Alexandru Macedonski - Legacy - Late Recognition

Late Recognition

Actual recognition of the poet as a classic came only in the interwar period. A final volume of never before published poems, Poema rondelurilor, saw print in 1927. Macedonski's work was analyzed and popularized by a new generation of critics, among them Vianu and George Călinescu. The post-Junimist modernist critic Eugen Lovinescu also commented favorably on Macedonski's work, but overall, Călinescu asserts, his opinions on the subject gave little insight into what he actually thought about the poet. He also recounts that Macedonski himself treated Lovinescu with disdain, and once called him "a canary".

The emerging avant-garde, although originating from Symbolism, progressively took its distance from Literatorul's legacy. Initially, Macedonski's contribution to experimental literature was continued within formal Symbolism by his disciples Demetriade, Iuliu Cezar Săvescu and Ion Minulescu. The latter was particularly indebted to Macedonski in matters of vision and language. In 1904, Tudor Arghezi also left behind the Literatorul circle and its tenets, eventually arriving to the fusion of modernist, traditionalist and avant-garde elements. However, he remained indebted to Macedonski's example in his descriptive prose. The 1912 Simbolul magazine, which moved between conventional Symbolism and the emerging avant-garde, also published an Imagist-inspired parody of Noaptea de mai, signed by Adrian Maniu. A co-founder of Dadaism during the late 1910s, Tristan Tzara is believed by Swedish researcher Tom Sandqvist to have been inspired more or less directly by Macedonski, and in particular by the latter's thoughts on the relation between absurdity and poetry. In his debut poems, Benjamin Fondane-Barbu Fundoianu occasionally followed Macedonski, but, by 1920, stated that the Symbolist doyen merely imitated French models to the point of "parasitism".

Several avant-garde authors returned to Macedonski's literary guidelines by the late 1920s, as they themselves grew more moderate. This was the case of Maniu and Ion Vinea, both of whom published prose works in the line of Thalassa. The same work also is also believed to have influenced two non-avant-garde authors, Davidescu and Mateiu Caragiale, who remained close to the tenets Symbolism. Mateiu was the illegitimate son of Ion Luca Caragiale, but, Vianu notes, could withstand comparisons with his father's rival: the eccentricities were complementary, although Mateiu Caragiale shied away from public affairs. In the same post-Symbolist generation, Celerianu (Macedonski's posthumous son-in-law), George Bacovia and Păstorel Teodoreanu also built on Macedonski's legacy, being later joined in this by the Bessarabian linguist Eugenio Coşeriu (who, in his early poetic career, imitated Macedonski's rondel style). In the late 1920s, when their form of modern psalms inspired Albanian-Romanian poet Aleksander Stavre Drenova, Macedonski and Arghezi both made an indirect impact on Albanian literature.

Macedonski's status as one of Romanian literature's greats was consolidated later in the 20th century. By this time, Noaptea de decemvrie had become one of the most recognizable literary works to be taught in Romanian schools. During the first years of Communist Romania, the Socialist Realist current condemned Symbolism (see Censorship in Communist Romania), but spoke favorably of Macedonski's critique of the bourgeoisie. A while after this episode, Marin Sorescu, one of the best-known modernist poets of his generation, wrote a homage-parody of the Nights cycle. Included in the volume Singur între poeţi ("Alone among Poets"), it is seen by critic Mircea Scarlat as Sorescu's most representative such pieces. Also then, Noaptea de decemvrie partly inspired Ştefan Augustin Doinaş' ballad Mistreţul cu colţi de argint.

In the 1990s, Ştefan Agopian took the Nights cycle as inspiration for an erotic short story, while Pavel Şuşară adapted his rondels to a modernized setting. Macedonski's prose also influenced younger writers such as Angelo Mitchievici and Anca Maria Mosora. In neighboring Moldova, Macedonski influenced the Neosymbolism of Aureliu Busuioc. A magazine by the name of Literatorul, which claims to represent the legacy of Macedonski's publication, was founded in Romania in 1991, being edited by writers Sorescu, Fănuş Neagu and Mircea Micu. In 2006, the Romanian Academy granted posthumous membership to Alexandru Macedonski.

Macedonski's poems had a sizable impact on Romania's popular culture. During communism, Noaptea de mai was the basis for a successful musical adaptation, composed by Marian Nistor and sung by Mirabela Dauer. Tudor Gheorghe, a singer-songwriter inspired by American folk revival, also used some of Macedonski's texts as lyrics to his melodies. In the 2000s, the refrain of Noaptea de mai was mixed into a manea parody by Adrian Copilul Minune.