Mihai or Mihail Gafița (Francized Mikhaï Gafitza;Alexandru Talex, "A notre ami disparu (M. Gafitza)", in Cahiers Panaït Istrati, Issue 6, May 1977, p. 5 October 21, 1923 – March 4, 1977) was a Romanian literary historian, critic, editor, and children's novelist, also noted as a communist activist and politician. He began his career during World War II, with pieces published in a youth magazine put out by Universul. During his time studying at the University of Bucharest, he became involved in left-wing agitation, joining the National Popular Party and serving as chairman of its youth sections, as well as of the National Union of Romanian Students. Having been embraced by the Romanian Communist Party (known then as the Workers' Party), Gafița emerged as one of its interpreters of Romanian literature, and excelled in particular as a writers' biographer. The late 1940s saw him espousing Socialist Realism, with noted fanaticism in public, but also working to reinstate disgraced authors such as Ion Vinea. He was controversially involved with coaxing the acclaimed writer Cezar Petrescu, converting him to communism and encouraging him to rewrite his novels on Socialist-Realist manner; Gafița also joined the ranks of communist censors by bracketing out thousands of pages from Petrescu's last novel.
In the mid-1960s, Gafița was director of a state-run publishing venue, Editura pentru Literatură, and was turning away from political writing—earning praise for his monographs on Petrescu and Duiliu Zamfirescu. His Stalinist positioning was poorly reviewed during the advent of national communism, which initially favored a cultural liberalization. Gafița was able to survive politically; he formed a lasting partnership with the unconventional novelist Marin Preda, which, in 1970, saw them taking over as managers of the reestablished publishing house, Cartea Românească. Gafița's stated resolve, that he would reach out to dissident writers, earned him attention from the Securitate secret police, and left him exposed during the Neo-Stalinist turn codified by the July Theses (1971). It was also put to the test by the anti-communist novelist Paul Goma, with whom Gafița had a major conflict, and on whom he informed to the Securitate.
Gafița's collections of critical essays continued to be written from a Marxist perspective. These were published in the mid-1970s, earning him approval, though not also general acclaim, for their explorations into 19th-century literary culture, as well as for their gentle humor. The author was crushed to death, alongside poet Anatol E. Baconsky, during the March 1977 earthquake. He left a troubled legacy, being resented for his role as a censor, though still appreciated for his biographical research. He was survived by two sons, Gabriel and Mihnea Gafița, both of whom took up careers in letters. Gabriel's involvement in the diplomatic service was tinged by controversy upon revelations that he had become a Securitate informant after his father's death.
Biography Early life and political engagement A native of Baia, in present-day Suceava County,Marin Mincu, "Dicționar de istorie literară contemporană. Addenda. Mihai Gafița", in Luceafărul, Vol. X, Issue 39, September 1967, p. 7 Gafița was the brother of children's author Viniciu Gafița."Lumea românescă. Deces", in Minimum, Vol. XX, Issue 227, February 2006, p. 42 Mihai himself took pride in connecting with the literary traditions of historical Moldavia and Bukovina. He expressed these in a 1946 letter to Tudor Arghezi, where he discussed his affection for Moldavian novelist I. Dragoslav.Tudor Arghezi, "Tablete. Ion Dragoslav", in Adevărul, September 26, 1946, p. 2 He himself debuted as writer in 1942, with texts published by the children's supplement of Universul daily (Universul Copiilor). He preserved a link with that publication into 1943, when, as "one of the strangest coincidences" of his career, he assisted Alexandru George with debuting there—"alas!, not as a writer, but as an illustrator".Alexandru George, "Cărți—Oameni—Fapte. Fața neștiută a scriitorului", in Viața Românească, Vol. XXX, Issue 10, October 1977, pp. 64–65 Relations between Gafița and George chilled in later decades, with the latter noting in 1977 that "[Gafița] had no sympathy for the undersigned author, although he sometimes proved a decisive help in helping with him publish his works".
During his years as a literature student at the University of Bucharest (graduated 1948), Gafița joined the left-wing National Popular group, and became leader of its student branch.G. Brătescu, Ce-a fost să fie. Notații autobiografice, pp. 158, 170, 189. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2003. A 1952 report by the Workers' Party looked into the possibility that Gafița had previously affiliated with the anti-communist National Liberals and had served as chairman of their youth branch.Mihai Stoian, "În așteptarea 'omului nou'", in România Literară, Issue 1/2001, p. 14 In June 1946, he was elected to the presidium of the National Congress of Democratic Students, wherein he represented his alma mater."Congresul național al studenților democrați. Ziua I-a", in Adevărul, June 12, 1946, p. 3 He was subsequently promoted by the nascent communist regime. Elected chairman of the National Union of Romanian Students (UNSR) by June 1947,"Informații. Conferințe", in România Liberă, June 7, 1947, p. 2 he organized auditions for an Amateur Student Theater—alongside fellow activists Dan Deșliu and Silvian Iosifescu."Sacul cu noutăți. Examenele la teatrul universitar continuă", in Rampa, September 14, 1947, p. 2 In November, he represented the UNSR at a student conference in Sofia, People's Republic of Bulgaria."Informații", in Universul, November 15, 1947, p. 2
Also serving as editor of Universul Copiilor in his student years, Gafița printed his own fairy-tale volume, Norocel și Zmeul Zmeilor ("Lucky Boy and the Boss of the Zmei"), in 1946.George Dimisianu, "Critica. Nobilă dăruire", in România Literară, Issue 11/1977, p. 11 He put our several children's novels, either as books or in feuilleton. By 1950, when he began his career in teaching at various elementary schools, he had been inducted into the Workers' Party and had embraced Socialist Realism. He was employed for a while as one of the teachers at the Mihai Eminescu School of Literature and Literary Criticism, which functioned as an annex of the Romanian Writers' Union (USR), involved in the creation of a new literary elite "that would be entirely devoted to the single-party ideology".Cristian Vasile, Literatura și artele în România comunistă. 1948–1953, pp. 277–279. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2010. According to a critical review published in 2003 by literary historian Alex. Ștefănescu, Gafița was a resident expert on communist dogmas, and, on such grounds, was dispatched to recruit for the cause an interwar novelist, Cezar Petrescu. Gafița personally handled the project whereby Petrescu rewrote his earlier epics to weave in a Socialist-Realist message.Alex. Ștefănescu, "La o nouă lectură. Cezar Petrescu", in România Literară, Issue 5/2003, pp. 10–11 Ștefănescu also notes Gafița's role in applying communist censorship: after Petrescu's death, the editor reduced the posthumous novel Vladim sau drumul pierdut from a 3,000-page manuscript to a 500-page published version, "purified of any demobilizing sadness."
In 1952, Gafița reported to the Workers' Party on the success of propaganda literature, criticizing authors such as Eusebiu Camilar, Ben Corlaciu, Alexandru Kirițescu and Cella Serghi, all of whom had presented unsatisfactory novels or plays depicting the collectivization of agriculture; he opposed these to the more orthodox writings of Mihu Dragomir, Petru Dumitriu, and Ioanichie Olteanu.Selejan, pp. 24–27, 89–90 In June of that year, Viața Romînească journal hosted his praise of Aurel Mihale's Ogoare noi ("New Fields"), seen by Gafița as the quintessential collectivization novel (though still imperfect, with its failure to underscore issues of class conflict). In May 1953, the same magazine hosted Gafița's mea culpa, in which he admitted that Mihale's "real fault" was the "gray atmosphere" of his writing.Selejan, pp. 74–81, 192 His extreme position on this topic was derided by D. Costea in Iașul Literar magazine. Costea noted that Gafița had resorted to a sociological assessment: "in our villages, which on average hold 300 to 500 families, there should be 15 to 20 chiabur figures"; according to Costea, if applied consistently, this rule would have resulted in Mihale's novel featuring "one half of a chiabur."Selejan, pp. 318–319
Stalinism and post-Stalinism The two Gafița articles were separated by new aesthetic directives from the Soviet Union, where Georgy Malenkov had insisted on a tighter enforcement of literary dogmas. Gafița participated in the special meeting of the USR at which Malenkov's demands were made public; during the subsequent discussion, he opined that Romanian writers were not necessarily bound by Soviet realities, since Romania was at a different stage in socialist development. According to him: "in our [Romanian] reality, the literary type may include the decomposing and downfall of exploiting classes, [...] the old that crumbles as its attempts to resist that which comes alive".Selejan, p. 158 In early and mid-1953, Gafița took Malekov's theses and applied them to the analysis of new literary productions, and engaging in debates with the more tolerant staff of Almanahul Literar, including Anatol E. Baconsky. The latter had embraced Marin Preda as the great new Romanian novelist, who had ushered in a "new stage" of communist literature; Gafița contended that this analysis was conveniently nonspecific, asking Baconsky to explain his position.Selejan, pp. 223–224 He also ridiculed Almanahul Literar for publishing alcohol education poetry by Victor Felea, and for allowing young critics to comment negatively on poets such as Dragomir and Eugen Jebeleanu.Selejan, pp. 253–256
At that stage, the increasingly dissident poet Nicolae Labiș ridiculed Gafița's dogmatism, dubbing him Megafița (from "megaphone").Magda Ursache, "Viață de cărțari. Prins în mrejele Puterii", in Contemporanul, Vol. XXI, Issue 2, February 2010, p. 11 Malenkov's attempt to reimpose strict Stalinism was closely followed by Joseph Stalin's death, which infused Romanian writers with hopes of liberalization. This was noted in a June 1954 secret report by Vigil Florea, of the Workers' Party Agitprop section, who contended that young authors were gravitating toward proven talents from the interwar, including George Călinescu, Șerban Cioculescu, and Victor Eftimiu; he quoted Cicerone Theodorescu as saying: "Better to be cussed by Călinescu, than to be praised by Gafița".Tismăneanu & Vasile, pp. 318–319 Florea also noted that Gafița himself had embraced a "suspicious passivity. [...] He claims to be afraid that the party line may be changing, and therefore that he may be caught erring." The same source reported that Gafița had been heard reciting lyrics from an imprisoned far-right poet, Radu Gyr.Tismăneanu & Vasile, p. 320