Complete Poetical Works and Selected Prose, 1881-1957

by George Bacovia

George Bacovia (1881-1957) is regarded as a symbolist, existential poet who has been likened to the Pre-Raphaelites as well as Edgar Allen Poe, no doubt because his world is set at twilight and obsessed with death. Bacovia's prose and prose poems reveal his concern for the underdog and his yearning for new ideals. His descriptions of people and places are often set against a lyrical background and linked to an internal dialogue or a rhetorical question. They are sensual with powerful visual images, which also reveal Bacovia's introspective eroticism.

Genres: Poetry, Romanian Literature

422 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

George Bacovia (the pen name of George Vasiliu; September 17 [O.S. September 4] 1881–May 22, 1957) was a Romanian symbolist poet.[1]
Bacovia was born in Bacău as the son of a merchant, Dimitrie Vasiliu, and Zoiţa Vasiliu (née Gheorghe Langa). He married Agatha Grigorescu in 1928, and then moved to Bucharest where he lived until his death.

Reviews

[Benito · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's face it, Romanians, god bless em, aren't renowned for being the cheeriest people on the planet, but the beauty of a dark, lyrical poet like Bacovia is that the verse is so stark and nihilistic that in the end it does cheer you up just because he is willing to reach down into such dark chasms of his psyche that at times the pessimism and self-deprecation border on self-parody. Before you know or understand what's happened you're on the 308 bus laughing at a poem about something dead found in a dark, frigid forest whilst wandering lost in melancholia on a mud-strewn path - your only glimmer of hope being that perhaps death will welcome you into it's black-velvety arms this winter. Perhaps you had to be there...

[John Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Bacovia was the pen name of George Vasiliu, a Romanian poet who lacked a certain anhedonic quality to his poems--anhedonia, after all, implies joy at least in some theoretical sense.

Bacovia lived a modest a life in Bucharest with his wife Agatha, a schoolteacher. Bacovia hated himself, his appearance, his frail and sickly disposition (he suffered from lung infections his entire life). The few chances he was presented with to enter the society of his time, he spurned. He refused to submit to the discipline of the military and was consistently offended by the rejection of his poems. He was not without recognition, however: his first volume, PLUMB, met with some critical appraisal, as did his next volume, "Yellow Sparks".

The work has been compared to Poe, Verlaine, but also to Rimbaud and the surrealists. It would seem that M. Bacovia had a wild enthusiasm for color, any color, his chief enthusiasm along with death, funeral parlors, and death. One of his favorite colors was Black.
Black

Charred flowers, a mass of black ...
Black coffins, burnt, of metal,
Funeral garments of charcoal,
Deep black, a mass of black ...
1881-1957

BLACK

Dream-sparks flickering ... a mass of black;
Charred, love was smouldering -
Scent of burnt feathers, and it was raining ...
Black, only a mass of black ...

His "morbidezza", his consistent sickly air, is not one bit affected. An important poet who is too often avoided; credit should be given to Brenda Waters for this new translation, and to this website for pretty much keeping him on the map till now:

http://www.aboutromania.com/bacovia.html

[Onisim Pînzariu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nu sunt sigur ca o sa îmi găsesc acum cuvintele sa vorbesc despre cartea asta ca un tot, dar o sa scriu pe blog despre fiecare volum in parte si revin și aici.

[celtic sun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tuturor le pare sumbru,ceea ce infatiseaza prin poeziile lui sunt elemente intunecate ale sufletului uman.Cu toate acestea, trebuie sa admitem ca simbolismul romanesc a stat si va sta intotdeauna in mainile acestui artist,un mare creator de versuri si sentimente.

[Lucia-Maria Petcu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cred că abia la 19, aproape cei 20 de ani ai mei am înțeles.

[Kirby is reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cel mai bun poet roman

[G.R. Yeates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Depression, death, slaughterhouses and cemeteries. Skies painted in the colours of lead, streets darker and a life that is heavier still. This is the shadowy twilight of George Bacovia's poetry.

[Fraser Burnett]

I'll be honest, I thought the 'translations' in this edition were dreadful in comparison to Peter Jay's 1980 Minerva edition.