Leon Kalustian

Leon Kalustian (October 17, 1908–January 24, 1990) was a Romanian journalist, essayist and memoirist.

Born in Focșani, his parents were Sarchis Kalustian and Iulia (née Gherghel).[1] The oldest of four children, his father was from Armenia, while his mother was an ethnic Romanian from Transylvania. He attended one year of high school in his native town and beyond that was self-taught, settling early in the national capital Bucharest.[2] His first published work appeared in Cuvântul newspaper in 1926; he was an editor for Cuvântul (1926-1927), Curentul (1928-1934), Mișcarea (1931-1932) and România (1938-1940). Other publications to which he contributed include Dimineața, Adevărul, Facla, Lumea românească, Azi, Reporter, Adevărul literar și artistic, România Literară, Manuscriptum, Ramuri, Luceafărul and Flacăra.[1] Pen names he used included Democrit, Elka, Lucullus, Kalunkar, Al. Teodoru, Vladimir, L.K. and Kalvincar, the last formed from his surname and those of his fellow Facla columnists Ion Vinea and Nicolae Carandino. In June 1933, he married Iza Dora Aronovici, a Jewish woman from Vaslui nine years his senior. Although Kalustian's charm, which assured his place in high society, caused friction within the marriage, the union endured. A feared polemicist active in the left-wing press, he defended democratic values and launched virulent attacks on newspaperman Stelian Popescu. In 1938, when the National Renaissance Front regime was set up, he quit journalism, which he did not resume for forty years.[2]

Arrested in May 1951 under the early communist regime, he was held without trial for four years at Jilava, Gherla and Văcărești prisons. Between 1956 and 1960, having no other means of subsistence, he sold books clandestinely, an activity closely monitored by the Securitate secret police. In December 1960, a search of his home resulted in the seizure of hundreds of books, rare editions, manuscripts, documents, magazines, important works of Romanian and world literature. These had been acquired over time and came from his personal library; additionally, personal observations, notes and letters addressed to his family were impounded. Arrested the following day, he was tried and sentenced in September 1961. The court sentenced him to eight years' imprisonment and confiscation of his entire property, the crime being distribution of banned publications. Among these were În preajma revoluției by Constantin Stere, Queen Marie's Povestea vieții mele, Mustul care fierbe by Octavian Goga and the Memoirs of King Carol I, all considered dangerous for the socialist order. Following a mass amnesty, he was released from Gherla prison in April 1964. In October 1967, police descended on his home as part of an intimidation campaign against former political prisoners. Searching for books considered subversive, they sealed his large collection.[2]

His first book, the 1975 Fascimile, appeared late; it was followed by Conspirații sub cer deschis (1976),[1] a selection of his anti-fascist, pro-democracy articles from 1936-1938. When he returned to journalism in 1978, publishing a column in Adrian Păunescu's Flacăra, he continued to be monitored by the Securitate.[2] He collected these columns in five volumes, which appeared to positive reviews between 1980 and 1985 as Simple note.[2][1] In June 1983, thanks to the efforts of Dumitru Radu Popescu, the Romanian Writers' Union granted him an unofficial pension; his name later disappeared from the membership list. His wife died the following month, plunging him into grief; his apathy deepened after his brother died in 1985, and his desire to write steadily faded. In October 1989, his health increasingly deteriorating, he returned to Focșani, where his two sisters cared for him until his death the following January. He was buried in the local Armenian cemetery, the service officiated by Zareh Baronian.[2]

Notes
  1. Aurel Sasu (ed.), Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române, vol. I, p. 821. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. ISBN 973-697-758-7
  2. (in Romanian) Repere biografice at leonkalustian.ro, a project of the Duiliu Zamfirescu Vrancea County Library
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