Eugen Bălan (October 21, 1904 – April 4, 1968) 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 prose writer. Born in

Focșani Focșani (; ) is the capital city of Vrancea County in Romania on the banks the river Milcov, in the historical region of Moldavia. , it has a population of 66,719. Geography Focșani lies at the foot of the Curvature Carpathians, at a point of ...

, his father was a career army officer who died in the

Battle of Turtucaia The Battle of Turtucaia (; , ''Bitka pri Tutrakan''), also known as Tutrakan Epopee (, ''Tutrakanska epopeya'') in Bulgaria, was the opening battle of the first Central Powers offensive during the Romanian Campaign (World War I), Romanian Campaig ...

. He attended the Military High School in

Craiova Craiova (, also , ) is the largest city in southwestern Romania, List of Romanian cities, the seventh largest city in the country and the capital of Dolj County, situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It i ...

and the

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, working as an engineer until the end of his life. His disjointed literary activity comprised two distinct phases. The first involved his 1941

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

, ''Într-o duminecă de august'', which won the

Romanian Writers' Society The Romanian Writers' Society () 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 early Communist Romania, communist re ...

prize and was issued in a second edition a quarter-century later. This book surprised critics with its maturity, sure phrasing and simple structure, as well as through it is the sudden nature of its publication, without prior indication of the author's talent. Bălan resumed writing after his retirement in 1965, composing sketches and short stories. He had decided late in life to write a new book, not wishing to remain as the author of a single one, and his return to literature marked a second debut. He died in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, and the writings he left were published posthumously as ''Exerciții'' in 1970.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. I, p. 129. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balan, Eugen 1904 births 1968 deaths People from Focșani Politehnica University of Bucharest alumni Romanian male short story writers Romanian short story writers Romanian novelists 20th-century Romanian engineers