George Mihail Pruteanu (; 15 December 1947 – 27 March 2008) 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 ...

literary critic Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

and politician. He was 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 ...

in 1947. His father, , was a Jewish medical doctor and a university professor who studied the history of

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...

n medicine. His mother, Sofia Pruteanu, was an office worker. When he was 4 years old his parents divorced and he took his mother's maiden name. George Pruteanu studied literature at the

University of Iași The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mih ...

and 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 ...

. Starting in 1972, he wrote various columns for literary magazines such as ''

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 ...

'', ''

Contemporanul ''Contemporanul'' (The Contemporary) is a Romanian literary magazine published in Iaşi, Romania from 1881 to 1891. It was sponsored by the socialist circle of the city. A new magazine ''Contimporanul ''Contimporanul'' (antiquated spelling of ...

'', and ''Cronica''. After the 1989 Revolution, he continued his work as journalist for newspapers such as ''Expres'' and ''

Evenimentul Zilei ''Evenimentul Zilei'' is a formerly physical and now exclusively online newspaper in Romania. Its name means "today's even (news)". History and profile ''Evenimentul Zilei'' was founded by Ion Cristoiu, Cornel Nistorescu and Mihai Cârciog, an ...

''. Between 1995 and 1999, he was also the host of a 5-minute daily TV programme on correct usage of the

Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Moldova, Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communi ...

("''Doar o vorbă săț-i mai spun''", a title containing a deliberate, provocative mistake), which was broadcast first by

Tele7ABC Tele7ABC () was a television station in Romania, which became popular in the 1990s and stopped airing in 2005. Launched in 1994, it was the second private TV channel in Romania to start airing after Antena 1. It was famous for airing such series ...

(1995), then

ProTV PRO TV (, often stylized as PRO•TV as of 2017) is a Romanian free-to-air television network, launched on 1 December 1995 as the fourth private TV channel in the country (after TV SOTI, Antena 1, and the now-defunct Tele7ABC). It is owned by CME ...

(1995–1996),

TVR1 TVR 1 (; spelled out as ''Televiziunea Română 1'', "Romanian Television 1") is the main channel of the Romanian public broadcaster TVR. The most important show of the channel is Jurnalul TVR, whose motto is ("The news journal as it should ...

(1997–1999), and again TVR1 (2006–2008). In 1996, Pruteanu was elected to the

Romanian Senate ) is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 136 seats (before the 2016 Romanian legislative election the total number of elected representatives was 176), to which members are elected by direct popular vote using party-list ...

as a

Constanța County Constanța () is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the Dobruja region. Its capital city is also named Constanța. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 684,082 and the population density was 96/km2. The deg ...

Senator on a

Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party The Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party ( ro, Partidul Național Țărănesc Creștin Democrat, officially abbreviated PNȚCD) is a Christian democratic and agrarian political party in Romania. It claims to be the rightful successor o ...

ticket, but resigned in 1998. In 2000, he was elected once again, this time in

Bistrița-Năsăud County Bistrița-Năsăud () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Transylvania, with its capital city at Bistrița. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian, it is known as ''Beszterce-Naszód megye'', and in German language, German as ''Kreis Bistritz-N ...

as a member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

(PSD). In 2003, he resigned from PSD and joined the

Greater Romania Party The Greater Romania Party ( ro, Partidul România Mare, PRM) is a Romanian nationalist political party. Founded in May 1991 by Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor, it was led by the latter from that point until his death in September 2015. The ...

(PRM), running for the Senate in

Suceava County Suceava County () is a county ('' ro, județ'') of Romania. Most of its territory lies in the southern part of the historical region of Bukovina, while the remainder forms part of Western Moldavia proper. The county seat is the historical town ...

in 2004. Pruteanu introduced a

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

in 1997, which became known as the "Pruteanu Bill", requiring all public notices (including ads) in foreign languages to have Romanian translations. A trimmed-down version of this bill was promulgated by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as President of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, Iliescu ...

in 2004. Pruteanu was also critical of the Romanian entertainment industry, especially of low-quality TV programmes and

manele Manele (from Romanian, ''fem.'' ''sg.'' manea; ''pl.'' manele, the plural form being more common) is a genre of pop folk music from Romania. The manele can be divided into "classical manele" and "modern manele". The "classical manele" are a Tu ...

, which he called "intellectual manure". He died in Bucharest after suffering a heart attack on 27 March 2008. He is buried at

Bellu Cemetery Șerban Vodă Cemetery (commonly known as Bellu Cemetery) is the largest and most famous cemetery in Bucharest, Romania. It is located on a plot of land donated to the local administration by Baron Barbu Bellu. It has been in use since 1858. T ...

Works

*''Petru Dumitriu: Pactul cu diavolul'' (1995) *''Partidul și partida – atitudini politice'' (2000) *''Cronica unei mari dezamăgiri – O istorie mediatică'' (2000) *''Feldeința călinesciană – studiu monografic'' (2001) *''Elemente esențiale de tehnică mediatică'' (2002) * Translation of

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

's ''

The Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...

'' into Romanian

References

*
Literary critics about George Pruteanu
*

Adevărul ''Adevărul'' (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published dur ...

, 19 November 2004
Legea "Pruteanu" intră in vigoare la 17 decembrie
* Gardianul, 27 September 2003
George Pruteanu: Pentru că țin cu lefegiii, m-am înscris in Partidul România Mare
* Ziarul Tricolorul, 19 November 2004
Echipa lui Vadim - George Pruteanu
(accessed 6 December 2005)

External links

pruteanu.ro: George Pruteanu's official site
(includes hi

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pruteanu, George 1947 births 2008 deaths Greater Romania Party politicians Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party politicians Social Democratic Party (Romania) politicians Politicians from Bucharest Romanian essayists Journalists from Bucharest Romanian literary critics Members of the Senate of Romania Romanian translators Grammarians from Romania University of Bucharest alumni Academic staff of the University of Bucharest 20th-century translators 20th-century essayists Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni Burials at Bellu Cemetery 20th-century journalists Jewish Romanian politicians Jewish Romanian writers