Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi, born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest in 1880, is regarded as a pivotal figure in twentieth-century Romanian literature. He initially published poetry under the name Ion Theo and later adopted the pen name Arghezi, inspired by his mother’s name and the Arges River. Arghezi's diverse life included time spent living as a monk, working various jobs, and translating the works of notable poets like Charles Baudelaire. His literary debut, "Cuvintye potrivite" in 1927, was significant for introducing modernism to Romania, showcasing a style rich in symbol and dark humor that reflects human distress and existential themes. In addition to his poetry, he authored novels characterized by surrealism and an exploration of the absurd. Arghezi also engaged in journalism and founded the magazine "Bilete de papagal," which he published from 1928 to 1944. His later years were marked by prolific writing, including children's literature, before he passed away in 1967 at his estate in Martisor.
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Tudor Arghezi
Writer
- Born: May 21, 1880
- Birthplace: Bucharest, Romania
- Died: July 14, 1967
- Place of death: Bucharest, Romania
Biography
Tudor Arghezi is recognized as the major Romanian poet of the twentieth century. He was born Ion N. Theodorescuin in Bucharest in 1880. He published his first poem, “Tatalui meu,” in the magazine Liga Ortodoxa in 1896, using the name Ion Theo, a shortened version of his given name. He later adopted the Arghezi pen name, partly from his mother’s name and partly from the Arges River in Romania.
From 1899 to 1906, he lived as a monk in the orthodox monastery in Cernica, near Bucharest, and briefly at a Catholic monastery in France. He eventually left the cloistered life, rejecting attempts to convert him to Catholicism. Until 1910, he lived in Geneva with occasional sojourns in Paris. In 1904, he published some of his poems in the journal Linia dreapta. He also worked as a jeweler, secretary, portrait artist, stonemason, and chemist.
Returning to Romania in 1910, he turned to a career as a polemicist, writing articles for several journals and publishing pamphlets. In 1916, he married Paraschiva Burda, with whom he had a son and a daughter. Many of his tracts were arguments for pacifism, but he also protested Romania’s alliance with the Allied Powers during World War I, preferring an alliance with the Axis Powers. His writings for a pro-German newspaper resulted in his being charged with treason in 1918 and imprisoned for more than a year.
Arghezi attracted major literary notice when he published his first volume of poems in 1927. This publication, Cuvintye potrivite, was a watershed moment in Romanian literature because it brought the literary style of modernism to that nation. His poetic style was influenced by the work of Charles Baudelaire; Arghezi had translated Baudelaire’s work, Les Fleurs du mal (1857; The Flowers of Evil, 1909), into Romanian. Arghesi later published a volume of his own poetry under the title Flori de mucigai, which means “flowers of mildew.” Arghezi’s style mixes symbols of human distress and existential doubt with a crisp playfulness; there also is dark humor, a recognition of the fundamental uncertainty of human life.
From 1928 until 1944, he published his own weekly magazine, Bilete de papagal. His work in the 1930’s reflects a preoccupation with the absurd, as illustrated in his two major novels, Ochii Maicii Domnului (1934) and Cimitirul Buna-Vestire (1936). These novels have no plots in the conventional sense but instead explore surreal landscapes marked by loss of purity and the sensation of the grotesque. After 1930, Arghezi retreated to his estate in Martisor, where he spent many hours gardening, beekeeping, and caring for his family. One product of this domestic life is found in his children’s books, Cartea cu jucarii (1931) and Prisaca (1954).
During World War II he was again imprisoned, this time for attacks on Bucharest society, the church, and the government. Arghezi published prolifically in the last decade of his life, beginning with his poetry volume, Cîntare omului, in 1956. He died in Bucharest on July 14, 1967, at the age of eighty-seven. He was buried, as he requested, at his estate in Martisor.