Alexandru Mironescu (July 23, 1903–January 20, 1973) 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 prose writer. Born in

Tecuci Tecuci () is a municipiu, city in Galați County, Romania, in the historical region of Western Moldavia. It is situated among wooded hills, on the right bank of the Bârlad River, and at the junction of railways from Galați, Bârlad, and Mără ...

, his parents were Victor Mironescu and his wife Elena. After attending Dimitrie Cantemir High School in

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 ...

, he obtained degrees in chemistry and philosophy from the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...

. He later obtained a doctorate in science from the Sorbonne and one in philosophy at Bucharest. From 1929, he was a lecturer at the latter university and a teacher at

Saint Sava National College The Saint Sava National College (Romanian: ''Colegiul Național Sfântul Sava''), Bucharest, named after Sabbas the Sanctified, is the oldest and one of the most prestigious high schools in Romania. It was founded in 1694, under the name of t ...

. He was editor at ''Semnalul'' newspaper. Mironescu's first journalistic contribution appeared in ''Credința'' newspaper in 1935; exploring both domestic and foreign affairs, he neither commented on daily events as such, nor held firm to a particular ideology, but took the stance of an independent observer, condemning the intellectual elites' isolation with regard to the national, socioeconomic and cultural interest. Mironescu's first book was the 1937 novel ''Oamenii nimănui''. His work appeared in ''Evenimentul zilei'', ''Fapta'', '' Familia'', ''Azi'', ''Țara noastră'', ''Vremea'' and ''

Revista Fundațiilor Regale ''Revista Fundațiilor Regale'' ("The Review of Royal Foundations") was a monthly literary, art and culture magazine published in Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeas ...

''. He also wrote the novel ''Destrămare'' (1939), the unpublished play ''Joc în umbră'' and a few philosophical works. He authored a number of organic chemistry textbooks and treatises, and translated

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1947). Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the symbolist movement, to the advent of anticolonialism ...

's ''Retour de l'U.R.S.S.''.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, p. 125. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. A devoted practitioner of hesychasm, Mironescu was, from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1953 to 1958, an adherent of the "Burning Bush"( Rugul Aprins) group within the

Romanian Orthodox Church The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates ...

. He stopped publishing after the advent of the

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

, and in 1958, together with his son, was arrested for his clandestine religious activity. Sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment, he was freed in 1963.Andrei Tudor, Mariana Conovici, Iuliana Conovici (eds.), ''Am înțeles rostul meu...'', p. 390. Humanitas, 2014, Even in 1968, at the height of

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He ...

's popularity, he confided in his diary that he viewed the regime as disastrous and doomed to fall. Marius Vasileanu
"Alexandru Mironescu și 'Admirabila Tăcere'"
in ''Ziarul Financiar'', July 18, 2014

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mironescu, Alexandru 1903 births 1973 deaths People from Tecuci Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church University of Bucharest alumni Romanian novelists Romanian newspaper editors Romanian schoolteachers Romanian textbook writers Romanian translators Romanian chemists Romanian anti-communists Romanian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Romania Members of the Romanian Academy of Sciences 20th-century translators