Emil Dorian (born Emil Lustig; February 16, 1893–1956) was a

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

n poet and prose writer, as well as a physician. Born into a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family 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 ...

, his parents were Herman Lustig and his wife Ernestina (''née'' Picher). He attended high school in his native city, followed by 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 ...

's medical faculty. Although, as a Jew, he was not yet a Romanian citizen, he was sent to the front in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as a physician. After the war, he spent two years in France for medical specialization.Marioara-Camelia Crăciun
Dorian, Emil
in ''

The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe ''The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe'' is a two-volume, English-language reference work on the history and culture of Eastern Europe Jewry in this region, prepared by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and published by Yale Uni ...

'' He then worked as a doctor in Bucharest, and was also active within the Jewish community, for instance editing the 1946 ''Raportul general asupra situației comunității''. A significant part of his journalistic work is signed with the pen names Dr. Knox, Dr. Otorin, Dr. M. Prunk and Dr. Urzică; publications in which he appeared include ''

Cotidianul image:Cotidianul.png, The logo used between 2003 and 2007 ''Cotidianul'' (meaning ''The Daily'' in English) is a Romanian language newspaper published in Bucharest, Romania. History and profile Founded by Ion Raţiu, ''Cotidianul'' was first ...

'', ''

Ziua ''Ziua'' (''The Day'' in Romanian) was a major Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest. It was published in Romanian with a fairly sizeable and often informative English section. ''Ziua'' was founded in 1994 by Sorin Roşca Stănescu, eve ...

'', ''Adevărul literar și artistic'', ''Adam'', ''

Gândirea ''Gândirea'' ("The Thinking"), known during its early years as ''Gândirea Literară - Artistică - Socială'' ("The Literary - Artistic - Social Thinking"), was a Romanian literary, political and art magazine. Overview Founded by Cezar Pet ...

'', ''Năzuința'', ''Omul liber'', ''Puntea de fildeș'', ''

Sburătorul ''Sburătorul'' was a Romanian Modernism, modernist literary magazine and literary society, established in Bucharest in April 1919. Led by Eugen Lovinescu, the circle was instrumental in developing new trends and styles in Romanian literature, rangi ...

'' and ''Șantier''. His first verses, signed Castor și Pollux, appeared in ''Noua Revistă Română'' in 1912; his first book was the poetry collection ''Cântece pentru Lelioara'' (1923), followed by ''În pragul serii'' (1924). The poems in his ''Primăvară nouă'' (1948) and ''Steagurile inimii'' (1949), written early in 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 ...

, are in socialist realist style; he subsequently wrote one other poetry book, for children ''Bună dimineața'' (1953). His novels dealt with social problems drawn from the local Jewish environment: ''Profeți și paiațe'' (1931), ''Vagabonzii'' (1935) and ''Otrava'' (1947). He also wrote books that popularized and vulgarized medicine: ''Misterele și tehnica sexualității'', 1932; ''Adevărurile sexualității'', 1932; ''Femei și doctori'', 1932. He put together a collection of texts on the history of medicine (''Din trecutul nostru științific'', 1955) and wrote a social observation novel set in the insect world (''Memoriile greierului'', 1937). Authors he translated include

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

, Edmond Haraucourt and

Hanns Heinz Ewers Hanns Heinz Ewers (3 November 1871 – 12 June 1943) was a German actor, poet, philosopher, and writer of short stories and novels. While he wrote on a wide range of subjects, he is now known mainly for his works of horror, particularly his trilo ...

.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. I, p. 510. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. He kept a diary from 1937 onwards, recounting both his struggles as a writer and the increase in far-right activity around him. The World War II-era

Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and ''Conducător'' during most of World War II. A Romanian Army career officer who made ...

regime officially banned his entire work as "Jewish". Liviu Rotman (ed.),
Demnitate în vremuri de restriște
', p. 174. Bucharest: Editura Hasefer, Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania &

Elie Wiesel National Institute for Studying the Holocaust in Romania The Elie Wiesel National Institute for Studying the Holocaust in Romania, ''Institutul Naţional pentru Studierea Holocaustului din România „Elie Wiesel”'' in Romanian) is a public institution established by the Romanian government on August ...

, 2008. He developed an interest in Yiddish poetry in the mid-1930s, translating and collecting over 400 poems; these were ready for publication in 1944 but were not published until 1996.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorian, Emil 1893 births 1956 deaths Physicians from Bucharest Writers from Bucharest Romanian Jews University of Bucharest alumni Romanian military personnel of World War I Jewish Romanian writers banned by the Antonescu regime Romanian military doctors Romanian children's writers Romanian translators Romanian diarists Romanian anthologists Jewish novelists Socialist realism writers 20th-century Romanian poets 20th-century Romanian novelists 20th-century translators 20th-century Romanian physicians Romanian male poets Romanian male novelists 20th-century diarists