Nichita Stănescu

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Nichita Hristea Stănescu
Portrait of Nichita Stănescu by Paul Mecet
Born(1933-03-31)31 March 1933
Died13 December 1983(1983-12-13) (aged 50)
Emergency Hospital, Bucharest, Romania
Resting placeBellu Cemetery, Bucharest, Romania
EducationIon Luca Caragiale High School (Ploiești)
Alma materUniversity of Bucharest
Years active1960–1982
(1960–1998; posthumous)
Known forPoet
Notable work11 elegii, Noduri si semne
Political partyRomanian Communist Party
Spouses
Magdalena Petrescu
(m. 1952; div. 1953)
(m. 1962; div. 1972)
Todorița ”Dora” Tărâță
(m. 1982⁠–⁠1983)
PartnerGabriela Melinescu [ro] (?–before 1982)
AwardsHerder Prize, 1975
Golden Wreath Struga Poetry Evenings, 1982
Signature
Stănescu on a 2018 stamp sheet of Romania
Statue of Stănescu in the Alley of Classics, Chișinău

Nichita Stănescu (Romanian pronunciation: [niˈkita stəˈnesku]; born Nichita Hristea Stănescu; 31 March 1933 – 13 December 1983) was a Romanian poet and essayist.

Biography[edit]

Stănescu's father was Nicolae Hristea Stănescu (1908–1982). His mother, Tatiana Cereaciuchin, was Russian (originally from Voronezh, she had fled Russia and married in 1931). Nichita Stănescu graduated from the Ion Luca Caragiale High School in Ploiești, then went on to study Romanian language and literature at the University of Bucharest, graduating in 1957. He made his literary debut in the Tribuna literary magazine.

Stănescu married Magdalena Petrescu in 1952, but the couple separated a year later. In 1962 he married Doina Ciurea. In 1982 he married Todorița "Dora" Tărâță.

For much of his career, Stănescu was a contributor to and editor of Gazeta Literară, România Literară, and Luceafărul.

His editorial debut was the poetry book Sensul iubirii ("The Aim of Love"), which appeared under the Luceafărul selection, in 1960. He also was the recipient of numerous awards for his verse, the most important being the Herder Prize in 1975 and a nomination for the Nobel Prize in 1980. The last volume of poetry published in his lifetime was Noduri și semne ("Knots and Signs"), published in 1982. A heavy drinker, he died of cardiopulmonary arrest.[1] He is buried in Bucharest's Bellu Cemetery.

Awards[edit]

Grave at Bellu Cemetery

Legacy[edit]

There is a national poetry festival and an award named Stănescu in his honor.[2]

In Ploiești, there is a high school named after him. In Pipera (Voluntari) a new road has been named in his honor.

Volumes[edit]

Posthumous volumes[edit]

  • 1984 – Album memorial ("Memorial Album")
  • 1985 – Antimetafizica [ro], Nichita Stănescu însoțit de Aurelian Titu Dumitrescu ("Antimetaphysics, Nichita Stănescu accompanied by Aurelian Titu Dumitrescu")
  • 1985 – Nichita Stănescu – Frumos ca umbra unei idei ("Nichita Stănescu – Beautiful as the Shadow of an Idea")
  • 1993 – Cântece la drumul mare, 1955–1960 ("Songs on the Open Road, 1955–1960")
  • 1993 – Tânjiri spre firesc ("Longings toward the Usual")
  • 1995 – Cărțile sibiline ("The Sibylline Books")
  • 1998 – Fel de scriere ("A Kind of Writing")
  • Noua frontieră a sufletului uman ("The New Frontier of the Human Spirit")
  • Scrisori ("Letters")

Presence in English Language Anthologies[edit]

  • Testament - 400 Years of Romanian Poetry - 400 de ani de poezie românească - bilingual edition - Daniel Ioniță (editor and principal translator) with Daniel Reynaud, Adriana Paul & Eva Foster - Editura Minerva, 2019 - ISBN 978-973-21-1070-6\
  • Romanian Poetry from its Origins to the Present - bilingual edition English/Romanian - Daniel Ioniță (editor and principal translator) with Daniel Reynaud, Adriana Paul and Eva Foster - Australian-Romanian Academy Publishing - 2020 - ISBN 978-0-9953502-8-1 ; OCLC 1288167046

Further reading[edit]

  • Eugen Simion, Scriitori români de azi, vol. I, Bucharest, Editura Cartea Românească, 1978
  • Ion Pop, Nichita Stănescu – spațiul și măștile poeziei, Bucharest, Editura Albatros, 1980
  • Alex. Ștefănescu, Introducere în opera lui Nichita Stănescu, Bucharest, Editura Minerva, 1986
  • Daniel Dimitriu, Nichita Stănescu – geneza poemului, Iași, Editura Universității Al. Ioan Cuza, 1997
  • Doina Uricariu, Nichita Stănescu – lirismul paradoxal, Bucharest, Editura Du Style, 1998
  • Corin Braga, Nichita Stănescu – orizontul imaginar, Cluj, Editura Dacia, 2002
  • Mircea Bârsilă, Introducere în poetica lui Nichita Stănescu, Pitești, Editura Paralela 45, 2006

References[edit]

External links[edit]