Mihail Celarianu or Celerianu (August 1, 1893 December 5, 1985) was a Romanian poet and novelist. Though he wrote his first poems at the age of twelve, and had them published at thirteen, he was initially trained as a musician at the Bucharest Conservatory. He then contemplated a medical career, and studied for a degree in Paris, but returned hurriedly to still-neutral Romania upon the start of World War I; his early literary contribution include some rousing up support for the Entente Powers. The Ententist campaign was successful, and Romania declared war in 1916. Celarianu volunteered to serve in the Romanian Army, seeing action with the infantry at Predeal Pass, before being accepted into an auxiliary position by the Air Corps. His experiences influenced his autobiographical novels, as well as a play.
Celarianu was a late recruit of the Romanian Symbolist movement. He befriended and emulated the Symbolist doyen, Alexandru Macedonski, becoming his posthumous son-in-law and keeper of his archive. In tandem, he worked alongside fellow writer-clerks such as Ion Minulescu and Felix Aderca, first at the Arts and Religious Affairs Ministry, and later at the Labor Ministry. Publishing volumes of Symbolist poetry which drew notice and won him awards presented by the Romanian Writers' Society, he made his debut as a novelist with a work which poked fun at his own bureaucratic career. It was hailed in his lifetime as an important contribution to Romanian humor, and likened to works by the country's classical satirist, Ion Luca Caragiale. At that stage in his career, he joined the Sburătorul group of modernists, being welcomed by its leader, Eugen Lovinescu, as a "seraph" of Romanian poetry. In 1936, Celarianu expanded modernism into the realm of erotic literature, publishing the controversial novel Femeia sângelui meu ("The Woman in My Blood"); as a result, he became one of the "pornographers" singled out by traditionalist moral crusaders, including Nicolae Iorga.
Before and during World War II, Celarianu returned to more conventional prose, publishing in the realm of children's literature. Like Lovinescu and Tudor Arghezi, between whom he networked, he opposed Ion Antonescu's government from liberal positions; immediately after the anti-Antonescu coup of 1944, he joined the new left-leaning leadership of the Writers' Society, serving as general secretary of that syndicate to 1949. The Romanian communist regime tolerated him as a fellow traveler, and, from the 1960s, allowed a more complete recovery of the entire Sburătorul movement. Well-received as a translator of 19th- and 20th-century French literature, Celarianu continued to write poetry of his own, returning with a new collection in 1966, when he was aged 73. He put out poetry and memoirs down to February 1985—though much of his output remained unpublished by the time of his death; by then, he had destroyed his large-scale biographical novel, having also misplaced his lifelong diaries.
Biography Early life and military service The future poet was born at Calea Plevnei 232, in downtown Bucharest,Al. Raicu, "Convorbirile Contemporanului. Nouă decenii dintr-un veac. Rememorări despre scriitori și opere", in Contemporanul, Issue 23/1985, p. 7 capital of the Romanian Kingdom. His birth date was recorded as August 1, 1893,Aurel Sasu (ed.), Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române, Vol. I, pp. 307–308. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. though some sources have July 30.Toma Grigorie, "Mihail Celarianu la 85 de ani", in Ramuri, Vol. XV, Issue 7, July 1978, p. 10 He was the third of eight children born to Constantin Celarianu, an Army officer, and his wife Antoaneta (née Pricup). An older brother served with distinction in the Army, reaching the rank of general by 1985.Al. Raicu, "Din copilăria scriitorilor", in Almanah Viața Românească 1986, p. 277 The family's more distant origins were in the southwestern Romanian region of Oltenia, specifically in Celaru, Romanați County (later absorbed into Dolj County). Celarianu was included in Florea Firan's anthologies of Oltenian writers, and, according to critic Șerban Cioculescu, was "perhaps the most refined among Oltenia's interwar poets".Șerban Cioculescu, "Breviar. O nouă antologie oltenească", in România Literară, Issue 27/1986, p. 7 He spent his childhood in Bucharest, at a new Celarianu home on Teleajen Street; he was encouraged by his parents to do gardening work on the family plot, and was passionate about singing and reading.
After middle and high school in Bucharest and Brăila, Mihail took a technical course of study at the Conservatory, hoping to launch a career in vocal music, as a tenor. He had prepared for an extended study trip in Italy, but eventually abandoned this career path and, according to his brother, was "obsessed by the thought of his having failed as a musician." Celarianu had begun writing poems at the age of twelve, making his debut in Duminica in 1906, aged thirteen. His first book, Poeme și proză ("Poems and Prose"), appeared in 1913; according to the poet and literary critic Toma Grigorie, it was a "juvenile and unconvincing" effort. Among the literary historians, Ion Rotaru listed these as "poems with religious concepts", which gave way to works more specifically dealing with "neurotic solitude", reminiscent of George Bacovia's.Rotaru, pp. 312–313 At that moment in his life, Celarianu was studying medicine in Paris (1912–1914) with a stipend from his childless aunt, Ecaterina Hagiescu. He was also taking an interest in philosophy, becoming a passionate follower of Gabriel Séailles' lectures at the University of Paris. The young man returned home upon the outbreak of World War I, sailing from Marseille to Constanța.
In September 1914, after speaking at the funeral of poet Mircea Demetriade, Celarianu was personally greeted by the Symbolist doyen Alexandru Macedonski, and also met his daughter, Nina. They became friends, though Celarianu never attended Macedonski's literary and mystical circle in Dorobanți, explaining in 1979 that he had reserves toward "improvised" and "declamatory" poetry.Al. Raicu, "L-au cunoscut pe Macedonski", in România Literară, Issue 11/1979, p. 14 Celarianu became involved with those Romanian nationalists who suggested an alliance with the Entente Powers—against the neutralists and Germanophiles. His feelings were expressed in the poem Cînt Războinic ("War Song"), which was put to music by Traian Justinian Popovici and performed for the public in October 1915."Informațiuni", in Dimineața, October 12, 1915, p. 2 The young man enlisted for duty after Romania entered the war in 1916. He was originally an infantryman with the 6th Regiment, seeing action in the Battle of Predeal Pass. After attending the Pipera-based bombardiers' school, he was assigned to the Air Corps. According to various accounts, he was either an air observer or a gunner. The war inspired his play Drapelul ("The Flag"), which was staged in Onești.
Celarianu's career took off in interwar Greater Romania. In late 1920, Eugen Relgis' Umanitatea, published in Iași, hosted some of his poetry. Both the magazine and his contributions were panned in Înfrățirea, a provincial organ of the National Liberal Party: its columnist saw Umanitatea as politically unfrequentable, and Celarianu's verse as "not at all useful.""Citind revistele", in Înfrățirea, October 18, 1920, p. 2 Weeks later, Celarianu was among those who witnessed Macedonski's final moments. As he reported, the dying man acknowledged him as a "good boy" and a "talented youth". Immediately after, he personally handled an edition of Macedonskian verse, which appeared Poezii alese. He went on to marry Nina, moving in with her in her father's Dorobanți apartments and preserving the Macedonski archives (consulted in the 1940s by scholar Adrian Marino).Adrian Marino, "Texte și documente. Documente macedonskiene inedite", in Revista Fundațiilor Regale, Vol. XIII, Issue 4, April 1946, p. 882 Theirs was a "happy marriage", despite his only collecting a small salary as a clerk. From 1923 to 1929, he worked at Ion Minulescu's office in the Arts and Religious Affairs Ministry. Celarianu was himself a Symbolist of elegiac, sensual, or erotic tendencies, as exemplified by his poetry collections Drumul ("The Road", 1928) and Flori fără pace ("Restless Flowers", 1938). Most of the former's pieces had appeared in 1924–1925 in Perpessicius' magazine, Universul Literar.Nae Antonescu, "Revista Universul Literar", in Steaua, Vol. XXXV, Issue 2, February 1984, p. 50
Sburătorul and obscenity scandal
Celarianu was also a regular customer of the Oteteleșeanu Restaurant and, following a suggestion by Tudor Vianu, began frequenting the Eugen Lovinescu-led Sburătorul circle; he was upheld by Lovinescu as one of his best finds, a "seraph descending among us men". As the group's poet laureate,Rotaru, p. 313 Camil Baltazar similarly praised Celarianu as "anointed by God", a "true poet" of "somber and cloistered internalized vision."Baltazar, pp. 706–707 According to Grigorie, Lovinescu's pronouncement also reflected Celarianu's "multiple affinities" with the Sburătorists take on modernist poetry. The same critic notes thematic links with Symbolists such as Macedonski and Dimitrie Anghel, but also argues that the Celarianu's "floral poetry" became "profoundly personal" in Flori fără pace. Similarly, Cioculescu proposes that Celarianu was close by, but also superior to, Anghel, while Rotaru proposes the contrary: "[Celarianu lacks] Anghel's flickering freshness".
Among later critics, Ion Marcoș dismissed Celarianu's work in verse as "slightly outdated Symbolism", rating him as a "background writer".Ion Marcoș, "Actualitatea literară. Mihail Celarianu: Diamant verde", in Tribuna, Vol. XVIII, Issue 10, March 1974, p. 3 Magazines that published his work include Flacăra, Viața Românească, Revista Fundațiilor Regale, and later România Literară. From 1929 to 1944, he was librarian and then specialist at the Labor, Health and Social Protection Ministry, where one of his office colleagues was Felix Aderca. He was inducted by the Romanian Writers' Society (SSR) in February 1929 (alongside Baltazar, Damian Stănoiu, and George Mihail Zamfirescu),"Teatru–muzică–litere–arte. Adunarea generală a S.S.R.", in Viitorul, February 3, 1929, p. 2 winning its annual prize later that same year.
During the interwar period, Celarianu was a promoter of novels that analyzed situations through satire and especially eroticism.Pompiliu Constantinescu, "Cartea. Cronica literară. Mihail Celarianu: Femeia sângelui meu (roman)", in Vremea, April 19, 1936, p. 11Rotaru, p. 312 Critic George Călinescu observed that, overall, he had a tinge of "humanitarian sadness", evoking Georges Duhamel. Celarianu's experience as a ministry clerk informed his 1934 novel Polca pe furate ("The Thieving Polka"); published on the recommendation of Mihail Sebastian, it was a largely satirical work and continued a humorous streak in Romanian literature, as illustrated primarily by Ion Luca Caragiale. Critic Paul Daniel summarized it as a fresco of "the bureaucratic world, for the most part a world of the uncultured and the haughty"; largely written in the form of an epistolary novel, it showed its main protagonist, Pantahuzeanu, descending from romantic hero to regular pimp.Paul Daniel, "Vitrina", in Epoca, April 19, 1934, p. 2 Rotaru censured the work as "comedy of a rather facile kind", "mostly based on the illiteracy of suburbanite scoundrels, whose letters, pieced together, form the substance of [his] composition." Celarianu's winning of a second SSR prize in 1935 (shared with Horia Furtună) was criticized at the time by Dreptatea newspaper, which, in an unsigned editorial, suggested that the award should have gone to Panait Istrati, the "impoverished and humiliated" proletarian author."Un gest elocvent", in Dreptatea, May 5, 1935, p. 1