ESTETICA FRAGMENTĂRII: CUBISM ȘI PERCEPȚIE INFANTILĂ ÎN POEZIA DE RĂZBOI A LUI NICHITA STĂNESCU
THE AESTHETICS OF FRAGMENTATION: CUBSIM AND CHILDREN'S PERCEPTION IN NICHITA STĂNESCU'S WAR POETRY

Author(s): Silvia Giurgiu
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Studies of Literature, Romanian Literature, History of Art
Published by: Editura Universităţii Vasile Goldiş
Keywords: Nichita Stănescu; Picasso; cubism; soldier; ekphrasis; avant-gardism
Summary/Abstract: The war that Nichita Stănescu witnessed during his childhood became one of the central themes of his poetry, providing the figure that would come to symbolize the poet himself: the soldier. Critics have remarked on a certain childlike quality in his poetic vision, interpreting it either as a playful evasion of trauma or as a regression into a childhood that functions as an apocalyptic point of origin for the subject’s relationship with life, the world, and the self. Yet the child’s perspective is not merely biographical; it is also conceptually significant. War, as perceived by a child, is presented as a phenomenon whose meaning lies beyond the subject’s cognitive grasp. What emerges are disjointed images and fragmented impressions that appear intuitively sensed rather than fully understood—lacking a coherent narrative or structured significance. In this regard, Stănescu’s war-themed poems invite comparison with Cubist painting, some of them even evoking visual motifs reminiscent of Picasso’s iconic Guernica. It may be argued that, to some extent, Stănescu was continuing the avant-garde project, which had reached an impasse during that historical moment.

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