George Topîrceanu (ˈd͡ʒe̯ord͡ʒe topɨrˈt͡ʃe̯anu; March 20, 1886–May 7, 1937) was a Romania

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

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

, short story writer, and humourist.

Biography

Born 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....

, Topîrceanu began his schooling in the city, and then moved to the hilly countryside of the Argeş county

Arges County

Argeș is a county of Romania, in Wallachia, with the capital city at Pitești.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 652,625 and the population density was 95/km².*Romanians – 96%*Roma , and other.-Geography:...

, in the Şuici

Suici

Şuici is a commune in the northern Argeş County, Muntenia, Romania. It is composed of six villages: Ianculeşti, Paltenu, Păuleni, Rudeni, Şuici and Valea Calului.Şuici commune is situated at approximately 22 km from Curtea de Arges....

 commune, where he formed his taste for themes taken from nature. After completing secondary studies, he attended the 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:...

 Law School, and then its Faculty of Letters, without ever finishing either. This was largely due to a hectic lifestyle punctuated by numerous affairs and heavy alcohol use.

His debut came in 1905, the year he published his first verses in Sunday papers and minor magazines; in 1909, he managed to have poems featured in major periodicals, such as Sămănătorul

Sămănătorul

Sămănătorul or Semănătorul was a literary and political magazine published in Romania between 1901 and 1910. Founded by poets Alexandru Vlahuţă and George Coşbuc, it is primarily remembered as a tribune for early 20th century traditionalism, neoromanticism and ethnic nationalism...

. He worked in handcopying, and in 1909 made his mark by having his satirical Răspunsul micilor funcţionari ("A Reply from the Minor Civil Servants") in Viaţa Românească

Viata Româneasca

Viaţa Românească, originally Viaţa Romînească , is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania...

. In 1911 he moved to 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...

, on Garabet Ibrăileanu

Garabet Ibraileanu

Garabet Ibrăileanu was a Romanian-Armenian literary critic and theorist, writer, translator, sociologist, Iaşi University professor , and, together with Paul Bujor and Constantin Stere, for long main editor of the Viaţa Românească literary magazine between 1906 and 1930...

's invitation, and became chief editor at Viaţa Românească. He later wrote his well-received articles - Cum am devenit moldovean ("How I Became a Moldavia Native") and Cum am devenit ieşean ("How I Became a Iaşi Native") which trace his meanderings within Romania.

In 1912, he married a young schoolteacher, Victoria Iuga. They had one son, Gheorghe. Although the two were very much in love, the marriage soon began to crumble, due to Topîrceanu's bouts of womanizing and alcoholism. Unable to redeem himself, George nonetheless suffered enormously, and the gradual distancing from Victoria, whom he will repeatedly refer to as his one saving grace, also influenced his literary output.

With the beginning of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Topîrceanu was drafted, then caught and imprisoned by Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

n forces at the Battle of Turtucaia

Battle of Turtucaia

The Battle of Turtucaia in Bulgaria, was the opening battle of the first Central Powers offensive during the Romanian Campaign of World War I...

, in September 1916. He was kept in a POW

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

 camp until the end of the war, in 1918. After his return, Topîrceanu published a volume of wartime recollections - it is, among others, a vivid depiction of the profound effects that the cholera

Cholera

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

 epidemic had on the morale of Romanian troops during their attempted retreat.

He began publishing short verses to increasing critical acclaim. In 1926, he was awarded the National Poetry Prize.

He died of liver cancer

Hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either a viral hepatitide infection or cirrhosis .Compared to other cancers, HCC is quite a rare tumor in the United States...

 in Iaşi.

Poetry

His three main volumes of poetry, Balade vesele şi triste ("Ballads, Merry and Sad"), Parodii originale ("Original Parodies

Parody

A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...

") and Migdale amare ("Bitter Almonds"), are a compelling mixture of humor and delicate lyricism. Topîrceanu's favorite device is to switch, without warning, from biting sarcasm to genuine sentiment and vice versa, often with beguiling ease. In his own words he aimed to: through jest, render tears all too clear.

Topîrceanu's most celebrated pieces, such as Balada unui greier mic ("The Ballad of a Tiny Cricket") and Rapsodii de toamnă ("Fall Rhapsodies") can be enjoyed for their flowing verse, on an infantile level, as well as appreciated for carefully constructed metaphor

Metaphor

A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...

s, incisive humor and contemplative ambiance. Other, more muscular and less lyrical pieces such as Acceleratul ("The Bullet Train") and Cioara ("The Crow"), display his command of the Romanian language, with cascading simile

Simile

A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two different things, usually by employing the words "like", "as". Even though both similes and metaphors are forms of comparison, similes indirectly compare the two ideas and allow them to remain distinct in spite of their similarities, whereas...

s and emphatic rhythms.

Prose

Topîrceanu wrote many satirical pieces, almost all first published as articles. His prose works were collected in several volumes: Memories from the Batle of Turtucaia (Bucharest, 1918), In their claw... Memories from Bulgaria and Light Sketches (Jassy, 1920),
Letters with No Address, Humorous and Pessimistic Prose (Bucharest, 1930), Pirin-Planina, Tragic and Comic Episodes from Captivity (Bucharest, 1936). He also left an unfinished novella

Novella

A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...

, Minunile Sfântului Sisoe ("Venerable

Venerable

The Venerable is used as a style or epithet in several Christian churches. It is also the common English-language translation of a number of Buddhist titles.-Roman Catholic:...

 Sisoes' Miraculous Works") published posthumously in 1938.