Lucian Boz

Lucian Boz (also rendered as Lucien Boz; November 9, 1908 – March 14, 2003) was a Romanian literary critic, essayist, novelist, poet and translator.

Raised in Bucharest, he had a lawyer's training but never practiced, instead opting for a career in journalism and literary criticism.

The Bozes moved to the national capital Bucharest in 1909, where Lucian attended Gheorghe Lazăr High School.

He then enrolled in the Law faculty of the University of Bucharest, where his professors included Istrate Micescu, Constantin C. Stoicescu and Vintilă Dongoroz.

Boz's first published work, a biographical sketch of Walt Whitman, appeared in Premiera magazine in 1927.

When he was aged nineteen, Tiparnița Literară published his review of Ion Barbu's poetry.

As he himself noted, he then used this text as a reference to be hired by Ion Vinea at Facla.

Vinea preferred to have him work for the literary magazine, Contimporanul, though Facla also carried Boz's literary chronicles.

An active participant in the 1930s cultural scene, he theorized an empathetic and "enthusiastic" approach to literature, which was in tune with the avant-garde tendencies of his lifetime.

He was Contimporanul's editorial secretary in 1930–1931, only quitting when he had to perform his mandatory service in the Romanian Land Forces; his replacement was a young Eugène Ionesco.

A member of the Eugen Lovinescu-led Sburătorul literary society, Boz contributed to Isac Ludo's Adam, Adevărul Literar și Artistic, Capricorn, Mișcarea, unu (where he used the pseudonym Vasile Cernat), Discobolul, and Viața Românească.

He began frequenting literary cafes, befriending, among others, Ionesco, Alexandru Sahia, and Ionathan X. Uranus.

With Ludo and Benador, he also attended a Jewish literary salon at Slova printing house, where he recalled running into Barbu Lăzăreanu, Theodor Loewenstein-Lavi, and Henric Streitman.

Boz was a noted promoter of literary modernism, and, according to scholar Paul Cernat, "the only enthusiastic supporter of the homegrown avant-garde".

In Contimporanul, he introduced Romanians to the work of James Joyce.

His is seen by Cernat as his "most important" piece of commentary, even though (as noted by Arleen Ionescu) his reading of Ulysses contains "errors of interpretation" which "today [...] appear hilarious."

In March 1930, in Facla, he published the only interview ever granted by Constantin Brâncuși, then on a visit to Bucharest.

The same newspaper carried his posthumous homage to the avant-garde hero Urmuz (whom he described as a "reformer of Romanian poetry" and as a local equivalent of Rimbaud) and his praise of modernists such as Jacques G. Costin.

At Zodiac, a literary sheet put out by I. Peltz, Boz wrote similar reviews of literary works by Vinea and Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu.

In 1931, Adevărul daily hosted his homage to Tristan Tzara.

Alongside Em.

After a stint editing the review Ulise in 1932–1933, he became a contributor to more major newspapers, including Adevărul, Cuvântul Liber, and Vremea; he was also for a while an editorial secretary at Ion Vinea's Contimporanul.

Earning attention for his critical treatment of authors from Mihai Eminescu to Urmuz, Boz was singled out on the literary scene for his Jewish origins.

Ungher, Boz edited his own publication, the avant-garde magazine Ulise, which appeared in four numbers in 1932–1933.

Largely a continuation of Contimporanul, it grouped around it an eclectic circle, comprising Ionesco, Uranus, alongside Arșavir Acterian, Dan Botta, Emil Botta, Marcel Bresliska, Barbu Brezianu, Petru Comarnescu, Virgil Gheorghiu, Anton Holban, Eugen Jebeleanu, Alexandru Robot, Horia Stamatu, Simion Stolnicu, Octav Șuluțiu, and writer-cartoonist Neagu Rădulescu.

He graduated in 1934 but never practiced, instead entering a career in the press and in literary criticism.

His Romanian career was cut short with the advent of a censorious authoritarian and antisemitic government in 1937.

Moving to Paris, he graduated from the École pratique des hautes études and settled into journalistic work, but was displaced by the German occupation.

Upon this, Boz joined the French Resistance and was then interned at Drancy.

His plight drew the attention of a fellow Romanian exile, Emil Cioran, who networked on his behalf; Boz was subsequently freed, becoming one of very few Jews to escape alive.

Resuming his reporter's activity, and contributing to Le Monde, Boz divided his time between France and Romania from 1944 to 1947, debuting as an autofictional novelist and translating from Jean Bruller.

Though initially tolarated by the Romanian Communist Party, he never returned to his native country after a Communist regime was fully established.

After a few more years in France, he left for Australia in 1951, and worked for a while as a welder.

He was eventually hired by Air France to head its local office, and Boz's literary activity abated until his retirement in 1974.

Afterwards, he republished some of his old work in photocopy and contributed to Romanian cultural activities in his adopted country.

Never a declared opponent of the regime, his work was nonetheless unwelcome in Communist Romania, and had to wait until after the 1989 Revolution to regain critical favor.

During the 1990s and until soon before his death, Boz contributed material to a Romanian magazine.

In 2000, his short roman à clef, dealing with the war years, was printed as his last major contribution.

Originally from Hârlău, Iași County, Boz was born to Jewish parents Mendel, later wounded and decorated in World War I, and Clara (née Sapina).

Clara also gave birth to Lucian's elder brother, Marcel, who worked as a physician in France; close relatives included Marcela, wife of novelist Ury Benador.