Corneliu M. Popescu

Born in 1958, Corneliu is by far my favourite translator of Eminescu to date (my apologies to all others who have tried). When I first arrived in Bucharest all those years ago, I decided that to understand the Romanian soul, I would have to study its literature. Huh. Not easy when the translations online are, on the whole, dreadful, and so many authors aren't even translated. Then I found Corneliu M. Popescu, genius and child prodigy.

19 year old Corneliu was killed in the earthquake 1977 in the massive earthquake along with his mother. His translations of Eminescu were published posthumously mostly thanks to the persistance of his father, Mihai. At the back of my book ('Mihai Eminescu Poems' published by Cartea Romaneasca, 1989, to commemorate the centenary of the death of Roumania's national poet) is an adoring prose written by Corneliu's father. It exudes the pain of loss. On reading it, I felt winded somewhat, short of breath - how terrible is grief and all the more terrible for the parent of a child.

Corneliu's teachers at school quickly remarked his incredible talent. Corneliu himself compliments Natalia Mirescu, his literature teacher, and Maria Pavnotescu who taught Roumanian at Lycée Nicolae Balcescu, for they "enhanced and enriched his concern for language and love of words". By the tender age of ten, he was translating Robert Louis Stevenson and began translating Eminescu at high school, aiming to finish this huge task by the time he started medical school. He was also a keen mathematician - "one of those rare students who could juggle both arts and sciences brilliantly". (observations from "Never Mind the Balkans, Here's Romania" by Mike Ormsby - see more below)

From the age of thirteen, he attended conferences in Romania on science and world affairs, where he rubbed shoulders with the best of them: Nobel Prize winners, diplomats and VIP's, chatting away to them in English, learning and developing his language skills. He made several trips abroad, too.

The biographical note has an inevitably tragic end - Mihai Popescu describes how his wife and son both died at home. the earthquake hit and a fire swept through the house. The bodies of Corneliu and his mother were found interlaced, "as if seeking refuge in each other's arms, hoping to save each other perhaps - or if not, to take the next step into the unknown together... not to die alone".

The first translated Eminescu poem, O Mother, by Corneliu a century or so after it was written, has haunted me ever since reading it... Corneliu could have written it himself for his mamicutza. 'I owe everything to my beloved parents - and particularly to my mother - who devoted all their forces to preparing me for an active and useful life in society':

And should it be together that we shall die one day, 
They shall not in some cemet'ry our separate bodies lay, 
But let them dig a grave near where the river flows 
And in a single coffin them both together close; 
That l to time eternal my love beside me keep... 
For ever wail the water, and we for ever sleep

He hasn't been forgotten, far from it. In 1982, the Corneliu M. Popescu Prize for European Poetry was established. Co-ordinated by the Poetry Society (UK), it goes on attracting hundreds of competitors every two years.

There's also a school named after him here in central downtown Bucharest, the Scoala Generala Nr. 5 'Corneliu M. Popescu' located on cal. Victoriei, 114.

His translations continue to sell like hotcakes, because, you see, they are quite brilliant and ultimately unique. Never have I found any better. I could be reading an English poet, for nowhere is there a trace of  foreign climes. Few translators have been as talented at Corneliu Popescu, quite as sensitive, quite as exceptionally perfect, for he had an intuitive grasp of English, a poet's passion for nuance and an academic's curiosity for linguistics.

For more info please visit the links below:

http://www.estcomp.ro/eminescu/popescu.html

http://www.geocities.com/comunitatea_romina/concurs_popescu.htm

http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/competitions/popescu/

http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,1045023,00.html#article_continue

My thanks also to Mike Ormsby whose marvellous book, 'Never Mind the Balkans, Here's Romania' includes a very touching chapter entitled 'Buried' which inspired me to find out more....

Comments

[Chris L]

I was living here in Romania during the 1977 earthquake and remember that a book of his translations was rushed out quite soon afterwards.