Known in Romania more as poet and politician, Octavian Goga was also playwright, journalist, and translator. He was born on April 1, 1881 in the village Răşinari, near Sibiu (in Transylvania, back then in Austro-Hungary), as son of Joseph Goga, an Orthodox priest, and Aurelia, teacher. In 1900, after the high school graduation, he joined the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy at the University of Budapest, then continued his studies in Berlin.
His first poem was published in the newspaper Tribuna of Sibiu, when he has not turned seventeen. In 1905 was published at Budapest the volume Poems, reprinted then in Bucharest (1907) and Sibiu (1910). After this debut, the poet entered increasingly into the public consciousness. Until the outbreak of WWI, Goga imposed as a brilliant journalist, his articles being focused on the issues of Romanianism.The literary work of Octavian Goga was accompanied by a sustained political and social activity.
Goga was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party in Austro-Hungary, being arrested two times by the Hungarian authorities. At various intervals before the union of Romania and Transylvania in 1918, Goga took refuge in Romania, becoming active in literary and political circles. Because of his political activity in Romania, the Hungarian state sentenced him to death in absentia.
After war, he founded the National Agrarian Party, which merged with National-Christian Defense League, forming the radical-right and strongly antisemitic National Christian Party. In the interwar period, he often occupied the chair of minister, and was even prime minister for 44 days (28 December 1937 - 10 February 1938). Its government introduced a series of anti-Semitic laws. After his resignation, Goga withdrew to his estate in Transylvania, where he suffered a stroke on 5 May 1938, and died two days later.
In 1920, Goga was elected member of the Romanian Academy, and in 1924 received the National Poetry Prize. Considered poet of the nation on both sides of the Carpathians, he has enjoyed a remarkable literary prestige. His artistic credo synthesizes in a unique vision the Messianism, the idea of national specific, and the heroic meaning of the patriotic struggle. "I was born with clenched fists... my soul has been organized to protest, to revolt, the strongest feeling which ever guided me and from which stemmed my literary formula."
About the stamp
The stamp is part of the series Brilliant Romanians, designed by Mihail Vămăşescu and issued on March 18, 2016.
• Constantin Brâncuşi (1876-1957) (1.00 RON)
• George Enescu (1881-1955) (2.00 RON)
• George Emil Palade (1912-2008) (3.50 RON)
• George "Gogu" Constantinescu (1881-1965) (4.00 RON)
• Ana Aslan (1897-1988) (12.00 RON)
• Dumitru Stăniloae (1903-1993) (31.00 RON)
References
Octavian Goga - Wikipedia
Sender: Ana şi Maria
Sent from Răşinari (Sibiu / Romania), on 03.08.2016
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