Ramuri ("Twigs" or "Branches") is a Romanian literary magazine put out from Craiova, the informal capital of Oltenia region. Its first edition appeared from December 1905, and was closely tied to Nicolae Iorga's Sămănătorul, published in Bucharest; both magazines stood out as voices of traditionalism and Romanian nationalism, reacting against the more cosmopolitan currents in what was then the Kingdom of Romania. At this stage, it was mainly edited by Constantin Șaban Făgețel and D. Tomescu, with support from Iorga, Elena Farago, and various others. At this stage, Ramuri was also noted for its promotion of exceedingly minor Oltenian writers, compensating instead with translation work. Before and during World War I (when it was briefly chased into exile by The Romanian Debacle), it managed to obtain sporadic contributions from some of the leading traditionalists and moderates, and in practice became eclectic. At various intervals, it merged into Iorga's other magazine, Drum Drept, maintaining its traditionalist credentials while the nationalist movement went into crisis. For most of the 1920s, Iorga took over as Ramuris manager—though his influence there was undermined by contributors from the modernist camp, and in particular by Făgețel's friend Tudor Arghezi.
The magazine's publishing company enjoyed success during the interwar period, though Ramuri itself was always struggling during that interval. The issue contributed to a split between Făgețel, who came to support the National Liberal Party in hopes of obtaining material aid, and Iorga. It continued to appear with interruptions throughout that period and World War II, being discontinued in 1947. When it reemerged in 1964, it was under the Romanian communist regime, which controlled its content. For the first five years, its editor-in-chief was an Oltenian journalist, Ilie Purcaru, who had modernist sympathies. In this new edition, Ramuri discarded traditionalism and presented both Arghezi and modernist sculptor Constantin Brâncuși as its intellectual mentors. Purcaru also proceeded to openly challenge communist censorship; his close associate was Miron Radu Paraschivescu, who opened Ramuri to contributions by the marginalized group of Onirist poets. The magazine became a target for surveillance by the Securitate, especially after hosting a positive review of the far-right theorist Nae Ionescu. Paraschivescu was sidelined, and Purcaru replaced with Alexandru Piru, who mainly used it to publish contributions to literary history and literary theory. Piru also endorsed the July Theses, whereby President Nicolae Ceaușescu announced a curb on cultural liberalization.
After a short interlude in 1976–1978, Ramuri was taken over by poet Marin Sorescu, who changed the editorial line to accommodate modernist literature. Despite Sorescu's own flirtations with, and concessions to, national-communist dogmas, the magazine openly engaged in increasingly bitter debates with established national-communists, such as Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor; it featured contributions by former political prisoners of the regime, including Ion Dezideriu Sîrbu and Nicolae Steinhardt, but alongside conventional pieces by pro-regime authors, and samples of official propaganda. Sorescu and his associates, including Gabriel Chifu, found themselves supervised and harassed by Securitate agents. Closely reviewed by censors, Ramuri appeared infrequently in the final months before the Romanian Revolution of 1989. It re-emerged in 1990, with Sorescu reconfirmed as editor, publicizing its connections with the Romanian crew at Radio Free Europe. Within a year, Chifu, backed by the Writers' Union of Romania, stripped Sorescu of his managerial duties, arguing that he was incompetent—this sparked an enduring controversy, with Sorescu's supporters arguing that he had been sidelined for refusing to endorse liberal doctrines. Ramuri remained in print after that date, but with interruptions and changes of management.
1905–1947 First editions The magazine's first period was tied to the cultural life of what was back then the Kingdom of Romania. Ramuri was closely preceded by N. Popescu-Gorgota's Noua Revistă Olteană, also appearing at Craiova, which had many of the same contributors and is described by scholar as a predecessor;Florea Firan, "Fișe la o istorie a presei oltene", in Înainte, 12 July 1970, p. 2 it also emerged as a regional satellite of the more influential Sămănătorul—itself put out from Bucharest by Nicolae Iorga. Constantin Șaban Făgețel and D. Tomescu, both of whom were still in high school,Al. Firescu, "Calendar literar. C. Șaban Făgețel — animatorul împătimit", in Ramuri, Issue 1/1993, p. 15 later described themselves the regional magazine's "only two" founders,Gabriel Coșoveanu, "Debutanți și consacrați", in Centenar Ramuri, December 2005, p. I though Nicolae Bănescu is generally mentioned as their partner.Mircea Popa, "Ramuri", in Dicționarul general al literaturii române. P/R, pp. 519–520. Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 2006. As cultural sociologist Z. Ornea remarks, Ramuri was planned as a separate venture in mid-1905, while Sămănătorul and its traditionalist ideology were experiencing their "zenith". However, by the time it was actually ready for print, Iorga's doctrines were being "overshadowed"; Ramuri therefore "had the misfortune of long-surviving the current that had overseen its birth".Ornea, pp. 95–96 It appeared from 5 December 1905 until May 1947, with interruptions, changes in publication location and frequency. At first, it was monthly, then in 1908–1910 a bimonthly, appearing weekly in October 1910–May 1911, and again bimonthly in 1912–1914 (in 1913, it was subtitled "Illustrated literary magazine").
As reported by Tribuna newspaper in October 1908, Făgețel had not set up an editorial address, and those in charge of the magazine met for business in one of the members' homes, usually the most spacious and better heated one.P. Iazmin, "Bibliografie. Revista Ramuri", in Tribuna, Issue 239/1908, p. 7 Ramuri was led over the years by a committee, the composition of which appeared in a square on the front cover until 1923. In its first stage, the committee was composed of Bănescu, Făgețel, D. N. Ciotori, Nicolae Vulovici, Ștefan Braborescu, and Gheorghe Ionescu-Sisești. Other editors included Elena Farago, Emil Gârleanu, I. M. Marinescu, C. D. Fortunescu, and later Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor. From its early years, the magazine adopted a mix of traditionalism, agrarianism, and nationalism, as promoted by Sămănătorul; the staff of the two publications, together called a Sămănătorist current, were close. "Credințele și gândul nostru" ("Our Beliefs and Thought"), the magazine's manifesto (signed by Tomescu), eulogized the literary course charted by Iorga, considered a veritable "emperor of thought", while Sămănătorul represented "the most proper and healthy direction" in Romanian literary life.Ornea, p. 96
As observed by literary historian Victor Durnea, Tomescu's text was not completely obsequious: while it upheld traditionalist literature, especially that produced by Romanians isolated in Transylvania and other parts of Austria-Hungary, as the model for nationalist struggle, it noted that authors still needed to be vetted in terms of literary worth.Durnea, p. 195 Overall, Ramuri considered itself "a timid green shoot, sprouted from the vigorous trunk of a literary current that had conquered the entire Romanian soul", as Făgețel wrote.Ornea, p. 96 At this early stage, Ramuri cultivated a cordial rapport with other magazines put out by Iorga's disciples—in January 1906, it gave extremely positive coverage to A. C. Cuza's aesthetic guidelines, as published by Făt Frumos of Bârlad.Ornea, p. 96 Soon after its inception, the magazine identified itself with the Sămănătorist struggles in the social and political sphere. During the peasants' revolt of early 1907, members of its circle, including Ionescu-Sisești, were arrested and threatened with prosecution, and were praised by Iorga himself as his fellow martyrs; Bănescu was reportedly "chased about with revolvers".Barbu Theodorescu, Oameni de seamă. Nicolae Iorga, pp. 204–205. Bucharest: Editura Tineretului, 1968
As noted by Ornea, Sămănătorism required not just a rejection of art for art's sake, but also a near-complete denial of aesthetics. With an article he published in mid-1907, Tomescu elaborated on this, arguing that only didactic art in support of nationalism and the "social aspect" of literature had any reason for being cultivated in Romania.Ornea, pp. 278–279 By February 1909, it was attacking Convorbiri Literare, which, as a cultural mouthpiece for the Conservative Party, had cultivated elitism. This elicited an answer from Convorbiris Simion Mehedinți, who informed his public that he did not intend to encourage any "sickly" polemics.Lucreția Pascariu, "Polemici de epocă. Vieața Nouă—Convorbiri Literare", in Convorbiri Literare, March 2020, p. 125 Other articles setting forth Ramuris vision include "Rostul și atitudinea noastră" ("Our Purpose and Attitude"; 1908, Tomescu) and "După șase ani de luptă. Literatura în 1911" ("After Six Years of Struggle. Literature in 1911”; 1911, Făgețel). With these, Ramuri mounted an attack against Alexandru Macedonski and his disciples in the Romanian Symbolist movement, described by Tomescu as cosmopolitans with the "blurry eyes of sickly souls".Ornea, p. 302 This notion was also carried in a poem by "Chesefe and Nevepe", which borrowed the characteristic prosody of Symbolist Ion Minulescu to poke fun at the Macedonskians:
Farago's eclecticism
According to philologist Gabriel Coșoveanu, Ramuri also had a regionalist ethos, as an "emblem of the Oltenian spirit". In practice, it was eclectic, and tolerated dialogue with other branches of regional culture. In 1908, Farago used Ramuris publishing house to issue a collection of her own poetry, which consisted largely of "free interpretations" from French Symbolists such as Paul Verlaine.Constant & Novăceanu, p. 20 Poet and schoolteacher Mihail Cruceanu, who identified as both a Marxist and a Symbolist, notes that, by 1915, she was the central figure in Craiova's cultural life, with a salon that grouped himself, "nationalists such as those from Ramuri", and a mainline Conservative, Vasile Sandulian.Cruceanu, pp. 139–143 Meanwhile, Făgețel was reportedly resisting offers made by the Conservative-Democratic Party, which was offering to pay him for running its rival newspaper.
Poetry held an important place in Ramuri; contributors included Octavian Goga ("Revedere", "A fost odată"), George Topîrceanu, Ștefan Octavian Iosif, Nicolae Davidescu, Farago, Vulovici, Al. Iacobescu, Al. C. Calotescu-Neicu, Ștefan Bălcești, I. C. Popescu-Polyclet, Victor Eftimiu, , George Tutoveanu, I. M. Marinescu, Maria Nicolau, and Dem. Bassarabescu. The future novelist Dem. Theodorescu published some of his works, done in verse, in the Ramuri edition of 1907.Dumitru Micu, "Theodorescu, Dem. [Demetru]", in Dicționarul general al literaturii române. T/Z, p. 140. Bucharest: Museum of Romanian Literature, 2021. The magazine similarly discovered schoolteacher Ada Umbră, whose poetry it featured in a 1908 issue.Lucia Toader, "Umbră, Ada", in Dicționarul general al literaturii române. T/Z, p. 433. Bucharest: Museum of Romanian Literature, 2021. In 1909, it hosted the debuting poet Felix Aderca, who was at the time a Sămănătorist, but would later serve as a leading figure in modernist rebellion.Mircea Barbu, "Restituiri. Reexaminări critice – Felix Aderca", in Contemporanul, Vol. XII, Issue 3, January 2002, p. 3