Al. T. Stamatiad

Al. T. Stamatiad (common rendition of Alexandru Teodor Maria Stamatiad, or Stamatiade; May 9, 1885 – December 1955) was a Romanian Symbolist poet, short story writer, and dramatist. A late arrival on the local Symbolist scene, he was primarily active as a literary promoter and, in 1918, editor of '' Literatorul'' review. Discovered and praised by Alexandru Macedonski and Ion Minulescu, he combined his presence in radical Symbolist circles with stints on more culturally conservative ones, crossing between the extremes of Romanian literature. By 1911, he had established himself in cultural and social circles as an exotic and vocal, sometimes violent, cultural debater.

Stamatiad's parallel career as a schoolteacher took him to the city of Arad, where he lived at two distinct intervals, animating cultural life in the Romanian circles. Beyond his own poetry and prose, which received mixed reviews, Stamatiad worked on popularizing foreign literature, translating Symbolists such as Maurice Maeterlinck and Charles Baudelaire, but also more traditional works of Omar Khayyám and Li Bai, and experimenting with genres such as ''haiku''. He was generally considered an authority on, and imitator of, Oscar Wilde.

At the center of controversies with Macedonski, and later with the youth at ''Sburătorul'' circle, Stamatiad sided with the anti-modernist side of Romanian Symbolism, folding back on conservatism. He faded into relative obscurity during World War II, and lived in isolation and poverty after the establishment of a Romanian communist regime.

Biography

Early life

Born in Bucharest, Stamatiad(e) was the illegitimate son of Maria Stamatiade and of Lieutenant-Colonel Theodor Pallady. Painter Theodor Iancu Pallady and actress Lucia Sturdza-Bulandra were cousins of his, while Alexandrina Cantacuzino, the feminist campaigner, was a half-sister.Călinescu, p.702, 1016Lidia Bote, ''Antologia poeziei simboliste românești'', Editura pentru literatură, Bucharest, 1968, p.255 Through his paternal grandmother, Alexandru Teodor descended from the prestigious Ghica family, and, according to literary historian George Călinescu, was always overly preoccupied with his origins and his illegitimacy.Călinescu, p.702

The poet used as his full name ''Alexandru Teodor Maria Stamatiad'', Cornelia Ștefănescu
"Viața documentelor"
, in ''România Literară'', Nr. 45/2002 including his patronymic, adapted as ''Teodor'' (although sometimes shortened to ''Th.'', as in ''Al. Th. Stamatiad''). His eccentric styling with the matronymic ''Maria'' was a subject of ridicule among his literary peers. To his friends, he interchangeably was ''Stamatiad'' or ''Stamatiade'', even as late as 1920.Călinescu, p.1003 Dropping the final ''e'' of his foreign-sounding surname, which most likely indicates a Hellenic heritage, signifies a voluntary Romanianization.

In 1903, at the Kübler Coffeehouse, Stamatiad met Alexandru Macedonski, senior leader of the Romanian Symbolist school. Using the pen name ''Adrian Alexandru'', he made his first contributions to literature in the review ''Pleiada'' (1904), then in Ionescu-Caion's literary newspaper, ''Românul Literar''. He was enlisted at a boarding school in the distant city of Iași, while his family remained in Bucharest.Cruceanu, p.26 Around 1905, he returned to Bucharest, to attend Matei Basarab and Sfântul Gheorghe high schools. He began frequenting the literary club formed at Macedonski's Rafael Street townhouse, where he also introduced two young poets and boarding school mates, Mihail Cruceanu and Eugeniu Sperantia. As noted by Cruceanu, Stamatiad was cultivating valuable connections in the literary press, looking upon his colleagues "with a protective air." Other regulars included Mircea Demetriade, Al. Gherghel, Șerban Bascovici, Donar Munteanu, and critic V. V. Haneș, who was impressed by Stamatiad's self-confidence, which "even seemed a bit too much for his age."Haneș, p.205 Cruceanu also recalls that Stamatiad "never did doubt his significance".

Making his full debut under Macedonski's auspices, Stamatiad was also active in rival Symbolist milieus. Another Symbolist mentor, Ovid Densusianu, hosted his poem, ''Singurătate'' ("Solitude"), in the Symbolist tribune '' Vieața Nouă''. In 1906, it also published Stamatiad's versions of Horace's ''Odes''. According to researcher Nicolae Laslo, they read "more like adaptations" than sheer translations, being both simplified and personalized. Nicolae Laslo
"Horațiu în literatura română"
in '' Gând Românesc'', Nr. 11–12/1935, p.545 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai Universitybr>Transsylvanica Online Library

Stamatiad and Macedonski continued to correspond even during those periods when Macedonski was out of the country, on a self-imposed exile, while Stamatiad had not yet passed his baccalaureate examination. Together with Cruceanu and Sperantia, he took up the cause of popularizing Macedonski's Symbolism in Henric Streitman's newspaper, ''Prezentul''. Soon, Stamatiad became a favorite among the disciples: Macedonski referred to him as "a very great poet", "brilliant and powerful",Călinescu, p.532, 1003 seeing him as the Romanian Rollinat