Mihu Dragomir | |
|---|---|
 Dragomir at his writing desk in November 1957 | |
| Born | Mihail Constantin Dragomirescu (1919-04-24)April 24, 1919 |
| Died | April 9, 1964(1964-04-09) (aged 44) |
| Pen name | Mișu Brăilițeanu, Miguel y Caramba, M. C. Dragomirescu, Jules Limah, Dr. M. C., Mihail |
| Occupation | Journalist, publisher, soldier |
| Period | 1933–1964 |
| Genre | |
| Literary movement | |
| Signature | |
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Mihu Dragomir (pen name ofMihail Constantin Dragomirescu; April 24, 1919 – April 9, 1964) was aRomanian poet, prose writer and translator. A native ofBrăila on theBărăgan Plain, he was heavily influenced by the worldview of an older novelist,Panait Istrati, as well as by the poetic works ofMihai Eminescu andEdgar Allan Poe. He debuted in his early teens, and, before turning 19, had self-published his first volume of verse, also putting out the literary magazineFlamura. The late 1930s and early '40s saw his sympathy for, and finally engagement with, Romanian fascism—he joined the literary circleAdonis, founded by former members of theCrusade of Romanianism, and, during the "National Legionary State" of 1940, openly adhered to theIron Guard. Rebelliousness interfered with Dragomir's educational path, but he recovered enough to train as asapper, then as a junior officer, in theRomanian Land Forces. He fought in their ranks for the remainder of World War II, witnessing events which were retold in his poetic cycles (including averse novel) and short-story collections.
Thecoup of August 1944 and theSoviet occupation of Romania were celebrated in Dragomir's poems as inaugural evens in a national revolution. He was joined he mass organizations of theRomanian Communist Party, moving from genericprogressivism toLeninism, and then to explicitStalinism. Hispolitical poetry pioneered the conceptions ofsocialist realism from as early as 1946; from 1948, the cultural authorities ofCommunist Romania employed him as editor ofViața Romînească, literary expert, translator ofRussian literature, and purveyor ofagitprop—though he was also excluded from the Party, and deemed ideologically unreliable, in 1950. His lyrical contributions were published in quick succession in the 1950s, and were celebrated at the time by the communist establishment—though they came to be seen as shameful by later scholarship, which examined their mediocre versification and their support forland collectivization. Dragomir continued to write poems thatpost-Stalinist reviewers upheld as more genuine, or even brilliant; he generally kept these for private use, or, when he published some of them, was attacked by his peers as an "escapist".
Dragomir was always seen as a suspicious figure by Communist Party cadres. These either viewed him as an infiltrator planted bypost-fascist "enemy groups", or were alarmed by his alleged embrace ofliberal socialism. He was isolated and sidelined after theHungarian Revolution of 1956, upon which he was sent to work as a consultant for thelocal film industry, during which time he inspiredThe Thistles of the Baragan, adapted from Istrati's work. In July 1958, he became founder and main editor of the revivedLuceafărul, though the regime would not allow him full credits for his work there. His main contribution to that venue, and toRomanian literature in general, was as a discoverer and promoter of new talent. In his late thirties and early forties, Dragomir also contributed to theRomanian science fiction scene and, upon witnessing the first manifestations ofnational-communism, inaugurated his own transition to philosophical, largely non-political, poetry; this included publishing work that he had authored in previous decades. His death from a heart attack at age 44 interrupted this effort, though six posthumous volumes were issued by his wife, into the 1980s.
The future poet was born in Brăila to a family of teachers—Constantin Dragomirescu and his wife Octavia-Olimpia (née Rădulescu).[1] Musician Claudiu Moldovan claims that, due to his "brown complexion" and familiarity withLăutari songs, Mihu Dragomir was mistakenly seen byRomanies as belonging to their own ethnic community.[2] According to a memoir by film directorAlexandru Struțeanu, he was always passionate about the Brăila-born and left-wing novelistPanait Istrati—viewing himself as a living version of Istrati's main character, Adrian Zografi.[3] Upon reaching maturity, he was adverse to organized religion, praising poetDumitru Theodor Neculuță for not giving in to "bourgeois institutions" such as theRomanian Orthodox Church.[4]
Young Dragomir attended primary school in his native city, followed byNicolae Bălcescu High School from 1929 to 1933. In 1933, he studied atBucharest'sGheorghe Șincai High School, returning to Brăila for the Commercial High School from 1934 to 1936.[1] Dragomir's first newspaper article appeared inRevista Tineretului Creștin in 1933; other contributions followed in thecrossword magazinesRevista Jocurilor,Rebus andCurentul Jocurilor, where he used the pen names Jules Limah, Dr. M. C., Mihail, Mișu Brăilițeanu and M. C. Dragomirescu. His first poems appeared in print in 1936, in theSilistra-basedValuri Dunărene.[1] That year, he self-published his first book of poems,Gânduri prăfuite ("Dusty Thoughts"), in 200 copies.[1] In summer 1936, he traced Istrati's steps together with his friend Niță Vrînceanu, organizing a riotous party inBaldovinești together with Moș Dumitru (whose life had been fictionalized by Istrati).[5]
Expelled out of school for a "nihilist" attitude, Dragomir re-enrolled in autumn 1936, and graduated at the top of his class in 1939.[1] He also foundedFlamura ("The Pennon") magazine in Brăila in 1937, handing its management to Ștefan Topcea (known then as Mac Antoniu) and Gheorghe Capagea-Rosetti in early 1939.[6] By May 1939, he had been drafted into theRomanian Land Forces as asapper, and was assigned to a garrison in Brăila; he was considering quitting school and emigrating toAntwerp.[6] That summer, after a short stay in northernMoldavia,[6] he eventually passed hisbaccalaureate inGalați.[7] The same year, he entered theBucharest Commercial Academy,[1] and by 1940 was hosted at adormitory on Cuza-Vodă Street.[7] He eventually interrupted his business training in order to attend theBacău reserve officers' school from 1940 to 1941.[1] Dragomir also returned to publishing with short poetry collections:Rugă de ateu, adică vorbe despre orânduieli și cârmuitori ("An Atheist's Prayer, Which Is to Say a Talk of Regimes and Rulers", 1938) andÎnger condeier ("Scribbling Angel", 1939). Magazines that published his work includeUniversul Literar,Luceafărul,Revista Fundațiilor Regale,Viață și Suflet,Năzuința,Junimea Dobrogeană,Raza Literară,Cadran,Festival,Păcală, andEpigrama. He first used the pen name Mihu Dragomir inFlamura in 1938.[1]
The late 1930s witnessed a rise of theIron Guard and other fascist groups; this political setting touched Dragomir's debut years, leading to controversy. In early 1938,Viață și Suflet, managed by Capagea-Rosetti, had already been described inCuvântul as one of "two good Guardist publications put out from Brăila."[8] In 2005, literary historianGeo Șerban spoke of Dragomir's admiration for the Guardist leaderCorneliu Zelea Codreanu, as a "juvenile conviction that poetry will gain its vitality once it embraces the arsenal of Codrenist ideology." A proof of "indisputable adherence to Guardism", such contributions "vanished from [Dragomir's] bibliography".[9] Paul Bărbulescu and Virgil Treboniu, former members of a Guardist splinter group called "Crusade of Romanianism",[10] had set up a poetry circle,Adonis. Its eponymous magazine hosted Dragomir's writing;[1] his poems were also featured in theAdonis anthology oflove poems, out in late 1939.[6] In 1940,[1] when Dragomir composed a poem named forEdgar Allan Poe, it was published byAdonis and the Ionescu-Tămădău printing press.[6] Those months brought Dragomir's debut as a translator, with versions of poems by Poe (in an edition seen by critic Aurel Martin as "excellent")[11] andCharles Baudelaire.[6] By January 1940, Dragomir was present for Bărbulescu's literary sessions, which were also attended by a literary celebrity,Tudor Arghezi.[7] In later years, allegations surfaced that Dragomir himself had affiliated with the Crusade.[12]
Themodernist magazinePrepoem, which was in print during early 1940 and had an anonymized editorial staff, hosted and celebrated Dragomir as a highly valuable talent;[13] as noted in a 1960 polemical letter by the more senior poetVintilă Horia, Dragomir was in fact its editor-in-chief, infusing the journal with the fascist agenda.[14] AtPrepoem, he announced at the time that he had prepared over six volumes of verse.[13] The Iron Guard ascended to power in late 1940, establishing a "National Legionary State" that lasted to January 1941. This regime was supported by Dragomir and hisFlamura, in particular after it emerged that a more senior poet,Ion Barbu, was a Guard affiliate. On December 1, 1940, Dragomir wrote about the "green pennon of the Guard, and the azure pennon of eternal Poetry", flying side by side.[15] In 1976, researcher Nicolae Florescu, who published Barbu's thank-you letter, but not Dragomir's original article, calls the latter "rather confusing in its exaltation".[16] As Șerban notes, in his response Barbu seemed not to know, and not to ultimately care, that Dragomir was himself a poet.[15]
Dragomir survived thecivil war of 1941, in which the Guard was chased out byConducătorIon Antonescu. He resumed university classes in 1942, but was mobilized in 1943 and saw action in World War II until 1945.[1] His service overlapped with thecoup of August 23, 1944, which saw Romania abandoning theAxis powers and aligning itself with theSoviet Union—in his later poems, Dragomir described this as an act of national liberation.[17] He continued his studies, with interruptions, until graduating in 1948.[1] His return to journalism came in late 1944, whenȘtefan Baciu hosted his pieces, signed as Miguel y Caramba, in hisHumorul magazine.[18] From 1945 to 1946, he was cultural officer in theRomanian Communist Party-affiliated Organization of Progressive Youth (UTP),[1] while his wife, known as "Titi", was employed in an identical position by the Union of Antifascist Women.[19]
In November 1945, after clashes with the anti-communistNational Peasantists andNational Liberals, Dragomir represented the UTP at a rally in Brăila, as one of the speakers who demanded that the two "fascist" groups be outlawed.[20] Starting in 1946,[21] he was a practitioner ofsocialist realism. He first stated his new aesthetic goals in a manifesto he wrote alongside G. Climatiano, and which he presented for review in the Communist Party newspaper,Scînteia.[22] An editor at the Brăila newspaperÎnainte from 1946 to 1948,[1] he wrote to Vrînceanu that he was "studyingLeninism", that he had attempted to set up a circle ofEsperanto speakers, and that he considered entering academia or the diplomatic service.[6] He finally moved to a similar editorial position atViața Romînească of Bucharest, maintaining it from 1948 to 1954—in the early years of thecommunist regime.[1]
During that interval, Dragomir debuted as an exegete of thenational poet,Mihai Eminescu. According to literary scholar Niculae Stoian, samples of his work in the field include an Eminescu lecture at Bucharest'sDalles Hall, as well as an "extremely courageous" study ofDoina, hosted byÎnainte in 1949.[23] More secretly, his loyalty to communism was being assessed by theSecuritate staff and the Communist Party'sAgitprop section. As early as 1949, a classified document of the latter discussed "Mihu Dragomir, a former Guardist", as being in permanent contact with an "enemy group" formed aroundAndrei Ciurunga. The anonymous author alleged that Dragomir had once misplaced his personal papers in a public area, upon which the Securitate had stumbled upon evidence that he had been a wartime informant, involved with "staking out" a communist activist, Manole H. Manole.[24] His ideological commitments were probed in March 1950, when a review board excluded Dragomir from the "Workers' Party" (as the Communists Party was then known); the decision also affected other writers, variously includingVladimir Cavarnali,Sanda Movilă,Zaharia Stancu, andVictor Tulbure. All were still allowed to write, due to an intervention on their behalf by the communist potentateAna Pauker, but were also made to undergo ideological training withMiron Constantinescu andLeonte Răutu.[25]
Also in 1950, Dragomir had publishedreportages—sponsored by theWriters' Union of Romania (USR), and asked by it to follow a Soviet model.[26] In 1951, he published his translation of poems byAlexey Surkov, largely dealing Surkov's experience in theRussian Civil War.[27] Dragomir's own scattered contributions from Romania's early communist period feature ahymn toJoseph Stalin, with music byAnatol Vieru. Writing in 1950, criticMihai Gafița claimed that "the masses know and sing that song", which "contributes toward deepening their love for comrade Stalin."[28] AtViața Romînească, Dragomir was interested in the overall development of propaganda through song. In a December 1952 piece, he panned lyricists such asConstantin Ghiban,Ștefan Tita, Nicolae Nasta, and Harry Negrin, whom he saw as cultivating the staples ofvaudeville.[29] By then, he had attended USR meetings which introduced the new and strict directives of literaryStalinism, with reference toGeorgy Malenkov's speeches. He agreed with Malenkov's rejection of literary "glumness", noting that "glum" images had appeared in poems by Tulbure andNina Cassian.[30]
From 1954 to 1956, Dragomir was editor-in-chief ofTânărul Scriitor,[1] put out by the USR as atrade magazine for young communist authors.[12] The poetry books he put out during the time werePrima șarjă ("The First Assault", 1950),Stelele păcii ("Star of Peace", 1952),Războiul ("The War", 1954),Tudor din Vladimiri (1954),Pe struna fulgerelor ("On the String of Lightnings", 1955),Versuri alese ("Selected Verse", 1957), andOdă pământului meu ("An Ode to My Land", 1957).[31] In November 1954, the USR staged a ceremony to mark Neculuță's 50-year commemoration. Dragomir gave a lecture, whileDemostene Botez andIoanichie Olteanu read out from Neculuță'sSpre țărmul dreptății.[32] WithVeronica Porumbacu andMihail Petroveanu, he also authored a screenplay calledCheia văii, but complained that the "relevant authorities in cinema" were unwilling to film it.[33] Around that time,Editura Cartea Rusă received his translations of poems byVladimir Mayakovsky andKonstantin Simonov, as well as the entirety ofAlexander Yashin'sAlena Fomina (the latter as a collaboration with C. Argeșeanu).[33] His renditions formed a significant portion of a Simonov edition which came out in late 1955, but he was criticized by a fellow writer, Dimitrie Florea-Rariște, for not capturing the "plenitude of [Simonov's] lyricism".[34] He also penned other translations from socialist contributors toRussian andBulgarian literature—Nikola Vaptsarov[35] andNikolai Tikhonov.[36] He had abandoned his work in the promotion of Esperanto, describing that language as "artificial and cold, practically useless."[19]
Dragomir was rewarded by the communist state. He twice a recipient of its State Prize,[35] one of which was in 1955, forRăzboiul.[19] Dragomir's career suffered during theHungarian Revolution of 1956, when the Romanian communist leadership became alarmed about the local spread ofliberal socialism. This was noted by novelist and defectorPetru Dumitriu, who informed theCentral Intelligence Agency on the status of cultural dissent. Dumitriu assessed that Dragomir and Tulbure, alongsideAlexandru Andrițoiu,Francisc Munteanu, andTitus Popovici, were being perceived as direct threats by Communist-Party potentates.[37] Dragomir's supposed engagement in the Crusade became a topic of denunciation and debate during the Young Writers' Conference of 1956.[12] By contrast with Dumitriu, the liberal-communist poetMiron Radu Paraschivescu wrote in his secret diary that Dragomir was one of the "most business-minded elements on the right", who had infiltrated a genuine revolution after having "suckled at the tit of each regime and each budget"; Paraschivescu's category of far-right "covert agents" also included Florea-Rariște,Anatol E. Baconsky, andEusebiu Camilar.[38] In his 1960 text, the self-exiled Horia remarked that Dragomir and Camilar, likeMihai Ralea andCostin Murgescu, still managed to become communist "collaborators" despite their early engagement with fascism.[14] Literary scholarEugen Negrici argues that, as one "recovered from the right-wing areas", Dragomir suffused literary communism with echoes fromclerical fascism and theIron Guard's Orthodox mysticism.[39]
After his association withTânărul Scriitor ended, and down to 1958,[1] Dragomir worked as editor-in-chief at the script-writing section of the Bucharest Cinematographic Center. In preparation for a national commemoration of thepeasants' revolt of 1907, he proposed to filmThe Thistles of the Baragan, based on a novel by Istrati.[40] His project was accepted andLouis Daquin was taken in as its director, with Struțeanu providing the screenplay. The three of them together sailed theDanube in thelocation scouting phase of 1957, but Dragomir handed in his resignation during the production stage.[41] He was soon affiliated with the relaunchedLuceafărul, serving on its editorial board from July 15, 1958[42] to 1960. Though sometimes credited as the editor-in-chief,[1] he was in fact barred from taking on that role. In a 1988 piece, literary historian Lucian Chișu reports that this was due to "adverse circumstances", when Dragomir was the man most responsible for the magazine's existence; Dragomir had drafted the earliest project for a publication appealing to "young talents", for which he had proposed the name ofMiorița.[43] When this was approved, with a change of titles and with a transfer of staff fromTânărul Scriitor,[44] he handled three specialized columns. One was dedicated topoetics, and the other two, which were "feverishly read" by the general public, introduced new poetic talents, some of whom became local celebrities.[43] He is credited with having helped discoverConstanța Buzea,Adrian Păunescu,[42] andAlexandru Ivasiuc.[45]
Staff colleagues included poetPetru Vintilă, who recalled in 1988: "Mihu Dragomir, with his dark complexion and fleshy lips, led our meetings, watching us through eyes covered by I couldn't tell you how manydiopters of lenses [...]. I had been his friend for a long time, I loved him for his inimitable humanness, [...] and, obviously, I was amazed to discover in him the consummate editor-in-chief, willing to accept any new idea". Overall, however, he "preserved a rather academic and traditional line" when it came to the magazine's content.[44] Vintilă andFănuș Neagu were both co-editors and contributors, and sometimes took over for Dragomir in going over the readers' submissions. Neagu claims that, after going over 18,000 letters containing no publishable poem, they burned the accumulated stash—resulting in Dragomir halving their salaries for two weeks.[46] According to Vintilă, Dragomir finally quitLuceafărul: "If I recall correctly, he was being subjected to an annoying obstruction by some hangers-on."[44]
Dragomir continued to publish his own poetry in various installments:Pe drumuri nesfîrșite ("On Endless Roads", 1958),Întoarcerea armelor ("Weapons-turning", 1959),Poveștile bălții ("Stories of the Pond", 1959),Stelele așteaptă pămîntul ("Stars Await the Earth", 1961), andInelul lui Saturn ("Saturn's Ring", 1964).[47] His work as a translator also coveredH. G. Wells,John Steinbeck, andLope de Vega;[1] he also had noted contributions as a literary historian, with new essays on Eminescu,Alexandru Macedonski, andGeorge Ranetti.[35] In 1959, he curated and prefaced a reissue ofSpre țărmul dreptății.[48] A volume of his own prose appeared in 1961, asLa început a fost sfîrșitul ("First, There Was the End").[35][49] By then, Dragomir had been integrated within a new generation ofRomanian science fiction authors, with samples taken up by the literary supplement ofȘtiință și Tehnică magazine;[50] such prose appeared in 1962 asPovestiri deocamdată fantastice ("Stories for Now Fantastic").[1][35] AtLuceafărul, he was also reviewing the work of other science fiction authors, criticizingGheorghe Săsărman for rehashing old narrative tropes into ascience fantasy format.[51]
Dragomir died of a heart attack inGiurgiu on April 9, 1964, shortly before turning 45; he was reportedly there on a literary assignment.[35] His body was taken to Bucharest. On April 11, after a ceremony hosted by the USR (where Tulbure recited a poem dedicated to his late friend), it wascremated atCenușa.[52] The following year saw the publication of a poetry collection,Șarpele fantastic ("The Fantastic Snake").[53][54] His widow Chira (known in full as Chiriachița Dragomirescu)[23] kept over 1,000 unpublished poems of his,[55] which came out as additional volumes:Pămîntul cîntecului ("Land of Song", 1967),Dor ("Longing", 1969),Minutar peste netimp ("A Minute Hand over Nontime", 1974), andNoapte calmă ("A Calm Night", 1980).[56] She also bequeathed some of her late husband's manuscripts to Stoian,[23] but personally handled a retrospective edition,Sărbătorile poetului ("The Poet's Celebrations"), as it came out in 1988.[57][58] Its preface was one of the last contributions penned by critic Mircea Scarlat.[57] Dragomir's memory as an author of science fiction was preserved by theradioplayReîntîlnire cu Griffit ("Upon Reuniting with Griffit"). Based on one of his stories, it was aired in June 1968 onnational radio's program forPioneers.[59]Brăila County's Council for Socialist Culture and Education celebrated his 60th birthday in April 1979 with a literary session. Guests included Neagu, Stoian,George Bălăiță,Ion Dodu Bălan,Corneliu Leu,George Macovescu,Damian Necula, and Gica Iuteș, alongside Chira Dragomir.[60] From 1981, his native city came to host a "Gala of patriotic and revolutionary poetry" honoring the poet, and named after hisOdă pământului meu.[61]
Dragomir's first four books, seen by Mircea Scarlat as samples of "social-leaningneo-romanticism",[57] remain the least discussed segments of his poetic output.[62] InGânduri prăfuite, the teen-aged poet was at least partly influenced by Eminescu brand ofRomantic poetry, opening his volume with a motto from Eminescu's "To My Critics". Noting this fact, Stoian also proposes that, when Dragomir found his "other masters, such as the American demoniac Edgar Allan Poe, he did not let go of [Eminescu,] his first teacher in matters of poetry and living".[23] Aurel Martin believes that the Poesque influence, doubled and enhanced by that ofPaul Verlaine, created thematic links between Dragomir and a vagabond-poetDimitrie Stelaru; both men had literarypersonas whom they depicted as "angels".[11] In Dragomir's debut years, which saw his temporary incorporation ofavant-garde aesthetics,[63] cultural journalists discussed him as lacking in discernment or taste. InConvorbiri Literare, Teodor Al. Munteanu described one of his articles inViață și Suflet as promoting "banal" poems. Dragomir treated their authors with such "feelings of friendship that should not have interfered with correct literary information."[64] As suggested in 1940 by N. Rahova ofÎnsemnări Ieșene magazine,Prepoem also constituted a mixture of "good enough poems, bad poems, and, spread out here and there, poems that are of a very good inspiration".[65] The same conclusion appears in a 1994 text byGeo Șerban, describingFlamura in 1940 as a mix of "truly gifted" contributors, such asIon Caraion, and "nomadic improvisers" likeConstantin Mitea.[15]
Upon reading the youthful pieces only included inNoapte calmă,Florența Albu, herself a poet, concluded that they were "uneven", alternating extremist stances with "gentle poems" about the Danube and theBărăgan Plain.[63] EssayistLucian Raicu sees the latter works as "rare glimpses of calmness and stability", bordering on Eminescu's own depiction of tranquility—and with the therapeutic purpose of "shielding the poet" from "the more painful questions".[66] Raicu reserves his praise for samples in which Dragomir finds authenticity of feeling, and a poetic voice, with the "curiously prolonged dwelling" on themes ofunrequited love.[67] One such piece reads:
Strada, strada blestemată, a ivit o siluetă
Și ochii tăi m-au frămîntat și m-au durut.
Mirosul sîmburelui crud
De sărutare și oftat, mă-ncape.
Vezi? Versul e mic și ud
De lacrimi, tentații și ape.[68]
The street, damn that street, has shown me those contours,
The sting of your eyes that has had me flayed.
The smell of kernel, all raw, and I wailed,
It fills me with kisses, and moans, and with splatter.
See here, my lyrics are soaked—and curtailed,
With tears, with temptation and water.
In 1943, Dragomir earned attention from criticOvidiu Papadima with poems about combat on theEastern Front. As noted by Papadima, these came in succession toCamil Petrescu's works about the previous world war—a poetry that was "lucid, urban, its sadness spent on the material aspect of war".[69] Some two years later, Dragomir returned withpolitical poems seen by Negrici as "iconoclastic" and "progressive", with a revolt that still appeared "normal in the dialectic of poetic cycles". Negrici situates him alongside other left-wingers of that time, fromAlexandru Toma andSașa Pană toRadu Boureanu,Geo Dumitrescu,Magda Isanos, andEugen Jebeleanu.[70] Eventually, Dragomir was consecrated by his official communist poetry. Upon publication, his and Climatiano's manifesto, calling for literature to be "anchor[ed] in reality", was welcomed by the communist columnistPaul Cornea, who only chided the "somewhat bloated and at times declamatory style".[22] Dragomir's official obituary, put out by the USR, lauded his "vigorous talent [which] has reached its full and well-rounded affirmation in the people's power era. [...] The pages of his books attest to the poet's attachment and dedication to all that was daring and generous during the years when socialism was being constructed."[35]
Dragomir's political engagement reflected on his view of other authors: in the late 1950s, he persistently accused Baconsky of cultivating "escapism".[71] Critics of the day, such as Valeriu Cristea, gave enthusiastic appraisals of Dragomir's poetry, but these were contradicted in later years—literary scholars Nicolae Mecu and Adriana Catrina describe his output as forgettable.[72] In 1980, Albu had noted that: "[Dragomir's] short, plain, sincere lines—life's own poetry—begin to be engulfed by oratory, by the platitudes of poetry, after 1950."[73] In her own 2013 overview, Catrina concludes that "present-day opinion condemns such literature as a black spot in the Romanian literary history."[74]
As noted by Negrici, Dragomir, alongside Toma, Tulbure, andDan Deșliu, "quickly ran through all the social-professional subjects", making it hard for other poets to fulfill the "party command" of writing for and about workers.[75]Stelele păcii was officially praised inContemporanul for exploring the life and death of "enlightened workers", for instance by its posthumous ode toPyotr Pavlenko, "dead at his writing desk."[76] He had an especially controversial status as a propagandist forland collectivization, depicting collective-farm managers in terms that, Negrici argues, evoke theKnights of the Round Table.[77] One other such piece wasFostul mijlocaș ("Once, a Yeoman"), which Dragomir still took pride in writing, "since he let [it] be included in the 1956 collectionVersuri alese."[78] He upheld the notion that soldiers of theRed Army were teachers of the Romanian people, while contributing toJoseph Stalin's cult of personality; at the time ofStalin's death, he reused lyrical themes apparently evoking thecrucifixion of Jesus.[79] By 1951, Dragomir had drawn subject matter from theGreek Civil War, mourning the fate ofNikos Beloyannis.[80] Like other poets of his generation, he was commissioned to versify theTito–Stalin split, in terms which suggested thatTitoism was the "new fascism".[81] He identifiedSocialist Yugoslavia as an absolute villain:
În Belgradul tăcut, ca-ntr-un ochian
privește Tito, mândru de ispravă,
și din balcon, trimis-american
privește-orașul oferit pe tavă[82]
Pe drumuri nesfîrșite was effectively a personal anthology focused onsocialist patriotism and the "patriotic education of our soldiers". It offers glimpses of Dragomir's own life as a "communist man" in the trenches of World War II, alongside landscape poetry of theSiret Valley.[36] Stylistically,Războiul originated fromold peasant folklore, with its laments against conscription (known ascântece de cătănie).[83] It developed into averse novel centered on the 1940s experiences of a "fighter for peace" engaged in the armed struggle againstNazi Germany. As explained by Dragomir himself, its content evidenced "the unshakable friendship that's formed between the Soviet people and our own people."[33] While still a formal communist,Petru Dumitriu suggested thatRăzboiul could be translated into English or French, which would have scored a Soviet victory in the campaign forworld peace.[84] The prose penchant ofRăzboiul,La început a fost sfîrșitul aims o depict the anti-Soviet war as "illogical" and "invasive".[85] Its stories depict acts of belated anti-fascist positioning, such as peasants refusing to colonizeTransnistria, or soldiers disarming theirWehrmacht colleagues upon hearing that a truce had been signed; these were poorly reviewed in 1963 by journalist I. Miron, who commented on Dragomir's "hastiness" and reliance on "platitudes".[86]
With similar folkloric roots,Tudor din Valdimiri presents as a retelling of theWallachian uprising of 1821 inballad form.[83] InInelul lui Saturn, subjects are drawn from the life ofVladimir Lenin and his leading theOctober Revolution, Pioneer outings,planned urbanization with the construction of tower blocs, andcommunist symbolism (including thered flag and theSoviet State Emblem).[87] The poemRoșu ("Red") dwells on the overall political significance of a political color:
Roșu de-o mare de stele,
roșu de holdele grele,
roșu, sub cearcănul lunii,
de zorii și-amiaza Comunii.[88]
Red with the stars and their light,
red with the moon in the night,
red in the wheat and its boon,
in theCommune, at morning, at noon.
Other such pieces celebrated the major events of communist historiography, including the 1907 revolt, theGrivița strike of 1933, the August 23 events, the1948 Constitution, and thenationalization of industry.[89] In one such contribution, Dragomir writes about the leading role of the Communist Party:
În cîntecul de azi,
cînd patria-și adună,
buchetele-mplinirii,
pe-ntinsurile ei,
e dragostea-nchinată
pornirii de furtună
ce-a ridicat poporul
în August 23.[17]
The song we sing for thee,
when our country mustered
the flowers of its glee,
and had them on display,
is passion we collected
from the people flustered,
from when that storm began,
on August twenty-three.
In his socialist-realist years, Dragomir had to fend off accusations of "formalism". His loving depiction of theMăcin Mountains and theirLipovans, included inStelele păcii, was rejected byContemporanul as too idyllic for the new aesthetic standards.[90] A 1953 article bySami Damian mentioned that some of Dragomir's poems had displayed "individualism" and a "bourgeois conception" of literature.[91] Thede-Stalinization process allowed him and his colleagues more room for expression.Poveștile bălții, a work ofchildren's verse, had a main "essentially poetic" topic in the jocular depictions of animals and plants thriving on theDanube Delta, but also included parts in which the "new socialist realities are outlined for our early readers."[92] Albu notes the existence of impressive "glades" in his otherwise dogmatic verse, suggesting that Dragomir was an authentic poet inStelele așteaptă pămîntul, with its lyrical depiction of theSpace Race, and especially in the 1960s melancholy cycle,Cuvintele ("The Words"), which only appeared inNoapte calmă.[73] Of Dragomir's science-fiction period, the storyNatura inversă ("Inverted Nature") was hailed as genuinely beautiful in reviews byOvid Crohmălniceanu andIon Hobana.[93]
Those who knew Dragomir reported a more spontaneous and non-political side of his political creation, largely manifested in oral form. Boureanu mentions his colleague's classical sensibilities: Dragomir recited fromHorace, or spontaneously imitated theHoratian odes, during one of their outings inSulina.[94] Struțeanu similarly recalls Dragomir improvising an homage to the swans of the Danube, which mentioned poetic loves (Sappho,Inês de Castro, andVeronica Micle).[95] According to his colleagueGheorghe Tomozei, Dragomir's "fragile" work of the 1950s concealed his matured talents, mostly spent on "the construction of a new literature and a new literary climate that he himself, alas, never got to witness."[96] As Scarlat notes, Dragomir "misfortune was in that his most obsolete writing was the most circulated, and as such he best known";[57] a similar view was expressed in 1988 by scholar Teodor Vârgolici, according to whom Dragomir's death interrupted his process of stripping off the "dogmatic rhetoric and clamorous conventionalism of the 1950s", whereupon he would have emerged as "one of [Romania's] greatest contemporary poets".[97] The "fantastic snake" metaphor lines up with Dragomir's late-stage philosophical poetry—the poet reflects on himself reflecting, "coiling on himself tenfold".[53] The eponymous volume sees him calmly investigating mortality, notions of the afterlife, and human purpose:
credeam că zboru-n lună e ultimul meu vis,
și-acum e-o filă veche
în ochiul meu deschis...[53]
I though that moon-travels were what I desired,
but now my eye stares down
on a page that's expired...
