Matei Alexe Călinescu (June 15, 1934 – June 24, 2009) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n literary critic and professor of

comparative literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

, in

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...

Biography

Călinescu was born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, the son of Radu Călinescu, an engineer, and Dora Călinescu (née Vulcănescu), a homemaker."Matei (Alexe) Calinescu." ''Contemporary Authors Online''. Detroit:

Gale A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...

, graduating in 1957. Călinescu became an assistant professor in the Department of Universal and Comparative Literature at the University of Bucharest, and made his literary debut in '. He was offered a Fulbright grant and defected to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1973. From 1973 to 1975 Călinescu was a visiting professor at Indiana University Bloomington, before becoming an associate professor there in 1976, and a full professor in 1978. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1975. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1980. Upon his retirement he became an Emeritus Professor at Indiana University. He lived with his wife in Bloomington, Indiana, and died there in 2009.

Selected bibliography

* Matei Călinescu, ''Matthew's Enigma: A father's portrait of his autistic son.'', Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2009, 210 p. * Matei Călinescu, ''Eugène Ionesco: Teme identitare și existențiale'' (Eugène Ionesco: Identity and Existential Themes) Iași:

Junimea ''Junimea'' was a Romanian literary society founded in Iași in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi. The foremost pers ...

, 2006, 491 p. * Matei Călinescu, ''Ionesco: Recherches identitaires'', Paris:

Oxus The Amu Darya, tk, Amyderýa/ uz, Amudaryo// tg, Амударё, Amudaryo ps, , tr, Ceyhun / Amu Derya grc, Ὦξος, Ôxos (also called the Amu, Amo River and historically known by its Latin name or Greek ) is a major river in Central Asi ...

, 2005, 348 p. * Matei Călinescu, ''Un fel de jurnal, 1973–1981'' (A Diary of Sorts, 1973–1981), Iași:

Polirom Polirom or Editura Polirom ("Polirom" Publishing House) is a Romanian publishing house with a tradition of publishing classics of international literature and also various titles in the fields of social sciences, such as psychology, sociology and a ...

, 2005. * Matei Călinescu, Ion Vianu, ''Amintiri în dialog'' (Memories in Dialogue), Bucharest: Editura Litera, 1994; 2nd ed. with preface and two new chapters included as an Epilogue, Iași:

, 1998; 3rd edition, Iași:

, 2005. * Matei Călinescu, ''Tu: Elegii și invenții'' (You: Elegies and Inventions, poems), Iași: Polirom, 2004. * Matei Călinescu, ''Mateiu I. Caragiale: recitiri'', Cluj: Biblioteca Apostrof, 2003, 160 p., 2nd ed., Cluj-Iași: Apostrof-Polirom, 2007. * Matei Călinescu, ''Portretul lui M'' (The Portrait of M, a memoir), Iași: Polirom, 2003. * Matei Călinescu, ''Rereading'', New Haven:

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, 1993, 336 p. Translated into Romanian as ''A citi, a reciti. Cǎtre o poeticǎ a (re)lecturii'', Iași: Polirom, 2003. * Matei Călinescu, ''Despre Ioan P. Culianu și Mircea Eliade. Amintiri, Lecturi, Reflecții'', Iași: Polirom, 2002, 177 p., 2nd ed., Iași: Polirom, 2002, 231 p. *

Vlad Georgescu Vlad Georgescu (October 20, 1937–November 13, 1988), was a Romanian historian and the director of the Romanian-language department of Radio Free Europe between 1983 and 1988. Biography Born in Bucharest, Georgescu studied history at the Univers ...

, Matei Călinescu, ''The Romanians: a history'',

Ohio State University Press The Ohio State University Press is the university press of Ohio State University. It was founded in 1957. The OSU Press has published approximately 1700 books since its inception. The current director is Tony Sanfilippo, who had previously work ...

, 1991. * Matei Călinescu, ''Exploring Postmodernism'', (co-edited with Douwe W. Fokkema), Amsterdam and Philadelphia:

John Benjamins John Benjamins Publishing Company is an independent academic publisher in social sciences and humanities with its head office in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The company was founded in the 1960s by John and Claire Benjamins and is currently managed ...

, 1988, 270 p., Paperback edition, 1990. * Matei Călinescu, ''Five Faces of Modernity: Modernism, Avant-Garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism'',

Duke University Press Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 D ...

, 1987. * Matei Călinescu, ''Faces of Modernity: Avant-Garde, Decadence, Kitsch'', Indiana University Press, 1977. * Matei Călinescu, Selections of Poetry translated into English in ''Mundus Artium'', 1976; ''New Letters'', 1976; ''Seneca Review'', 1981; ''Correspondences'', 1982; and ''2 PLUS 2'', 1983. * Matei Călinescu, ''Umbre de apă, poeme'', (Water Shadows, poems), Bucharest: Editura

Cartea Românească Cartea Românească ("The Romanian Book") is a publishing house in Bucharest, Romania, founded in 1919. Disestablished by the Communist Romania, communist regime in 1948, it was restored under later communism, in 1970, when it functioned as the off ...

, 1972. * Matei Călinescu, ''Versuri'' (Lines), Bucharest: Editura Eminescu, 1970. * Matei Călinescu, ''Viața și opiniile lui Zacharias Lichter'' (The Life and Opinions of Zacharias Lichter), a short novel, Bucharest: Editura Pentru Literatură, 1969. Translated into Hungarian, 1971; Polish, 1972; French excerpts, in ''Cahiers de l'Est'', 1, 2, 1975; and English, 2018. 2nd ed., enlarged, Bucharest: Editura Eminescu, 1971; 3rd ed., with new preface, 1995, Iași: Polirom, 1995; 4th edition, Iași: Polirom, 2004.

Awards

* 1969: Romanian Writers' Union Prize for Fiction, for ''Viaţa şi opiniile lui Zacharias Lichter'' (The Life and Opinions of Zacharias Lichter) * 1975: Guggenheim Fellowship * 2006: Writers' Union Prize for Essay and Criticism, for ''Eugène Ionesco: Teme identitare și existențiale'' (Eugène Ionesco: Identity and Existential Themes)

References

External links

"Matei Calinescu"
at Indiana University
"Matei Calinescu"
at WordsWithoutBorders
Author’s page
on the website of Romanian publishing house

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calinescu, Matei 1934 births 2009 deaths Romanian emigrants to the United States Romanian defectors Indiana University faculty Romanian literary historians Romanian literary critics Romanian diarists Deaths from lung cancer Deaths from cancer in Indiana Writers from Bucharest University of Bucharest alumni Academic staff of the University of Bucharest 20th-century diarists