Alexandru Macedonski | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1854-03-14)14 March 1854 |
| Died | 24 November 1920(1920-11-24) (aged 66) |
| Pen name | Duna, Luciliu, Sallustiu |
| Occupation | Poet, novelist, short story writer, literary critic, journalist, translator, civil servant |
| Period | 1866–1920 |
| Genre | Lyric poetry,rondel,ballade,ode,sonnet,epigram,epic poetry,pastoral,free verse,prose poetry,fantasy,novella,sketch story,fable,verse drama,tragedy,comedy,tragicomedy,morality play,satire,erotic literature,essay,memoir,biography,travel writing,science fiction |
| Literary movement | Neoromanticism,Parnassianism,Symbolism,Realism,Naturalism,Neoclassicism,Literatorul |
| Signature | |
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Alexandru Macedonski (Romanian pronunciation:[alekˈsandrumat͡ʃeˈdonski]; also rendered asAl. A. Macedonski,Macedonschi orMacedonsky; 14 March 1854 – 24 November 1920) was a Romanian poet, novelist, dramatist and literary critic, known especially for having promoted FrenchSymbolism in his native country, and for leading theRomanian Symbolist movement during its early decades. A forerunner of localmodernist literature, he is the first local author to have usedfree verse, and claimed by some to have been the first in modernEuropean literature. Within the framework ofRomanian literature, Macedonski is seen by critics as second only tonational poetMihai Eminescu; as leader of acosmopolitan andaestheticist trend formed around hisLiteratorul journal, he was diametrically opposed to the inward-looking traditionalism of Eminescu and his school.
Debuting as aNeoromantic in theWallachian tradition, Macedonski went through theRealist-Naturalist stage deemed "social poetry", while progressively adapting his style to Symbolism andParnassianism, and repeatedly but unsuccessfully attempting to impose himself in theFrancophone world. Despite having theorized "instrumentalism", which reacted against the traditional guidelines of poetry, he maintained a lifelong connection withNeoclassicism and its ideal of purity. Macedonski's quest for excellence found its foremost expression in his recurring motif of life as apilgrimage to Mecca, notably used in his critically acclaimedNights cycle. The stylistic stages of his career are reflected in the collectionsPrima verba,Poezii, andExcelsior, as well as in thefantasy novelThalassa, Le Calvaire de feu. In old age, he became the author ofrondels, noted for their detached and serene vision of life, in contrast with his earlier combativeness.
In parallel to his literary career, Macedonski was a civil servant, notably serving asprefect in theBudjak andNorthern Dobruja during the late 1870s. As journalist and militant, his allegiance fluctuated between theliberal current andconservatism, becoming involved in polemics and controversies of the day. Of the long series of publications he founded,Literatorul was the most influential, notably hosting his early conflicts with theJunimea literary society. These targetedVasile Alecsandri and especially Eminescu, their context and tone becoming the cause of a major rift between Macedonski and his public. This situation repeated itself in later years, when Macedonski and hisForța Morală magazine began campaigning against theJunimist dramatistIon Luca Caragiale, whom they falsely accused ofplagiarism. DuringWorld War I, the poet aggravated his critics by supporting theCentral Powers against Romania's alliance with theEntente side. His biography was also marked by an enduring interest inesotericism, numerous attempts to become recognized as an inventor, and an enthusiasm forcycling.
The scion of a political and aristocratic family, the poet was the son of General Alexandru Macedonski, who served asDefense Minister, and the grandson of1821 rebelDimitrie Macedonski. Both his son Alexis and grandson Soare were known painters.
The poet's paternal family had arrived inWallachia during the early 19th century. OfSouth Slav origin perGeorge Călinescu they were descended from Serb insurgents inOttoman-ruledMacedonia.[1] However, according toRadu Florescu they were ofBulgarian origin.[2] Per Romanian historian Constantin Velichi his grandfather was as a Bulgarian who later becameRomanianized.[3]
Alexandru's grandfather Dimitrie and Dimitrie's brotherPavel participated in the 1821 uprising against thePhanariote administration, and in alliance with theFiliki Eteria; Dimitrie made the object of controversy when, during the final stage of the revolt, he sided with the Eteria in its confrontation with Wallachian leaderTudor Vladimirescu, taking an active part in the latter's killing.[4] Both Macedonski brothers had careers in the Wallachian military forces, at a time when the country was governed byImperial Russian envoys, when theRegulamentul Organic regime recognized the family as belonging to Wallachia's nobility.[5] Dimitrie married Zoe, the daughter anethnic Russian orPolish officer; their son, the Russian-educated Alexandru, climbed in the military and political hierarchy, joining theunified Land Forces after his political ally,Alexander John Cuza, was electedDomnitor and the twoDanubian Principalities becameunited Romania.[6] Both the officer's uncle Pavel[1] and brother Mihail[7] were amateur poets.
Macedonski's mother, Maria Fisența (alsoVicenț orVicența), was from an aristocratic environment, being the scion ofOltenianboyars.[8] Through her father, she may have descended from Russian immigrants who had been absorbed into Oltenia's nobility.[9] Maria had been adopted by the boyar Dumitrache Pârâianu, and the couple had inherited the Adâncata and Pometești estates inGoiești, on theAmaradia Valley.[10]
Both the poet and his father were dissatisfied with accounts of their lineage, contradicting them with an account that researchers have come to consider spurious.[11] Although adherents of theRomanian Orthodox Church, the Macedonskis traced their origin toRogala-bearingLithuanian nobility from the defunctPolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.[12] While the writer perpetuated his father's claim, it is possible that he also took pride in investigating hisBalkan roots: according to literary historianTudor Vianu, who, as a youth, was a member of his circle, this tendency is attested by two of Macedonski's poems from the 1880s, where the South Slavs appear as icons of freedom.[13] Vianu's contemporary, literary historianGeorge Călinescu, postulated that, although the family had been absorbed into the ethnic and cultural majority, the poet's origin served to enrichlocal culture by linking it to a "Thracian" tradition and the spirit of "adventurers".[14]
The family moved often, following General Macedonski's postings. Born inBucharest, Macedonski-son was the third of four siblings, the oldest of whom was a daughter, Caterina.[15] Before the age of six, he was a sickly and nervous child, who is reported to have had regulartantrums.[16] In 1862, his father sent him to school in Oltenia, and he spent most time in the Amaradia region.[17] The nostalgia he felt for the landscape later made him consider writing anAmărăzene ("Amaradians") cycle, of which only one poem was ever completed.[17] He was attending theCarol I High School inCraiova and, according to his official record, graduated in 1867.[18]
Macedonski's father had by then become known as an authoritarian commander, and, during his time inTârgu Ocna, faced amutiny which only his wife could stop by pleading with the soldiers (an episode which made an impression on the future poet).[19] A stern parent, he took an active part in educating his children.[20] Having briefly served asDefense Minister, the general was mysteriously dismissed by Cuza in 1863, and his pension became the topic of a political scandal. It ended only under the rule ofCarol I, Cuza'sHohenzollern successor, whenParliament voted against increasing the sum to the level demanded by its recipient.[21] Having preserved a negative impression of the1866 plebiscite, during which Cuza's dethronement had been confirmed,[22] Macedonski remained a committed opponent of the new ruler. As a youth and adult, he sought to revive his father's cause, and included allusions to the perceived injustice in at least one poem.[21] After spending the last months of his life protesting against the authorities, Macedonski-father fell ill and died in September 1869, leaving his family to speculate that he had been murdered by political rivals.[23]
Macedonski left Romania in 1870, traveling throughAustria-Hungary and spending time inVienna, before visiting Switzerland and possibly other countries; according to one account, it was here that he may have first met (and disliked) his rival poetMihai Eminescu, at a time a Viennese student.[24] Macedonski's visit was meant to be preparation for entering theUniversity of Bucharest, but he spent much of his time in thebohemian environment, seeking entertainment and engaging in romantic escapades.[25] He was however opposed to the lifestyle choices of people his age, claiming that they were engaged in "orgy after orgy".[26] At around that date, the young author had begun to perfect a style heavily influenced byRomanticism, and in particular by his Wallachian predecessorsDimitrie Bolintineanu andIon Heliade Rădulescu.[24][27] He was for a while inStyria, atBad Gleichenberg, a stay which, George Călinescu believes, may have been the result of a medical recommendation to help him counter excessive nervousness.[28] The landscape there inspired him to write anode.[29] Also in 1870, he published his first lyrics inGeorge Bariț'sTransylvanian-based journalTelegraful Român.[30]
The following year, he left for Italy, where he visitedPisa,Florence,Venice, and possibly other cities.[31] His records of the journey indicate that he was faced with financial difficulties and plagued by disease.[32] Macedonski also claimed to have attended college lectures in these cities, and to have spent significant time studying atPisa University, but this remains uncertain.[33] He eventually returned to Bucharest, where he entered the Faculty of Letters (which he never attended regularly).[34] According to Călinescu, Macedonski "did not feel the need" to attend classes, because "such a young man will expect society to render upon him its homages."[35] He was again in Italy during spring 1872, soon after publishing his debut volumePrima verba (Latin for "First Word").[36] Having also written an anti-Carol piece, published inTelegraful Român during 1873, Macedonski reportedly feared political reprisals, and decided to make another visit to Styria and Italy while his case was being assessed.[37] It was in Italy that he met FrenchmusicologistJules Combarieu, with whom he corresponded sporadically over the following decades.[38]
During that period, Macedonski became interested in the political scene and political journalism, first as a sympathizer of theliberal-radical current—which, in 1875, organized itself around theNational Liberal Party. In 1874, back in Craiova, Macedonski founded a short-lived literary society known asJunimea, a title which purposefully or unwittingly copied that of the influentialconservative association with whom he would later quarrel.[39] It was then that he met journalist and pedagogueȘtefan Velescu, a meeting witnessed by Velescu's pupil, the future liberal journalistConstantin Bacalbașa, who recorded it in hismemoirs.[40]Oltul magazine, which he had helped establish and which displayed a liberal agenda, continued to be published until July 1875, and featured Macedonski's translations fromPierre-Jean de Béranger,Hector de Charlieu andAlphonse de Lamartine, as well as his debut intravel writing and short story.[41] At age 22, he worked on his first play, acomedy titledGemenii ("The Twins").[42] In 1874 that he came to the attention of young journalist future dramatistIon Luca Caragiale, whosatirized him in articles for the magazineGhimpele, ridiculing his claim to Lithuanian descent, and eventually turning him into the characterAamsky, whose fictional career ends with his death from exhaustion caused by contributing to "for the country's political development".[43] This was the first episode in a consuming polemic between the two figures. Reflecting back on this period in 1892, Macedonski described Caragiale as a "noisy young man" of "sophistic reasoning", whose target audience was to be found in "beer gardens".[44]
In March 1875, Macedonski was arrested on charges ofdefamation[45] orsedition.[46] For almost a year before, he andOltul had taken an active part in the campaign againstConservative Party and its leader,PremierLascăr Catargiu. In this context, he had demanded that the common man "rise up with weapons in their hands and break both the government agents and the government", following up with similar messages aimed at theDomnitor.[47] He was taken to Bucharest'sVăcărești Prison and confined there for almost three months. Supported by the liberal press and defended by the most prestigious pro-liberal attorneys (Nicolae Fleva among them), Macedonski faced a jury trial on 7 June, being eventually cleared of the charges.[48] Reportedly, the Bucharest populace organized a spontaneous celebration of the verdict.[49]
In 1875, after the National LiberalIoan Emanoil Florescu was assigned the post of Premier by Carol, Macedonski embarked on an administrative career. The poet was upset by not being included on the National Liberal list for the1875 suffrage.[50] This disenchantment led him into a brief conflict with the young liberal figureBonifaciu Florescu, only to join him soon afterward in editingStindardul journal, alongsidePantazi Ghica andGeorge Fălcoianu.[46] The publication followed the line ofNicolae Moret Blaremberg, made notorious for hisradical andrepublican agenda.[50] Ghica and Macedonski remained close friends until Ghica's 1882 death.[51]
The new cabinet eventually appointed himPrefect ofBolgrad region, in theBudjak (at the time part of Romania). In parallel, he published his first translation, a version ofParisina, an 1816epic poem byLord Byron,[52] and completed the original worksIthalo andCalul arabului ("The Arab's Horse").[53] He also spoke at theRomanian Atheneum, presenting his views on the state ofRomanian literature (1878).[54] His time in office ended upon the outbreak of theRusso-Turkish War. At the time, Russian volunteers were amassed on the Budjak border, requesting from the Romanian authorities the right of free passage into thePrincipality of Serbia. The National Liberal PremierIon Brătianu, who was negotiating an anti-Ottoman alliance, sent Macedonski signals to let them pass, but the prefect, obeying the official recommendation ofInternal Affairs MinisterGeorge D. Vernescu, decided against it, and was consequently stripped of his office.[35]
Still determined to pursue a career in the press, Macedonski founded a string of unsuccessful magazines withpatriotic content and titles such asVestea ("The Announcement"),Dunărea ("TheDanube"),Fulgerul ("The Lightning") and, after 1880,Tarara (anonomatopoeia equivalent to "Toodoodoo").[55] Their history is connected with that of the Russo-Turkish War, at the end of which Romanian participation on the Russian side resulted in her independence.[56] Macedonski remained committed to the anti-Ottoman cause, and, some thirty years later, stated: "We want noTurkey in Europe!"[57]
By 1879, the poet, who continued to voice criticism of Carol, had several times switched sides between the National Liberals and the opposition Conservatives.[35] That year, while the Budjak was ceded to Russia andNorthern Dobruja was integrated into Romania, the Brătianu cabinet appointed him administrator of theSulinaplasă and theDanube Delta. He had previously refused to be madecomptroller inPutna County, believing such an appointment to be beneath his capacity, and had lost a National Liberal appointment inSilistra whenSouthern Dobruja was granted to thePrincipality of Bulgaria.[35] During this short interval in office, he traveled to theSnake Island in theBlack Sea—his appreciation for the place later motivated him to write thefantasy novelThalassa, Le Calvaire de feu and the poemLewki.[58]
With the 1880s came a turning point in Alexandru Macedonski's career. Vianu notes that changes took place in the poet's relationship with his public: "Society recognizes in him the nonconformist. [...] The man becomes singular; people start talking about his oddities."[59] Macedonski's presumed frustration at being perceived in this way, Vianu notes, may have led him closer to the idea ofpoète maudit, theorized earlier byPaul Verlaine.[60] In this context, he had set his sight on promoting "social poetry", the merger betweenlyricism and political militantism.[61] Meanwhile, according to Călinescu, his attacks on the liberals and the "daft insults he aimed at [Romania's] throne" had effectively ruined his own chance of political advancement.[35]
In January 1880, he launched his most influential and long-lived publication,Literatorul, which was also the focal point of hiseclectic cultural circle, and, in later years, of thelocal Symbolist school. In its first version, the magazine was co-edited by Macedonski, Bonifaciu Florescu and poetTh. M. Stoenescu.[62] Florescu parted with the group soon after, due to a disagreement with Macedonski, and was later attacked by the latter for allegedly accumulating academic posts.[63]Literatorul aimed to irritateJunimist sensibilities from its first issue, when it stated its dislike for "political prejudice in literature."[64] This was most likely an allusion to the views ofJunimist figureTitu Maiorescu, being later accompanied by explicit attacks on him and his followers.[65] An early success for the new journal was the warm reception it received fromVasile Alecsandri, a Romantic poet and occasionalJunimist whom Macedonski idolized at the time, and the collaboration of popular memoiristGheorghe Sion.[66] Another such figure was the intellectualV. A. Urechia, whom Macedonski made president of theLiteratorul Society.[67] In 1881,Education Minister Urechia granted Macedonski theBene-Merenti medal 1st class,[68] although, Călinescu stresses, the poet had only totaled 18 months of public service.[35] At around that time, Macedonski had allegedly begun courting actressAristizza Romanescu, who rejected his advances, leaving him unenthusiastic about love matters and unwilling to seek female company.[69]
In parallel, Macedonski used the magazine to publicize his disagreement with the mainJunimist voice,Convorbiri Literare. Among the group of contributors, several had already been victims of Maiorescu's irony: Sion, Urechia, Pantazi Ghica andPetru Grădișteanu.[70] While welcoming the debut of its contributor,Parnassian-Neoclassicist novelist and poetDuiliu Zamfirescu,[66] Macedonski repeatedly attacked its main exponent, the conservative poet Eminescu, claiming not to understand his poetry.[71] However,Literatorul was also open to contributions from someConvorbiri Literare affiliates (Zamfirescu,Matilda Cugler-Poni andVeronica Micle).[72]
In November 1880, Macedonski's playsIadeș! ("Wishbone!", a comedy first printed in 1882) andUnchiașul Sărăcie ("Old Man Poverty") premiered at theNational Theatre Bucharest.[73] A sign of government approval, this was followed by Macedonski's appointment to a minor administrative office, as Historical Monuments Inspector.[74] Nevertheless, both plays failed to impose themselves on public perception, and were withdrawn from the program by 1888.[75] Călinescu asserts that, although Macedonski later claimed to have always been facing poverty, his job in the administration, coupled with other sources of revenue, ensured him a comfortable existence.[76]
In 1881, Macedonski published a new collection of poetry. TitledPoezii, it carries the year "1882" on its original cover.[77] Again moving away from liberalism, Macedonski sought to make himself accepted byJunimea and Maiorescu.[78] He consequently attended theJunimea sessions, and gave a public reading ofNoaptea de noiembrie ("November Night"), the first publicized piece in his lifelongNights cycle.[79] It reportedly earned him the praise of historian and poetBogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, who, although an anti-Junimist, happened to be in the audience.[80] Despite rumors according to which he had applauded Macedonski, Maiorescu himself was not impressed, and left an unenthusiastic account of the event in his private diary.[81]
Macedonski's open conflict withJunimea began in 1882, when he engaged in a publicized polemic with Alecsandri.[82] It was ignited when, through Macedonski's articles,Literatorul criticized Alecsandri for acceptingRomanian Academy prizes despite being its member,[83] and later involved Sion (whose replies on behalf of the academy were derided by Macedonski).[84] Macedonski also took distance from Alecsandri's style, publishing a "critical analysis" of his poetry in one issue ofLiteratorul.[85] In turn, Alecsandri humiliated his young rival by portraying him asZoilus, the prototype of slanderers, and himself as the model poetHorace in the 1883 playFântâna Blanduziei.[86] The two were eventually reconciled, and Macedonski again spoke of Alecsandri as his ideological and stylistic predecessor.[87]
In April 1882, Eminescu had also replied to Macedonski inTimpul journal, referring to an unnamed poet who "barely finishes high-school, comes over to Bucharest selling nick-nacks and makeup [and goes into] literary dealership". Reproaching Macedonski's attacks on Alecsandri, Eminescu makes anationalist comment about the young poet bearing "the bastard instincts of those foreigners who wereRomanianized only yesterday", and attributes him "the physiognomy of a hairdresser".[88] Through the articles ofPetru Th. Missir,Convorbiri Literare gavePoezii a negative review, deemed "malevolent" by literary historianMircea Anghelescu.[89] At the other end of the political and cultural spectrum, Macedonski faced opposition from the intellectuals attracted tosocialism, in particularContemporanul editorsConstantin Mille andIoan Nădejde, with whom he was engaged in an extended polemic.[90]
In the meantime, Macedonski published his own play, which had Cuza for its main character and was eponymously titledCuza-Vodă,[75] and completed translations forLiteratorul—fromMaurice Rollinat, whom he helped impose as a main cultural reference in Romanian Symbolism, and from theGreek poetAkhillefs Paraskhos.[91] In 1883, he also contributed his firstsketch story,Casa cu nr. 10 ("The House at Number 10").[92] In early 1883, he married Ana Rallet-Slătineanu.[93] Wealthy and supposedly related to Romanian aristocrats,[94] she would bear him five children in all: the painterAlexis was the eldest, followed by Nikita; the three youngest were two sons (Panel and Constantin Macedonski) and a daughter, Anna (also known as Nina).[95] His heterosexual lifestyle notwithstanding, Macedonski remained a self-avowed admirer of male beauties, and was rumored to be a closeted homosexual.[24]
In July 1883, Macedonski undertook one of his most controversial anti-Junimist actions. That month,Literatorul published anepigram signed with the pseudonymDuna,[87] deriding an unnamed author who had lost his mind. Mihai Eminescu—whom many had already come to see as Romania'snational poet—had by then developed amental disorder which had become known to the general public. Ever since that moment, Macedonski has generally been believed to beDuna, and as a result, was faced with much criticism from both readers and commentators.[96][24][97] The intense anti-Literatorul press campaign was initiated in August, when writerGrigore Ventura issued an article condemning Macedonski's attitude (published in the Bucharest-based newspaperL'Indépendance Roumaine), with Macedonski responding in the National Liberal organRomânul.[98] During one evening, Macedonski is reported to have been assaulted by anonymous supporters of Eminescu.[99] His previous conflict with Nădejde was also affected by this renewed controversy: while opposed toJunimist policies, the socialists atContemporanul voiced their admiration for Eminescu's art.[100]
Late in 1883, Macedonski and his friends unveiledIon Georgescu's statue of their mentor Bolintineanu in the National Theater lobby. The circumstances in which this took place rose suspicion of foul play; on this grounds, Macedonski was ridiculed by his former friend Zamfirescu in the journalRomânia Liberă, which left him embittered.[101] Călinescu proposes that, although such negative reactions were invoked by Macedonski's supporters as a sign of their mentor having been marginalized, Macedonski had expressed his dissatisfaction with the cultural environment long before that moment, and was still a respected figure even after the incidents took place.[102]
Having been stripped of his administrative office by the new Brătianu cabinet,[103] Macedonski faced financial difficulties, and was forced to move into a house on the outskirts of Bucharest, and later moved between houses in northern Bucharest.[104] According to Călinescu, the poet continued to cultivate luxury and passionately invested in thedecorative arts, although his source of income, other than the supposed assistance "of [European] ruling houses", remains a mystery.[105] Arguing that Macedonski was "always in need of money" to use on his luxury items, poetVictor Eftimiu claimed: "He did not shy away from sending emphatic notes to the potentates of his day [...], flattering some, threatening others. He would marry off or simply mate some of his disciples with aging and rich women, and then he would squeeze out their assets."[106]
Macedonski eventually left Romania in 1884, visitingParis. On his way there, he passed through Craiova, where he met aspiring authorTraian Demetrescu, whose works he had already hosted inLiteratorul and who was to become his friend and protégé. Demetrescu later recalled being gripped by "tremors of emotion" upon first catching sight of Macedonski.[107] In France, Macedonski set up contacts within the French literary environment, and began contributing to French orFrancophone literary publications—including the Belgian Symbolist platformsLa Wallonie andL'Élan littéraire.[108] His collaboration withLa Wallonie alongsideAlbert Mockel, Tudor Vianu believes, makes Alexandru Macedonski one in the original wave of European Symbolists.[109] This adaptation to Symbolism also drew on his markedFrancophilia, which in turn complemented his tendencies towardcosmopolitanism.[24][110] He became opposed to Carol I, who, in 1881, had been granted theCrown of theRomanian Kingdom. In addition to his admiration for Cuza and the1848 Wallachian revolutionaries, the poet objected to the King's sympathy for France's main rival, theGerman Empire.[111] In January 1885, after having returned from the voyage, he announced his retirement from public life, claiming that German influence and its exponents atJunimea had "conquered"Romanian culture,[112] and repeating his claim that Eminescu lacked value.[113]
In the meantime,Literatorul went out of print, although new series were still published at irregular intervals until 1904 (when it ceased being published altogether).[114] The magazine was reportedly hated by the public, causing Macedonski, Stoenescu, Florescu, Urechia and educatorAnghel Demetriescu to try to revive it asRevista Literară ("The Literary Review", published for a few months in 1885).[115] The poet attempted to establish other magazines, all of them short-lived, and, in 1887, handed for print hisNaturalistnovellaDramă banală ("Banal Drama")[116] while completing one of the most revered episodes in theNights series,Noaptea de mai ("May Night").[117] Also in 1886, he worked on his other Naturalist novellas:Zi de august ("August Day"),Pe drum de poștă ("On the Stagecoach Trail"),Din carnetul unui dezertor ("From the Notebook of a Deserter"),Între cotețe ("Amidst Hen Houses") and the eponymousNicu Dereanu.[116]
By 1888, he was again sympathetic toward Blaremberg, whose dissident National Liberal faction had formed an alliance with the Conservatives, editingStindardul Țărei (laterStraja Țărei) as his supporting journal.[118] However, late in the same year, he returned to the liberal mainstream, being assigned a weekly column inRomânul newspaper.[119] Two years later, he attempted to relaunchLiteratorul under the leadership of liberal figureBogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, but the latter eventually settled for founding his ownRevista Nouă.[120] Around 1891, he salutedJunimea's own break with the Conservatives and its entry into politics at the Conservative-Constitutional Party, before offering an enthusiastic welcome to the 1892Junimist agitation among university students.[119] In 1894, he would speak in front of student crowds gathered at a political rally inUniversity Square, and soon after made himself known for supporting the cause ofethnic Romanians and other underrepresented groups ofAustria-Hungary.[121]
His literary thesis of the time was titledPoezia viitorului ("The Poetry of the Future"). It upheld Symbolist authors as the models to follow,[122] while Macedonski personally began producing what he referred to as "instrumentalist" poems, composed around musical andonomatopoeic elements, and showing a preference forinternal rhymes.[123] Such anexperimental approach was soon afterparodied and ridiculed by Ion Luca Caragiale, who had by then affiliated and parted withJunimea, in his newMoftul Român magazine.[124] The poet sought to reconcile with his rival, publicizing a claim that Caragiale was being unjustly ignored by the cultural establishment, but this attempt failed to mend relations between them, and the conflict escalated further.[125]
While, in 1893,Literatorul hosted fragments ofThalassa in itsRomanian-language version,[126][127] the author also launched a daily,Lumina ("The Light").[121] It was also at that stage that Alexandru Macedonski associated withCincinat Pavelescu, the noted epigrammarian, who joined him in editingLiteratorul, and with whom he co-authored the 1893 versetragedy depicting theBiblical heroSaul, and named after him. Although showcased by the National Theater with star actorConstantin Nottara in the title role, it failed to register success with the public.[128] Two years later, the twoLiteratorul editors made headlines as pioneers ofcycling. An enthusiastic promoter of the sport, Macedonski joined fellow poetConstantin Cantilli on a marathon, pedaling from Bucharest across the border into Austria-Hungary, all the way down toBrașov.[129]
Macedonski also returned with a new volume of poetry,Excelsior (consecutive editions in 1895 and 1896),[130] and foundedLiga Ortodoxă ("The Orthodox League"), a magazine noted for hosting the debut ofTudor Arghezi, later one of the most celebrated figures in Romanian literature.[131] Macedonski commended his new protégé for reaching "the summit of poetry and art" at "an age when I was still prattling verses".[132]Liga Ortodoxă also hosted articles against Caragiale, which Macedonski signed with the pseudonymSallustiu ("Sallustius").[133] The magazine was additional proof of Macedonski's return to conservatism, and largely dedicated to defending the cause ofRomanian Orthodox MetropolitanGhenadie, deposed by theRomanian Synod following a political scandal. It defended Ghenadie up until he chose to resign, and subsequently went out of print.[134] Macedonski was shocked to note that Ghenadie had given up his own defense.[135]
In 1895, hisCasa cu nr. 10 was translated into French by theJournal des Débats, whose editors reportedly found itpicturesque.[116] Two years later, Macedonski himself published French-language translations of his earlier poetry under the titleBronzes, a volume prefaced by his disciple, the critic and promoterAlexandru Bogdan-Pitești.[136] Although it was positively reviewed byMercure de France magazine,[137]Bronzes was largely unnoticed by the French audience, a fact which Tudor Vianu attributes to Bogdan-Pitești's lack of qualification for the cultural mission Macedonski had trusted him with.[138] By that time, his circle had come to be frequented with regularity by Bogdan-Pitești's friend and collaborator, the celebrated painterȘtefan Luchian, who was in the Symbolist andArt Nouveau stage of his career.[139]
By 1898, Macedonski was again facing financial difficulties, and his collaborators resorted to organizing afundraiser in his honor.[140] His rejection of the Orthodox establishment was documented by his political tract, published that year asFalimentul clerului ortodox.[135] Between that time and 1900, he focused on researchingesoteric,occult andpseudoscientific subjects.[141]Traian Demetrescu, who recorded his visits with Macedonski, recalled his former mentor being opposed to hispositivist take on science, claiming to explain the workings of the Universe in "a different way", through "imagination", but also taking an interest inCamille Flammarion'sastronomy studies.[142] Macedonski was determined to interpret death throughparapsychological means, and, in 1900, conferenced at the Atheneum on the subjectSufletul și viața viitoare ("The Soul and the Coming Life").[143] The focal point of his vision was that man could voluntarily stave off death with words and gestures, a concept he elaborated upon in his later articles.[144] In one such piece, Macedonski argued: "man has the power [...] to compact the energy currents known as thoughts to the point where he changes them, according to his own will, into objects or soul-bearing creatures."[145] He also attempted to build a machine for extinguishingchimney fires.[146] Later, Nikita Macedonski registered the invention ofnacre-treated paper, which is sometimes attributed to his father.[106][147]
The few issues ofLiteratorul that were printed in 1899-1900 saw the circle being joined by the young Symbolist poetȘtefan Petică.[140] In 1902, he publishedCartea de aur ("The Golden Book"), comprising hissketch stories and novellas. In parallel, Macedonski returned to the public scene, foundingForța Morală magazine. It was through this venue that he began responding to Ion Luca Caragiale's earlier attacks.[148] This he did by hosting the articles of aspiring journalistConstantin Al. Ionescu-Caion, who accused Caragiale of havingplagiarized aHungarian author by the name of Kemény in his tragedy playNăpasta. Kemény turned out to be non-existent.[149] According to Vianu, Macedonski had no prior knowledge of the fraud, but had also been "blinded" by his resentments instead of displaying "discernment", and had even showed evidence of "insanity".[150] Most in Macedonski's own series of anti-Caragiale articles were unsigned, or signed with pseudonyms such asLuciliu ("Gaius Lucilius").[151]
Like in the case of Eminescu's conflict with Macedonski, the polemic enlisted a negative response from the public.[152] The poet's associateTh. M. Stoenescu convinced himself that Caragiale was being framed, and refused to allowRevista Literară to be used for endorsing Caion, which caused Macedonski to shun him.[153] Macedonski refused to withdraw his support for the cause even after Caragiale sued Caion, butForța Morală soon went out of print.[154] Before it did so, the journal hosted some of Macedonski's most renowned poems, includingLewki andNoaptea de decemvrie ("December Night"),[155] together with his article onRemy de Gourmont's thoughts onpoetics.[156]
In his article of 1903, titledSpre ocultism. Orientări ulterioare spre teozofie și filozofie socială ("Toward Occultism. Later Orientations towardTheosophy andSocial Philosophy"), the poet envisaged making his interest in esoteric subjects the basis of a new literary movement.[157] Also that year, poetGeorge Bacovia began attending the literary circle, and gave a reading of his celebratedPlumb poem, being welcomed by Macedonski with a flattering epigram.[158] Macedonski's series of short-lived periodicals resumed in 1905, when he foundedLe Beau Danube Bleu (French for "The Beautiful Blue Danube") andLiga Conservatoare ("The Conservative League").[159] He registered more success in 1906, when hisThalassa was published, asLe Calvaire de feu, byEdward Sansot's Paris-based publishing house.[127][160] This followed intense self-promotion within the French literary environment, as well as advertisements in the French press.[24][161] Part of this involved Macedonski sending his book to be reviewed byÉmile Faguet,Jean Mounet-Sully,Joséphin Péladan,Pierre Quillard andJean Richepin, who replied with what Vianu deems "the politeness of circumstance."[162] The volume was nonetheless favorably reviewed by the prestigious magazinesMercure de France andGil Blas.[163]
Also in 1906,La Revue Musicale published his interview with Combarieu, through which the latter aimed to verify supposed connections between literary inspiration and musical sensitivity.[164] By 1907, he was concentrating on experiments in physics, and eventually publicized his claim to have discovered that light does not travel throughvacuum.[165] He sent a paper on astronomy subjects to be reviewed by theSociété Astronomique de France, of which he subsequently became a member.[158] The same year, he drafted the plan for aworld government, announcing that he had found sympathy for the cause throughout Europe.[146] Macedonski also introduced himself to anItalophone public, when two of hissonnets were published byPoesia, the magazine ofFuturist theoristFilippo Tommaso Marinetti.[166]
Between 1910 and 1912, Macedonski was again in Paris.[167] Seeking to withdraw himself from Romania's public life due to what he perceived as injustice,[168] he had by then completed work on the French-languagetragicomedyLe Fou? ("The Madman?"), which was only published after his death.[24][169] He was actively seeking to establish his reputation inFrench theater, reading his new play to a circle which includedLouis de Gonzague Frick andFlorian-Parmentier, while, at home, newspapers reported rumors that his work was going to be staged bySarah Bernhardt's company.[170] His efforts were largely fruitless, and, accompanied by his son Alexis, the poet left France, spent some time in Italy, and eventually returned to Romania.[171] Passing through theGerman Empire, he learned of Ion Luca Caragiale's sudden death, and wroteAdevărul daily anopen letter, which showed that he had come to revise his stance, notably comparing the deceased author's style and legacy to those ofMark Twain.[172]
During Macedonski's absence, his style and work had come to be reviewed more positively, in particular by the young authorsI. Dragoslav,Horia Furtună,Ion Pillat,Anastasie Mândru,Al. T. Stamatiad, as well as by post-Junimist criticMihail Dragomirescu, who offered Macedonski a good reception in hisConvorbiri Critice magazine.[173] Tudor Vianu, who cites contemporary statements by Dragoslav, concludes that, upon arrival, Macedonski was enthusiastically received by a public who had missed him.[171] Also in 1912, one of his poems was published as an homage bySimbolul, a magazine published by the young and radical SymbolistsTristan Tzara,Ion Vinea andMarcel Janco.[174] Around that time, Macedonski also collaborated with theIași-based moderate Symbolist magazineVersuri și Proză.[175] Polemics surrounding his case nevertheless continued: in late 1912, as part of a National Theater adaptation ofAlphonse Daudet'sSapho, actorCazimir Belcot borrowed from Macedonski's appearance and mannerisms to portray a failure.[176]
Macedonski and his protégés had become regular frequenters of Bucharest cafés. Having a table permanently reserved for him at Imperial Hotel'sKübler Coffeehouse,[96][177] he was later a presence in two other such establishments: High-Life[96][178] andTerasa Oteteleșanu.[179] He is said to have spent part of his time at Kübler loudly mocking the traditionalist poets who gathered at an opposite table.[180] Meanwhile, the poet's literary club, set up at his house inDorobanți quarter, had come to resemble amystical circle, over which he held magisterial command. Vianu, who visited the poet together with Pillat, compares this atmosphere with those created by other "mystics and magi of poetry" (citing as examplesJoséphin Péladan,Louis-Nicolas Ménard,Stéphane Mallarmé andStefan George).[168] The hall where seances were hosted was only lit by candles, and the tables were covered in red fabric.[96][181] Macedonski himself was seated on a throne designed by Alexis, and adopted a dominant pose.[96][182] The apparent secrecy and theinitiation rites performed on new members were purportedly inspired byRosicrucianism and theFreemasonry.[183] By then, Macedonski was rewarding his followers' poems with falsegemstones.[184]
The poet foundedRevista Critică ("The Critical Review"), which again closed after a short while, and issued the poetry volumeFlori sacre ("Sacred Flowers").[185] Grouping hisForța Morală poems and older pieces, it was dedicated to his new generation of followers, whom Macedonski's preface referred to as "the new Romania."[186] He continued to hope thatLe Fou? was going to be staged in France, especially after he received some encouragement in the form of articles inMercure de France andJournal des Débats, but was confronted with the general public's indifference.[176] In 1914,Thalassa was published in a non-definitive version byConstantin Banu's magazineFlacăra,[127][187] which sought to revive overall interest in his work.[188] At aFrench Red Cross conference in September, Macedonski paid his final public homage to France, which had just become entangled inWorld War I.[189] It was also in 1914 that Macedonski commissioned for print his very firstrondels and completed work on a tragedy play aboutRenaissance poetDante Aligheri—known asLa Mort de Dante in its French original, andMoartea lui Dante in the secondary Romanian version (both meaning "Dante's Death").[190] The aging poet was by then building connections with thelocal art scene: together with artistAlexandru Severin, he created (and probably presided over)Cenaclul idealist ("TheIdealist Club"), which included Symbolist artists and was placed under the honorary patronage of King Carol.[191]
1916 was also the year when Romania abandoned her neutrality and, under a National Liberal government, rallied with theEntente Powers. During the neutrality period, Macedonski had shed his lifelong Francophilia to join theGermanophiles, who wanted to see Romanian participation on theCentral Powers' side.[96][192] In 1915, he issued the journalCuvântul Meu ("My Word"). Entirely written by him,[193] it published ten consecutive issues before going bankrupt, and notably lashed out against France for being "bourgeois" and "lawyer-filled", demanding from Romania not to get involved in the conflict.[194] Commentators and researchers of his work have declared themselves puzzled by this change in allegiance.[195]
Macedonski further alienated public opinion during theRomanian Campaign, when the Central Powers armies entered southern Romania andoccupied Bucharest. Alexis was drafted and became a war artist,[196] but Macedonski Sr, who received formal protection from theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest,[197] chose to stay behind while the authorities and many ordinary citizens relocated toIași, where resistance was still being organized. His stance was interpreted ascollaborationism by his critics. However, Macedonski reportedly faced extreme poverty throughout the occupation.[96][198] Having by then begun to attend the circle ofAlexandru Bogdan-Pitești, his promoter and fellow Germanophile, he was once rewarded by the latter with a turkey filled with gold coins.[199]
Literatorul resumed print in June 1918, once Romania capitulated to the Central Powers under theTreaty of Bucharest.[200] A controversial incident occurred soon afterwards, when, going against the counsel of his friend and collaborator Stamatiad, Macedonski signed aLiteratorul article where the German military administratorAugust von Mackensen, who was about to lead his troops out of Romania, was presented in a positive light.[201] In a manner deemed "excessive" by historianLucian Boia, the Romanian writer was paying homage not just to Mackensen, but also, indirectly, toGerman EmperorWilhelm II and theReichsheer.[202] Soon after reading the piece,Romanian Academy member and fellow Symbolist promoterOvid Densusianu withdrew his own nomination of Macedonski for an academy seat.[203] During summer, Macedonski also joined the group of public figures who saluted the senior Conservative GermanophilePetre P. Carp (deeming Carp "the veteran of character, honesty and Romanianism"), and, in September, joinedIoan Slavici andGala Galaction as a contributor to the occupation magazineRumänien in Wort und Bild, where he prophesied ananti-French "political renaissance" of Romania.[204]
Alexandru Macedonski faced problems after the Romanian government resumed its control over Bucharest, and during the early years ofGreater Romania. What followed the Mackensen article, Vianu claims, was Macedonski'sbellum contra omnes ("war against all").[203] However, the poet made efforts to accommodate himself with the triumphal return of the Iași authorities: in December 1918,Literatorul celebrated the extension of Romanian rule "from theTisza to theDniester" as a success of the National Liberals, paying homage to Francophile political leadersIon I. C. Brătianu andTake Ionescu.[205] Macedonski also envisaged running in the1918 election for a seat in the newParliament (which was supposed to vote a document to replace the1866 Constitution as the organic law), but never registered his candidature.[206] According to Vianu, he had intended to create ajoke political party, the "intellectual group", whose other member was an unnamed coffeehouse acquaintance of his.[207]Literatorul was revived for a final time in 1919.[193]
His health deteriorated fromheart disease, which is described by Vianu as an effect of constant smoking.[208] By that stage, Vianu recalls, Macedonski also had problems coming to terms with his age.[209] His last anthumous work was the pamphletZaherlina (named after the Romanian version of "Zacherlin"; also known asZacherlina orZacherlina în continuare, "Zacherlin Contd."), completed in 1919 and published the following year.[210] It notably attacked Densusianu, who had become Macedonski's personal enemy.[193] Some other polemical texts he had authored late in life saw print only after his death, under the titleMustrări postume către o generație neînțelegătoare ("Posthumous Reprimands for an Obtuse Generation").[96]
1920 was also the year when thePeople's Party cabinet attempted to pension him off from his office at the Historical Monuments Commission, but the publicized protest of Macedonski's fellow writers in Bucharest made it reconsider.[203] Confined to his home by illness and old age, Macedonski was still writing poems, some of which later became known as hisUltima verba ("Last Words").[211] The writer died on 24 November, at three o'clock in the afternoon.[212] Having come to develop an addiction to floral fragrances, he was inhaling a rose petal extract during his last hours.[26][213] He was buried in Bucharest'sBellu.[96]
Although Alexandru Macedonski frequently changed his style and views on literary matters, a number of constants have been traced throughout his work. Thus, a common perception is that his literature had a strongly visual aspect, the notion being condensed inCincinat Pavelescu's definition of Macedonski: "Poet, therefore painter; painter, therefore poet."[214]Traian Demetrescu too recalled that his mentor had been dreaming of becoming a visual artist, and had eventually settled for turning his son Alexis into one.[214] This pictorial approach to writing created parallels between Macedonski and his traditionalist contemporariesVasile Alecsandri andBarbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea.[215]
Following the tenets ofDimitrie Bolintineanu andThéophile Gautier, the writer repeatedly called for purity inversification, and upheld it as an essential requirement,[216] while progressively seeking to verify the quality of his poetry throughphonaesthetics.[217] A characteristic of Macedonski's style is his inventive use ofRomanian. Initially influenced byIon Heliade Rădulescu's introduction of Italian-based words to theRomanian lexis, Macedonski himself later infused poetic language with a large array of neologisms from severalRomance sources.[218] Likewise, Vianu notes, Macedonski had a tendency for comparing nature with the artificial, the result of this being a "document" of his values.[219] Macedonski's language alternated neologisms withbarbarisms, many of which were coined by him personally.[220] They includeclaviculat ("clavicled", applied to a shoulder),împălăriată ("enhatted", used to define a crowd of hat-wearing tourists),[221] andureichii (instead ofurechii, "to the ear" or "of the ear").[222] His narratives nevertheless take an interest in recording direct speech, used as a method of characterization.[223] However, Călinescu criticizes Macedonski for using a language which, "although grammatically correct [...], seems to have been learned only recently", as well as for not following other Romanian writers in creating a lasting poetic style.[222]
The writer's belief in the effects of sheer willpower, notably present in his comments onesoteric subjects, was itself a defining characteristic of his perspective on literature. In 1882, he wrote about progression in one's career: "We are all poets at birth, but only those who shape themselves through study will become poets."[224] Vianu, who notes Macedonski's "exclusivity" and "fanaticism", places such statements in connection with Macedonski's personal ambition, "pride" and "the willingness to carry out ventured actions [...], in stated opposition with the entire surrounding and with contempt for the foreseeable reaction."[225]
Almost all periods of Macedonski's work reflect, in whole or in part, his public persona and the polemics he was involved in. George Călinescu's emits a verdict on the relation between his lifetime notoriety and the public's actual awareness of his work: "Macedonski [was] a poet well-known for being an unknown poet."[113] According to literary criticMatei Călinescu, the innovative aspects of his impact onRomanian literature were not as much related to his "literary ideology", as much as to his "contradictory spirit" and "essential nonconformism".[157] However, literary researcherAdrian Marino proposes that Macedonski was one of the first modern authors to illustrate the importance of "dialectic unity" through his views on art, in particular by having argued that poetry needed to be driven by "an idea".[226] Having theorized once, while questioningJunimist rigor, that "the logic of poetry isabsurdity itself [italics in the original]",[227] the poet also said: "Poetry is the chaos of spirit and matter, of the cries of distress and mad laughter. From the sublime to the trivial, that is what it should be."[228] He later revised part of this verdict, and, making explicit his adoption ofaestheticism, spoke against trivial subjects and in favor of the sublime.[229]
While Macedonski also discarded the concept of "social poetry" not long after postulating it, its spirit, Tudor Vianu believes, can still be found in his later contributions. This, the critic notes, was owed to his "social temperament", whose "fundamental experience is that of the social."[230] Discussing this sociable and extrovert character, other critics see in the poet's life and work the imprint of "quixotism".[231][232] Also according to Vianu, this contrasted with Macedonski's failures in communicating with the public, an experience which made him "misanthropic" and contributed to his ultimate vision of death as freedom.[233] Literary historianPompiliu Constantinescu concluded: "Macedonski could not resign; his one martyrdom was for Art, as the sole liberation from a tormented life."[234] Other commentators have defined the poet's perspective on life as a result of "neurosis".[229]
In Vianu's perspective, Macedonski's stance is dominated by a mixture ofnostalgia, sensuality, lugubrious-grotesque imagery, and "the lack of bashfulness for antisocial sentiments" which complements hissarcasm.[235] In respect to the latter characteristic, Vianu notes "no one in Romanian literature has laughed the same way as Macedonski",[236] whereas criticȘtefan Cazimir argues: "[Macedonski was] lacking the sense of relativity in principles, and implicitly a sense of humor." Cazimir adds: "Only when he aged did [Macedonski] learn to smile".[237] George Călinescu himself believes Macedonski to have been "fundamentally a spiritual man with lots of humor", speculating that he was able to see the "uselessness" of his own scientific ventures.[146]
Critics note that, while Macedonski progressed from one stage to the other, his work fluctuated between artistic accomplishment and mediocrity.[238] Tudor Vianu believes "failure in reaching originality" and reliance on "soppy-conventional attributes of the day" to be especially evident wherever Macedonski tried to emulateepic poetry.[239] He also notes that Macedonski's love-themed pieces "cannot be listed among [his] most fortunate".[240] At his best, commentators note, he was one of the Romanian literature's classics.[24][241] Macedonski is thus perceived as the author second only to Eminescu, and as his ideal counterpart—a relation Vianu describes as "the internaldualism [confronting] twofamiliar gods".[242] Various critics have compared Eminescu's poetic discourse with that of the Symbolist leader, concluding that the two poets often display very similar attitudes.[24][243] Călinescu writes that, while Macedonski's work is largely inferior to that of hisJunimist rival, it forms the best "reply" ever conceived within their common setting.[244]
WithIon Catina,Vasile Păun andGrigore H. Grandea, young Macedonski belonged to late RomanianRomanticism, part of aNeoromantic generation which had for its mentors Heliade Rădulescu and Bolintineanu.[24][245] Other early influences werePierre-Jean de Béranger andGottfried August Bürger, together withRomanian folklore, motifs from them being adapted by Macedonski intopastorals andballades of ca. 1870–1880.[246] The imprint of Romanticism and such other sources was evident inPrima verba, which groups pieces that Macedonski authored in his early youth, the earliest of them being written when he was just twelve.[247] Critics generally argue that the volume is without value.[248] The poems display his rebellious attitude,self-victimization and strong reliance on autobiographical elements, centering on such episodes as the death of his father.[247] In one piece inspired by the ideology of Heliade Rădulescu, Vianu notes, Macedonski sings "theFrench Revolution's love for freedom and equality, otherwise proclaimed from his nobleman's perspective."[249] It reads:
Când acum poporul vedem că studiază
Să nu avem ură când se luminează,
Ca frați să-l iubim![249]
Now that we see the people studying
Let us not be hating them while they grow enlightened,
Let us love them like brothers!
In parallel, Macedonski usederotic themes, completing a series which, although written on the model of idylls, is noted for its brute details of sexual exploits. The poet probably acknowledged that posterity would reject them, and did not republish them in any of his collected poetry volumes.[240]
During his time atOltul (1873–1875), Macedonski published a series of poems, most of which were not featured in definitive editions of his work.[250] In addition toodes written in the Italian-based version ofRomanian, it includes lyrics which satirizeCarol I without mentioning his name.[47] Following his arrest, Macedonski also completedCelula mea de la Văcărești ("My Cell in Văcărești"), which shows his attempt to joke about the situation.[46] In contrast to this series, some of the pieces written during Macedonski's time in theBudjak andNorthern Dobruja display a detachment from contemporary themes. At that stage, he was especially inspired byLord Byron, whom Vianu calls "the sovereign poet of [Macedonski's] youth."[52] InCalul arabului, Macedonski exploresexotic andLevantine settings, using symbols which announceGeorge Coșbuc'sEl-Zorab,[56][57] and theVenetian-themedIthalo, which centers on episodes of betrayal and murder.[52] Others were epic andpatriotic in tone, with subjects such as Romanian victories in theRusso-Turkish War or theImperial Roman sites along theDanube.[251] One of these pieces, titledHinov after the village and stone quarry inRasova, gives Macedonski a claim to being the first modern European poet to have usedfree verse, ahead of the French SymbolistGustave Kahn.[252] Macedonski himself later voiced the claim, and referred to such a technique as "symphonic verse", "proteic verse", or, in honor of composerRichard Wagner, "Wagnerian verse".[253]
While editingOltul, Macedonski also completed his first prose writings. These were thetravel accountPompeia și Sorento ("Pompeia and Sorento", 1874) and a prison-themed story described by Vianu as "a tearjerker", titledCâinele din Văcărești ("The Dog in Văcărești", 1875).[254] These were later complemented by other travel works, which criticMihai Zamfir [ro] likens to the verbal experiments ofImpressionist literature, pioneering in the Romanianprose poetry genre.[24] The short comedyGemenii was his debut work for the stage, but, according to Vianu, failed to show any merit other than a "logical construction" and a preview into Macedonski's use of sarcasm.[42] These writings were followed in 1876 by a concise biography ofCârjaliul, an early 19th-centuryhajduk.[255] In line with his first Levant-themed poems, Macedonski authored the 1877 storyAșa se fac banii ("This Is How Money Is Made", later retold in French asComment on devient riche et puissant, "How to Become Rich and Powerful"), afable offatalism and theMuslim world—it dealt with two brothers, one hard-working and one indolent, the latter of whom earns his money through a series of serendipitous events.[256] Likewise, hisverse comedyIadeș! borrowed its theme from the widely circulated collection ofPersian literature known asSindipa.[57][257] The setting was however modern, and, as noted by French-born criticFrédéric Damé, the plot also borrowed much fromÉmile Augier'sGabrielle and from othermorality plays of the period.[257] Part of the text was an ironic treatment of youth inliberal professions, an attitude which Macedonski fitted in his emerging anti-bourgeois discourse.[258]
With the first poems in hisNights cycle, Macedonski still showed his allegiance to Romanticism, and in particular toAlphonse de Lamartine,[240] and the supposed inventor of this theme,Alfred de Musset.[24][259]Noaptea de noiembrie opens with a violent condemnation of his adversaries, and sees Macedonski depicting his own funeral.[260] The poem is commended by Călinescu, who notes that, in contrast to the "apparently trivial beginning", the main part, where Macedonski depicts himself in flight over theDanube, brings the Romanian writer close to the accomplishments ofDante Aligheri.[261] The writer himself claimed that the piece evidenced "the uttermost breath of inspiration I have ever felt in my life."[262] Another poem,Noaptea de aprilie ("April Night"), was probably his testimony ofunrequited love forAristizza Romanescu.[263]
By the 1880s, Macedonski developed and applied his "social poetry" theory, as branch ofRealism. Explained by the writer himself as a reaction against the legacy of Lamartine,[264] it also signified his brief affiliation with theNaturalist current, a radical segment of the Realist movement.Traian Demetrescu thus noted that Macedonski cherished the works of French Naturalists and Realists such asGustave Flaubert andÉmile Zola.[265] During this phase, Macedonski made known his sympathy for the disinherited, from girls forced into prostitution to convicts sentenced topenal labor on salt mines, and also spoke out against the conventionalism ofcivil marriages.[266] HisOcnele ("The Salt Mines") includes the verdict:
Vai! Ce-am convenit cu toții a numi soțietate
Mult mai demnă ca tâlharii e de-acest cumplit locaș!
Statul e o ficțiune, iar dreptatea—strâmbătate,
Care duce omenirea dintr-un hop într-un făgaș.[267]
Alas! What we have all agreed to deem society
Is far more suited than bandits are for this terrible dwelling!
State is fiction, and justice—an injustice
That leads humanity from a bump down into a rut.
Naturalist depiction was also the main element in his prose pieces of the early 1880s. Among them was the first of severalsketch stories usingstill life techniques,Casa cu nr. 10[268] (according to Zamfir, a prime sample of Macedonski's "ornamental" genre).[24] WithÎntre cotețe,Dramă banală and laterCometa lui Odorescu ("Odorescu's Comet"), Macedonski speaks about his own biography.[269] The former has for a protagonist Pandele Vergea, a thirty-five-year-old man who is consumed by anavicultural obsession, who dreams of turning into a bird, and who is eventually maimed by his overcrowded fowls.[270] In contrast, Dereanu is abohemian university student, possessed by dreams of military and political glory, and who meditates about his future in front of Heliade Rădulescu's statue or in Bucharest cafés.[271] Also a bohemian, Odorescu announces his discovery of a comet, before being proved wrong by his aunt, an ordinary woman.[272] Some pieces also double asmemoirs: inDramă banală, the plot revolves around Macedonski's recollection of the 1866 plebiscite.[22] Vianu draws attention to thepicturesque depiction ofhistoric Bucharest, a contributing element inCometa...,Casa cu nr. 10 andÎntre cotețe.[273]
WithUnchiașul Sărăcie (also written in verse), Macedonski took Naturalist tenets into the field of drama. Frédéric Damé believed it an imitation of a play byErnest d'Hervilly andAlfred Grévin, but, Vianu argues, the Romanian text was only loosely based on theirs: in Macedonski's adaptation, the theme becamefairy tale-like, and used a speech style based onRomanian folklore.[274] Around the time of its completion, Macedonski was also working on a similarly loose adaptation ofWilliam Shakespeare'sRomeo and Juliet, which notably had the two protagonists die in each other's arms.[275] Another such play is3 decemvrie ("December 3"), which partly retellsFriedrich Ludwig Zacharias Werner'sDer 24 Februar using Naturalist devices.[276] By contrast, the homage-playCuza-Vodă is mainly a Romantic piece, whereAlexander John Cuza finds his political mission validated by legendary figures inRomanian history.[75]
In parallel, Macedonski was using poetry to carry out his polemics. In an 1884epigram, he reacted against Alecsandri'sFântâna Blanduziei, but, in Vianu's definition, "his regular causticity seems to be restrained."[87] The piece he had earlier written, presumably against Eminescu, scandalized the public by mocking the rival's mental ruin:
Un X... pretins poet—acum
S-a dus pe cel mai jalnic drum...
L-aș plânge dacă-n balamuc
Destinul său n-ar fi mai bun
Căci până ieri a fost năuc
Și nu e azi decât nebun.[277]
An X... who calls himself a poet—has now
Gone down that most pathetic road...
I'd cry for him if in bedlam
His fate were not one for the best
As up to yesterday he had been dopey
And now he is merely insane.
According to Tudor Vianu, Macedonski was mostly motivated by his disappointment inJunimea, and in particular by Eminescu's response to his public persona. Vianu contends that, although Macedonski "never was familiar with the resigned and patient attitudes", he was "by no means an evil man."[278] On one occasion, the poet defended himself against criticism, noting that the epigram had not been specifically addressed to Eminescu, but had been labeled as such by the press, and claiming to have authored it years before itsLiteratorul edition.[279] However, the later pieceViața de apoi ("The Afterlife") still displays resentments he harbored toward Eminescu.[280]
By 1880–1884, particularly after the Eminescu scandal, Macedonski envisaged prioritizing French as his language of expression.[281] According to Vianu, Macedonski had traversed "the lowest point" of his existence, and had been subject to "one of the most delicate mysteries of poetic creation."[117] Among his pieces of the period is the French-languagesonnetPârle, il me dit alors ("Speak, He Then Said to Me"), where, Vianu notes, "one discovers the state of mind of a poet who decides to expatriate himself."[107]
According toMihai Zamfir [ro], at the end of his transition from the "mimetic and egocentric" verse to Symbolist poetry, Macedonski emerged a "remarkable, often extraordinary" author.[24] In the early 20th century, fellow poet and criticN. Davidescu described Macedonski,Ion Minulescu and other Symbolists fromWallachia as distinct from theirMoldavian counterparts in both style and themes.[282] Endorsing the theory and practice of Symbolism for much of his life, Macedonski retrospectively claimed to have been one of its first exponents.[283] His version of Symbolism, criticPaul Cernat notes, clashed with that advocated by many of his contemporaries in that it rejected merit to theDecadent movement, and represented the "decorative"aestheticist trend ofParanassian spirit within theRomanian Symbolist current.[284]
WithinPoezia viitorului, Macedonski invoked as his models to follow some important or secondary Symbolist and Parnassian figures:Charles Baudelaire,Joséphin Péladan,Maurice Maeterlinck,Stéphane Mallarmé andJean Moréas.[285] In his review ofBronzes forMercure de France,Pierre Quillard remarked the "irreproachable" technique, but criticized the poet for being too indebted to both Baudelaire andLeconte de Lisle;[140] other Symbolist figures whom Macedonski is known to have borrowed from areJosé María de Heredia[286] andIwan Gilkin.[287] While undergoing this transition, to what linguist Manuela-Delia Suciu argues is a mostly Parnassian phase,[288] Macedonski was still referencing Naturalism, and considered it compatible with Symbolism.[289]
With the adoption of such tenets came a succession of Symbolist poems, where the focus is on minutely-observed objects, usually items of luxury, partly reflecting themes he had explored in the Naturalist stage. Commenting on them, Tudor Vianu argues that no such works had ever been produced in Romanian literature up until that moment.[290] In hisOspățul lui Pentaur ("The Feast ofPentaur"), the poet reflected on civilization itself, as reflected in inanimate opulence.[24][290] The motif was also developed in descriptive prose fragments later grouped inCartea de aur, collectively titlednuvele fără oameni ("novellas without people") and compared by Călinescu with the paintings ofTheodor Aman.[291]
Also during that stage, Macedonski was exploring the numerous links between Symbolism,mysticism andesotericism. Earlier pieces had already come to exploremacabre themes characteristic for an early branch of Symbolism. Influenced byMaurice Rollinat, they include the somberVaporul morții ("The Ship of Death") andVisul fatal ("The Fatal Dream").[292] Likewise, the piece titledImnul lui Satan ("Satan's Hymn") was placed by critics in connection withLes Litanies de Satan (part of Baudelaire'sLes Fleurs du mal), but, Vianu argues, the source of Macedonski's satanic themes may have been lodged in his own vision of the world.[293] This interest also reflected in his 1893Saul, whereCincinat Pavelescu's contribution is supposedly minimal.[294] Echoing satanic themes,Ernest Legouvé's dramatic version of theMedea myth (which Macedonski translated at some point in his life)[295] and the classical work ofJean Racine,[24] it shows the dark powers of political conflict intervening between the eponymous king and hisephebos-like protégéDavid, the latter of whom turns out to be the agent of spiritual revolution.[296]
Noaptea de august ("August Night"), outlines amonistic belief probably inspired byRosicrucianism, stressing the unity between soul and matter and depicting Macedonski's own journey into a transcendental space.[297] Following the examples of Baudelaire'sLes paradis artificiels, but also echoing his readings fromPaul Verlaine andThéophile Gautier, Macedonski left poems dealing withnarcotics andsubstance abuse, at least some of which reflected his personal experience withnicotine and possibly other unnamed drugs.[26] Also at that stage, Macedonski also began publishing the "instrumentalist" series of his Symbolist poems. This form ofexperimental poem was influenced by the theories ofRené Ghil[298] and verified through his encounter withRemy de Gourmont's views.[299] In parallel, it reaffirmed Macedonski's personal view that music and the spoken word were intimately related (a perspective notably attested by his 1906 interview withJules Combarieu).[38] Romanian criticPetre Răileanu theorized that such elements evidenced Macedonski's transition to "metaliterature".[229] On a different level, they echoed an older influence, that ofGottfried August Bürger.[286]
Despite having stated his interest in innovation, Macedonski generally displayed a more conventional style in hisExcelsior volume. It includedNoaptea de mai, which Vianu sees as "one of the [vernacular's] most beautiful poems"[117] and as evidence of "a clear joy, without any torment whatsoever".[300] A celebration of spring partly evoking folkloric themes, it was made famous by the recurringrefrain,Veniți: privighetoarea cântă și liliacul e-nflorit ("Come along: the nightingale is singing and the lilac is in blossom").[301] LikeNoaptea de mai,Lewki (named after and dedicated to theSnake Island), depicts intense joy, completed in this case by what Vianu calls "the restorative touch of nature."[214] The series also returned toLevant settings andIslamic imagery, particularly inAcșam dovalar (named after theTurkish version ofWitr).[57] Also noted within the volume is his short "ModernPsalms" series, including the pieceIertare ("Forgiveness"), which is addressed to God:
Iertare! Sunt ca orice om
M-am îndoit de-a ta putere,
Am râs de sfintele mistere
Ce sunt în fiecare-atom...
Iertare! Sunt ca orice om.[286]
Forgiveness! I'm like any man
I have been doubting your power
I derided the sacred mysteries
That lie within each of the atoms...
Forgiveness! I'm like any man.
Excelsior also includedNoaptea de ianuarie ("January Night"), which encapsulates one of his best-known political statements.[302] Anghelescu reads it as a "meditation on disillusionment that culminates in a vitality-laden exhortation of action."[303] Its anti-bourgeois attitude, literary historianZ. Ornea argues, was one of the meeting points between Macedonski andJunimism.[304] In what is seen as its most acid section, the text notably reads:
M-am născut în niște zile când tâmpita burghezime
Din tejghea făcând tribună, legiune de coțcari,
Pune-o talpă noroioasă pe popor și boierime,
Zile când se-mparte țara în călăi și în victime
Și când steagul libertății e purtat de cârciumari.[305]
I was born into days when the moronic bourgeoisie
Turning counters into rostrums, a legion of knaves,
Places a muddy sole on the people and the boyars,
Days when the country is divided into hangmen and victims
And when the flag of liberty is carried by publicans.
At the same time as being engaged in his most violent polemics, Macedonski produced meditative and serene poems, which were later judged to be among his best.Noaptea de decemvrie is the synthesis of his main themes and influences, rated by commentators as his "masterpiece".[57][306] Partly based on an earlier poem (Meka, named after theArab city),[57][307] it tells the story of anemir, who, left unsatisfied by the shallow and opulent life he leads inBaghdad, decides to leave onpilgrimage. While critics agree that it is to be read as anallegory of Macedonski's biography, the ironic text does not make it clear whether the emir actually reaches his target, nor if the centralmetaphor of Mecca as amirage means that the goal is not worth sacrificing for.[57][308] WhileMircea Anghelescu comments that Macedonski illustrates "unusual tension" by rigorously amplifying references to the color red, seen as a symbol of suffering,[309] Călinescu notes that the sequence of lyrics has a studied "delirious" element, and illustrates this with the quote:
Și el e emirul, și toate le are...
E tânăr, e farmec, e trăsnet, e zeu,
Dar zilnic se simte furat de-o visare...
Spre Meka se duce cu gândul mereu,
Și-n fața dorinței—ce este—dispare
Iar el e emirul, și toate le are.[244]
And he is the emir, and he owns each thing...
He's young, he's a charm, he's a bolt, he's a god,
But in each day he feels he is swept by a dream...
Towards Mecca his thought races constantly,
And faced with the wish, all things disappear,
And he is the emir, and he owns each thing.
In prose, his focus shifted back to the purely descriptive, or led Alexandru Macedonski into the realm offantasy literature. These stories, most of which were eventually collected inCartea de aur, include memoirs of his childhood in theAmaradia region, nostalgic portrayals of theOltenianboyar environment, idealized depictions of Cuza's reign, as well as a retrospective view on theend of Rom slavery (found in his pieceVerigă țiganul, "Verigă the Gypsy").[310] The best known among them isPe drum de poștă, athird-person narrative and thinly disguised memoir, where the characters are an adolescent Alexandru Macedonski and his father,General Macedonski.[311] The idyllic outlook present in such stories is one of the common meeting points between his version of Symbolism and traditionalist authors such asBarbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea.[312] Vianu indicates the connection, but adds: "Macedonski descended, through memory, in the world of the village, with the tremor of regret for the peace and plenty of the old settlements, so well polished that each person, landowner as well as peasant, lived within a framework that nature itself seemed to have granted. [...] in depicting rural environments, Macedonski presents the point of view of aconservative."[313]
Thalassa, Le Calvaire de feu, a fantasy novel and extendedprose poem, was celebrated by Macedonski's discipleOreste Georgescu as "the new religion of humanity".[314] The volume carried the mocking dedication "To France, thisChaldea" (thought by Vianu to reference Péladan's views on the decay of civilization).[126] It has affinities with writings by the ItalianDecadent authorGabriele d'Annunzio,[315] as well as echoes fromAnatole France.[316] The hero Thalassa, a Greek boy, works as alighthouse-keeper on Snake Island, fantasizing about thegolden age of mankind.[127][317] His fate is changed by a shipwreck, during which a girl, Caliope, reaches the island's shore. Thalassa and Caliope fall in love, but are mysteriously unable to seal their union through sexual intercourse: the boy attributes this failure to the "curse" of human individuality. Seeking to achieve a perfect union with his lover, he eventually kills her and drowns himself in theBlack Sea.[127][318]
In her review forMercure de France, novelistRachilde argued: "Very difficult to read, entirely developed in Symbolist manner [and] almost impossible to recount, obviously written in French but nevertheless obviously conceived by a Romanian (and what a spirited Romanian!)."[163] Rachilde believed the work to display "the fragrance of Oriental spices [...] rose marmalade and a slice of bear meat."[319] According to Vianu, the book builds on Macedonski's earlier themes, replacing Naturalist observation with ametaphysical speculation aboutidealism.[320] One other aspect of Macedonski's stylistic exploration took him to attempt recordingsynesthesia. His manuscript is written in ink of several colors, which, he believed, was to help readers get a full sense of its meaning.[321] Like other synesthetic aspects of his novel, this is believed to have been inspired by the techniques of Baudelaire[322] andArthur Rimbaud.[323]
Thalassa, Le Calvaire de feu is noted for its numerous cultural references, and especially for using a wide range of metaphors. Such aspects have been reviewed negatively by modern critics. Tudor Vianu writes: "the poet makes such waste of gemstones that we feel like saying some of them must be false",[324] while Călinescu, who notes that some fragments reveal "an incomparable artist" and "a professional metaphorist", notes that "in the end, such virtuosities become a bore."[261] According to Manuela-Delia Suciu,Thalassa is "prolix" and "too polished",[316] traits believed by Zamfir to be less irritating in the Romanian version.[24] Critic Cornel Moraru found that, in the background,Thalassa, a "great Symbolist novel", confrontsAncient Greek andChristian mythology, but "abuses" the religious vocabulary.[127] Another part of the novel's imagery iserotic, and includes an elaborate and aestheticized description of male genitalia.[325]
The four-acttragicomedyLe Fou? is seen by Vianu as comparable in subject matter and depth toEnrico IV, a celebrated 1922 play byLuigi Pirandello.[326] The plot reflects Macedonski's confrontation with his critics, and his acceptance of the fact that people saw in him an eccentric.[327] The central figure is a banker, Dorval, who identifies himself withNapoleon Bonaparte to the point where he sees episodes in his biography as mirrors of early 19th-century battles. Unlike patients withdissociative identity disorder, Dorval does not actually imagine his life has become Napoleon's, but rather joins with him on an intellectual level.[328] Witnesses of this disorder are divided into family, who seek to have Dorval committed, and close friends, who come to see his take on life as a manifestation of genius.[329] The spectator is led to believe that the latter interpretation is the correct one.[63] At a larger level, Vianu indicates, the play is also Macedonski's critique ofcapitalism, and, using Parisianargot, makes allusive references to famous people of the day.[330]
Particularly during the 1890s, Macedonski was a follower ofEdgar Allan Poe and ofGothic fiction in general, producing a Romanian version of Poe'sMetzengerstein story, urging his own disciples to translate other such pieces, and adopting "Gothic" themes in his original prose.[331] Indebted toJules Verne andH. G. Wells, Macedonski also wrote a number ofscience fiction stories, including the 1913Oceania-Pacific-Dreadnought, which depicts civilization on the verge of a crisis.[332] The gigantic commercial ship is maintained by a banker's union, and designed to grant travelers access to every pleasure imaginable; this causes the working-class inhabited cities on the continent to fall into a state of neglect and permanent violence, the climax of the story occurring with the bankers' decision to destroy their creation.[333]Oceania-Pacific-Dreadnought is noted for anticipatingtelevision, the ship being equipped with electrically operated "large and clear mirrors" that display "images from various parts of the Earth".[334] Macedonski was by then interested in the development of cinema, and authored asilent film screenplay based onComment on devient riche et puissant.[335]
Late in his life, Macedonski had come to reject Symbolist tenets, defining them as "imbecilities" designed for "the uncultured".[286]Ultima verba, the very last poems to be written by him, show him coming to terms with himself, and are treasured for their serene or intensely joyous vision of life and human accomplishment.[336] Therondels written at this stage, known collectively asPoema rondelurilor, are one of the first instances where the technique is used locally. Like those written previously byLiteratorul's Pavelescu andAlexandru Obedenaru, they are based on an earlier motif present in Macedonski's work, that of recurring refrains.[337] Many of the pieces document the poet's final discoveries. One of them isRondelul crinilor ("The Rondel of the Lilies"), which proclaims fragrances as the source of beatitude:În crini e beția cea rară, "In lilies one finds that exceptional drunkenness".[26][244] According toȘtefan Cazimir,Rondelul orașului mic ("The Rondel of the Small Town") shows a "likable wave of irony and self-irony", and the poet himself coming to terms with "the existence of a world who ignores him."[237] Proof of his combativeness was still to be found inRondelul contimporanilor ("The Rondel of the Contemporaries").[338]
The poet's take on life is also outlined in his final play,Moartea lui Dante. Călinescu writes that, by then, Macedonski was "obsessed" with theDivine Comedy.[261] Macedonski identifies with his hero,Dante Aligheri, and formulates his own poetic testament while identifyingWorld War I Romania with the medievalRepublic of Florence.[339] Tudor Vianu remarks: "In Dante's great self-pride, Macedonski found his own."[340] He sees the play as the best such work to have been produced by Macedonski,[341] whereas Călinescu deems it "puerile".[63] Zamfir believesMoartea... to be a significant text in Macedonski's bibliography, "one of the first samples of Romanian Symbolist theater", and as such indebted mainly to Maeterlinck.[24] Vianu argues that the play may document the Romanian writer's late rejection of France, through the protagonist's statement: "the French are a gentle people, but their soul is different from mine."[342]
A number of rondels show Macedonski's late fascination with theFar East, China and Japan. George Călinescu believes that this is to be understood as one item in a largeantithesis, the other being Decadent Paris, which one rondel describes as "hell".[261] The Orient, viewed as the space of serenity, is believed by Macedonski to be peopled by toy-like women and absentopium-smokers, and to be kept orderly by a stablemeritocracy.[261] The Chinese-themed poemTsing-Ly-Tsi, which Cazimir notes for its discreet, "almost imperceptible", humor, reads:
Tsing-Ly-Tsi stă-n prispa de-aur,
Cu ochi mici ca de ghierlan,
Sub de-argint frunzos tezaur,
Casa e de porțelan.[237]
Tsing-Ly-Tsi sits on the golden porch,
With his eyes as small as those of mice,
Under the silvery, leafy, treasure,
His house is porcelain-like.
Alexandru Macedonski repeatedly expressed the thought that, unlike his contemporaries, posterity would judge him a great poet.[343] With the exception ofMihail Dragomirescu, conservative literary critics tended to ignore Macedonski while he was alive. The first such figure wasJunimea'sTitu Maiorescu, who believed him to be a minor author, referring to him only a couple of times in his books and usually ridiculing him in his articles.[24][344] One of these texts, the 1886 essayPoeți și critici ("Poets and Critics"), spoke of Macedonski as having "vitiated" poetry, a notion he also applied toConstantin D. Aricescu andAron Densușianu.[345] Especially radical pronouncements were left by the traditionalist authorsIlarie Chendi andNicolae Iorga. Chendi wrote of Macedonski being "the caricature of a man", having "a feverish mind" and being motivated by "the brutal instinct of revenge".[346] Iorga, who became better known as a historian, later retracted some of the statements he had made against the poet during the 1890s.[89] Among the younger prominent traditionalist writers was theTransylvanian-bornLucian Blaga, who may have purposefully avoided Macedonski during his first visit to Bucharest in 1920.[347] Although more sympathetic to the Symbolist author, both Dragomirescu andGheorghe Adamescu tended to describe him as exclusively the product of French and Decadent literature,[89] while Dragomirescu's discipleIon Trivale denied all merit to Macedonski's literature.[348]
According to Tudor Vianu, Macedonski's intellectual friends (among themAnghel Demetriescu,George Ionescu-Gion,Bonifaciu Florescu,Grigore Tocilescu andV. A. Urechia) were largely responsible for passing down "a better and truer image of the abused poet."[349] It was also due to Dragomirescu thatNoaptea de decemvrie was included in a literature textbook for final grade high school students, which some argue is the poet's first-ever presence in theRomanian curriculum.[350] According to historian Lucian Nastasă, the poet's wife Ana Rallet behaved like an "excellent secretary" while Macedonski was still alive, and thereafter helped sort and edit his manuscript while maintaining "an actual cult" for her husband.[351]
Macedonski'scosmopolitan circle was the center of a literary alternative to the prevailing conservatism and Eminescu-like traditionalism of the day, the latter tendency being grouped aroundSămănătorul magazine for part of Macedonski's lifetime.[24][352] While Macedonski himself maintained his links with Romanticism and Classicism, commentators have retrospectively recognized in him the main person who announced Romania's first wave inmodernist literature.[24][353] Many first-generation disciples were to part with his guidelines early on, either by radicalizing their Symbolism or by stepping out of its confines.Traian Demetrescu was one of the first to do so, focusing on his commitment tosocialism—Vianu notes that the split took place "without coldness and the heart's versatility" on Macedonski's part.[354] Literary researcherLidia Bote argues that it was Petică who first illustrated mature Symbolism, emancipating himself from Macedonski'seclectic tendencies after 1902.[355] By that time, the Symbolist authorsDimitrie Anghel andN. D. Cocea used Macedonski's fantasy prose as an inspiration for their own, andN. Davidescu was borrowing from his mystical discourse.[356] The pictorial and joyous elements in Macedonski's poems were also serving to inspire Stamatiad,Eugeniu Ștefănescu-Est andHoria Furtună.[357] In the early stages of his career,Ion Pillat wrote pieces which echo his master's choice ofexotic themes.[358] A more discreet legacy of Macedonski's ideas was also preserved inside the conservative and traditionalist camps. Although his separation fromLiteratorul was drastic, and led him to rally withJunimea,Duiliu Zamfirescu built on some elements borrowed from the magazine's ideology, incorporating them into his literary vision.[359]
Many of Macedonski's most devoted disciples, whom he himself had encouraged, have been rated by various critics as secondary or mediocre. This is the case ofTheodor Cornel (who made his name as an art critic),[360]Mircea Demetriade,[26][361]Oreste Georgescu,[362]Alexandru Obedenaru,[26][337] Stoenescu, Stamatiad,Carol Scrob,Dumitru Karnabatt andDonar Munteanu.[363] Another such minor author was the self-styled "hermeticist"Alexandru Petroff, who expanded on Macedonski's ideas about esoteric knowledge.[157]
Macedonski's eldest sonAlexis continued to pursue a career as a painter. His sonSoare followed in his footsteps, receiving acclaim from art critics of the period. Soare's short career ended in 1928, before he turned nineteen, but his works have been featured in several retrospective exhibitions, including one organized by Alexis.[364][365] Alexis later experimented withscenic design as an assistant to French filmmakerRené Clair; his later life, shrouded in mystery and intrigue, led him to a career inFascist Italy andFrancoist Spain.[365] Another of Alexandru Macedonski's sons, Nikita, was also a poet and painter. For a while in the 1920s, he edited the literary supplement ofUniversul newspaper.[366] Two years after her father's death, Anna Macedonski married poetMihail Celarianu.[367]
In addition to his polemical portrayals in works by Alecsandri, Eminescu and Caragiale, Macedonski's career was an inspiration for various authors. His image acquired mythical proportions for his followers. Like Demetrescu, many of them left memoirs on Macedonski which were published before or after his death. His admirers were writing poetry about him as early as 1874,[368] and, in 1892,Cincinat Pavelescu published a rhapsodizing portrait of Macedonski as "the Artist".[369] Pavelescu, Dragoslav and Petică paid homage to the writer by leaving recollections which describe him as a devoted and considerate friend.[370] In contrast, traditionalist poetAlexandru Vlahuță authored an 1889sketch story in which Macedonski (referred to asPolidor) is the object of derision.[371]
Actual recognition of the poet as a classic came only in theinterwar period. A final volume of never before published poems,Poema rondelurilor, saw print in 1927.[193] Macedonski's work was analyzed and popularized by a new generation of critics, among them Vianu and George Călinescu. The post-Junimist modernist criticEugen Lovinescu also commented favorably on Macedonski's work,[57][372] but overall, Călinescu asserts, his opinions on the subject gave little insight into what he actually thought about the poet.[373] He also recounts that Macedonski himself treated Lovinescu with disdain, and once called him "a canary".[146]
The emergingavant-garde, although originating from Symbolism, progressively took its distance fromLiteratorul's legacy. Initially, Macedonski's contribution toexperimental literature was continued within formal Symbolism by his disciples Demetriade,Iuliu Cezar Săvescu[374] andIon Minulescu.[375] The latter was particularly indebted to Macedonski in matters of vision and language.[376] In 1904,Tudor Arghezi also left behind theLiteratorul circle and its tenets, eventually arriving to the fusion of modernist, traditionalist andavant-garde elements.[96][377] However, he remained indebted to Macedonski's example in his descriptive prose.[378] The 1912Simbolul magazine, which moved between conventional Symbolism and the emerging avant-garde, also published anImagist-inspiredparody ofNoaptea de mai, signed byAdrian Maniu.[379] A co-founder ofDadaism during the late 1910s,Tristan Tzara is believed by Swedish researcherTom Sandqvist to have been inspired more or less directly by Macedonski, and in particular by the latter's thoughts on the relation between absurdity and poetry.[380] In his debut poems,Benjamin Fondane-Barbu Fundoianu occasionally followed Macedonski,[381] but, by 1920, stated that the Symbolist doyen merely imitated French models to the point of "parasitism".[382]
Several avant-garde authors returned to Macedonski's literary guidelines by the late 1920s, as they themselves grew more moderate. This was the case of Maniu andIon Vinea, both of whom published prose works in the line ofThalassa.[383] The same work is also believed to have influenced two non-avant-garde authors, Davidescu andMateiu Caragiale, who remained close to the tenets Symbolism.[383] Mateiu was the illegitimate son of Ion Luca Caragiale, but, Vianu notes, could withstand comparisons with his father's rival: the eccentricities were complementary, although Mateiu Caragiale shied away from public affairs.[384] In the same post-Symbolist generation, Celarianu (Macedonski's posthumous son-in-law),[367]George Bacovia[24][385] andPăstorel Teodoreanu[232][386] also built on Macedonski's legacy, being later joined in this by theBessarabian linguistEugenio Coșeriu (who, in his early poetic career, imitated Macedonski's rondel style).[387] In the late 1920s, when their form of modernpsalms inspiredAlbanian-Romanian poetAleksander Stavre Drenova, Macedonski and Arghezi both made an indirect impact onAlbanian literature.[388]
Macedonski's status as one of Romanian literature's greats was consolidated later in the 20th century. By this time,Noaptea de decemvrie had become one of the most recognizable literary works to be taught in Romanian schools.[57] During the first years ofCommunist Romania, theSocialist Realist current condemned Symbolism (seeCensorship in Communist Romania), but spoke favorably of Macedonski's critique of thebourgeoisie.[389] A while after this episode,Marin Sorescu, one of the best-known modernist poets of his generation, wrote a homage-parody of theNights cycle. Included in the volumeSingur între poeți ("Alone among Poets"), it is seen by criticMircea Scarlat as Sorescu's most representative such pieces.[390] Also then,Noaptea de decemvrie partly inspiredȘtefan Augustin Doinaș'balladMistrețul cu colți de argint.[57]
In the 1990s,Ștefan Agopian took theNights cycle as inspiration for anerotic short story,[391] whilePavel Șușară adapted his rondels to a modernized setting.[392] Macedonski's prose also influenced younger writers such asAngelo Mitchievici[393] andAnca Maria Mosora.[394] In neighboringMoldova, Macedonski influenced theNeosymbolism ofAureliu Busuioc.[395] A magazine by the name ofLiteratorul, which claims to represent the legacy of Macedonski's publication, was founded in Romania in 1991, being edited by writers Sorescu,Fănuș Neagu andMircea Micu.[396] In 2006, theRomanian Academy granted posthumous membership to Alexandru Macedonski.[397]
Macedonski's poems had a sizable impact on Romania'spopular culture. During communism,Noaptea de mai was the basis for a successful musical adaptation, composed byMarian Nistor and sung byMirabela Dauer.[398]Tudor Gheorghe, a singer-songwriter inspired byAmerican folk revival, also used some of Macedonski's texts as lyrics to his melodies.[399] In the 2000s, the refrain ofNoaptea de mai was mixed into amanea parody byAdrian Copilul Minune.[400]
Although his poetic theories were largely without echoes inRomanian art,[401] Macedonski captured the interest of several modern artists, including, early on, cartoonistNicolae Petrescu Găină.[402] Alongside other writers who visited Terasa Oteteleșanu, Macedonski was notably portrayed the drawings of celebrated Romanian artistIosif Iser.[179] He is also depicted in a 1918lithograph byJean Alexandru Steriadi, purportedly Steriadi's only Symbolist work.[403]Thalassa, Le Calvaire de feu inspired a series ofreliefs, designed by Alexis Macedonski and hosted in his father's house inDorobanți.[168] During the 1910s, busts of him were completed by two sculptors,Alexandru Severin andFriedrich Storck, one of Storck's variants being hosted by theIoan Cantacuzino collection.[96] In 1919,Theodor Burcă was also inspired to complete another bust, and, duringWorld War II, was commissioned byMayor of BucharestIoan Rășcanu to build a Macedonski Monument in theGrădina Icoanei park, but this was never completed.[96]Constantin Piliuță, a painter active in the second half of the 20th century, made Macedonski the subject of a portrait in series dedicated to Romanian cultural figures (also depicted wereNicolae Iorga,Ștefan Luchian and Vianu).[404] In 1975, a bust of Macedonski, the work ofConstantin Foamete, was unveiled inCraiova.[96]
Of Macedonski's numerous residences, the one in Dorobanți was demolished when theAcademy of Economic Studies (ASE) was expanded.[96][51] A commemorative plaque was later put up near the spot.[96] Macedonski's childhood home inGoiești passed into state property under communism, and was in turn a school, a community home and a Macedonski Museum, before falling into neglect after theRomanian Revolution of 1989.[405] Several streets named in honor of Alexandru Macedonski, notably in Bucharest (by the ASE), Craiova,Cluj-Napoca andTimișoara.[citation needed]
