Zigu Ornea (; born Zigu Orenstein Andrei Vasilescu, "La ceas aniversar – Cornel Popa la 75 de ani: 'Am refuzat numeroase demnități pentru a rămâne credincios logicii și filosofiei analitice.' " , in Revista de Filosofie Analitică , Vol. II, Nr. 1, January–June 2008, p. 85. or OrnsteinGeorge Ardeleanu, "Lecturi distorsionate, victime colaterale", in Observator Cultural, Nr. 363, March 2007. and commonly known as Z. Ornea; August 28, 1930 – November 14, 2001) was a Romanian cultural historian, literary critic, biographer and book publisher. The author of several monographs focusing on the evolution of Romanian culture in general and Romanian literature in particular, he chronicled the debates and meeting points between conservatism, nationalism, and socialism. His main early works are primarily dedicated to the 19th and early 20th century cultural and political currents heralded by Junimea, by the left-wing ideologues of Poporanism and by the Sămănătorul circle, followed independently or in relation to one another. Written as expansions of this study were Ornea's biographical essays on some of the period's leading theorists: Titu Maiorescu, Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea and Constantin Stere.
Ornea, who spent much of his career under the communist regime, began by following a dissenting form of Marxism, objecting to the official censorship of writers viewed as "reactionary" and later to the emerging forms of national communism. Noted for his defense of Western culture in front of the isolationism advocated under the rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu, the researcher also acquired a familiarity with the various aspects socialist history which led him to abandon Marxist ideology. After the Revolution of 1989, he dedicated his final and groundbreaking study to exposing the cultural connections of far right and fascism in interwar Greater Romania.
In parallel to his work in the study of Romanian cultural history, Zigu Ornea was a noted publisher, who held positions of leadership at Editura Meridiane and Editura Minerva, before becoming founder and director of Editura Hasefer. He had a vast activity as a literary chronicler and essayist, holding permanent columns in România Literară and Dilema Veche magazines during the final decades of his life. Zigu Ornea was the father of mathematician and essayist Liviu Ornea.
Biography
Early life Born in Frumușica, a village of Botoșani County, "Euphorion, revista V, Excelsior cultural, Discobolul, Apostrof, 22, Mozaicul", in Observator Cultural, Nr. 24, August 2000.Cronicar, "Actualitatea" , in România Literară, Nr. 38/2003. Fragmentarium. Viața lui C. Stere, at Editura LiterNet, October 25, 2006; retrieved October 16, 2009. the future writer belonged to the Jewish Romanian community. , in Realitatea Evreiască, Nr. 262-263, November–December 2006, p. 7. "Magazine littéraire, Realitatea evreiască, Dilema, România literară", in Observator Cultural, Nr. 93, December 2001. His father was a cattle trader, and Ornea often helped in the family business by tending to the animals (an experience which left him with fond memories). He was a cousin of Romanian-born Israeli writer Mariana Juster, who later left details on their early life. According to her account, Ornea spent the years before World War II in his native village, until all Jews in the nation's rural areas were expelled with the acquiescence of the antisemitic regime of Conducător Ion Antonescu, and thereafter forced to wear the yellow badge (see Holocaust in Romania). He subsequently settled in the ghetto of Botoșani city, where he lived in poverty and isolation, spending some of the money he had left on adventure novels, and ultimately set up a small clandestine business dealing in humming tops. The Police representative shut down the enterprise, on the basis of legislation which prevented Jews from owning firms, and Ornea is said to have narrowly escaped further repercussion by bribing him with tobacco.
Upon the end of the war, Ornea resumed his studies and graduated high school, during which time he became an avid follower of historical debates animating the Romanian cultural scene during the previous century. Daniel Cristea-Enache, "Z. Ornea: 'A te dedica stupirii valorilor e o prea tristă și nevolnică îndeletnicire' ", in Adevărul Literar și Artistic, Nr. 575, July 10, 2001 (republished by Editura LiterNet, August 1, 2003; retrieved October 19, 2009) As he himself recalled, his readings of the time included the works of classical literary theorists such as the conservative Titu Maiorescu and the socialist Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, as well as the complete collections of some of Romania's leading literary periodicals (Convorbiri Literare, Viața Românească). His outstanding passion for reading was later documented by several of his colleagues in the literary and scientific world, and made Ornea notorious in his professional environment. Mircea Anghelescu, "Ultimul Ornea", in Observator Cultural, Nr. 256, January 2005.
A student at the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Philosophy between 1951 and 1955, Ornea was, according to his colleague and future philosopher Cornel Popa, one of those who would not accept the strict interpretation of human endeavor as fostered by official Marxism-Leninism, seeking to inform himself on classical subjects directly from the sources. Popa stated that Ornea, himself and others (future academics Mircea Flonta, Ilie Pârvu, Vasile Tonoiu etc.) were in search of "fresh air" and "could not bear to have our thinking entrapped." Ornea was at the time close to University professor Tudor Vianu, who, as he recalled, became one of his mentors. For the following thirty years, he adopted a Marxist perspective, but one largely differing from the official line, before altogether parting with the ideology.Daniel Barbu, Political Science in Romania, Country Report, at the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community's Knowledge Base Social Sciences in Eastern Europe; retrieved October 19, 2009. Nicolae Manolescu, preface to Anii treizeci. Extrema dreaptă românească (2009 edition) (republished by Editura LiterNet, April 8, 2009; retrieved October 19, 2009) After graduation, Ornea began his career with Editura de stat pentru literatură și artă (ESPLA), a state-run publishing house based in Bucharest. Carmen Mușat, "Incalificabil", in Observator Cultural, Nr. 366-367, April 2007. During the same period, he married Ada Ornea, who gave birth to their son Liviu.
Cultural debates under communism Viewed with some suspicion by the communist authorities, Zigu Ornea was progressively marginalized during the late 1950s. He was expelled from ESLPA at the same time as art historian and critic Dan Grigorescu, both of them for having "bourgeois" origins. According to his friend, publisher Tiberiu Avramescu, Ornea felt himself being pressured by the regime's representatives into leaving for Israel, but rejected the notion and argued: "I shan't give up, this is my country." Speaking later about "latent antisemitism" and forms of "aggressive intolerance" in postwar Romania, the literary historian noted: "being born a Jew was not a detail in my case, but [...] a state and a permanent wound that I have been feeling acutely, ceaselessly".
After being eventually readmitted into publishing, Ornea spent the rest of the communist period working as reviewer for Meridiane and ultimately for Minerva. Beginning in the late 1960s, during a liberalization period coinciding with early years of communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu, Ornea dedicated his work to the study of cultural and political phenomena of the 19th and early 20th century. Published in 1966, his first book was dedicated to the conservative literary society Junimea and its ideology (Junimismul, Editura pentru literatură, 1966), followed the same year by his contribution to a monograph on the Utopian socialism of Teodor Diamant (Falansterul de la Scăieni, "The Phalanstère of Scăeni", Editura Politică). He followed up with the 1968 volume Trei esteticieni ("Three Aestheticians", Editura pentru literatură) and a 1969 overview of interwar ideology, dedicated to the tenets of the National Peasants' Party (Țărănismul, "Peasantism", Editura Politică).Rizescu (2005), p. 289, 322. Also in the late 1960s, he published commentary on the diverse works of Junimist historian A. D. Xenopol, and, together with N. Gogoneață, contributed to a critical edition of Xenopol's contributions.Rizescu (2005), p. 289, 322, 325. He also edited a 1968 anthology from the works of Henric Sanielevici, a maverick exponent of Marxist criticism who was also noted for his attempt to classify literature around racialist criteria. Antonio Patraș, "Prințul Henric între uitare și reabilitare", in Ziarul Financiar, June 26, 2009.
In 1970 and 1972 respectively, Minerva published his studies on the ideology of the traditionalist review Sămănătorul (titled Sămănătorismul) and its leftist competitor Poporanism (Poporanismul).Rizescu (2005), p. 289, 321-322, 325. Ileana Ghemeș, "Aspecte ale neosămănătorismului iorghist interbelic" , in the December 1 University of Alba Iulia's Philologica Yearbook , 2003, p. 154. Also in 1972, Ornea inaugurated his collaboration with Editura Eminescu, publishing Studii și cercetări ("Studies and Investigations"), followed in 1975 by the first edition of his Junimea și junimismul ("Junimea and Junimism"), and in 1976 by Confluențe ("Confluences"). It later published his historical overview of the socialist literary circle formed around Contemporanul magazine (Curentul cultural de la Contemporanul, "The Cultural Current of Contemporanul", 1977), his study on later developments of Romanian traditionalism (Tradiționalism și modernitate în deceniul al treilea, "Tradition and Modernity in the 1920s", 1980),Rizescu (2005), p. 288-290, 322. and his collected Comentarii ("Commentaries", 1981). His work at Minerva included an edition of Istoria civilizației române moderne ("The History of Modern Romanian Civilization") by Eugen Lovinescu, an interwar cultural historian, modernist writer and classical liberal theorist (the reprint included Ornea's own introductory study on Lovinescu's ideology).Horațiu Pepine, "Efectele secundare ale modernizării", in Idei în Dialog, September 2009. In tandem, his Junimea și junimismul went through a second edition, published in 1978.Ioan Stanomir, Spiritul conservator. De la Barbu Catargiu la Nicolae Iorga, Editura Curtea Veche, Bucharest, 2008, p. 87. In parallel, Ornea was publishing the selected works of Poporanist theorist Constantin Stere, Victor Durnea, "Începuturile publicistice ale lui Constantin Stere" , in România Literară, Nr. 45/2007. and reediting the complete literary tracts of conservative historian Nicolae Iorga. Z. Ornea, "N. Iorga - istoric literar" , in România Literară, Nr. 43/1999.
With the tightening of the Ceaușescu regime's control on media and the literary environment, coupled with the ideological recuperation of national communism and isolationism (the July Theses), Ornea joined the intellectual faction attempting to circumvent censorship and promote a more nuanced take on cultural history.Brînzeu, p. 64-65; Mihăilescu, p. 113sqq; Verdery, passim Ornea bowed down to the requirements in at least one instance: his Lovinescu edition was published without some portions of text that the regime found unpalatable, and the introductory note purported that Lovinescu had points in common with historical materialism. According to historian Lucian Boia, the method was objectionable, but also the only way in which the book could see print.Lucian Boia, Istorie și mit în conștiința românească, Humanitas, Bucharest, 2000, p. 116. Communist censorship also intervened in Ornea's work as anthologist: as researcher Victor Durnea notes, his Constantin Stere edition only covered the early portion of Stere's career, detailing his loose affiliation with the socialist movement.