He then contemplated a medical career, and studied for a degree in Paris, but returned hurriedly to still-neutral Romania upon the start of World War I; his early literary contribution include some rousing up support for the Entente Powers.

Publishing volumes of Symbolist poetry which drew notice and won him awards presented by the Romanian Writers' Society, he made his debut as a novelist with a work which poked fun at his own bureaucratic career.

In 1936, Celarianu expanded modernism into the realm of erotic literature, publishing the controversial novel Femeia sângelui meu ("The Woman in My Blood"); as a result, he became one of the "pornographers" singled out by traditionalist moral crusaders, including Nicolae Iorga.

Like Lovinescu and Tudor Arghezi, between whom he networked, he opposed Ion Antonescu's government from liberal positions; immediately after the anti-Antonescu coup of 1944, he joined the new left-leaning leadership of the Writers' Society, serving as general secretary of that syndicate to 1949.

[5] He spent his childhood in Bucharest, at a new Celarianu home on Teleajen Street; he was encouraged by his parents to do gardening work on the family plot, and was passionate about singing and reading.

[3] Among the literary historians, Ion Rotaru listed these as "poems with religious concepts", which gave way to works more specifically dealing with "neurotic solitude", reminiscent of George Bacovia's.

[1] In September 1914, after speaking at the funeral of poet Mircea Demetriade, Celarianu was personally greeted by the Symbolist doyen Alexandru Macedonski, and also met his daughter, Nina.

[2] Celarianu was himself a Symbolist of elegiac, sensual, or erotic tendencies, as exemplified by his poetry collections Drumul ("The Road", 1928) and Flori fără pace ("Restless Flowers", 1938).

[10] Celarianu was also a regular customer of the Oteteleșeanu Restaurant and, following a suggestion by Tudor Vianu,[2] began frequenting the Eugen Lovinescu-led Sburătorul circle; he was upheld by Lovinescu as one of his best finds, a "seraph descending among us men".

The same critic notes thematic links with Symbolists such as Macedonski and Dimitrie Anghel, but also argues that the Celarianu's "floral poetry" became "profoundly personal" in Flori fără pace.

[1] His experience as a ministry clerk informed his 1934 novel Polca pe furate ("The Thieving Polka"); published on the recommendation of Mihail Sebastian,[2] it was a largely satirical work and continued a humorous streak in Romanian literature, as illustrated primarily by Ion Luca Caragiale.

"[19] Celarianu's winning of a second SSR prize in 1935 (shared with Horia Furtună) was criticized at the time by Dreptatea newspaper, which, in an unsigned editorial, suggested that the award should have gone to Panait Istrati, the "impoverished and humiliated" proletarian author.

"[24] Among those who were fully dismissive of the work was Nicolae Iorga, the historian and traditionalist doctrinaire, who noted: "Mr Celerianu has authored a book in which he depicts a student having relations with a mother, a daughter, and an aunt.

"[22] Călinescu was impressed by the novel's resolution, in which all women engaged in the amorous affairs agree to withdraw once Glineanu decides to begin a steady and faithful relationship with another girl.

[25] Reviewer Pompiliu Constantinescu defended the novelist for his "unsettling power" of narration, though he also criticized Femeia sângelui meu for its "commercial title", its accumulation of irrelevant details, and its recourse to old devices—such as the epistolary method and the found manuscript.

[15] Appearing in early 1936, Zâna izvorului sănătății ("The Fairy at the Source of Health"), was both a children's story and a work of collaborative fiction—the co-authors were novelist Jean Bart and Doctor Ygrec, the hygienist at Adevărul.

[2] World War I experiences are central to Celarianu's 1940 novel, Diamant verde ("Green Diamond"),[2] which also illustrates its author's penchant for sensual love, though in a much more subdued form.

[30] From October, the poet was secretary of the Democratic Writers' Union, a reconstructed SSR headed by Eftimiu,[31] which grouped fellow travelers of the Romanian Communist Party.

"[34] The mid-1960s marked the return on the literary scene of various Lovinescu disciples, including Vladimir Streinu—one of Streinu's monographs was dedicated to Celarianu, whom he rediscovered as a poet of the "most burning cases in eroticism".

[37] As argued by essayist Alexandru George, Celarianu, alongside Baltazar, Stancu, and Simion Stolnicu, was unreasonably derisive of his erstwhile mentor, helping to transmit into posterity a "distorted" portrait of Lovinescu.

[38] Throughout much of his life, Celarianu had written diaries, which he lost, as well as the 600-page novel, Cutremurul, which depicted figures such as Anghel, Arghezi, Minulescu and George Coșbuc under their real names, but which he had destroyed while in a state of "spiritual depression".

[1] He only discontinued his writing, for health reasons, in February 1985, expressing regret that he could no longer find the strength to dictate on-the-spot translations from "beloved authors", including Heredia, Hugo, Jammes, Anatole France, Georges Rodenbach, or Albert Samain.

[4] In 2019, the local authorities of Goiești, which is home to the ancestral Macedonski manor, announced its re-dedication as a memorial museum, with one room forming a permanent Celarianu exhibit.