Petre P. Carp - Literary Contribution

Literary Contribution

Carp's contribution to Romanian literature was incidental, and his choice of literary subjects evoked political priorities. That political propensity even touched his work as translator: as Nemoianu writes, Carp and the other early Junimists were trying to raise the expectations of Romanians by familiarizing them with the Western canon. According to Carp's biographer C. Gane, such cultural efforts were in the end "consumed by the torch of political passion". Writing in the 1940s, literary historian George Călinescu assessed that the first-generation Junimists largely failed at generating great literature; he includes Carp in a category of society members who are "either outside literature, or forgotten." Other readers have also argued that the Constitutionalist spokesman had effectively squandered his literary chances, a "prodigal son" who missed out on improving the literary content of Junimism. Nevertheless, Carp still managed to maintain a reputation as the "harshest and most cultured critic" among Junimea affiliates (according to Iacob Negruzzi).

Junimism was mainly directed at the Romanticism and didacticism of its liberal adversaries, demanding clarity in style and the preservation of classical unities. Carp's Neoclassicism was complete, whereas in other Junimists it blended with Romanticism. The entire club was, as theater historian Marina Cap Bun writes, "obsessed" with the work of Shakespeare. Carp's other references, upheld in front of other authors, include Jean de La Fontaine in poetry, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing in drama, and Arthur Schopenhauer in general aesthetics—his expectation that these models would interest his contemporaries were, according to cultural historian Z. Ornea, unrealistic. Against those with "corrupted" tastes, Carp also upheld a local figure, the Junimea poet Vasile Alecsandri.

Carp's work as a reviewer blended politics with aesthetics, a "ferociously destructive" or "excessively incisive" attack on the supremacy of dilettante Romantics. He was at times only interested in pure derision, and, together with Vasile Pogor, remains recognized as the "acerbic" Junimea ironist. In reference to Hasdeu's historiographic tracts, Carp wrote: "To even discuss his parchments is but the custom of parvenus." Similarly, in tackling Gheorghe Sion's politically charged fables, Carp asserted that nobody but Sion could ever comprehend them: "the only clear things about are portrait and the preface". In a more famous debate, he rejected Hasdeu's attempt to introduce a Romantic cult around Ion Vodă cel Cumplit. Hasdeu believed that, in his constant battle against the medieval aristocracy and the clergy, Ion Vodă served a national interest; contrarily, Carp wrote that "tyranny and cruelty" could never serve the public, and that Hasdeu's favorite was merely a glorified sadist. His stance on the issue was of contemporary interest, because Carp implicitly criticized those "Reds" who supported Domnitor Cuza's authoritarianism. However, Carp's later condemnation of Hasdeu's Răzvan şi Vidra "lacks common sense", according to George Călinescu. Carp contended that the work, a "mystification" of little artistic worth, should never even have been made public. Hasdeu defied his rival with similar jibes, and, when he put out a new edition of the work, even used Carp's article as a foreword.

In matters of literary style, Carp tried to follow his own guidelines, and played a minor but relevant part in the development of literary Romanian. He was interested in cohesion and modernity, as acknowledged by linguist I. E. Torouţiu: "Carp's language stepped out of its temporal framework and placed itself 60 years ahead in time . Carp has contributed to purifying and renovating our literary language". Between successive editions, his translations were purged of residual and odd neologisms, adopting pure phonemic orthography, and helped define standard theatrical jargon. Under his management, Térra newspaper had an informative and calm tone, defying the sensationalism of other press venues and adopting the standards of cultural Junimism. However, Carp passes for, at best, an acceptable writer—"very good", but still not "great", according to his Junimea colleague A. D. Xenopol. His Shakespearean translations are, according to Călinescu, "bad". It remains unclear whether Carp truly followed the English originals: when a journalist expressed his doubts about about his linguistic proficiency, Carp visited him and calmly addressed him what may have been English words of profanity. Carp's claim has again been placed in doubt when, generations later, it surfaced that he took his notes from the German-language Shakespeare editions.

Carp made his leading contribution with speeches, and is traditionally regarded as one of the top orators in his generation. According to Ion Bulei, his voice was shrill, with an exotic Moldavian lilt, but Carp always imposed himself by being "intelligent and concise", in sharp contrast with the "Romantic phraseology" of his contemporaries. As a public speaker, Carp sometimes resumed his earlier press debates with the PNL, notably by reproaching on his adversaries that they were enshrining Romania's own version of Whig history. He was especially upset by the accolades bestowed on PNL men for their supposed roles in obtaining Romanian independence. In 1886 Carp offered an alternative Junimist narrative of how "national sovereignty" came about, with only two actors: "the king and the foot soldier".

The PNL's own Ion G. Duca once acknowledged that P. P. Carp was "the most spiritual man of his time." However, according to Eliza Brătianu, the Conservative doyen easily made himself enemies with his wit, and was often misunderstood by his peers. Carp, she writes, had the character of a spoiled "only child", and was constantly "ahead of his time". His Junimist sarcasm was transferred into his political discourse, and some of his caustic remarks have been preserved in cultural memory. During the battle for Conservative leadership, Carp addressed Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino's claim to have the purity and transparency of crystals, informing him that see-through beakers were usually empty. In 1901, when deputy Grigore Trandafil metaphorically offered his own head if Carp would renounce fiscal reform, Carp retorted, deadpan: "I'd have no use for it." In reference to Take Ionescu's public speaking abilities, he argued: "Talent does not justify all avatars, just as beauty does not justify all forms of prostitution".