Eugen Barbu (; 20 February 1924 – 7 September 1993) was a Romanian modern novelist, short story writer, journalist, and correspondent member of the Romanian Academy. The latter position was vehemently criticized by those who contended that he plagiarized in his novel Incognito and for the anti-Semitic campaigns he initiated in the newspapers Săptămâna and România Mare which he founded and led. He also founded, alongside his disciple Corneliu Vadim Tudor, the nationalist Greater Romania Party (PRM).

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

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

Biography

Early life and literature

The son of writer and journalist N. Crevedia, Barbu was born in Bucharest, and briefly attended the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Law, and then graduated from the Faculty of Letters (1947); he subsequently worked as a journalist for the left-wing press. — he was noted for his early writings in praise of Soviet achievements such as the Sputnik program, and his progressive move to a more nationalist tone as this became condoned (and later encouraged). He was also involved in the censorship apparatus, a position which, some have argued, he used indiscriminately against his literary rivals.

Official appointments

His Principele novel, set during the Phanariote era, was interpreted to be an ironic reference to Gheorghiu-Dej's rule and the labor camps of the Danube–Black Sea Canal, and was condoned by the regime during a period of relative liberalization — cut short by the July Theses of 1971. At the time, he was also an editor of Luceafărul, before being dismissed following his prolonged and notorious conflicts with younger writers (while the regime was interested in ensuring the latter's confidence).

He was several times elected to the Great National Assembly, until the plagiarism scandal prevented him from being again proposed for the office. In 1977, Barbu won the Herder Prize, which permitted him to offer his protégé Tudor a scholarship year in Vienna.

Plagiarism scandal and Săptămâna

In 1979, România Literară published a special section in which it placed side by side a text from Incognito and one taken from a translated work by the Soviet writer Konstantin Paustovsky; the two sections were considered virtually identical. The ensuing scandal animated the literary world, and has often been cited as a reference for similar and more recent controversies. (the latter included Paul Goma, whom, in 1977, he called "a non-entity").

Barbu's polemic articles were often obscene in tone, and their message offered Ceauşescu a nationalist support which Vladimir Tismăneanu has identified as "chauvinistic". consequently, Barbu and Tudor came under the attention of the Securitate.

Post-Revolution

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Barbu and Tudor emerged as ideologists of a new nationalist trend, which largely repeated themes present in previous official discourse, while casting aside references to communism. Between 1992 and the time of his death, Barbu served in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies as representative of the Greater Romania Party for Bucharest.

In early 2005, eleven years after his death, the satirical magazine Academia Cațavencu uncovered and publicized a Securitate file which seems to indicate that Barbu had sexual encounters with underage girls, provided by Tudor and paid for their services. Tudor initially called on the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives to explain if the find was real, and received a positive answer.

Notes

References

  • "File dintr-un dosar controversat: C.V. Tudor" ("Sheets from a Controversial File: C.V. Tudor"), in 22, November–December 2004
  • Liviu Călin, "Tabel cronologic" ("Chronological Table") to the 4th edition of Principele, Minerva, Bucharest, 1977
  • Dennis Deletant, Ceauşescu and the Securitate: Coercion and Dissent in Romania, 1965–1989, M.E. Sharpe, London, 1995
  • Gheorghe Grigurcu, "Evocându-l pe Eugen Barbu" ("Recalling Eugen Barbu"), at E-Leonardo (review of Dan Ciachir's Când moare o epocă ("When an Epoch Dies"), Volume II)
  • Ioan Groşan, "Beuran, ca Jean Valjean" ("Beuran, Like Jean Valjean"), in Ziua, September 15, 2003
  • Nicolae Iliescu, "Nisipul timpului" ("The Sands of Time"), in Ziua, 30 August 2006
  • Radu Ioanid, "Paul Goma – între Belleville şi Bucureşti" ("Paul Goma – between Belleville and Bucharest", in Observatorul Cultural
  • Mircea Martin, "Cultura română între comunism si naţionalism" ("Romanian Culture between Communism and Nationalism"), Part VI), in 22, March 2003
  • Răsvan Popescu, "Apărarea lui Vadim" ("Vadim's Defense"), in 22, February 2005
  • Răzvan Savaliuc, "Liderul PRM urmărit în anii '80 pentru antisemitism" ("PRM's Leader Was Surveilled for Antisemitism during the '80"), in Ziua, January 12, 2004
  • Ovidiu Șimonca, "Mircea Eliade și 'căderea în lume'" ("Mircea Eliade and 'the Descent into the World'"), review of Florin Țurcanu, Mircea Eliade. Le prisonnier de l'histoire, in Observator Cultural
  • Cristian Teodorescu, Silviu Mihai, "Toleranța românească la impostură: cursul scurt" ("Romanian Tolerance to Imposture: the Short Course"), in Cotidianul, October 25, 2005
  • Vladimir Tismăneanu, Stalinism for All Seasons: A Political History of Romanian Communism, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2003,
  • Eugen Barbu at the Chamber of Deputies site