Mihail Cruceanu (December 13, 1887 – July 7, 1988) was a Romanian poet. He was born in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

to Mihail Cruceanu, a doctor, and his wife Ecaterina (''née'' Petrovanu). He attended high school in Ploiești and

Pitești Pitești () is a city in Romania, located on the river Argeș. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated in the historical re ...

, earning his degree in 1906 at Bucharest's

Saint Sava High School 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 ...

. Cruceanu enrolled in the University of Bucharest, where he took degrees in law (1911) and literature and philosophy (1913). He subsequently taught high school at Alexandria,

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 ...

and Bucharest. He made his poetic debut in ''Revista literară'' in 1904. Although he associated with the '' Literatorul'' circle of Alexandru Macedonski, he was closer to Ovid Densusianu's '' Vieața Nouă'' group. His first published volume was the 1912 ''Spre cetatea zorilor''. Between 1911 and 1913, he interviewed a series of cultural figures, recording the encounters in ''Rampa''; these included Macedonski, Densusianu, Alexandru Vlahuță,

Ioan Alexandru Brătescu-Voinești Ioan Alexandru Brătescu-Voinești (January 1, 1868 – December 14, 1946) was a Romanian short story writer and politician. The scion of a minor aristocratic family from Târgoviște, he studied law and, as a young man, drew close to the ''Junim ...

, Dimitrie Anghel,

Ioan A. Bassarabescu Ioan Alecu Bassarabescu (commonly rendered I. A. Bassarabescu; December 17, 1870 - March 27, 1952) was a Romanian comedic writer, civil servant and politician, who served one term (1926–1927) in the Senate of Romania. His work, mainly in prose ...

and

Mihail Dragomirescu Mihail Dragomirescu (March 22, 1868 – November 25, 1942) was a Romanian aesthetician, literary theorist and critic. Born in Plătărești, Călărași County, he completed primary school in his native village in 1881, followed by Bucharest's G ...

. Reviews that published his work include ''Farul'', ''Vieața Nouă'', ''Sărbătoarea eroilor'', ''Versuri și proză'', ''Revista celorlalți'', ''Flacăra'', ''Adevărul literar'', ''Îndreptar'', ''

Românul ''Românul'' (, meaning "The Romanian"; originally spelled ''Romanulu'' or ''Românulŭ'', also known as ''Romînul'', ''Concordia'', ''Libertatea'' and ''Consciinti'a Nationala''), was a political and literary newspaper published in Bucharest, Ro ...

'', ''Zorile'', ''Revista Fundațiilor Regale'', ''Luceafărul'', '' Viața Românească'' and '' România Literară''. Cruceanu entered the labor movement in 1919 and joined the

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ro, Partidul Comunist Român, , PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that woul ...

upon its 1921 foundation, holding various leadership posts. The party was banned in 1924, and he was arrested and imprisoned on various occasions for his political activity. After the 1944 Coup against Romania's pro-Axis dictator and the party's legalization, he continued to be active in the social and political realm. From 1950 to 1970, he was a professor at the University of Bucharest's Romanian language and literature faculty. He also served as president of the Bucharest chapter of the Society of Philological Sciences. Cruceanu's

Symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

poetry appeared in ''Altare nouă'' (1915), ''Fericirea celorlalți'' (1920) and ''Lauda vieții'' (1945); the last had socialist realist touches. The 1968 anthology ''Versuri'' revived a poet whose milieu and expressions belonged to the early 20th century. The 1924 prose work ''Povestiri pentru tine'' was a foray into fantasy literature;

Perpessicius Perpessicius (; pen name of Dumitru S. Panaitescu, also known as Panait Șt. Dumitru, D. P. Perpessicius and Panaitescu-Perpessicius; October 22, 1891 – March 29, 1971) was a Romanian literary historian and critic, poet, essayist and fiction wri ...

commented on its sure style and hints of an "essential lyricism". His memoirs, published in 1973 as ''De vorbă cu trecutul'', included an original series of recollections.

Bibliography

*''Spre cetatea zorilor'', Târgoviște, 1912 *''Altare nouă'', Târgu Jiu, 1915 *''Fericirea celorlalți'', Craiova, 1920 *''Povestiri pentru tine'' (fantasy sketches and short stories), Bucharest, 1924 *''Lauda vieții'', Bucharest, 1945 *''Poezii alese'', Bucharest, 1957 *''Versuri'', Bucharest, 1968 *''Al. Dobrogeanu-Gherea'', with Fl. Tănăsescu, Bucharest, 1971 *''Pălării și capete'', Bucharest, 1972 *''De vorbă cu trecutul'', Bucharest, 1973 *''Poeme alese'', Craiova, 1974 *''Poeme'', Bucharest, 1985 *''Lauda vieții'', ed. F. Firan, Craiova, 1987 *''Scrieri în proză'', ed. C. Mohanu, Bucharest, 1987

Notes

1887 births 1988 deaths Writers from Iași Saint Sava National College alumni University of Bucharest alumni Academic staff of the University of Bucharest Men centenarians Romanian male poets Symbolist poets Romanian male short story writers Romanian short story writers Romanian fantasy writers Romanian memoirists Romanian schoolteachers Romanian communists Romanian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Romania Romanian centenarians 20th-century Romanian poets 20th-century short story writers 20th-century memoirists {{Romania-poet-stub