Cella Serghi (born Cella Marcoff; November 4, 1907 – 1992) was a

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

n prose writer. She was born in

Constanța Constanța (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...

to Avram Marcoff, a minor employee of private firms, and his wife Carolina (''née'' Golestan). She attended primary school in her native city from 1915 to 1916, but continued 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 ...

after fleeing home at the onset of Romania's involvement in World War I. There, she went to gymnasium and high school from 1919 to 1927, and attended the law faculty of the University of Bucharest from 1927 to 1931. For a time, she worked as a lawyer. In 1945, she was secretary of a free people's university. She made her written debut in ''Gazeta'' newspaper with articles such as "Weekend în Bucegi, toamna" and "Match de football", while her first book, the 1938 novel ''Pânza de păianjen'', was also her undisputed masterpiece. Her pen name, which was inspired by her grandfather Serghi Marcoff, who was of Bulgarian origin, became official in 1945. Her writings for the first two decades after the

1944 Romanian coup d'état The 1944 Romanian coup d'état, better known in Romanian historiography as the Act of 23 August ( ro, Actul de la 23 August), was a coup d'état led by King Michael I of Romania during World War II on 23 August 1944. With the support of several ...

were strongly influenced by the prevailing socialist realist style and content of the first part of the communist regime. Some of these were substantially revised in later years: ''Cad zidurile'', 1950 (this became ''Cartea Mironei'' in 1965 and ''Mirona'' in 1975); ''Cântecul uzinei'', 1950; ''S-a dumirit și Moș Ilie'', 1950; ''Surorile'', 1951; ''Cantemiriștii'', 1954; ''Fetele lui Barotă'', 1958 (reissued as ''Iubiri paralele'' in 1974); ''Gențiane'', 1970. Her 1977 memoir ''Pe firul de păianjen al memoriei'' deals with her artistic training and the process of writing her debut novel. She also wrote a children's book, the 1980 ''În căutarea somnului uriaș''; and another novel, ''Această dulce vară, tinerețea'', from 1983. She translated work by Françoise Sagan in collaboration with Catinca Ralea, and produced solo translations of

Françoise Mallet-Joris Françoise Mallet-Joris (6 July 1930 – 13 August 2016), pen name of Françoise Lilar, was a Belgian author who was a member of the Prix Femina committee from 1969 to 1971 and appointed to the ''Académie Goncourt'' from November 1971 to 2011. ...

and

Andrée Chedid Andrée Chedid ( ar, أندريه شديد) (20 March 1920 – 6 February 2011), born Andrée Saab Khoury, was an Egyptian-French poet and novelist of Syrian/Lebanese descent. She is the recipient of numerous literary ...

. Among the magazines that published her work were ''Reporter'', ''Revista Fundațiilor Regale'', ''Democrația'' (where she had a film and theatre column), ''

Viața Românească ''Viața Românească'' (, "The Romanian Life") is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania. Formerly the platform of the left-wing traditionalist trend known as poporanism, it is now one of the Writers' Union of Romania's main venues. Th ...

'', ''Femeia'', ''Căminul'', '' Flacăra'' and ''

România Literară ''România Literară'' is a cultural and literary magazine from Romania. In its original edition, it was founded on 1 January 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași until 3 December 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared on ...

''.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, p. 555. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Serghi, Cella 1907 births 1992 deaths People from Constanța Romanian people of Bulgarian descent University of Bucharest alumni Romanian translators Romanian women lawyers 20th-century Romanian novelists 20th-century translators 20th-century women lawyers