Perspective

Remembering Eminescu

Submitted by AE Stern

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It is an intriguing physiognomy.  One might mistake him for a cross between a Southern Italian and a Russian.  He almost looks like an Eastern European Mussolini.  As with many of his countrymen, his features combine the “Latin” and the “Slavic” looks.

To add to the exoticness of his appearance, the mid-to-late 19th century Romanian poet and editorialist may have had a bit of distant Armenian ancestry from two centuries before.  Armenian merchants had long ago travelled through the relatively cosmopolitan port towns of Moldavia, where they were usually welcomed by the locals as much more trustworthy alternatives to the economically aggressive Jewish merchants who carried out the same economic functions.  Another theory of where he got his dark features, also consistent with the history of Moldavia, is that his family tree included centuries-old Tatar origin.  (The anti-Turkic man himself preferred the Armenian theory.)  More recently in his lineage, and like many other Moldavians, he also had some Slavic blood.

North, south, east, and west all come together in this strangely striking face, a face from the seat of the ancient Getae.  It is a face that has become more iconic for his countrymen than it ever was for the author himself, whose ideal physical type was evidently blonde and blue-eyed.  This is the face of Mihai Eminescu, known in Romania as the country’s national poet, but virtually unknown in the English-speaking world.

Of peasant origin on his father’s side and descended from Moldavian aristocrats on his mother’s side, Eminescu did not put his inherited wealth to waste.  Educated in the German language since childhood, Eminescu was culturally, if not always geopolitically, an enthusiastic Germanophile.  As a young man, he studied in Vienna and in Bismarck’s Prussia, where he learned Sanskrit and immersed himself in the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer.  He was also a student of Eugen Dühring.

Eminescu had intellectual precedents in his own country, but he often made radical departures from them.  His ideas were influenced by a leading conservative Romanian cultural circle called Junimea, which originally reflected the interests of the old Moldavian boyar class that had been displaced by the liberal bourgeoisie in the 19th century.  However, there are significant differences between Eminescu’s philosophy and Junimism.

“The Junimists,” for example, “wanted literature to be separated from politics; to remain l’art pour l’art, with no social content desirable.”[1]  Eminescu rejected this doctrine.  He has also been accurately described as “less of an elitist” than the prototypical Junimist.[2]  Another difference is that “Junimism was opposed to anti-Semitism, considering it to be a barbarous affront to human intelligence.”[3]  Although Eminescu’s political and economic anti-Semitism was never unqualified and rarely extreme, he did explicitly distrust what he regarded as undue Jewish influence over his country.

One source on this subject claims Eminescu “stood out as the most eloquent spokesman of the radical anti-Semites.”[4]  Eminescu viewed this relatively recent immigrant population, by and large, as inherently unpatriotic.  He has been described as a fierce opponent of Jewish civil equality, arguing that “they presently constituted a danger to the Romanian nationality, when they did not possess equality of rights.  They would be so much the more a peril once naturalized.”[5]

On the other hand, he laid the ultimate blame on the liberal Romanian bourgeoisie, far more than on other ethnicities, for Romania’s social problems.  He also hated the initially Ottoman-appointed Phanar, which had misruled his country’s principalities from the 18th century to the early 19th century.  This accounts for the seemingly anti-Christian themes in his poetry, which should be seen as a form of protest against an institution he felt had ruined the Orthodox Church, not an attack on the Christian religion as such.  His ethnic nationalism was synthesized with a Moldavian local patriotism; Bucharest he regarded as having lost both its moral and its racial character to immigrants and liberal decadence.  One historian summarizes Eminescu’s views thus:

“Eminescu’s goal — he defines it as his ‘supreme law’ — was the preservation of his country and its ethnic identity… Consequently, the national interest must determine every political, educational, and cultural decision.  Thus, in Eminescu’s eyes, what he called ‘American liberalism’ (or Western humanitarian values) might imperil the uniqueness of the Romanian ethnic character, and should therefore be rejected… He rejected the incomplete and superficial Westernization of 1848.  Eminescu recognized only two positive classes in Romania: the nobility, and, above all, the peasantry.  Any development must be based on the peasant, and it must be an organic one… Eminescu was closer to the peasants than to the boyars.” [6]

Eminescu’s editorials combine ethnic nationalism, anti-liberalism, cultural traditionalism, authoritarian populism, and antibourgeois economic paternalism.  His poems deal with a wide variety of topics, including philosophy, nature, love, death, fantasy, history, and politics.  While the rhythmic musicality of his poetry usually gets lost in translation, the powerful brew of striking imagery and lucid ideas in his work is easy to understand in all languages.  And though the accusations of humorlessness leveled at Eminescu are false, it is true that the hilarious but hateful witticisms in his editorials do nothing to brighten his body of work’s grim tone.

Writing from the 1870s to the early 1880s, Eminescu spent the latter half of the 1880s in poor physical and mental health.  It has been widely theorized that his 1889 death came as a result of either medical malpractice, foul play, or both.  He was only 39 years old.

In Romania today, the media is mainly owned by George Soros and by World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder.  The contemporary “Romanian” media approaches Eminescu in a number of ways, but mostly two.  Either he is vilified for his political incorrectness, or his image is depoliticized and emasculated.

His metric style is attacked as too conservative and for being modeled on the golden age of German Romanticism; his rejection of new styles popular in contemporary France is taken as a sign of philistinism.  More maliciously, his work’s political content is dismissed as outdated or provincial.  In fact, his political thought is eerily farsighted in places, even if parts of it seem quaint.

However it happened, there was nothing glamorous about Eminescu’s death at a young age.  It robbed the world of a serious thinker and philosophical poet.  His nationalist ideology, like many others, was not intended for export, but can be learned from abroad just the same.

Resources:

http://www.gabrielditu.com/eminescu/contents.asp (poem translations)

http://thelegionofmichael.blogspot.com/2017/09/old-icons-and-new-icons-1877-essay-by.html (essay translation)

http://www.estcomp.ro/eminescu/home.html  (more poem translations)

[1] [Nagy-Talvera, Nicolae Iorga: A Biography, p.66]

[2] [Ibid, p.69]

[3] [Ibid, p.66]

[4]  [Oldson, William O., A Providential Anti-Semitism: Nationalism and Polity in Nineteenth Century Romania, p.115]

[5] [Ibid, p. 117]

[6] [Iorga, p.69]

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45 Comments

  • DOINA* by
    Mihai Eminescu

    From the Dniester to the Theiss
    FOREIGNERS have spread like LICE;
    All ROMANIANS complain:
    Breathing’s pain and life’s a bane.
    From Khotin down to the sea
    Muscovites make all folk flee;
    From the seashore to Khotin
    They waylay US with a GRIN;
    From the Danube to the North
    Creepy VERMIN have come fort;
    For YOUR lives they lie in wait
    Twisting your LOVE into HATE.
    Up on hilltops, in the valley,
    ALIENS forever rally;
    Safely through a mountain pass.
    Poor ROMANIANS have no chance,
    Like to crawfish they advance!
    They toil hard, but nothing earn,
    Autumns bring them no return;
    Summers, springs are scarcely theirs,
    To THEIR land they are not heirs.
    From Suceava to the South
    FOES pour from a dragon’s mouth-
    HORDES that nest, bring ills and drought;
    As they come by road and rail
    Even songs die in the dale;
    All the songsters fly afar:
    ALIEN corn is black as tar.
    Shadows of the thorns alone
    Now adorn the CHRISTIANS’ home!
    HOMELAND suckles US like mothers,
    Woods are the ROMANIANS’ brothers.
    But they bend, felled by the axe;
    Springs dry up, and waters lacks-
    Woods are poor, the country’s poor!

    HE WHO FAWNS ON FOREIGNERS
    MAY HIS HEART BE TORN BY CURS;
    WASTE AND RUIN STRIKE HIS HOUSE,
    PEOPLE CRUSH HIM FOR A LOUSE.

    Mighty Stephen, princely bloom,
    Lie no longer in your tomb!
    Leave the liturgy and prayer
    To the abbot’s pious care;
    Leave the priests and monks to look
    After relics, saints, the Book.
    Have them ring th’alarum bell
    Day and night – an endless knell –
    So the Lord may grant your dream
    That your folk you may redeem.
    Come and stand up from your mound!
    When WE hear your bugle sound
    All ROMANIANS rally round;
    If you blow your battle trump
    To a man Moldavia’ll jump;
    If you give a second call
    Woods shall help you, raise a wall!
    If you sound it once again
    ALIENS shall die in pain
    In the mountains, hills and plain –

    MAY THEY BE ENDEARED BY CROWS
    AND BY GALLOWS IN THICK ROWS!

    (The emphasis is mine.)
    * “Doina” is a Romanian folk music song and tune style

  • The Alt-Right wouldn’t exist as a Materialized Movement……

    Without the Intellectual Bourgeoisie……

    So, I pay My Respect…….

    Thank you for Creating a Home……

    ……for this Peasants Mind and Heart………

    Ha!!

  • I believe there should be a Co-Leadership of the Alt-Right………

    Maybe Spencer and Mosley together…….

    I’ve seen this Similar Model in the past…….

    Namely, when Spencer and Damigo addressed the Press post-Charlottesville……

    But, I was slightly disappointed with Spencer……

    He rarely let Damigo talk and kept interrupting him when he did talk…….

    The Reporters sensed this….

    It was Palpable…….

    Spencer is more educated than Damigo and a Better Speaker……..

    But, Damigo is more Physically Robust……

    And an Actual Warrior…….

    We need to Combine these Phenotypes/Characteristics……

    We need to Share the Podium/Microphone……..

    We need to Share Leadership……..

    Our Enemies are looking for any Weaknesses to Attack and Destroy us……..

    Let us not Destroy ourselves because of our Egoic Need for Personal Empowerment over Others…….

    • I’m still hard-pressed to recognize any reason for Mosley’s recent ascendancy. I’ve heard him interviewed and seen him speak in person. He is not charismatic. He is not inspirational. He’s an enigma to me. I was far more enamored with Damigo, but I’m a Jarhead, so that’s to be expected. Mosley just underwhelms in comparison. I hope his type all the best in life, but as far as leadership roles go, I’m looking forward to the day he goes back to working HR at some company.

  • In my Ideal Future White Ethnostate……..

    The Physically Weak and Gay Pseudo-Intellectual Bourgeousiec Elite……..

    Will be sent into the Fields for a Period of 5yr. Indentured Servitude……..

    Once the White Ethnostate emerges…….

    We will no longer require their Services……….

    The Real Men will then begin to build the State……..

    The 5yr. Indentured Field Servitude for the Pseudo-Bourgeousiec Fags will build their Fortitude and Physical Robustness……..

    They then can return to Society as Real Men……..

    The Fields will constantly have Manual Labor available because the White Ethnostate will spot and locate any and all Weak Fags who think Real Work is beneath them…….

    Or they are somehow Superior to the Proletariat…….

    No one will be Immune……

    Therefore, there will never be any need for Illegal Non-White Labor…….

    Problem Solved…….

    Ha!!

      • It’s better than using Black Slaves……

        Or bringing in Millions of Non-Whites to do the Labor for us……..

        Whites deserve the much of the Mess we have today………

        In the Pale Settlement……

        Rich White Aristocratic Noble Landowners brought in Jews who fled East…….

        ……to be the Overseers/Managers of the Slavic Peasantry Class…….

        So, this Mess has been going on for Centuries……

        How we break out of it is:

        We need a Completely New Paradigm of Society/Class Structure/Human Relations……

    • I think this is a good idea, at face value, at least. Despite being for intellectual fagginess as a mean to piss off all the proles nowadays in the Alt-right, I’m not really against menial labor. I was at times employed as basically a day worker on my grand-parents farm since mid adolescence. I really don’t see anything wrong with it, and it might make some nu-males be less annoying valley-girl accented cretins.

      • I’m all for Intellectualism……..

        I love Intellectualism……

        Alt-Right.com introduces me to New Ideas, History, Theories, and Facts all the time…….

        But, Eminescu was Right…….

        “Any development must be based on the peasant, and it must be an organic one… Eminescu was closer to the peasants than to the boyars.”

        When you can Combine…….Great Thinking, Learning, and Pondering…….

        With Dirt underneath the Fingernails from Manual Labor…….

        I believe that’s the Strongest and Most Robust Combination……….

        Richard Spencer is Becoming…….

        He’s putting himself into Danger Zones……..

        He already has the Intellect……..

        And now he’s experiencing the Physical Pain and Damage which will make him a Better Leader…….

        FACT……

      • It’s a horrible idea. Those fit for leadership should lead. Those fit for the fields should be in the fields. Any system that tries to push against the natural order is doomed to fail. Let things fall in their place naturally. Don’t try and force people to perform functions that they are not naturally suited for.

        • “Those fit for leadership should lead. Those fit for the fields should be in the fields. Any system that tries to push against the natural order is doomed to fail. Let things fall in their place naturally. Don’t try and force people to perform functions that they are not naturally suited for.”

          Ha!!!

          Thanks for the Laugh…….

        • The couple of years menial labor is to be seen as part of the elite’s *education*. No one wants to put two digit IQ peasants in charge and even Chinese scientists who got caught in the cultural revolution sometimes look back fondly at having worked the soil. Of course, this should only be limited to males, since pretty young women have a tendency to get raped if not outright resorting to whoring if put in this type of a situation.

          • This could also be achieved with mandatory military service which I see as bascally a good idea. It seems like a waste to send the best minds of a nation to the fields to pick cotton, and elevating the proles undeservedly. Basically a true meritocracy should be in place that allows people to do what they were meant to do. Not the PC bureaucracy that is in place now that prevents this from happening.

      • Relax, Buddy……

        It was Mostly in Jest…….

        Welcome Back…….

        Tell us all about how we should follow Franco, Mussolini, and Hitler to our Salvation…….

        I name you the New Leader of the Alt-Fail…….

        “Those fit for leadership should lead. Those fit for the fields should be in the fields. Any system that tries to push against the natural order is doomed to fail. Let things fall in their place naturally. Don’t try and force people to perform functions that they are not naturally suited for.”

        Ha!!!

        • I didn’t go anywhere. And you can’t follow them, their all dead. What they all had in common was natural leadership qualities, which admittedly Spencer lacks. He’s an “intellectual” not a leader. The Alt-Right still doesn’t have a leader per se. When one emerges, we will all know.

          Wanna elaborate on why giving leadership positions to the uneducated and making intellectuals work the fields is a good idea? And how is it different from Mao’s cultural revolution? Why do you think your idea will turn out better than Maos?

          • Peasants can become Leaders……

            And Leaders can become Peasants………

            Richard Spencer is still Becoming……

            And I tend to think that Co-Leadership is better at this point…….

            You’re reading into things too much……

            It wasn’t a Policy Description……

            It was a Sentiment……

            A Justified and Rational Sentiment……..

            There will be ZERO White Ethnostates in the Future…..

            With Gay Weak Bourgeoisiec Hands/Bodies in an Aristocratic Upper Class Leadership…….

            White History has lasted Thousands of Years…….

            And it is Replete with Data for what happens in these cases……….

            The only way to make White Nationalism work……….

            Is to come up with New Ideas and Paradigms for Constructing a Society……..

            (And please start using there, they’re, their…….properly)

          • I’m not a white nationalist and I don’t care for a white ethnostate. “White” isn’t an ethnicity or a culture or anything besides a skin colour to me. My goal is 1) the destruction of the current power structure in all western countries 2) the formation of organic states based on shared ethnicity, culture, language, beliefs, lived experiences etc. White nationalism is just smaller tent civic nationalism.

            And I’ll use them however I want to. Don’t be a grammer commie. I don’t proof read my shit posts.

          • Grammar Commie or Nazi??

            Ha!!

            You couldn’t bring yourself to use the Colloquial……

            My goal??

            I want the Alt-Right to Grow and reach more White People…..

            This is a Noble Movement……

            Minus some Nazi Baggage……….

            You don’t seem concerned with that………

            And that’s the difference between you and me…….

          • Nope. 100 people who are on the same page and are committed to the same goals are more powerful than an incoherent mob of 1000 without any common goals.

          • 100 Committed Neo-Nazis………

            Vs.

            1000 White Identitarian/Nationalists in a sometimes Confused and Chaotic Embryonic Movement…….

            I’ll stick with the Latter……

            The Alt-Right…….

            You can have the Former……

            The Alt-Fail……

          • LOL shrugs. You don’t know History too well clearly. Fascism was never self destructive. Quality of life improved in Italy under Fascism, which is why the Eternal Anglos kiked us. It was murdered. It didn’t commit suicide. Liberal Democracy is on its final legs and self destructing as we speak though.

          • Sigh………

            When you decide, Johnny Fascismo……..

            To move from Ideology…….

            Into Reality………

            Then, we’ll see what you’re really made of……….

            I don’t really have a Set Ideology………

            I have Dreams and Goals………

            But, I try to see Reality as it is……..

            And that’s what separates the Alt-Right from the Alt-Fail…….

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