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ILARIE VORONCA



Ilarie Voronca, escritor y poeta de vanguardia, nació el 31 de diciembre de 1903 en Braila (Rumanía) y murió [suicidio]en París el 8 de abril de 1946. Escritor biligüe –en rumano y francés–, fue un miembro destacado del movimiento Dada.

Voronca nació en el seno de una familia judía. Llevó a cabo estudios de derecho y literatura francesa. Publicó sus primeros escritos en 1922 cuando formaba parte del movimiento Sburatorul. Por esa época, se trataba de poemas de inspiración simbolista, influenciado por las obras de George Bacovia y Camil Baltazar. Los textos de ese periodo, de tono más bien sombrío y patético, rompen con el resto de su obra.

Apenas un año más tarde, Voronca cambia de estilo: se adhiere al manifiesto modernista publicado en la revista Comtimporanul. Colaboró asiduamente en las revistas literarias Point e Intégral. Con Stephan Roll y Víctor Brauner fundó un magazin inspirado en el constructivismo ruso que llevaba el nombre de 75 HP. Del cual sólo llegó a publicarse un número.

En 1927, Voronca publica en París un poemario titulado Colomba (ese era también el nombre de su mujer). El libro iba acompañado de dos retratos realizados por Robert Dalaunay. Colomba marca una nueva orientación en el estilo voronquiano: se inspira entonces en el surrealismo. A partir de ahí, publica regularmente sus poemarios, sobre todo tras instalarse en Francia en 1933. Comienza a escribir en francés y publica L´apprenti fantôme (1938), Beauté de ce monde (1940) [Nada oscurecerá la belleza de este mundo, MALDOROR ediciones, 2010] y Arbre (1942). Algunos poemarios fueron ilustrados con dibujos de Constantin Brancuse, Marc Chagall y Victor Brauner.

En 1938 pasó a formar parte de la Resistencia. En enero de 1946 –con ocasión de un viaje a Rumanía–, fue aclamado por sus escritos y actividades antifascistas.

Se suicidó algunos meses después, dejando inacabada la obra Manuel du parfait bonheur.





Ilarie VORONCA (pseud. lui Eduard Marcus), n. 31 dec. 1903, Braila - m. 5 apr. 1946, Paris. Poet. Fiul lui Isidor Marcus, proprietarul unui joagar, comerciant, si al Ceciliei (n. Brenner).

Studii la Liceul Pedagogic din Bucuresti (1914-1921). Licentiat al Facultatii de Drept a Univ. din Bucuresti (1924). Debuteaza in revista Sburatorul literar, cu poezia Tristeti de toamna (nov. 1921). Fecventeaza cenaclul condus de E. Lovinescu. Versurile publicate in Sburatorul literar, Flacara, Nazuinta, Contimporanul sunt adunate in volumul Restristi (1923).

Din 1924, cand redacteaza impreuna cu St. Roii si VORONCA Brauner, numarul unic din revista 75 H. P. (oct.), VORONCA se afirma printre principalii promotori ai miscarii de avangarda romanesti. Publica in Punct (1924-1925), face parte din red. revistei Integral 1925-1928, colaboreaza frecvent la rev. unu (1928-1931).

Din capitala Frantei, unde plecase in 1926 cu intentia de a-si lua doctoratul in drept (proiect nerealizat), revine frecvent in tara sau trimite numeroase colab. (poezii, poeme in proza, eseuri, interviuri). La Paris, lucreaza, printre altele, in biroul unei soc. de asigurari. Dupa intoarcerea la Bucuresti, in 1929, e functionar la presedintia Consiliului de Ministri.

Din 1933, se stabileste in Franta; continua sa trimita art. ziarului Adevarul (1935-1937). in anii ocupatiei naziste, participa la miscarea franceza de Rezistenta, iar dupa eliberare este directorul emisiunilor in lb. romana la Radio Paris.

Se sinucide in aprilie 1946. Scrierile in lb. romana ale lui V., posterioare debutului cu accente bacoviene din Restristi, ilustreaza toate etapele importante ale miscarii romanesti de avangarda: momentul 75 H. P. poarta marca unui dadaism tarziu si al constructivismului, poemele publicate in rev. Punct, in 1924-1925, si abia in 1931, in placheta Invitatie la bal, se fac ecoul manifestelor construc-tiviste; Colomba (1927), Ulise (1928), Bratara noptilor (1929), Plante si animale (1929) indica, prin neobisnuita densitate imagistica si mobilitatea asociativa, anumite deschideri spre suprarealism, identificabile si in Zodiac (1930) si Incantatii (1931). Excesele „miliardarului de imagini" (E. Lovinescu) sunt evitate in mare masura in ultimele carti - Petre Schlemihl (1932) si Pattnos si alte sase poeme (1933) in care discursul liric se simplifica, primind accente whitmaniene. Eseuri si poeme in proza, in voi. A doua lumina (1930) si Act de prezenta (1932). Inaugurata prin traducerea unor carti reprezentative pentru creatia sa romaneasca (Ulise - Ulysse dans la citi, 1933; Petre Schlemihl - Poimes parmi Ies hommes -1934; Patmos, 1934), etapa franceza a scrisului lui VORONCA cuprinde inca cincisprezece carti (poezii, poeme in proza); ea continua direct perioada anterioara in directia unui lirism vizionar, cu accente imnice, insufletite de un autentic patos umanitarist, pe un fond de angoasa existentiala, permanent in opera sa (v. Permis de sejour -1935; La Poesie commune — 1936; La joie est pour l homme - 1936; Amitie des choses - 1937; L Apprenti fantome - 1938; Contre-solitude - 1946 etc). Proze: Lord Duveen ou l invisible a la portee de tous - 1941; L interview - 1944; Souvenirs de la planate Terre - 1945 etc. Conferinte despre literatura romana la Sorbona si Radio Paris. A tradus, in colab., folclor din culegerea lui C. Brailoiu (Les chants du mort, 1947).

Opera lui VORONCA reflecta principalele momente ale miscarii romanesti de avangarda dintre cele doua razboaie mondiale, cu care biografia sa poetica se identifica. Restristi, volumul de debut (1923), se situa inca in zona de iradiere a lirismului bacovian, la care se adauga ecouri din Camil Baltazar si Adrian Maniu. Tristeti, Nelinisti, Sfarsiri, Primavara trista, Preumblari bolnave sunt cateva dintre titlurile acestor poeme, circumscriind un sentiment de neliniste si apasare, intr-un peisaj cenusiu, pluvios, in lenta dezagregare - tablou al descompunerii materiei, al stingerii generale. VORONCA reface aici, in tonalitate sentimentala, cadrul targului de provincie bacovian („orasul intunecat", „deznadajduit", „de intuneric", cu „tristetea zidurilor de internat", cu gradina publica in care „banci si lumini in toamna putrezesc") si fizionomia palidului „elev singuratic" stanjenit de decorul sumbru si tentat (precum Camil Baltazar din Vecernii) de evaziunea in natura regeneratoare. Daca universul poetic e inca restrans la cateva motive mai putin originale, poate fi remarcata totusi, inca de pe acum, indrazneala modernista a imaginilor. „Facilitatea aproape prodigioasa de a se exprima in comparatii si imagini" (E. Lovinescu) face si meritul, dar si deficienta acestei prime carti in care poezia se construieste adeseori prin simpla juxtapunere de metafore, uneori arbitrare, daunand unitatii poemului.

Foarte curand, VORONCA se orienteaza catre primele manifestari ale avangardei, inaugurata de Manifestul activist catre tinerime al revistei constructiviste Contimporanul (mai, 1924). Creatia sa din acesti ani este evident modelata dupa programul constructivist, dezvoltat si teoretic in numeroasele manifeste, articole si eseuri publicate paralele in Punct (1924-1925) si Integral (1925-1928). Efemera 75 H. P (octombrie 1924) retinuse si un numar de texte antipoetice, compuse dupa reteta dadaista sau cea a „cuvintelor in libertate" futurista.

Poetul neaga acum sentimentalismul si „dezagregarea bolnava, romantica suprarealista", opunandu-i idealul „ordinii esenta constructiva, calsica, integrala". In viziunea sa, poetul devine un „seismograf al dinamicii vremii, iar „poemul integral" urmeaza a se construi pe baza unei tehnici a imaginii sugerata, in ordine istorica, de catre F. T. Marinetti sau Pierre Reverdy: „plasmuire abstracta, imagine: raport pur a doua elemente cat mai departate (sau cat mai apropiate) intre ele". Rigoarea constructiei poeziei, orientata catre „analogia de corpuri geometrice", este serios concurata in aceasta definitie de procedeul „liberei insiruiri a cuvintelor" (ecou futurist) si al revelatoarelor „asociatii fulgere frunzis in noapte", menite sa imprime creatiei dinamica adecvata spiritului epocii masiniste. O asemenea definitie a actului poetic, situata la confluenta mai multor tendinte ale avangardei, va permite, de altfel, e destul de mare libertate de miscare a creatiei poetice a lui V., prin succesive nuantari, de la dadaism, futurism si constructivism, pana la frontierele scrierii automate suprarealiste. Invitatie la bal, ce aduna, in 1931, versurile tiparite in reviste intre 1924 si 1925, prelungeste, de fapt, sentimentalitatea ravasita de „tristeti" si de „restristi" a debutului, in feeria mecanica a metropolei cosmopolite.

Versul e eliptic, construit in stilul „telegrafic" propus in manifestele vremii, de un ermetism mai mult gramatical. Imagismul abundent, caracteristic inca de la debut, vizeaza sugestia dinamismului vietii modeme, cautand desenul geometric, organizat intr-o suprapunere simultaneista de planuri ale notatiei, precum in acest Almanah: „Supapa ora in alama si zinc/ sangele face salturi de necrezut subteran/ acid pasul ca un cuvant cub deschis/ campul intre coaste curb sau plan. // Amazoana peste preerii in vis/ las gandul rasturnat in oglinzi/ zgomotele descresc ca pretul cerealelor". In ciuda unor reusite remarcabile, rigiditatea tehnicista a unei asemenea poezii convine mai putin temperamentului elegiac al poetului.

Contactul cu miscarea suprarealista, din ce in ce mai puternic in anii urmatori, va fi decisiv pentru evolutia lui VORONCA Fara a deveni vreodata un suprarealist propriu-zis, poetul e stimulat totusi de libertatea asociativa nelimitata si de fervoarea romantica a curentului patronat de Andre Breton indeosebi intre anii 1928 si 1931 (adica in perioada colaborarii la revista unu). Schimbarea tine mai mult de deplasarea unor accente in cadrul unei doctrine poetice de sinteza avangardista. Ramas acelasi in datele sale fundamentale (anti-traditionalism, respingerea conventiei literare in profitul poeziei definita ca stare de spirit in perpetua mobilitate, ca act existential, cult al inovatiei radicale etc.), acest program adauga exaltarea romantica a imaginatiei creatoare si a visului (care devine principalul agent de subversiune anticonventionala si de dinamizare a poeziei, garantandu-i in acelasi timp autenticitatea).

„Miliardarul de imagini" (E. Lovinescu) scrie, incepand cu poemul erotic Colomba (1927), o poezie a jubilatiei imnice, de intensa metaforizare, eliberata acum de constrangerile esteticii constructiviste, impinsa iarasi pana la supraaglomerarea baroca, ce va atinge in Incantatii (1931) maxima amplitudine. Elanul imagistic iesit din comun il va indrepta spre poemul construit panoramic, - vast „reportaj liric" coaguland o suita de „ode elementare", in volume ca Ulise (1928) si Bratara noptilor (1929), care se situeaza printre creatiile sale cele mai valoroase. Comparat ca structura cu poemul lui Apollinaire, Zone, Ulise (impreuna cu Bratara noptilor si mai ales cu Plante si animale - 1929), poate fi apropiat si de universul arghezian al „boabei si al faramei" ori de „poezia roadelor" a lui Ion Pillat". Situarea lui VORONCA printre „traditionalisti" (G. Calinescu) e-totusi o eroare, elementele fundamentale ale universului sau, ca si structura poeziei sale neavand decat foarte superficiale incidente cu traditionalismul.

Ultimele volume ale lui VORONCA se deschid tot mai mult spre un lirism vizionar, aducand in creatia sa solemnitatea amplului discurs umanitarist de factura whitmaniana -vis al unui cosmos purificat si al unei omeniri eliberate de servitutile „veacului mediocritatii". Imagismului fragmentar, dezlantuit spectaculos in versurile de pana la Incantatii, i se substituie, indeosebi in Petre Schlemihl (1932), si Patmos (1933), notatia directa, accentul fiind deplasat de pe imaginea de detaliu pe viziunea de ansamblu, care castiga in coerenta, frenezia vitalista face loc meditatiei si reveriei mai calme, intr-un univers scaldat in luminile visului: „Zi linistita, zi luminoasa, / cu semanaturile stralucind langa soarele de arama/ Cu impartirea dreapta a bucatelor/ Langa aburii desfacuti intre fanete si vanturile de argint/ Iata-te tu, omule bun, /Argat sau cantaret cu uneltele amiezii /Cainii latra bucurosi, cainii iti ies inainte/ Din vocea ta buna ziua urca limpede". E o formula ce va fi dezvoltata in limbajul simplu si direct al poeziei sale franceze, egala ca intindere cu opera scrisa in romaneste. Univers al transparentei si puritatii, al generoasei comuniuni a lucrurilor umile, ridicand in plan poetic evenimentul cotidian pe care il glorifica cu pasiunea si forta imaginativa a unui romantic, poezia lui VORONCA se impune in primul rand prin extraordinara sa incarcatura imagistica, de o mare bogatie si varietate a inventiei.

Metaforizarea excesiva dauneaza uneori echilibrului general al poeziei. Remarcabila este si poezia poetului, scrisa in acelasi stil imagistic, in care propozitiile manifestului de avangarda se confunda cu poemul. In plus, A doua lumina (1930) si Act de prezenta (1932) constituie unele dintre cele mai entuziaste pledoarii pentru poezie din literatura romana a secolului nostru.

— literatura online





The Romanian Avant-Garde And Visual Poetry


THE TRADITION

1) As a synaesthesic form of art (inter-media-art), the Romanian visual poetry appeared and flourished on the borderline between the fine arts and poetry. It is exactly this positioning „on the borderline” that brings about its „non-defined” statute. Instead of being being claimed by both, the history of art and by the history of literature (a both-and situation), visual poetry is neither acknowledged by the one, nor by the other (a neither-nor situation). There is a parable about two neighbourghs, both of which expecting that the other one should tend the tree growing on the borderline between their two properties, although the roots of the tree suck their sap from either lands and in spite of the fact that both neighbours benefit from its fruits. Obviously, the picto-poetry is not painting, it is neither poetry (as Brauner and Voronca defined picto-poetry in 1924), since it is both, i.e. visual art and poetry, inextricably intertwined in view of intensifying „their mutual exaltation capacity” (as André Breton defined the „object-poem” in 1929).

2) As a rule, the exegetes of the visual poetry build their comments starting from the famous uniforming dictum of the Latin poet Horatio: Ut pictura poesis. They forget the phrase – which is more subtle and by five centuries older – used by Simonides of Cheos (6th–5th century B.C.) to define painting as a muta poesis and symetrically, poetry, as a pictura loquens. Two thousand years later, Leonardo da Vinci would resume the topic: La poesia non è una pittura ciecca.

3) The critics of visual poetry have more problems than that. For instance, there is neither a definition, nor a generally accepted denomination. This double lack of convention is symptomatic because the modern visual poetry emerged by raising a question mark even on the tabu conventions of traditional language: why should the sign „A” (and not another one) correspond to the sound „A”? Why is it that the word „pipe” (not any other) matches the thing „pipe”? „There is no such thing to be so attached to its name, that there could not be found another one to suit it even better”, was Magritte’s conviction). Finally, why should we write/read the letters the one after the other, from left to right, from up to down (and not otherwise)? Above all that, there is an axiom reigning: the poetic message becomes conventional by the use of a conventional language.

4) Did visual poetry of the avant-garde appear ex abrupto et ex nihilo? I am not sure whether we can speak of a tradition in the plain sense of the term, but there is no doubt that we can make references to a series of archaic picto-poetic occurences, of composite works in which the sign and the letter, the drawing and the writing interblend on the surface of the same page in order to enhance the expressive valence of the message. It would suffice to appeal to the old illuminated manuscripts, with ornaments and calligraphy in various inks and letter-types; to the tomb stelae and tomb slates, as well as to the painted crosses (see picto-poems in the „Merry Graveyard” of Săpânţa, North of Romania); to the wall-covers in the peasant kitchens; to the different talismans or amulets and the „curative notes ” (the text of which is written in a spiral, a circle or elipsis, from right to left, crossed or triangularly) etc. „The Magician – as Blaga remarked in 1941 – involuntarily makes use of the poetical means, the poet involuntarily makes use of the magic means”. Taking into account that the majority of the poets of the Romanian avant-garde are of Jewish origin, we cannot outrule the possibility that some of them might have been influenced by the visual forms of the ancient Jewish manuscripts and traditonal wedding contracts (ketubot).

5) In his treaty on Grammar, printed in 1840, in the chapter On poetry, the minister (for Internal Affairs) Iordache Golescu includes a paragraph regarding the figurative aspect of certain poems. „The Greeks – writes the Romanian boyar – used to imagine verses in the shape of wings, of the Pan flute, of an ax, and other, of which we have added hereto an example as well.” Golescu illustrates this poetical-graphic manner (technopaignia), common with the ancient Greeks (Theocrit, Simnius of Rhodos, Dosiades, Besantinos), by virtue of nine visual poems made up by himself4. Plain redundancy: the form repeats graphically the contents already integrated into the text.

6) In 1920, Tristan Tzara published a Manifesto on the weak love and on the bitter love, which contains the famous recipe How to Make a Dadaist Poem by using scissors and a bag out of which one draws at random the words cut from a newspaper. Similarly to a block of stone which incorporates the perfect statue to be found by the sculpturer, in the newspaper there is the perfect poem and the poet – helped by hazard – has but to find it . „Here you are an infinitely original writer with a charming sensitivity, although not understood by common people” concludes Tzara. The idea proved to be so outstanding and the visual impact of such a poem so powerful, that André Breton himself – not quoting Tzara – adopted the formula later on, in 1924, in his First Manifesto of Surrealism. Talking about the possible tradition from which the Romanian avant-garde has drawn on, it must be said that this „dadaist” technique avant la lettre was invented by a Romanian writer almost a century before. The playwright Matei Millo has staged in Iaşi, in 1835 (and published in 1850), the play A Romantic Poet (Un poet romantic). While satirizing the poets, who write poems „lacking any meaning”, the author provides the young romantic poet with the following „method for making verses”: „For verses I have a method to write hundreds of them even while sleeping, / I take a hat, shove some letters in, about a handful ... and more, / Shake it well ... and on the table, fresh and warm, quickly I cast them.” The question is, whether Tristan Tzara did or not know this literary text from 1835. We will never know it, I presume.

7) Edited by the end of the 19th century (manuscript no. 3216 in the Library of Romanian Academy), the Golden Book by the simbolist poet Alexandru Macedonski was published in 1902. This volume comprises the first chapter (out of the twelve planned) from his „great epic” Thalassa. The text was accompanied by the following comment: „In the imagination of the author, each-one of the chapters of his epic must suggest the sensation of a colour through the images used and each-one of the chapters will be printed on a paper in the corresponding colour. Besides, Alexandru Macedonski breaking with tradition of the past does not address only the two senses of the readers: that of the SEEING and that of HEARING. He does want that the one of SCENTING, that of TASTING and of FEELING get in line with the first ones.” At a later date (probably in 1906, when the book appeared in Paris, under the title Calvaire de feu), the poet transcribed the text in French, using inks of different colours (red, green, blue, black, silver). The protagonist of the epic having the „abnormalised senses” by the God Eros (as the author puts it), the appeal to such a visual technique is neither gratuituous nor a prove of „mystification” (as G. Călinescu thought).

At the beginning of the 20th century, Macedonski achieved some visual poems, lost nowadays. Besides the chromatic language (a paper rich in nacred shades of blue-greenish waters” and coloured inks), the poet also appeals to other visual elements: the unusual page set up of the poem, the use of various typefonts, a different direction for each verse-line (slanting, vertical, wavy, etc.). In 1910, V.G. Paleologlu saw the visual poems written down, and tried to reconstruct them in 1944. Macedonski’s poems, as Paleologu remarks, „were presented in a style and with a technique of presentation unique at that time in the literary graphics.”[...]

Andrei Oisteanu

— Exquisite Corpse



— România literară