Nichita Stănescu

Nichita Stănescu
Alley of Classics, Chişinău

Nichita Stănescu (Romanian pronunciation: [niˈkita stəˈnesku]; born Nichita Hristea Stănescu) (March 31, 1933, Ploieşti—December 13, 1983, Bucharest) was a Romanian poet and essayist. He is the most acclaimed contemporary Romanian language poet, loved by the public and generally held in esteem by literary critics.

Biography

Stănescu's father was Nicolae H. Stănescu (1908-1982). His mother, Tatiana Cereaciuchin, was Russian (originally from Voronezh, she had fled Russia and married in 1931). Stănescu commented on his mother's origins on several occasions ("[I was given life] by a Romanian peasant and a Russian woman"). Nichita Stănescu finished high school in Ploieşti, then went on to study Romanian language and literature in 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 Todoriţa "Dora" Tărîţa.

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. The last volume of poetry published in his lifetime was Noduri şi semne ("Knots and Signs"), published in 1982. He died of hepatitis.

Nichita Stănescu received numerous poetry awards, of which the most important was the Herder Prize (1975) as well as a Nobel Prize nomination.

Unfortunately, he died relatively young, leaving behind some of the most important poetry in post-war Romanian literature, such as:

• O viziune a sentimentelor - "A Vision of Feelings"
• Dreptul la timp - "The Right to Time"
• 11 Elegii - "11 Elegies"
• Necuvintele - "The Unwords"
• Un pământ numit România - "A Land Called Romania"
• Epica Magna
• Opere imperfecte - "Imperfect Works"
• Noduri şi semne - "Knots and Marks"

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, he was elected post-mortem member of the Romanian Academy.

Quotes

• "The only real things which we take with us in the end are our own feelings, our loves, our hates and adversities. I ask myself: at the end of life, what will we leave outside? I suppose we can leave some feelings, less of hate, some of passion, but... especially of love."

• An animal comes

and eats a boulder.

Then a barking dog comes,

which eats a rock.

Then a sort of nothing comes,

which eats sand

Then I come and I eat this echo.

Echo of what?

Echo of “don't know what”

• "Sentimental story"

Then we met more often."

I stood at one side of the hour,"

you at the other,"

like two handles of an amphora."

Only the words flew between us,"

back and forth."

You could almost see their swirling,"

and suddenly,"

I would lower a knee,"

and touch my elbow to the ground"

to look at the grass, bent"

by the falling of some word,"

as though by the paw of a lion in flight."

The words spun between us,"

back and forth,"

and the more I loved you, the more"

they continued, this whirl almost seen,"

the structure of matter, the beginnings of things."

Volumes

• 1960 - Sensul iubirii ("The Aim of Love")
• 1964 - O viziune a sentimentelor ("A Vision of Feelings")
• 1965 - Dreptul la timp ("The Right to Time")
• 1966 - 11 elegii ("11 Elegies")
• 1967 -
  • Roşu vertical ("Vertical Red"),
  • Alfa,
  • Oul şi sfera ("The Egg and the Sphere")
• 1968 - Laus Ptolemaei
• 1969 -
  • Necuvintele ("The Unwords"),
  • Un pământ numit România ("A Land Called Romania")
• 1970 - În dulcele stil classic ("In Sweet Classical Style")
• 1972 -
  • Cartea de recitire ("The Re-reading Book")
  • Belgradul în cinci prieteni ("Five Friends in Belgrade")
  • Măreţia frigului ("The Greatness of Cold")
• 1978 - Epica Magna
• 1979 - Opere imperfecte ("Imperfect Works")
• 1980 - Carte de citire, carte de iubire ("Book for Reading, Book for Loving")
• 1982 - Oase plângând ("Crying Bones")
• 1982 - Noduri şi semne ("Knots and Marks")
• 1982 - Respirări ("Breaths")

Posthumous volumes

• 1984 - Album memorial ("Memorial Album")
• 1985 - Antimetafizica - Nichita Stănescu însoţit 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 - Cărţile 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")

Further reading

• Eugen Simion, Scriitori români de azi, vol. I, Bucharest, Editura Cartea Românească, 1978
• Ion Pop, Nichita Stănescu – spaţiul şi măştile poeziei, Bucharest, Editura Albatros, 1980
• Alex. Ştefănescu, Introducere în opera lui Nichita Stănescu, Bucharest, Editura Minerva, 1986
• Daniel Dimitriu, Nichita Stănescu – geneza poemului, Iaşi, Editura Universităţii „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, Piteşti, Editura Paralela 45, 2006

External links

• Romanian Poetry - Nichita Stanescu (english)
• Romanian Poetry - Nichita Stanescu (romanian)
• Collection of Nichita Stanescu's works (romanian)
• Nichita Stanescu Foundation (romanian)
• Mircea Gociman about Nichita (romanian)
• Persian translation in Persian anthology of world poetry
• Books by Nichita Stanescu on Amazon.com (Romanian)

Persondata
Name	Stanescu, Nichita
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1933
Place of birth
Date of death	1983
Place of death