Ilarie Voronca

Who was Ilarie Voronca?

Ilarie Voronca was a Romanian-French avant-garde poet and essayist.

Voronca was of Jewish ethnicity. In his early years, he was connected with Eugen Lovinescu's Sburătorul group, making his debut in 1922 in the Sburătorul literar. Voronca's poems of the period, gloomy and passive in tone, are in marked contrast to his later works.

Only a year later, Voronca adopted a change in style, adhering to the modernist manifesto published in Contimporanul and contributing to literary magazines such as Punct and Integral. He and Stephan Roll issued a Constructivism-inspired magazine entitled 75 HP, of which only one number was ever printed.

In 1927, Voronca published a volume of poetry in Paris. Entitled Colomba after his wife Colomba Voronca, it featured two portraits drawn by Robert Delaunay. Colomba marked Voronca's new change in style: he had become a surrealist. Soon after that, his creations gained a regularity, and he was published frequently — especially after he settled in France and began writing in the French language. There followed: L'Apprenti fantôme, Beauté de ce monde, Arbre. Several of his works were illustrated with drawings by Constantin Brâncuși, Marc Chagall, or Victor Brauner.

Famous Quotes:

• Cred că poetul e într-o perpetuă revelaţie pe care proza n-o aduce, ceva rezervat celor puţini.
• Singura certitudine: poemul. Singura cuminecătură: poemul. Luaţi, mâncaţi, acesta este trupul şi sângele nostru: poemul.
• Dar, uite, eu, dintre toate naţiunile, aleg imagi-naţiunea.