Ștefan Augustin Doinaș (; pen name of Ștefan Popa) (April 26, 1922 – May 25, 2002) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n Neoclassical poet of the Communist era. Doinaș was born in

Cherechiu Cherechiu ( hu, Kiskereki) is a commune in Bihor County, Crișana, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the n ...

Bihor County Bihor County () is a county (județ) in western Romania. With a total area of , Bihor is Romania's 6th largest county geographically and the main county in the historical region of Crișana. Its capital city is Oradea. Toponymy The origin of ...

. After completing high school in Arad, he studied

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

Sibiu Sibiu ( , , german: link=no, Hermannstadt , la, Cibinium, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'', hu, Nagyszeben ) is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Ci ...

, where the University of Cluj had moved in the wake of the Hungarian occupation of Northern Transylvania. Here he joined the

Sibiu Literary Circle The Sibiu Literary Circle ( ro, Cercul literar de la Sibiu) was a literary group created during World War II in Sibiu to promote the modernist liberal ideas of Eugen Lovinescu. The group was formed around Lucian Blaga and other intellectuals fr ...

, a group formed around

Lucian Blaga Lucian Blaga (; 9 May 1895 – 6 May 1961) was a Romanian philosopher, poet, playwright, poetry translator and novelist. He was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of the interbellum period. Biography Blaga was born on 9 May 1895 ...

. Doinaș published his first volume of poems, ''Cartea mareelor'', in 1964. Some of his most famous works include: ''Omul cu compasul'', ''Seminția lui Laokoon'', ''Anotimpul discret'', ''Interiorul unui poem'' and ''Lamentații''. In 1992, he became a member of the Romanian Academy, and in 2002, honorary president of the

Writers' Union of Romania The Writers' Union of Romania (), founded in March 1949, is a professional association of writers in Romania. It also has a subsidiary in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova. The Writers' Union of Romania was created by the communist regime by taking ...

. Doinaș died of

throat cancer Head and neck cancer develops from tissues in the lip and oral cavity (mouth), larynx (throat), salivary glands, nose, sinuses or the skin of the face. The most common types of head and neck cancers occur in the lip, mouth, and larynx. Symptoms ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. That night, his wife Silvia Lia Popa, a former first

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on ye ...

whom he had married in 1958, committed suicide.

Presence in English Language Anthologies

* ''Born in Utopia - An anthology of Modern and Contemporary Romanian Poetry -'' Carmen Firan and Paul Doru Mugur (editors) with Edward Foster - Talisman House Publishers - 2006 - * ''Testament – Anthology of Modern Romanian Verse / Testament - Antologie de Poezie Română Modernă – Bilingual edition English & Romanian'' – Daniel Ioniță (editor and translator) with Eva Foster,

Daniel Reynaud Daniel Reynaud (born 27 August 1958) is an Australian historian whose work on Australian war cinema and on Australian World War I soldiers and religion has challenged aspects of the Anzac legend, Australia’s most important national mythology ...

and Rochelle Bews –

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Rom ...

Publishing 2012 and 2015 (second edition) - * ''Testament - Anthology of Romanian Verse - American Edition -'' monolingual English language edition - Daniel Ioniță (editor and principal translator) with Eva Foster, Daniel Reynaud and Rochelle Bews - Australian-Romanian Academy for Culture - 2017 -

References

External links

*http://www.romanianvoice.com/poezii/poeti/doinas.php 1922 births 2002 deaths People from Sântana Babeș-Bolyai University alumni Romanian male poets 20th-century Romanian poets 20th-century Romanian male writers Titular members of the Romanian Academy Deaths from esophageal cancer Deaths from cancer in Romania {{Romania-bio-stub