Cornelia Ștefănescu (born Cornelia Smădescu, 11 November 1928 – 28 July 2010) was a

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

n literary critic and historian.

Biography

She was born in

Caransebeș Caransebeș (; ; , Hungarian pronunciation: ) is a city in Caraș-Severin County, part of the Banat region in southwestern Romania. One village, Jupa (), is administered by the city. The city is located at the confluence of the Timiș River with ...

, Romania, the daughter of officer Traian Smădescu and his wife Emilia (née Pîrvu).Aurel Sasu, ''Dicționar biografic al literaturii române M-Z'', vol. II, Editura Paralela 45, București, 2004. She grew up in

Teiuș Teiuș (, ; ) is a town in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania, with a population of 6,308 inhabitants as of 2021. The town, declared as such in 1994, administers four villages: Beldiu (''Marosbéld''), Căpud (''Magyarkapud''), Coșlariu Nou ('' ...

and lived in a house that had belonged to painter

Corneliu Baba Corneliu Baba (; 18 November 1906, Craiova – 28 December 1997) was a Romanian painter, primarily a portraitist, but also known as a genre painter and an illustrator of books. Early life Having first studied under his father, the academic pain ...

. She attended primary school (1935–1939) and high-school (1939–1947) in Caransebeș. After graduating high-school, she attended The Faculty of Philology of the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

(1947–1951). She earned her doctorate in philology with a thesis on prose writer

Spiridon Popescu Spiridon Popescu (August 13, 1864 – May 8, 1933) was a Romanian prose writer. Born in Rogojeni, Galați County, his parents were the peasant Constantin Dumitrașcu al Popei and his wife Safta (''née'' Tofan). He attended seminary in Galați an ...

, which was further elaborated under the guidance of professor

George Călinescu George Călinescu (; 19 June 1899 – 12 March 1965) was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies. He is currently considered one of the most important Romani ...

. After finishing her studies, Ștefănescu worked as a librarian (1951–1951) and head of service at the

Romanian Academy Library The Romanian Academy ( ) 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 bylaws, the academy's mai ...

, later becoming a researcher at the George Călinescu Literary Theory and Folklore Institute, known at the time as just "The Literary Theory and Folklore Institute", later becoming head of their sector of comparative literature (1974–1999). She married engineer Vladimir Ștefănescu in 1953. She suffered an

ischemic stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop ...

in 2003, leaving the right half of her body paralyzed, leading to her retirement. In 2008, in honor of her 80th birthday, the Caransebeș Town Hall awarded her an honorary citizenship. Following the event, the Caransebeș Town Hall and The "George Suru" House of Culture released a commemorative volume. She died on July 28 2010.

Literary activity

Cornelia Ștefănescu made her journalistic debut in 1951 in the magazine ''

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. ...

'', providing articles and studies in the magazine ''

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 ...

'', ''Secolul 20'', '' Luceafărul'', ''Manuscriptum'', ''Studii și cercetări de istorie literară și folclor'', ''Revista de istorie și teorie literară'', etc. She was a member of the editorial board of ''Synthesis'' and ''Jurnalul Literar''. She made her editorial debut, releasing the monograph ''Mihail Sebastian'' (1968), going on to release the volumes ''Momente ale romanului'' (1973), ''Sub scutul soarelui'' (1985), ''Ritmuri în piatră'' (1988); ''G. Călinescu sau "seriozitatea glumei estetice"'' (1996), ''Destinul unei întâlniri. Marcel Proust și românii'' (2001), and ''Traiectorii'' (2003).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ștefănescu, Cornelia 1928 births 2010 deaths People from Caransebeș Romanian women literary critics Romanian women historians University of Bucharest alumni