Anatol E. Baconsky - Legacy

Legacy

Anatol E. Baconsky was a noted presence in the literary community of his day, and is believed to have influenced poet, novelist and translator Petre Stoica (who is described by Ungureanu as the writer's "friend and emulator"). Baconsky's poems were parodied by Marin Sorescu in his 1964 volume, Singur printre poeţi ("Alone among Poets"). Sorescu's poem, titled A. E. Baconsky. Imn către necunoscutul din mine ("Hymn to the Unknown within Me"), makes use of Baconsky's lyrical style and displays of culture, showing the poet meditating about the ancient Scythian and Thracian peoples. It begins with the lines:

Unusual episodes involving Baconsky's death were reported by two of his writer friends, Octavian Paler and Petre Stoica—Paler recalled that the only book to have fallen out of his shelf during the 1977 earthquake was Remember; Stoica told a similar story involving a painting that Baconsky had made, and which he had received as a gift. The writer's death, Cernat writes, was a "troubling coincidence" with that of Alexandru Ivasiuc: a former communist who, like Baconsky, had "radicalized" his vision and authored non-conformist pieces, Ivasiuc was himself a victim of the 1977 earthquake.

In the months following Baconsky's death, his new monograph on Sandro Botticelli, centered on the artist's illustrations for Dante Aligheri's Divine Comedy, was published in Romanian (re-issued in English during 1982). Cartea Românească reprinted Remember (1977), then Corabia lui Sebastian (1978). Also in 1978, his profile was included in 9 pentru eternitate ("9 for Eternity"), a volume dedicated to the literary men who had died during the earthquake, and edited by Mircea Micu and Gheorghe Tomozei. Eleven years later, a selection of his art criticism essays was published under the title Itinerarii plastice ("Artistic Itineraries"). Biserica neagră was only printed after the 1989 Revolution toppled communism.

Of the several books dedicated to his life and work, Crina Bud's 2006 volume, Rolurile şi rolul lui A. E. Baconsky în cultura română ("The Roles and Role of A. E. Baconsky in Romanian Culture"), is described by reviewers as one of the most complete. Bogdan Creţu comments that views of Baconsky are traditionally divided between two "extremist" positions: "he was either castigated for his sins of youth or mythicized and raised to a level that his work could not have honored." Like Crina Bud, he believes Baconsky to have been a "vanquisher from a moral point of view", adding that he earned "absolution" from the victims of communism: "the writer passed the fire ordeal: he confessed." However, Cernat believes, Baconsky, like his fellow disillusioned communist Paler, refused to record his disappointment in writing other than allusively.

Baconsky and his wife Clara were noted art collectors. They owned representative works of Romanian art, particularly modern, including paintings by Dimitrie Ghiaţă, Ştefan Dimitrescu, Iosif Iser and Lucian Grigorescu, as well as drawings by Constantin Jiquidi, Theodor Pallady and Nicolae Tonitza. Their collection also included 19th century Romanian Orthodox icons and early prints from William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress. In 1982, the family donated these works to the National Museum, which set up a Baconsky Collection. 21 other works were donated to the Museum of Art Collections, where they also form a separate fund. Many of the books owned by Baconsky were donated by his brother Leon to the Library in Călimăneşti (which was consequently renamed the Anatol E. Baconsky Library).