Cristian Popescu. The Poetics of Atrocity and Candor

This article offers an analysis of the expressions of authenticity in the poetic texts of Cristian Popescu (1959-1995). There are two general directions of analysis of the author’s vision of literary authenticity: the ethical one, which consists of committing to one’s own destiny as a writer, and the aesthetic one, which can be seen in the contrast between atrocity and candor, between the grotesque and the sublime. Experiencing one’s own art as destiny is the way in which Cristian Popescu sees the notion of literary authenticity. The author connects his name, which he considers the definition of his own person, his own destiny, with existence through art, and this is explicitly and sharply formulated in his poems. Regarding the aesthetic dimension, the grotesque and the sublime intertwine in Cristian Popescu’s texts, which accentuates the effect of authenticity.