Alexandru Talex, born Atanase Alexandrescu (first name also Al., Alex., or Alexandre; 7 December 1909 – 17 November 1998), was a Romanian activist journalist, cultural promoter, translator, and literary historian, noted in particular for being the friend and apologist of novelist Panait Istrati. He debuted as a newspaperman while in his twenties, when he became a posthumous disciple of historian and Romanian nationalist thinker Vasile Pârvan, defending his thought against the dismissive opinions expressed by Eugen Lovinescu. As a friend of Mihai Stelescu, Talex was associated with Stelescu's proletarian-fascist group, the Crusade of Romanianism. He edited the movement's newspaper for two years, obtaining Istrati's collaboration and intellectual support; they were good friends for the final five months of Istrati's life, with Talex emerging as his custodian. He also established a lifelong relationship with Istrati's widow, Margareta, providing her with material support.
In early 1936, Talex oversaw the standoff between the Crusade and the more powerful Iron Guard, but recommended a non-violent approach. Stelescu was murdered by an Iron Guard death squad in July of that year, and the movement began disintegrating; Talex himself quit in September, immediately after having published an article supporting non-Soviet communism. Though affiliated for a while with the state party, called National Renaissance Front, and joining the Union of Professional Journalists as a contributor to various periodicals, he focused mainly on his preservation of Istrati's legacy. In 1944, with Romania was engaged on the Eastern Front, Talex published his biography of Istrati, emphasizing his late friend's anti-Sovietism. In tandem, he was drawn into the anti-Nazi resistance network, joining the editorial staff of România Liberă—an underground paper connected to the Romanian Communist Party. Following the 23 August Coup and its momentary restoration of democracy, he was active within the Romanian Social Democratic Party, supporting its alliance with the communists.
The Romanian communist regime tolerated Talex, and allowed him to continue working as a journalist, though its censorship apparatus banned his Istrati biography. In the 1960s, as Romania entered a national-communist phase, Istrati came to be reevaluated as an important writer and thinker. This effort was taken up by Alexandru Oprea and Eugen Barbu, albeit on terms that Talex found unacceptable. His publicized critique led to his own rediscovery as an Istrati expert, and he was directly involved in the publication of Istrati books, from reprints of his novels to collections of his letters. Talex also participated in a similar effort undertaken in France by Roger Grenier, and became an internationally recognized figure. He lived to see the Romanian Revolution of 1989, which allowed him to publish previously censored works by Istrati. By the time of his death in 1998, he was being criticized for his monopoly on Istrati's public image—including his attempt to block discussion about Istrati's, and his own, connections to fascism—and for the poor quality of his translations from French.
Biography Early life Talex was born Atanase Alexandrescu in Bucharest, capital of the Romanian Kingdom, on 7 December 1909;Teodor Vârgolici, "Talex, Alexandru", in Dicționarul general al literaturii române. S/T, p. 618. Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, 2006. he had a brother and a sister.Corina Costopol-Dima, "Confession à la mort de mon père", in Les Amis de Panaït Istrati, Issue 48, Spring–Summer 1999, p. ix According to his own testimony, he attended Mihai Viteazul College, where his teacher of Latin was the cultural critic Eugen Lovinescu. Mugur Popovici, "Interviu. 'Panait Istrati m-a ajutat să rămân om într-o lume de lupi'. O convorbire inedită cu Alexandru Talex", in România Literară, Issue 48/2009 He entered literary life shortly after enlisting at the University of Bucharest Faculty of Letters—his first works were "critical notes" in the student journal Licăriri (February 1931). Talex was colleagues with novelist Pericle Martinescu, with whom he attended the bohemian cafés on Calea Victoriei. They worked together on Petre Bănescu's weekly newspaper, Timpul Nostru, where Alexandrescu took over as editorial secretary.Martinescu, p. 276 Alexandrescu followed up with numerous articles in the press, including in publications such as Azi, Adevărul, Dimineața and Vremea, and was in attendance at Lovinescu's literary salon, Sburătorul.Neagu Rădulescu, "Evocări. Colivia cu poeți", in Tribuna, Vol. XI, Issue 48, November 1967, p. 4 He embraced modernism and, in December 1931, introduced the avant-garde poet Sașa Pană with a lecture at the Institute of Literature. His speaking style was allegedly viewed as incomprehensible by those in the audience, and he was asked to step down."Viața literară, teatrală și artistică. Institutul de Literatură", in Ordinea, 4 December 1931, p. 2
For a while in 1931–1932, Alexandrescu was featured alongside Lovinescu in Cristalul magazine, put out in Pitești by Mihail Ilovici."Mihail Ilovici", in Argeș, Vol. XVIII, Issue 2, February 1983, p. 12 His object of admiration was the historian and political thinker Vasile Pârvan (1882–1927), on whom he wrote his graduation thesis. He was impressed with Pârvan's personality, and worked in particular to familiarize the public with Pârvan's anti-Russian stances, which he himself took to be morally and historically justified. He was therefore outraged in 1930, when Lovinescu attacked Pârvan, and in particular by the attack's harshness.Alexandru Zub, "Cronica ideilor. Centenar Vasile Pârvan. Meandrele posterității (III)", in Cronica, Vol. XVII, Issue 40, October 1982, p. 2 Aspiring to be recognized as a literary expert, Alexandrescu earned the confidence of Pârvan's sister, Elvira Apăteanu, who allowed him to take possession of her brother's surviving letters. Talex claims that he then let the literary historian George Călinescu borrow these; he was enraged when Călinescu presented the documents as his own finds, and tried to engage him in a public polemic. Assisted by Vremeas editorial secretary, Alexandru Sahia, he published his own version of the letters in that newspaper. It was also Sahia who came up with the pseudonym "Talex", which Alexandrescu used ever since.
As a university student, Alexandrescu-Talex met and befriended colleagues Mihai Stelescu and Doru Belimace, both of whom were active within the revolutionary fascist Iron Guard. According to Talex's own recollections, this made it hard for them to remain friends—though he himself was a "know-nothing" in political matters, he had a "vague" preference for democracy, which he saw as a marriage of "liberty and social justice", and had been impressed by Julien Benda's anti-authoritarianism. In 1936, he reported his ongoing fascination with Stelescu: I was struck by the charming and humane power of his eyes. And I was most of all taken aback by the warm tone of his voice, which was sometimes soft as a whisper, and then gusty and strong, like thunders. [...] When I had withdrawn into a library, hating the world outside, Mihail Stelescu dragged me out, so that he and I could taste the beauty that is found in battling others, in battling life, in battling oneself."Trista înmormîntare a lui Mihail Stelescu", in Cruciada Românismului, Vol. II, Issue 82, July 1936, p. 2
Talex recalls breaking off any connection with Belimace when the latter joined an Iron Guard death squad, assassinating Prime Minister Ion G. Duca. He was soon attracted into a collaboration with the Crusade of Romanianism (the Crusaders), founded by Stelescu in opposition to the Guard. As recounted by literary historian Grigore Traian Pop, Talex once explained that Stelescu had been equally enthusiastic about Nazism and Trotskyism, but that he eventually abandoned his support for the former after an unexplained incident.Pop, p. 44 In another of his recollections, Talex notes that his own reconciliation with Stelescu occurred shortly after Stelescu had left the Guard and been denounced as its "traitor"; he informed Stelescu that this meant "you have regained your human nature." Though literary historian Teodor Vârgolici records Alexandrescu's graduation date as 1935, he himself recalled that he had already taken his diploma in 1934, and had remained unemployed. Lodging in the working-class neighborhood of Lemaître (outside the Bucharest Abattoir), he made ends meet by tutoring children, and received some additional help from his parents.Constantin Vișan, "Centenar Panait Istrati. Convorbire cu Alexandru Talex: Opera marelui scriitor este profund românească prin rădăcinile ei", in Ateneu, Vol. 21, Issue 4, April 1984, p. 4
At Cruciada Românismului Talex was editor-in-chief of the Crusade's eponymous newspaper (Cruciada Românismului) between 1934 and 1936. The publication, and the group surrounding it, were probably sponsored by the King of Romania, Carol II, who wanted to undermine the Iron Guard's popularity,Roland Clark, Sfîntă tinerețe legionară. Activismul fascist în România interbelică, p. 122. Iași: Polirom, 2015. as well as being more transparently provided for by landowner Constantin A. Caradja.Ornea, p. 306 As noted by various commentators, the Stelist movement was largely mimetic of the Guard,Iorgulescu (1991), p. 4; Mitchievici, pp. 85–86 though it was more left-wing, or "Social Fascist",Y., "Political Mosaic. The Murder of Stelescu", in Danubian Review, Vol. IV, Issue 3, August 1936, p. 12 drawing comparisons to Strasserism.Sándor Cseresnyés, "Társadalmi erőcsoportosulások Romániában: Seregszemle a jobboldali fronton. Zsidóprogram megalkuvással", in Brassói Lapok, 4 November 1935, p. 12; Sanda Golopenția, "Pagini despre tineret și revistele lui în corespondența dintre Anton Golopenția și Octavian Neamțu. Document inedit", in Transilvania, Issues 1–2/2012, p. 104 Talex himself defined "Romanianism" as a "new doctrine", invented by Stelescu, but inspired by Pârvan, and further beyond by Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu and Mihai Eminescu (he also cited Constantin Rădulescu-Motru as a reference). It was "a social movement, formed over a spiritual, socialized, doctrinaire combat, that would result in a new covenant for the Romanian people." In retrospect, he regarded his contribution as only on the "spiritual side", noting that Stelescu was tasked with the political messaging—and that this latter type of messaging primarily consisted of exposing the Guard's immorality.