- Bilete de Papagal
"Bilete de Papagal" was a
Romania nleft-wing publication edited byTudor Arghezi , begun as a daily newspaper and soon after issued as a weekly satirical and literarymagazine . It was published at three different intervals: 1928-1930, 1937-1938, 1944-1945.Name
The title made reference to a once-popular form of
busking andfortune telling , one involving a person playing abarrel organ while a trainedparrot would pick up predictions written on scraps of folded paper that were placed in an open box (the notes were known as "bilete de papagal" - "parrot tickets"). The use implied a very small format; Arghezi, who later adopted the "bilet" as an original form of shortprose , explained his style choices in theeditorial for the first issue (February 2, 1928):"A newspaper this small has never before been published, not even among ants. Lacking a large newspaper in which to write important stupidities, the editor of this
rolling paper gives light to what is less than a flyer and confines himself to publishing grinning tidbits." [Arghezi, "Bilete de papagal", in "Din presa...", p. 172]In 1929,
Demostene Botez wrote:"Having the rectangular and slender format of a restaurant menu, "Bilete de Papagal" has signified, for more than a year, day by day, the purest literary manifestation." [Botez]
History
"Bilete de Papagal" accepted contributions from both traditionally-minded and modernist authors, partly reflecting Arghezi's own attitudes towards literature. While celebrating the classics of
Romanian literature , it rejected the dominant nationalist school and especially itsfar right tendencies, rejecting especially the neo-Orthodoxaesthetics developed byNichifor Crainic 's "Gândirea ", as well asIron Guard mysticism .Critical of Romania's royal dynasty, "Bilete de Papagal" was not published after King
Carol II established his authoritarian regime, and was only issued again after the end of successive dictatorships for the larger part ofWorld War II . It was, however, the basis for a similarly-titled column in the newspaper "Informaţia Zilei", contributed by Arghezi until 1943 - when it was banned byIon Antonescu 's government for publishing the virulent "Baroane" ("Thou Baron"), a satire ofNazi Germany 's ambassador to Romania,Manfred Freiherr von Killinger (Arghezi himself was interned nearTârgu Jiu ). It ceased publication for a third and final time in 1945, after its editor was singled out as an adversary to theRomanian Communist Party (which was strengthening its grip on Romanian society during thePetru Groza government).Notable contributors
*
Felix Aderca
*Mihai Beniuc
*Geo Bogza
*Eugeniu Botez
*Otilia Cazimir
*Benjamin Fondane
*Eugène Ionesco
*Mihail Sadoveanu
*Ionel Teodoreanu
*Păstorel Teodoreanu
*George Topîrceanu
*Paul Zarifopol Notes
References
*Eugen Marinescu (ed.), "Din presa literară românească (1918-1944)", Ed. Albatros, Bucharest, 1986
*Demostene Botez , "Miscellanea. Bilete de papagal", in "Viaţa Românească ", January 1929, pp.121-122
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.