Romanian writer
Lucian Blaga
(
Romanian:
[lut?i?an
?bla?a]
ⓘ
; 9 May 1895 ? 6 May 1961) was a
Romanian
philosopher, poet, playwright, poetry translator and novelist. He was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of the
interbellum
period.
Biography
[
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]
Blaga was born in 1895 in
Lancr?m
(then Lamkerek), near
Alba Iulia
(then Gyulafehervar), his father being an Orthodox priest. He later described his early childhood, in the autobiographical
The Chronicle and the Song of Ages
, as "under the sign of the incredible absence of the word".
His education started in
Hungarian
in the neighbouring
Sebe?
, where he remained until 1906, after which he attended the "
Andrei ?aguna
" highschool in
Bra?ov
between 1906 and 1914, under the supervision of a relative,
Iosif
(Blaga's father had died when he was 13). At the outbreak of the
First World War
, he began theological studies in
Sibiu
and graduating in 1917. He published his first philosophy article on the Bergson theory of subjective time. From 1917 to 1920, he attended courses at the
University of Vienna
, where he studied philosophy and obtained his
PhD
.
Upon returning to
Transylvania
, now a part of Romania, he contributed to the Romanian press, being the editor of the magazines
'Cultura'
in
Cluj
and
'Banatul'
in
Lugoj
.
In 1926, he entered Romanian diplomatic service, occupying posts at Romanian legations in
Poland
,
Czechia
,
Portugal
,
Switzerland
and
Austria
.
Octavian Goga
, a relative of his wife and fellow Transylvanian poet, was briefly a prime minister and so favoured Blaga for these positions. Elected a titular member of the
Romanian Academy
in 1936, with his acceptance speech
Elogiul satului romanesc
(
In Praise of the Romanian Village
).
In 1939, he became a professor of cultural philosophy at the
University of Cluj
, temporarily relocated to Sibiu due to the
Second Vienna Award
. During his stay in Sibiu, since 1943 he became editor of the annual magazine
Saeculum
.
Dismissed from his university professorship in 1948 due to his refusal to show support for the new Communist regime he started working as a librarian at the
Cluj
branch of the History Institute of the Romanian Academy. Forbidden to publish any new books and he was forced to only translate until 1960. During this period he completed the translation of
Goethe's
Faust
, one of the German writers that he claimed influenced him most.
While rumours existed that in 1956, he was nominated for the
Nobel Prize for Literature
, there is no evidence for that.
[1]
Died on 6 May 1961 after being diagnosed with cancer, he was buried according to custom three days later on what would have been his 66th birthday, in his native village cemetery of
Lancr?m
.
He was married to Cornelia (nee Brediceanu).
[2]
They had a daughter, Dorli, her name being derived from
dor
, a noun that can be translated, roughly, as "longing".
The
University of Sibiu
bears his name today.
Literature
[
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]
Poetry
[
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]
- 1919 ?
Poems of Light
(
Poemele luminii
)
- 1921 ?
The Prophet's Footsteps
(
Pa?ii profetului
)
- 1924 ?
In the Great Passage
(
In marea trecere
)
- 1929 ?
In Praise of Sleep
(
Laud? somnului
)
- 1933 ?
At the Watershed
(
La cump?na apelor
)
- 1938 ?
At the Courtyard of Yearning
(
La cur?ile dorului
)
- 1942 -
Iron age
(
Varsta de fier
)
- 1943 ?
Unsuspected Steps
(
Neb?nuitele trepte
)
- 1982 ?
3 Posthumous Poems
Drama
[
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]
- 1921 ?
Zalmoxis
, a Pagan Mystery
- 1923 ?
Whirling Waters
- 1925 ?
Daria, The Deed, Resurrection
- 1927 ?
Manole the Craftsman
(
Mesterul Manole
)
- 1930 ?
The Children's Crusade
- 1934 ?
Avram Iancu
- 1944 ?
Noah's Ark
- 1964 ?
Anton Pann
? published posthumously.
Philosophy
[
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]
His philosophical work is grouped in four trilogies:
- Filosofia cunoa?terii
(
gnoseology
) (1943)
- Filosofia culturii
(culture) (1944)
- Filosofia valorilor
(values) (1946)
- Filosofia cosmologic?
(cosmology) (1983 posthumously)
The fourth work,
Cosmologica
, was completed but not published at the time because of communist regime censorship. Before death, Blaga left an editorial testament on how his works are to be published posthumously
[3]
The novel
Charon's Ferry
is intended to be a companion to the philosophical trilogies. In it Blaga addresses some of the more problematic philosophical issues such as those pertaining to political, (para)psychological or occult phenomena, under the name of a fictive philosopher (Leonte P?tra?cu).
[4]
Philosophical works
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]
- 1924 - "The Philosophy of Style"
- 1925 - "The Original Phenomenon" and "The Facets of a Century"
- 1931 - "The Dogmatic Aeon"
- 1933 - "Luciferian Knowledge"
- 1934 - "Transcendental Censorship"
- 1936 ? "Horizon and Style" and "The Mioritic Space"
- 1937 ? "The Genesis of Metaphor and the Meaning of Culture"
- 1939 ? "Art and Value"
- 1940 ? "The Divine Differentials"
- 1942 ? "Religion and Spirit" and "Science and Creation"
- 1943 ? The Trilogy of Knowledge (
The Dogmatic Aeon, Luciferian Knowledge, Transcendent Censorship
; in 1983,
On Philosophical Cognition and Experiment and the Mathematical Spirit
was added posthumously according to his will)
- 1944 ? The Trilogy of Culture (
Horizon and Style, The Mioritic Space, The Genesis of Metaphor and the Meaning of Culture
)
- 1946 ? The Trilogy of Values (
Science and Creation, Magical Thinking and Religion, Art and Value
)
- 1959 ?
Historical Existence
- 1966 ?
Romanian Thought in Transylvania in the 18th Century
- 1968 ?
Horizons and Stages
- 1969 ?
Experiment and the Mathematical Spirit
- 1972 ?
Sources
(essays, lectures, articles)
- 1974 ?
On Philosophical Cognition
- 1977 ?
Philosophical Essays
- 1983 ? The Cosmological Trilogy (
The Divine Differentials, Anthropological Aspects, Historical Existence
)
Other works
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]
- 1919 ? Stones for My Temple, aphorisms
- 1945 ? Discoblus, aphorisms
- 1965 ? The Chronicle and Song of Ages, memoirs
- 1977 ? The Elan of the Island, aphorisms
- 1990 ? Charon's Ferry, novel
Presence in English language anthologies
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]
- Born in Utopia - An anthology of Modern and Contemporary Romanian Poetry -
Carmen Firan and Paul Doru Mugur (editors) with Edward Foster - Talisman House Publishers - 2006 -
ISBN
1-58498-050-8
- Testament ? Anthology of Modern Romanian Verse / Testament - Antologie de Poezie Roman? Modern? ? Bilingual Edition English & Romanian
?
Daniel Ioni??
(editor and translator) with Eva Foster, Daniel Reynaud and Rochelle Bews ?
Minerva
Publishing 2012 and 2015 (second edition) -
ISBN
978-973-21-1006-5
- Testament - Anthology of Romanian Verse - American Edition -
monolingual English language edition -
Daniel Ioni??
(editor and principal translator) with Eva Foster, Daniel Reynaud and Rochelle Bews - Australian-Romanian Academy for Culture - 2017 -
ISBN
978-0-9953502-0-5
- T
estament - 400 Years of Romanian Poetry - 400 de ani de poezie romaneasc?
- bilingual edition -
Daniel Ioni??
(editor and principal translator) with
Daniel Reynaud
, Adriana Paul & Eva Foster - Editura Minerva, 2019 -
ISBN
978-973-21-1070-6
\
- Romanian Poetry from its Origins to the Present
- bilingual edition English/Romanian -
Daniel Ioni??
(editor and principal translator) with
Daniel Reynaud
, Adriana Paul and Eva Foster - Australian-Romanian Academy Publishing - 2020 -
ISBN
978-0-9953502-8-1
; LCCN - 2020907831
References
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]
Bibliography
[
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]
- Gridan, Simona. “Aforismele lui Lucian Blaga - Rela?ia cu proverbele romane?ti”.
The Central and Eastern European Online Library
, no volume given, no. 2 (2019), pp. 44?48.
- Todoran, Eugen (1985),
Lucian Blaga, mitul dramatic
, Timi?oara: Facla.
- Mih?ilescu, Dan C. (1984),
Dramaturgia lui Lucian Blaga
, Cluj: Editura Dacia.
- Pop, Ion (1981),
Lucian Blaga ? universul liric
, Bucharest: Cartea Romaneasc?.
- Gan?, George (1976),
Opera literar? a lui Lucian Blaga
, Bucharest: Editura Minerva.
- I?u, Mircia (1996), Indianismul lui Blaga, Bra?ov: Orientul latin
ISBN
973-97590-1-7
.
- B?lu, Ion (1986),
Lucian Blaga
, Bucharest: Editura Albatros.
- Micu, Dumitru (1967),
Lirica lui Blaga
, Bucharest: Editura pentru literatur?.
- I?u, Mircia (2007),
Marele Anonim ?i cenzura transcendent? la Blaga. Brahman ?i m?y? la ?a?kara
, in
Caiete critice
6?7 (236?237), Bucharest, pages 75?83
ISSN
1220-6350
.
- Todoran, Eugen (1981?1983),
Lucian Blaga, mitul poetic
, vol. I-II, Timi?oara: Facla.
- Micu, Dumitru (1970),
Estetica lui Lucian Blaga
, Bucharest: Editura ?tiin?ific?.
- Maciu, Andreea. MAN - OPENER OF MYSTERIES IN LUCIAN BLAGA'S POETRY.
Globalization and Intercultural Dialogue: Multidisciplinary Perspectives
, Section: Literature, pp. 237?242. (Abstract in English)
External links
[
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]
Romanian
Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
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