Mihai Eminescu

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Lore & Background

Mihu Dragomir was born in Brăila to a family of teachers—Constantin Dragomirescu and his wife Octavia-Olimpia (née Rădulescu). He attended primary school in Brăila, then Nicolae Bălcescu High School from 1929 to 1933, Bucharest's Gheorghe Șincai High School in 1933, and Brăila's Commercial High School from 1934 to 1936. His first newspaper article appeared in Revista Tineretului Creștin in 1933. His first poems appeared in print in 1936, in the Silistra-based Valuri Dunărene. That year, he self-published his first book of poems, Gânduri prăfuite, in 200 copies. In summer 1936, he traced Istrati's steps together with his friend Niță Vrînceanu, organizing a riotous party in Baldovinești. Expelled for a 'nihilist' attitude, he re-enrolled in autumn 1936 and graduated at the top of his class in 1939. He founded Flamura magazine in Brăila in 1937. By May 1939, he had been drafted into the Romanian Land Forces as a sapper. He eventually passed his baccalaureate in Galați. In 1939, he entered the Bucharest Commercial Academy, and attended the Bacău reserve officers' school from 1940 to 1941. He published short poetry collections: Rugă de ateu, adică vorbe despre orânduieli și cârmuitori (1938) and Înger condeier (1939). He first used the pen name Mihu Dragomir in Flamura in 1938. The late 1930s saw his sympathy for Romanian fascism; he joined the literary circle Adonis, founded by former members of the Crusade of Romanianism, and during the 'National Legionary State' of 1940 openly adhered to the Iron Guard. He fought in the Romanian Land Forces for the remainder of World War II. The coup of August 1944 and the Soviet occupation were celebrated in his poems as inaugural events in a national revolution. He joined mass organizations of the Romanian Communist Party, moving from generic progressivism to Leninism, then to explicit Stalinism. From 1948, the cultural authorities employed him as editor of Viața Romînească, literary expert, translator of Russian literature, and purveyor of agitprop—though he was excluded from the Party in 1950. In July 1958, he became founder and main editor of the revived Luceafărul. His death from a heart attack at age 44 interrupted his effort, though six posthumous volumes were issued by his wife into the 1980s.

Reader's Guide

Mihu Dragomir's work as a poet and translator was shaped by his early influences—Panait Istrati, Mihai Eminescu, and Edgar Allan Poe—and by his political journey from fascism to Stalinism. His political poetry pioneered socialist realism from as early as 1946. His lyrical contributions were published in quick succession in the 1950s and celebrated by the communist establishment, though later scholarship examined their mediocre versification and support for land collectivization. He continued to write poems that post-Stalinist reviewers upheld as more genuine, but kept these for private use or was attacked as an 'escapist' when he published some. He was isolated after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, then sent to work as a consultant for the local film industry, inspiring The Thistles of the Baragan adapted from Istrati's work. His main contribution to Luceafărul and Romanian literature was as a discoverer and promoter of new talent. In his late thirties and early forties, he contributed to Romanian science fiction and, upon witnessing national-communism, began a transition to philosophical, largely non-political poetry, including publishing work authored in previous decades.

Did You Know?

• Mihu Dragomir was born in Brăila to a family of teachers—Constantin Dragomirescu and Octavia-Olimpia (née Rădulescu).
• He self-published his first book of poems, Gânduri prăfuite, in 200 copies in 1936.
• During the 'National Legionary State' of 1940, he openly adhered to the Iron Guard.
• He was excluded from the Romanian Communist Party in 1950 as ideologically unreliable.
• His death from a heart attack at age 44 interrupted his work, but six posthumous volumes were issued by his wife into the 1980s.