ÎNTRE MIZANTROPIE ȘI OPTIMISM: CAZUL LUI G. CĂLINESCU

Abstract

Any research on the life and work of G. Călinescu could not avoid the similarity between him and a modern Faust. Our much-admired scholar/literary critic had to confront, at half past of his life, a substantial dilemma just like the literary character immortalised by Goethe. The world in which he had lived until that very moment started to collapse. The communists were confident enough to believe that they will achieve in Romania the revolution that had changed Russia, after the arrival of the Soviet tanks which had conquered the country. Nevertheless, taking into consideration the circumstances, Călinescu had not hesitated to join and support those newly arrived forces in our country in order to contribute with his talent and forces to the development of a new society. On the other hand, we have to understand that such a brilliant human being had to put his work first and protect it because he did not have obligations only towards the world he had lived in but also for his realisations. It is now obvious why he did such a thing. 

            Of course, we shouldn’t forgive Călinescu for all the consequences that his opportunism had had on the establishment of the new communist regime. What we would like to emphasize is that his life and his work offer solid motives that initiate human self-reflection, a goad to critique. In other words, when the work of the writers is unique, we, as readers, have to owe them our respect for their just judgement during their times because by this they had built our national identity.