Although he published several books in the line of Socialist realism, which he reneged on afterwards, he never stopped writing Surrealist poems, such as the 1958 poem composed of several parts Heraclitus (published in the 1968 volume Athanor) or the esoteric manuscript The Way of the Snake, written in 1948–1949 and published after his death, in 2002.īetween 19, he taught philosophy at the Agronomic Institute in Bucharest while working also as a translator. As Socialist realism had officially become Romania's cultural policy, he could only publish books for children (out of which the two books with Apolodor were reissued several times).
In December 1947, the Surrealist group succumbed to the vicissitudes of postwar Soviet occupation and successful Communist takeover of Romania's government. Marked by his wartime experience, he was discharged in 1944, after he had fallen ill.
Naum was drafted into Romanian Army during World War II and served on the Eastern Front after the invasion of the Soviet Union (see Romania during World War II). In 1941, he helped create the Bucharest group of Surrealists (which also included Gherasim Luca, Paul Păun, Dolfi Trost, and Virgil Teodorescu). In 1936 (the year when he published his first book), Naum met Victor Brauner, who became his close friend and who later introduced him to André Breton and his Surrealist circle in Paris. He took his PhD diploma with a thesis on the scholastic philosopher Pierre Abelard. In 1938, he left for France, where he continued his studies at the University of Paris. In 1933, he began studying philosophy at the University of Bucharest. The artist Lyggia Naum, his wife, was the inspiration and main character in his 1985 novel Zenobia.īorn in Bucharest, he was the son of the poet Andrei Naum (who had been drafted in World War I and died during the Battle of Mărăşeşti) and his wife Maria Naum née Rosa Gluck. He is remembered as the founder of the Romanian Surrealist group.
Gelu Naum was a prominent Romanian poet, dramatist, novelist, children's writer, and translator.
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