Fighting in order to write. Camil Petrescu and his war experience
Autor: Gheorghe NEGUSTOR
Cuvinte-cheie: the Great War, Camil Petrescu, war literature, patriotism, war memory.
Camil Petrescu, one of the best-known Romanian writers has also had an extraordinary experience during the First World War. Enlivened by profound national feelings, the writer had lived through nefarious war experiences. Wounded, taken prisoner of war and declared dead, he came back to Romania, where he wrote highly appreciated literary works. His exciting novel The Last Night of Love, the First Night of War (1930) was adapted for screen (1979). Less famous, however, are Petrescu’s poems that were published in 1923 under the title The Cycle of Death – pervasive of author’s war experience. The present study aims at analyzing the manner in which the war experience is reflected in CamilPetrescu’s writings.