Radu Boureanu (March 9, 1906 – September 5, 1997) 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, prose writer and translator.

Biography

Born 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 ...

, his parents were Eugen Boureanul and his wife Jeanne (''née'' Michel), who was a schoolteacher of French origin. He studied at the

Mihai Viteazul Michael the Brave ( ro, Mihai Viteazul or ; 1558 – 9 August 1601), born as Mihai Pătrașcu, was the Prince of Wallachia (as Michael II, 1593 – 1601), Prince of Moldavia (1600) and ''de facto'' ruler of Transylvania (1599 – 1600). ...

and

Matei Basarab Matei Basarab (; 1588, Brâncoveni, Olt – 9 April 1654, Bucharest) was a Wallachian Voivode (Prince) between 1632 and 1654. Reign Much of Matei's reign was spent fighting off incursions from Moldavia, which he successfully accomplished in 1637 ...

high schools in his native city, and privately at

Bazargic Dobrich ( bg, Добрич ; ro, Bazargic, tr, Hacıoğlu Pazarcık) is the 9th most populated city in Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Dobrich Province and the capital of the region of Southern Dobrudzha. It is located in the northeas ...

. In 1931, he graduated from the Bucharest Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, in the course taught by

Lucia Sturdza-Bulandra Lucia Sturdza-Bulandra (25 August 1873 – 19 September 1961) was a Romanian actress and acting teacher. She is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of Romanian theater. In addition to her acting career, she played ...

. His first poems appeared in ''Ritmul vremii'' in 1927. Other publications that ran his work include ''

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 ...

'', ''Vremea'', ''Adevărul literar și artistic'' and ''

Bilete de Papagal ''Bilete de Papagal'' was a Romanian left-wing publication edited by Tudor Arghezi, begun as a daily newspaper and soon after issued as a weekly satirical and literary magazine. It was published at three different intervals: 1928-1930, 1937-1938, ...

''. Together with

Zaharia Stancu Zaharia Stancu (; October 7, 1902 – December 5, 1974) was a Romanian prose writer, novelist, poet, and philosopher. He was also the director of the National Theatre Bucharest, the President of the Writers' Union of Romania, and a titular memb ...

, he founded ''Azi'' magazine in 1932. His first book, the 1933 poetry collection ''Zbor alb'', drew notice from critic Pompiliu Constantinescu. Between 1929 and 1931, he appeared as an actor on the stage of the

National Theatre Bucharest The National Theatre Bucharest ( ro, Teatrul Naţional "Ion Luca Caragiale" București) is one of the national theatres of Romania, located in the capital city of Bucharest. Founding It was founded as the ''Teatrul cel Mare din București'' ("Gra ...

. He resumed acting between 1945 and 1947, when he quit for good, due to health reasons. From 1936 to 1940, he headed ''România'', a tourism and art magazine. For his paintings and drawings, he received the Official Salon Prize in 1942 and 1946. After the

1944 Romanian coup d'état The 1944 Romanian coup d'état, better known in Romanian historiography as the Act of 23 August ( ro, Actul de la 23 August), was a coup d'état led by King Michael I of Romania during World War II on 23 August 1944. With the support of several ...

and the subsequent rise to power of 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 ...

, Boureanu was chief adviser on press matters, and editor-in-chief of ''

Viața Românească ''Viața Românească'' (, "The Romanian Life") is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania. Formerly the platform of the left-wing traditionalist trend known as poporanism, it is now one of the Writers' Union of Romania's main venues. Th ...

'' magazine (1967-1974), where he created and directed the ''Caiet de poezie'' supplement. His poetic output was immense, and earned 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 (1933, 1936, 1939, 1943) as well as the Knokke-le- Zoute International Poetry Award (1970). His writings, collected as ''Scrieri'' (vol. I-IV, 1972-1979), show his evolution from a traditionalist (''Zbor alb'', 1933; ''Golful sângelui'', 1936; ''Cai de Apocalips'', 1942) to the lyricism ascribed to a civic and social vocation (''Sângele popoarelor'', 1948; ''Cântare cetății lui Bucur'', 1959). His prose includes novels (''Enigmaticul Baikal'', 1937; ''Ceașca'', 1956; ''Frumosul Principe Cercel'', 1978), exotically-themed short stories (''Üstuné sau Colina goală'', 1965) and a romanticized biography of

Nicolae Milescu Nikolai Spathari (russian: Николай Гаврилович Спафарий, Nikolai Gavrilovich Spathari; 1636–1708), also known as Nicolae Milescu and Nicolae Milescu Spătaru (, first name also ''Neculai'', signing in Latin as Nicolaus ...

(1936). His play ''Lupii'' (1952) was awarded the State Prize, while the dramatic poem ''Satul fără dragoste'' (1955) won an award from the

Romanian Writers' Union The Writers' Union of Romania (), founded in March 1949, is a professional association of writers in Romania. It also has a subsidiary in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova. The Writers' Union of Romania was created by the communist regime by taking ...

. He wrote polished translations of

Alexander Blok Alexander Alexandrovich Blok ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Бло́к, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈblok, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Blok.oga; 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet, writer, publ ...

Emile Verhaeren Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *'' Emil and the Detecti ...

Pablo Neruda Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973), better known by his pen name and, later, legal name Pablo Neruda (; ), was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Nerud ...

Robert Goffin Robert Goffin (21 May 1898 – 27 June 1984) was a Belgian lawyer, author, and poet, credited with writing the first "serious" book on jazz, ''Aux Frontières du Jazz'' in 1932.Epperson. Life Robert Goffin was born in Ohain, Brabant Province i ...

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

Nguyễn Du Nguyễn Du (; 3 January 1766 – 16 September 1820), pen names Tố Như () and Thanh Hiên (), is a celebrated Vietnamese poet. He is most known for writing the epic poem ''The Tale of Kiều''. Biography Youth Nguyễn Du was born in a gre ...

and József Méliusz. Throughout his career, he contributed essays and opinion pieces. His late work, ''Frumusețile oarbe'' (1982), ''Oceanul întrebărilor'' (1985), ''Snop de fulgere'' (1985) and ''Dulce uragan'' (1989), shows him at an elevated level of artistic maturity, with a poetic sensibility that, branching out into various intellectual domains, showed itself to be, in one critic's assessment, an "enormous chronicle of human sensibility".Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. I, p. 679. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boureanu, Radu 1906 births 1997 deaths Writers from Bucharest Romanian people of French descent Romanian male short story writers Romanian short story writers Romanian essayists Romanian translators Romanian magazine editors Romanian magazine founders Romanian painters Romanian male stage actors 20th-century Romanian novelists 20th-century Romanian poets 20th-century translators 20th-century short story writers 20th-century essayists 20th-century Romanian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Romanian male writers