Ion Caraion

Caraion in exile

Ion Caraion(pen name ofStelian Diaconescu;May 24, 1923 – July 21, 1986) was aRomanianpoet, essayist and translator.

Born inRușavăț,Buzău County,he attended primary school atRâmnicu Săratfrom 1930 to 1934, followed byBogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu High SchoolinBuzăufrom 1934 to 1942. While there, together withAlexandru Lungu,he editedZarathustrapoetry magazine with his own funds from 1940 to 1941. He entered the literature and philosophy faculty of theUniversity of Bucharest,which he graduated in 1948. His published debut came in 1939, with verses and reviews inUniversul literarandCurentul literar.Caraion's first book, the 1943Panopticum,was followed by two other poetry collections:Omul profilat pe cer(1945) andCântece negre(1946). An active anti-fascist during World War II, he was an editor atTimpulandEcoulnewspapers.

In 1944, following theRomanian coup d'étatand legalization of theRomanian Communist Party,Caraion took part in bringing the party'sScînteianewspaper into the open. At the same time, he was editing secretary forScînteia tineretuluinewspaper, but resigned after a few months. In 1945, he assistedGeorge Călinescuin editingLumeamagazine. Together withVirgil Ierunca,he foundedAgoramagazine, which featured content in five languages. From 1946 to 1947, he managedCaiete de poezieunder the aegis ofRevista Fundațiilor Regale.From 1944 to 1946, he was press adviser at theMinistry of Arts and Religious Affairs.In 1948, during the final year of its existence, he was an editor at the oldCartea Româneascăpublishing house. For political reasons, he was arrested by thecommunist regime,and spent eleven years in detention: 1950-1955 and 1958 to 1964. Allegedly sentenced to death in 1958, he passed through theDanube–Black Sea Canal;Jilava,GherlaandAiudprisons; and the lead mines atCavnicandBaia Sprie.Literary criticAlex. Leo Șerbanobserved however that no documentary support for the death sentenced could be found other than Caraion's claims.According to his prison record published by theInstitute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of the Romanian Exile,the original sentence in 1958 was imprisonment with hard labour for life and was handed for espionage.

Freed in 1964, Caraion returned to literary activity after a break of nearly two decades, publishingEseuin 1966 and the retrospective anthologyNecunoscutul ferestrelor(1969), which won theRomanian Academy's Mihai Eminescu Prize. Earlier, he had received the Editura Forum Prize for the bookOmul profilat pe cer(1945) and theRomanian Writers' UnionPrize for his 1968 translation ofEdgar Lee Masters'Spoon River Anthology.The numerous poetry books he published in the 1970s placed him at the forefront of contemporary Romanian verse; these includedCârtița și aproapele(1970),Deasupra deasuprelor(1970),Cimitirul de stele(1971),Selene și Pan(1971),Munții de os(1972),Frunzele în Galaad(1973),Poeme(1974),Lacrimi perpendiculare(1978), andInterogarea magilor(1978). His essays are of a very personal nature, and are collected inDuelul cu crinii(1972),Enigmatica noblețe(1974),Pălărierul silabelor(1976),Bacovia. Sfârșitul continuu(1977) andJurnal(vol. I, 1980). He selected, translated and prefaced several volumes of poetry from abroad: Franco-Provençal (1972), French (vol. I-III, 1974-1976), Canadian (1978) and American (1979). Aside from the tens of authors translated in these anthologies, he also translated and often prefaced the work ofMarcel Aymé,Honoré de Balzac,Alexandre Dumas,Sherwood Anderson,Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,Ryunosuke Akutagawa,Anna Akhmatova,Ezra Pound,andRaymond Queneau.He prefaced books byGeorg Scherg,Mihail Crama,andTudor Arghezi.

Caraion was working as an editor atRomânia Literarămagazine when, in the summer of 1981, he was forced to emigrate: following a series of "threats and chauvinistic attacks, launched across months on end, at the age of 58 I took the road of exile, with my wife, my child and two suitcases". He settled inLausanne,where he edited2 plus 2magazine in 1983 andDon Quichotte și Correspondances(a poetry and essay collection in six languages, reminiscent ofAgoramagazine). He also worked for theBBCand wrote for the publicationsLimite,Le Figaro,PEN Internationale,andRepères(Paris);Dialog(Dietzenbach);Săptămâna müncheneză,ContrapunctandCurentul(Munich);Jalons(Chambourg-sur-Indre);Cuvântul românesc(Sweden);Uomini e libri(Milan);IzvoareandRevista mea(Israel);Gazette de GenèveandTribune de Genève;Journal of the American Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences;Tribune-dimanche,ÉcritureandL’Echo sentimental(Switzerland);Le journal des poètes(Belgium);Neue Europe(Luxembourg), andGrandive(New York City). While abroad, he wrote poetry in Romanian and French, essays, literary criticism, and anti-totalitarian social-political pamphlets (Insectele tovarășului Hitler,1982). In Romania, he was slandered and had invective directed at him (inSăptămînamagazine), while during the same period, his work was commented on and received praise from important contemporary poets. His verses were translated into French and English, and Caraion was paid a posthumous homage at theSorbonnein 1988. After theRomanian Revolution,his exile work could again be published in his native country, and appeared asApa de apoiin 1991.A street in Buzău now bears his name.