Constant Tonegaru

Early life Born into a middle-class family from the Danube port of Galați, Tonegaru was the son of a lawyer, ship captain and amateur poet, who cultivated his taste for literature and whom he accompanied on sailing trips to Greece, Turkey, and Egypt. Although he was an exceptionally tall man, the young Tonegaru was also plagued with health problems, and was born with mitral stenosis. He debuted as a journalist at the age of 17, when he had several articles published in Nicolae Iorga's '''' magazine. His work became more experimental, and he came to concentrate on writing poems. He was also close to actor Tudorel Popa. They worked together on Dumitrescu's rebellious magazine '''', which the Antonescu regime banned after a number of issues. In late 1944, after the pro-Allies August 23 Coup overthrew Antonescu, Tonegaru and Stelaru became dominant figures of a bohemian society centered on restaurants in Gara de Nord area, creating links between them and students of the Bucharest Art Academy. Sculptor Ovidiu Maitec, who was distantly acquainted with members of this circle, recalled: "One of [the poets] was in love with a female colleague of ours. Stories of suicide attempts. We amused ourselves. They would be around for a while, then they would disappear. [...] Back then, bohemianism [...] was the pursuit of liberation, of a splash of sincerity, and not total hypocrisy. Such was the need for bohemianism. Not necessarily that of a marginalized or impoverished type. They thought they were much freer, much more sincere, much more authentic toward their condition, toward their creation. There were charming guys, like Tonegaru or Stelaru, charming by means of their intelligence and spiritual games during nights of drunkenness, during which they would lose themselves, but would communicate." The project also involved Streinu and the French Roman Catholic cleric and Nunciature Secretary Marie-Alype Barral, as well as Todorel Popa's father, scientist Grigore T. Popa. Once their implication in the Association's activities was suspected by the secret policemen, both Chihaia and Chimet were forced out of professional life, and spent the following decade on the margin of society. According to literary critic Paul Cernat, Tonegaru's resistance to violent interrogation saved their lives. Late in 1949, he was tried in Cluj and sentenced to two years' imprisonment, which was reportedly a lighter sentence than expected. During the procedures, Tonegaru ridiculed the charges brought against him, addressing to his judge Zeno Barbu a promise that "in the future [Tonegaru] will strive to avoid the country's mountainous areas and will do most of his traveling in the fields." Tonegaru and his co-defendants were chained and taken to Aiud Prison, a facility housing much of Romania's former political and social elite. Using an adapted version of the Morse code which he would bang on the walls, Tonegaru soon found out that he shared confinement with writers and former dignitaries of the wartime dictatorships (, Nichifor Crainic, Radu Gyr, and Mircea Vulcănescu), with sociologist and Iron Guard activist Ernest Bernea, and with the National Peasant Party's . Ill-fed and exposed to the cold climate, Tonegaru found adjusting to the regimen impossible, and eventually fell ill with a lung disease marked by severe bouts of hemoptysis. His mother made repeated attempts to have her son pardoned, but did not receive a favorable reply. Confronted with his disease, and unwilling to be seen as responsible for his death, the prison officials reconsidered their plans to extend the term of his sentence as an "administrative penalty", and allowed Tonegaru to go free. The poet died soon after, as a result of complications, and was buried in Bucharest's Sfânta Vineri Cemetery. Modern Romanian critic mentions a "final humiliation" to which the regime exposed Tonegaru, one originally recounted by Chihaia, who was present at the funeral: the poet's body decomposed in his house during the four or five days it took Bucharest City Hall to allocate a casket, and the one it eventually sent was significantly shorter than required. ==Work==

Context and generic traits Constant Tonegaru, his friend Stelaru, Geo Dumitrescu, and Ion Caraion are seen as the main representatives of the World War II generation in Romanian literature. According to literary critic , these writers "first look on wide-eyed as the old world is being dissolved by the Second World War [...]; after which they similarly notice, at their own expense, the birth of a new communized world, with other prisons, forms of censorship and ideological command." Historian Keith Hitchins notes the writers' connection to the "inter-war effervescence [through] individualism and aesthetics". This he contrasts with communist-endorsed "conformity", but also with the verse of ideological rival Mihai Beniuc, whom he sees as the one "authentic and refined poetic temperament" among the Socialist Realists of the late 1940s. The young bohemian poets were all influenced by Symbolism, from its French forerunners Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine to the George Bacovia, the last doyen of Romania's Symbolist movement. as well as the left-wing writers at Orizont review (Vladimir Colin and Nina Cassian among them). Vighi detects in this the influence of Romania's avant-garde herald Urmuz. This is foremost illustrated by concise metaphors such as Luna ca un ficat însângerat ("The Moon like a bloody liver") and obsesia mea din clasa a patra primară: rețeaua de sârmă ghimpată ("my obsession during the fourth grade primary cycle: the barbed wire network"), but also developed in more complex sequences: In other pieces, the horrific setting is replaced with other instances of the poet's constant transfer of identities. However, according to Cazimir, the escape "from a mean and hostile ambiance" has "a precarious and provisional character". He illustrates this with a sequence from Ploaia ("The Rain"), where Tonegaru depicts his tramcar reverie, interrupted shortly after by the violent sounds of a road accident. Part of it reads: In one of his final poems, composed in prison and preserved by his cellmates, Tonegaru described suffering, death and redemption as lutherie. The poem was titled Stradivarius, and read in part: ==Legacy==

Censorship and persecution have decisively marked the impact and perception of Constant Tonegaru's generation. The group has been defined as an "unfortunate generation" Critics have also drawn a direct comparison between them and Poland's "Generation of Columbuses". Political developments influenced differently the lives of all three generational heroes. This process was discussed by literary historian , who emphasized that, while Tonegaru's early choice for "freedom and democracy" made him a victim of "horrible sufferings", both Caraion and Dumitrescu adapted themselves to communism. Tonegaru is also seen as the mentor of Stelaru, Cioculescu, and Radu Teculescu. The Romanian poet's work has had its echoes outside Romania: Tonegaru is the subject of a concretist poem by Brazilian author Manuel Bandeira, titled Homanagem a Tonegaru ("Homage to Tonegaru"). After the Romanian Revolution overthrew communism, Tonegaru's work became the focus of more public attention, and several accounts of his biography were published, including ones by his friends Chihaia and Chimet. In 2003, Cioculescu edited another volume of his friend's selected works, titled after Plantația de cuie. While periodic exhumations in Sfânta Vineri have made tracking down Tonegaru's remains an impossible task, he is honored by the Museum of Romanian Literature with a bust in his likeness, and, on the occasion of his 90th birthday in 2009, was the subject of a special exhibit in his native Galați. ==Notes==