Early life and literature The son of writer and journalist
N. Crevedia, Barbu was born in
Bucharest, and briefly attended the
University of Bucharest's Faculty of Law, and then graduated from the Faculty of Letters (1947); he subsequently worked as a journalist for the
left-wing press. — he was noted for his early writings in praise of
Soviet achievements such as the
Sputnik program, and his progressive move to a more nationalist tone as this became condoned (and later encouraged). He was also involved in the
censorship apparatus, a position which, some have argued, he used indiscriminately against his literary rivals.
Official appointments His
Principele novel, set during the
Phanariote era, was interpreted to be an ironic reference to Gheorghiu-Dej's rule and the
labor camps of the
Danube–Black Sea Canal, and was condoned by the regime during a period of relative
liberalization — cut short by the
July Theses of 1971. At the time, he was also an editor of
Luceafărul, before being dismissed following his prolonged and notorious conflicts with younger writers (while the regime was interested in ensuring the latter's confidence). He was several times elected to the
Great National Assembly, until the plagiarism scandal prevented him from being again proposed for the office. In 1977, Barbu won the
Herder Prize, which permitted him to offer his protégé Tudor a scholarship year in
Vienna.
Plagiarism scandal and Săptămâna In 1979,
România Literară published a special section in which it placed side by side a text from
Incognito and one taken from a translated work by the
Soviet writer
Konstantin Paustovsky; the two sections were considered virtually identical. The ensuing scandal animated the literary world, and has often been cited as a reference for similar and more recent controversies. (the latter included
Paul Goma, whom, in 1977, he called "a non-entity"). Barbu's polemic articles were often obscene in tone, and their message offered Ceauşescu a nationalist support which
Vladimir Tismăneanu has identified as "
chauvinistic". consequently, Barbu and Tudor came under the attention of the
Securitate.
Post-Revolution After the
Romanian Revolution of 1989, Barbu and Tudor emerged as ideologists of a new nationalist trend, which largely repeated themes present in previous official discourse, while casting aside references to
communism. Between 1992 and the time of his death, Barbu served in the
Romanian Chamber of Deputies as representative of the
Greater Romania Party for Bucharest. In early 2005, eleven years after his death, the satirical magazine
Academia Cațavencu uncovered and publicized a Securitate file which seems to indicate that Barbu had sexual encounters with underage girls, provided by Tudor and paid for their services. Tudor initially called on the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives to explain if the find was real, and received a positive answer. ==Notes==