Biography
Early childhood
George Călinescu, born Gheorghe Vișan on 19 June, 1899, was the son of Maria Vișan, a housekeeper. He was raised by his mother's employers, Constantin Călinescu, an employee of the Romanian State Railways, and his wife Maria. The Călinescu family — along with their housekeeper and her son — moved to Botoșani and then to Iași. There, in 1906, Gheorghe Vișan, enrolled at the ''Carol I'' primary school, where he studied for two years. In 1907, Maria Vișan accepted the Călinescu family's offer to formally adopt her son, who subsequently took the name Gheorghe Călinescu. This remained his legal name until his death; however, he used the pen name "G. Călinescu" and has become better known as George Călinescu — not only in the Western world, but also in Romania. In 1908, the Călinescu family moved to Bucharest, where George enrolled at the ''Gheorghe Șincai'' junior high school. During his childhood, Călinescu did not know who his real mother was. Finding out that the housekeeper that he used to humiliate was his real mother disturbed him.Genealogia – Între știință, Mitologie și MonomanieRamiro Ortiz
, who taught Italian language and literature at the Faculty of Letters and philosophy, exercised a seminal influence over Călinescu's development. Călinescu developed a strong friendship with Ortiz; years later, he would give Ortiz credit for helping him "seize" a literary education of extraordinary quality.Mircea Zaciu, Marian Papahagi, Aurel Sasu, Dicționarul scriitorilor români, Editura Fundației Culturale Române, 1995, literele A-C, p. 551–517 Under Ortiz's guidance Călinescu made his first translations from Italian; during his student days he translatedVasile Pârvan
If inAcademic career
In 1936, Călinescu received his doctorate in literature from the University of Iași with a thesis on ''Avatarii faraonului Tla'' ("The Avatars of Pharaoh Tla"), a posthumous work of Mihai Eminescu whose value he was the first to publicize. In fact, this thesis was an extract from Călinescu's earlier work, ''Opera lui Mihai Eminescu'' ("Mihai Eminescu's Work"), which he wrote out longhand in five copies and sent to the members of the Examination Committee. Afterwards he was named lecturer in Romanian literature at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Iași, after having won the competition for the post with the maximum possible score. In 1945, he transferred to the University of Bucharest, from which point he collaborated on the prestigious ''Revistă a Fundațiilor Regale'', edited by Alexandru Rosetti and Camil Petrescu, until it was closed down when the King abdicated in 1947. After 1947, he was published consistently in magazines such as ''Gazeta literară'' (later to become '' România literară'') and '' Contemporanul'', also collaborating on ''Roma'', ''Universul literar'', ''Viața literară'', ''Sburătorul'', and ''Gândirea''.Under Communism
Călinescu was deposed from his position at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest after the establishment in power of the Communist Party of Romania. He was considered a political liability despite having shown evidence of democratic, left-leaning tendencies throughout the interwar period. In the 1950s, however, he became director of the ''Institutul de teorie literară și folclor'' ("The Literary Theory and Folklore Institute") and coordinated the institute's publication, ''Studii și cercetări de istorie literară și folclor'' ("Literary Theory and Folklore Studies and Research"), from 1952 to 1965. He was reinvited to his post at the Faculty of Letters only in 1961; in the meantime, he produced numerous writings on wide-ranging subjects, from the aesthetic of folk tales to the history of Spanish literature.Research, criticism, writings
Călinescu was the author of several fundamental texts of Romanian literary history (''Viața lui Mihai Eminescu, Opera lui Mihai Eminescu,'' and ''Viața lui Ion Creangă'' among others). After 1945, he published significant writings on world literature (including ''Impresii asupra literaturii spaniole,'' and ''Scriitori străini''.) His study ''Estetica basmului'', devoted to the poetics of Romanian folk tales, underlined the range of his interests. From 1932 to 1962, he published monographs, in separate volumes, on such writers as Eminescu, fabulist Ion Creangă, realist novelist Nicolae Filimon, and poet Grigore Alexandrescu, fictionalized biographies, scholarly studies, and essays. He continued presiding over numerous academic and radio conferences and writing thousands of critical reviews until his death in 1965.Literary work
Călinescu produced heavily descriptive realist novels in the mode of Honoré de Balzac, often with obvious polemical undertones lurking beneath their apparently objective style. The novel he considered his best, ''Enigma Otiliei'', narrates an unhappy love story; ''Cartea nunții'' is a disquisition on marriage; and ''Bietul Ioanide'' and ''Scrinul negru'' present the problems of intellectuals, all against the backdrop of interwar and immediate postwar Romania. Călinescu also wrote poems (''Lauda lucrurilor'') and plays (''Șun, mit mongol'') while continuing to practice journalism, although ''Cronicile mizantropului'' abruptly became ''Cronicile optimistului'' after the Communists seized power in 1947.Civic and political activity
An intellectual with liberal-left ideas who nonetheless proved flexible enough to write praises of the King under Carol's dictatorship, Călinescu outwardly adhered to the new Communist ideology after 1947, likely noting the practical advantages of such a shift in loyalties. He made numerous research trips to theFinal years
In November 1964, George Călinescu was diagnosed withPost-Communist reputation
After 1989 there began a period in which Călinescu's civic activity under the Communist regime was called into question, and in which he was accused of collaborating with the authorities, notably by his former assistant Adrian Marino. A veritable "trial by press" resulted in which all of his works and activities were systematically reevaluated, proving Călinescu's perennial value and ability to offer new generations new perspectives on his own times and the whole history of Romanian literature.Works
Studies in Foreign Languages
* (On Some Italian Catholic Missionaries in the Moldavia of the 17th and 18th centuries), 1925.Studies on Aesthetics and World Literature
* ''Principii de estetică'' ("Principles of Aesthetics"), 1939 * ''Impresii asupra literaturii spaniole'' ("Impressions on Spanish Literature"), 1946 * ''Sensul clasicismului'' ("The Meaning of Classicism"), 1946 * ''Studii și conferințe'' ("Studies and Conferences"), 1956 * ''Scriitori străini'' ("Foreign Writers"), 1967Poetry
* ''Poezii'' ("Poetry"), 1937 * ''Lauda lucrurilor'' ("In Praise of Things"), 1963 * ''Lauda zapezii'' ("In Praise of Snow"), 1965Drama
* ''Șun, mit mongol sau Calea neturburată'' ("Șun, a Mongol Myth"), 1940 * ''Ludovic al XIX-lea'' ("Louis XIX"), 1964 * ''Teatru'' ("Theatre"), 1965Novels
* ''Cartea nunții'' ("The Wedding Book"), 1933 * ''Enigma Otiliei'' ("Otilia's Riddle"), 1938 * ''Trei nuvele'' ("Three Novellas"), 1949 * ''Bietul Ioanide'' ("Poor Ioanide"), 1953 * ''Scrinul negru'' ("The Black Chest of Drawers"), 1965History and literary criticism
* ''Viața lui Mihai Eminescu'' ("Mihai Eminescu's Life"), 1932 * ''Opera lui Mihai Eminescu'' ("The Works of Mihai Eminescu"), 1934 * ''Viața lui Ion Creangă'' ("Ion Creangă's Life"), 1938 * ''Istoria literaturii române de la origini până în prezent'' ("The History of Romanian Literature from its Origins to the Present"), 1941 * ''Istoria literaturii române. Compendiu'' ("The History of Romanian Literature. A Compendium"), 1945 * ''Universul poeziei'' ("The Universe of Poetry"), 1947 * ''Nicolae Filimon'', 1959 * ''Gr. M. Alecsandrescu'', 1962 * ''Ion Creangă; Viața și opera'' ("Ion Creangă; His Life and Works"), 1964 * ''Vasile Alecsandri'', 1965Journalism
* ''Cronicile optimistului'' ("The Chronicles of an Optimist"), 1964 * ''Ulysse'' ("Ulysses"), 1967Travel journals
* ''Kiev, Moscova, Leningrad'' (Kiev, Moscow, Leningrad), 1949 * ''Am fost în China nouă'' ("I've Been to the New China"), 1953References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Calinescu, George Romanian biographers Romanian male biographers Romanian literary critics Romanian literary historians Romanian male novelists Members of the Great National Assembly Writers from Bucharest Academic staff of the University of Bucharest Gheorghe Lazăr National College (Bucharest) alumni Titular members of the Romanian Academy Recipients of the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic Romanian Communist Party politicians Burials at Bellu Cemetery 1899 births 1965 deaths 20th-century Romanian novelists Romanian male essayists 20th-century Romanian essayists 20th-century Romanian male writers Mihai Eminescu scholars Cantemir Vodă National College alumni