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Ion Barbu is the pen name of Romanian mathematician Dan Barbilian, under which he became one of the most distinguished poets of 20th century Romanian literature. Dan Barbilian was born on the 18th of March 1895 at Campulung-Muscel to Constantin Barbilian (who changed his name from Barbu to make it sound more latin) and Smaranda Stoiculescu. He died on August 11 1961 in Bucharest.

As a mathematician

Dan Barbilian's mathematical talent shows during highschool, when he publishes contributions in Gazeta Matematica (The Mathematical Gazette). At the same time, Barbilian develops his passion for poetry. Between 1914 and 1921, he studies mathematics at the Faculty of Sciences in Bucharest, but his studies are interrupted by the First World War, during which he is enrolled.

His mathematical career is continued with his doctorate thesis in 1929. Barbilian later takes part in international mathematical conferences. In 1942, he is appointed algebra teacher at the Faculty of Sciences in Bucharest. He has published various geometry studies, especially about Barbilian spaces, as they are called today.

As a poet

In 1919, Dan Baribilian begins his collaboration with the literary magazine Sburatorul (The Flier, named after a Romanian myth) and publishes under the pen name Ion Barbu, his grandfather's name, at the suggestion of literary critic Eugen Lovinescu. During highschool, he meets future critic Tudor Vianu, to which he will be bound by one of the most durable friendships in Romanian literature.

His artistic debut was triggered by a bet with Tudor Vianu -- while they were on a field trip to Giurgiu during highschool, the future mathematician promises Vianu that he will write a poetry notebook, arguing that the artistic spirit resides in every person. From this dispute, Dan Barbilian discovers his talent and love towards poetry. He said that poetry and geometry are complementary: where geometry becomes rigid, poetry offers it a broader horizon towards knowledge and imagination. Friend and critic Tudor Vianu wrote a monography of his work, which is even today considered to be the most thorough. One of the author's most renown poems, Dup? Melci, was published in 1921 in Via?a Rom?neasc? (Romanian Life) magazine. In the same year, Barbu leaves for G?ttingen in Germany, to further his studies. After three years, during which he visited Germany and led a bohemian life, he returns to Romania.

Joc secund

Ion Barbu's most important literary work is the poetry volume Joc secund (Second Game), published in 1930. The poems are dificult to understand, of an ermetic nature, featuring abstract language inspired by Stephane Mallarm?'s works. In some poems, Barbu uses mathematical concepts, for example the concept of group, in the opening work of the volume, Din ceas, dedus...

In Barbu's view, which reiterates that of French poet and mathematician Paul Val?ry, poetry has much in common with geometry: "there is somewhere, in the high domain of geometry, a bright place where it meets poetry. [...] Like in geometry, I understand through poetry a certain symbolicism for representing possible forms of existence."

His volume Joc secund has been translated to French, Hungarian and German.

Short summary of Barbu's poetic universe

The Barbian artistic phenomenon was born from the interference of poetry and mathematics, hence the significant diference from other Romanian poets contemporary to him, such as Lucian Blaga and Tudor Arghezi. More precisely, the poet's understanding of the meaning and purpose of poetry is closer to that of modern, uniques poets such as Stephane Mallarm? and Paul Val?ry, than to the general conception set by romanticism. It should also be taken into consideration that the role of poet was preceded by that of mathematician and that Barbu's mathematical thought prevailed in poetry, too. The poet himself confesses: "To me, poetry is an extension of geometry, so, by remaining a poet, I have not left the divine domain of geometry."

In his 1935 study Introducere ?n poezia lui Ion Barbu (Introduction to Ion Barbu's poetry), Tudor Vianu divided the poet's work into three stages: parnassian, baladic-oriental and ermetic. This classification has remained generally accepted by Romanian literary criticism to this day.

The parnassian stage

The first stage of Barbian poetry, comprised of poems published in Sbur?torul between 1919 and 1920. Titles include: Lava (Lava), Mun?ii (The Mountains), Copacul (The Tree), Bachizele (translation?), Panteism (Pantheism), Arca (The Arch), Pytagora (Pythagoras), R?ul (The River), Umanizare (Humanization). This phase of Barbu's poetry was strongly influenced by French parnassianism.

Short and formally rigurous -- a few are sonnets --, the poems put forward a relatively small thematic universe. Barbu describes mineralised landscapes, geological and floral forms, evokes mythological dieties or describes conscience processes, such as the solemn oath of renouncing all abstract thought in favor of the frantic will to live in total accordance with the lively rithm of nature.

Avoiding confession, direct expression of feelings, Ion Barbu transfers them to natural elements: trees, mountains, earth etc., which indicates a tendency to use "objective" symbols. The lanscapes, exotic or even imaginary, enclose frustrating limitations of human beings, pathetic aspirations and painful refusals.

The idea becomes "music of the flying form, Eurithmy", hence intuition of the world's essence. The aspiration towards knowledge is, in this first period, very abstract, resulting in "cold", lifeless poetry. The use of Greek mythological elements and the distinct preocupation for expression have determined critics such as Eugen Lovinescu to speak of parnassianism as a beginning of Barbu's literary work.

But the French parnassian poetry written by Lecomte de Lisle and H?r?dia was fundamentally decorative and antiromantic in its contents, repelling all feelings, whereas Barbu, under the stone cold lyrics, had violent passions and troubling desires, which denoted a romantic structure. It is probably why he later denied these works, considering them to be "part of an elementary poetic principle". He tends to adopt another poetic formula, far from romanticism, "an homogenous lyrism, instructed by essential things, delighting with ideal visions", which he did, in the next steps of his creation.