Ion Vianu (15 April 1934 – 20 June 2024) was a Romanian writer and

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

, who lived in Switzerland from 1977. He was the son of literary critic

Tudor Vianu Tudor Vianu (; January 8, 1898 – May 21, 1964) was a Romanian literary criticism, literary critic, art critic, poet, philosopher, academic, and translator. He had a major role on the reception and development of Modernism in Literature of Roma ...

and his wife,

Elena Elena may refer to: People * Elena (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name * Joan Ignasi Elena (born 1968), Catalan politician * Francine Elena (born 1986), British poet Geography * Elena (town), a town in Veliko ...

. Vianu first studied

classical philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

for two years (1952–1954) as a kind of "self-imposed exile into another world", as he called it, before studying medicine.

Dissident

Ion Vianu was one of those who signed

Paul Goma Paul Goma (; October 2, 1935 – March 24, 2020) was a Romanian writer, known for his activities as a dissident and leading opponent of the communist regime before 1989. Forced into exile by the communist authorities, he became a political refug ...

's 1977 open letter that expressed solidarity with the

Charter 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech and Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Jiří Něm ...

movement in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. This was done, partly, to put the Romanian communist authorities under pressure to allow him to emigrate. As a result, he was interrogated by the Romanian's secret police, the

Securitate The Securitate (, Romanian for ''security'') was the popular term for the Departamentul Securității Statului (Department of State Security), the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. Previously, before the communist regime ...

, harassed, fired from his University job, and eventually allowed to emigrate to Switzerland. After settling down in Switzerland, he joined the "Geneva Initiative Against Political Psychiatry" and collaborated with

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

, discussing attempts to use psychiatry as a form of repression. After the 1989 Revolution, he became actively involved in the reform of the system of psychiatric treatment in Romania to bring it up to world standards. Vianu, together with his friend Matei Călinescu, published an autobiographical volume, ''Amintiri în dialog'' ("Remembrances in Dialogue"). He died on 20 June 2024, at the age of 90.Fostul ministru al Culturii, Vlad Alexandrescu: A murit scriitorul şi medicul psihiatru Ion Vianu

Writings

Ion Vianu's writings include memoires, novels and critical essays. He published the novels ''Caietele lui Ozias'' (in 2004) and ''Vasiliu, foi volante'' (in 2006), both being part of the cycle ''Arhiva trădarii şi a mâniei'' (the Archive of Treason and Wrath), dealing with Romanian society during 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 ...

. (2nd edition, completed and reviewed, 2016) He also published another two novels, ''Paramnezii'' (2005) and, in 2007, "Necredinciosul" (the Unfaithful), inspired by his practice as a psychiatrist in the Western world. In 2009 he published ''Exercitii de sinceritate'' (Exercises in sincerity) about his public life under the communist regime during the seventies. In 2010 he published an autobiographical novel, ''Amor intellectualis'', dealing with some major figures from his youth and the tragic destiny of the intelligentsia under the communist regime. He also published collected critical essays under the name ''Blestem şi binecuvântare'' (Curse & Blessing, 2007), and, in 2008, "Investigatii mateine", a biographical essay about the Romanian writer Matei Caragiale. Another volume of critical essays "Apropieri" (Approaches), was published in 2011. The novel "Vasiliu, foi volante" was translated in Spanish by Ioana Zlotescu in 2010 under the title ''Vasiliu, hojas sueltas'' (Aletheia Publishing House). "Amor intellectualis" was awarded a few prizes, among them ''Book of the year 2010'' by the "România Literara" magazine. În 2012 it appeared in Spanish, translated by Victor Ivanovici and Susanna Vásquez (Miguel Gomez ediciones, Malaga).

References

Sources

Ovidiu Şimonca, "«Am vrut să fiu un martor». Interviu cu Ion Vianu", in ''Observator Cultural''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vianu, Ion 1934 births 2024 deaths Physicians from Bucharest Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty people Romanian psychiatrists Romanian dissidents Romanian expatriates in Switzerland Jewish Romanian writers Romanian journalists Romanian literary critics Romanian memoirists Romanian novelists Romanian male novelists Romanian essayists Romanian male essayists