Constantin Dumitru Beldie (September 8, 1887 – June 11, 1954) was a
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
n journalist, publicist, and civil servant, famous for his
libertine
A libertine is a person devoid of most moral principles, a sense of responsibility, or sexual restraints, which they see as unnecessary or undesirable, and is especially someone who ignores or even spurns accepted morals and forms of behaviour ob ...
lifestyle and his unapologetic, sarcastic, memoirs of life in the early 20th century. After modest but happy beginnings in life, Beldie played a small but essential part in the promotion of
literary modernism
Literary modernism, or modernist literature, originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented ...
, building bridges between the mainstream and the avant-garde. He became a pioneer of cultural journalism at ''
Noua Revistă Română'', before moving on to ''
Ideea Europeană'' and ultimately ''
Cuvântul
''Cuvântul'' (, meaning "The Word") was a daily newspaper, published by philosopher Nae Ionescu in Bucharest, Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It ...
'', befriending (and secretly resenting) philosopher-journalist
Nae Ionescu
Nae Ionescu (, born Nicolae C. Ionescu; – 15 March 1940) was a Romanian philosopher, logician, mathematician, professor, and journalist. Near the end of his career, he became known for his antisemitism and devotion to far right politics, in th ...
. Like Ionescu, he promoted a
vitalistic
Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...
perspective on society and culture, veering into
antiintellectualism after 1918.
While working in the field of journalism and cultural criticism, Beldie advanced through the ranks of the bureaucracy, and held several important assignments between 1919 and 1935. He was the lover of female journalist
Cora Irineu
Cora may refer to:
Science
* Cora (fungus), ''Cora'' (fungus), a genus of lichens
* Cora (damselfly), ''Cora'' (damselfly), a genus of damselflies
* CorA metal ion transporter, a Mg2+ influx system
People
* Cora (name), a given name and surname
* ...
, and was possibly responsible for her suicide in 1924. This was only one of his many philandering affairs, some of them discussed in Beldie's own recollections of the period. These politically charged manuscripts were published, with a noted delay, in 2000.
Biography
Early years
Born in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
,
[ Adrian Majuru]
"Constantin Beldie, ''Memorii''. Caleidoscopul unei jumătăți de veac în București (1900-1950)"
in ''Observator Cultural
''Observator Cultural'' (meaning "The Cultural Observer" in English) is a weekly literary magazine based in Bucharest, Romania. The magazine was started in 2000. The weekly publishes articles on Romania's cultural and arts scene as well as politica ...
'', Issue 132, September 2002 Beldie grew up in the ''
mahala
is an Arabic word variously translated as district, quarter, ward, or "neighborhood" in many parts of the Arab world, the Balkans, Western Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and nearby nations.
History
Historically, mahallas were autonomous social ins ...
'' of
Gorgani, just south of
Cișmigiu Gardens
The Cișmigiu Gardens or Cișmigiu Park ( ro, Grădinile Cișmigiu or Parcul Cișmigiu, links=) are a public park in the center of Bucharest, Romania, spanning areas on all sides of an artificial lake. The gardens' creation was an important mom ...
.
[ ]Zigu Ornea
Zigu Ornea (; born Zigu Orenstein Andrei Vasilescu"La ceas aniversar – Cornel Popa la 75 de ani: 'Am refuzat numeroase demnități pentru a rămâne credincios logicii și filosofiei analitice.' ", in Revista de Filosofie Analitică', Vol. II, N ...
"Dezvăluirile lui Constantin Beldie"
in ''România Literară ''România Literară'' is a cultural and literary magazine from Romania. In its original edition, it was founded on 1 January 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași until 3 December 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared on ...
'', Issue 46/2000 He was a second-generation Bucharester, with his paternal family stemming from the western province of
Oltenia
Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...
. On that side, he descended from an old line of ''
pandur
The Pandurs were any of several light infantry military units beginning with Trenck's Pandurs, used by the Kingdom of Hungary from 1741, fighting in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Silesian Wars. Others to follow included Vladimirescu' ...
'' rebels, called ''Beldie'', ''Băldan'', or ''Pietraru''. His great-grandfather Nicolae, Beldie recalled, participated in the
1821 uprising, only to betray the revolutionary cause, and then settled with other renegade ''pandurs'' on the
Vâlsan River floodplain. His grandfather, Ghiță Beldie, resided in
Stroeștii Argeșului, but traded in ''
țuică
Țuică (; sometimes spelled tuica, tzuika, tsuika, tsuica, or tzuica) is a traditional Romanian spirit that contains ~ 24–65% alcohol by volume (usually 40–55%), prepared only from plums. Other spirits that are produced from other fruit or f ...
'' all over the
Argeș River
Arges or Argeș may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Romania
* Argeș County, a county in Muntenia, with its capital at Pitești
* Argeș Region, an administrative division from 1950 to 1952
* Argeș River, which flows through the Southern ...
valley.
Beldie's father, Dumitru, left the impoverished countryside for a life in the city; his father and brothers, however, were committed to the a peasant life, and benefited from the
land reforms
Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...
. Dumitru, a restaurant owner, was a sympathizer of
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
, acquainted with a number of prominent contemporary Romanians.
[ ]Gheorghe Grigurcu Gheorghe is a Romanian given name and surname. It is a variant of George, also a name in Romanian but with soft Gs. It may refer to:
Given name
* Gheorghe Adamescu
* Gheorghe Albu
* Gheorghe Alexandrescu
* Gheorghe Andriev
* Gheorghe Apostol
...
"Memoriile unui hedonist"
in ''România Literară ''România Literară'' is a cultural and literary magazine from Romania. In its original edition, it was founded on 1 January 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași until 3 December 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared on ...
'', Issue 41/2000 Young Beldie received a
progressive education
Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''pro ...
, which even included enrollment in
pre-kindergarten
Pre-kindergarten (also called Pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...
. He was later given private lessons in French, German and English, in addition to attending school, and took classes in dance and bicycling.
However, Beldie grew up mainly on the streets, describing life in the half-rural Bucharest of his youth as "patriarchal, lazy, prosperous and good-to-all".
His summers were spent in the countryside, traveling with Ghiță Beldie on the trade route between Vâlsan region and Bucharest. He observed
Westernization
Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, economi ...
and
urbanization
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...
as a
bohemian
Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to:
*Anything of or relating to Bohemia
Beer
* National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst
* Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors
Culture and arts
* Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
outsider,
commenting sarcastically on the universal spread of petty corruption and lassitude.
Beldie went to the
Saint Sava National College
The Saint Sava National College (Romanian language, Romanian: ''Colegiul Național Sfântul Sava''), Bucharest, named after Sabbas the Sanctified, is the oldest and one of the most prestigious high schools in Romania. It was founded in 1694, ...
, followed by the
Gheorghe Șincai Gymnasium.
[ Al. Săndulescu]
"Constantin Beldie (fragment)"
in ''Ateneu'', Issues 6–7/2009, p. 23 His time in school was an annoyance, and he twice failed to get his remove, passing his finishing exams in private.
He would later complain of the
corporal punishments
Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...
he received in class, and that Saint Sava "did not teach us anything, did not urge us to accomplish anything".
Beldie took a break from schooling, and worked various odd jobs, notably as a clerk in a
medical laboratory
A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are conducted out on clinical specimens to obtain information about the health of a patient to aid in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Clinical Medical labor ...
, a choir singer for the
Metropolitan Church, and a village teacher.
One of
Constantin Rădulescu-Motru
Constantin Rădulescu-Motru (; born Constantin Rădulescu, he added the surname ''Motru'' in 1892; February 15, 1868 – March 6, 1957) was a Romanian philosopher, psychologist, sociologist, logician, academic, dramatist, as well as left-nat ...
's closest collaborators, in 1908 he became a secretary at the latter's magazine ''Noua Revistă Română'', remaining there until 1916. This period introduced Beldie to the
Europeanist
European values are the norms and values that Europeans are said to have in common, and which transcend national or state identity. In addition to helping promote European integration, this doctrine also provides the basis for analyses that char ...
ideology of Rădulescu-Motru and
Ion Trivale
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electric charge, electrical charge.
The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be po ...
, who criticized the nationalist stances of schools such as
Poporanism
Poporanism is a Romanian version of nationalism and populism.
The word is derived from ''popor'', meaning "people" in Romanian. Founded by Constantin Stere in the early 1890s, Poporanism is distinguished by its opposition to socialism, promotion ...
and ''
Sămănătorul
''Sămănătorul'' or ''Semănătorul'' (, Romanian for "The Sower") was a literary and political magazine published in Romania between 1901 and 1910. Founded by poets Alexandru Vlahuță and George Coșbuc, it is primarily remembered as a tribune ...
''; Rădulescu-Motru struck Beldie as "wise" and "kind", but too pedantic when it came to assessing art.
He also quickly learned the editing and typographical trades, as well as the administrative tasks involved in preparing a magazine.
Debut in cultural journalism
Soon, Beldie became a close observer of the day's literary and scientific milieu, reviewing the correspondence exchanged between ''Noua Revistă Română'' and
Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist, and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye d ...
.
As a literary chronicler and
LTTE
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
recipient, he helped discover writers such as
Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi (; 21 May 1880 – 14 July 1967) was a Romanian writer, best known for his unique contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest, he explained that his pen name was related to ''Argesis'', th ...
,
George Bacovia
George Bacovia (; the pen name of Gheorghe Vasiliu ; – 22 May 1957) was a Romanian symbolist poet. While he initially belonged to the local Symbolist movement, launched as a poet by Alexandru Macedonski with the poem and poetry collection ( ...
,
and
. He personally intervened to have Aderca's poems published in ''Noua Revistă Română'' (1913), but was much annoyed by Aderca's "contentious and categorical" nature.
Allegedly, Beldie also met the literary innovator and prankster
Urmuz
Urmuz (, pen name of Demetru Dem. Demetrescu-Buzău, also known as Hurmuz or Ciriviș, born Dimitrie Dim. Ionescu-Buzeu; March 17, 1883 – November 23, 1923) was a Romanian writer, lawyer and civil servant, who became a cult hero in Romania's ava ...
.
Beldie also worked on and off as a translator of
French literature
French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...
for
Alcaly Publishers,
whose
Jewish Romanian
The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...
owner, he recalled, was utterly illiterate.
He became passionate about
J. Barbey d'Aurevilly,
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...
,
Anatole France
(; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...
,
Remy de Gourmont
Remy de Gourmont (4 April 1858 – 27 September 1915) was a French symbolist poet, novelist, and influential critic. He was widely read in his era, and an important influence on Blaise Cendrars and Georges Bataille. The spelling ''Rémy'' de Go ...
,
Jean Moréas
Jean Moréas (; born Ioannis A. Papadiamantopoulos, Ιωάννης Α. Παπαδιαμαντόπουλος; 15 April 1856 – 31 March 1910), was a Greek poet, essayist, and art critic, who wrote mostly in the French language but also in Greek ...
,
Jean Richepin
Jean Richepin (; 4 February 1849 – 12 December 1926) was a French poet, novelist and dramatist.
Biography
Son of an army doctor, Jean Richepin was born 4 February 1849 at Médéa, French Algeria.
At school and at the École Normale Supér ...
, and
Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam
Jean-Marie-Mathias-Philippe-Auguste, comte de Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (7 November 1838 – 19 August 1889) was a French symbolism (arts), symbolist writer. His family called him Mathias while his friends called him Villiers; he would also use t ...
.
In 1915, he translated and prefaced Villiers' ''Le secret de l'échafaud''.
[Neonila Onofrei, Lucreția Angheluță, Liana Miclescu, Cornelia Gilorteanu, Tamara Teodorescu, ''Bibliografia românească modernă (1831–1918). Vol. I: A–C'', p. 328. Bucharest: Editura științifică și enciclopedică, 1984]
With such professional credentials, Beldie was asked to contribute on other publishing projects, and became close to the burgeoning
Symbolist movement. He met and befriended, or quarreled with, a host of Symbolists and post-Symbolists, leaving characterological notes on
Adrian Maniu
Adrian Maniu (February 6, 1891 – April 20, 1968) was a Romanian poet, prose writer, playwright, essayist, and translator.
Born in Bucharest, his father Grigore, a native of Lugoj, was a jurist and professor of commercial law at the University of ...
,
N. Davidescu
Nicolae Davidescu (; October 24, 1888 – June 12, 1954) was a Romanian symbolist poet and novelist.
Works
Poetry
* 1910: ''La fântâna Castaliei'' ("At Castalia's Well") - parnassianist poems
* 1916: ''Inscripţii'' ("Engravings") - infl ...
,
Emil Isac
Emil Isac (; May 27, 1886 – March 25, 1954) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian poet, dramatist, short story writer and critic. Noted as one of the pioneers of Symbolism and modernist literature in his native region of Transylvania, he was in ...
, and
Mihail Sorbul
Mihail Sorbul (pen name of Mihail Smolsky; October 16 (or 19), 1885 – December 20, 1966) was a Romanian playwright and novelist.
Born in Botoșani, his parents were Anton Smolsky, a Polish uhlan lieutenant, later a shareholder in a petroleu ...
.
Together with
, he was one of the non-Symbolists involved with
Ion Minulescu
Ion Minulescu (; 6 January 1881 – 11 April 1944) was a Romanian avant-garde poet, novelist, short story writer, journalist, literary critic, and playwright. Often publishing his works under the pseudonyms I. M. Nirvan and Koh-i-Noor (the latte ...
's Symbolist tribune, ''Insula''. Like the younger Symbolists, Beldie also took a keen interest in avant-garde aesthetics. He claimed to have played a personal part in bringing
Expressionism
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
to Romania, but was perplexed by
Cubism
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
, and declared himself unconvinced by Marinetti's
Futurism
Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...
.
He not only disliked Futurism, but contended that its promoters at ''Noua Revistă Română'', including
Ramiro Ortiz
Ramiro Ortiz Mayorga is a Nicaraguan businessman. He heads Grupo Promérica, one of the main corporate groups of Nicaragua. Considered one the wealthiest men of Nicaragua. He owns Banco de la Producción. He is the former owner of El Nuevo Diario ...
, were Italian
proto-fascist
Proto-fascism refers to the direct predecessor ideologies and cultural movements that influenced and formed the basis of fascism.Spackman, Barbara: ''Fascist Virilities: Rhetoric, Ideology, and Social Fantasy in Italy'', p. 78.Peter Davies, Derek ...
nationalists and
agents of influence
An agent of influence is an agent of some stature who uses their position to influence public opinion or decision making to produce results beneficial to the country whose intelligence service operates the agent. Agents of influence are often the ...
.
Another one of his new friends was Nae Ionescu, with whom he would quarrel and reunite several times before 1940. According to Beldie's own testimony, they were both intrepid womanizers and self-seekers.
Ionescu, Beldie claims, was "not taken seriously" as an author, mainly because "he wouldn't take himself seriously".
The "Gypsy-like knave" Ionescu was, according to Beldie, "a loser before it was his time to lose".
Joining their circle were Aderca and Maniu. Both of them, Beldie claims, squandered their talent on artistically irrelevant, lucrative, work.
Beldie himself was notorious for his
hedonism
Hedonism refers to a family of theories, all of which have in common that pleasure plays a central role in them. ''Psychological'' or ''motivational hedonism'' claims that human behavior is determined by desires to increase pleasure and to decr ...
, later confessing: "I have been a philanderer by nature all my life, but I was not a jealous one."
He also admitted having been a confidant of women, "their comrade and blood-brother", and of thus receiving their sexual favors, but also claimed to have participated in at least one public sex orgy.
He was a long-haired
dandy
A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance. A dandy could be a self-made man who strove to imitate an aristocratic lifestyle desp ...
with "languid eyes", taking special care in his appearance, which included such fashionable items as a
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
or a
bowler hat
The bowler hat, also known as a billycock, bob hat, bombín (Spanish) or derby (United States), is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown, originally created by the London hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler in 1849. It has traditionally been worn ...
,
celluloid collar, a
frock coat
A frock coat is a formal men's coat characterised by a knee-length skirt cut all around the base just above the knee, popular during the Victorian and Edwardian periods (1830s–1910s). It is a fitted, long-sleeved coat with a centre vent at th ...
,
nacre
Nacre ( , ), also known as mother of pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent.
Nacre is f ...
buttons, and a walking cane.
[ Ștefan Agopian, "Scrisori bănățene (o poveste de dragoste)", in '' Dilemateca'', October 2006, p. 55]
Despite his libertine outlook, on July 29, 1910, Beldie married the actress Eugenia Gh. Ionescu, with whom he lived on Schitul Maicilor Street, Bucharest. On August 29, 1912, Eugenia gave birth to a son, Alexandru "Puiu" Beldie. This did not prevent Beldie from pursuing other women. Enrolling at the
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...
Faculty of Philosophy and Literature, he met
Cora Irineu
Cora may refer to:
Science
* Cora (fungus), ''Cora'' (fungus), a genus of lichens
* Cora (damselfly), ''Cora'' (damselfly), a genus of damselflies
* CorA metal ion transporter, a Mg2+ influx system
People
* Cora (name), a given name and surname
* ...
, who became passionately in love with him, and whom Beldie helped introduce to literary life.
Eventually graduating in 1912, Beldie was drafted into the
Romanian Land Forces
The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...
during the
Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 16 ( O.S.) / 29 (N.S.) June 1913. Serbian and Greek armies r ...
.
He was a teacher from 1913 to 1947 in the fields of Romanian language, professional education and project management.
Essayist and civil servant
![Conferințele Ideii Europene, 1921](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Conferin%C8%9Bele_Ideii_Europene%2C_1921.jpg)
Beldie was again drafted into the Land Forces for the
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
Romanian campaign (1916-1918).
During this time, his dislike of formalism had matured into vitalism and antiintellectualism.
As Beldie later put it, the Romanian intellectual class had the artistic tastes of "prostitutes", being virtually incapable of producing "an original idea of its own". The youth, given to the "drunkenness twinned with whoring", would only read the football pages of ''
Gazeta Sporturilor
''Gazeta Sporturilor'' ( en, The Sports Gazette) is a daily Romanian newspaper, and the country's largest and most read sports-related publication. It is owned by Ringier Sportal S.R.L—a joint venture of Ringier Romania S.R.L. and the Bulgarian ...
''.
Its "intellectual and moral crisis", Beldie claimed, had to do with "organic weakness", "exotic" intellectual habits, but also with "an insufficient training or an all-too-early lassitude".
The ideological stance fueled Beldie's 1918 essay ''Glossa spiritului cărturăresc'' ("Gloss on the Bookish Spirit") as well as, attributively,
[ ]Barbu Cioculescu Barbu may refer to:
People
* Barbu (name), a list of people with the name and surname ''Barbu''
* Alejandro Barbudo Lorenzo, nicknamed ''Barbu'', Spanish footballer
Places
* Barbu, Iran, a village in the Bushehr Province of Iran
* Barbu, Norway, ...
"Posteritatea unui memorialist"
in ''România Literară ''România Literară'' is a cultural and literary magazine from Romania. In its original edition, it was founded on 1 January 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași until 3 December 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared on ...
'', Issue 7/2006 the
aphorism
An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...
s published as ''Ce vrem? Catechism pentru suflete nehotărîte'' ("What Is It We Want? A Catechism for Indecisive Souls"). Both were came out with Yellow Books (''Cărți Galbene''), an imprint of
Editura Minerva
Editura Minerva is one of the largest publishing houses in Romania. Located in Bucharest, it is known, among other things, for publishing classic Romanian literature, children's books, and scientific books.
The company was founded in Bucharest in ...
,
and were seen by reviewers of the day as illustrating "a heroic concept of life".
["Cărți românești", p. 528] According to critic
Gheorghe Grigurcu Gheorghe is a Romanian given name and surname. It is a variant of George, also a name in Romanian but with soft Gs. It may refer to:
Given name
* Gheorghe Adamescu
* Gheorghe Albu
* Gheorghe Alexandrescu
* Gheorghe Andriev
* Gheorghe Apostol
...
, Beldie should be regarded as an immediate but "modest" precursor for Nae Ionescu's own brand of philosophic vitalism, or ''
Trăirism''.
To contemporary readers, he appeared more like an inconsistent follower of
pragmatism
Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. ...
, in the vein of
William James
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States.
James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
.
Instead of intellectualism, Beldie proposed a new brand of
elitism
Elitism is the belief or notion that individuals who form an elite—a select group of people perceived as having an intrinsic quality, high intellect, wealth, power, notability, special skills, or experience—are more likely to be constructi ...
and, historian Adrian Majuru notes, saw his as "a solitary life among the idiots".
In ''Catechism'', Beldie declared that: "There is no greater misfortune than when the strongest people on earth are not also the most obeyed by mankind. Because then all things are false, monstrous, and everything runs backwards."
He advised youth not to be ashamed of "their weaknesses, their tics, and their passions", suggesting that "they provide one's life with color, freshness, and the picturesque."
In 1919, Beldie became editorial secretary at another of Rădulescu-Motru's magazines, ''
Ideea Europeană'', which took over the old offices of ''Noua Revistă Română''.
[ Ionel Necula]
"Cealaltă ''Idee Europeană''"
in ''Contemporanul
''Contemporanul'' (The Contemporary) is a Romanian literary magazine published in Iaşi, Romania from 1881 to 1891. It was sponsored by the socialist circle of the city.
A new magazine ''Contimporanul
''Contimporanul'' (antiquated spelling of ...
'', Issue 2/2010, p. 14 This allowed him to organize a series of conferences held in various cities by, among others, Nae Ionescu, Ortiz, Irineu,
Octav Onicescu
Octav Onicescu (; August 20, 1892 – August 19, 1983) was a Romanian mathematician and a member of the Romanian Academy. Together with his student, Gheorghe Mihoc, he is considered to be the founder of the Romanian school of probability theory ...
,
Mircea Florian
Mircea Florian (; April 1, 1888 – October 31, 1960) was a Romanian philosopher and translator. Active mainly during the interwar period, he was noted as one of the leading proponents of rationalism, opposing it to the '' Trăirist'' philosophy o ...
,
Virgil Bărbat, and
Emanoil Bucuța Emanoil Bucuța (born Emanoil Popescu; June 27, 1887 – October 7, 1946) was a Romanian prose writer and poet.
Born in Bolintin-Deal, Giurgiu County, his parents were Ioniță Popescu, a butler, and his wife Rebeca-Elena (''née'' Bucuța). Movi ...
.
At the time, he became close friends with another ''Ideea Europeană'' contributor, the Jewish essayist
Henric Sanielevici
Henric Sanielevici (, first name also Henri, Henry or Enric, last name also Sanielevich; September 21, 1875 – February 19, 1951) was a Romanian journalist and literary critic, also remembered for his work in anthropology, ethnography, sociology ...
.
Beldie was not especially visible in this company of intellectuals, but contributed a rather popular satirical column, ''Aplauze și fluierături'' ("Applause and Heckling"), and put to bed each printed issue.
As reported by Ionescu's disciple
Mircea Vulcănescu
Mircea Aurel Vulcănescu (3 March 1904 – 28 October 1952) was a Romanian philosopher, economist, ethics teacher, sociologist, and far-right politics, far-right politician. Undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance from 1941 to 1944 in the ...
, Beldie was the magazine's "actual soul", "intrepid" despite a noticeable physical handicap—Beldie now walked with a limp, and was known to Vulcănescu and others as "
The Devil upon Two Sticks".
[Vulcănescu, pp. 125–126]
Beldie began an affair with Irineu, leaving with her on official assignments to
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
. To the irritation of his ''Ideea Europeană'' friends, these trips turned into sexual escapades, with both Beldie and Irineu neglecting their real tasks.
In 1922, Irineu left alone for an extended trip in
Banat
Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...
area, while Beldie stated behind in Bucharest. The letters he received from her convinced him that she was an outstanding reporter, and, on this basis, he pruned their content and published them as a separate column in ''Ideea Europeană''.
From around 1919, Beldie was also working as a teacher at the Superior School for Arts and Crafts, in Bucharest.
Having served as department head for the Social Reform Society (1919–1924), under sociologist
Dimitrie Gusti
Dimitrie Gusti (; 13 February 1880 – 30 October 1955) was a Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian, and voluntarist philosopher; a professor at the University of Iaşi and the University of Bucharest, he served as Romania's Minister of ...
, he was at the time a commercial director at Centrala Cărții publishing house and director of
Editura Cultura Națională (1924–1928).
While at Cultura Națională, he arranged Irineu's letters for publishing as a volume.
As Beldie later recounted, this assignment pitied him against Nae Ionescu: according to Beldie, Ionescu was responsible for a major fraud, which he tried to pin down on Centrala Cărții.
This account is contrasted by Vulcănescu. Though he notes that Ionescu had indeed defrauded his sponsor
Aristide Blank
Aristide or Aristid Blank, also spelled Blanc or Blanck (January 1, 1883 – January 1, 1960), was a Romanian financier, economist, arts patron and playwright. His father, Mauriciu Blank, an assimilated and naturalized Romanian Jew, was manager o ...
, Vulcănescu argues that he did so only to benefit Beldie, who was having financial troubles.
Final decades
On February 11, 1924, Irineu committed suicide by revolver. This was due either to Beldie's philandering (which probably caused some of his other lovers to kill themselves)
or, as he asserts in his memoirs, a family illness that also claimed several of her siblings.
Another version has it that she was driven to despair when Beldie intervened between her and her other admirer, Bucuța.
Beldie arranged for her burial at
Bellu cemetery
Șerban Vodă Cemetery (commonly known as Bellu Cemetery) is the largest and most famous cemetery in Bucharest, Romania.
It is located on a plot of land donated to the local administration by Baron Barbu Bellu. It has been in use since 1858. T ...
, and put out a final version of her letters and essays.
With Rădulescu-Motru, Beldie frequented the salon of
Alexandrina Cantacuzino
Alexandrina "Didina" Cantacuzino ( Pallady; also known as Alexandrina Grigore Cantacuzino and ( Francized) Alexandrine Cantacuzène; 20 September 1876 – 1944) was a Romanian political activist, philanthropist and diplomat, one of her country's l ...
. They joined her Union of Intellectuals club in 1926, but Beldie left sarcastic notes about the intellectual abilities of its other members.
''Ideea Europeană'' ceased publication in 1928.
That year, Beldie became director of ''
Cuvântul
''Cuvântul'' (, meaning "The Word") was a daily newspaper, published by philosopher Nae Ionescu in Bucharest, Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It ...
'' daily, headed by Ionescu—who, in 1930, joined the
camarilla
A camarilla is a group of courtiers or favourites who surround a king or ruler. Usually, they do not hold any office or have any official authority at the royal court but influence their ruler behind the scenes. Consequently, they also escape havi ...
surrounding the authoritarian
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
,
Carol II
Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. The eldest son of Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I in 1914. He was the first of th ...
.
Beldie himself became head of
Imprimeria Națională (1930–1932), before becoming assistant director and then director for the
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
(1930–1932),
in which capacity he was well paid.
Vulcănescu reports that Beldie, seen as an infirm, was the subject of pranks by his colleagues, including
Henri H. Stahl Henri H. Stahl (also known as Henry H. Stahl or H. H. Stahl; 1901 – 9 September 1991) was a Romanian Marxist cultural anthropologist, ethnographer, sociologist, and social historian.
Biography
Born in Bucharest to a family of Alsatian and F ...
and Vulcănescu himself: they exacerbated a conflict between Beldie and demographer Mitu Georgescu, to the point where it seemed like the two would duel.
Also according to Vulcănescu, Nae Ionescu still cared for Beldie, and possibly saw the pranks pulled on him as distasteful. In 1933, Ionescu defected to the
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard ( ro, Garda de Fier) was a Romanian militant revolutionary fascist movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel Michael () or the Legionnaire Movement (). It was strongly ...
, a
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
movement opposed to Carol II. As documented by Beldie, his wealth grew over the coming years, as he became the representative of
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
-linked
IG Farben
Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG (), commonly known as IG Farben (German for 'IG Dyestuffs'), was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate (company), conglomerate. Formed in 1925 from a merger of six chemical companies—BASF, ...
in Romania, and included villas in
Băneasa
Băneasa () is a borough () in the north side of Bucharest, in Sector 1, near the Băneasa Lake (). Like all north-side districts of Bucharest, it is relatively sparsely populated, with large areas of parkland. Bordering on Băneasa Forest, ...
and
Balcic
Balchik ( bg, Балчик ; ro, Balcic) is a Black Sea coastal town and seaside resort in the Southern Dobruja area of northeastern Bulgaria. It is in Dobrich Province, 35 km southeast of Dobrich and 42 km northeast of Varna. It spra ...
and a
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
car with a chauffeur paid by the firm.
Beldie, instead, retired from public life. He was embittered by Ionescu's politics, describing him as a "ham actor" on the far-right and religious scene, a figure of "turpitude, cynicism, amorality".
Beldie ended his career in the public service as head of
Loteria de Stat (1932–1935).
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and the early years of the
Romanian communist regime, Beldie lived in relative obscurity. From his retirement at age sixty until his death, he had financial difficulties and had to work as a proofreader for various publishers, eventually being forced to sell his personal book collection.
During the early 1950s, Beldie began compiling and reviewing his scattered memoirs, in
samizdat
Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...
form. He only gave private readings, and was hailed by critic
Vladimir Streinu
Nicolae Iordache (May 23, 1902 in Teiu, Argeș – November 26, 1970 in Bucharest), known by his pseudonym Vladimir Streinu, was a Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southe ...
, who attended such events, as Romania's answer to
Saint-Simon.
To minimize the risk of communist arrest and imprisonment, Beldie only dealt with the more distant past,
with the notable exception of his chapter on Arghezi. This portion, which was not read in front of Arghezi, claimed that Arghezi was a compulsive liar, and discussed in detail the issue of his uncertain family origins.
Beldie was supported morally and financially by old literary friends, including Arghezi and literary critic
Tudor Vianu
Tudor Vianu (; January 8, 1898 – May 21, 1964) was a Romanian literary criticism, literary critic, art critic, poet, philosopher, academic, and translator. He had a major role on the reception and development of Modernism in Literature of Roma ...
, who greatly enjoyed reading fragments from the work.
He visited the house of another literary promoter,
Șerban Cioculescu
Șerban Cioculescu (; 7 September 1902 – 25 June 1988) was a Romanian literary critic, literary historian and columnist, who held teaching positions in Romanian literature at the University of Iași and the University of Bucharest, as well as m ...
, his portrait picture prominently displayed in the lobby. Working clandestinely and under
Securitate
The Securitate (, Romanian for ''security'') was the popular term for the Departamentul Securității Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Previously, before the communist regime ...
surveillance, Cioculescu collected memoirs of the previous regime; he organized reunions at which Beldie met other such late debutants, including politician
Petre Ghiață and former counterespionage operative George "Geacă" Borneanu.
Beldie was survived by his son Alexandru, whom he had educated in accordance with ''Glossa spiritului cărturăresc'', encouraging him to take up mountaineering. Beldie Jr became a distinguished
dendrologist, forestry engineer, and environmentalist. Like his father before him, he was also a bohemian.
He fought on the
Eastern Front and spent 1944-1945 as a prisoner of war in
Oranki, before returning to teach in Romania. He was married three times, but had no children.
Legacy
Beldie looked forward to the promise of
liberalization
Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used m ...
, believing that his bitter memoirs would eventually be given
imprimatur
An ''imprimatur'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''impr.'', from Latin, "let it be printed") is a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement. The imprimatur rule in the R ...
by the communist authorities.
He was worried that they would never be published in full, so he asked his literary friends, including Arghezi, Vianu, Cioculescu, and
Perpessicius
Perpessicius (; pen name of Dumitru S. Panaitescu, also known as Panait Șt. Dumitru, D. P. Perpessicius and Panaitescu-Perpessicius; October 22, 1891 – March 29, 1971) was a Romanian literary historian and critic, poet, essayist and fiction wri ...
, to make sure no part of them went missing.
Alexandru Beldie, underpromoted in his field of work because of his anticommunism and structural nonconformity, then forcefully retired, took up the task of raising awareness of his father's samizdat work. He preserved the manuscripts and, in the 1970s, presented them to
Zigu Ornea
Zigu Ornea (; born Zigu Orenstein Andrei Vasilescu"La ceas aniversar – Cornel Popa la 75 de ani: 'Am refuzat numeroase demnități pentru a rămâne credincios logicii și filosofiei analitice.' ", in Revista de Filosofie Analitică', Vol. II, N ...
, director of
Editura Minerva
Editura Minerva is one of the largest publishing houses in Romania. Located in Bucharest, it is known, among other things, for publishing classic Romanian literature, children's books, and scientific books.
The company was founded in Bucharest in ...
. Although Ornea gave his approval, the memoirs were blocked from publication by
communist censors, due to a chapter on Nae Ionescu. Despite the chapter's sharply critical tone, the regime's policy was not to publish any mention of Ionescu.
After the
1989 Revolution, Ornea and
Nicolae Manolescu
Nicolae Manolescu (; b. 27 November 1939, Râmnicu Vâlcea) is a Romanian literary critic. As an editor of ''România Literară'' literary magazine, he has reached a record in reviewing books for almost 30 years. Elected a corresponding member o ...
arranged for the Ionescu chapter to be published in ''
România Literară ''România Literară'' is a cultural and literary magazine from Romania. In its original edition, it was founded on 1 January 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași until 3 December 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared on ...
''.
The work only appeared in 2000, with
Editura Albatros. As critics note, they were only printed in an altered form—with the Ionescu chapter conspicuously absent, probably cut out from the manuscript entirely.
According to Ornea, this may be because Ionescu disciple
Dan Zamfirescu, who reviewed the manuscripts for publishing at his own
Editura Roza Vânturilor, wanted them lost.
In 2005, however, Zamfirescu published ''Oameni văzuți de aproape'' ("People Seen from Up Close"), which reputedly covers the previously abridged part of Beldie's memoirs, and features notes that often challenge Beldie's account.
Alexandru Beldie died on June 4, 2003, some 3 years after the original book saw print, in what his colleagues describe as undeserved anonymity. Constantin's memoirs were enjoying the attention of literary critics, including
Dan C. Mihăilescu
Dan or DAN may refer to:
People
* Dan (name), including a list of people with the name
** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark
* Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa
**Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...
, who reviewed them together with a mass of recovered samizdats.
[ ]Dan C. Mihăilescu
Dan or DAN may refer to:
People
* Dan (name), including a list of people with the name
** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark
* Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa
**Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...
"Literatura română în post-ceaușism"
in ''Observator Cultural
''Observator Cultural'' (meaning "The Cultural Observer" in English) is a weekly literary magazine based in Bucharest, Romania. The magazine was started in 2000. The weekly publishes articles on Romania's cultural and arts scene as well as politica ...
'', Issue 35, October 2000; Smaranda Vultur
"Transparențele literaturii confesive (II)"
in ''Revista 22
''Revista 22'' (''22 Magazine'') is a Romanian weekly magazine, issued by the Group for Social Dialogue and focused mainly on politics and culture.
History and profile
''Revista 22'' was started in 1990. The first edition of the magazine was print ...
'', Issue 757, September 2004
Notes
References
"Cărți românești" in ''Transilvania'', Issue 4/1920, pp. 524–530 (digitized by the
Babeș-Bolyai University
The Babeș-Bolyai University ( ro, Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai , hu, Babeș-Bolyai Tudományegyetem, commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. UBB has a long academic tradition, started by Universitas ...
br>
Transsylvanica Online Library
* Nicolae P. Leonăchescu,
"Pandurii lui Tudor" in the
Romanian Defense Ministry ''Document'', Issue 4/2012, pp. 21–26
"Un secol de la nașterea omului de știință Alexandru C. Beldie (I)" in the
Transilvania University ''Eco-design & Restaurare'', Issue 2/2012, pp. 42–48
"Un secol de la nașterea omului de știință Alexandru C. Beldie (II)" in ''Eco-design & Restaurare'', Issue 3/2012, pp. 41–48
*
Mircea Vulcănescu
Mircea Aurel Vulcănescu (3 March 1904 – 28 October 1952) was a Romanian philosopher, economist, ethics teacher, sociologist, and far-right politics, far-right politician. Undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance from 1941 to 1944 in the ...
, ''Nae Ionescu. Așa cum l-am cunoscut''. Bucharest:
Humanitas
''Humanitas'' is a Latin noun meaning human nature, civilization, and kindness. It has uses in the Enlightenment, which are discussed below.
Classical origins of term
The Latin word ''humanitas'' corresponded to the Greek concepts of '' philanthr ...
, 1992.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beldie, Constantin
1887 births
1954 deaths
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