by Mircea Martin
excerptsFondane's interest in the psychological mechanisms of illusion did not come from a strictly neutral or intellectual curiosity. Deeper resources of his personality contributed, and his poetry is testimony to that. As a general rule, only the disillusioned are aware of the illusion. But with Fundoianu it is not only an outer, super-ordinate lucidity of the poem; on the contrary, it belongs to his inner structure, as a functional principle. Many of his poems seem to be built on the alternation between illusion and disillusion.Fundoianu's typical attitude is a refusal of any and all illusion, whatever that illusion might be. It is hard to find with any other poet such a disdain for the absolute, such a defiance of the ideal. One of the most characteristic movements in his poetry is to depreciate, to minimize, and to make fun of any gesture that might establish a cult of that order. Great feelings, great ideas, predetermined purposes pursued ardently, and hieratic positions – all this bumps into an a-priori refusal. The same refusal of literary commonplaces, culture, and generally of all ritual of comfortable thinking. In his poetry, like in his essays, Fundoianu seeks to demoralize.The space of poetry is rarely one of epiphany or revelation. The miracles pursued by Lucian Blaga and by so many other poets do not attract Fundoianu. This explains why in his poetry nature is desecrated and life is de-ritualized.Often, he took pleasure in stripping nature not only of symbols, but also of meanings. This way, the premises of a semantic vacuum, of a metaphysical vacuum are created.As far as Fundoianu is concerned, contact with nature is not tonic or energizing. On the contrary, it is desolating, and sometimes even terrifying. Nature is not the place for a spiritual refuge.For Fundoianu, nature is dangerous, aggressive, and the poet does not insist to decipher its secrets because he does not expect anything good out of that.But we must mention that Fundoianu also makes fun of malefic revelations.The death of a maiden in the field is described with willful indifference, like the landscape around. Death loses all catastrophic overtones, it become simple and natural, like sleep. And it becomes derisory due to an air of normality and to the absence of any and all piousness. But this apparent impiety only serves to intensify the tragic character of the scene. The human catastrophe announces a cosmic one, death becomes part of the Apocalypse.The poet who defied the ceremony of existence creates an apocalyptic ritual. The phrase "lyricism of panic," which he used in 1929 in a letter sent from Paris to the Unu magazine, best defines his own poetry. Translated from French by Monica VOICULESCU
by Mircea Martin
by Mircea Martin