopedia
Alexandru Toma was a Romania
n poet, journalist and translator, known for his communist
views and his role in introducing Socialist Realism
and Stalinism
to Romanian literature
. Having debuted as a Symbolist
, Toma was influenced by 19th century writer Mihai Eminescu
, an admiration which came to characterize his entire work. The official poet during the early years of the Communist regime
and appointed a full member of the Romanian Academy
, he is considered by many commentators to have actually been a mediocre writer with a problematic legacy.
Toma was, alongside novelist Mihail Sadoveanu
, one of the literary figures whose writings were associated with the early years of Communism in Romania. Officials equated him with Eminescu, whose lyrical poems
he would often adapt to the Socialist Realist guidelines, replacing their pessimism
with an officially endorsed uplifting message. His other writings included positive portrayals of Stakhanovite
workers, praises of Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin
, as well as poems for children
. Supported by the regime and widely publicized until shortly before his death, he fell out of favor and his work was gradually marginalized during the final years of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
's rule.
He was the father of Sorin Toma, a Romanian Communist Party
activist and journalist himself noted for his commitment to Socialist Realism, as well as for his officially endorsed attacks on the influential poet Tudor Arghezi
. Alexandru Toma's nephew, Virgiliu Moscovici-Monda, was himself a Symbolist poet.
family in Urziceni
, where his father Leibu Moscovici worked as a grocer. Leibu's other son, Zeilic, fathered Virgiliu Moscovici, who also pursued a career in literature during the interwar period
, publishing several of his works under the pen name Virgiliu Monda.
During the early late 1890s, Alexandru Toma was mostly active in the press of Moldavia
region, writing for left-wing newspapers such as Evenimentul. He was notably present (in 1897) on the writing staff of Noutatea, published in Iaşi
by Avram Steuerman-Rodion
and various others. Toma's early life was marked by involvement in socialist
circles and the Romanian Kingdom
's labor movement, and eventually saw him joining the underground communist group. However, in 1897, he is known to have authored a Romanian-language
translation of poems by Elisabeth of Wied
, the wife of King
Carol I
—this detail was not present in any of his later official biographies.
Toma's literary debut was associated with Symbolism, and critics traditionally include him among the "proletarian
" wing of the Romanian Symbolist movement
. In 1902, he began corresponding with Symbolist poetess Elena Farago, whose career he closely followed; Moscovici-Monda also adopted Symbolism, representing its late stages in local literature. By the early 1910s, Toma had also been published by the prestigious Iaşi review, Viaţa Românească
. Toma's first edition of collected works, bearing the title Poezii ("Poems"), was published by Editura Cultura Naţională in 1926, being positively reviewed by modernist
theorist Eugen Lovinescu
in his History of Contemporary Romanian Literature.
As his wife Sidy later recounted to Communist Party officials, both she and her husband helped hide Party members in their home during the interwar period, when the movement had been outlawed. She also noted that it was Alexandru Toma who introduced his son Sorin to Marxism
. The latter also became an activist of the Communist Party, taking refuge in the Soviet Union during World War II
, fighting as a partisan
after the start Operation Barbarossa
, returning to Romania with the Red Army
(see Soviet occupation of Romania
), and later working as editor in chief of the Communist newspaper Scînteia
. In Romania, the fascist
and antisemitic National Legionary
government expelled Toma from the Romanian Writers' Society (SSR), together with all other Jewish members (October 1940). Later, the authoritarian
regime of Ion Antonescu
included both Alexandru Toma and Moscovici-Monda on a nationally circulated list of banned Jewish authors.
literature and as the greatest Romanian poet alive. He was readmitted into the reformed SSR during September 1947, shortly after an inner purge of writers perceived as fascist. Writing in 1948, Romania's official Marxist-Leninist
ideologue and Agitprop
supervisor Leonte Răutu casually referred to Toma as "the poet most connected to the [communist] party", while criticizing his own subordinate, Nicolae Moraru, for having failed to acknowledge the fact. This review coincided with a cultural campaign partly replicating the Soviet Zhdanov Doctrine
, during which Romanian culture
was purged of influences deemed reactionary
(see Socialist realism in Romania
). Thus, Toma's works were for the first time introduced in the school textbooks, where, alongside those by Communist short story writer Alexandru Sahia
and the left-leaning novelist Sadoveanu, they stood as the sole samples of 20th century Romanian literature. The three figures were also among the few interwar authors to be frequented by official works of criticism. Both he and Sadoveanu, together presiding over the 1949 establishment of a politicized Writers' Union
, were paid homage with special festivities, which, according to literary critic Florin Mihăilescu, evidenced a personality cult equivalent only to those of Joseph Stalin
and local Party leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
. The regime also awarded Toma its State Prize for Poetry.
Virtually all of Toma's literary contributions were published in one volume, titled Cîntul vieţii ("The Song of Life") and prefaced by the Communist essayist Ion Vitner, which went through three editions between 1950 and 1954. According to literary historian Ion Simuţ, the 1951 print reached 15,000 copies, which was exceptional for its time. Also unusually for the period, the book was also circulated abroad, in state-sponsored translations (Hungarian
in 1955 and 1955, German
and Russian
in 1956; an English-language translation saw print in 1951). In addition to Cîntul vieţii, some of Toma's poetry was collected in Poezii alese ("Selected Poems"), published in 1952 and 1953. The original edition featured a preface by Sergiu Fărcăşan, and was printed in 10,150 copies, while the second one, issued for schoolchildren by the specialized publisher Editura Tineretului, reached 30,000 copies. His works for children were featured in various separate editions. Toma also published translations from classical French literature
, including a rendition of Molière
's Tartuffe
, and contributed to a 1956 anthology of poems translated from the work of Heinrich Heine
.
A peak in Alexandru Toma's career occurred on February 14, 1950, when the Romanian Academy
celebrated his 75th birthday (with a three-day delay). The occasion was marked by the speeches of Academy President Traian Săvulescu, literary historian George Călinescu
, and Mihai Beniuc, and culminated with the poet's own address. Toma, who displayed a dose of self-criticism over various moments of weakness in his career, underlined his own role in "the careful, masterful, cultivation of a renewed, simple, clear form, well-suited to Socialist Realism and Revolutionary Romanticism
." The last words of his speech were comments on Stalin and the Soviet claim to stand against nuclear armament
: "Only the titan
-like hands of Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin, as a trustee of his people and of the entire human race, can stop the monstrous atom bomb
in flight, can envelop it, can suffocate it, can extinguish it."
, and described by critics as one of Steriadi's best works. In 1952, some of Toma's poems were published in the volume Poezie nouă în R.P.R. ("New Poetry in the P[eople's] R[epublic of] R[omania]"), together with those of Anatol E. Baconsky
, Maria Banuş, Dan Deşliu, Mihu Dragomir, Eugen Frunză, Ştefan Iureş, Eugen Jebeleanu
, Veronica Porumbacu and twenty-four others. In the 7th grade textbook of 1953, local literature was represented by twelve writers: alongside the writers considered classics before and since (Eminescu, Ion Luca Caragiale
, Alexandru Vlahuţă
, Grigore Alexandrescu
, George Coşbuc
, Vasile Alecsandri
, Ion Creangă
, Nicolae Bălcescu
and Sadoveanu himself), Toma, Sahia and Dumitru Theodor Neculuţă were selected for their political convictions. Toma was not allocated as much space as Eminescu and Sadoveanu, but his entry matched those on Caragiale and Alecsandri. The textbook ended with an anthology of newer literary works by authors in favor with the regime—alongside poet Mihai Beniuc
, these included Banuş, Deşliu, Jebeleanu, Porumbacu, Aurel Baranga, Mihail Davidoglu, Petru Dumitriu, as well as a few others—and a similar overview of Soviet literature. It was at this stage that, in his University of Bucharest
lectures, Vitner came to refer to Toma as a "national poet", placing him alongside Neculuţă, Sahia and the early 20th century socialist Constantin Mille
as among the few pre-World War II authors who were not "reactionary
".
In spring 1953, after Stalin's death was made known to the world, Toma was one of the tens of prominent Romanian authors who contributed articles in his memory; his piece, titled Viaţă daţi stalinistului gînd! ("Bring the Stalinist Thought to Reality!"), was published by the mainstream cultural magazine Viaţa Românească
. Official endorsement of Toma's work continued in 1953-1954, when the Romanian regime reacted against the first generation of Socialist realists by imposing the cultural doctrines of Georgy Malenkov
.
Late in life, Toma headed Editura de stat pentru literatură şi artă, an official publishing house tasked with enforcing the main editorial policies, and, according to philologist and memoirist Gheorghe Pienescu, was "its last (or so I thought) dogmatic Stalinist director." One of the last campaigns which made use of his poems was the 1953 World Festival of Youth and Students
, hosted in Bucharest
. Toma died in Bucharest the following year, his body being cremated
at Cenuşa Society.
, Traian Demetrescu
, Mihail Cruceanu and Andrei Naum, contrasting to both the Parnassian school of Alexandru Macedonski
and the ballad
esque style associated with Ştefan Octavian Iosif
. This period was also marked by echoes from the works of traditionalist poets. Eugen Lovinescu
proposed that, while being the "direct inheritor" of Eminescu's creation, and placed under his "overwhelming influence", Toma's Poezii also showed his admiration for Coşbuc, Vlahuţă, Panait Cerna
, Corneliu Moldovanu and D. Nanu. The result was "a «conceptual» poetry, that is to say a rationalist
poetry, one of problems solved through dramatic means, through moral means, through psychological means [...] or even through sheer anecdote [...]." Noting the similarities between Toma's concepts and those built upon by his fellow poet Haralamb Lecca, Lovinescu also argued that Poezii evidenced "a great and honest professional consciousness, an inspiration of intellectual quality, laid out in impeccable volutes". However, he also criticized the volume for lacking "the element of innovation in sensitivity and expression." Among the traditionalist reviewers, Ilarie Chendi noted being unimpressed by Toma's "cold and philosophical poetry".
Early in the 1950s, Toma was especially known for poems illustrating the regime's ideological priorities. According to Ion Simuţ, Cîntul vieţii, whose title alluded to "the necessity of optimistically
singing hymns to life and completely ignoring the theme of death", was a repository for "opportunistic literature" and "all sorts of clichés." One writing in this series, the 1950 Silvester Andrei salvează abatajul ("Silvester Andrei Rescues the Coal Face"), depicted Stakhanovite
socialist competition
and heroic self-sacrifice, while alluding to inter-ethnic brotherhood among mine workers. Part of it read:
Some of his works dealt with moments that the Communist regime considered emblematic, such as the October Revolution
, the Griviţa Strike of 1933
, and the World War II
Soviet entry into Romania. Other poems of the same year celebrated the "fight for peace" endorsed by official Eastern Bloc
propaganda
after the start of the Cold War
, condemning nuclear armament while depicting Joseph Stalin
in eulogistic terms:
Some of Toma's poetic texts in Cîntul vieţii was primarily dedicated to illustrations of how Communist Party indications, such as the fight against art for art's sake
, were to be applied in practice. Such pieces satirized
poetry perceived as antiquated: "individualist
", "aestheticist
", "surrealist
", "obscurantist
", "hermeticist
" and "escapist
". One stanza, judged by Ion Simuţ to display "involuntary humor", was written from the perspective on one such condemned author:
As a children's rhyme author, Alexandru Toma notably contributed the poem Cîntecul bradului ("The Song of the Fir Tree"), a reference to the Christmas tree
—a symbol and custom condoned despite Christmas
being frowned upon by the Communist authorities. It read:
and Neoclassicist
, whose style was often somber and occasionally pessimistic
—this, alongside the poet's nationalist
stance, and despite official acceptance, was in sharp contrast to the ideological tenets. Eminescu's work was therefore not made available to the public in its entirety, while some of the Romantic
poems of his youth were presented as evidence that he was actually progressive
and a believer in class struggle
.
One of Eminescu's most famous poems, Glossă
, dominated by skepticism
and recommending aloofness, ended with the lyrics:
Toma, whom the regime often described as a new Eminescu, added a new perspective in his version:
A similar thing was attempted by Toma in respect to one of Eminescu's other major poems, Dintre sute de catarge ("Of the Many Hundreds Masts"). The original read:
In Alexandru Toma's version, this was adapted to:
noted that Alexandru Toma's endorsement by the cultural authorities was specifically meant to fill the gap left by the purging of other, more talented, writers from the curriculum (see Censorship in Communist Romania
). He suggested that this move was closely related to the claim that socialist society was naturally superior to the "bourgeois-landowning society", and further enhanced by several major cultural figures having refused to collaborate with the regime. Historian Vladimir Tismăneanu
, who referred to Toma as "the official bard
of the Stalinist epoch in Romania", described him as "a poet of meager talent but huge ambitions". He also credited him with having authored the lyrics to the first of Communist Romania's national anthem
s, Zdrobite cătuşe
.
Arguing that the Communist Party fabricated the "Toma myth" in order to provide a poet whose scale would match that of the prose writer Mihail Sadoveanu
(himself noted for his close connection with the regime), Boia pointed that, in contrast, important poets such as Tudor Arghezi
or Lucian Blaga
, who refused collaboration, were originally left "completely outside the game". He also proposed that Toma's promotion was indicative of a will to replace "the natural order of things [italics in the original]", and "no less abhorrent" than other major Communist projects to reshape Romania—citing among these the restructuring of Romanian economy
on the basis of Marxian guidelines
(with the collateral attempt to turn Romania into a major producer of steel), the unsuccessful plan to reclaim the Danube Delta
, and the completion of a massive House of the People
during the 1980s. Also according to Lucian Boia, Toma's belonging to one of Romania's ethnic minorities
was of further interest to the regime, at a time when proletarian internationalism
was highlighted in official discourse: "the recourse to «other nationalities» seemed to the new masters as an ideal method to crush the traditional cultural patterns."
Although Ion Vitner's study on Alexandru Toma served as a model for Mihail Novicov's monograph
on Sadoveanu, the poet himself was fading out of official discourse by the moment of his death. He happened to die in August, at a time when the regime was preparing to celebrate the 10th anniversary of an event which it considered its founding moment, the King Michael Coup of 1944. It was largely as a result of this that his obituary was not featured on the front page of cultural magazines such as Contemporanul
, and its text was both cut short and less complimentary than many previous articles. Around that time, the regime could count on the affiliation of younger and more prestigious poets, of whom Nicolae Labiş
was the prime example, as well as eventually gaining the allegiance of Arghezi. A last edition of his works was published in 1959, as part of a collection for schoolchildren, after which his name was almost never invoked in officially endorsed literature. It was however assigned to a street in Bucharest
and to a school in Ploieşti
.
Later, Alexandru Toma's position as a supporter of proletarian internationalism
came to clash with the recuperation of nationalism
by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
and especially by his successor Nicolae Ceauşescu
. In 1984, under Ceauşescu's national communist
leadership, literary critic Mircea Scarlat spoke of "illogical overbidding" in respect to Toma's encouragement during the 1950s. Also according to Scarlat, Marin Sorescu
, a critically acclaimed poet who debuted in the post-1955 years, was "irritated by the method" of official poets such as Toma and Eugen Frunză, and contributed ironic pastiche
s of their work. Toma's Cîntecul bradului enjoyed more genuine success, and was famous for a while. The Romanian Revolution of 1989
, which toppled the communist regime, was closely followed by open reevaluations of Toma's work and its entire context. In one such comment, written in 1990, writer Bujor Nedelcovici
argued in favor of a progressive scale of guilt, on which the "naïve opportunism" of the 1950s ranked lower than the "shameful opportunism" of the 1970s and 1980s. This point raised objections from Ion Simuţ, who replied that, for all the "changes in circumstances", Toma was no less objectionable than a Ceauşescu-era poet like Adrian Păunescu
. He also believed that nothing in Toma's work as an official poet could be recovered: "A. Toma was so well adapted to the circumstances that his poetry cannot be removed from its context, and he shall forever remain in bondage, like a scribe
without a modicum of independence."
In 1948, as editor of Scînteia
, Sorin Toma took an active part in condemning Arghezi for noncompliance with the cultural guidelines. Arghezi's eventual rehabilitation
, Florin Mihăilescu writes, came as both "an immediate effect" of Alexandru Toma's death and a sign of "progressive Destalinization." Sorin Toma also fell out of favor with the Communist Party (of whose Central Committee
he had been a member in 1949-1960). Purged by the new uncontested leader Gheorghiu-Dej due to his support for Ana Pauker
's group, he was expelled from the Party in 1963, and eventually immigrated to Israel
. After the 1989 Revolution, exposed to criticism over his stances, and accused of having attacked Arghezi in order to promote his father, Sorin Toma claimed that he was just following orders from Party boss Iosif Chişinevschi
(a defense notably present in his 2005 book of memoirs, Privind înapoi, "Looking Backwards").
's position in support of Toma, alongside other situations where he endorsed the Communist regime, has been the target of controversy. The literary historian did not include Alexandru Toma in his minute History of Romanian Literature, which he had completed in 1941, seven years before Romania became Communist—there, Toma was only present in a bibliographical note. Speaking during the 1950s, he indicated that he had since come to "understand" the poet, and that he had been helped in this "by the lesson of the times". Lucian Boia noted that Călinescu's point made a distinction between purely aesthetic
criteria, which Communism had come to associate with "the bourgeois era", and the supposed value of poets as "announcers and creators [...] of a new world".
Nevertheless, Călinescu was constantly ambivalent toward the Socialist Realist poet, and may have used his position to produce veiled criticism of Toma and the quality of his poetry. A minor scandal arose in early 1950, after Communist officials came to suspect that his Romanian Academy
speech in honor of Toma was punctuated by double entendre
s. In his book of memoirs, Academy member and historian David Prodan recounted how, when speaking of how Toma had "selected his own path", Călinescu made a gesture that seemed to mimick a horse with blinders
. Also according to Prodan, Toma was described by the speaker as having "coated himself in Eminescu chlamyde robe", which he had "tightened to fit his own body". The address alarmed members of the cultural establishment: Traian Săvulescu, urged on by the official historians Mihail Roller and Constantin Daicoviciu
, asked George Călinescu to explain himself (the latter subsequently reiterated Toma's merits as a poet).
Boia argued that other samples of Călinescu's address may have been evidence of "mockery", hidden among eulogistic arguments—while noting that these did little to shadow his role in promoting Toma as a major poet, and that his overall attitude reminded one of "doublethink
" (a concept coined by George Orwell
in his dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
). In reference to these two contradictory aspects, he cited Călinescu saying to Toma: "Not only are your lyrics indescribably beautiful artistically, but they highlight a combatant gray hairness, in love with the turmoil, instigating to an acute fight, a burning trust in progress. You are, allow me to say this, a master of clandestine poetry, enduring to this day as a professor of energy."
In the same context, Călinescu himself endorsed the parallel drawn between Alexandru Toma and Eminescu, while comparing the difference between their attitudes on life to Toma's advantage. Boia considered this stance especially problematic, given that the speaker was, at the time, the undisputed authority on Eminescu, and "the greatest literary critic alive".
After Toma's downfall and until the time of his own death, George Călinescu no longer made any noticeable reference to the poet. The revised edition of his History of Romanian Literature, written during the 1960s and republished by Alexandru Piru in 1982, included an abrupt mention of Toma, simply indicating his family and place of birth. According to Lucian Boia, this was Călinescu's way of "avenging his own cowardice from the years when he had contributed to launching «the new Eminescu»."
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n poet, journalist and translator, known for his communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
views and his role in introducing Socialist Realism
Socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of realistic art which was developed in the Soviet Union and became a dominant style in other communist countries. Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style having its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism...
and Stalinism
Stalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
to Romanian literature
Literature of Romania
Romanian literature is literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language.Eugène Ionesco is one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd....
. Having debuted as a Symbolist
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
, Toma was influenced by 19th century writer Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul , the official newspaper of the Conservative Party...
, an admiration which came to characterize his entire work. The official poet during the early years of the Communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
and appointed a full member of the Romanian Academy
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....
, he is considered by many commentators to have actually been a mediocre writer with a problematic legacy.
Toma was, alongside novelist Mihail Sadoveanu
Mihail Sadoveanu
Mihail Sadoveanu was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and political figure, who twice served as acting republican head of state under the communist regime . One of the most prolific Romanian-language writers, he is remembered mostly for his historical and adventure novels, as...
, one of the literary figures whose writings were associated with the early years of Communism in Romania. Officials equated him with Eminescu, whose lyrical poems
Lyric poetry
Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...
he would often adapt to the Socialist Realist guidelines, replacing their pessimism
Pessimism
Pessimism, from the Latin word pessimus , is a state of mind in which one perceives life negatively. Value judgments may vary dramatically between individuals, even when judgments of fact are undisputed. The most common example of this phenomenon is the "Is the glass half empty or half full?"...
with an officially endorsed uplifting message. His other writings included positive portrayals of Stakhanovite
Stakhanovite
In Soviet history and iconography, a Stakhanovite follows the example of Aleksei Grigorievich Stakhanov, employing hard work or Taylorist efficiencies to over-achieve on the job.- History :...
workers, praises of Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
leader Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
, as well as poems for children
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
. Supported by the regime and widely publicized until shortly before his death, he fell out of favor and his work was gradually marginalized during the final years of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:Gheorghe was the son of a poor worker, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. Gheorghiu-Dej joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930...
's rule.
He was the father of Sorin Toma, a Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
activist and journalist himself noted for his commitment to Socialist Realism, as well as for his officially endorsed attacks on the influential poet Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi was a Romanian writer, best known for his contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest , he explained that his pen name was related to Argesis, the Latin name for the Argeş River.-Early life:Along with Mihai Eminescu, Mateiu Caragiale, and...
. Alexandru Toma's nephew, Virgiliu Moscovici-Monda, was himself a Symbolist poet.
Early life and career
Toma was born into a JewishHistory of the Jews in Romania
The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....
family in Urziceni
Urziceni
Urziceni is a town in Ialomiţa County, Romania, located around 60 km north-east of Bucharest. It has a population of 17,090.Founded by Romanian shepherds, its name is derived from the word "urzică" . It was mentioned for the first time in a written document on 23 April 1596, during the reign...
, where his father Leibu Moscovici worked as a grocer. Leibu's other son, Zeilic, fathered Virgiliu Moscovici, who also pursued a career in literature during the interwar period
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
, publishing several of his works under the pen name Virgiliu Monda.
During the early late 1890s, Alexandru Toma was mostly active in the press of Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
region, writing for left-wing newspapers such as Evenimentul. He was notably present (in 1897) on the writing staff of Noutatea, published in Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
by Avram Steuerman-Rodion
Avram Steuerman-Rodion
Avram Steuerman-Rodion, born Adolf Steuerman or Steuermann and often referred to as just Rodion , was a Romanian poet, anthologist, physician and socialist journalist...
and various others. Toma's early life was marked by involvement in socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
circles and the Romanian Kingdom
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
's labor movement, and eventually saw him joining the underground communist group. However, in 1897, he is known to have authored a Romanian-language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
translation of poems by Elisabeth of Wied
Elisabeth of Wied
-Titles and styles:*29 December 1843 – 15 November 1869: Her Serene Highness Princess Elisabeth of Wied*15 November 1869 – 26 March 1881: Her Royal Highness The Princess of Romania...
, the wife of King
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
Carol I
Carol I of Romania
Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...
—this detail was not present in any of his later official biographies.
Toma's literary debut was associated with Symbolism, and critics traditionally include him among the "proletarian
Proletariat
The proletariat is a term used to identify a lower social class, usually the working class; a member of such a class is proletarian...
" wing of the Romanian Symbolist movement
Symbolist movement in Romania
The Symbolist movement in Romania, active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, marked the development of Romanian culture in both literature and visual arts...
. In 1902, he began corresponding with Symbolist poetess Elena Farago, whose career he closely followed; Moscovici-Monda also adopted Symbolism, representing its late stages in local literature. By the early 1910s, Toma had also been published by the prestigious Iaşi review, Viaţa Românească
Viata Româneasca
Viaţa Românească, originally Viaţa Romînească , is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania...
. Toma's first edition of collected works, bearing the title Poezii ("Poems"), was published by Editura Cultura Naţională in 1926, being positively reviewed by modernist
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
theorist Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the Sburătorul literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the uncle of Horia Lovinescu, Vasile Lovinescu, and Anton Holban...
in his History of Contemporary Romanian Literature.
As his wife Sidy later recounted to Communist Party officials, both she and her husband helped hide Party members in their home during the interwar period, when the movement had been outlawed. She also noted that it was Alexandru Toma who introduced his son Sorin to Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
. The latter also became an activist of the Communist Party, taking refuge in the Soviet Union during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, fighting as a partisan
Soviet partisans
The Soviet partisans were members of a resistance movement which fought a guerrilla war against the Axis occupation of the Soviet Union during World War II....
after the start Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
, returning to Romania with the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
(see Soviet occupation of Romania
Soviet occupation of Romania
The Soviet occupation of Romania refers to the period from 1944 to August 1958, during which the Soviet Union maintained a significant military presence in Romania...
), and later working as editor in chief of the Communist newspaper Scînteia
Scînteia
Scînteia was the name of two newspapers edited by Communist groups at different intervals in Romanian history...
. In Romania, the fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and antisemitic National Legionary
National Legionary State
The National Legionary State was the Romanian government from September 6, 1940 to January 23, 1941. It was a single-party regime dictatorship dominated by the overtly fascist Iron Guard in uneasy conjunction with the head of government and Conducător Ion Antonescu, the leader of the Romanian...
government expelled Toma from the Romanian Writers' Society (SSR), together with all other Jewish members (October 1940). Later, the authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
regime of Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
included both Alexandru Toma and Moscovici-Monda on a nationally circulated list of banned Jewish authors.
Official endorsement
Alexandru Toma's moment of preeminence occurred by the time he was in his seventies, when the newly established Communist regime came to promote him as a paramount representative of ProletkultProletkult
Proletkult was movement which arose in the Russian revolution and was active from 1917 to 1925 which aspired to provide the foundations for what was intended to be a truly proletarian art devoid of bourgeois influence.The name is a portmanteau of "proletarskaya kultura" , which are better-known as...
literature and as the greatest Romanian poet alive. He was readmitted into the reformed SSR during September 1947, shortly after an inner purge of writers perceived as fascist. Writing in 1948, Romania's official Marxist-Leninist
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
ideologue and Agitprop
Agitprop
Agitprop is derived from agitation and propaganda, and describes stage plays, pamphlets, motion pictures and other art forms with an explicitly political message....
supervisor Leonte Răutu casually referred to Toma as "the poet most connected to the [communist] party", while criticizing his own subordinate, Nicolae Moraru, for having failed to acknowledge the fact. This review coincided with a cultural campaign partly replicating the Soviet Zhdanov Doctrine
Zhdanov Doctrine
The Zhdanov Doctrine was a Soviet cultural doctrine developed by the Central Committee secretary Andrei Zhdanov in 1946. It proposed that the world was divided into two camps: the imperialistic, headed by the United States; and democratic, headed by the Soviet Union...
, during which Romanian culture
Culture of Romania
Romania has a unique culture, which is the product of its geography and of its distinct historical evolution. Like Romanians themselves, it is defined as the meeting point of three regions: Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, but cannot be truly included in any of them...
was purged of influences deemed reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
(see Socialist realism in Romania
Socialist realism in Romania
After World War II, socialist realism on the Soviet model was imposed on the USSR's new satellites, including Romania. This was accompanied by a series of organisational and repressive moves, for instance the incarceration of numerous poets...
). Thus, Toma's works were for the first time introduced in the school textbooks, where, alongside those by Communist short story writer Alexandru Sahia
Alexandru Sahia
Alexandru Sahia was a Romanian communist journalist and short story author.-Early life:...
and the left-leaning novelist Sadoveanu, they stood as the sole samples of 20th century Romanian literature. The three figures were also among the few interwar authors to be frequented by official works of criticism. Both he and Sadoveanu, together presiding over the 1949 establishment of a politicized Writers' Union
Writers' Union of Romania
The Writers' Union of Romania , founded in March 1949, is a professional association of writers in Romania. It also has a subsidiary in Chişinău, Republic of Moldova...
, were paid homage with special festivities, which, according to literary critic Florin Mihăilescu, evidenced a personality cult equivalent only to those of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
and local Party leader Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:Gheorghe was the son of a poor worker, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. Gheorghiu-Dej joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930...
. The regime also awarded Toma its State Prize for Poetry.
Virtually all of Toma's literary contributions were published in one volume, titled Cîntul vieţii ("The Song of Life") and prefaced by the Communist essayist Ion Vitner, which went through three editions between 1950 and 1954. According to literary historian Ion Simuţ, the 1951 print reached 15,000 copies, which was exceptional for its time. Also unusually for the period, the book was also circulated abroad, in state-sponsored translations (Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
in 1955 and 1955, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
in 1956; an English-language translation saw print in 1951). In addition to Cîntul vieţii, some of Toma's poetry was collected in Poezii alese ("Selected Poems"), published in 1952 and 1953. The original edition featured a preface by Sergiu Fărcăşan, and was printed in 10,150 copies, while the second one, issued for schoolchildren by the specialized publisher Editura Tineretului, reached 30,000 copies. His works for children were featured in various separate editions. Toma also published translations from classical French literature
French literature
French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...
, including a rendition of Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
's Tartuffe
Tartuffe
Tartuffe is a comedy by Molière. It is one of his most famous plays.-History:Molière wrote Tartuffe in 1664...
, and contributed to a 1956 anthology of poems translated from the work of Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
.
A peak in Alexandru Toma's career occurred on February 14, 1950, when the Romanian Academy
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....
celebrated his 75th birthday (with a three-day delay). The occasion was marked by the speeches of Academy President Traian Săvulescu, literary historian George Călinescu
George Calinescu
George Călinescu was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies...
, and Mihai Beniuc, and culminated with the poet's own address. Toma, who displayed a dose of self-criticism over various moments of weakness in his career, underlined his own role in "the careful, masterful, cultivation of a renewed, simple, clear form, well-suited to Socialist Realism and Revolutionary Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
." The last words of his speech were comments on Stalin and the Soviet claim to stand against nuclear armament
Nuclear arms race
The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War...
: "Only the titan
Titan (mythology)
In Greek mythology, the Titans were a race of powerful deities, descendants of Gaia and Uranus, that ruled during the legendary Golden Age....
-like hands of Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin, as a trustee of his people and of the entire human race, can stop the monstrous atom bomb
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
in flight, can envelop it, can suffocate it, can extinguish it."
Final years
Homages of Alexandru Toma accumulated during his final years. In 1951, his portrait was painted by the celebrated Jean Alexandru SteriadiJean Alexandru Steriadi
Jean Alexandru Steriadi was a Romanian painter and drawing artist. He made portraits and compositions based on a strong, expressive drawing; then he evoluated towards impressionistic influenced landscapes in which the subtle harmony is combined with a refined sense of picturesque...
, and described by critics as one of Steriadi's best works. In 1952, some of Toma's poems were published in the volume Poezie nouă în R.P.R. ("New Poetry in the P[eople's] R[epublic of] R[omania]"), together with those of Anatol E. Baconsky
Anatol E. Baconsky
Anatol E. Baconsky , also known as A. E. Bakonsky, Baconschi or Baconski, was a Romanian modernist poet, essayist, translator, novelist, publisher, literary and art critic...
, Maria Banuş, Dan Deşliu, Mihu Dragomir, Eugen Frunză, Ştefan Iureş, Eugen Jebeleanu
Eugen Jebeleanu
Eugen Jebeleanu , Romanian poet, was born in Câmpina, where he attended elementary school. After graduating from high school in Braşov at age 11 in 1922, he published his first poems five years later in the literary review Viaţa literară...
, Veronica Porumbacu and twenty-four others. In the 7th grade textbook of 1953, local literature was represented by twelve writers: alongside the writers considered classics before and since (Eminescu, Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...
, Alexandru Vlahuţă
Alexandru Vlahuta
Alexandru Vlahuţă was a Romanian writer. His best known work is România pitorească, an overview of Romania's landscape in the form of a travelogue. He was also the main editor of Sămănătorul magazine, alongside George Coşbuc....
, Grigore Alexandrescu
Grigore Alexandrescu
Grigore Alexandrescu in Bucharest was a nineteenth century Romanian poet and translator noted for his fables with political undertones.Of a noble family, he participated in secret revolutionary societies...
, George Coşbuc
George Cosbuc
George Coşbuc was a Romanian poet, translator, teacher, and journalist, best remembered for his verses describing, praising and eulogizing rural life, its many travails but also its occasions for joy....
, Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri was a Romanian poet, playwright, politician, and diplomat. He collected Romanian folk songs and was one of the principal animators of the 19th century movement for Romanian cultural identity and union of Moldavia and Wallachia....
, Ion Creangă
Ion Creanga
Ion Creangă was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th century Romanian literature, he is best known for his Childhood Memories volume, his novellas and short stories, and his many anecdotes...
, Nicolae Bălcescu
Nicolae Balcescu
Nicolae Bălcescu was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.-Early life:...
and Sadoveanu himself), Toma, Sahia and Dumitru Theodor Neculuţă were selected for their political convictions. Toma was not allocated as much space as Eminescu and Sadoveanu, but his entry matched those on Caragiale and Alecsandri. The textbook ended with an anthology of newer literary works by authors in favor with the regime—alongside poet Mihai Beniuc
Mihai Beniuc
Mihai Beniuc was a Romanian proletcultist poet, dramatist and novelist. He graduated from the University of Cluj in 1931 majoring in psychology, philosophy and sociology. This was reflected in his writing, particularly the novels...
, these included Banuş, Deşliu, Jebeleanu, Porumbacu, Aurel Baranga, Mihail Davidoglu, Petru Dumitriu, as well as a few others—and a similar overview of Soviet literature. It was at this stage that, in his University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
lectures, Vitner came to refer to Toma as a "national poet", placing him alongside Neculuţă, Sahia and the early 20th century socialist Constantin Mille
Constantin Mille
Constantin Mille was a Romanian journalist, novelist, poet, lawyer, and socialist militant, as well as a prominent human rights activist...
as among the few pre-World War II authors who were not "reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
".
In spring 1953, after Stalin's death was made known to the world, Toma was one of the tens of prominent Romanian authors who contributed articles in his memory; his piece, titled Viaţă daţi stalinistului gînd! ("Bring the Stalinist Thought to Reality!"), was published by the mainstream cultural magazine Viaţa Românească
Viata Româneasca
Viaţa Românească, originally Viaţa Romînească , is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania...
. Official endorsement of Toma's work continued in 1953-1954, when the Romanian regime reacted against the first generation of Socialist realists by imposing the cultural doctrines of Georgy Malenkov
Georgy Malenkov
Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov was a Soviet politician, Communist Party leader and close collaborator of Joseph Stalin. After Stalin's death, he became Premier of the Soviet Union and was in 1953 briefly considered the most powerful Soviet politician before being overshadowed by Nikita...
.
Late in life, Toma headed Editura de stat pentru literatură şi artă, an official publishing house tasked with enforcing the main editorial policies, and, according to philologist and memoirist Gheorghe Pienescu, was "its last (or so I thought) dogmatic Stalinist director." One of the last campaigns which made use of his poems was the 1953 World Festival of Youth and Students
World Festival of Youth and Students
The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event, organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth , a left-wing youth organization, jointly with the International Union of Students since 1947....
, hosted in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
. Toma died in Bucharest the following year, his body being cremated
Cremation in Romania
The 20th century history of cremation in Romania began in 1923, when the Romanian Cremation Society, called Cenuşa , was formed. In February 1928, the Bucharest Crematorium, also called Cenuşa, began operations. It cremated 262 corpses that year, the figure rising to 602 in 1934...
at Cenuşa Society.
Main works
During his time as a Symbolist, Toma was part of a "proletarian" generation active within the movement. It also included George BacoviaGeorge Bacovia
George Bacovia was a Romanian symbolist poet. While he initially belonged to the local Symbolist movement, his poetry came to be seen as a precursor of Romanian Modernism and eventually established him in critical esteem alongside Tudor Arghezi, Lucian Blaga and Ion Barbu as one of the most...
, Traian Demetrescu
Traian Demetrescu
Traian Rafael Radu Demetrescu was a Romanian poet, novelist and literary critic, considered one of the first symbolist authors in local literature...
, Mihail Cruceanu and Andrei Naum, contrasting to both the Parnassian school of Alexandru Macedonski
Alexandru Macedonski
Alexandru Macedonski was a Wallachian-born Romanian poet, novelist, dramatist and literary critic, known especially for having promoted French Symbolism in his native country, and for leading the Romanian Symbolist movement during its early decades...
and the ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
esque style associated with Ştefan Octavian Iosif
Stefan Octavian Iosif
Ştefan Octavian Iosif was a Romanian poet and translator of Aromanian origin.-Life:Born in Braşov, Transylvania , he studied in his native town and in Sibiu before completing his education in Paris. While in France, he met Dimitrie Anghel, who would became a long-time friend...
. This period was also marked by echoes from the works of traditionalist poets. Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the Sburătorul literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the uncle of Horia Lovinescu, Vasile Lovinescu, and Anton Holban...
proposed that, while being the "direct inheritor" of Eminescu's creation, and placed under his "overwhelming influence", Toma's Poezii also showed his admiration for Coşbuc, Vlahuţă, Panait Cerna
Panait Cerna
Panait Cerna was a Romanian poet, philosopher, literary critic and translator...
, Corneliu Moldovanu and D. Nanu. The result was "a «conceptual» poetry, that is to say a rationalist
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
poetry, one of problems solved through dramatic means, through moral means, through psychological means [...] or even through sheer anecdote [...]." Noting the similarities between Toma's concepts and those built upon by his fellow poet Haralamb Lecca, Lovinescu also argued that Poezii evidenced "a great and honest professional consciousness, an inspiration of intellectual quality, laid out in impeccable volutes". However, he also criticized the volume for lacking "the element of innovation in sensitivity and expression." Among the traditionalist reviewers, Ilarie Chendi noted being unimpressed by Toma's "cold and philosophical poetry".
Early in the 1950s, Toma was especially known for poems illustrating the regime's ideological priorities. According to Ion Simuţ, Cîntul vieţii, whose title alluded to "the necessity of optimistically
Optimism
The Oxford English Dictionary defines optimism as having "hopefulness and confidence about the future or successful outcome of something; a tendency to take a favourable or hopeful view." The word is originally derived from the Latin optimum, meaning "best." Being optimistic, in the typical sense...
singing hymns to life and completely ignoring the theme of death", was a repository for "opportunistic literature" and "all sorts of clichés." One writing in this series, the 1950 Silvester Andrei salvează abatajul ("Silvester Andrei Rescues the Coal Face"), depicted Stakhanovite
Stakhanovite
In Soviet history and iconography, a Stakhanovite follows the example of Aleksei Grigorievich Stakhanov, employing hard work or Taylorist efficiencies to over-achieve on the job.- History :...
socialist competition
Socialist competition
Socialist competition or socialist emulation was a form of competition between state enterprises and between individuals practiced in the Soviet Union and in other Eastern bloc states.- Competition vs...
and heroic self-sacrifice, while alluding to inter-ethnic brotherhood among mine workers. Part of it read:
Aşa sfătuiau, buni fârtaţi între ei, Bogănici Neculai şi Silvester Andrei, Miner şi vagonetar - puşi pe listă, Fruntaşi în întrecerea socialistă. |
This is how they advised each other, as good brothers, Bogănici Neculai and Silvester Andrei, Miner and trammer—both listed, Front-runners in the socialist race. |
Some of his works dealt with moments that the Communist regime considered emblematic, such as the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, the Griviţa Strike of 1933
Grivita Strike of 1933
The Grivița Strike of 1933 was a railway strike which was started at the Grivița Workshops, Bucharest, Romania, on 16 February 1933 by workers of Căile Ferate Române . The strike was brought about by the increasingly poor working conditions of railway employees in the context of the worldwide Great...
, and the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Soviet entry into Romania. Other poems of the same year celebrated the "fight for peace" endorsed by official Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
after the start of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, condemning nuclear armament while depicting Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
in eulogistic terms:
E-o luptă de soi nou în lume Şi-avem stegar să ne îndrume Cu braţ de-oţel şi fruntea soare Pe Stalin sfetnic de popoare. Pieri-veţi fauri de război Sub potopirea vieţii noi Şi-n slujba noastră stă atomul Dar ca să-nalţe viaţa, omul. |
There is a new brand of struggle in the world And for a standard bearer to lead us With an arm of steel and forehead the sun We have Stalin as counsel of peoples. You shall be gone, instigators of war Under the flood of a new life And we have the atom to serve us But so that it can uplift life, mankind. |
Some of Toma's poetic texts in Cîntul vieţii was primarily dedicated to illustrations of how Communist Party indications, such as the fight against art for art's sake
Art for art's sake
"Art for art's sake" is the usual English rendering of a French slogan, from the early 19th century, l'art pour l'art, and expresses a philosophy that the intrinsic value of art, and the only "true" art, is divorced from any didactic, moral or utilitarian function...
, were to be applied in practice. Such pieces satirized
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
poetry perceived as antiquated: "individualist
Individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...
", "aestheticist
Aestheticism
Aestheticism was a 19th century European art movement that emphasized aesthetic values more than socio-political themes for literature, fine art, the decorative arts, and interior design...
", "surrealist
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
", "obscurantist
Obscurantism
Obscurantism is the practice of deliberately preventing the facts or the full details of some matter from becoming known. There are two, common, historical and intellectual, denotations: 1) restricting knowledge—opposition to the spread of knowledge, a policy of withholding knowledge from the...
", "hermeticist
Hermeticism
Hermeticism or the Western Hermetic Tradition is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the pseudepigraphical writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus...
" and "escapist
Escapism
Escapism is mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an "escape" from the perceived unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life...
". One stanza, judged by Ion Simuţ to display "involuntary humor", was written from the perspective on one such condemned author:
Eu astralul cântăreţ Îngheţ! Cad din lună. Nu-i a bună. "Arta pură" nu mai are preţ. |
I the stellar singer Am freezing! I fall down from the Moon. Stuff's not right. "Pure art" is no longer in demand. |
As a children's rhyme author, Alexandru Toma notably contributed the poem Cîntecul bradului ("The Song of the Fir Tree"), a reference to the Christmas tree
Christmas tree
The Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...
—a symbol and custom condoned despite Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
being frowned upon by the Communist authorities. It read:
Brăduleţ, brăduţ drăguţ Ninge peste tine Haide, vino-n casa mea Unde-i cald şi bine. |
Littlest fir tree, nice little fir tree It snows upon you Come, enter my house Where it is all nice and warm. |
Borrowings from Eminescu
One of Alexandru Toma's most recognizable themes was his re-creation of poems by Mihai Eminescu. Eminescu was a conservativeConservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
and Neoclassicist
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
, whose style was often somber and occasionally pessimistic
Pessimism
Pessimism, from the Latin word pessimus , is a state of mind in which one perceives life negatively. Value judgments may vary dramatically between individuals, even when judgments of fact are undisputed. The most common example of this phenomenon is the "Is the glass half empty or half full?"...
—this, alongside the poet's nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
stance, and despite official acceptance, was in sharp contrast to the ideological tenets. Eminescu's work was therefore not made available to the public in its entirety, while some of the Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
poems of his youth were presented as evidence that he was actually progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
and a believer in class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
.
One of Eminescu's most famous poems, Glossă
Glossa
Glossa may refer to several things:*glossa , a Greek word meaning "tongue" or "language" and is used in several English words including gloss, glossary, glossitis, and others...
, dominated by skepticism
Skepticism
Skepticism has many definitions, but generally refers to any questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts, or doubt regarding claims that are taken for granted elsewhere...
and recommending aloofness, ended with the lyrics:
Tu rămâi la toate rece, De te-ndeamnă, de te cheamă; Ce e val, ca valul trece, Nu spera şi nu ai teamă; Te întreabă şi socoate Ce e rău şi ce e bine; Toate-s vechi şi nouă toate: Vreme trece, vreme vine. |
You remain indifferent to all, If they urge you, if they call you; What is wave, like wave shall pass, Do not hope and have no fear; Ask yourself and consider All things wrong and all things right; All are old and new are all: Time goes by, time comes along. |
Toma, whom the regime often described as a new Eminescu, added a new perspective in his version:
Mergi spre vremea care vine, Crezi în om: ce vrea, el poate; Ce e rău, tu schimbă-n bine, Faur vieţii te socoate; Speră, luptă fără teamă, Fapta nu e val ce trece; Fraţi de-ndeamnă, fraţi de cheamă Cum poţi sta-mpietrit şi rece? |
Go down towards the coming age, Believe in man: what he wants, he can; What is wrong, change into right, Consider yourself a creator of life; Hope, fight fearlessly, The deed is not a passing wave; When brothers urge, when brothers call How can you stand still and cold? |
A similar thing was attempted by Toma in respect to one of Eminescu's other major poems, Dintre sute de catarge ("Of the Many Hundreds Masts"). The original read:
Dintre sute de catarge Care lasă malurile, Câte oare le vor sparge Vânturile, valurile? Dintre pasări călătoare Ce străbat pământurile, Câte-o să le-nece oare Valurile, vânturile? |
Out of the many hundreds of masts Parting with the shoreline, How many shall be broken By the winds, by the sea? Out of the migratory birds That fly across the lands, How many shall be drowned By the waves, by the winds? |
In Alexandru Toma's version, this was adapted to:
Câte sute de catarge Dârze lasă malurile, Mult sunt ce nu le-or sparge Vânturile, valurile. Duc belşug, solii de viaţă Şi străbat pământurile, Şti-vor înfrunta prin ceaţă Valurile, vânturile. |
Out of the many hundreds of masts Courageously parting with the shoreline, Many shall not be broken By the winds, by the waves. They carry wealth, errands of life And reach across the lands, Many shall know how to face through the fog The waves, the winds. |
Endorsement and decline
In a collection of studies investigating the official discourse of Communist Romania, historian Lucian BoiaLucian Boia
Lucian Boia is a Romanian historian, known especially for his works debunking Romanian nationalism and Communism.-Bibliography:* Eugen Brote: Litera, 1974...
noted that Alexandru Toma's endorsement by the cultural authorities was specifically meant to fill the gap left by the purging of other, more talented, writers from the curriculum (see Censorship in Communist Romania
Censorship in Communist Romania
Censorship in Communist Romania was widespread and virtually every published document, be it a newspaper article or a book, had to pass the censor's approval...
). He suggested that this move was closely related to the claim that socialist society was naturally superior to the "bourgeois-landowning society", and further enhanced by several major cultural figures having refused to collaborate with the regime. Historian Vladimir Tismăneanu
Vladimir Tismaneanu
Vladimir Tismăneanu is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park...
, who referred to Toma as "the official bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
of the Stalinist epoch in Romania", described him as "a poet of meager talent but huge ambitions". He also credited him with having authored the lyrics to the first of Communist Romania's national anthem
National anthem
A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
s, Zdrobite cătuşe
Zdrobite catuse
Zdrobite cătuşe was the national anthem of the People's Republic of Romania between 1948 and 1953. The lyrics were written by Aurel Baranga and the music by Matei Socor.-Lyrics:...
.
Arguing that the Communist Party fabricated the "Toma myth" in order to provide a poet whose scale would match that of the prose writer Mihail Sadoveanu
Mihail Sadoveanu
Mihail Sadoveanu was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and political figure, who twice served as acting republican head of state under the communist regime . One of the most prolific Romanian-language writers, he is remembered mostly for his historical and adventure novels, as...
(himself noted for his close connection with the regime), Boia pointed that, in contrast, important poets such as Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi was a Romanian writer, best known for his contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest , he explained that his pen name was related to Argesis, the Latin name for the Argeş River.-Early life:Along with Mihai Eminescu, Mateiu Caragiale, and...
or Lucian Blaga
Lucian Blaga
-Biography:Lucian Blaga was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of the interbellum period. He was a philosopher and writer higly acclaimed for his originality, a university professor and a diplomat. He was born on May 9, 1895 in Lancrăm, near Alba Iulia, Romania, his father being an...
, who refused collaboration, were originally left "completely outside the game". He also proposed that Toma's promotion was indicative of a will to replace "the natural order of things [italics in the original]", and "no less abhorrent" than other major Communist projects to reshape Romania—citing among these the restructuring of Romanian economy
Economy of Romania
Romania has a developing, upper-middle income market economy, the 11th largest in the European Union by total nominal GDP and the 8th largest based on purchasing power parity...
on the basis of Marxian guidelines
Marxian economics
Marxian economics refers to economic theories on the functioning of capitalism based on the works of Karl Marx. Adherents of Marxian economics, particularly in academia, distinguish it from Marxism as a political ideology and sociological theory, arguing that Marx's approach to understanding the...
(with the collateral attempt to turn Romania into a major producer of steel), the unsuccessful plan to reclaim the Danube Delta
Danube Delta
The Danube Delta is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania , while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine . The approximate surface is...
, and the completion of a massive House of the People
Palace of the Parliament
The Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania is a multi-purpose building containing both chambers of the Romanian Parliament. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Palace is the world's largest civilian administrative building, most expensive administrative building, and...
during the 1980s. Also according to Lucian Boia, Toma's belonging to one of Romania's ethnic minorities
Minorities of Romania
Officially, 10.5% of Romania's population is represented by minorities . The principal minorities in Romania are Hungarians and Roma people, with a declining German population and smaller numbers of Poles in Bucovina...
was of further interest to the regime, at a time when proletarian internationalism
Proletarian internationalism
Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is a Marxist social class concept based on the view that capitalism is now a global system, and therefore the working class must act as a global class if it is to defeat it...
was highlighted in official discourse: "the recourse to «other nationalities» seemed to the new masters as an ideal method to crush the traditional cultural patterns."
Although Ion Vitner's study on Alexandru Toma served as a model for Mihail Novicov's monograph
Monograph
A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...
on Sadoveanu, the poet himself was fading out of official discourse by the moment of his death. He happened to die in August, at a time when the regime was preparing to celebrate the 10th anniversary of an event which it considered its founding moment, the King Michael Coup of 1944. It was largely as a result of this that his obituary was not featured on the front page of cultural magazines such as Contemporanul
Contemporanul
Contemporanul is a Romanian literary magazine published in Iaşi, Romania from 1881 to 1891 being sponsored by the socialist circle of the city....
, and its text was both cut short and less complimentary than many previous articles. Around that time, the regime could count on the affiliation of younger and more prestigious poets, of whom Nicolae Labiş
Nicolae Labis
Nicolae Labiș was a Romanian poet.-Early life:His father, Eugen, was the son of a forest brigade soldier and himself fought in World War II; he became a schoolteacher in 1931. His mother Ana-Profira, the daughter of a peasant killed in the Battle of Mărășești, was also a schoolteacher...
was the prime example, as well as eventually gaining the allegiance of Arghezi. A last edition of his works was published in 1959, as part of a collection for schoolchildren, after which his name was almost never invoked in officially endorsed literature. It was however assigned to a street in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
and to a school in Ploieşti
Ploiesti
Ploiești is the county seat of Prahova County and lies in the historical region of Wallachia in Romania. The city is located north of Bucharest....
.
Later, Alexandru Toma's position as a supporter of proletarian internationalism
Proletarian internationalism
Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is a Marxist social class concept based on the view that capitalism is now a global system, and therefore the working class must act as a global class if it is to defeat it...
came to clash with the recuperation of nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej was the Communist leader of Romania from 1948 until his death in 1965.-Early life:Gheorghe was the son of a poor worker, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. Gheorghiu-Dej joined the Communist Party of Romania in 1930...
and especially by his successor Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
. In 1984, under Ceauşescu's national communist
National communism
The term National Communism describes the ethnic minority communist currents that arose in the former Russian Empire after Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik Party seized power in October 1917....
leadership, literary critic Mircea Scarlat spoke of "illogical overbidding" in respect to Toma's encouragement during the 1950s. Also according to Scarlat, Marin Sorescu
Marin Sorescu
- Biography :Born to a family of farmworkers in Bulzeşti, Dolj County, Sorescu graduated from the primary school in his home village. After that he went to the Buzesti Brothers High School in Craiova, after which he was transferred to the Predeal Military School. His final education was at the...
, a critically acclaimed poet who debuted in the post-1955 years, was "irritated by the method" of official poets such as Toma and Eugen Frunză, and contributed ironic pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
s of their work. Toma's Cîntecul bradului enjoyed more genuine success, and was famous for a while. The Romanian Revolution of 1989
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
, which toppled the communist regime, was closely followed by open reevaluations of Toma's work and its entire context. In one such comment, written in 1990, writer Bujor Nedelcovici
Bujor Nedelcovici
Bujor Nedelcovici is a novelist, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, journalist and photographer who lives in Paris, France....
argued in favor of a progressive scale of guilt, on which the "naïve opportunism" of the 1950s ranked lower than the "shameful opportunism" of the 1970s and 1980s. This point raised objections from Ion Simuţ, who replied that, for all the "changes in circumstances", Toma was no less objectionable than a Ceauşescu-era poet like Adrian Păunescu
Adrian Paunescu
Adrian Păunescu was a Romanian poet, journalist, and politician. Though criticised for praising dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu, Păunescu was called "Romania's most famous poet" in a Associated Press story, quoted by the New York Times.-Life:Born in Copăceni, Bălţi County, in what is now the Republic...
. He also believed that nothing in Toma's work as an official poet could be recovered: "A. Toma was so well adapted to the circumstances that his poetry cannot be removed from its context, and he shall forever remain in bondage, like a scribe
Scribe
A scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession and helps the city keep track of its records. The profession, previously found in all literate cultures in some form, lost most of its importance and status with the advent of printing...
without a modicum of independence."
In 1948, as editor of Scînteia
Scînteia
Scînteia was the name of two newspapers edited by Communist groups at different intervals in Romanian history...
, Sorin Toma took an active part in condemning Arghezi for noncompliance with the cultural guidelines. Arghezi's eventual rehabilitation
Rehabilitation (Soviet)
Rehabilitation in the context of the former Soviet Union, and the Post-Soviet states, was the restoration of a person who was criminally prosecuted without due basis, to the state of acquittal...
, Florin Mihăilescu writes, came as both "an immediate effect" of Alexandru Toma's death and a sign of "progressive Destalinization." Sorin Toma also fell out of favor with the Communist Party (of whose Central Committee
Central Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
he had been a member in 1949-1960). Purged by the new uncontested leader Gheorghiu-Dej due to his support for Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker
Ana Pauker was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s...
's group, he was expelled from the Party in 1963, and eventually immigrated to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. After the 1989 Revolution, exposed to criticism over his stances, and accused of having attacked Arghezi in order to promote his father, Sorin Toma claimed that he was just following orders from Party boss Iosif Chişinevschi
Iosif Chisinevschi
Iosif Chişinevschi , born Iosif Roitman, was a Romanian communist politician. The leading ideologue of the Romanian Communist Party from 1944 to 1957, he served as head of its Agitprop Department from 1948 to 1952 and was in charge of propaganda and culture from 1952 to 1955...
(a defense notably present in his 2005 book of memoirs, Privind înapoi, "Looking Backwards").
Toma and George Călinescu
George CălinescuGeorge Calinescu
George Călinescu was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies...
's position in support of Toma, alongside other situations where he endorsed the Communist regime, has been the target of controversy. The literary historian did not include Alexandru Toma in his minute History of Romanian Literature, which he had completed in 1941, seven years before Romania became Communist—there, Toma was only present in a bibliographical note. Speaking during the 1950s, he indicated that he had since come to "understand" the poet, and that he had been helped in this "by the lesson of the times". Lucian Boia noted that Călinescu's point made a distinction between purely aesthetic
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
criteria, which Communism had come to associate with "the bourgeois era", and the supposed value of poets as "announcers and creators [...] of a new world".
Nevertheless, Călinescu was constantly ambivalent toward the Socialist Realist poet, and may have used his position to produce veiled criticism of Toma and the quality of his poetry. A minor scandal arose in early 1950, after Communist officials came to suspect that his Romanian Academy
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....
speech in honor of Toma was punctuated by double entendre
Double entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
s. In his book of memoirs, Academy member and historian David Prodan recounted how, when speaking of how Toma had "selected his own path", Călinescu made a gesture that seemed to mimick a horse with blinders
Blinders
Blinders, also known as blinkers or winkers, are a piece of horse tack that prevent the horse seeing to the rear and, in some cases, to the side. They usually are made of leather or plastic cups that are placed on either side of the eyes, either attached to a bridle or to an independent hood...
. Also according to Prodan, Toma was described by the speaker as having "coated himself in Eminescu chlamyde robe", which he had "tightened to fit his own body". The address alarmed members of the cultural establishment: Traian Săvulescu, urged on by the official historians Mihail Roller and Constantin Daicoviciu
Constantin Daicoviciu
Constantin Daicoviciu – May 27, 1973) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian historian and archaeologist.He was rector of Babeş-Bolyai University, and a member of the Romanian Academy....
, asked George Călinescu to explain himself (the latter subsequently reiterated Toma's merits as a poet).
Boia argued that other samples of Călinescu's address may have been evidence of "mockery", hidden among eulogistic arguments—while noting that these did little to shadow his role in promoting Toma as a major poet, and that his overall attitude reminded one of "doublethink
Doublethink
Doublethink, a word coined by George Orwell in the novel 1984, describes the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, often in distinct social contexts. It is related to, but distinct from, hypocrisy and neutrality. Its opposite is cognitive dissonance, where...
" (a concept coined by George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
in his dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
). In reference to these two contradictory aspects, he cited Călinescu saying to Toma: "Not only are your lyrics indescribably beautiful artistically, but they highlight a combatant gray hairness, in love with the turmoil, instigating to an acute fight, a burning trust in progress. You are, allow me to say this, a master of clandestine poetry, enduring to this day as a professor of energy."
In the same context, Călinescu himself endorsed the parallel drawn between Alexandru Toma and Eminescu, while comparing the difference between their attitudes on life to Toma's advantage. Boia considered this stance especially problematic, given that the speaker was, at the time, the undisputed authority on Eminescu, and "the greatest literary critic alive".
After Toma's downfall and until the time of his own death, George Călinescu no longer made any noticeable reference to the poet. The revised edition of his History of Romanian Literature, written during the 1960s and republished by Alexandru Piru in 1982, included an abrupt mention of Toma, simply indicating his family and place of birth. According to Lucian Boia, this was Călinescu's way of "avenging his own cowardice from the years when he had contributed to launching «the new Eminescu»."