George Clinescu (Romanian: [deorde klinesku]; June 19, 1899 March 12, 1965) was a Rom

literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer

of classicist and humanist tendencies. He is currently considered one of the mos
t important Romanian literary critics of all time, alongside Titu Maiorescu and
Eugen Lovinescu, and is one of the outstanding figures of Romanian literature in
the 20th century.
Early childhood[edit]
George Clinescu was born Gheorghe Vian on 14 June 1899, the son of a housekeeper,
Maria Vian;[1] the child was brought up by his mother's employers, Constantin Clin
escu, a worker for Romanian State Railways, and his wife Maria, in their house i
n Bucharest. The Clinescu family, along with their housekeeper and the child, mov
ed first to Botoani, then to Iai, where Gheorghe Vian, the future writer, matricula
ted at the coala "Carol I." In 1907, Maria Vian accepted the Clinescus' offer to fo
rmally adopt her son, who then took the name Gheorghe Clinescu. As a child Clinesc
u did not know who his real mother was. Finding out that the housekeeper that he
used to humiliate was his real mother caused him a psychological trauma.[2] He
tried to hide his real origins for the rest of his life.
A model: Ramiro Ortiz[edit]
Ramiro Ortiz, who taught Italian language and literature at the Faculty of Lette
rs and Philosophy, exercised a seminal influence over Clinescu's development. Clin
escu developed a strong friendship with Ortiz; years later, he would give Ortiz
credit for helping him "seize" a literary education of extraordinary quality.[3]
Under Ortiz's guidance Clinescu made his first translations from Italian; during
his student days he translated Giovanni Papini's autobiographical novel Un uomo
finito and a novella from Boccaccio's Decameron. Again with Ortiz's help, he be
gan work at the literary review Roma, the first issue appearing in January 1921,
and travelled to Italy with his university colleagues. Clinescu's first book was
written in Italian under the title Alcuni missionari catolici italiani nella Mo
ldavia nei secoli XVII e XVIII, which appeared in 1925 and treated the Vatican's
counter-reformationary propaganda efforts in Baroque Moldavia with heavy relian
ce on unpublished sources found in the Vatican Archives.[4]
Another model: Vasile Prvan[edit]
If in Bucharest, alongside Ramiro Ortiz, Clinescu realized his vocation as a crea
tive artist and scholar, his attention in Rome was focused on Vasile Prvan, the d
irector of the Accademia di Romania. Clinescu was captivated by Prvan's erudition
and work ethic, but also by his existential philosophy. Clinescu would always ret
urn to this "spiritual father" whenever the difficulties of life seemed to bring
him to his knees. Clinescu observed that while Prvan's natural aptitude was fairl
y common, his tendency to exercise all the powers of his mind in the ascetic pur
suit of an intellectual ideal was transformed into an existential philosophy: Li
fe is transitory, but man can defeat death and oblivion through creation, thus l
eaving a permanent record of a temporary existence. Clinescu later said, "even if
not everyone is in a position to become a Prvan, everyone can see in him a model
, that is to say a way in which he too can accomplish the same renunciations."[5
]
Doctorate in Literature - and beyond[edit]
In 1936, Clinescu received his doctorate in literature from the University of Iai
with a thesis on Avatarii faraonului Tla ("The Avatars of Pharaoh Tla"), a posth
umous work of Mihai Eminescu whose value he was the first to publicize. In fact,
this thesis was an extract from Clinescu's earlier work, Opera lui Mihai Eminesc
u ("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 i
n Romanian literature at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Iai, after h
aving 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 Revist a Fundaiilor Regale, edited by Alexandru Rosetti and Ca
mil Petrescu, until it was closed down when the King abdicated in 1947. After 19
47, he was published consistently in magazines such as Gazeta literar (later to b
ecome Romnia literar) and Contemporanul, also collaborating on Roma, Universul lit
erar, Viaa literar, Sburtorul, and Gndirea.
Under Communism[edit]
Clinescu was deposed from his position at the Faculty of Letters of the Universit
y of Bucharest after the establishment in power of the Communist Party of Romani
a. He was considered a political liability despite having shown evidence of demo
cratic, left-leaning tendencies throughout the interwar period. In the 1950s, ho
wever, he became director of the Institutul de teorie literar i folclor ("The Lite
rary Theory and Folklore Institute") and coordinated the institute's publication
, Studii i cercetri de istorie literar i folclor ("Literary Theory and Folklore Stud
ies and Research"), from 1952 to 1965. He was reinvited to his post at the Facul
ty of Letters only in 1961; in the meantime, he produced numerous writings on wi
de-ranging subjects, from the aesthetic of folk tales to the history of Spanish
literature.
Research, criticism, writings[edit]
Clinescu was the author of several fundamental texts of Romanian literary history
(Viaa lui Mihai Eminescu, Opera lui Mihai Eminescu, and Viaa lui Ion Creang among
others). After 1945, he published significant writings on world literature (incl
uding Impresii asupra literaturii spaniole, and Scriitori strini.) His study Este
tica basmului, devoted to the poetics of Romanian folk tales, underlined the ran
ge of his interests. From 1932 to 1962, he published monographs, in separate vol
umes, on such writers as Eminescu, fabulist Ion Creang, realist novelist Nicolae
Filimon, and poet Grigore Alexandrescu, fictionalized biographies, scholarly stu
dies, and essays. He continued presiding over numerous academic and radio confer
ences and writing thousands of critical reviews until his death in 1965.
Novelist, poet and dramatist[edit]
Clinescu produced heavily descriptive realist novels in the mode of Honor de Balza
c, often with obvious polemical undertones lurking beneath their apparently obje
ctive style. The novel he considered his best, Enigma Otiliei, narrates an unhap
py love story; Cartea nunii is a disquisition on marriage; and Bietul Ioanide and
Scrinul negru present the problems of intellectuals, all against the backdrop o
f interwar and immediate postwar Romania. Clinescu also wrote poems (Lauda lucrur
ilor) and plays (un, mit mongol) while continuing to practice journalism, althoug
h Cronicile mizantropului abruptly became Cronicile optimistului after the Commu
nists seized power in 1947.
Civic and political activity under Communism[edit]
An intellectual with liberal-left ideas who nonetheless proved flexible enough t
o write praises of the King under Carol's dictatorship, Clinescu outwardly adhere
d to the new Communist ideology after 1947, likely noting the practical advantag
es of such a shift in loyalties.
He made numerous research trips to the Soviet Union (Kiev, Moscova, Leningrad ap
peared in 1949) and the People's Republic of China (Am fost n China nou, in 1953),
publishing his impressions in these two volumes.
From 1948 to 1953 Clinescu was mistrusted and marginalized, despite being named t
o the Academy of the Romanian People's Republic in 1949; even after destalinizat
ion began in the Soviet Union in 1953, the Romanian establishment continued to f
avor the "wooden-tongued," socialist realist models the Soviets had begun to aba
ndon. Clinescu's total inability to write convincingly in this style resulted in
his continued perception as a reactionary conservative. Nonetheless, he was invi
ted to resume his columns on a permanent basis in 1956, marking the beginning of
his rehabilitation. Before the end of his life, all of his works, with the exce
ption of his monumental Istoria, were issued in new editions. Istoria would appe
ar (to great acclaim) only in the 1980s, through the efforts of Clinescu's assist
ant Alexandru Piru.
Final years of life[edit]
In November 1964, George Clinescu was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and s
ent for treatment to the sanatorium at Otopeni. On 12 March 1965, in the middle
of the night, he died, leaving behind, in the words of Geo Bogza, "a body of wor
k fundamental to the Romanian people."[citation needed]
Post-Communist reputation[edit]
After 1989 there began a period in which Clinescu's civic activity under the Comm
unist regime was called into question, and in which he was accused of collaborat
ing with the authorities, notably by his former assistant Adrian Marino. A verit
able "trial by press" resulted in which all of his works and activities were sys
tematically reevaluated, proving Clinescu's perennial value and ability to offer
new generations new perspectives on his own times and the whole history of Roman
ian literature.
Works[edit]
Studies in Foreign Languages[edit]
Alcuni missionari catolici italiani nella Moldavia nella secoli XVII e XVIII (On
Some Italian Catholic Missionaries in the Moldavia of the 17th and 18th centuri
es), 1925.
Studies on Aesthetics and World Literature[edit]
Principii de estetic ("Principles of Aesthetics"), 1939
Impresii asupra literaturii spaniole ("Impressions on Spanish Literature"), 1946
Sensul clasicismului ("The Meaning of Classicism"), 1946
Studii i conferine ("Studies and Conferences"), 1956
Scriitori strini ("Foreign Writers"), 1967
Poetry[edit]
Poesii ("Poetry"), 1937
Lauda lucrurilor ("In Praise of Things"), 1963
Drama[edit]
un, mit mongol sau Calea neturburat ("un, a Mongol Myth"), 1940
Ludovic al XIX-lea ("Louis XIX"), 1964
Teatru ("Theatre"), 1965
Novels[edit]
Cartea nunii ("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"), 1965
History and literary criticism[edit]
Viaa lui Mihai Eminescu ("Mihai Eminescu's Life"), 1932
Opera lui Mihai Eminescu ("The Works of Mihai Eminescu"), 1934
Viaa lui Ion Creang ("Ion Creang's Life"), 1938
Istoria literaturii romne de la origini pn n prezent ("The History of Romanian Liter
ature from its Origins to the Present"), 1941
Istoria literaturii romne. Compendiu ("The History of Romanian Literature. A Comp
endium"), 1945
Universul poeziei ("The Universe of Poetry"), 1947
Nicolae Filimon, 1959
Gr. M. Alecsandrescu, 1962
Ion Creang; Viaa i opera ("Ion Creang; His Life and Works"), 1964
Vasile Alecsandri, 1965
Journalism[edit]
Cronicile optimistului ("The Chronicles of an Optimist"), 1964
Ulysse ("Ulysses"), 1967
Travel journals[edit]
Kiev, Moscova, Leningrad (Kiev, Moscow, Leningrad), 1949
Am fost n China nou ("I've Been to the New China"), 1953