Petre Strihan (pen name of Petre Constantinescu; May 27, 1899–July 25, 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 poet. Born in

Mizil Mizil () is a town in Prahova County, Muntenia, Romania. Located in the southeastern part of the county, it lies along the road between the cities of Ploiești and Buzău, and to the northeast of the national capital, Bucharest. Its position led i ...

, his parents were Ion Constantinescu, a lawyer, and his wife Steliana (''née'' Anastasiu). From 1910 to 1918, he attended 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 commu ...

and

Buzău The city of Buzău (formerly spelled ''Buzeu'' or ''Buzĕu''; ) is the county seat of Buzău County, Romania, in the historical region of Muntenia. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Car ...

. He then studied law 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 ...

from 1918 to 1921, during which time he worked as a copyist within his faculty. He earned a doctorate in 1925, and worked as an instructor (1928-1938), associate professor (1938-1942) and professor (1942-1947). From 1942 to 1944, under the regime of

Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and ''Conducător'' during most of World War II. A Romanian Army career officer who made ...

, he was a deputy state secretary. He was active as a lawyer from 1921 to 1945, at which point he was suspended. Between 1956 and 1964, under 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 ...

, he successively served as accountant at a worksite in

Titu Titu () is a town in Dâmbovița County, Muntenia, Romania, with a population of 9,658 . Location The town in located in the southern part of the county, in the center of the Wallachian Plain. It lies at a distance of from the county seat, T ...

, tutor at a worker cooperative, ticket inspector at

Zoo Băneasa Zoo Băneasa is a zoo in Bucharest, Romania, located in a northern district of the city, called Băneasa. The park was founded in 1955 as a service of the Municipal Household Section of the People's Council of the Capital. At that time, small live ...

, laborer at a chemical plant, archivist and machine operator at another cooperative. From 1964 to 1968, he was documentarian at Bucharest's Nicolae Iorga History Institute, rising to scientific researcher from 1968 to 1970. Strihan's first published work appeared in ''

Flacăra ''Flacăra'' (Romanian for "The Flame") is a weekly literary magazine published in Bucharest, Romania. History and profile ''Flacăra'' was started in 1911. The first issue was published on 22 October 1911. The founder was Constantin Banu and ...

'' in 1922, while his first book was the 1929 ''Penumbre''. Between 1922 and 1929, he formed part of the ''

Sburătorul ''Sburătorul'' was a Romanian Modernism, modernist literary magazine and literary society, established in Bucharest in April 1919. Led by Eugen Lovinescu, the circle was instrumental in developing new trends and styles in Romanian literature, rangi ...

'' literary circle. During the interwar period, his writings appeared in ''Adevărul literar'', ''

Convorbiri Literare ''Convorbiri Literare'' ( Romanian: ''Literary Talks'') is a Romanian literary magazine published in Romania. It is among the most important journals of the nineteenth-century Romania. History and profile ''Convorbiri Literare'' was founded by ...

'', ''Viața literară'', ''Universul literar'' and ''Slove''. After 1964, he wrote for '' Luceafărul'', ''Gazeta literară'' and ''

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 ...

''. His late works, delicate and naive, appeared in ''Poezii'' (1968), ''Moara albastră'' (1978) and ''Lumini târzii'' (1984).Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, pp. 644-45. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strihan, Petre 1899 births 1990 deaths People from Mizil University of Bucharest alumni Academic staff of the University of Bucharest 20th-century Romanian lawyers Romanian poets