Ion Biberi (July 21, 1904–September 27, 1990) 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 prose writer,

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

and literary critic.

Biography

Born in

Turnu Severin Drobeta-Turnu Severin (), colloquially Severin, is a city in Mehedinți County, Oltenia, Romania, on the northern bank of the Danube, close to the Iron Gates. "Drobeta" is the name of the ancient Dacian and Roman towns at the site, and the modern ...

, his parents were Constantin Biberi, a captain in the

Romanian Naval Forces The Romanian Navy ( ro, Forțele Navale Române) is the navy branch of the Romanian Armed Forces; it operates in the Black Sea and on the Danube. It traces its history back to 1860. History The Romanian Navy was founded in 1860 as a river flot ...

, and his wife Elise (''née'' Gayraud). His paternal grandfather was a physician who studied at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

. His maternal grandfather, Pierre Gayraud, was a native of

Narbonne Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in France, commune in Southern France in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. It lies from Paris in the Aude Departments of Franc ...

who arrived in Romania in the 1870s. An architect, he married Iulia Servatius, a Romanian of

Transylvanian Saxon The Transylvanian Saxons (german: Siebenbürger Sachsen; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjer Såksen''; ro, Sași ardeleni, sași transilvăneni/transilvani; hu, Erdélyi szászok) are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania ...

origin who came from

Brașov Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County. According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a popu ...

; the couple had ten children. Biberi had one brother. Mihaela Albu
"Ion Biberi – 110 ani de la naștere: Repere de biografie spirituală"
in ''

România Literară ''România Literară'' is a cultural and literary magazine from Romania. In its original edition, it was founded on 1 January 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași until 3 December 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared on ...

'', nr. 34/2014 In

Craiova Craiova (, also , ), is Romania's 6th Cities in Romania, largest city and capital of Dolj County, and situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximatel ...

between 1914 and 1921, he attended gymnasium followed by the military high school. He then studied at 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, and was also enrolled in the literature and philosophy faculty. Earning a doctorate in medicine and surgery, he became a primary care psychiatrist. He made his published debut in the A. A. Luca-edited ''Orizontul'' magazine with the 1919 article "Un gigant al imperiului solar: Iupiter". His first literary work was short prose that appeared in ''

Bilete de Papagal ''Bilete de Papagal'' was a Romanian left-wing publication edited by Tudor Arghezi, begun as a daily newspaper and soon after issued as a weekly satirical and literary magazine. It was published at three different intervals: 1928-1930, 1937-1938, ...

'', and drew praise from editor

Tudor Arghezi Tudor Arghezi (; 21 May 1880 – 14 July 1967) was a Romanian writer, best known for his unique contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest, he explained that his pen name was related to ''Argesis'', th ...

. Other magazines that ran his work include ''Revista română'', ''Kalende'', ''

Viața Românească ''Viața Românească'' (, "The Romanian Life") is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania. Formerly the platform of the left-wing traditionalist trend known as poporanism, it is now one of the Writers' Union of Romania's main venues. Th ...

'', ''Tinerețea'', ''Lumea'', ''Gazeta literară'' and ''Ramuri''. He lived a total of 38 years in his native city, including as chief physician at the shipyard's clinic, and many of his works use the city for their setting. Biberi's fiction was written from the perspective of a scientist interested in the psychological motivation of human experiences and the abysses of the subconscious. His output included a modernist novel (''Proces'', 1935), a novella (''Oameni în ceață'', 1937), monographs (''Lev N. Tolstoi'', 1947; ''Tudor Vianu'', 1966; ''Ion Sava'', 1974), literary portraits, essays (''Poezia, mod de existență'', 1968; ''Argonauții viitorului'', 1971; ''Essai sur la condition humaine'', 1973; ''Eros'', 1974), works on literary aesthetics, dialogues, interviews (''Lumea de mâine'', 1945; ''Orizonturi spirituale'', 1968), anthologies (''Nuvela romantică germană'', 1968) and numerous scientific articles. He won the Techirghiol-Eforie Prize (1935), the Fundațiile Regale Prize for the essay (1936), the

Romanian Writers' Society The Romanian Writers' Society ( ro, Societatea Scriitorilor Români) was a professional association based in Bucharest, Romania, that aided the country's writers and promoted their interests. Founded in 1909, it operated for forty years before the e ...

Prize (1938) and the

Romanian Writers' Union 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 ...

Special Prize (1979).Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. I, p. 163. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biberi, Ion 1904 births 1990 deaths People from Drobeta-Turnu Severin Romanian people of French descent Romanian people of German descent University of Bucharest alumni Romanian psychiatrists Romanian essayists Romanian anthologists Romanian science writers Romanian writers in French 20th-century Romanian novelists 20th-century essayists