Marta D. Rădulescu or Rădulescu-Moga (April 24, 1912 – September 5, 1959) was a Romanian poet, journalist, and novelist, made famous in the 1930s for her autofictional work. From an academic family with a penchant for radical politics, she veered into fascist politics, supporting the Iron Guard. The commitment shaped part of her literary output. From a satirical rendition of education in the provinces, with borrowings from Ionel Teodoreanu, it veered into a document of interwar radicalization and student political battles. Scandal followed the publication of her early prose works, particularly after claims that they had been largely or entirely written by her father—or, alternatively, by her friend and putative lover Nicolae Crevedia. Her polemic with Crevedia was consumed in the national press and in books written by both participants.
Rădulescu's family moved away from an initial commitment to left-wing politics, joining the far-right of Romanian nationalism. This transition ended up straining relations between Marta and her Jewish publishers at Adevărul. She became a believer in antisemitic conspiracy theories, airing these through the magazine Revista Mea, which she put out as an Iron Guard satellite between 1935 and 1937. By then, however, her sincerity and political literacy had been put into question by Crevedia. She faded into obscurity by 1940, when she issued her last novel, the first installment of an uncompleted cycle. Her other published works include modern fairy tales and a travelogue of her hiking trips.
Biography
Debut Born in Pitești,Mariana Vartic, "Rădulescu Marta D.", in Aurel Sasu (ed.), Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române, Vol. II, p. 461. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. Marta noted that she had Transylvanian roots, despite being formally from the "Old Kingdom".Robot, p. 3 She was the daughter of chemist Dan Rădulescu who, in the 1930s, worked as a professor at the University of Cluj.Clark, p.147 Dragoș Sdrobiș, "Stânga și dreapta la Universitatea din Cluj în anii 1930. Cazul profesorului Dan Rădulescu de la Facultatea de Științe", in Apostrof, Issue 7 (302), 2015 Under the pseudonym Justus, he also penned literary works. Nicolae Scurtu, "O epistolă necunoscută a lui Nicolae Crevedia", in România Literară, Issue 3/2012 Marta's brother, Fluor, followed the same career path as their father, and ended up teaching alongside him. It was also in Cluj that Rădulescu completed her secondary education, at Regina Maria High School; she had earlier been homeschooled by her mother. According to her own recollections, her first poem was an "invective" directed at sandals her father had bought for her—Marta was frustrated that other children had fancier footwear, while her family shunned luxuries. A "literary friend" read the poem, and encouraged her to send her attempts for publication in Dimineața Copiilor magazine (a supplement of Dimineața daily).Marta D. Rădulescu, "Legăturile mele cu editura Adevĕrul", in Dimineața, November 13, 1933, p. 43 Though not published immediately, she was urged by editor Nicolae Constantin Batzaria to continue with perfecting her style. Her first published work, the poem Vorbind cu luna ("Talking to the Moon"), appeared in Dimineața Copiilor in 1929.
Rădulescu was already writing down prose, but was apprehensive about sending it to be published in magazine. As she explained, she was reading in Adevărul Literar și Artistic scathing reviews of other aspiring novelists, penned by Mihail Sevastos. Her mind was then made up to only publish "all in one go, as a volume." As recalled in 1988 by Horia Stanca, Marta entered Cluj's literary scene in 1930, when, chaperoned by her father, she attended literary parties hosted by physician Victor Papilian. It was here that she read from her sketches—published in 1931 as the volume Clasa VII A ("Grade 7th A").Nae Antonescu, "În conștiința contemporanilor", in Steaua, Vol. XXXIX, Issue 6, June 1988, p. 29 According to critic Pavel Dan, it was "not a good book", but "promising";Pavel Dan, "Cărți. Marta D. Rădulescu, Sunt studentă", in Abecedar, Issues 49–52/1934, pp. 15–16 another reviewer, Perpessicius, viewed her as noting "with humor, a humor often filtered through venom, a crooked and obsessive world, that of schoolmarms". He also argued that Rădulescu was heavily indebted to the young adult literature put out by Ionel Teodoreanu.Perpessicius, "Mențiuni Critice", in Cuvântul, March 27, 1932, p. 2
The stories were also at the center of a scandal involving both the young writer and her father. Since they made no effort to disguise facts from life, and satirized living people using their real names, critics readily claimed that her father had ghostwritten them: during the late 1920s, as a contributor to Cuvântul, Dan Rădulescu had campaigned for reform in public education. Some found the work to be a distasteful act of revenge. Responding to such claims in Societatea de Mâine, Ion Clopoțel argued that Clasa VII A was rather a call for "betterment", "a protest against the lackadaisical nature of some classes being taught, and against some purposefully disengaged attitudes." Marta herself noted that she had been disgusted by her time in high school—though she had loved most areas of study, she could not bear the "dogmatic" way of teaching them. Clasa VII A was her "liberation from a nightmare." The modernist doyen Eugen Lovinescu noted the work for its "irreverent rebelliousness" which "gave harmless satisfaction to an entire generation of youth oppressed by their schooling."Lovinescu, p. 243
Rădulescu's first publishing contract was with Scrisul Românesc of Craiova, a company that, in her own definition, was not one of national relevance, making it "sheer luck [that] I enjoyed such success as other debuting authors never had." Clasa VII A became a best-seller, going through three successive editions. By 1934, she boasted 100,000 lei in revenue, noting that this was above the sums earned by other, more senior writers. The volume was followed the same year by Mărgele de măceș ("Dog-rose Beads")—vacation stories and verses which critics have deemed mediocre.Ion Clopoțel, "Discuții și recensii. Marta D. Rădulescu, Mărgele de măceș", in Societatea de Mâine, Issues 4–5/1932, p. 52 One exception was Perpessicius, who found the volume to be "mature", "diverse", and emancipated from Teodoreanu's influence—instead, he noted echoes from the earlier romantics, and in particular from Alexandru Odobescu's hunting stories. Marta also persevered as a poet: in addition to ending her Mărgele de măceș with rhyming verse (which won Perpessicius' praise), she published other lyrical pieces in Societatea de MâineMarta D. Rădulescu, "Anomalie. — Balconul (versuri)", in Societatea de Mâine, Issue 1/1932, p. 6 and Hyperion.Marta D. Rădulescu, "Badinaj", in Hyperion. Revistă Literară și Artistică, Issue 4/1932, p. 21
Sunt studentă! By late 1932, Rădulescu was in correspondence with Nicolae Crevedia, an admirer and like-minded humorist-writer, who visited her at her second home in Pitești. Crevedia may have also acted as her literary agent, arranging the text for print, and instructing her on how to polish her style.Marta D. Rădulescu, "Cazul Marta D. Rădulescu", in Viața Ardealului, Issues 6–7/1934, pp. 15–22 Reportedly, Rădulescu was taking courses at the literature and philosophy faculties of the University of Bucharest, but did not graduate. One of her interviewers, Alexandru Robot, claims that the university "expelled her, as a subversive element."Robot, p. 1 Living with her father in a large townhouse outside Cluj's Botanical Garden, she began writing her self-styled "fantasy reportage pieces", collectively grouped as Sunt studentă! ("I Am a Student!"). Mysteriously, this work was a fresco of her father's Cluj University, which Rădulescu may not have attended at all, to the backdrop of the Great Depression and political convulsions. Such details renewed speculation that Marta was signing works penned by Dan Rădulescu. The latter's colleagues are disguised under various names, but, as noted at the time by critic Pompiliu Constantinescu, not very well, with philologist Gheorghe Bogdan-Duică easily recognizable by any reader.Pompiliu Constantinescu, "Cronica literară. Marta Rădulescu: Sunt studentă!", in Vremea, May 28, 1933, p. 7 The student-narrator takes part in the strike of 1932, where she meets recruiters for both the Romanian Communist Party and the fascist Iron Guard (including a glimpse of the agitator Bănică Dobre). The autofictional Rădulescu informs the reader that she prefers the Guard, but attends meetings of the far-left, during which communist activists imply that the difference between them and the fascists is a minor one.
Constantinescu was critical of the book's unmitigated observation, noting that her "precious lucidity" fell short of an artistic effort, and that her usage of similes in her descriptions drew attention away from her lively dialogues. He also noted some fragments of poetic prose, using models "involuntarily stolen" from Teodoreanu, but also from Tudor Arghezi, Emil Gârleanu, and Mihail Sadoveanu. According to Pavel Dan, all of Sunt studentă!s pieces are too self-referential, even "surfeited": "[She] writes about the fact that she is now an author. Of course, this fact unsettles the entire universe. [...] Humanity itself breaks in half: on the one hand, those who appreciate her talent [...] and, on the other, those who know-nothings, such as university professors". A similar verdict was provided by Lovinescu: "the writer explored the situations facing her tiny personality in two more novels [...], which failed to make her interesting anew; the genre is too much for her to handle". The book was well received by the reading public at large, and generated a "tiny local storm" in Cluj, where Rădulescu had become universally recognized. In a 1933 piece, she thanked her new publishers, the "great company" Editura Adevărul of Bucharest, for ensuring the "combative success of my funny little book." By 1935, it had had four consecutive editions."Cum organizează evreii boicotul împotriva spiritului românesc — Pățania scriitoarei Marta D. Rădulescu", in Patria, May 23, 1935, p. 3
Mostly enthusiastic about her new prose, Crevedia took Marta with him to Bucharest. Inducted into the Romanian Writers' Society, she visited the Royal Foundations, meeting Arghezi, Panait Istrati, George Dorul Dumitrescu, and King Carol II.Marta D. Rădulescu, "Săptămâna Cărții", in Realitatea Ilustrată, Issue 333, June 1933, pp. 23–24 She told Robot that this visit had made her feel as if a "tiny morsel from a real greater whole", like "soldiers in their file." Crevedia also introduced her to Lovinescu's literary society, Sburătorul, where he read from her drafts. Vlaicu Bârna, "Un cuvânt nou în limba română", in România Literară, Issue 42/2001 An excerpt of Sunt studentă! was published by Societatea de Mâine in January 1933.Marta D. Rădulescu, "Pregătire de examen", in Societatea de Mâine, Issue 1/1933, p. 6