Zigu Ornea

Zigu Ornea (; born Zigu Orenstein or Ornstein and commonly known as Z. Ornea; August 28, 1930 – November 14, 2001) was a Romanian cultural historian, literary critic, biographer and book publisher. The author of several monographs focusing on the evolution of Romanian culture in general and Romanian literature in particular, he chronicled the debates and meeting points between conservatism, nationalism, and socialism. His main early works are primarily dedicated to the 19th and early 20th century cultural and political currents heralded by Junimea, by the left-wing ideologues of Poporanism and by the Sămănătorul circle, followed independently or in relation to one another. Written as expansions of this study were Ornea's biographical essays on some of the period's leading theorists: Titu Maiorescu, Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea and Constantin Stere.

Ornea, who spent much of his career under the communist regime, began by following a dissenting form of Marxism, objecting to the official censorship of writers viewed as "reactionary" and later to the emerging forms of national communism. Noted for his defense of Western culture in front of the isolationism advocated under the rule of Nicolae Ceaușescu, the researcher also acquired a familiarity with the various aspects socialist history which led him to abandon Marxist ideology. After the Revolution of 1989, he dedicated his final and groundbreaking study to exposing the cultural connections of far right and fascism in interwar Greater Romania.

In parallel to his work in the study of Romanian cultural history, Zigu Ornea was a noted publisher, who held positions of leadership at Editura Meridiane and Editura Minerva, before becoming founder and director of Editura Hasefer. He had a vast activity as a literary chronicler and essayist, holding permanent columns in România Literară and Dilema Veche magazines during the final decades of his life. Zigu Ornea was the father of mathematician and essayist Liviu Ornea.

Biography

Early life Born in Frumușica, a village of Botoșani County, the future writer belonged to the Jewish Romanian community. His father was a cattle trader, and Ornea often helped in the family business by tending to the animals (an experience which left him with fond memories). As he himself recalled, his readings of the time included the works of classical literary theorists such as the conservative Titu Maiorescu and the socialist Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, as well as the complete collections of some of Romania's leading literary periodicals (Convorbiri Literare, Viața Românească).

A student at the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Philosophy between 1951 and 1955, After graduation, Ornea began his career with Editura de stat pentru literatură și artă (ESPLA), a state-run publishing house based in Bucharest. During the same period, he married Ada Ornea, who gave birth to their son Liviu. Also in the late 1960s, he published commentary on the diverse works of Junimist historian A. D. Xenopol, and, together with N. Gogoneață, contributed to a critical edition of Xenopol's contributions. He also edited a 1968 anthology from the works of Henric Sanielevici, a maverick exponent of Marxist criticism who was also noted for his attempt to classify literature around racialist criteria.

In 1970 and 1972 respectively, Minerva published his studies on the ideology of the traditionalist review Sămănătorul (titled Sămănătorismul) and its leftist competitor Poporanism (Poporanismul). Also in 1972, Ornea inaugurated his collaboration with Editura Eminescu, publishing Studii și cercetări ("Studies and Investigations"), followed in 1975 by the first edition of his Junimea și junimismul ("Junimea and Junimism"), and in 1976 by Confluențe ("Confluences"). and his collected Comentarii ("Commentaries", 1981). In tandem, his Junimea și junimismul went through a second edition, published in 1978. In parallel, Ornea was publishing the selected works of Poporanist theorist Constantin Stere, and reediting the complete literary tracts of conservative historian Nicolae Iorga.

With the tightening of the Ceaușescu regime's control on media and the literary environment, coupled with the ideological recuperation of national communism and isolationism (the July Theses), Ornea joined the intellectual faction attempting to circumvent censorship and promote a more nuanced take on cultural history. Ornea bowed down to the requirements in at least one instance: his Lovinescu edition was published without some portions of text that the regime found unpalatable, and the introductory note purported that Lovinescu had points in common with historical materialism. According to historian Lucian Boia, the method was objectionable, but also the only way in which the book could see print. Communist censorship also intervened in Ornea's work as anthologist: as researcher Victor Durnea notes, his Constantin Stere edition only covered the early portion of Stere's career, detailing his loose affiliation with the socialist movement. In 1974–1975, Ornea's name was invoked by high-ranking Romanian Communist Party activists such as Ion Dodu Bălan in a matter involving the censorship of literary historian Gelu Ionescu. Ionescu had intended to publish Anatomia unei negații ("The Anatomy of a Negation"), a book about the self-exiled writer Eugène Ionesco (whose own work had only been selectively published at home); the volume was positively reviewed for publication by Ornea and various of his colleagues (Ion Ianoși and Paul Cornea among them), but was rejected by both Dodu Bălan and novelist Marin Preda, who cited Eugène Ionesco's anti-communist views. As a result, Ornea was pressured into submitting a "self-criticism" statement.

While two other volumes of his essays on literary subjects were published by Editura Eminescu (Actualitatea clasicilor, "The Timelessness of the Classics", in 1985; Interpretări, "Interpretations", in 1988), Ornea followed up with two Cartea Românească volumes on Junimist doyen Maiorescu (Viața lui Titu Maiorescu, "The Life of Titu Maiorescu", 1986 and 1987). The new publication hosted another column signed by Ornea, which he contributed in parallel to his România Literară chronicle. His other anthumous works include a 1995 revised edition of Junimea și junimismul He had authored his literary columns months in advance, and the magazine was able to publish contributions of his for the several weeks after his death. In 2004, Hasefer also issued an edition of his other last texts, as Medalioane de istorie literară ("Medallions in Literary History", edited by his former colleague Tiberiu Avramescu).

Political scientist Daniel Barbu speaks of Ornea's works as having supplemented the lack of sociological research under communism, and thus one of the "outstanding authors" to have dedicated themselves to such overviews during that period (alongside Vladimir Tismăneanu, Pavel Câmpeanu, Henri H. Stahl and Vlad Georgescu).

Ornea's scholarly work reflected his familiarity with Romanian culture and the national vernacular, both of which earned the stated admiration of his peers. According to Ornea's own statement, Romanian language was "my motherland". Answering on this issue, Ornea himself stated: "when reediting one of my works of synthesis on the various currents of thought [after 1989], I only had to perform very few modifications, a sure sign that my research method and the thought (vision) guiding me was not at all played out." Reviewing this debate, literary critic Pia Brînzeu argued that Ornea, with Manolescu, Andrei Pleșu and Adrian Marino (who "appreciated Western values and favored the acceptance of some advanced social and cultural issues"), represented "the opposition" to communist or nationalist magazines such as Flacăra, Luceafărul and Săptămîna ("which insisted on maintaining Romania's isolation from Europe"). American researcher Katherine Verdery lists Ornea, Iorgulescu, Pleșu, Manolescu and Ștefănescu among those who "took a visible stand" against officially condoned protochronism (a group also including, in her opinion, Iorgulescu, Ovid Crohmălniceanu, Gheorghe Grigurcu, Norman Manea, Alexandru Paleologu and Eugen Simion). The disadvantage for Ornea's camp, Brînzeu writes, was in that its members generally "could not voice their opinions aloud". Nevertheless, literary historian Florin Mihăilescu argues, protochronist ideologue Edgar Papu abusively cited Ornea's texts, alongside those of many other figures outside the national communist circles, in such manner as to appear that they too supported protochronist theories.

Early writings One of Ornea's main preoccupations was the literary society Junimea and its impact on the local literary scene. His two main books on the matter (Junimismul and Junimea și junimismul) were closely interconnected, being seen by political scientist and literary critic Ioan Stanomir as two variants of the same study.

In 2001, while assessing the conclusions drawn by Sămănătorismul and being inquired by Daniel Cristea-Enache about the book's implications, Ornea discussed the paradox of his stated admiration for Iorga, the Sămănătorist theorist and historian. Acknowledging that Iorga's political thought signified "xenophobic nationalism" and evidenced that its proponent was a "constant antisemite", Ornea assessed that, nevertheless, the same intellectual figure stood out for rejecting more violent forms of antisemitism, and was an outspoken adversary of the radically fascist Iron Guard. Historian Nicolae Păun sees the work itself as also relevant for the cultural debates of Ornea's day, or "an analysis of the interwar period's message and its perception within a Romanian society fed by the passionate conflict between modernity and tradition." In his view, the work only partly compensates for a lack of sheer historiographic research dedicated to the events themselves because these were still being viewed as recent or directly meaningful for the relative present (and therefore subject to much debate). He cites Tradiționalism și modernitate for tracing the links between, on one hand, the Romanian traditionalist environment in the wake of World War I and, on the other, France's integralist faction (the Action Française), for discussing the role of Romanian traditionalists as cultural critics in their conflict with the interwar establishment, as well as for researching the links between the neo-traditionalists at Gândirea magazine and the original editorial line of Cuvântul daily. The work opened further research into the connections between traditionalism and the emerging far right, primarily the Iron Guard.

In his 1979 introduction to Eugen Lovinescu, Ornea notably focused on his predecessor's thoughts about the necessity of modernization, Westernization and direct borrowings from Western Europe, discussing their role in the interwar polemic between modernists and traditionalists, but also evidencing their agreement with the thesis of his left-wing adversaries (Dobrogeanu-Gherea or Garabet Ibrăileanu). Ornea's own conclusion stated that Dobrogeanu-Gherea had always been preoccupied with "demonstrating [...] the legitimacy of socialism in our country". This contribution was however criticized by Lucian Boia. Boia described the monograph as "fundamental", but found that Ornea was lenient and partisan on the issue of Stere's links with the Central Powers in the World War I occupation of Romania.

Anii treizeci. Extrema dreaptă românească On the basis of material cited from the interwar press and various archives, Rizescu also finds flaw in the book's perceived search for centrist references, which, he claims, led Ornea to neglect the contribution of Marxists and peasantists active in the 1930s, and as such to avoid inaugurating an "extensive interpretative revisions" of interwar leftist ideas for a post-communist world. He notes: "Indeed, while Tradiționalism și modernitate is broad and ambitious in scope, paying equal attention to social-economic as well as to literary-philosophical debates, and trying to present a complete picture of the intellectual concerns and intellectual trends of the age, Anii treizeci is quite narrowly focused on the rise of the extreme right and the reactions this phenomenon raised raised among the thinkers of a different orientation. [...] The general impression one gets, after this comparison, is that Ornea [...] avoided to make the effort to re-comprehend, in post-communist terms, the problems connected with the sociological and economic component of pre-communist doctrines and ideological currents, as well as to discover a new, post-totalitarian 'language', fit for preserving the vagaries of the Romanian left."

In contrast, Nicolae Manolescu finds that, in interpreting the rise of fascism, disproved the class struggle perspective inculcated by communist historiography, Ornea's book accurately depicted two intertwined characteristics: the pro-democratic spirit of mainstream Romanian intellectuals; the eccentricity and marginality of both fascists and communists relative to most social environments. made an additional claim that Ornea and philosopher Mihai Șora had together denounced Constantin Noica to the Securitate for writing dissenting essays on Hegelianism. The articles claimed that documents published earlier by Observator Cultural magazine had "clearly asserted" this. In a later article, Spânu returned with similar claims about the Noica trial, further alleging that Ornea "hated" Noica, and that this sentiment was the basis for the negative comments in Anii treizeci....

The accusation was hotly contested by historian George Ardeleanu, who had contributed the original Observatorul Cultural dossier on Noica, and who stated that Spânu's claim was based on "an erroneous, if not indeed heinous, reading of the documents".