Radu Gyr

Radu Gyr (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈradu ˈd͡ʒir]; pen name of Radu Ștefan Demetrescu [ˈradu ʃteˈfan demeˈtresku]; March 2, 1905, Câmpulung-Muscel – 29 April 1975, Bucharest) was a Romanian poet, essayist, playwright and journalist.

Biography

Early life

Gyr was the son of actor Coco Dumitrescu, from Craiova. He did his secondary studies at the Carol I High School in Craiova. He then studied at the University of Bucharest, where he received his Ph.D. in Literature and became a Senior Lecturer.

Iron Guard membership

He joined the Iron Guard fascist movement, becoming in time a local commander. During the National Legionary Government he was appointed General Manager of the Romanian Theaters.

Under his administration the Barașeum Jewish Theater (later State Jewish Theater) was founded. The creation of the Jewish Theatre was accompanied with an interdiction for Jewish actors to play anywhere else in Romania, as such the creation of the theatre being a purge of all Jewish people from all theatres across the country.

In prison

He was imprisoned for 20 years and he was never completely rehabilitated as a writer. His first years as a political prisoner began as soon as the Iron Guard lost their battle with Ion Antonescu. After spending time in prison, Radu Gyr was sent to fight on the Eastern Front, a form of punishment which was reserved for former Legionnaires.

In 1958 he was sentenced to death by the Communist authorities because of his poem, considered subversive by the regime, "Ridică-te Gheorghe, ridică-te Ioane!" ("Rise up now Gheorghe, rise up now Ion!"). The poem asked for peasants and Romanians at large, given generic names, to rise against the communist dictatorial regime: it had been issued as the last wave of brutal collectivization was taking hold of rural Romania (a process which lasted between 1949–1962). It is primarily a poem pleading for freedom. Romanians, generically named George and John, are called upon to arise "not for a heaped shovel of ruddy hot bread, nor barns full of grain, nor for fields full of corn / instead for your heavens to be free of dread..."; for their "song, nailed on a cross" and "tfor the ears of your sun, imprisoned... enchained"; for "a heap of horizons and a hatful of stars", but following is the whole poem, in the translation of Daniel Ioniță:

"Not for a heaped shovel of ruddy hot bread,

nor for barns full of grain, nor for fields full of corn,

instead for your heavens to be free of dread

rise up now Gheorghe, rise up now Ion!

For the blood of your folk flowing red through the drains,

for your beautiful song which was stifled at morn,

for the tears of your sun, left imprisoned in chains,

rise up now Gheorghe, rise up now Ion!

Not so that your fury sinks teeth into bars,

but to sing as you fill, on the crest of the dawn,

a heap of horizons and a hatful of stars,

rise up now Gheorghe, rise up now Ion!

So that freedom you drink, flowing fresh from the pail,

and to heavenly whirlpools be mightily drawn,

while apricot buds shake on you, merry hail,

rise up now Gheorghe, rise up now Ion!

And so, as you kindle your kisses on fires,

on thresholds, on doors, and on  icons forlorn,

on all that is free,  and to freedom aspires,

rise up now Gheorghe, rise up now Ion!

Rise up now Gheorghe on chains and on ropes!

Rise up now Ion on flesh and on bone!

And high, to the storm-light which shines on your hopes,

rise up now Gheorghe, rise up now  Ion!

(from Romanian Poetry from its Origins to the Present - Daniel Ioniță - Australian-Romanian Academy Publishing - Sydney, 2020)

His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, but he served only six years, two of which (at Aiud Prison) with chains at his feet. Although severely ill (hepatitis, TBC, haemophilia, gangrened rectal prolapse), he was refused any medical assistance, was starved and tortured. Altogether he served 16 years in communist prisons (1945–1956; 1958–1964). In 1963–1964 all surviving political prisoners had to be released, upon pressure from the West.

Collaboration with the Securitate

After his release from prison in 1963 he was constantly tailed by the Romanian secret police, the Securitate. Convinced to use their expertise in ethnocracy, Radu Gyr and Nichifor Crainic wrote propaganda articles to Glasul Patriei (The Voice of the Motherland) – later called Tribuna României – a newspaper published by the Securitate targeting exiled Romanians abroad.

Published works

• Plânge Strâmbă-Lemne (roughly: "The Wood Bender Crieth"; 1927)
• Cerbul de lumină ("A Deer of Light"; 1928)
• Stele pentru leagăn ("Stars for the Cradle"; 1936)
• Cununi uscate ("Dried-up Wreaths"; 1938)
• Corabia cu tufănici ("The Ship of Chrysanthemums"; 1939)
• Poeme de război ("War Poems"; 1942)
• Balade ("Ballads"; 1943) - as well as a series of lyricised tales.

Presence in English Language Anthologies

• 2019 - Testament - 400 Years of Romanian Poetry / 400 de ani de poezie românească - Minerva Publishing 2019 - Daniel Ioniță (editor and principal translator) assisted by Daniel Reynaud, Adriana Paul and Eva Foster. ISBN 978-973-21-1070-6
• 2020 - Romanian Poetry from its Origins to the Present - bilingual edition - Daniel Ioniță (editor and principal translator) with Daniel Reynaud, Adriana Paul and Eva Foster - Australian-Romanian Academy Publishing - 2020 - ISBN 978-0-9953502-8-1 ; LCCN - 2020907831

External links

• (in Romanian) Website dedicated to Radu Gyr
• (in Romanian) Poems by Radu Gyr