George Mihail Vlădescu, first name also Gheorghe (2 March 1885 – 29 March 1952), was a Romanian prose writer, dramatist, and translator. From an impoverished middle-class background, claiming to have always been at risk of social exclusion (and adapting himself to a life of relative isolation), he accumulated a vast experience of life on the periphery. His resulting literary work was ideologically colored by didacticism, Christian humanism, and sometimes by ambiguously leftist messaging. It was well-liked by the public, particularly after 1930, but received mixed receptions from literary professionals, who objected to his preachiness and penchant for the melodrama—in some readings, most of his novels are relegated to paraliterature. Vlădescu was active for a while within the Gândirea group in interwar Greater Romania, agreeing with its more conservative form of literary modernism. In such context, he issued scathing attacks against modernists such as Eugen Lovinescu and George Călinescu, also dismissing young writers as too sensationalistic, or borderline pornographic.
Vlădescu, who could never cover his expenses from the literary craft, was professionally active as a clerk, and later in life withdrew into the countryside, once owning a chicken farm at Fundulea. He also took jobs as a government propagandist, and at the start of World War II was putting out a magazine for the Romanian Land Forces. He remained friendly and protective of Jewish colleagues during the age of antisemitic fascism, once allowing the repressed Marius Mircu to publish as "G. M. Vlădescu". He made attempted returns to public life upon the anti-fascist coup of 1944, but the communist regime refused to acknowledge him as an ally. Suffering with heart trouble, he died in self-imposed seclusion at Dumitrești, where he is also buried. His posthumous legacy remains conflicted, between those who seen his re-inclusion into the canon of Romanian literature, and those who regard him as passable at best.
Biography Early life Vlădescu was born in Cotești, Râmnicu Sărat County, on the traditional border between Moldavia and Wallachia. His parents were Mihai Vlădescu, a clerk, and his wife, Elena, née Fleva,Oprișan, p. 837 who also had seven other children.Neagu Rădulescu, "Turnul Babel. Un nefericit de altădată", in Amfiteatru, Vol. VI, Issue 9, September 1969, p. 3 Elena's brother was the politician Nicolae Fleva; the writer, who was widely regarded as the prototype of an ethnic Romanian, reportedly confessed to his Jewish friend, Emil Dorian, that the Flevas were of "Gypsy" descent.Emil Dorian, Jurnal 1937–1944, p. 70. Bucharest: Editura Hasefer, 1996. With his family roots planted in Muntenia, he also complained that the Western Moldavians among whom he settled always regarded him as an outsider, or even that they froze him out.Virgil Carianopol, "Interviuri tardive. Cu G. M. Vlădescu", in România Literară, Issue 30/1970, p. 10 Young Vlădescu had a high-school education in Focșani and Bacău—he settled in the latter town, and worked for many years as a clerk. His literary debut came in 1912, when his first writing appeared in Sentinela of Focșani; a year later, he was editing Căminul magazine in Bacău, but it closed down after only two issues—not before hosting three of his more melodramatic stories, signed as "Mihail Corbea".Oprișan, pp. 837–838
In 1915–1916, Vlădescu was literary editor and columnist at Curierul Bacăului, a weekly newspaper which also hosted his novella, Dureri fără nume ("Pains That Go Unnamed").M. Cosmescu, "Retrospective. Din trecutul presei băcăuane. Curierul Bacăului (1915–1916)", in Ateneu, Issue 10/1967, p. 2 A selection of his sketch stories came out as a volume, Lacrimi adevărate ("True Tears"), in 1915, followed in 1922 by Tăcere... ("Silence..."). Literary historian Ioan Oprișan describes these as "inconclusive" works, heavily reliant on tropes borrowed from Ioan A. Bassarabescu, Ioan Alexandru Brătescu-Voinești, Ion Luca Caragiale, and Mihail Sadoveanu.Oprișan, pp. 837–838 Another scholar in that field, Teodor Vârgolici, believed that such pieces "lack all substance", concluding: "Even when encountering interesting facets of life, the author lacks sufficient resources to make them stand out."Teodor Vârgolici, "Cîteva considerații asupra lui G. M. Vlădescu", in Gazeta Literară, Vol. XI, Issue 17, April 1964, p. 7 Vârgolici additionally observes tendencies toward sentimentalism and didacticism, especially with sketches such as Cântecul lebedei ("Swan-song"), where he invokes clichés about the "fallen woman", "seeking to demonstrate how an outraged humanity often hides beneath the condition of degradation." Overall: "The issues are approached in a humanitarian, sentimental spirit, marked by outpourings of pity."
A cartoonist and fellow interwar writer, Neagu Rădulescu, once observed that Vlădescu, "famished and always downcast", had lived through times of extreme poverty, but also that this never altered his "golden soul". In time, the novelist accumulated a great familiarity with regular life, especially on the margins of society. In a 1937 review, columnist Silviu Cernea proposed that he had "an infinite number of biographical experiences", having become the most seasoned author of those active in Romania at the time. This did not prevent Vlădescu's working in strict isolation from other members of his profession.Silviu Cernea, "Cronica literară. G. M. Vlădescu, Gol", in Epoca, 14 July 1937, p. 2 As observed by scholar Liviu Papuc, who cites testimonials by Vlădescu's friends, the writer was a loner, "indifferent to things that happened around him", but "likeable and interesting" whenever he opened up in conversation.Papuc, p. 123
Licăriri period During the early 1920s, with his contributions in Licăriri bimonthly of Galați, he mocked certain strains in literary modernism, while defending others. As such, he suggested that culture-critic Eugen Lovinescu suffered from a "mental derangement", which had caused him to rate Liviu Rebreanu higher than Duiliu Zamfirescu; instead, he focused his attention on another novelist, Camil Petrescu, proclaiming that all hope of renewal came from him and his Gândirea circle.Gabriela Omăt, "Licăriri", in Dicționarul general al literaturii române. H/L, p. 689. Bucharest: Museum of Romanian Literature, 2017. In 1922, Gândirea hosted Vlădescu's fragment, Micica, about the death of an eponymous cat. Its "domestic sweetness" was noticed by Lovinescu's Sburătorul, which added: "However, the author is incapable of writing artistically."S. și V., "Insemnări literare. Gândirea (Anul II — No. 2)", in Sburătorul Literar, Issue 36/1922, p. 200
Vlădescu experienced more exposure in 1924–1925, when one of his plays, Surioara de la Focșani ("The Little Sister in Focșani") was performed in Iași by Sandu Teleajen's company, and in Bucharest by the People's Theater.Oprișan, p. 838 Shortly after, he published another play, Măgarul verde ("The Green Donkey"), in Licăriri. Another known play, Huhurezul ("The Owl"), endured in manuscript form.Oprișan, p. 838 As shown by his letters to archivist Aurel Barbier, by 1924 Vlădescu was touring Greater Romania, connecting with the various literary circles between Cluj and Suceava.Papuc, p. 124 Affiliated with the short-lived Comoedia weekly of Iași, he contributed short biographical essays on various literary figures, including Sadoveanu and Bassarabescu, but also A. de Herz, Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, and Emil Gârleanu.Rodica Pandele, "Comoedia", in Dicționarul general al literaturii române. C, p. 509. Bucharest: Museum of Romanian Literature, 2016. According to memoirist G. Stati, in Western Moldavia he was known as a "man of the left", who got greatly upset when his acquaintances pranked him by pretending to arrange a meeting between him and a figure of the far-right.G. Stati, "Scriitori de ieri, ai Moldovei", in Opinia, 19 January 1947, p. 2 Vlădescu himself confessed that he was never daring enough for success, that he avoided politics altogether, and that the only fellow writers he fully trusted were Felix Aderca, Ion Minulescu, Corneliu Moldovanu, and I. Peltz. During rare, heated debates at the Romanian Writers' Society (SSR), he demanded recognition for Jews such as Ury Benador and Ion Călugăru, and also for the modernist Simion Stolnicu.
In 1930, Vlădescu was in Bucharest, where he tried to inaugurate another magazine of his own. Called Orientări ("Directions"), it obtained prestigious signatures—Mihail Cruceanu, Octavian Goga, George Lesnea, Simion Mehedinți—, but still went under, after putting out just one issue.Oprișan, p. 838 Instead, Vlădescu himself was welcomed by various central and provincial reviews and newspapers. He was especially liked by the readers of Convorbiri Literare, especially for his piece Gâște ieftine ("Cheap Geese").Munteanu, p. 128 Other venues include Gândirea, Adevărul Literar și Artistic, Convorbiri Critice, Facla, Neamul Românesc, Rampa, Ramuri, Universul Literar, Năzuința, and Cosânzeana.Oprișan, p. 838 He sometimes used the pen names g.m.vl., G.M.VL., O.B., Odo Basca, Mihail-Vlădescu, and G. M. Vlădescu-Vlad.Oprișan, p. 838
The lionized author As a novelist, Vlădescu broke through with Menuetul ("The Menuet"). He wrote it while living on handouts from the Bucharest city government, and essentially self-published it. Upon publication, it was widely held as exceptional, winning him the SSR prize in 1933.Oprișan, p. 838; Papuc, p. 123 According to reviewers such as Oprișan and Vârgolici, it is his singular masterpiece; its unseen character, the internationally successful violinist Paul Manolache, is invoked as a pretext for studies into provincial psychologies.Oprișan, p. 838 Vârgolici commended the "secretive irony" of its satire, but also its tragic undertones, especially as relating to the elevation and degradation of Paul's innocent mother, "a victim of the venomous atmosphere that surrounds her." Menuetul was regarded by other readers as a laudable effort, but not quite a landmark. Poet Camil Baltazar suggested that it had "the romanticism of an alluring narrative, albeit one of minor depth",Camil Baltazar, "Literatură. Despre romanul Gol de G. M. Vlădescu", in Lumea Românească, 3 December 1937, p. 2 while essayist Alexandru George noted it as a "rather naïve epic improvisation", whose lyricism worked, overall.Alexandru George, "Eseu. Repetând unele lecturi", in România Literară, Issue 47/2010, p. 11
Building on earlier praise by critic George Călinescu (who had acknowledged his "profound resonance with the fundamental questions of existence"), Papuc sees the matured Vlădescu as a worthy dissident in Romanian literature, which was at the time a terrain for naturalists and "chaotic" psychoanalysts.Papuc, p. 123 Vlădescu was explicitly against these two categories, explaining in 1935 that he did not understand why literary novices were seeking to cultivate "obscenity" and "filth". He himself disliked Călinescu, who had debuted as a novelist with Cartea nunții. In a 1933 issue of Ideea Literară magazine, which was managed by Radu Gyr, Vlădescu described that work as a detestable for its "platitudes, darkness, desolation, [and] snobbery".Ana-Maria Brezuleanu, "Ideea Literară", in Dicționarul general al literaturii române. H/L, p. 202. Bucharest: Museum of Romanian Literature, 2017.