Perpessicius (; pen name of Dumitru S. Panaitescu, also known as Panait Șt. Dumitru, D. P. Perpessicius and Panaitescu-Perpessicius; October 22, 1891 – March 29, 1971) was a Romanian literary historian and critic, poet, essayist and fiction writer. One of the prominent literary chroniclers of the Romanian interwar period, he stood apart in his generation for having thrown his support behind the modernist and avant-garde currents of Romanian literature. As a theorist, Perpessicius merged the tenets of Symbolism with the pragmatic conservative principles of the 19th century Junimea society, but was much-criticized over perceptions that, in the name of aesthetic relativism, he tolerated literary failure. Also known as an anthologist, biographer, museologist, folklorist and book publisher, he was, together with George Călinescu, one of his generation's best-known researchers to have focused on the work of Junimist author and since-acknowledged national poet Mihai Eminescu. Much of Perpessicius' career was dedicated to collecting, structuring and interpreting Eminescu's texts, resulting in an authoritative edition of Eminescu's writings, the 17-volume Opere ("Works").
A veteran of World War I, where he lost use of his right arm, Perpessicius debuted in poetry while recovering in hospital, publishing the critically acclaimed volume Scut și targă ("Shield and Stretcher"). His subsequent "intimist" and Neoclassical tendencies made him part of a distinct current within the local branch of Symbolism. Like other mainstream modernists of his day, Perpessicius also espoused anti-fascism and criticized nationalism in general, attitudes which led him into conflict with the 1930s far right. From 1938 to 1940, he controversially offered a degree of support to the fascist-inspired National Renaissance Front and was promoted by its leader, King Carol II. Sympathetic to the left-wing trend after World War II, he was drawn into cooperation with the Romanian Communist Party. Although subsequently endorsed and acclaimed by the communist regime, he was reluctant to condone its policies and dedicated his final years almost exclusively to literature. A member of the Romanian Academy and founding director of the Museum of Romanian Literature, he was co-editor of Viața Românească magazine, and, in 1957, head of the academy's library.
Name Known initially as Panait S. Dumitru or Panaiot Șt. Dumitru (with an inverted name order and the middle initial standing for his patronymic),Călinescu, p.851; Ene, p.14 the author was given the name Dumitru S. Panaitescu (also Dimitire Panaiot, Panaitescu Șt. Dumitru), while in primary school.Ene, p.14 Ioana Pârvulescu, "Jurnalul lui Perpessicius - Necunoscutul din strada Eminescu", in România Literară, Nr. 19/2002 To his friends, he was known as Mitică or Mitiș, the pet forms of Dumitru.
Perpessicius' pseudonym, dating from ca. 1913-1918Cernat (p.313) uses 1913, while, according to Ene (p.14), it was adopted in 1915. Vianu (Vol. III, p.471) does not render a precise date, but believes it happened late into World War I. is Latin for "he who suffers"Cernat, p.313. The "derivative and compound of the verb patior = I suffer" in Vianu (Vol. III, p.471). or "he who was tested". Some commentators believe that the verb had special significance for Perpessicius, as either an ironic coincidenceCernat, p.313 or a direct consequenceVianu, Vol. III, p.471 of losing his writing arm. Others argue that it was merely imposed on him by his writer friends Tudor Arghezi and Gala Galaction.
Biography
Early life and World War I Born in the Danube port city of Brăila, in the Bărăgan Plain areas, Perpessicius was the son of middle-class parents Ștefan Panaiot (or Panaitescu) and Ecaterina (née Daraban), who owned a house on Cetății Street. Casa Memorială D. P. Perpessicius, at the Brăila City Museum site; retrieved February 25, 2009 Between 1898 and 1902, he attended the Nr. 4 Primary School, completing his gymnasium-level and secondary education at the Nicolae Bălcescu School (1902–1910).
The future Perpessicius rallied with Symbolism while still an adolescent, and, at his Baccalaureate examination of 1910, gave a spoken presentation of innovative poet Ion Minulescu. He subsequently left for Bucharest, where he attended the city university's Faculty of Letters, specializing in Romance studies.Cernat, p.313; Ene, p.14 He notably attended lectures on modern Romance-language literature given by Ovid Densusianu, patron of the Symbolist school, which he himself deemed a formative experience. Also during his university years, he first came into contact with the remaining manuscripts of Mihai Eminescu, on which his later exegesis would rely.Ene, p.5, 14 He made his literary debut with poems sent to the Versuri și Proză magazine, edited in Iași by Densusianu's admirers I. M. Rașcu and Alfred Hefter-Hidalgo.This took place in either 1911 (Ene, p.14) or 1913 (Cernat, p.313). One of them, titled Reminiscență ("Reminiscence"), was signed with the pen name D. Pandara. At around that time, the young author met and befriended Parnassian poet Artur Enășescu, being, together with fellow critic Tudor Vianu, a witness to Enășescu's life before it was changed by mental disorder and material ruin.Vianu, Vol. III, p.321-324
Perpessicius graduated in 1914, the same year when he married Alice Paleologu. In autumn 1915, at around the same time when Alice gave birth to a boy, he was appointed a clerk at the Romanian Academy Library, assigned to work on its new catalog. That year, other early selections of his writings saw print in Cronica, a Symbolist and left-wing journal co-edited by Arghezi and Galaction.Lucian Boia, "Germanofilii". Elita intelectuală românească în anii Primului Război Mondial, Humanitas, Bucharest, 2010, p.103. Perpessicus may have also shared Cronicas Germanophile agenda, which, at the time, implied criticism of the Entente Powers. He was by then working on a novel, titled Veninul ("The Venom"). A fragment of this work saw print in Arena, a short-lived magazine edited by poets Ion Vinea and Demostene Botez in collaboration with Hefter-Hidalgo and N. Porsenna.
Perpessicius joined the Romanian Army in 1916, as Romania rallied with the Entente against the Central Powers (see Romania during World War I). He was sent to Northern Dobruja in the wake of the Turtucaia defeat, when southern Romania was being invaded by Bulgarian and Imperial German forces. On October 6, 1916, during the skirmish of Muratan, his right elbow was hit by an enemy bullet, being partially amputated by surgeons in order to prevent a loss of the entire limb. His disabled arm was fastened with a black-colored sling, and Perpessicius taught himself to write left-handed (a change which reportedly made his handwriting instantly recognizable by his peers).
1920s By late 1918, as Romania signed an armistice with the Central Powers, Perpessicius returned to Bucharest. It was there that, together with two of Denusianu's disciples—Dragoș Protopopescu and Scarlat Struțeanu—he established the magazine Letopiseți, which did not survive into the next year. After the November 1918 Armistice, which saw the end of the war to the Entente's benefit, and after the Austro-Hungarian-ruled region of Transylvania was united with Romania, Perpessicius was assigned to a teaching position in the newly gained city of Arad, at the Moise Nicoară High School (1919) and afterward at the Târgu Mureș Military High School.Ene, p.14-15 From autumn 1920 to summer 1921, he returned to Brăila, employed by the Normal School as a teacher of Romanian and French.Ene, p.15 Citing letters the young teacher had sent to his friends, Vianu reports that he missed working in the archives.Vianu, Vol. III, p.473
Late in 1921, Perpessicius made his return to Bucharest, where, until 1929, he held teaching positions at various high schools and business education establishments. In 1922, he began his work in Romanian theater, collaborating with the Iași-based Insula, a troupe founded by writer Benjamin Fondane and actor Armand Pascal. The company favored a characteristic blended of modernist theater and influences from defunct traditionalist currents such as Sămănătorul.Cernat, p.271-273 Just before it went bankrupt in early 1923, it was planning a "spoken anthology", during which notes compiled on several authors were supposed to be read for the public: Fondane's own comments on Arghezi, together with those of Perpessicius and Ion Călugăru on traditionalist poets—respectively, Alexandru Vlahuță and George Coșbuc.Cernat, p.273, 313
Also in 1923, he debuted as a literary chronicler and a regular on Felix Aderca's magazine Spre Ziuă.Cernat, p.313; Ene, p.15 By 1924, he had articles published in leading Romanian magazines: Ideea Europeană, Mișcarea Literară, Cuget Românesc and Camil Petrescu's Săptămâna Muncii Intelectuale și Artistice. His debut volume of essays, Repertoriu critic ("Critical Repertoire"), was commissioned by the Romanian Orthodox Arad Diocese, saw print in 1925. Perpessicius was by then also noted as an advocate of public causes: his articles reacted against the decision to publicly auction the large art collection of Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești, a controversial politician and former convict who had bequeathed it to the state.Veronica Marinescu, "Un «prinț al artelor» uitat de vreme. Alexandru Bogdan-Pitești și Vlaiciul primelor tabere de creație", in Curierul Național, July 22, 2006
Having established contacts with the emerging avant-garde during the war years, Perpessicius notably signaled the 1923 debut of its representative, poet Ilarie Voronca.Cernat, p.325 He was, with poet Ion Pillat, editor of Antologia poeților de azi ("The Anthology of Present-Day Poets", 2 vols., 1925 and 1928), often considered a seminal text for the popularization of innovative literature, and featuring ink drawings by Marcel Janco, a co-founder of Dadaism.Cernat, p.313-314; Ene, p.15 His critically acclaimed collection of war poems, Scut și targă, was published in 1926. In 1927, the same year as Pillat and Artur Enășescu, he received the Award for Poetry granted by the Romanian Writers' Society. Victor Durnea, "Societatea scriitorilor români", in Dacia Literară, Nr. 2/2008 During those years, Perpessicius fell in love with Viorica "Yvoria" Secoșanu, a woman scholar who became his mistress. When she became aware that the critic was happily married, she committed self-immolation in Bellu cemetery, and died in hospital a short while after. The detail was omitted from Perpessicus' official biographies, and resurfaced only in 2009.
Perpessicius was one of the moderate figures to sign contributions for the cosmopolitan avant-garde magazine Contimporanul, published by his friends Vinea and Janco, part of a small group which also included, at the time, Minulescu, Pillat, Camil Baltazar, Claudia Millian, Alexandru Al. Philippide, Ion Sân-Giorgiu and some others.Cernat, p.151, 153, 313 These texts included some of his "intimist" poems and translations from French poet Francis Jammes.Cernat, p.151 Contimporanul also published his earlier notes on Vlahuță, recovered from the Insula manuscripts.Cernat, p.273 In 1927, Perpessicius took over as chronicler for Nae Ionescu's Cuvântul (before it became a tribune for fascist causes), and, in 1929, became a teacher at the Matei Basarab High School in Bucharest (a position he held until 1951). The second volume of Antologia... was received with less enthusiasm, being even called "wasted energy" by Philippide.Ene, p.15; Philippide, p.133
1930s