For interwar Romanian writers and intellectuals, the Great Depression exacerbated an already precarious situation. The period brought job cuts in civil service and teaching, the fields which traditionally employed intellectuals, fewer publishing opportunities, and wage delays. The crisis affected even established and popular writers. Cezar Petrescu made an acclaimed debut in 1928 with his novel Întunecare (The Darkening), set during World War One, and by 1931 was already an award-winning writer with several best-selling novels. He was a prolific author, writing several novels every year, and a savvy businessman, who negotiated the best terms for his book contracts and undertook veritable marketing campaigns to advertise them. Still, he too struggled and lived month to month. The letter below, sent by Cezar Petrescu to his parents in November 1931, illustrates the everyday challenges faced by interwar writers. The document is also significant in its account of unemployment, a phenomenon whose existence was denied by the Romanian authorities until 1934:
“I survived the liver crisis. The financial crisis, however, follows me closely. I would have forgiven my liver if the ten lost days didn’t overturn my work plan, messing with all the deadlines for delivering the manuscript to the editor. The novel I was counting on for a more solid advance payment, especially, is completely stuck. […] The publisher in Craiova is now claiming that, because of the delay, it can’t publish it anymore since it missed the December 15th deadline when it could have launched it as merchandise for the holidays.[…]
I am telling you this whole story so that you understand why I did not write sooner and why the current news is not great either. For the past fifteen days I could not scramble together the 1000 lei for Miss Popovici [a family acquaintance] or the 500 lei for Aunt Ana, who sent me a pitiful letter the other day. Anyway, on Saturday I will receive some money and send it. My salary was seized by the Treasury…
For over a month I’ve been harassed by unemployed people in black clothes. They come into my house, follow me in the streets, haunt me at the office, to take my last coin for their food. Students, even provincial high school teachers who came to Bucharest and have nothing left to return home, all sorts of wretches… I can’t resist them. At some times out of pity, at others out of cowardice. But who would believe that I give them my very last money? After all, I’m a best-selling author!”
Source: Corespondenţa lui Cezar Petrescu, edited by Ştefan Ionescu (Cluj-Napoca: Dacia, 1986), p.57-58.