Mircea Streinul (2 January 1910 – 17 April 1945) was an

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

-born

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 and poet.

Biography

Born in Cuciurul Mare, in the

Bukovina Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter BergerT ...

region, his parents were the

Romanian Orthodox 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 i ...

priest Gavril Streinul and his wife Olimpia (''née'' Șandru). He attended primary school in his native village. From 1920 to 1928, he studied at Aron Pumnul High School in

Cernăuți Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the up ...

, the capital of the region, which had meanwhile become part of Romania. While there, he was a member of the Steluța cultural society and managed the school magazine, ''Ecoul tinerimii''. With three classmates, he published the single number of ''Caietul celor patru'' magazine. In 1929, he entered the theology faculty of

Cernăuți University Chernivtsi National University (full name Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, uk, Чернівецький національний університет імені Юрія Федьковича) is a public university in the City o ...

, graduating in 1934. While a student, he contributed to the local publications ''Tribuna'', ''Spectatorul'', ''Munca intelectuală'', ''Evenimentul'', ''Glasul Bucovinei'' and ''Junimea literară''. In 1931, he and four colleagues founded the ''Iconar'' group; together with I. Vesper, he established a publishing house with the same name that put out some 30 volumes of poetry in 1933–1934. The mission of the press and the magazine (also called ''Iconar'') was to promote Bukovina's new literature, a synthesis of tradition and modernity. In 1935, he became ill with tuberculosis. From 1937 to 1938, he lived in the national capital

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 ...

, where he edited the

Iron Guard The Iron Guard ( ro, Garda de Fier) was a Romanian militant revolutionary fascist movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel Michael () or the Legionnaire Movement (). It was strongly ...

-affiliated newspaper ''Buna Vestire''. Back at Cernăuți from 1938 to 1940, he led ''Suceava'' newspaper, was press adviser for

Ținutul Suceava Ținutul Suceava was one of the ten Romanian administrative regions (''ținuturi'') created on August 14, 1938, as a part of King Carol II's administrative reform. From August 14, 1938, to June 28, 1940, it included the whole of Bukovina, a coun ...

and vice president of the Bukovina Writers' Society. In 1940, he was a clerk in the Propaganda Ministry. As his disease worsened, he was obliged to stay at Filantropia Hospital and, from 1944, at the Filaret Sanatorium; he died the following April.

Contributions

His first book, ''Carte de iconar'' (1933), included poems; this was followed by other short verse collections: ''Itinerar cu anexe în vis'' (1934), ''Tarot sau Călătoria omului'' (1935), ''Divertisment'' (1936), ''Zece cuvinte ale fericitului Francisc de Assisi'' (1936), ''Comentarii lirice la "Poeme într-un vers" de Ion Pillat'' (1937) and ''Corbul de aur'' (1938). In 1939, he collected the previous decade's work into ''Opera lirică''. Shifting toward prose, he published the novella ''Aventura domnișoarei Zenobia Magheru'' (1938), followed by the novels ''Ion Aluion'' (1938, reissued in 1941 as ''Somnul negru''), ''Lupul din țara Huțulilor'' (1939), ''Guzli sau Tsu-Tsui'' (1939), ''Viața în pădure'' (1939), ''Drama casei Timoteu'' (1941), ''Prăvălia diavolului'' (1942), ''Soarele răsare noaptea'' (1943) and ''Băieți de fată'' (1944). His lyric verse was replete with myth, reflecting a pantheistic vision close to that of

Lucian Blaga Lucian Blaga (; 9 May 1895 – 6 May 1961) was a Romanian philosopher, poet, playwright, poetry translator and novelist. He was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of the interbellum period. Biography Blaga was born on 9 May 1895 ...

, but more obsessed with the oneiric, hallucinatory and obsessed with death, recording visions in a manner reminiscent of

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...

and

Georg Trakl Georg Trakl (3 February 1887 – 3 November 1914) was an Austrian poet and the brother of the pianist Grete Trakl. He is considered one of the most important Austrian Expressionists. He is perhaps best known for his poem " Grodek", which he wr ...

. He translated from the latter as ''Cele patru poeme în proză ale austriacului Georg Trakl'' (1939). His early prose features sharply drawn evocations of rural life in Bukovina, evolving toward tragic depictions of fates determined by World War I and a

Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

-like psychological analysis. In his later novels, Streinul added a fantastic-grotesque dimension. He was a contributor to ''Capricorn'', ''Azi'', ''Frize'', ''Meșterul Manole'', ''

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 ...

'', Universul literar, ''

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 Europe, Central, Eastern ...

'' and ''Vremea''. He authored an anthology, ''Poeți tineri bucovineni'' (1938), and a libretto for

Paul Constantinescu Paul Constantinescu (; 30 June 1909, Ploieşti – 20 December 1963) was a Romanian composer. Two of his main influences are Romanian folk music and Byzantine chant, both of which he used in his teaching. One of his students was composer Margar ...

's opera ''Meșterul Manole''. He won 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 in 1935.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, p. 643-44. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Streinul, Mircea 1910 births 1945 deaths People from Chernivtsi Oblast Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church Chernivtsi University alumni Romanian novelists Romanian poets Romanian translators Romanian anthologists Romanian magazine editors Romanian newspaper editors Romanian book publishers (people) 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis 20th-century translators Tuberculosis deaths in Romania Pantheists Burials at Bellu Cemetery