Henric Sanielevici (, first name also Henri, Henry or Enric, last name also Sanielevich; September 21, 1875 – February 19, 1951) was a Romanian journalist and literary critic, also remembered for his work in anthropology, ethnography, sociology and zoology. Initially a militant socialist from the political-philosophical circle of Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, he incorporated other influences and, in 1905, created his own literary review, Curentul Nou ("The New Trend"). Sanielevici and his friend Garabet Ibrăileanu were among the founders of "Poporanism", a peasant-oriented and left-wing movement. However, Sanielevici soon detached himself from both Marxism and agrarianism, criticizing Romanian traditionalist literature, and prophesying a Neoclassicism for the working men. His heated polemic with the rival school of Sămănătorul journal isolated him from the other Poporanists, whom he eventually denounced as "reactionaries". More controversy surrounded his ambiguous attitudes during World War I.
From 1920, Sanielevici was an isolated figure on the left, editing a new version of Curentul Nou and only affiliating with the popular daily Adevărul. He moved away from literary theory and, following his anthropological speculations, revived Lamarckism and scientific racism to formulate his own racial-sociological system. Himself a Jewish Romanian, Sanielevici attempted to undermine the racial assumptions of Nazi ideologists and local fascists.
The author faded into obscurity by the 1940s, when his work was vilified by the governing fascists, then expunged by the communist regime.
Biography
Early years Sanielevici was a native of Botoşani city, in the historical region of Moldavia. His father, officially known as Leon Sanilevici, was a trader, and his mother, Rebeca, a housewife.Călinescu, p.642 Both branches descended from prominent Jewish community leaders—Leon's father was a Rabbi of Craiova Jews, in southern Romania, while Rebeca was the daughter of Botoşani's own Rabbi—whose ancestors had settled in the Danubian Principalities to escape pogroms in the Russian Empire. Almost all of Leon's other children grew up to become distinguished artists and intellectuals: Simion, Jacques and Maximilian were mathematicians; Solomon a painter; Iosif an economist; Emil a zoologist.Călinescu, p.642-643. See also Georgescu-Roegen, p.5, 13
The family, whom literary historian George Călinescu describes as "utterly assimilated" into Romanian culture, was not in fact emancipated: like most Romanian Jews of that era, Sanielevici was not granted citizenship at birth.Durnea (2005), p.25; (2006), p.57-58 Although a self-declared atheist, Adrian Jicu, "H. Sanielevici, par lui même", in Luceafărul, Nr. 30/2008Henric Sanielevici, "New Critical Studies, 1920. The programmatic article of The New Trend, 1906 (excerpts)" , in Plural Magazine , Nr. 29/2007 Sanielevici later recommended the voluntary mass baptism of Jews. He grew up in a cosmopolitan neighborhood, alongside Romanians and Armenians; Cristina Manuk, "Cu Henric Sanielevici în 'La Belle Époque': printre armeni, pe uliţa copilăriei...", in Ararat. Publicaţia Uniunii Armenilor din România , Nr. 1/2009, p.7 the unfamiliar suffix -ici, chosen by Henric's ancestors, misled some into believing that the family was of Serb origin.Hodoş, p.1202
Henric spent most of his childhood between Botoşani and various rural localities in Moldavia, among them Costeşti, Dolhasca and Podriga.Călinescu, p.641 The countryside, he was to recall in writing, shaped his vision of human nutrition as the source of physical and cultural differences: "Everywhere there were orchards, one to every homestead, and often with select fruit. [...] Fruit was falling on the ground in piles, without anyone even bothering to turn it into cider, at least. Countryside attics were full of huge piles, white and greenish, of peaches the size of apples [...]. Until fifteen years of age, I can only recall images of myself eating fruit all day long".Călinescu, p.641-642 The setting also inspired his naturalistic observations on poultry (he described Moldavian hens as particularly slender and prone to wade in still water), on wild birds, and even on spiders.
While he was still a student in Botoşani, the young man made his debut in the socialist press, founding and editing his own newspaper, the short-lived Proletarul. "Henric Sanielevici" , biographical note in Cronologia della letteratura rumena moderna (1780-1914) database , at the University of Florence's Department of Neo-Latin Languages and Literatures; retrieved May 19, 2011 He graduated high school in his home town, and took a degree in Letters and Philosophy at the University of Bucharest.
Together with Simion, who was Technical University student, he attended the Marxist society of Bucharest's Sotir Hall, led by Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, and joined the militant Romanian Social-Democratic Workers' Party (PSDMR).Constantin Kiriţescu, "O viaţă, o lume, o epocă: Ani de ucenicie în mişcarea socialistă", in Magazin Istoric, September 1977, p.16 Especially after the PSDMR's creation, Henric gave weekly public lectures for the workers at Sotir, where he was known under the pseudonym Hasan.I. Felea, "Din vremea cînd socialismul făcea primii paşi la 'Sotir' ", in Magazin Istoric, March 1968, p.5, 7 The two brothers were contributors to Adevărul, at the time a socialist daily edited by Gherea's pupil Constantin Mille, and, around 1896, were also writing for its short-lived literary supplements. Florentina Tone, "Scriitorii de la Adevĕrul" , in Adevărul, December 30, 2008 Henric's articles were also published in other socialist and center-left papers: Lumea Nouă, Munca, Avântul, and the Piteşti literary magazine Povestea Vorbei.
A main focus of Sanielevici's early work as a critic was defending Dobrogeanu-Gherea's Marxist literary theory against Junimea, the conservative literary society. Late in the 20th century, cultural historian Z. Ornea described how Sanielevici, Garabet Ibrăileanu, Traian Demetrescu, Anton Bacalbaşa, Emil Fagure and other "young socialists" took up the combat when Gherea remained silent, and responded with an "offensive" to the Junimist jibes.Ornea (1998), p.357-358 The leading Junimist theorist and cultural critic, Titu Maiorescu, issued formal retorts, responding to specific points made by Sanielevici.Ornea (1998), p.51, 126, 127 Nevertheless, the "young socialist" militant also published articles in the Junimea magazine, Convorbiri Literare. Additionally, he was a leading contributor to, and for a while editorial secretary of,Durnea (2006), p.58, 59, 63 the eclectic journal Noua Revistă Română, run by the ex-Junimist philosopher Constantin Rădulescu-Motru. It was there that he began a series of articles in defense of didacticism, with which he established his reputation as a cultural journalist.Lovinescu, p.26 Noua Revistă Română was also the place where, some years later, Sanielevici met and befriended fellow journalist Constantin Beldie. Z. Ornea, "Dezvăluirile lui Constantin Beldie" , in România Literară, Nr. 46/2000
In 1901, Sanielevici was in the German Empire, for an academic specialization in the field of Anthropology at the University of Berlin.Jicu (2010), p.173 In 1904, he was in Paris, France, where he spoke at the Société Anthropologique. The topic of his dissertation challenged contemporary assumptions on physical anthropology, primarily the theories of Swedish physician Anton Nyström. Sanielevici spoke out against Nyström's belief that "dolichocephalic" people were abnormal. Arguing that Nyström stood against "all anthropological data",Sanielevici (1903), p.594 the Romanian suggested that the shape of one's skull was determined by mastication. The Société as a whole found his interpretation strange and unappealing. An influential racial theorist, Joseph Deniker, also rejected the idea, and noted in particular Sanielevici's "strange and false" argument that the only naturally "brachycephalic" skulls were "Mongoloid". Joseph Deniker, "Revue d'antropologie", in L'Année Psychologique, Vol. XI, 1904, p.520 (republished by )
Curentul Nou beginnings Back home, Sanielevici found steady employment was as a schoolteacher, and he successively taught French to high school students in Galați, Ploiești, Târgoviște and Bucharest. He also expanded on his activity in criticism, with the debut volumes Studii critice ("Critical Studies", Cartea Românească publishers, 1902)Ciprian Vălcan, "The Romanian Culture: Inferiority Complexes, Modernization, Identity Problems", in the Vasile Goldiş West University of Arad Societate şi Politică, Nr. 1/2009, p.145-146 and Încercări critice ("Critical Essays", 1903).Călinescu, p.1012; Lovinescu, p.28 His focus was on questioning the established criteria of literary criticism. In particular, Sanielevici focused on the poem Mioriţa, already recognized as a staple of Romanian folklore, and made sarcastic comments about its subject matter. Alex. Ştefănescu, "Iubire şi pedeapsă" , in România Literară, Nr. 14/2011 Together with W. Majerczik, he published a German-language translation of the novella Sărmanul Dionis ("Poor Dionysus"), by Romania's national poet, Mihai Eminescu. It saw print with the Bukarester Tagblatt company, in 1904. N. N. Muntean, "Bibliografia literară română în streinătate", in Luceafărul, Nr. 7/1944, p.251 (digitized by the Babeş-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library)
While in Galaţi, Sanielevici made his name as the founder and editor of Curentul Nou, a literary review which appeared from 1905 to 1906. As the PSDMR split into competing factions (1899), he and Garabet Ibrăileanu made some efforts to regroup the scattered socialist clubs around new ideals, with an emphasis on uplifting the peasantry—an ideology that came to be known as "Poporanism".Cernat, p.29 Ibrăileanu was based in the larger city of Iaşi, but Sanielevici found Galaţi more suitable a location for the Poporanist projects. In his view, Iaşi was home to a decaying Moldavian nobility, state-dependent and nationalistic, while his adoptive home was a "citadel of true democracy". Lucian Nastasă, "Suveranii" universităţilor româneşti. Mecanisme de selecţie şi promovare a elitei intelectuale, Vol. I, Editura Limes, Cluj-Napoca, 2007, p.292. In his letters to Ibrăileanu, whereby he invited him and Poporanist theorist Constantin Stere to contribute, Sanielevici acknowledged that his journal was not afraid of radicalism: "I have grown tired of hypocrisy".Sighidim et al., p.43
With the Curentul Nou project, Sanielevici concentrated his polemical stance on the right-wing, agrarian and conservative publications of the day, and primarily ridiculed the work of writers at Sămănătorul magazine. He candidly informed Ibrăileanu: "We have a grand work to accomplish, a work that will resonate throughout Romanian literary history, the work of bringing down a shameful current that has been clutching the country for these last 5 years". However, Sanielevici was also a sporadic contributor to the Neamul Românesc review, which was founded by historian Nicolae Iorga as the new version of Sămănătorul.