Eugen Schileru or Schilleru (pen name of Eugen Schiller; September 13, 1916 – August 10, 1968) was a Romanian art, film and literary critic, essayist and translator. Born in Brăila, he was of part-Jewish descent, being often described (and, during World War II, persecuted) as a Jew. He entered literary life in the early 1930s, while enrolled at Nicolae Bălcescu High School; he then attended the University of Bucharest, specializing in aesthetics, but also taking degrees in law and pedagogy. As a student, Schilleru became involved with the outlawed Romanian Communist Party and its Union of Communist Youth. He only got his break into the mainstream after the anti-fascist coup of August 1944, when he joined the new cultural establishment—he was initially involved with the generic democratic press, including National Liberal Party's Viitorul, and wrote on a variety of topics; with time, he was exclusively employed by communist papers, and had to embrace the core tenets of Socialist Realism.
For a while after 1948, Romania's new communist regime promoted Schileru, assigning him to a publishing company, to the Romanian Academy's library, and finally to the Nicolae Grigorescu Fine Arts Institute. He was secretly opposed to Socialist Realism, and offered moral support to writers repressed under its cultural guidelines. He alternated this dissident stance with shows of obedience, and used the party's dogmas against more senior colleagues, including George Călinescu and Petru Comarnescu. This interval came to an end in 1952, when Schileru himself was repressed by an "anti-cosmopolitan campaign". Though not entirely banned by the communist censors, he was pushed outside the literary mainstream, and prevented from advancing professionally. His reputation among nonconformists was instead consolidated, and he took his teaching to informal settings, including taverns and bars.
As a corollary of de-Stalinization in the mid-to-late 1950s, Romania also began abandoning Socialist Realism, and Schileru was able to return as an approved author—initially, with film chronicles celebrating Italian neorealism. He was then primarily active as a lecturer and columnist on art and literary topics, drawing both praise, for his innovative approach, and criticism, for his lengthy digressions and lack of academic focus. He only published a few of his scholarly works, including a 1966 monograph on Rembrandt, before his death from cancer at age 51. His main series of essays, revealing his core theories on art criticism, were published in installments over the next decade.
Biography Early life Schileru was born in Brăila on September 13, 1916, into what later sources describe as a "family of intellectuals.""Criticul Eugen Schileru a încetat din viață", in Scînteia, August 13, 1968, p. 4 His parents were Henri Schiller, an otorhinolaryngologist, and his wife Maria (née Demetrescu); his father was Jewish and his mother ethnic Romanian. Aurel Sasu, "Schileru, Eugen", in Aurel Sasu (ed.), Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române, Vol. II, pp. 545–546. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. In a more detailed report, poet George Astaloș, who had met and befriended Schileru in his later years, recalls being told that Henri, a man of German Jewish extraction, was also a medic and colonel in the Romanian Land Forces, while Maria had been born to a wealthy shepherd from Țara Moților. Schileru took a critical view of destitute Jews, once telling Astaloș: "There's nothing sadder on this earth than an impoverished Jew of an alcoholic Jewess. [...] A Jew, once he turns to poverty, never comes out of it!""Noi. Etc... etc...", in Minimum, Vol. XXII, Issue 251, February 2008, p. 23 According to fellow art historian Petru Comarnescu, he was himself a practicing Christian, with "something Dostoevskyian in his nature".Comarnescu, p. 28
Eugen was first educated locally, at the Schwartzman Jewish–Romanian School, whose other alumni included Mihail Sebastian, Ilarie Voronca, Oscar Lemnaru, and Ury Benador.Mihai Iovănel, Evreul improbabil. Mihail Sebastian: o monografie ideologică, p. 148. Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 2012. He then attended Brăila's Nicolae Bălcescu High School (1930–1934), during which time he began writing for local publications such as Columna lui Traian (1931), Premergătorul (1932–1933), and Tribuna (1934). He is tentatively identified as the pseudonymous editor of another magazine, Stiletul ("The Stiletto"), which put out a few issues in 1933.Moangă, p. 177 Also then, he collaborated on the literary review Start, put out by Ștefan Baciu of Brașov.Ștefan Baciu, "Despre... Ștefan Baciu", in Transilvania, Vol. XIX, Issue 2, February 1990, p. 22 He was associating with Sebastian, who introduced him to the successful novelist Mircea Eliade, who was conferencing in Brăila. He felt snubbed by Eliade, who interrupted their conversation to ask: "Where might one go for a good chorba in this Brăila of yours?" The memory of the incident haunted Schileru, and prompted Eliade to apologize in his later diaries."Cronica lunară. Proză", in Transilvania, Vol. XIV, Issue 3, March 1985, p. 52
Schileru went on to study at the literature and philosophy faculty of the University of Bucharest (1934–1938), specializing in "philosophical aesthetics". His younger friend, the art historian Geo Șerban, notes that he arrived in Bucharest alongside another author, Dolfi Trost, and that both were fleeing the rapidly declining Brăila.Geo Șerban, "Istorie literară. Ninel, darnicul", in Observator Cultural, Vol. X, Issue 247, December 2009, p. 17 Both of them befriended Miron Radu Paraschivescu, who supported the outlawed Romanian Communist Party (PCR or PCdR), and, through him, became friends with non-communist liberals such as Mariana Șora. This period saw them opposing the rise of fascism, as embodied by the Iron Guard; members of the latter took their revenge by once beating up Trost, who had to be hospitalized for his injuries.Cornel Ungureanu, Mariana Șora, "Literatura română, azi: Mariana Șora", in Orizont, Vol. II, Issue 29, July 1990, pp. 8–9 Schileru was reportedly welcomed into the Democratic Students' Front, an anti-fascist group formed around Gogu Rădulescu; through this sort of affiliations, he was an adherent by proxy of the then-illegal Union of Communist Youth (UTC). The latter organization was a branch of the similarly outlawed PCR—in a 1972 writer Nicolae Dan Fruntelată included Schileru and Virgile Solomonidis on a list of PCR/UTC men who, at some point before 1939, had formed a party cell within the university's Faculty of Letters.Nicolae Dan Fruntelată, "UTC 50. Ștafeta celor cinci decenii. 'Celula de la Litere' sau deceniul al doilea al studenției uteciste", in Viața Studențească, Vol. XVII, Issue 11, March 1972, pp. 8–9 Visual artist Mircia Dumitrescu, who was Schileru's student and friend later in life, also argues that his professor was a PCR member during the underground period."Eveniment. Premiile Contemporanul – 2011 (I). Toamna 130", in Contemporanul, Vol. XXIII, Issue 1, January 2012, p. 25
Schileru was additionally a contributor to left-wing reviews ranging from Viața Romînească to Cuvântul Liber and Reporter. He became a "journalist of note with his 1930s contributions in the [communist] party's legal magazines".D. Olmazu, "Cartea de artă. Eugen Schileru, Scrisoare de dragoste", in Scînteia, January 26, 1972, p. 4 Under the pen name Adrian Schileru, he published in the Marxist review Era Nouă in 1936. He completed his mandatory service in the Land Forces alongside fellow students such as Gellu Naum, Silvian Iosifescu, Mihnea Gheorghiu, Al. I. Ștefănescu, Miron Constantinescu, and Alexandru Balaci. As Balaci recalls, the unit they trained with did not provide them with uniforms; Schileru, as an "indigent boy", begged his commanding officer not to have him perform exercises that would have ruined his suit.V. Firoiu, ...și eu am fost recrut, p. 120. Bucharest: Editura Militară, 1974
Wartime persecution and communist rise At university, Schileru studied under various scholars, including George Oprescu, and graduated with a degree in aesthetics; his thesis dealt with art and pathological manifestations. His advancement in this field was reportedly blocked by the cultural establishment, including the same Oprescu.Comarnescu, p. 28 Schileru had enlisted at the Bucharest Faculty of Law in parallel to his cultural studies, and, in 1939, also received a law degree. In 1938, he had received a vacation scholarship from the French Institute of Advanced Studies in Romania. Also that year, he graduated from a pedagogical institute. This allowed him to take up positions as a schoolteacher in Bucharest, moving from Matei Basarab to Gheorghe Lazăr. During World War II, he frequented Veac, a literary circle formed around the anti-fascist poet Ovidiu Rîureanu."Ovidiu Rîureanu", in România Literară, Issue 36/1992, p. 15 Under Ion Antonescu, Romania was drawn into an alliance with Nazi Germany, and adopted policies of racial exclusion against Jews. Listed as Jewish, and banned from publishing, Schileru was still able to find work at Ecoul daily, through friends such as Paraschivescu and Virgil Ierunca.Dan C. Mihăilescu, "Virgil Ierunca, subiect de teză doctorală", in Revista 22, Vol. XXXII, Issue 24, December 2021, p. 11
Schileru was welcomed into the literary and journalistic mainstream during the war's later stages (after the anti-fascist coup of August 1944). Immediately after this event, he was employed as culture editor for the National Liberal mouthpiece, Viitorul,Geo Șerban, "Aniversare. De pe un pisc al confirmărilor", in Observator Cultural, Vol. VIII, Issue 129, August 2007, p. 13 which also hosted some of his own articles. According to reports preserved by the Securitate, Schileru was for a while included on the editorial staff for the PCR's leading daily, România Liberă.Mihai Pelin, "Dosar Ion Caraion", in România Literară, Issues 13–14/1999, p. 25 He then collaborated as a columnist on Anton Dumitriu's daily, Democrația, as well as on the Marxist Veac Nou. His lecture on Jewish writers and their contribution to the French Resistance was arranged by the Jewish Democratic Committee in December 1945."Informații. Conferințe", in România Liberă, December 3, 1945, p. 2 In March 1946, Veac Nou hosted his overview of Soviet cinema, which also presented itself as a guide for uninformed Romanians."Cultura și arta. Carnet", in Lupta Moldovei, March 26, 1946, p. 2 In May, he was inducted into the Romanian Writers' Society."Dela Societatea Scriitorilor Români", in Ultima Oră, May 3, 1946, p. 2 He was also a regular with film and art chronicles Revista Fundațiilor Regale and in George Călinescu's Lumea, where he also produced translations of French works by Benjamin Fondane. Future screenwriter Radu Cosașu, who grew up reading the Lumea columns, argues that, over time, Schileru became especially respected and somewhat feared as a film chronicler.Radu Cosașu, "Din vieața unui extremist de centru. În vertijul acelei vremi", in Dilema Veche, Vol. I, Issue 28, July 2004, p. 16