Octavian Goga: Sacerdote of the Nation. Revisiting the Romanian National Idea

332 Pages·2018·8.003 MB·English

by  Razvan Paraianu

Răzvan Pârâianu
OCTAVIAN GOGA:
SACERDOTE OF THE NATION
REVISITING THE ROMANIAN NATIONAL IDEA

Răzvan Pârâianu
OCTAVIAN GOGA:
SACERDOTE OF THE NATION
REVISITING THE ROMANIAN
NATIONAL IDEA
Argonaut
Cluj-Napoca, 2018
Seria
●Istorie●Documente●Mărturii●
Descrierea CIP a Bibliotecii Naționale a României
PÂRÂIANU, Răzvan, Octavian Goga: Sacerdote of the nation
revisiting the Romanian national idea / Răzvan Pârâianu. –
Cluj-Napoca: Argonaut; 2018. – 330, p.; 24 cm.
ISBN 978-973-109-859-3
Poza care ilustrează coperta se găsește la CNSAS, dosar D15188 vol 3 fila 41.
Tehnoredactare: Myrobiblion
Coperta: Myrobiblion
© Argonaut & Autorul
Editura Argonaut
Str. Ciucaş, nr.5/15
Cluj-Napoca
Tel: [phone]
e-mail: [email protected]
www.editura-argonaut.ro
Consilier editorial atestat: Emil POP
Editura Argonaut este acreditată CNCSIS/CNCS din anul 2002
To my daughter Teodora

Acknowledgments
During my research for this book and the subsequent phase of writing the
book, a number of people helped me to improve the text by generously sharing
their time and expertise. I would like to thank them all for their encouragement,
constant support and crucial advice. I have particularly benefited from the
assistance and insights of my friends, colleagues, and teachers. The intellectual
environment at my alma mater, the Central European University, was
extremely inspiring and challenging, at the same time. During the innumerable
conversations and chats we had over the years, their suggestions and criticism
often helped me to clarify and refine many of my arguments and ideas. I would
like to thank, in particular, my friend Marius Turda, whose input and
suggestions were essential for revising and editing the entire manuscript. I am
especially grateful for his unceasing encouragement to publish my work. I
would also like to thank Raoul Alexandrescu, from the Library of the
Romanian Academy, who helped me enormously in identifying many of the
primary sources I used in my book. Last but not least, I would also like to
express my gratitude and appreciation to Sorin Antohi, who was much more
than just a professor for me. Without them all, the present volume would not
have come into being.

9
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1. ...................................................................................................................... 11
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 11
§ 1. Who is Octavian Goga and why is he important? ....................... 11
§2 Major themes and methodology .................................................. 16
§ 3. The national idea and the militant literature ............................... 20
§ 4. Aims. .......................................................................................... 24
CHAPTER 2. ...................................................................................................................... 27
SOURCES AND INTERPRETATIONS....................................................................................... 27
§ 1. A short biography and the main works ...................................... 27
§ 2. “The poet of our ordeal.” The reception of Goga’s first volume of
poetry .................................................................................................... 34
§ 3. The reception of his second volume of poetry ............................. 40
§ 4. Political friends and enemies ..................................................... 44
§ 5. Political recognition. ................................................................. 48
§ 6. The National Ideology of the ‘30s............................................... 51
§ 7. The tribute paid to Goga after his death ..................................... 54
§ 8. In the communist national pantheon ........................................... 60
§ 9. The post communist rediscovery of Goga ................................... 69
CHAPTER 3. ...................................................................................................................... 77
THE YOUNG MAN GOGA AND HIS TRIUMPH AS NATIONAL POET [1881-1907] ..................... 77
§ 1. Turn of the Century in Transylvania. Activism, Passivism and the
Tribunist Movement............................................................................... 77
§ 2. The Crisis of Traditional Politics ............................................... 83
§ 3. Goga’s First Literary Attempts and the First Seeds of Revolt ..... 88
§ 4. The Budapest Experience and Luceafărul .................................. 94
§ 5. Goga’s Crisis of Identity, the Drive for Recuperating his Roots,
and his Dream. .................................................................................... 102
CHAPTER 4. .................................................................................................................... 111
THE “FRESHENING” OF NATIONAL POLICY [1908-1910] ................................................... 111
§ 1. Goga’s Social Rise after his Literary Success. .......................... 111
§ 2. Ţara Noastră and “The New Generation” ................................ 115
§ 3. The ‘Refreshening’ Campaing and its Nationalist Notions ....... 120
§ 4. The Debate on the “Two Cultures” .......................................... 126
§ 5. The Electoral Failure and ‘The Romanian Lawyer’ ................. 138
§ 6. Lyrical vs. Legal Nationalism, or the Grace and the Word in a
Romanian Way .................................................................................... 150
CHAPTER 5 ..................................................................................................................... 155
THE ‘TRIBUNA’ SCANDAL [1911-1912] ............................................................................ 155