Virgil Teodorescu was a Romanian poet, essayist, translator and academician. He was one of the members of the Romanian Surrealist group in the 1940s; later, however, he eventually accepted writing socialist realist poems and enjoyed priviledges (even becoming the leader of the Romanian Writers' Union). In the late 1960's, during the apex of neomodernism, he reissues his early poems (in slightly modified, "cleaner" versions) and tries to continue their initial surrealist style. Even so, most of his later books enjoyed little critical success and, as of yet, no new reissues has appeared after his death (let aside his appearences in anthologies of the avant-garde).
His first poems were published under the pen name Virgil Rareș in 1928, in the revue Bilete de papagal run by Arghezi. Under another pen name (Cocoi Taalat), he is one of the three founders (together with Tașcu Gheorghiu (Șuly) and Mircea Pavelescu) of the ephemere Liceu (1932), the only avant-garde revue that was edited in Constanța. Following the juvenile surrealism of his early contributions, Virgil Teodorescu has a few contributions in the rest of the 1930's to the militant phase of Romanian avant-garde with a few texts that would be later reissues in his socialist realist period.
His earliest contribution to the collection of the Romanian Surrealist group was the unusual one-off book Poem în leopardă, written in 1940 and illustrated by Trost, book which remained unknown until Sașa Pană published a fragment in Antologia literaturii române de avangardă. Larger fragments were published by the author in his last book, Un ocean devorat de licheni urmat de Poemul regăsit.
Cover of the 1945 volume Blănurile oceanelor
After the group managed to exit the underground in which it was during the WWII, Virgil Teodorescu published his genuine debut volume, Blănurile oceanelor ("Oceans' Furs", 1945, illustrations by W. Paalen), followed shortly by the volume Butelia de Leyda (1945, illustrations by Paul Păun). Together with Gellu Naum and Paul Păun, he co-authored Critica mizeriei (1945), a manifesto book in which they aggressively rejected all literary critics (even the ones most sympathetic towards the avant-garde) and all earlier avant-garde; they also criticized the "unorthodox" behaviour of the other two members of the Surrealist group, Gherasim Luca and Trost.
In spite of the tensions in and outside the group, the five members have managed in 1946-1947 to write a series of collective manifestos in French and published the Infra-Noir collection. Teodorescu's contributions for 1947 consisted in two volumes, La provocation (later praised by the avant-garde specialist Marin Mincu) and Au lobe de sel (very different versions in Romanian were subsequently published in Teodorescu's own anthologies).
Later, Leonid Dimov mentioned Virgil Teodorescu as one of the Romanian Surrealists closest to the practice of oneirism; although Teodorescu himself seemed to be influenced by oneirism in his volumes after 1968, he strongly criticized the oneirists in Armonia contrariilor (which can be explained though by the fact the oneirists reacted both against the original Surrealist group and the current authorities of the Communist regime, which the former Surrealist poet actively endorsed).
Books[]
- Poem în leopardă. Un vis în leopardă ("Poem in Leopardian [Language]. A Dream in Leopardian), Les Editions de L'oubli (Oblivion Publishing House), Bucharest, 1940 (1 copy with illustrations by Dolfi Trost)
- Diamantul conduce mâinile ("The Diamond Guides the Hands"), Bucharest, 1940 (1 copy, prose poetry co-written with Dolfi Trost and Paul Păun)
- Blănurile oceanelor ("Oceans' Furs"), Surrealist Collection, Bucharest, 1945 (with 2 illustrations reproduced after Wolfgang Paalen)
- Butelia de Leyda ("Leyden Jar"), Surrealist Collection, Bucharest, 1945 (with 4 illustrations by Paul Păun)
- Critica mizeriei ("Critique of Misery"), manifesto, co-written with Gellu Naum and Paul Păun, Surrealist Collection, Bucharest, 1945
- Spectrul longevității. 122 de cadavre ("The Spectre of Longevivity. 122 Cadavres), poems, co-written with Gellu Naum, Surrealist Collection, Bucharest, 1946
- L'Infra-Noir (Infra-Black), co-written with Gherasim Luca, Paul Păun and Dolfi Trost, Surrealist Collection/Infra-Noir Collection, Bucharest, 1946
- Éloge de Malombre (Malombre's Elogy), co-written with Gellu Naum, Gherasim Luca, Paul Păun and Dolfi Trost, Infra-Noir Collection, Bucharest, 1947
- Au lobe du sel, Infra-Noir Collection, Bucharest, 1947
- La provocation, Infra-Noir Collection, Bucharest, 1947
- Pisica de mare ("Seacat"), play, 1953
- Scriu negru pe alb ("I'm Writing Black on White"), Bucharest, 1955
- Drepturi și datorii ("Rights and Duties"), ESPLA, Bucharest, 1958
- Semicerc ("Semicircle"), EPL, Bucharest, 1964
- Rocadă ("Castling"), EPL, Bucharest, 1966
- Corp comun ("Shared Body"), ET, Bucharest, 1968
- Blănurile oceanelor și alte poeme ("Oceans Furs and Other Poems"), anthology, EPL, Bucharest, 1969
- Vârsta cretei ("Age of Chalk"), "Cele mai frumoase poezii" Collection, Albatros, Bucharest, 1970 (with foreword by Al. Protopopescu and a portrait by Marcela Cordescu)
- Repaosul vocalei ("The Relaxation of the Vowel"), Eminescu Publishing House, Bucharest, 1970
- Poemul întâlnirilor ("The Poem of Meetings"), Eminescu, Bucharest, 1971
- Ucenicul nicăieri zărit ("The Apprentice Never to Be Seen"), Albatros Publishing House, Bucharest, 1972 (cover by Mihai Sînzianu)
- Sentinela aerului ("The Sentinel of Air"), Eminescu, Bucharest, 1972 (cover by Petre Hagiu)
- Heraldica mișcării ("The Heraldics of Movement"), Eminescu, Bucharest, 1973 (cover and illustrations by Mihai Gheorghe)
- Poezie neîntreruptă ("Uninterrupted Poetry"), Biblioteca pentru toți Collection, Minerva Publishing House, Bucharest, 1976 (foreword by Nicolae Balotă)
- Repos de la voyelle, Eminescu, Bucharest, 1976 (bilingual edition, translation in French by Andreea Dobrescu-Warodin)
- Dreptatea mării ("Justice of the Sea"), play, 1976
- Ancore lucii ("Glazed Anchors"), Eminescu, Bucharest, 1977
- Armonia contrariilor ("Harmony of Contrasts"), Cartea Românească, Bucharest, 1977 (essays)
- Culminația umbrei ("Apex of Shadow"), Cartea Românească, Bucharest, 1978 (cover by Victor Feodorov)
- Legea gravitației ("Gravity Law"), Junimea Publishing House, Iași, 1979
- Cât vezi cu ochii ("As Far As The Eye Can See", anthology), Eminescu, Bucharest, 1983
- Un ocean devorat de licheni urmat de Poemul regăsit cu șase silamancii ("An Ocean Devored By Lichen. Followed by The Refound Poem", illustrated with 6 stilamancies), Cartea Românească, Bucharest, 1984
Covers[]
