I. M. Rașcu (most common rendition of Ion Rașcu; – 1971) was a Romanian poet of Symbolist verse, cultural promoter, comparatist, and schoolteacher. He is remembered for his participation in the Romanian Symbolist movement: a founder and co-editor, with Alfred Hefter-Hidalgo, of Versuri și Proză magazine, he became one of the leading Symbolist figures in his native city of Iași before 1914. In later years, he lived more discreetly as a scholar and educationist, earning both praise and opprobrium for his sternness and erudition.
A Catholic convert and devotional writer, Rașcu spent several years in France. He made a belated attempt to revive Symbolism with the 1930s magazine Îndreptar, where he also published his Catholic prose and fragments of his work in literary history. He became noted, and challenged, for his critical reviews of Mihai Eminescu's poetry. His late works in travel literature document his increasing isolation and monastic fervor, as well as his dedication to Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. In his final years, Rașcu returned to literary life as an authority on, and biographer of, his Symbolist colleagues.
Biography
Origins and early years Rașcu's maternal great-grandfather was the French upper class tailor Frédéric Ortgies (described in one of Rașcu's poems as having "a rosy and melancholy face").Călinescu, p. 706 Originally from Picardy,Huzum, p. 26 he settled in Moldavia before its 1859 merger into Romania. Ortgies' daughter, Eugenia, married Ioan Tudor Curie (or Curius; 1816–1898), an actor and French-language teacher from Wallachia. Curie had once been the most promising graduate of the Wallachian Philharmonic Society, and friend of its founder Costache Aristia, before leaving to join the French Foreign Legion.Iolanda Berzuc, "Arta interpretării teatrale şi societatea românească în secolul al XIX-lea", in Studii și Cercetări de Istoria Artei. Teatru, Muzică, Cinematografie, Vol. 1, 2007, p. 97 He settled in Iași, where he played a minor part in the 1848 upheaval, and afterward spent years in exile.Călinescu, pp. 706, 1017 Their daughter, Clelia (1865–1950), was Rașcu's mother. His father, born in Odobești, worked as an art and calligraphy teacher. The couple also had three daughters, of whom Clelia (1897–1944) went on to marry University of Iași physician Emil Hurmuzache; and another son, Gheorghe, who made his living as a teacher of geography.Călinescu, p. 1017
Also a Iași native, Ion Rașcu was raised Romanian Orthodox, but later in life returned to the religion of his French forefathers, joining the Roman Catholic Church. In Catholic circles, he was remembered as "one of our great converts", on par with missionary Vladimir Ghika and author Mariu Theodorian-Carada.Valeriu Hetco, "Catolicismul și unificarea sufletească. Răspuns pentru Legea Românească, II", in Vestitorul, Issues 17–18/1932, pp. 6–7 As argued by literary historian Paul Cernat, this evidenced a "propensity toward 'alternative' spirituality and a tense relationship with the dominant Orthodox religion", also found among Symbolists who turned to Theosophy, heresy, or occult practices.Cernat, p. 17 Rașcu was entirely committed to his new faith: he is described by critic George Călinescu as a Catholic of "fanatical correctness", "discretion", and "great suaveness",Călinescu, pp. 684, 705 and by philologist Adrian Marino as one who suggested "all sorts of anachronisms", "fervent and very fanatical", but "distinguished", "of an entirely Westernized urbanity".Marino, "Note. I. M. Rașcu și Sfânta...", pp. 470–471 He is also remembered for his withdrawals into mystical contemplation, and for his adhering to an austere dress code in his daily life.Călinescu, p. 705; Marino, "Note. I. M. Rașcu și Sfânta...", pp. 470–471
Rașcu attended primary and secondary school in Iași, living with his family on the outskirts of that city.Cernat, p. 7 As he himself recounted in later years, the monotonous atmosphere of the Moldavian fin de siècle, the sentiment that something was about to happen "in the world at large", made a mark on him: "Perhaps it is that we waited for the age to weight less on us, but to shake us more violently." Rașcu debuted in 1905 in the student review Spre Lumină. His contributions were a poem, expressing Rașcu's sadness over the recent death of his father, a conventional sonnet, and a brief overview of Aromanian folkloric laments.Opriș, p. 23 He sent additional pieces to the popular magazine Duminica, using the pen names I. Cimbru-Frăgar, I. Ieronim, I. Rașcu-Ieronim, I. Ieronim-Cimbru, and some variations of these.Straje, pp. 147, 272, 341, 342, 589, 590 As Evandru, he also contributed to the political newspaper Opinia, owned by Alexandru Bădărău.Straje, pp. 257, 589 Graduating from the National High School in 1909, he took a diploma in Letters from the University of Iași.
Versuri și Proză Rașcu's debut as a Symbolist promoter came in 1911, when he founded at Iași the review Versuri ("Verse"). Reappearing as Versuri și Proză ("Verse and Prose") from 1912 to 1916, it was to be Moldavia's longest-lived Symbolist magazine.Cernat, p. 55; Mitchievici, p. 144 Rașcu, the chief editor,Călinescu, p. 684 often signed his contributions with pseudonyms, introducing himself as M. Zopir, I.M.R., Ev., or just E.Straje, p. 589 He was seconded by Alfred Hefter-Hidalgo, who was the group's theoretician and staff critic.Cernat, pp. 34, 55; Mitchievici, pp. 86–87, 144–150
Heavily influenced by the Symbolist critic Ovid Densusianu,Călinescu, p. 684; Cruceanu, pp. 88–89 Versuri și Proză was quite successful in attracting other Symbolist authors: Mihail Cruceanu, N. Davidescu, Benjamin Fondane, Al. T. Stamatiad, Ion Minulescu, Claudia Millian, Nicolae Budurescu, Eugeniu Sperantia, Tudor Arghezi, Adrian Maniu, Barbu Solacolu, Mihail Codreanu, Dragoș Protopopescu, Constantin T. Stoika, Perpessicius, Felix Aderca, Alexandru Vițianu, and (with early selections from his influential Plumb) George Bacovia.Variously credited by: Călinescu, p. 684; Cernat, pp. 55, 313; Mitchievici, p. 144 More senior Symbolists such as Densusianu and Alexandru Macedonski were also present, as were the generic modernists Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu, Cezar Petrescu, F. Brunea-Fox, and Vasile Demetrius.
Iași being a city of traditionalist tastes, and primarily a center for the ruralizing Poporanist movement, this Symbolist activation caused a stir. As an additional mark of rebellion, Densusianu was invited by Rașcu in Iași, where he gave a public lecture against Poporanist tenets. The magazine's printing shop put out copies of Rașcu's own poetry, as Sub cupole de vis ("Under the Domes of Reverie"). In the closing months of 1912, Rașcu and Hefter-Hidalgo also contributed to Simbolul, the Symbolist review put out in Bucharest by Tristan Tzara.Cernat, p. 49 Rașcu popularized the work of French poets and novelists, beginning with his translations of Albert Samain's Polyphème and Marcel Schwob's La croisade des infants.Călinescu, pp. 705, 1017; Huzum, p. 26 Hefter-Hidalgo, whose Romanian Jewish ethnicity underlined the tolerant and non-traditional character of Versuri și Proză,Cernat, p. 34 introduced the public to Remy de Gourmont, Stuart Merrill, Gustave Kahn, and the erotic works of Pierre Louÿs.Mitchievici, pp. 86–87, 145
The Poporanist reaction bordered on censorship. Among the rival literary columnists, August Scriban referred to Rașcu as "ruddy, long-haired and repulsive", while Gheorghe Bogdan-Duică dismissed Versuri și Proză as the "insolence of the impotent". After public readings from Rașcu and Codreanu's poetry, unknown authors resorted to putting out a parody of Versuri și Proză, with so-called "verse from the netherworld". According to Călinescu, these parodists were "talentless", but also showed "common sense".Călinescu, pp. 684–685
In actuality, Versuri și Proză was not entirely opposed to traditionalist literature. According to Cernat, it should be read as a "non-exclusive" publication, "in a gradual—and discreet—evolution into modernism."Cernat, p. 55 It even dedicated special issues to Poporanists such as Garabet Ibrăileanu, Mihail Sadoveanu, and Octav Băncilă,Mitchievici, p. 144 and was thus more mainstream than two other Iași reviews (Eugen Relgis' Fronda, Isac Ludo's Absolutio).Cernat, pp. 55–57 At times, the opposition was explicit. Writing for Versuri și Proză in 1914, Hefter-Hidalgo ridiculed the more radical, post-Symbolist, movements, with reference to Futurism or Simultanism,Mitchievici, p. 145 but explored the possibility of staging in Iași the Expressionist work of Frank Wedekind. Ion Cazaban, "La scène roumaine et l'expressionnisme (III)", in Studii și Cercetări de Istoria Artei. Teatru, Muzică, Cinematografie, Vol. 2 (46), 2008, p. 9 Hefter and Rașcu both set out to distinguish between the Decadent movement and Symbolism. Hefter acknowledged the traditionalist dislike for decadent themes and their surfacing in Symbolism, but contended that Symbolist art was fundamentally new, idealistic, and infinitely beautiful.Mitchievici, pp. 146–150 For his part, Rașcu objected to what he saw as exaggerated Poporanism, noting that the "sickness" of Decadence was not necessarily bad, since: "Not all sick things are repugnant."Mitchievici, p. 146
Marginally affiliated with Densusianu's Vieața Nouă circle before 1915,Cruceanu, pp. 43, 89; Huzum, pp. 26, 30; Lovinescu, p. 117; Opriș, p. 130; Straje, p. 590; Vianu, pp. 130–131 Rașcu had his work published in various other Symbolist periodicals in the capital city, Bucharest. His work was taken up by Noua Revistă Română, Avântul, Farul, and by Stamatiad's Grădina Hesperidelor.Straje, p. 590 He visited and studied in France during 1912 and 1914, then returned to Romania for employment as a substitute teacher of French in Iași, Brăila, Tecuci, and Bârlad. His second volume, the poem Orașele dezamăgite ("Jaded Cities"), came out in Iași in 1914.
1920s After the outbreak of World War I, and during the two years of Romanian neutrality, Versuri și Proză affiliated with the pro-Entente and Francophile movement, finally obtaining its acceptance by the cultural mainstream. Just after the war's end, in 1919, Rașcu received a full teaching position at Unirea High School in Focșani. While there, he founded and led a student literary society, named in honor of Grigore Alexandrescu, and put out its yearbook, noted for its reviews of 19th-century Romantic poetry"Cronica măruntă" (1921), passim; Călinescu, pp. 982, 991, 1017; Huzum, p. 26; Iordan, passim. See also Straje, pp. 589–590 and its encouragement of intellectual debates between students.Nicolae I. Popa, "Psihologia lecturilor adolescenței", in Viața Romînească, Issues 1-2/1932, pp. 68–69 Gândirea magazine condoned his efforts in this respect, while also noting that Rașcu and his students made a habit of trekking through "the less visited parts" of Vrancea County, following in the footsteps of mountaineer Bucura Dumbravă."Cronica măruntă" (1921), p. 267 According to linguist Iorgu Iordan, his was "a tireless and completely selfless work", all the more admirable considering that Focșani "was not quite the lover of art and literature".Iordan, p. 52 In addition to such contributions, Rașcu himself published his own textbook and chrestomathy of Romanian literature.
According to Virgil Huzum, a poet and Unirea graduate, the school could remember Rașcu "with justified pride." Nevertheless, Rașcu was not happy teaching in Focșani: as Iordan writes, his sternness was not well received by his students, and, when his grading system was challenged by his superiors, he resigned from his position altogether.Iordan, p. 53 Eventually, he relocated to Bucharest, where, from 1923 to 1933, he taught at Șincai Lyceum, and presided over its students' Society for the Study of Romanian Literature.Călinescu, p. 1017; Huzum, p. 30