Ștefan Aurel Baciu (, ; October 29, 1918 – January 6, 1993) was a Romanian and Brazilian poet, novelist, publicist and academic who lived his later life in Hawaii. A precocious, award-winning, young author in interwar Romania, he was involved in editing several literary magazines. Attracted into left-wing democratic politics and the Social Democratic Party (PSDR), he camouflaged his views while working for the fascist press under dictatorial regimes, but returned in 1944 to manage the PSDR's Libertatea newspaper. Witnessing first-hand the gradual communist takeover, Baciu managed to have himself assigned to a diplomatic posting in Switzerland, and ultimately defected in 1948. A resident and then citizen of Brazil, and a traveler throughout Latin America, he wrote works in Portuguese, Spanish, English and German, as well as in his native Romanian.
Involved with the Congress for Cultural Freedom and a friend of independent socialists such as Juan Bosch, Baciu spoke out against South American communism and criticized Fidel Castro. He eventually moved to the United States, as a professor at the University of Washington, and, from 1964, the University of Hawaii. He put out the international magazine Mele, which, although rudimentarily printed and little circulated, remains a noted source of information about avant-garde writers of the Romanian diaspora, from Andrei Codrescu to Dolfi Trost and Sesto Pals. Baciu was also a preeminent historian and anthologist of South and Central American surrealism, as well as a translator of Latin American literature into Romanian and German.
Biography Early life Ștefan Baciu was born in Brașov, some months before the city became part of Greater Romania. His was a multicultural intellectual family. His father was the ethnic Romanian Ioan Baciu, a product of Austro-Hungarian schooling, was at the time a teacher of German at the Șaguna National College.Spiridon & Toader, p. 161 He is remembered as the co-author of a pioneering introductory Romanian textbook for the benefit of Saxons and Hungarians."Legendele Brașovului: Poet celebru în America Latină", in Gazeta Brașovului, Nr. 19/2012 In 1930, he built for his family the "Yellow House" in Lunca Plăieșului residential property, which had recently been opened for settlement. The poet's mother, Elisabeta, was the daughter of the forestry engineer Arthur Sager; his maternal aunt, Lenuța König, was a corsetmaker for Queen Marie.Gligor & Caloianu, p. 165 Baciu's sister, Ioana Veronica, had a successful career in the theater. Through the Sagers, Ștefan and Ioana were of Jewish descent. Ioana Diaconescu, "Scriitori în arhiva CNSAS: Ștefan Baciu în dosarele Securității" , in România Literară, Nr. 21/2009Gligor & Caloianu, p. 166; Spiridon & Toader, pp. 161, 163–164 Raised Romanian Orthodox, and still a practicing believer in the 1960s, Simona Cioculescu, "Scrisori din exil" , in România Literară, Nr. 12/2008 Baciu considered himself a "cosmopolitan" one.Bodiu, p. 224
Baciu was a precocious child. Bookish from an early age, despite being heavily myopic, Constantin Eretescu, "Lumea exilului (I)", in Observator Cultural, Nr. 121, June 2002 he discovered Romanian and German poetic anthologies, including Kurt Pinthus' expressionistic chrestomathy, Menscheitsdämerung. Florin Manolescu, "Scriitori români în exil. Un brașovean în Honolulu: Ștefan Baciu", in Viața Românească, Nr. 11/12/2013 In addition to German, he taught himself French, English, Spanish and Portuguese. A student of his father's Șaguna National College, where he earned top grades, Nicolae Scurtu, "Ștefan Baciu și revista Viața Literară", in România Literară, Nr. 40/2013 he made friends with two of his teachers, writers Octav Șuluțiu and Emil Cioran. Șuluțiu would later refer to Baciu as one of the most characteristic poets of Transylvania region.Octav Șuluțiu, "Transilvania pe linia constantelor sufletului românesc", in Revista Fundațiilor Regale, Nr. 12/1940, p. 634
Baciu made his editorial debut as a teenager, with German- and Romanian-language poems published in the local reviews Klingsor and Răboj. Emil Manu, "Poemele poetului Ștefan Baciu" , in Convorbiri Literare, February 2013Spiridon & Toader, p. 162 In September 1933, having been denied sponsorship of a literary magazine by Șaguna College,Opriș, p. 122 he set up his own, avant-garde sheet called Start. It was indebted to surrealist automatism and by André Gide's rebellious philosophy. Start functioned as a local satellite of I. Valerian's Viața Literară, which had appointed Baciu its official correspondent and publicity agent for the whole of Transylvania. Struggling with financial difficulties, Start did not survive beyond its second issue. Baciu moved on to publish other magazines, alongside Vintilă Horia, Mihai Beniuc, and Ovid Caledoniu: Stilet ("Stiletto"), then Meșterul Manole (named after the folk legend hero). Additionally, he was a contributor to literary magazines and newspapers across Romania, including Gând Românesc, Glasul Bucovinei, Rampa, and George Ivașcu's Manifest.
At age seventeen, Baciu had his Poemele poetului tânăr ("Poems of the Young Poet") picked up in a "young poets' anthology", and put out by the official publishing company, Editura Fundațiilor Regale.Boia, p. 117 He was presented with the company's own Young Writers Award and received the Romanian Writers' Society Poetry Prize. He followed up in 1936 with Poeme de dragoste ("Love Poems"), published by Familia of Oradea, and in 1937 with Micul dor ("A Tiny Longing"). Iordan Datcu, "Vladimir Streinu cenzurat" , in România Literară, Nr. 25/2002Spiridon & Toader, p. 170 Also that year, he was included in the anthology 13 poeți, with Horia, Caledoniu, Constantin Virgil Gheorghiu, Simion Stolnicu, Dumitru Gherghinescu-Vania and various others.
Under fascism Young Baciu was soon received into the cultural elite of Bucharest, befriending the likes of Păstorel Teodoreanu and Ion Minulescu. Alongside Caledoniu, George Petcu, Maria Banuș, Laurențiu Fulga and some others, Baciu was also drawn into the "White Nights Manifesto" circle, which sought to promote young literature. Also faced with financial troubles, and unsuccessful in its bid to receive state funding, the circle closed shop in 1938. M. Cosmescu Delasabar, "George Petcu și Manifestul Nopții Albe" , in România Literară, Nr. 29/1999
Baciu had since enlisted at the University of Bucharest Faculty of Law, whence he graduated in 1941. His college years overlapped with the demise of Romanian democracy and several authoritarian experiments, the first of which was a National Renaissance Front dictatorship. By late 1938, Miron Neagu, "Din arhiva Emil Giurgiuca" , in România Literară, Nr. 51-52/2006 Baciu had begun collaborating in the semi-official newspaper, Sfarmă-Piatră, published by the fascist sympathizer Nichifor Crainic. He had a literary history column, Cronici germane ("German Chronicles"), with which he aimed to popularize "that superb German Romanticism".Ștefan Baciu, "Cronici germane. Cuvânt de început", in Universul Literar, Nr. 43/1939, p. 2 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library) He was in correspondence with a more senior poet, Emil Giurgiuca, offering to popularize Giurgiuca's work "in Sfarmă-Piatră or wherever". Also in 1938, Baciu collected his translations from Georg Trakl, which came out at Editura Frize in Iași.Spiridon & Toader, p. 171
Having openly supported the Iron Guard as a radical fascist alternative to the establishment, Sfarmă-Piatră was also falling into disfavor with the National Renaissance Front regime. Early in 1939, following bloody clashes between the Front and the Guardists, Sfarmă-Piatră was outlawed. Baciu moved to the more mainstream Universul, becoming its editor and resuming Cronici germane in its literary supplement. He also held the literary criticism column, taking over from Ștefan Augustin Doinaș. Mircea Popa, "Alte inedite Ștefan Augustin Doinaș", in Apostrof, Nr. 7/2013
During the early stages of World War II, Crainic gave Baciu the office of editorial secretary at Gândirea magazine, but sacked him upon finding out about his Social Democratic loyalties.Spiridon & Toader, p. 163 According to communist sources, Baciu was himself an affiliate or sympathizer of the Iron Guard—a claim that has since been disputed; Baciu's PSDR membership and his mother's Jewishness disqualified him for such an enterprise.Spiridon & Toader, pp. 163–164 By his own account, Baciu was a malagambist, meaning that he followed the zoot-clad jazzman Sergiu Malagamba and had cosmopolitan, Americophile tastes. George Ciorănescu, Crisula Ștefănescu, "Ștefan Baciu, un poet român din America Latină", in Cultura, Nr. 297, October 2010 He did however befried the Guard's poet laureate, Radu Gyr, helping him publish in Gândirea even after the Guard's violent fall from grace in early 1941."Centenar Radu Gyr", in Biblioteca Bucureștilor, Nr. 3/2005, pp. 13–14
Upon his graduation, Baciu became translator for the Institute of Statistics (under Sabin Manuilă), cultural adviser for the General Council of Bucharest, and publisher for the companies Gorjanul and Publicom. His poetic work was collected in the volumes Drumeț în anotimpuri ("A Traveler through Seasons", 1939), Căutătorul de comori ("The Treasure Hunter", 1939), Cetatea lui Bucur ("Bucur's Citadel", 1940), and Muzica sferelor ("Music of the Spheres", 1943). Attracted by the prospects of a good pay in the only thriving literary industry of the war years, he began contributing to the humorous press. He debuted in Virgil Slăvescu's Păcală, as "Grigore Cumpănașu", and later held columns in Veselia and Ion Anestin's Gluma.Popa, pp. 90–91
While at university, Baciu had met and fallen in love with Mira Simian (born 1920). The daughter of Dinu Simian, a National Peasants' Party politician from Vâlcea County, heir to a tanning and footwear-making empire,Constantin Mateescu, "Oahu", in Acolada, Nr. 1/2011 and his Polish wife, Mira attended the Bucharest Faculty of Letters, then worked as a pharmacist in Râmnicu Vâlcea. She married Baciu upon the war's end.Lazăr, pp. 293–294
PSDR journalist, diplomat, defector The August 23, 1944 Coup unsealed Romania's alliance with Nazi Germany, and brought back democracy, but also signified the onset of Soviet occupation. Shortly after the legalization of political parties, Baciu became editor of the Social Democratic press organ Libertatea ("Liberty").Boia, p. 253; Spiridon & Toader, p. 162 From October 1944 to December 1945, he edited his own illustrated satirical review, Humorul ("Humor"). Meanwhile, he also put out new selections from his poetry: Cântecul mulțimii ("Song of the Crowd"), with a preface by Ion Pas, came out at the PSDR party press in 1944; Caiet de vacanță ("Notebook for the Holidays") at Unirea of Râmnicu Vâlcea in 1945. His circle of acquaintances grew to include some members of the Bucharest surrealist circle, in particular Sesto Pals (who was Baciu's lifelong friend) Michaël Finkenthal, "Sesto Pals sau poezia omului ciudat", in Observator Cultural, Nr. 169, May 2003 and Dolfi Trost. Cornel Ungureanu, "Michael Finkenthal, de la Fundoianu și Șestov la Trost și Sesto Pals", in România Literară, Nr. 19/2014
With his party falling under the influence of Romanian Communists, Baciu remained close to the independent pro-Western wing, under Constantin Titel Petrescu.Frunză, pp. 275, 279–280; Lazăr, p. 294 As he would note in 1992, Baciu had always been "an adept of democratic socialism".Spiridon & Toader, p. 165 He referred to Petrescu as "the tocsin-sounder of the great perils that were knocking on our door, perils not just for the existence of social democracy, but also of Romania's very existence as a free democratic state".Frunză, p. 275