Nicolae Labis
Encyclopedia
Nicolae Labiș (December 2, 1935, Poiana Mărului
, Suceava County
, Romania
– December 22, 1956, Bucharest
) was a Romania
n poet.
; 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. He had two sisters, Margareta and Dorina. He grew up surrounded by mountains and forests.
Labiș learned to read around age five from his mother's pupils. He also liked to draw as a child. He entered primary school in his native village (in his mother's class), then as a war refugee took third grade in Văcarea, Argeș
, receiving top marks. Classmates of his later recalled that he would write poems and little plays and liked to declaim in public in this period. The family moved back to a village neighbouring his native one in May 1945.
From 1946 to 1951, Labiș attended the Nicu Gane High School in Fălticeni
, graduating with an average of over 90%. He kept a journal and organised literary conferences and discussion circles. He was especially good in his Romanian
classes, his compositions impressing fellow students and teachers. At 13 he appeared in The Taming of the Shrew
on an improvised stage in his native village. In November 1949 he began writing a novel, Cărări spre victorie (Paths toward Victory), on a school notebook, discovered three decades later. In November 1950 he was the youngest participant at a meeting of young Moldavia
n writers, being hailed as a "local wonder"; he recited a poem of his own there. That year he made his publication debut in Zori noi, a Suceava
magazine. In May 1951 he received the top prize in Romanian language at a nationwide olympiad held in Bucharest
; the next month he made his Bucharest publication debut in Viața Românească. He began to attract the attention of leading literary luminaries, including Mihail Sadoveanu
and Tudor Arghezi
. In the next three years an extensive amount of his lyric poetry
was published in magazines, but not in book form until after his death.
In January 1952, Labiș transferred to the Mihail Sadoveanu High School in Iași
, where he led the school's literary discussion group. That summer, he stopped attending courses there, resuming them on an infrequent basis the next year and obtaining the maximum grade in Romanian language on his graduating exam in Fălticeni in August 1954.
Literature School in Bucharest. While there, he read voraciously, spending whatever he could spare on new and used books. He also edited the poetry section of the school magazine. Among his professors were Sadoveanu, Tudor Vianu
and Camil Petrescu
. Although he espoused the ideas of the ruling communist regime
, singing its praises in a number of poems, during his two years at the school he became a leading opinion-maker and a star there, which, given his free spirit and incorruptible dignity, made activists of the Romanian Communist Party
uncomfortable. In February 1953, his department held discussions about him for his alleged "deviations from the School's morality and discipline". In the spring of 1954, the Union of Working Youth
(UTM) also held discussions about him and, with one vote against, decided to expel him from the organisation. However, the penalty was not upheld by higher organs. Around this time he frequently visited Sadoveanu. He recited a poem at his June 1954 graduation, and was hired by the literary magazine Contemporanul
, and then by Gazeta literară. That autumn, he took courses at the University of Bucharest
's Faculty of Philology, but dropped out after a semester. Also at that time, his most famous poem, "Moartea căprioarei" ("Death of a Doe"), appeared in Viața Românească.
In 1955-56, Labiș wrote his major lyric works. Many of them, though published in magazines, did not make it into his first published volume, Primele iubiri ("First Loves"), which came out after much delay in the autumn of 1956. (Shortly before that, he published a work for children, Puiul de cerb ("The Fawn"). Some remained in manuscript form, but eventually all were published after 1962. In March 1956, he gave a fine speech at a national conference of young writers, and that whole year was "uncannily productive": he continued writing and publishing poems besides those in Primele iubiri, drawing admiration and envy, and was actively preparing his next volume.
. His UTM membership card was taken away several times, only returned with Sadoveanu's intervention. Magazine editors, having received orders from higher up, refused to publish him, although his first volume had just come out. Negotiations for a contract on his second volume were dragging on indefinitely. In June 1956, in a speech stage-managed by propagandist-in-chief Leonte Răutu in an attempt to calm radical passions unleashed by Nikita Khrushchev
's Secret Speech
and the protests in Poland
, Stalinist poet Mihai Beniuc
publicly criticised Labiș for the following poem:
Other poems of his, such as "Legenda pasiunii defuncte" ("The Legend of the Defunct Passion"), indicated disaffection with Stalinism
and called for a renewal of socialism in Romania along humanist lines.
at Casa Capșa
and then the Victoria restaurant, was going to take a tram. He was headed to the house of Maria Polevoi, a dancer in the Army's troupe whom he had met that evening. It was after midnight and public transport had just started running that late. Ostensibly, he lost his balance, caught the grille between the wagons, his head hit the pavement, and he was dragged a short distance. An official investigation blamed inebriation as the cause of his fall, but the file was quickly classified. His spinal cord was fractured, his body was paralysed and he was practically decapitated. As the station was across the street from Colțea Hospital, in University Square
, he was taken there immediately. At 2:30 am a surgeon wrote, "cranial and vertebral trauma; paraplegia
". Toward daybreak, he was taken to the Emergency Hospital. There, he whispered a poem to his friend Aurel Covaci:
Right after his accident, the literary historian Alexandru Oprea again proposed his removal from the UTM. Despite the doctors' efforts and an enormous spiritual mobilisation by his colleagues, acquaintances and friends, his condition worsened inexorably. On December 22, at 2 am, he died. Two days later, at noon, mourners gathered at the Writers' House, where several prominent writers spoke and his poem "Moartea căprioarei" was read. He was buried at Bellu cemetery
, after the funeral procession passed in front of Mihai Eminescu's grave.
Three theories regarding his death exist. The first is that it was accidental. His classmate Gheorghe Ioniță wrote, "Labiș did not pose any real threat to [the regime] at the time. On the contrary, it was in their interest to make him a court poet - after all, he was the most talented". The second is that it was suicide; in the 1980s, friends of his began to say that, as he felt the peak of his talent had passed, he did not wish to spend the rest of his life in mediocrity, so he decided to end it. The third is that it was a Securitate hit. The next morning, he himself told a friend, "After I fell on the tram tracks, I saw the wheel coming toward my head. Then something was pushing me from behind and again the wheel approached. This happened three times". Another friend observed, "He tried to board in front at the second-class seats, but someone shoved him and, at the last moment, he caught the grille in the middle, between the wagons: I held my eyes wide open".
Even if he was not assassinated, Labiș was certainly a thorn in the side of the regime. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989
, Gheorghe Tomozei wrote, "Labiș is the first Romanian dissident poet.... He announced a fierce break between poetry and the ideology of the day. More than certainly, prison was not far off for him". The Securitate made note of his private conversations that "defamed the communist regime", and his poems too contained veiled anti-communist themes. The "inertia" in the title of his second volume may well have referred to the failure to de-Stalinize
by Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej
. He and his friends discussed the question of Bessarabia
. On November 3, 1956, at a wedding attended by about a dozen people, he sang the Kingdom of Romania
's anthem, "Trăiască Regele
". That month, at Capșa, during an anti-Soviet
discussion on the recent Hungarian Revolution, he stood up and loudly recited Eminescu's banned patriotic poem "Doina". He also participated in meetings during the Bucharest student movement of 1956
, which was followed by vigorous repression. Given his rising popularity, a trial would have been inconvenient.
At the beginning of 1958, his second volume of poetry, Lupta cu inerția (The Fight against Inertia), which he had prepared before his death, was published. Between 1962 and 1985, twelve new editions of his poems appeared, with many new ones from his manuscripts. Studies, articles, and encomia all appeared in literary magazines through this period, for Labiș proved an enduring source of inspiration and guidance for the 1960s generation of Romanian poets, led by Nichita Stănescu
.
Malini
Malini can mean:-*Malini or Mālinī was the name of river that was flowing in the forest where the ashram of Kanva rishi was situated and Dushyanta fell in love with Shakuntala. Literally, a woman who makes garlands...
, Suceava County
Suceava County
Suceava is a county of Romania, in the historical region of Moldavia and few villages in Transylvania, with the capital city at Suceava.- Demographics :...
, 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...
– December 22, 1956, 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....
) 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.
Early life
His father, Eugen, was the son of a forest brigade soldier and himself fought in World War IIWorld 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...
; he became a schoolteacher in 1931. His mother Ana-Profira, the daughter of a peasant killed in the Battle of Mărășești
Battle of Marasesti
The Battle of Mărăşeşti, Vrancea County, eastern Romania was a major battle fought during World War I between Germany and Romania.-Premise:...
, was also a schoolteacher. He had two sisters, Margareta and Dorina. He grew up surrounded by mountains and forests.
Labiș learned to read around age five from his mother's pupils. He also liked to draw as a child. He entered primary school in his native village (in his mother's class), then as a war refugee took third grade in Văcarea, Argeș
Mihăeşti, Argeş
Mihăeşti is a commune in Argeş County, south central Romania. It is composed of seven villages: Drăghici, Furnicoşi, Mihăeşti, Rudeni, Valea Bradului, Valea Popii and Văcarea.The Târgului River crosses the commune from north to south....
, receiving top marks. Classmates of his later recalled that he would write poems and little plays and liked to declaim in public in this period. The family moved back to a village neighbouring his native one in May 1945.
From 1946 to 1951, Labiș attended the Nicu Gane High School in Fălticeni
Falticeni
Fălticeni is a city in Suceava County, Romania, capital of the former Baia County . As of 2003 the population is 28,899, and the city covers an area of 28,76 km², of which 25% are orchards and lakes. The city is 25 km away from Suceava, the capital of the county...
, graduating with an average of over 90%. He kept a journal and organised literary conferences and discussion circles. He was especially good in his Romanian
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...
classes, his compositions impressing fellow students and teachers. At 13 he appeared in The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...
on an improvised stage in his native village. In November 1949 he began writing a novel, Cărări spre victorie (Paths toward Victory), on a school notebook, discovered three decades later. In November 1950 he was the youngest participant at a meeting of young 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...
n writers, being hailed as a "local wonder"; he recited a poem of his own there. That year he made his publication debut in Zori noi, a Suceava
Suceava
Suceava is the Suceava County seat in Bukovina, Moldavia region, in north-eastern Romania. The city was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from 1388 to 1565.-History:...
magazine. In May 1951 he received the top prize in Romanian language at a nationwide olympiad held 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....
; the next month he made his Bucharest publication debut in Viața Românească. He began to attract the attention of leading literary luminaries, including 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...
and 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...
. In the next three years an extensive amount of his lyric poetry
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...
was published in magazines, but not in book form until after his death.
In January 1952, Labiș transferred to the Mihail Sadoveanu High School in Iași
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...
, where he led the school's literary discussion group. That summer, he stopped attending courses there, resuming them on an infrequent basis the next year and obtaining the maximum grade in Romanian language on his graduating exam in Fălticeni in August 1954.
Career
On September 15, 1952, Labiș entered the Mihai EminescuMihai 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...
Literature School in Bucharest. While there, he read voraciously, spending whatever he could spare on new and used books. He also edited the poetry section of the school magazine. Among his professors were Sadoveanu, Tudor Vianu
Tudor Vianu
Tudor Vianu was a Romanian literary critic, art critic, poet, philosopher, academic, and translator. Known for his left-wing and anti-fascist convictions, he had a major role on the reception and development of Modernism in Romanian literature and art...
and Camil Petrescu
Camil Petrescu
Camil Petrescu was a Romanian playwright, novelist, philosopher and poet. He marked the end of the traditional novel era and laid the foundation of the modern novel era.- Life :...
. Although he espoused the ideas of the ruling 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...
, singing its praises in a number of poems, during his two years at the school he became a leading opinion-maker and a star there, which, given his free spirit and incorruptible dignity, made activists of the 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...
uncomfortable. In February 1953, his department held discussions about him for his alleged "deviations from the School's morality and discipline". In the spring of 1954, the Union of Working Youth
Union of Communist Youth
The Union of Communist Youth was the Romanian Communist Party's youth organisation, modelled after the Soviet Komsomol. It aimed to cultivate young cadres into the party, as well as to help create the "new man" envisioned by communist ideologues.-History:Founded in 1922, the UTC went underground...
(UTM) also held discussions about him and, with one vote against, decided to expel him from the organisation. However, the penalty was not upheld by higher organs. Around this time he frequently visited Sadoveanu. He recited a poem at his June 1954 graduation, and was hired by the literary magazine 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 then by Gazeta literară. That autumn, he took courses at 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:...
's Faculty of Philology, but dropped out after a semester. Also at that time, his most famous poem, "Moartea căprioarei" ("Death of a Doe"), appeared in Viața Românească.
In 1955-56, Labiș wrote his major lyric works. Many of them, though published in magazines, did not make it into his first published volume, Primele iubiri ("First Loves"), which came out after much delay in the autumn of 1956. (Shortly before that, he published a work for children, Puiul de cerb ("The Fawn"). Some remained in manuscript form, but eventually all were published after 1962. In March 1956, he gave a fine speech at a national conference of young writers, and that whole year was "uncannily productive": he continued writing and publishing poems besides those in Primele iubiri, drawing admiration and envy, and was actively preparing his next volume.
Purge from Communist Party
During his last months, Labiș felt that he was being followed by the SecuritateSecuritate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
. His UTM membership card was taken away several times, only returned with Sadoveanu's intervention. Magazine editors, having received orders from higher up, refused to publish him, although his first volume had just come out. Negotiations for a contract on his second volume were dragging on indefinitely. In June 1956, in a speech stage-managed by propagandist-in-chief Leonte Răutu in an attempt to calm radical passions unleashed by Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
's Secret Speech
On the Personality Cult and its Consequences
On the Personality Cult and its Consequences was a report, critical of Joseph Stalin, made to the Twentieth Party Congress on February 25, 1956 by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. It is more commonly known as the Secret Speech or the Khrushchev Report...
and the protests in Poland
Poznan 1956 protests
The Poznań 1956 protests, also known as Poznań 1956 uprising or Poznań June , were the first of several massive protests of the Polish people against the communist government of the People's Republic of Poland...
, Stalinist 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...
publicly criticised Labiș for the following poem:
Dacă cineva gigantic ar veni Și mi-ar rosti: Eu îți dau viața toată Neîncepută, necăpătată, Dar să mi-o dai în seamă mie S-o duc înspre visata zare purpurie Pe drum neocolit, de netezime, Pe drumul neștiut decât de mine... Deci astfel de mi-ar spune Eu aș simți că tot ce-mi spune-i putred Cu hotărâre i-aș răspunde: Nu cred! În fond, e și problema zilei de azi. |
If a giant someone came And say "I will give you a whole new life Not yet started, and never ending, But you should let me guide it So I can take it to the dreamt-of, purple horizon On a straight and smooth path, On a path known only to me..." If he told me that I'd feel all of that was just rubbish And I'd wholeheartedly say "I don't think so!" In fact, it is the problem of our present day, too. |
Other poems of his, such as "Legenda pasiunii defuncte" ("The Legend of the Defunct Passion"), indicated disaffection with 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...
and called for a renewal of socialism in Romania along humanist lines.
Death
On the night of December 9–10, 1956, shortly after his 21st birthday, Labiș, who had had spent several hours with acquaintances drinking coffee and țuicăTuica
Ţuică is a traditional Romanian spirit of somewhere in between 45%-60% alcohol by volume. It is usually made from plums.Ţuică is the official name for the drink when it is prepared only from plums...
at Casa Capșa
Casa Capsa
Casa Capşa is a historic restaurant in Bucharest, Romania, first established in 1852. At various times it has also included a hotel; most recently, it reopened as a 61-room hotel 17 June 2003....
and then the Victoria restaurant, was going to take a tram. He was headed to the house of Maria Polevoi, a dancer in the Army's troupe whom he had met that evening. It was after midnight and public transport had just started running that late. Ostensibly, he lost his balance, caught the grille between the wagons, his head hit the pavement, and he was dragged a short distance. An official investigation blamed inebriation as the cause of his fall, but the file was quickly classified. His spinal cord was fractured, his body was paralysed and he was practically decapitated. As the station was across the street from Colțea Hospital, in University Square
University Square, Bucharest
University Square is located in downtown Bucharest, near the University of Bucharest.Four statues are located in the University Square, in front of the University; they depict Ion Heliade Rădulescu , Michael the Brave , Gheorghe Lazăr and Spiru Haret .The square was the site of the 1990 Golaniad,...
, he was taken there immediately. At 2:30 am a surgeon wrote, "cranial and vertebral trauma; paraplegia
Paraplegia
Paraplegia is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek: παραπληγίη "half-striking". It is usually the result of spinal cord injury or a congenital condition such as spina bifida that affects the neural elements of the spinal canal...
". Toward daybreak, he was taken to the Emergency Hospital. There, he whispered a poem to his friend Aurel Covaci:
Pasărea cu clonț de rubin S-a răzbunat, iat-o, s-a răzbunat. Nu mai pot s-o mângâi. M-a strivit, Pasărea cu clonț de rubin, Iar mâine Puii păsării cu clonț de rubin, Ciugulind prin țărână, Vor găsi poate Urmele poetului Nicolae Labiș Care va rămâne o amintire frumoasă... |
The bird with the bill of ruby Has avenged herself, look, has avenged herself. I can caress her no more. She has crushed me, The bird with the bill of ruby, And tomorrow The chicks of the bird with the bill of ruby, While pecking through dirt, Shall perhaps find Traces of poet Nicolae Labiș, By then a beautiful memory... |
Right after his accident, the literary historian Alexandru Oprea again proposed his removal from the UTM. Despite the doctors' efforts and an enormous spiritual mobilisation by his colleagues, acquaintances and friends, his condition worsened inexorably. On December 22, at 2 am, he died. Two days later, at noon, mourners gathered at the Writers' House, where several prominent writers spoke and his poem "Moartea căprioarei" was read. He was buried at Bellu cemetery
Bellu
Bellu is the most famous cemetery in Bucharest, Romania.It is located on a plot of land donated to the local administration by Baron Barbu Bellu...
, after the funeral procession passed in front of Mihai Eminescu's grave.
Three theories regarding his death exist. The first is that it was accidental. His classmate Gheorghe Ioniță wrote, "Labiș did not pose any real threat to [the regime] at the time. On the contrary, it was in their interest to make him a court poet - after all, he was the most talented". The second is that it was suicide; in the 1980s, friends of his began to say that, as he felt the peak of his talent had passed, he did not wish to spend the rest of his life in mediocrity, so he decided to end it. The third is that it was a Securitate hit. The next morning, he himself told a friend, "After I fell on the tram tracks, I saw the wheel coming toward my head. Then something was pushing me from behind and again the wheel approached. This happened three times". Another friend observed, "He tried to board in front at the second-class seats, but someone shoved him and, at the last moment, he caught the grille in the middle, between the wagons: I held my eyes wide open".
Even if he was not assassinated, Labiș was certainly a thorn in the side of the regime. After 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...
, Gheorghe Tomozei wrote, "Labiș is the first Romanian dissident poet.... He announced a fierce break between poetry and the ideology of the day. More than certainly, prison was not far off for him". The Securitate made note of his private conversations that "defamed the communist regime", and his poems too contained veiled anti-communist themes. The "inertia" in the title of his second volume may well have referred to the failure to de-Stalinize
History of the Soviet Union (1953-1985)
In the USSR, the eleven-year period from the death of Joseph Stalin to the political ouster of Nikita Khrushchev , the national politics were dominated by the Cold War; the ideological U.S.–USSR struggle for the planetary domination of their respective socio–economic systems, and the defense of...
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...
. He and his friends discussed the question of Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
. On November 3, 1956, at a wedding attended by about a dozen people, he sang the Kingdom of Romania
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 anthem, "Trăiască Regele
Traiasca Regele
Trăiască Regele was the national anthem of the Principality of Romania and later Kingdom of Romania between 1866 and 1947. The music was composed in 1862 by Eduard Hübsch, an army captain who later became the chief of the music department of the Minister of War...
". That month, at Capșa, during an anti-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....
discussion on the recent Hungarian Revolution, he stood up and loudly recited Eminescu's banned patriotic poem "Doina". He also participated in meetings during the Bucharest student movement of 1956
Bucharest student movement of 1956
The events in Poland which led to the elimination of that country's Stalinist leadership and the rise to power of Władysław Gomułka on 19 October 1956 provoked unrest among university students in Eastern bloc countries. The state of unrest in Poland began to spread into Hungary...
, which was followed by vigorous repression. Given his rising popularity, a trial would have been inconvenient.
Published works
In 2006, the writer Imre Portik published his memoirs, in which he claimed that his friend Labiș told him he was pushed. He also wrote that in the days before the poet's death, he visited the dancer Maria Polevoi. According to Portik, she confessed that the poet was pushed, and that she even saw the man who did it, but refused to divulge further details. When Portik contacted her later, she refused to speak, saying that she had told all there was to tell to the prosecutor. Some have claimed that Polevoi was attached not to the army, but to the Interior Ministry, to which the Securitate also belonged. After the file was classified she refused to discuss the case with anyone else. She lived alone in the same house on Calea Călărași until her suicide in 1978.At the beginning of 1958, his second volume of poetry, Lupta cu inerția (The Fight against Inertia), which he had prepared before his death, was published. Between 1962 and 1985, twelve new editions of his poems appeared, with many new ones from his manuscripts. Studies, articles, and encomia all appeared in literary magazines through this period, for Labiș proved an enduring source of inspiration and guidance for the 1960s generation of Romanian poets, led by Nichita Stănescu
Nichita Stanescu
Nichita Stănescu was a Romanian poet and essayist. He is the most acclaimed contemporary Romanian language poet, loved by the public and generally held in esteem by literary critics.-Biography:...
.