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 Cover of a Ramuri and Drum Drept twin issue (Issue 9 for 1922) | |
| Categories | Literary magazine |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 12 issues/year |
| Publisher | Ramuri Foundation Writers' Union of Romania |
| First issue | 5 December 1905 |
| Country | Romania |
| Based in | Craiova |
| Language | Romanian |
| Website | revistaramuri |
| ISSN | 1220-6342 |
| OCLC | 935478645 |
Ramuri ("Twigs" or "Branches") is a Romanian literary magazine put out from Craiova, the regional center of Oltenia region. Its first edition appeared from December 1905, and was closely tied to Nicolae Iorga's Sămănătorul, published in Bucharest; both magazines stood out as voices of traditionalism and Romanian nationalism, reacting against the more cosmopolitan currents in what was then the Kingdom of Romania. At this stage, it was mainly edited by Constantin Șaban Făgețel and D. Tomescu, with support from Iorga, Elena Farago, and various others. At this stage, Ramuri was also noted for its promotion of exceedingly minor Oltenian writers, compensating instead with translation work. Before and during World War I (when it was briefly chased into exile by The Romanian Debacle), it managed to obtain sporadic contributions from some of the leading traditionalists and moderates, and in practice became eclectic. At various intervals, it merged into Iorga's other magazine, Drum Drept, maintaining its traditionalist credentials while the nationalist movement went into crisis. For most of the 1920s, Iorga took over as Ramuri's manager—though his influence there was undermined by contributors from the modernist camp, and in particular by Făgețel's friend Tudor Arghezi.
The magazine's publishing company enjoyed success during the interwar period, though Ramuri itself was always struggling during that interval. The issue contributed to a split between Făgețel, who came to support the National Liberal Party in hopes of obtaining material aid, and Iorga. It continued to appear with interruptions throughout that period and World War II, being discontinued in 1947. When it reemerged in 1964, it was under the Romanian communist regime, which controlled its content. For the first five years, its editor-in-chief was an Oltenian journalist, Ilie Purcaru, who had modernist sympathies. In this new edition, Ramuri discarded traditionalism and presented both Arghezi and modernist sculptor Constantin Brâncuși as its intellectual mentors. Purcaru also proceeded to openly challenge communist censorship; his close associate was Miron Radu Paraschivescu, who opened Ramuri to contributions by the marginalized group of Onirist poets. The magazine became a target for surveillance by the Securitate, especially after hosting a positive review of the far-right theorist Nae Ionescu. Paraschivescu was sidelined, and Purcaru replaced with Alexandru Piru, who mainly used it to publish contributions to literary history and literary theory. Piru also endorsed the July Theses, whereby President Nicolae Ceaușescu announced a curb on cultural liberalization.
After a short interlude in 1976–1978, Ramuri was taken over by poet Marin Sorescu, who changed the editorial line to accommodate modernist literature. Despite Sorescu's own flirtations with, and concessions to, national-communist dogmas, the magazine openly engaged in increasingly bitter debates with established national-communists, such as Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor; it featured contributions by former political prisoners of the regime, including Ion Dezideriu Sîrbu and Nicolae Steinhardt, but alongside conventional pieces by pro-regime authors, and samples of official propaganda. Sorescu and his associates, including Gabriel Chifu, found themselves supervised and harassed by Securitate agents. Closely reviewed by censors, Ramuri appeared infrequently in the final months before the Romanian Revolution of 1989. It re-emerged in 1990, with Sorescu reconfirmed as editor, publicizing its connections with the Romanian crew at Radio Free Europe. Within a year, Chifu, backed by the Writers' Union of Romania, stripped Sorescu of his managerial duties, arguing that he was incompetent—this sparked an enduring controversy, with Sorescu's supporters arguing that he had been rejected due to his refusal to endorse liberal doctrines. Ramuri remained in print after that date, but with interruptions and changes of management.