Lucian Boz (; also rendered as Lucien Boz; November 9, 1908 – March 14, 2003) was a Romanian literary critic, essayist, novelist, poet and translator. Raised in Bucharest, he had a lawyer's training but never practiced, instead opting for a career in journalism and literary criticism. An active participant in the 1930s cultural scene, he theorized an empathetic and "enthusiastic" approach to literature, which was in tune with the avant-garde tendencies of his lifetime. After a stint editing the review Ulise in 1932–1933, he became a contributor to more major newspapers, including Adevărul, Cuvântul Liber, and Vremea; he was also for a while an editorial secretary at Ion Vinea's Contimporanul.
Earning attention for his critical treatment of authors from Mihai Eminescu to Urmuz, Boz was singled out on the literary scene for his Jewish origins. His Romanian career was cut short with the advent of a censorious authoritarian and antisemitic government in 1937. Moving to Paris, he graduated from the École pratique des hautes études and settled into journalistic work, but was displaced by the German occupation. Upon this, Boz joined the French Resistance and was then interned at Drancy. His plight drew the attention of a fellow Romanian exile, Emil Cioran, who networked on his behalf; Boz was subsequently freed, becoming one of very few Jews to escape alive.
Resuming his reporter's activity, and contributing to Le Monde, Boz divided his time between France and Romania from 1944 to 1947, debuting as an autofictional novelist and translating from Jean Bruller. Though initially tolerated by the Romanian Communist Party, he never returned to his native country after a Communist regime was fully established. After a few more years in France, he left for Australia in 1951, and worked for a while as a welder. He was eventually hired by Air France to head its local office, and Boz's literary activity abated until his retirement in 1974. Afterwards, he republished some of his old work in photocopy and contributed to Romanian cultural activities in his adopted country. Never a declared opponent of the regime, his work was nonetheless unwelcome in Communist Romania, and had to wait until after the 1989 Revolution to regain critical favor. During the 1990s and until soon before his death, Boz contributed material to a Romanian magazine. In 2000, his short roman à clef, dealing with the war years, was printed as his last major contribution.
Early life and career Originally from Hârlău, Iași County, Boz was born to Jewish parents Mendel, later wounded and decorated in World War I, and Clara (née Sapina). Ilie Rad, "Recuperarea unui scriitor: Lucian Boz", in România Literară, Issue 34/2009 Clara also gave birth to Lucian's elder brother, Marcel, who worked as a physician in France; close relatives included Marcela, wife of novelist Ury Benador.Gligor & Caloianu, pp. 93, 144, 154 The Bozes moved to the national capital Bucharest in 1909, where Lucian attended Gheorghe Lazăr High School. He then enrolled in the Law faculty of the University of Bucharest, where his professors included Istrate Micescu, Constantin C. Stoicescu, and Vintilă Dongoroz. He graduated in 1934 but never practiced, instead entering a career in the press and in literary criticism.
Boz's first published work, a biographical sketch of Walt Whitman, appeared in Premiera magazine in 1927. When he was aged nineteen, Tiparnița Literară published his review of Ion Barbu's poetry.Alexandru Mirodan, "Dicționarul neconvențional al scriitorilor evrei de limbă română. F", in Minimum, Vol. IX, Issue 96, March 1995, p. 46 As he himself noted, he then used this text as a reference to be hired by Ion Vinea at Facla. Vinea preferred to have him work for the literary magazine, Contimporanul, though Facla also carried Boz's literary chronicles. He was Contimporanuls editorial secretary in 1930–1931, only quitting when he had to perform his mandatory service in the Romanian Land Forces; his replacement was a young Eugène Ionesco. A member of the Eugen Lovinescu-led Sburătorul literary society, Boz contributed to Isac Ludo's Adam, Adevărul Literar și Artistic, Capricorn, Mișcarea, unu (where he used the pseudonym Vasile Cernat), Discobolul, and Viața Românească. He began frequenting literary cafes, befriending, among others, Ionesco, Alexandru Sahia, and Ionathan X. Uranus.Neagu Rădulescu, Turnul Babel, pp. 45–46. Bucharest: Cugetarea-Georgescu Delafras, 1944 With Ludo and Benador, he also attended a Jewish literary salon at Slova printing house, where he recalled running into Barbu Lăzăreanu, Theodor Loewenstein-Lavi, and Henric Streitman.Gligor & Caloianu, pp. 154–155
Boz was a noted promoter of literary modernism, and, according to scholar Paul Cernat, "the only enthusiastic supporter of the homegrown avant-garde".Cernat, p. 293 In Contimporanul, he introduced Romanians to the work of James Joyce. It is seen by Cernat as his "most important" piece of commentary,Cernat, p. 330 even though (as noted by Arleen Ionescu) his reading of Ulysses contains "errors of interpretation" which "today [...] appear hilarious."Arleen Ionescu, "Inter-war Romania: Misinterpreting Joyce and Beyond", in Geert Lernout, Wim Van Mierlo (eds.), The Reception of James Joyce in Europe, Vol. I, p. 215. London & New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004. In March 1930, in Facla, he published the only interview ever granted by Constantin Brâncuși, then on a visit to Bucharest. The same newspaper carried his posthumous homage to the avant-garde hero Urmuz (whom he described as a "reformer of Romanian poetry" and as a local equivalent of Rimbaud) and his praise of modernists such as Jacques G. Costin.Cernat, pp. 330–331, 347 At Zodiac, a literary sheet put out by I. Peltz, Boz wrote similar reviews of literary works by Vinea and Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu.I. Peltz, Amintiri din viața literară, pp. 179, 189, 190. Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 1974. In 1931, Adevărul daily hosted his homage to Tristan Tzara.Cernat, p. 331
Alongside Em. Ungher,Cernat, pp. 330, 333 Boz edited his own publication, the avant-garde magazine Ulise, which appeared in four numbers in 1932–1933. Largely a continuation of Contimporanul, it grouped around it an eclectic circle, comprising Ionesco, Uranus, alongside Arșavir Acterian, Dan Botta, Emil Botta, Marcel Bresliska, Barbu Brezianu, Petru Comarnescu, Virgil Gheorghiu, Anton Holban, Eugen Jebeleanu, Alexandru Robot, Horia Stamatu, Simion Stolnicu, Octav Șuluțiu, and writer-cartoonist Neagu Rădulescu.Cernat, pp. 333–334 In 1933, Boz became editor at Adevărul and Dimineața, as well as at the weekly Cuvântul Liber. At this stage in his life, he married an Adevărul colleague, Cora Costiner, from whom he would have a son, Alain.Gligor & Caloianu, pp. 94, 146
Boz's 1932 essay on Mihai Eminescu (Eminescu. Încercare critică), originally printed in Capricorn,Mihai Drăgan, "Aproximații critice. Riscul originalității", in Cronica, Vol. VII, Issue 12, March 1972, p. 5 drew lavish praise from George Călinescu. Other contemporary critics who appreciated his work included Lovinescu, Ionesco, Perpessicius, Pompiliu Constantinescu, and Ion Biberi. Some, including the modernist Vladimir Streinu, were derisive of the effort—as noted by their common friend Șerban Cioculescu, Streinu treated Boz's "abstruse essay" with "extreme cruelty".Șerban Cioculescu, "Rubrica mea. Vladimir Streinu (II)", in Flacăra, Vol. XXVIII, Issue 3, January 1979, p. 17 Among later reviewers, Sergiu Ailenei notes that Boz's attempt to describe Eminescu by means of national psychology was "far-fetched". Sergiu Ailenei, "Eminescu în ultimii ani", in Convorbiri Literare, June 2002 In nationalist and traditionalist circles, the work was panned as offensive and anomalous. C. Vrăbete of Neamul Românesc saw it comprising "the most fantastic aberrations" and "monstrosities", for being "fed on German theories", and for suggesting that the Romanians were contemplative and had "Slavic blood". Boz, he noted, "seems not to be a Romanian, and not to have any links with the aspirations of our people".C. Vrăbete, "Superficialitate literară", in Neamul Românesc, October 6, 1932, p. 1
Before 1935, Boz was a columnist at Vremea, where he covered the modern literature of France.Ecaterina Cleynen-Serghiev, "La critique littéraire roumaine et la France durant l'entre-deux-guerres (I)", in Revue des Études Sud-est Européenes, Issues 3–4/1993, p. 391 He followed up on his writing with Cartea cu poeți ("The Book of Poets"), published in 1935. Displaying "extreme eclecticism",Cernat, p. 334 it included essays about 31 contemporary Romanian poets, nearly all of whom entered the literary canon. The preface outlined Boz's credo: a rejection of critical impressionism, and an empathetic, anti-intellectual, "enthusiastically visionary", reception of the literary work up for review.Cernat, pp. 332–333, 336–337 His essays often focused on finding international connections for Romanian particulars, for instance tracing links between Vinea and Frank Wedekind; Tudor Arghezi, Urmuz, and Ramón Gómez de la Serna or François Villon; Geo Bogza and the Marquis de Sade.Cernat, pp. 334–336, 348 In later decades, Boz was reviewed with reserve. In 1941, revising his early stance, Călinescu suggested that Boz's "visionary enthusiasm" was "an aberration", since it impaired the selection of values. He found Boz to be an "intelligent" writer, but one of "unthinking generosity".Călinescu, p. 915; Cernat, p. 333 However, he also described Ulise as the more mature of Romania's avant-garde papers.Călinescu, p. 967; Cernat, p. 333 Cernat takes the middle ground, describing Boz as "second-rate", "prolix" and "rather invertebrate", but "sometimes surprisingly intuitive".Cernat, pp. 331, 339 His opposition to mainstream literary theory, Cernat notes, is suited to the avant-garde requirements, surpassing Călinescu's own limits. Boz, he concludes, "is worth rereading."Cernat, pp. 336–337
In wartime France Boz opposed the rise of fascism, and, in a 1937 interview with Azi, spoke out against its attempts to threaten and silence Jewish authors.Boia, p. 82 In June of that year, the literary critic and Iron Guard affiliate Mircea Streinul described Boz, Andrei Tudor and Oscar Lemnaru as "little kikes" (jidănași) who actively promoted pornographic writing.Mircea Streinul, "Cultură, Oameni, Fapte. Cazul Mircea Eliade. Singurul vinovat", in Buna Vestire, June 13, 1937, p. 2 After Dimineața and Adevărul were suppressed by the National Christian government in December 1937, he left for Paris. There, he took courses at the École pratique des hautes études. He took part in public conferences and attended lectures by Jacques Maritain, Gabriel Péri and Dolores Ibárruri, also joining PEN International. He met Benjamin Fondane and Ilarie Voronca. In 1939, he was accredited as the Paris correspondent of Tudor Teodorescu-Braniște's Jurnalul, and still contributed to Adevărul Literar și Artistic, which sought to protect and recover Jewish Romanian intellectuals.Boia, p. 143 Boz also sent diplomatic reports for United Press. In order to make ends meet, he worked for French newspapers as well, including Le Petit Parisien, Excelsior and Dimanche Illustrée.