21 Facts About Constant Tonegaru

Constant Tonegaru was a Romanian avant-garde and Decadent poet, who ended his career as a political prisoner and victim of the communist regime.

Together with them, Tonegaru stands for one of the last waves to pass through Sburatorul, a modernist literary society formed around literary critic Eugen Lovinescu.

Constant Tonegaru died soon after his release, and was fully recovered as a poet only after the Romanian Revolution of 1989, largely owing to the care of his friends and confidants Chimet, Chihaia, and Barbu Cioculescu.

Constant Tonegaru's biography is often described as symbolic of the fate of his entire generation, which was decimated by communist persecution and prevented from affirming itself culturally.

Constant Tonegaru began his education in his native city, graduating primary school in neighboring Braila, and completed his secondary education in Bucharest, at the Evangelical Lutheran Church High School, at the Saint Sava High School and ultimately at the Libros School.

Constant Tonegaru debuted as a journalist at the age of 17, when he had several articles published in Nicolae Iorga's Neamul Romanesc magazine.

Constant Tonegaru's life changed dramatically after his father was convicted for a crime of passion, an event which left the young Tonegaru in charge of supporting his mother, forcing him into menial employment by the Railway Company.

Constant Tonegaru's work became more experimental, and he came to concentrate on writing poems.

Constant Tonegaru became better known to the public, largely thanks to the appreciation of his work by literary critic Vladimir Streinu, who helped the poet find employment as a copyist with the Ministry of Education.

Constant Tonegaru was by then a popular figure on the literary scene, and, according to literary historian Alex Stefanescu, loved for "his candor and humor, his awkwardness which always underlined his fundamental honesty".

Constant Tonegaru collaborated on Streinu's Kalende, a more conventional magazine published during the war years.

In late 1946, after Grigore T Popa was forced into hiding, Tonegaru himself became involved in more clandestine activities, by organizing anti-communist gatherings attended or hosted by dissident intellectuals, such as Gheorghe Anghel, Petru Comarnescu, Vladimir Ghika and Dinu Pillat.

Late in 1948, Constant Tonegaru had obtained a Belgian Red Cross parcel for Teohar Mihadas, a poet and former member of the fascist Iron Guard, who, unbeknown to his benefactor, had passed it on to an anti-communist fighter in his native Bistrita.

Constant Tonegaru was held without trial for the following eight months, which was in violation of even the restrictive legislation passed by the communist lawmakers.

The Eminescu Association in its entirety was condemned by the Securitate, who deemed it "a group of saboteurs and spies serving the Vatican and other foreign powers", while Constant Tonegaru himself was officially charged with "conspiracy against state security".

Ill-fed and exposed to the cold climate, Constant Tonegaru found adjusting to the regimen impossible, and eventually fell ill with a lung disease marked by severe bouts of hemoptysis.

Constant Tonegaru's mother made repeated attempts to have her son pardoned, but did not receive a favorable reply.

In one of his final poems, composed in prison and preserved by his cellmates, Constant Tonegaru described suffering, death and redemption as lutherie.

Constant Tonegaru was an immediate influence on his slightly younger generation colleague and Sburatorul poet, Mihail Crama and on Chimet's ExiL cycle of poems.

Constant Tonegaru is seen as the mentor of Stelaru, Cioculescu, and Radu Teculescu.

The Romanian poet's work has had its echoes outside Romania: Constant Tonegaru is the subject of a concretist poem by Brazilian author Manuel Bandeira, titled Homanagem a Constant Tonegaru.