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Italian Hermeticism and Romanian Oneirism: An Ideological Approach

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Magazine: 1 / 2015
Date: 2015
Ecaterina PAVEL
Universitatea Transilvania din Brașov, Facultatea de Litere
catipe@yahoo.com

Abstract

Italian hermeticism and romanian oneirism: An ideological approach

The aim of this article is to draw a parallel between two totalitarian ideologies – fascist and communist – which reflect in the lives and works of two poets: Giuseppe Ungaretti and Daniel Turcea. The better to explore these issues, I want to set out two distinct objectives. The first is to describe, by comparing and contrasting, the two ideologies, in order to set the scene for a discussion on Italy’s fascist and Romania’s communist cultural policies, mainly in relation to literary culture. The second is to establish a connection between the two cultural policies and the lives of the discussed poets. By way of conclusion I will focus upon the influences and effects of the two ideologies in Ungaretti’s and Turcea’s literary works.

Keywords: Fascism, Communism, Hermeticism, Oneirism, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Daniel Turcea.

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Note bibliografice

  1. Gilbert Durand, Introducere in mitodologie, Dacia, Cluj- Napoca, 2004, p. 131.
  2. Jean-Paul Sironneau, Le communisme lénino-stalinien, Mouton Editeur, La Haye-Paris-New York 1982, p. 382.
  3. Raoul Girardet, Mituri şi mitologii politice, Institutul European, Iaşi, 1997.
  4. Irina  Gridan,  Du communisme  national au national-communisme. Réactions à la soviétisation dans la Roumanie des années 1960, in Vingtième siècle, no. 109, Jan.-Mar. 2011,p. 126 [“L’inflexion idéologique du début des années 1970 entraîne une évolution vers un nationalisme ethnicisé et autarcique. Le «folklorisme d’Etat» se manifeste à travers une mise en scène”, trad.n.].

  5. see, for instance, R.J. Bosworth, The Italian Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives in the Interpretation of Mussolini and  Fascism, Arnold,  London,  1998  cf. Katherine Verdery National Ideolog y Under Socialism. Identity and Cultural  Politics in Ceauşescu’s Romania,  University  of California  Press, Los Angeles, 1991, Cristina  Vatulescu, Police  Aesthetics:  Literature,  Film,  and  the  Secret  Police in Soviet Times, Stanford University Press, 2010 or Ana Selejan,  Reeducare şi prigoană,   2nd  ed., Bucharest, Cartea Românească, 2005.

  6. Cristopher Duggan, The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy Since 1796, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2008, p. 462.

  7. Christopher Seton-Watson, From Liberalism to Fascism, Methuen&Co, Ney York, 1981, p. 665.
  8. Gentile Emilio, The Struggle For Modernity Nationalism Futurism and Fascism, Praeger, Westport, CT 2003, p. 87.
  9. Bruce F. Pauley, Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini: Totalitarianism in the Twentieth Century. Harlan Davidson, Wheeling, 2003, p. 212.
  10. Guido Bonsaver, Censorship and literature in fascist Italy, University of Toronto Press Inc., Toronto, 2007, p. 215
  11. Richard JB Bosworth, Mussolini’s Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915-1945, Penguin Books, New York, 2006, p. 561.
  12. In his discourse, (similar to Ceaușescu’s speeches to the writers and artists), Mussolini established a mission for the writers: “Bisogna che tutti gli scrittori italiani, all’interno
    e soprattutto all’estero, siano i portatori del nuovo tipo di civiltà italiana. Spetta agli scrittori di fare quello che si può chiamare imperialismo spirituale nei teatri, nei libri, nei
    trattati, nelle conferenze […]. Bisogna …portare all’estero la conoscenza della nuova Italia, così come l’ha fatta la guerra e come la sta facendo la rivoluzione fascista”. [“At home and especially abroad, all writers must be the standard-bearers of the new kind of Italian civilization. They are expected to spread what we might call a spiritual imperialism in their
    plays, in their books, in their public speeches. It is their job to reveal abroad the image of the new Italy, as its past war and present fascist revolution”] – Benito Mussolini, Scritti e discorsi, vol. 5 [1925–26], Milan: Hoepli, 1936, pp. 374–375.
  13. Walter L. Adamson, Avant garde modernism and Italian modernism: cultural politics in the era of Mussolini, in Journal of Modern Italian Studies, vol. 6, no. 2, Routledge, London, 2001 p. 234.
  14. Eugen Negrici, Literatura română sub comunism, Editura Fundaţiei Pro, București, 2006, p. 15
  15. Lucia Dragomir, L’Union des écrivains. Un modèle international et ses limites, in Vingtième siècle, no. 109, Jan.-Mar. 2011, p. 59 [“la littérature acquiert à l’Est une fonction d’«arme de lutte», idéologique et politique, une fonction éducative et de propagande, de légitimation.” «Cet Etat mécène, nullement désintéressé, offre à l’artiste, à l’écrivain, une position extraordinaire: celle d’un “ingénieur des âmes”, selon expression de Staline, investi d’une mission politique de la plus haute importance, changer l’ordre du monde»”].
  16. Ana Selejan, Reeducare şi prigoană, 2nd ed., Cartea Românească, București, 2005, p. 13
  17. Ion Simut, Proletcultism sau realism socialist? (II), in România Literară, no. 31, 2008, p. 11.
  18. Jérôme Bazin, Le réalisme socialiste et ses modèles internationaux, in Vingtième siècle, No. 109, ian.-mar., Presses de la fondation nationale des sciences politiques, Paris 2011, p. 73 [“une iconographie (la figure du militante et de l’ouvrier, le paysage industriel, le drapeau rouge etc), des pratiques artistiques (le travail avec des amateurs et des personnes étrangères au monde de l’art), des comportements politiques (la loyauté au parti et l’affichage public de ses sympathies) et finalement une forme plastique, le réalisme, qui devient à partir des années 1930 l’unique forme défendue par les partis communistes.”].
  19. Liviu Malita, Ceauşescu, critic literar, Vremea, București, 2007, pp. 167, 173, ”Stenogram of the meeting between comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu and the active members of the Union of Writers – 21st of sept. 1971.”
  20. Ibidem, p. 43.
  21. Ibidem, p. 51.
  22. Ioana Diaconescu, Documente. Scriitori în arhivele CNSAS, Editura Fundației Academia Civică, Bucuresti, 2012, p. 11.
  23. Romania, Consiliul Național pentru Studierea Arhivelor Securității (CNSAS), Fond Documentar, Dosarele: Leonid Dimov (DUI I 208789, 6 vol.; P 013540, 2 vol.), Dumitru Țepeneag (DUI 64750, 2 vol., DP 749; SIE 4072), Virgil Mazilescu (DUI 160190, 3 vol.), Vintilă Ivănceanu (I 263546 and SIE 14099); Daniel Turcea (I 260674). These files reveal the complex strategy and action plan designed for the dispersion and annihilation of the oneiric group.
  24. Jean-Paul Sirroneau, Op.Cit., p. 454 [„fabriqué à partir d’un vocabulaire tout fait et de concepts immuables, ne cherche pas à épouser le réel … ; il est entièrement à la discrétion du pouvoir qui s’en sert pour qualifier ce réel.”]
  25. Alex Goldis, Critica în tranşee. De la realismul socialist la autonomia esteticului, Cartea Românească, București, 2011, p. 18.
  26. Cristina Vatulescu, Police Aesthetics: Literature, Film, and the Secret Police in Soviet Times, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 2010, p. 7.
  27. Mircea Braga, Insurgența onirică, in Steaua, no. 10-11 (732-733), Oct.-Nov. 2009, p. 7.
  28. Leone Piccioni, Vita di un poeta. Giuseppe Ungaretti, Rizzoli Editore, Milan 1970, p. 97 [“E la conoscenza con Mussolini servi ad Ungaretti piuttosto per aiutare qualche amico perseguitato antifascista (o per farsi tirar fuori dal carcere lui stesso quelle due o tre volte che fu arrestato per i suoi discorsi focosi: in difesa degli ebrei, ad esempio, in difesa della liberta) che non certo per un solo pratico suo vantaggio. Costretto a cercar lavoro d’insegnamento in Brasile ancora nel ‘36! E si noti che quella prefazione del ‘23 (strano a dirsi !) non ricomparve mai in nessuna edizione poetica successiva dell’Allegria, né del ‘31
    né del ‘36, né del ‘43.”]
  29. Ibidem: 96 [”Ungaretti, anarchico ma interventista, e Mussolini, socialista, direttore dell’Avanti!, ma interventista anche lui, si conobbero, dunque, in prossimità della guerra. Mussolini non lo ricorda già più nel ‘23 […] Nei rari rapporti che ebbero in seguito, strano a dirsi, Mussolini subiva piuttosto Ungaretti, affascinato, forse, dal suo disinteresse.”]
  30. Ruth Ben-Ghiat Fascist Modernities, University of California Press, Berkeley 2001, p. 48.
  31. Giorgio Luti, Introduzione alla letteratura italiana del Novecento, La Nuova Italia Scientifca, Roma 1985, p. 33 [“l’opposizione della censura fascista, poiché sono considerati non pericolosi, ed anzi utilizzabi li alla dimostrazione di una sia pur embrionale ‘liberalità’ del fascismo.”]
  32. Giorgio De Rienzo, Ungaretti: Serve un Duce alla guida della cultura, in “Corriere della Sera”, 12th of Dec., 1996, p.35 [”Caro Cremieux, non esistono che nella vostra fantasia fascisti ortodossi che non tollerano la libertà’ di pensiero e di critica”]. However, in this article, the author quotes Ossola, who explains also that Ungaretti cannot be seen as a common Fascist intellectual; as evidence, he refers to the fact that the poet was not admitted, for many political reasons, in the Fascist Academy.
  33. Lucia Re, Alexandria Revisited, in A Place in the Sun. Africa in Italian colonial culture from post-unification to the present, (ed. by) Patrizia Palumbo, University of California Press, California, London 2003, p. 187.
  34. Giuseppe Ungaretti, Vita d’un uomo: Tutte le poesie, (ed. by) Leone Picioni, Mondadori, Milano 1969, p. 504.
  35. Nila Noto, La spazialità poetica nell’opera di Ungaretti, Celebes, Trapani 1976, p. 114.
  36. Giampaolo Papi, Il primo Ungaretti, Lacaita, Manduria, 1988, p. 154.
  37. Cristophe Mileschi, Le secret de l’histoire s’appelle poésie»: Ungaretti, la poésie, l’histoire, in Révue des études italiennes. Giuseppe Ungaretti : culture et poésie, No. 49, no. 1-2, Jan.-Jun. 2003, p. 183.
  38. Giorgio De Rienzo, Op.Cit., p. 35 [“Sara’ pur fervida l’ adesione di Ungaretti al fascismo, ma resta ingenua nella sua passione, gratuita nella propria generosa offerta, e forse apppunto per cio’ sospetta al regime. Tanto e’ vero che il poeta non solo non diventera’ un intellettuale organico al fascismo, ma non trovera’ neppure posto in quell’ Accademia da lui auspicata.”]
  39. Chistophe Mileschi, Op.Cit., p. 183 [“Il paraît à peu près impossible de ne pas en apercevoir la présence vivante et motrice à partir de Il Dolore, mais la critique a pu montrer, poèmes en main, que l’Ungaretti supposément athée des premiers temps était un croyant qui s’ignore”. […] “des textes dont le placement dans l’œuvre obéit à une nécessité interne, des poèmes ayant fonction de signes religieux  : mettre en écho, en lien, en «re-liement», l’ordre d’ici-bas, tel que le Duce le veut et l’accomplit, et, l’harmonie souveraine dont nous avons la nostalgie”]
  40. Giuseppe Ungaretti, Vita d’un Uomo, Saggi e interventi, (ed. by) M. Diacono e L. Rebay, Mondadori, Milan, 1974, p. 153 [“per la prima volta dopo tanti secoli, dando un’armonia militare e religiosa alla comunità italiana, un capo sente il carattere soprannaturale dell’impeto che la Provvidenza gli ha dettato di imprimere alla storia”].
  41. Laura Pavel, Onirismul – între istoria literară şi  istoria politică, in Vatra, No. 10-11, 2007, p. 39 [„Analiza contextuală a poeziei şi prozei onirice, ca şi a teoriei onirismului structural sau estetic, pune în evidenţă o motivaţie şi un scop preponderent estetice, dar care sunt în subsidiar şi politice”].
  42. Ecaterina Pavel, Daniel Turcea în arhiva CNSAS, in România literară, no. 5, 3rd of Feb. 2012, pp. 12-13.
  43. CNSAS, Fond Documentar, File no. 118, vol. 1, p. 1bis.
  44. CNSAS, Fond Documentar, File no. I 260674, p. 6.
  45. Ibidem, p. 18.
  46. Ibidem, p. 24.
  47. Ibidem, p. 17.
  48. CNSAS, Fond Documentar, File no. 118, vol. 1, p. 8.
  49. CNSAS: I 260674: 20
  50. Lucian Boia, Pentru o istorie a imaginarului, Humanitas, București, 2000, p. 9.
  51. Alex Goldis, Op.Cit, pp. 50-51.
  52. Mircea Braga, Op.Cit, p. 8.
  53. O modalitate artistică. Discuție la masa rotundă cu: Leonid Dimov, Dumitru Țepeneag, Daniel Turcea, Laurențiu Ulici, in Amfiteatru, apud. Momentul oniric, ed. by Corin Braga, Cartea Românească, Bucharest 1997, p. 71, [„Realitatea o percepem axiomatic. Și în măsura în care realitatea imediată e euclidiană, bazată pe axiome, visul e postulatul și nu realitatea. Dar visul artei onirice e o construcție logică și nu un hazard, deși se sprijină pe
    o axiomă mobilă; adică nu lucrează sub imperiul unei axiome neclintite; nu e geometrie construită pe un postulat închistat, ci funcție de n postulate”].
  54. Eugen Negrici, Op.Cit., p. 40 [„tinerii poeţi care îşi publicau atunci primele cărţi (Ana Blandiana, Nichita Stănescu, Gheorghe Tomozei ş.a.) au observat că reţeta aceasta bazată pe un melanj de poezie lirică şi de versificare pe teme ideologice a fost acceptată de activiştii culturali ai partidului şi că, până la urmă, aceştia au început s-o recomande ca pe o cale a compromisului politico-literar care putea mulţumi pe toată lumea”]
  55. The second book, Epifania (The Epiphany) was published only due to Archbishop Bartolomeu Valeriu Anania´s intervention who, at that time, was the director of the Bible Missionary Institute of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
  56. Eugen Negrici, Op. Cit., p. 40.
  57. Ernst Cassirer, Mitul statului, Institutul European, București, 2001, p. 218.
  58. Bruce F. Pauley, Op.Cit., p. 108.

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