Isaia Răcăciuni | |
|---|---|
 Răcăciuni ,c. 1937 | |
| Born | Isaia Nacht (1900-09-21)21 September 1900 |
| Died | 17 June 1976(1976-06-17) (aged 75) |
| Occupation |
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| Period | c. 1917–1968 |
| Genre | |
| Literary movement | |
| Signature | |
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Isaia orIsaiia Răcăciuni (alsoRăcăciun orRăcăciune, bornIsaia Nacht; 21 September 1900 – 17 June 1976) was a Romanian writer and editor. A member of thelocal Jewish community, he always cravedassimilation, a longing that informed part of his literary output. His works were also tinged byexpressionism, a stylistic affiliation that began when he was an adolescent. Immediately after World War I, Răcăciuni found steady employment at various publishing houses and book-distribution centers; he began networking with some of the major figures inRomanian literature, Christian as well as Jewish, all the while consolidating his own reputation as a translator from German, English, French, and Russian. His first published work ofexpressionist drama,Trei cruci, was warmly received by contemporary critics, though not performed in theaters. He was employed as a critic and promoter at various newspapers, beginning withClipa, and debuted as a screenwriter in thesilent era, initially by adaptingRonetti Roman'sManasse (1925). His career in publishing took off during the 1930s, when he secondedAlexandru Rosetti—first atEditura Cultura Națională, then at theRoyal Foundations.
Răcăciuni toned down his expressionism with the 1931 drama,Poste-restante, which was disliked by the public and resulted in a conflict between the author and his director,Victor Ion Popa. He experienced more success, but also sparked controversy, with the 1934 novelMâl, depicting promiscuous youths. Months later, the rise of a far-right movement which espoused antisemitism left Răcăciuni and his actor brother, Nicolae Stroe, exposed to persecution. His plays were taken out of production; his attempt to return as a screenwriter, alongside the fascist sympathizerN. Porsenna, ended with further negative exposure of his Jewishness. Răcăciuni and Stroe both accepted full-on segregation under the "National Legionary State", when they participated in creating an all-Jewish theater,The Barașeum. The subsequent "Legionary rebellion", which also included a round-up of Jews, inspired Răcăciuni to write a work ofcloset drama. AsIon Antonescu inaugurated his one-man regime, maintaining and enhancing thepersecution of Jews, Răcăciuni was designated as a hostage of the Romanian state. He remained somewhat active in the press, including as a pseudonymous contributor to nominally fascist newspapers; in 1943, The Barașeum hosted him with aboulevardier play that endured as his best-received.
Antonescu's ouster in August 1944 gave Răcăciuni an opportunity to return as a Romanian writer. He was initially political, favoringliberal democracy and urging for the swift return of confiscated Jewish property. He gravitated toward theRomanian Communist Party, but did not join it, and largely withdrew from public life as Romania was being turned intoa communist state. Sometimes lambasted by the communist establishment for his enduring artistic independence and his failure to meet deadlines, he was only present as a translator for most of the 1950s and early 1960s. Răcăciuni secretly kept a diary, and, during thedétente of the late 1960s, published selective memoirs—though these were criticized for apparently self-serving inaccuracies. His plays were only collected as a volume in 1990, some fourteen years after his death.
Isaia Nacht was born on 21 September 1900 inGâșteni-Răcăciuni,Bacău County, to the landholder Beniamin Nacht and his wife Zelda (or Eugenia) Gittner.[1] He had a younger brother, Stroe, later noted as an actor under the pseudonym of "Nicolae Stroe".[2] The family was entirely Jewish; Isaia substituted his place of origin for his surname as a way to underscore his assimilation into the mainstream, as well as his enduring love for theWestern Moldavian countryside.[3] Beniamin's economic and social status was highly controversial: theRomanian Kingdom's native upper class delegated its estates to be managed by landholders, widely perceived by the peasants as ruthless, foreign exploiters. This situation was acknowledged by Răcăciuni in his 1937social novel,Paradis uitat ("Forsaken Paradise"), which depicts a Jewish family escaping itsghetto-like isolation and finding symbiosis with the natural landscape, only to be chased out from their rented land by thepeasant uprising of 1907.[4]
The family had indeed left Bacău County in 1907, and had settled inBucharest, the kingdom's capital city.[5] Isaia was enlisted for a while at Schewitz-Thieren boarding school.[6] In 1909, he was studying at anEvangelical chapel school—where his teachers included the novelistIoan Slavici.[7][6] In 1917, as most of Romania wasunder German occupation, he was already engaged in writing plays, with stylistic references totheatrical andcinematic expressionism. Literary historianOvid S. Crohmălniceanu suggests that his debuttragicomedy,Mirele ("The Groom"), was entirely based on similar works byCarl Sternheim, and as such one of Romania's firsts in localized expressionism.[8] In postwarGreater Romania, Nacht also became passionate about translation, and began rendering into Romanian various works byMaxim Gorky,Reiner Maria Rilke, andPaul Verlaine, also debuting in 1920 atDacia newspaper (for which he used the pen name "Ion Negrea").[9] Here, he published his version ofHeinrich Heine'sAtta Troll,[10] following up with undated versions of biographies byJohn Drinkwater (Cromwell) andLytton Strachey (Queen Victoria).[11]
Young Nacht's first employment was as a literary reviewer. By his own account, he personally handled manuscripts by Slavici andTudor Arghezi, both of whom had been imprisoned for having favored the German occupiers over the returning loyalists.[6] He held a job at Gutenberg publishing house (1920–1921), after which he completed his mandatory training in theRomanian Land Forces; he may have then attended theCommercial Academy, but this remains unattested.[12] He returned to letters as a dramatist, an "apocalyptic" play,Trei cruci ("Three Crosses"), which can be dated to 1922[13] but was only released in 1924.[10] This was also a return to the avant-garde: of all his contributions,Trei cruci is "the closest to expressionism", exploring themes of "erotic frenzy" and "denial of civilization", alongside a dose of "Nietzschean ideas".[14] The prose encloses a poem, done by Răcăciuni himself as apastiche ofGeorg Heym, and has a climax that is heavily reliant onmystery plays.[15] On its publication, the overall text won some contextual praise fromAlexandru Bilciurescu:
The aesthetes, overfed onBataille's sentimental sauces, will discover this 'play' as 'something new', and the modern spectators, who can no longer be trusted to reasonably follow a philosophical play, [...] will be much interested by these 9 tableaux. The naturalization of modern theater has not yet taken place in our country, for all the laudable efforts of directors such asSoare Z. Soare andGusty, and of writers such as MrIoan Sân Giorgiu. The true naturalization is now being carried out by Mr Răcăciuni [...].[16]
Nacht was simultaneously an accountant[17] for the national book distribution service, Centrala Cărții, where his boss was the philosopherNae Ionescu, who is sometimes credited as his discoverer.[6] At Centrala, he became personally acquainted with authors such asPerpessicius, who treasured his "youthful enthusiasm",[6] andEmanoil Bucuța.[18] From 1924,Clipa newspaper had Nacht as a theatrical columnist; his growing notoriety allowed him to join a literary club formed byMihail Dragomirescu, whose other members were enlisted at theUniversity of Bucharest.[19] In parallel, Nacht's brother Stroe, who had managed to fend off antisemitic prejudice in graduating from theBucharest Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, began his career with various troupes. While atTeatrul Mic, he was colleagues withNora Piacentini, who became his wife (and Răcăciuni's sister-in-law) in 1926.[20]
AtClipa, Isaia joined with Constantin Tavernier in composing another expressionist play,Carnaval ("Carnival"), issued by that paper in 1925.[21] Also then, he andScarlat Froda co-wrote the screenplay to asilent film,Manasse, which hadJean Mihail as director; based on afin de siècle play byRonetti Roman, it explored the conflicts engendered by Jewish segregation and assimilation, and was much disliked byRomanian nationalists.[22] Răcăciuni's twin playsMirele andUzina ("The Factory") were first performed by the people's theater ofTismana, in 1927; the same year, he and N. N. Șerbănescu contributed a screenplay for asilent film aboutIancu Jianu.[23] Șerbănescu also reserved the option to filmTrei cruci, claiming that he was working on this project by July 1927.[24]
Răcăciuni had a tentative political career in the youth section of theNational Peasants' Party, which he joined in June 1928, at roughly the same time as fellow dramatistTudor Mușatescu.[25] From 1928 to 1929, he was a film and theater critic atPremiera weekly, introducing the Romanian public to expressionistic, and more generally modernist, theater and cinema. His articles familiarized the Romanian public with Sternheim,Georg Kaiser,Konstantin Stanislavski,August Strindberg,Hermann Sudermann, andFrank Wedekind.[26] He regarded Kaiser with particular respect, rating him as always superior toLuigi Pirandello.[27] In one of its issues for 1928, the magazine also featured his own short play,Poveste la anticar ("An Antiquarian's Story").[28] In 1929, asHoria Igiroșanu had completed filming onIancu Jianu (released to mixed reviews),[29] Răcăciuni printed portions of another, more complex, play,Histerie ("Hysteria"). It is seen by Crohmălniceanu as significantly better thanTrei cruci, for having "an authentically expressionist protagonist" in Lora, "the female answer toDon Juan". He never sought to publish the complete version, for fear that his idea would be plagiarized.[30] During 1930, Arghezi'sBilete de Papagal had him as its theater columnist.[31] Usually pseudonymous (as "Ion Negrea", "Ion Noapte", "I. Nopteanu", or "Vladimir Spătaru"), he made regular contributions in newspapers such asAdevărul,Azi, andEcoul, as well as in the magazinesRampa andRevista Fundațiilor Regale. Alongside his brother and a third author, Nicolae Vlădoianu, he made occasional use of the signature "Ric-Rac".[32]
According to notes kept by cartoonistNeagu Rădulescu, Nacht-Răcăciuni refined his craft as an attendee of a Bucharest modernist club,Sburătorul.[33] From 1929,[34] he was secretary of another publishing venture,Editura Cultura Națională (ECN), which was at the time managed by linguistAlexandru Rosetti. Perpessicius, who reunited with him as a panelist judge for the ECN's yearly awards, recalls that he became Rosetti's "assistant, as dedicated as he was luminous".[6] Sebastian, who interacted directly with Răcăciuni in this capacity, was less impressed: in of his letters of 1930, he calls Răcăciuni "that minuscule buffoon" (caraghiosul ăla mărunt).[35] From 1933, Rosetti found Răcăciuni similar employment at theRoyal Foundations—this allowed him to participate in putting out definitive editions from authors such asGeorge Bacovia,Ion Barbu,George Călinescu, andCamil Petrescu,[36] and also saw him fighting to haveI. Peltz granted his own standalone volume.[6][37] He was present for a visit made byKingCarol II, who disturbedGala Galaction as the latter was translating from the Bible.[38]
Răcăciuni claimed that, in or around 1930,Liviu Rebreanu had tried to getTrei cruci produced by theNational Theater Bucharest.[38] In February 1930,Maria Ventura commissioned him as a translator for her newly formed troupe, using his version ofLadislas Fodor'sChurch Mouse.[39] In 1931, hisPoste-restante (named afterthe mail delivery system) was taken up by the same Ventura, withVictor Ion Popa as director andAura Buzescu as the female lead.[40][38][41] It endures as his tamest and most realistic play, with only the faintest expressionistic echoes,[42] and was once acknowledged by the author as having been a faithful rendering of actual events.[38] In Crohmălniceanu's summary, it is the life story of "afemme fatale, bent on self-destruction through a sad erotic frenzy of obscure biological origins."[43] According to literary critic Mircea Anghelescu,Poste-restante is an inconsequential, artificial play, since the writer could never decide what message he needed to transmit, ultimately treating his characters as "toys of fate".[38] Anghelescu reports that Popa added his own contribution to the play's failure: his vision was inordinately "static". The author and his director clashed over this issue, resulting in Răcăciuni being banned from attending the rehearsals.[38]
J. Mihail again hired Răcăciuni, alongsideGeorge Mihail Zamfirescu, as writers forAur ("Gold"), adapted from a story byConstanța Hodoș; though filming is known to have taken place inSighișoara in the second half of 1931, it remains unclear whetherAur was actually ever completed.[44] Răcăciuni alone drafted, but did not publish, a "dramatic legend" eponymously titled afterJesus (Isus)—the manuscript was reportedly dated to 1932, but includes details on events happening later, inNazi Germany.[38] Its prologue shows a fictionalrabbi, Iehuda ben Halevy, as he engages in disputations with a Catholic bishop, animated by their shared destiny as would-be victims of Nazi terror; other portions of the text dwell on thelife of Jesus, and, Anghelescu notes, are entirely outside expressionism.[38] He had also completed another tragicomedy, calledBosfor ("Bosporus"). It was scheduled for production at a Bucharest theater in June 1932, but was pulled out of the program after the company suggested alterations to the text.[45]
In March 1934, Răcăciuni had finished acomedy,Doctorul Berechet ("Doctor Plenty"), that was supposed to be staged byIon Iancovescu's troupe.[46][47] His debut novel,Mâl ("Ooze"), appeared later in 1934. It stands as both anautofictional text and a document of sexual dis-inhibition, to the point offree love, by Bucharest'sWesternized youths.[48] The female protagonist, Iris, is based on novelistHenriette Yvonne Stahl,[49] whom he himself had introduced atSburătorul.[50] Critics of the day were almost universally welcoming ofMâl, withSburătorul's ownEugen Lovinescu as a noted exception;[51]Șerban Cioculescu also objected to the narrative being "too saturated with useless stuff", but overall a "good start", at its best reminiscent ofJean Richepin'sLe Glu.[52] More informal debates about the novel's qualities were carried out in coffeehouses. After attending one of these,Alexandru Cazaban composed one of his epigrams:
Mâl nu are epigramă
Și romanul e de soi.
Eu i-aș face una bună
Dar mă umplu de noroi.[53]
Nobody wrote in verse ofOoze
Though the book is not a dud.
Bet you I could be of use,
Lest you cover me in mud.
In the 1930s, Răcăciuni had influence in cultural affairs, enough that he could persuadeBucharest Radio to offer near-permanent employment to a comedy duo, "Stroe and Vasilache", comprising his brother and an actor friend, Vasile Vasilache.[54] He also helped along by penning (but not signing) a "Stroe and Vasilache" book for children, which appeared with illustrations byMarcela andFlorica Cordescu.[55] Răcăciuni's Jewishness became a major topic of contention later in the interwar, as Romania experienced a steady growth of the antisemitic far-right. During late 1934, theCrusade of Romanianism denounced Jewish authors, including Răcăciuni andCamil Baltazar, for taking up Romanian public funds, at the detriment of native authors.[56] Another one of Răcăciuni's plays,Bursa neagră ("Black Market"), a revamped version ofDoctorul Berechet that used its secondary title,[47][57] was produced by Zamfirescu at theNational Theater Iași in 1935, but only briefly—it was cancelled immediately after local antisemites had inquired about the author's ethnicity, threatening violence.[58] Published in the wake of such rejection, and largely drafted on-location inSlănic-Moldova,[59]Paradisul uitat doubled as commentary on assimilation. Its rural setting and deep nostalgia were remarked on by Lovinescu, who describes it as a paradoxical work of "JewishSămănătorism".[60] It was praised by a Jewish author,Alexandru Robot, for its authenticity, but also for its innovative traits—as the first work to depict Jewish energies directed toward village life.[4] Such verdicts were contrasted by a later critic,Nicolae Manolescu, who opined that Răcăciuni's perspective on the "Jewish Question" was at least partly preceded by Roman'sManasse. Manolescu also describes Răcăciuni's own text as "worthless, baroque and pompous."[61]
Under antisemitic pressures, the ECN also reduced its output of Romanian Jewish literature. As reported in March 1934 byEmil Dorian, Rosetti would not grant the funds for such publications, while Răcăciuni, a "good guy [and] fellowSemite", was "powerless" when it came to the editorial line.[62] In early 1935, Răcăciuni was inFrance, reportedly as a guest ofThéâtre de l'Athénée andLouis Jouvet, who considered staging one of his plays.[63] Upon returning to the Foundations, he maintained his literary prestige, and had "some ten youths" following him around to obtain favors from him; he was reportedly considering giving up on his career, dreaming of becoming "a sailor or a lemon-stand owner inMarseille."[64] He was however also said to be working on his own "vast social novel", calledViața ultimilor boieri ("Lives of the LastBoyars").[65] In mid-1936, he was editor ofLuz magazine, published in Romanian, Spanish and Portuguese for a local and South American audience. It also hosted his presentation of King Carol.[66]
More attacks followed, some of them directed by theIconar group, which was in close proximity to the fascistIron Guard. Its leader,Mircea Streinul, personally handled the issue by identifying Răcăciuni as ananti-Romanian, and by referring to him with several puns—such asIsaia Cuperciuni (fromcu perciuni, "withpayot"); this practice was in turn ridiculed by a moderate nationalist,Traian Chelariu, who argued thatIconar was only undermining its own respectability.[67] Around that time, Răcăciuni had completed anovella and "mordant piece of satire",[68] calledDați-ni'L înapoi pe Iisus ("Give Us Back Our Jesus"). It centers on the inner conflict of a Jew, Jair Stuparu, driven to suicide by his unrequited love of Romania and his failure to upholdZionism.[69] The title was a direct response to Iron Guard andits reading of Orthodox dogmas, by invoking theJewish origins of Christianity.[68] By then, he and Baltazar had also translatedHeinrich Mann'sJagd nach Liebe; in 1937, Răcăciuni alone published version ofThe Captain's Daughter, originally byAlexander Pushkin, andCarmen, byProsper Mérimée.[70] Edmund Fleg's biography ofMoses, in his translation, was published in late 1937.[71]
Antisemitic radicalization was tolerated under theNational Renaissance Front (FRN), established by Carol, in 1938, as Romania's sole legal party. In that context, Colonel N. Cristescu included "Răcăciuni-Nacht" on a list of Jews who, while "blindly servingtheir own nationalism" (Cristescu's emphasis), attacked Romanian nationalism "with the most brazen perseverance".[72] State censorship intervened to banDați-ni'L înapoi pe Iisus from even being printed.[68][73] Răcăciuni was still involved on the 1939 film projectSe-aprind făcliile, co-writing its screenplay withN. Porsenna by adapting one of Porsenna's own novellas;Ion Șahighian was called in to direct. The resultingmelodrama, now alost film,[74] caused significant controversy on its original release. Though Porsenna was himself an alumnus of theIdeea Liberă group within the Iron Guard,[75] the Guard itself disliked the film. Its newspaperPorunca Vremii described the plot as "offensive", and (without mentioning Porsenna as the ultimate author) again exposed Răcăciuni as a Jew.[76] In a July 1940 article forUniversul Literar, Ladmiss Andreescu alleged that Răcăciuni, "an opaque and illegible Jewish writer", had behaved as a "dictator" during his time at the ECN, effectively controlling what books Romanians could access.[77] In August, antisemitic regulations introduced by the regime left N. Stroe without formal employment—though he still enjoyed protection from the dissident managerConstantin Tănase, who provided "Stroe and Vasilache" with a semi-clandestine venue for their comedy.[78]
Weeks after, the FRN regime crumbled andIon Antonescu took over asConducător, initially alongside the Iron Guard—which proclaimed a "National Legionary State", aligned with theAxis powers. Under this regime, Jewish segregation became mandatory and complete, forcing Jewish professionals to request the creation of a Jewish-only theater,The Barașeum. Răcăciuni filed for the permit, on 30 September 1940, and received it, to his own name, on 18 October.[79] The project also involved N. Stroe,[80] who was also a "constant presence" in subsequent productions.[81] The theater only opened on 17 January 1941,[82] just days before the Iron Guard and its military overseers clashed with each other in the "Legionary rebellion". The losing Guardists also engaged in a pogrom against Bucharest's Jews; Răcăciuni survived the event, and wrote about it in an unpublishedverse drama,Noaptea sângelui ("Night of Blood"). For effect, it conflates the rebellion and the1940 Vrancea earthquake as one single event.[83] Its central character, the Jew Adam, has befriended the Guardist commandant Vraciu, but this connection fails to save his girlfriend, Eva, who commits suicide rather than be raped by another Guardist, Kiropol. Adam is offered a chance to save himself, but opts to face death alongside other Jews; his fellow prisoners are incensed by his self-sacrifice, believing him to be a Christian missionary, and prepare to have him lynched ahead of their own death.[84]
Later in 1941, Răcăciuni was officially registered as one of the Jewish hostages taken by the Antonescu regime—namely, those threatened with direct repercussion in case of a Jewish revolt.[85] As later revealed by his colleagueSergiu Dan, Răcăciuni belonged to a category of Jewish journalists who continued to write unsigned pieces in various periodicals, some of which supported the Nazi agenda. Other such authors were Baltazar,A. A. Luca,Ștefan Tita, and Dan himself.[86] The ghetto newspaper,Gazeta Evreească, hosted Răcăciuni's theatrical chronicles from at least January 1943.[87] In November, he was a guest speaker at Fraterna Jewish Temple, for a ceremony commemorating the writer-activistMoses Schwartzfeld—appearing there alongsideEnric Furtună,Barbu Lăzăreanu,Ioan Massoff, andLazăr Șaraga.[88] His text,Omul de departe ("A Man Far Away"), premiered in May 1943 at The Barașeum—Dan received partial credit for having provided the original idea for the text, while the music score was authored by Eugen José Singer.[89] Literary historian Nicolae Bârna notes it as a marginally expressionistic text, one more obviously rooted in the staples ofboulevardier theater; he also believes it to be Răcăciuni's best work for the stage.[90]
Răcăciuni was allowed to return to regular literary life after theanti-fascist coup of 23 August 1944. Immediately after, he was appearing atAthénée Palace restaurant, an impromptu literary café, sharing his booth there withIon Vinea,Franz Johannes Bulhardt, andAnastase Demian.[91] In November, while living at 21 Eminescu Street, he was planning to set up his own cultural magazine,Intermezzo—with Galaction, Tita,Ștefan Baciu,Dan Petrașincu,Ieronim Șerbu,Iosif Iser andVictor Eftimiu as designated contributors. Obtaining vetting from theSocial Democratic Party, he also sought approval from theAllied Commission, only for his application to be denied by theSoviet agent, S. A. Dangulov.[92] Also then, Răcăciuni penned an article for the Jewish paperNeamul Evreesc, calling out Romanian authorities for procrastinating when it came to returning confiscated or looted assets, and describing the whole situation as a "grotesque nightmare".[93] He managed to put outDați-ni'L înapoi pe Iisus in its printed version in December 1944.[73] It was followed shortly after by a reprint of hisAtta Troll translation. The local press welcomed the latter contribution as a cautionary tale about the perils ofGerman nationalism,[68][94] though, according to Perpessicius, the version was unequal, alternating "perfect lines" with imperfections of an "ursine grace".[95]
Between 1945 and 1948, Răcăciuni was department head at another publishing house,Editura Cugetarea.[96] In 1946, he translatedDezső Szomory'sDr Alice Brönte, which was used for a production at Teatrul Mic, withMarin Iorda as director; a freak fire destroyed all the props while the company was touring with the play.[97] In May 1946, Răcăciuni and Tita were admitted into the revampedRomanian Writers' Society, as part of a mass induction.[98] By then, he had joined his former ECN bossesAristide Blank and Rosetti, as well as writers Galaction, Vinea,Petre Ghiață,Valentin Saxone andTudor Teodorescu-Braniște, in setting up the democratic-liberal clubIdeea. It was ultimately banned in 1947, as incompatible with a planned takeover by theRomanian Communist Party.[99] In the new political climate, Răcăciuni was veering toward the political left, allowing his poems to be printed in psro-Soviet magazines, including Lazăr Beneș'sLumina.[100] According to literary historianHenri Zalis, Răcăciuni, like fellow JewsFelix Aderca andMihail Sebastian, was persuaded by the communists' doctrine on the creation of a "new democracy". Zalis argues that such authors had learned to mistrust capitalism, without realizing that their attitudes were helping to breed a new totalitarian order.[101]
N. Bârna notes that Răcăciuni had fully withdrawn from literary life after the establishment of acommunist regime;[102] however, his 1976 obituary includes mention of various contributions in thereportage genre, as well as his translations fromVladimir Mayakovsky.[10] In March 1948, alongsideSașa Pană,Alexandru Phoebus,Geo Dumitrescu and Rodica Pandele, he visited with the railway workers atGrivița, having been ordered to seek his inspiration in that landscape.[103] Answering an invitation made bySportul Popular daily, he visited the training center ofCluj in September, promising to write "a cycle of sport-themed poems and a few novellas."[104] Răcăciuni was still active within theWriters' Union (USR), and, in March 1949, attended a meeting with the local section of Cluj. His hosts found his presence a disappointment and an insult, since they had expected a more prestigious guest, namelyGeorge Călinescu. As a Cluj representative,Emil Isac hid his displeasure, but, behind Răcăciuni's back, referred to him underan obscene nickname,Căcăciuni.[105] Răcăciuni was working on translatingBernhard Kellermann'sTotentanz, appearing in 1950.[106] At the USR in June of that year, he and Marcel Marcian issued objections against dramatistMihail Davidoglu's play,Cetatea de foc, which they regarded as a worker-themedmelodrama. They therefore challenged the literary establishment, who had awarded Davidoglu accolades for his contributions tosocialist realism. As a result, they found themselves censured inFlacăra magazine, which referred to their "bourgeois opinions".[107] In 1951, the Cinematography Committee handed him and Baltazar 280,000lei as advance payment on a screenplay, but they had still not completed it by 1952.[108]
Răcăciuni is known to have suppressed mention ofIsus, possibly because of its religious content, since it would have been unpalatable to the newpolitical censors.[38] He was instead still engaged in propagating radical-themed literature: alongside H. Dumitru, he worked onLuise Dornemann's biography ofJenny Marx, publishing their version in 1957.[109] WithIon Filotti Cantacuzino, he penned a translation ofBertold Brecht'sThreepenny Opera. It was used in 1964 by directorLiviu Ciulei, albeit in a heavily modified form—interposing additional text by Ciulei andNina Cassian.[110] He also worked onAnna Seghers'The Dead Stay Young, done in collaboration with "Petru Mureșanu" (pen name of the interwar critic and diplomatIon Chinezu) and published in 1964.[111] Răcăciuni continued to write on his massive diary,[112] finally publishing a book of memoirs (Amintiri, 1967). As noted by Anghelescu, it was part of a "boom" in memoirs by interwar survivors, in turn facilitated by a1960s "political détente".[38] Perspessicius welcomed it as a "book of friendship", precious in its restorative efforts,[6] while later scholarship invoked it as a source on the social makeup ofshtetls.[113] It still sparked immediate controversy with its boasts, intensely mocked by literary critic Marian Popa in a 1971 essay.[114] Răcăciuni's claims aboutCamil Petrescu were seen as especially egregious, since the memoirist reported that he had both inspired and corrected Petrescu's magnum opus,Ultima noapte de dragoste, întâia noapte de război. Researcher Doru Scărlătescu, who found the account "revolting" (especially since Răcăciuni added that he had needed to condense the novel), also noted that it contradicted known facts of literary history.[115] A similar point was made by the former theater critic G. Cristobald, in relation to Răcăciuni's claim to have partied withGeorge Mihail Zamfirescu at a time when Zamfirescu's whereabouts could be precisely verified to another location.[116]
Răcăciuni lived for almost a decade after this scandal. In April 1968, he was inBacău, lecturing at the pedagogic institute about his erstwhile encounters with poetGeorge Bacovia.[117] He returned to his native village in August of that year, addressing a large crowd of locals, numbering as many as 300, in the house of culture. He presented them with his new project, that of translating diaries left by medics in theImperial German Army, who had set up camp in the area during theThird Battle of Oituz (1917).[118] After an unspecified debilitating illness, he died in Bucharest on the morning of 17 June 1976,[10] by which time he was being rediscovered by Crohmălniceanu as a major voice in Romanian expressionism.[38][119] He was buried atFilantropia Israelite Cemetery on 20 June, after a two-day wake.[10]
At that time of Răcăciuni's death, onlyTrei cruci was the only one of his plays to have been published in a bound-book form—Histerie was almost entirely lost, surviving only in a German translation by Dusza Czara.[120] N. Stroe, who had experienced success in the postwarrevue genre, emigrated toIsrael in 1977, and died there in June 1990.[121][122] From his second marriage, to actress Rolanda Camin, he had a son, Eugen Stroe, and a daughter, Dana.[122] The former, legally known as Eugen Nacht, became an actor and director while still in Romania. After joining his father, he opened his own studio inShoham and making return trips to Romania, including to Răcăciuni;[123] together with Crohmălniceanu, he undertook efforts to promote his uncle's memory.[124] His sister, meanwhile, remained active as a clinical psychologist, in Israel.[122]
Around 1987, Răcăciuni's plays were being collected as a single volume,Teatru, care ofElena Zaharia-Filipaș andEditura Dacia. It was planned as part of a "Restitutions" collection, but censors interfered by banning the entire project.[125] The anthology was ultimately approved and prepared for print just shortly before theRomanian Revolution of 1989, meaning that it could only include selections from the controversialIsus. Anghelescu reported on this as a defect, since that text "is the only one that would still arouse any interest in works of drama by the now-forgotten Răcăciuni."[38] WriterVlaicu Bârna welcomed the posthumous volume, which was released in 1990, commenting that Răcăciuni had documented "the modern soul" with its "congenital obsessions", that the "lively dialogue" was enjoyable, upsetting "futileboulevardier plays" that were always on show in interwar Bucharest; he also observed that the republished plays still erred in their "bizarre situations and grandiloquent lines".[41] Literary interest in Răcăciuni's biography was revived byMansdorf, a 2023 show at the State Jewish Theater (formerly The Barașeum). It features him as a side character, and, in what may be a piece ofmetafiction, also as the co-author of a banned,Holocaust-themed, play.[81]
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