__NOTOC__ Miron Radu Paraschivescu (; 2 October 1911 – 17 February 1971) was a

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

n poet, essayist, journalist, and translator. Born in

Zimnicea Zimnicea () is a town in Teleorman County, Romania (in the historic region of Muntenia), a port on the Danube opposite the Bulgarian city of Svishtov. Geography Zimnicea is situated on the left bank of the Danube river. It is the southernmost pl ...

Teleorman County Teleorman County () is a county (județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the historical region Muntenia, with its capital city at Alexandria. The name ''Teleorman'' is of Cumanic ( Turkic) origin. It literally means ''crazy forest'' ...

, he went to high school in

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commune ...

, after which he studied fine arts, first in

Cluj ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Status , subdivision_name2 = County seat , settlement_type = City , le ...

and later 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 ...

, without graduating. He then enrolled at the Letters and Philosophy Department of 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 ...

. A leftist in his youth (he joined the

Union of Communist Youth , colorcode = red , logo = Symbol of Union of Communist Youth.svg , caption = Emblem , logo2 = , caption2 = , founded = 1922 , dissolved = 1989 , headquarters = Bucharest, Socialist Republic of Romania ...

in 1933), he wrote for many leftist papers and magazines of those days: "Cuvîntul liber", "Azi", "Facla", "Viața românească", "Era nouă", "Lumea românească", "Timpul", "Ecoul", "

România Liberă ''România liberă'' ("") is a Romanian daily newspaper founded in 1943 and currently based in Bucharest. A newspaper of the same name also existed between 1877 and 1888. History and profile The name ''România liberă'' was first used by a dai ...

", "

Scînteia ''Scînteia'' (Romanian for "The Spark") was the name of two newspapers edited by Communist groups at different intervals in Romanian history. The title is a homage to the Russian language paper ''Iskra''. It was known as ''Scânteia'' until th ...

", sometimes under a pen name, among them Emil Soare and Paul Scorțeanu. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he wrote many propagandistic articles, although it seems that he never became a member of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

itself. Being on friendly terms with many communist leaders from their days in the underground, including

Miron Constantinescu Miron Constantinescu (13 December 1917 – 18 July 1974) was a Romanian communist politician, a leading member of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR, known as PMR for a period of his lifetime), as well as a Marxist sociologist, historian, academic, ...

Constanța Crăciun Constanța Crăciun (16 February 1914 – 2 May 2002) was a Romanian politician and educator. Biography She was born in Constanța. She studied literature and philosophy. She became a member of the Romanian Communist Party in 1935. She was ...

Iosif Chișinevschi Iosif Chișinevschi (born Jakob Roitman; 26 December 1905–1963) was a Romanian communist politician. The leading ideologue of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) from 1944 to 1957, he served as head of its Agitprop Department from 1948 to 19 ...

Leonte Răutu Leonte Răutu (until 1945 Lev Nikolayevich (Nicolaievici) Oigenstein; February 28, 1910 – 1993) was a Bessarabian-born Romanian communist activist and propagandist. He was chief ideologist of the Romanian Communist Party ("Workers' Party") ...

, he was considered "invulnerable", and got away with criticizing the regime, mostly in private, when anybody else would have ended in prison for the same offence. Although he hoped, due to his antifascist past, to be given important government positions like his former comrades, he never got any, being sent instead to work for several magazines and papers. He and Sorin Toma bitterly criticized

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 ...

in 1948, accusing the latter of being a representative of "decadent, bourgeois art". In 1965, Paraschivescu took charge of the readers' column at the literary magazine ''Ramuri'' in Craiova, changing it in May 1966 into a four-page literary supplement called ''Povesta vorbei'' ("The Tale of Talk"). It lasted only six numbers. He transformed it into a meeting place for a number of young avant-garde writers who had difficulty getting published by the established literary press. Among them were

Leonid Dimov Leonid Dimov (; bg, Леонид Димов) (January 11, 1926 – December 5, 1987) was a Romanian postmodernist poet and translator born in Izmail, Bassarabia. The son of Nadejda Dimov and Naum Mordcovici, he was one of the main representatives ...

Virgil Mazilescu Virgil Mazilescu (; born 11 April 1942, Corabia, Olt County, Romania — died 10 August 1984, Bucharest, Romania) was a Romanian poet, essayist and translator. Life After finishing the "Spiru Haret” High School in Bucharest in 1957, he enroll ...

, and Dumitru Țepeneag. Known for being sometimes a "difficult person" and a "big mouth", Paraschivescu was hospitalized at least twice in mental institutions. Somewhat of a

Don Juan Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni ( Italian), is a legendary, fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, ''El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra'' ...

, Paraschivescu was married five times.

Writings

*''Oameni și așezări din Țara Moților și a Basarabilor'', Craiova, 1938 *''Cântice țigănești'', București, 1941; illustrated by Marcel Chirnoagă, București, 1972 *''Pâine, pământ și țărani'', Craiova, 1943 *''Cântare României'', București, 1951 *''Laude'', București, 1953 *''Laude şi alte poeme'', București, 1959 *''Declarația patetică'', București, 1960 *''Poezii'', București, 1961 *''Declaraţia patetică. Cântice țigănești. Laude și alte poeme'', București, 1963 *''Bâlci la Râureni'', București, 1964 *''Versul liber'', București, 1965 *''Drumuri şi răspântii'', București, 1967 *''Tristele'', București, 1968 *''Scrieri, vol. I-II'', București, 1969, vol. III-IV, București, 1974–1975 *''Poeme'', București, 1971 *''Ultimele'', București, 1971 *''Poezii'', edited and afterword by Ioan Adam, București, 1973 *''Amintiri'', București, 1975 *''Journal d'un heretique, translated by Claude Jaillet, foreword by de Virgil Ierunca, Paris, 1976; edition (Jurnalul unui cobai. 1940–1954), edited by Maria Cordoneanu, foreword by Vasile Igna, Cluj Napoca, 1994 *''Povestind copiilor'', București, 1990 *''Jurnalul unui cobai'', 1994 *''Poeme'', Iaşi, 2000

Translations

* Marie-Anne Desmarest, ''Torente'', București, 1943 *

Konstantin Simonov Konstantin Mikhailovich Simonov, born Kirill Mikhailovich Simonov (russian: link= no, Константин Михайлович Симонов, – 28 August 1979), was a Soviet author, war poet, playwright and wartime correspondent, arguabl ...

, ''Apărarea Moscovei'', București, 1944 *

Nikolai Tikhonov Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tikhonov (russian: Николай Александрович Тихонов; ukr, Микола Олександрович Тихонов; – 1 June 1997) was a Soviet Russian-Ukrainian statesman during the Cold War. H ...

, ''Istorisiri din Leningrad'', București, 1944 * Mikhail Sholokhov, ''Şcoala urii'', București, 1944 * Jean Richard Bloch, ''Toulon'', București, 1945 *

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

, ''Basme...'', illustrated by Th. Kiriacoff-Suruceanu, București, 1945, Ruslan și Ludmila, București, 1951 *Translations of eight European poets, illustrated by Mircea Alitanti, București, 1946 * Claude Roy, ''Parisul răsculat'', București, 1946 *

Maxim Gorki Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and sociali ...

, ''Univesităţile mele'', București, 1948 *

Nikolay Nekrasov Nikolay Alexeyevich Nekrasov ( rus, Никола́й Алексе́евич Некра́сов, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪtɕ nʲɪˈkrasəf, a=Ru-Nikolay_Alexeyevich_Nekrasov.ogg, – ) was a Russian poet, writer, critic and publi ...

, ''Poeme alese'', București, 1953, ''Gerul, moşu cu nasu roşu'', București, 1955, ''Opere alese, I-III'', București, 1955–1959, ''Femeile ruse. Decembristele'', București, 1956 *

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...

, '' Pan Tadeusz sau Ultima încălcare de pământ în Lituania'', foreword by Olga Zaicik, București, 1956, ''Poezii'', București, 1957 (with Vlaicu Bârna şi Virgil Teodorescu), ''Poezii'', București 1959 *

Juliusz Słowacki Juliusz Słowacki (; french: Jules Slowacki; 4 September 1809 – 3 April 1849) was a Polish Romantic poet. He is considered one of the " Three Bards" of Polish literature — a major figure in the Polish Romantic period, and the father of m ...

, ''Ceasul meditării'', illustrated by Mihu Vulcănescu, București, 1962 *

Giuseppe Ungaretti Giuseppe Ungaretti (; 8 February 1888 – 2 June 1970) was an Italian modernist poet, journalist, essayist, critic, academic, and recipient of the inaugural 1970 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. A leading representative of the experi ...

, ''Poezii'', București, 1963 (with Alexandru Balaci) * Andre Malraux, ''Calea regală'', București, 1971

Awards

*The

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

's "George Coșbuc" Award (1956) *

Honorary citizen Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

Vălenii de Munte Vălenii de Munte () is a town in Prahova County, southern Romania (the historical region of Muntenia), with a population of 11,707 as of 2011. It lies In the Teleajen river valley, north of the county seat of Ploiești. The town's sister cities ...

(post-mortem, 2011)

References

*Aurel Sasu, ''Dicționar biografic al literaturii române (M-Z)'', Paralela 45, Pitești, 2006, pp. 300–301 {{DEFAULTSORT:Paraschivescu, Miron Radu 1911 births 1971 deaths People from Zimnicea Romanian male poets Romanian translators Romanian journalists Romanian essayists Romanian communists 20th-century translators 20th-century Romanian poets Male essayists 20th-century essayists Recipients of the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic 20th-century journalists