Gellu Naum
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Gellu Naum (1 August 1915 – 29 September 2001) was a
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
n poet, dramatist, novelist, children's writer, and translator. He is remembered as the founder of the Romanian Surrealist group. The artist Lyggia Naum, his wife, was the inspiration and main character in his 1985 novel ''Zenobia''.


Biography

Of Aromanian descent, he was born in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
, and was the son of the poet (who had been drafted in
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and died during the Battle of Mărășești) and his wife Maria Naum, née Rosa Gluck. In 1933, he began studying philosophy at the University of Bucharest. In 1938, he left for
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, where he continued his studies at the University of Paris. He took his PhD diploma with a thesis on the scholastic philosopher Pierre Abelard. In 1936 (the year when he published his first book), Naum met Victor Brauner, who became his close friend and who later introduced him to André Breton and his Surrealist circle in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. In 1941, he helped create the Bucharest group of Surrealists (which also included Gherasim Luca, Paul Păun, Dolfi Trost, and ). Naum was drafted into Romanian Army during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
and served on the Eastern Front after the invasion of the Soviet Union (''see
Romania during World War II The Kingdom of Romania, under the rule of King Carol II of Romania, King Carol II, initially maintained Neutral country, neutrality in World War II. However, fascist political forces, especially the Iron Guard, rose in popularity and power, urgi ...
''). Marked by his wartime experience, he was discharged in 1944, after he had fallen ill. In December 1947, the Surrealist group succumbed to the vicissitudes of postwar Soviet occupation and successful Communist takeover of Romania's government. As Socialist realism had officially become Romania's cultural policy, he could only publish books for children (out of which the two books with Apolodor were reissued several times). Although he published several books in the line of Socialist realism, which he reneged on afterwards, he never stopped writing Surrealist poems, such as the 1958 poem composed of several parts ''Heraclitus'' (published in the 1968 volume ''Athanor'') or the esoteric manuscript ''The Way of the Snake'', written in 1948–1949 and published after his death, in 2002. Between 1950 and 1953, he taught philosophy at the Agronomic Institute of Bucharest, while working also as a translator. He translated works by Samuel Beckett, René Char, Denis Diderot, Alexandre Dumas, père,
Julien Gracq Julien Gracq (; born Louis Poirier; 27 July 1910 – 22 December 2007) was a French writer. He wrote novels, critiques, a play, and poetry. His literary works were noted for their dreamlike abstraction, elegant style and refined vocabulary. He ...
, Victor Hugo,
Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...
, Gérard de Nerval,
Jacques Prévert Jacques Prévert (; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the Poetic realism, poetic ...
, Stendhal, and
Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
. He resumed his literary career in 1968, in the wake of a relative cultural liberalization under Nicolae Ceaușescu's regime. In 1971 he was awarded the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic, 3rd class. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, he traveled abroad and gave public readings in France,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, and the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. In 1995, the German Academic Exchange Service appointed him scholar at the University of Berlin. Naum spent much of his final years at his retreat in Comana. He died at in Bucharest at age 86; after a memorial service at Amzei Church, he was buried in the city's Bellu Cemetery.


Works

* ''Drumețul incendiar'' ("The Incendiary Traveler"; poems, illustrated by Victor Brauner), Bucharest, 1936 * '' Vasco de Gama'', (poem, illustrated by Jacques Hérold), Bucharest, 1940 * ''Culoarul somnului'', ("The Corridor of Sleep"; poems, illustrated by Victor Brauner), Bucharest, 1944 * ''Medium'' (prose), Bucharest, 1945 * ''Critica mizeriei'' ("Critique of Misery"; manifesto, co-written with Paul Păun and )), Bucharest, 1945 * ''Teribilul interzis'' ("The Terrible Forbidden"; drama, illustrated by Paul Păun), Bucharest, 1945 * ''Spectrul longevității: 122 de cadavre'' ("The Specter of Longevity: 122 corpses"; drama, co-written with Virgil Teodorescu), Bucharest, 1946 * ''Castelul Orbilor'' ("Castle of the Blind"; drama), Bucharest, 1946 * ''L'infra-noir'' ("Infra-Black"; manifesto, co-written with Gherasim Luca, Paul Păun, Virgil Teodorescu, and Dolfi Trost), Bucharest, 1947 * ''Éloge de Malombra – Cerne de l'amour absolu'' (" Malombra's Eulogy – Black Circle of Absolute Love"; manifesto, co-written with Gherasim Luca, Paul Păun, and Dolfi Trost), Bucharest, 1947 * ''Filonul'', Bucharest, 1952 ("The Vein"; prose) * ''Tabăra din munți'', Bucharest, 1953 ("The Camp in the Mountains"; prose) * ''Așa-i Sanda'', Bucharest, 1956 ("So Is Sanda"; poems for children) * ''Cartea cu Apolodor'', Bucharest, 1959 ("The Book With Apolodor"; poems for children, illustrated by Jules Perahim) * ''Poem despre tinerețea noastră'', Bucharest, 1960 ("Poem About Our Youth"; poems, illustrated by Jules Perahim) * ''Soarele calm'', Bucharest, 1961 ("The Calm Sun"; poems, illustrated by Jules Perahim) * ''A doua carte cu Apolodor'', Bucharest, 1964 ("The Second Book With Apolodor"; poems for children, illustrated by Jules Perahim) * '' Athanor'' (poems), Bucharest, 1968 * ''Poetizați, poetizați...'' ("Poeticize, Poeticize..."; prose), Bucharest, 1970 * ''Copacul-animal'' ("The Animal-Tree"; poems), Bucharest, 1971 * ''Tatăl meu obosit'' ("My Tired Father"; poems), Bucharest, 1972 * ''Poeme alese'' ("Selected Poems"; poems), Bucharest, 1974 * ''Cărțile cu Apolodor'' ("The Apolodor Books", poems for children), Bucharest, 1975 * ''Descrierea turnului'' ("Description of the Tower"; poems), Bucharest, 1975 * ''Insula. Ceasornicăria Taus. Poate Eleonora'' ("The Island. The Taus Clockmakers. Eleonora, Perhaps"; drama), Bucharest, 1979 * ''Partea cealaltă'' ("The Other Side"; poems), Bucharest, 1980 * ''Zenobia'' (novel), Bucharest, 1985 * ''Amedeu, cel mai cumsecade leu'', Bucharest, 1988 ("Amedeu, The Most Honest Lion"; poems for children, illustrated by N. Nobilescu) * ''Apolodor, un mic pinguin călător'', Bucharest, 1988 ("Apolodor, A Small Travelling Penguin"; poems for children, illustrated by N. Nobilescu) * ''Malul albastru'' ("The Blue Shore''; prose), Bucharest, 1990 * ''Fața și suprafaţa, urmat de Malul albastru'' ("Face and Surface, followed by The Blue Shore", poems), Bucharest, 1994 * ''Focul negru'' ("Black Fire"; poems), Bucharest, 1995 * ''Sora fântână'' ("Sister Fountain"; poems), Bucharest, 1995 * ''Întrebătorul'' ("The Inquirer"; prose), Bucharest, 1996 * ''Copacul-animal, urmat de Avantajul vertebrelor'' ("The Animal-Tree, followed by The Advantage of Vertebrae"),
Cluj-Napoca Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...
, 2000 * ''Ascet la baraca de tir'' ("Recluse in the Firing Range Shack"; poems), Bucharest, 2000 * ''Calea șearpelui'' ("The Way of the Snake"), Bucharest, 2002 (posthumous)


Presence in English language anthologies

* ''Testament – Anthology of Romanian Verse – American Edition -'' monolingual English edition ''-'' Daniel Ioniță (editor and principal translator), with Eva Foster, Daniel Reynaud and Rochelle Bews – Australian-Romanian Academy for Culture – 2017 – * T''estament - 400 Years of Romanian Poetry - 400 de ani de poezie românească'' - bilingual edition - Daniel Ioniță (editor and principal translator) with Daniel Reynaud, Adriana Paul & Eva Foster - Editura Minerva, 2019 - * ''Romanian Poetry from its Origins to the Present'' - bilingual edition English/Romanian - Daniel Ioniță (editor and principal translator) with Daniel Reynaud, Adriana Paul and Eva Foster - Australian-Romanian Academy Publishing - 2020 - ;


References

* Walter Cummins, ''Shifting Borders: East European Poetries of the Eighties'', Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, Madison, 1993, p. 328


External links


Gellu Naum site
*

*
Simona Sora, ''Pentru Gellu Naum''

Naum's nomination for the Nobel Prize in Literature at the Romanian PEN Club site
*
Gellu Naum at the Humanitas Bookstores' site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naum, Gellu 1915 births 2001 deaths Writers from Bucharest Romanian people of Aromanian descent University of Bucharest alumni University of Paris alumni Romanian military personnel of World War II Academic staff of the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest Romanian children's writers Romanian male poets Romanian surrealist writers Romanian writers in French Romanian male dramatists and playwrights French–Romanian translators 20th-century Romanian poets 20th-century Romanian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Romanian translators 20th-century Romanian male writers Translators of Gérard de Nerval Recipients of the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic Burials at Bellu Cemetery