Dan Deșliu

Dan Deșliu (August 31, 1927 – September 4, 1992) was a Romanian poet.

Born in Bucharest, his parents were Ștefan Deșliu, an accountant at the Bulandra Theatre company and later administrator of the Workers' Theatre, and his wife Elena (''née'' Săndulescu). He began secondary school at Matei Basarab Lyceum in his native city, followed by the Mediaș aeronautics school and the Bucharest industrial and building high school. He then attended the Dramatic Arts Conservatory under Maria Filotti. From 1946 to 1948, he appeared as an actor at Petroșani and Bucharest, also working as an editor for ''Flacăra'' magazine. He was later an editor at ''Scînteia'' and, between 1961 and 1962, was editor-in-chief at ''Luceafărul''. His first published work was the sonnet "Paseri", which appeared in George Călinescu's ''Lumea'' in 1945; his first book was the 1949 ''Goarnele inimii''. He won the State Prize in 1949, 1950 and 1951, and in 1974 was awarded the Romanian Writers' Union Prize for his book ''Cetatea de pe aer''. In 1978, he took the same prize for ''Un haiduc pe bicicletă''. Together with , he composed the lyrics for "Te slăvim, Românie", which served as Romania's national anthem from 1953 to 1975.

During the 1940s and 1950s, he quickly came to the literary forefront as a representative poet of his era, much lauded for his militant socialist realist poetry that enthusiastically chronicled the events of the day. This was embodied by his first book as well as the ones that followed across the next decade: ''Lazăr de la Rusca'' (1949), ''Minerii din Maramureș'' (1951), ''Cântec de ruină'' (1957), and ''Ceva mai greu'' (1958). Afterwards, he attempted a shift toward a skeptically elegiac, obsessive lyricism that dealt with regret and lack of fulfillment (''Cercuri de copac'', 1962; ''Drumul spre Dikson'', 1969; ''Cetatea de pe aer'', 1974).Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. I, p. 480-81. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Starting in 1962 and particularly from 1970, he began to criticize the policies of the Communist Party, and as a result was placed under thorough surveillance by the Securitate secret police. In the 1980s, he turned toward open dissidence, repudiating his "revolutionary" past, quitting the party in 1980 Lucia Hossu-Longin
"'Dreptatea nu are putere'. Dosare închise, dosare redeschise (I-II)"
, in ''Observator Cultural'', nr. 252, 254/February 2010 and directly criticizing dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, whom he accused of behaving as if he were "the owner of Romania". Gabriel Dimisianu
"Ceva despre disidență și disidenți"
, in ''România Literară'', nr. 42/2007 In March 1989, he sent an open letter to Radio Free Europe decrying the domestic situation in his country, prompting his placement under house arrest. During the Romanian Revolution that December, he was named a member of the National Salvation Front Council.

An excellent swimmer, Deșliu drowned at Neptun nearly three years after the Revolution; it is unknown whether his death was accidental or deliberate. After a thorough search covering the between Costinești and Vama Veche, his intact body was found after eight days beside the dock of Ceaușescu's former villa in Neptun. A diary of his, likely written in 1990–1991, appeared in 2001.Mărturii literare"
in ''Observator Cultural'', nr. 78/August 2001 A street in 23 August, Constanța County bears his name, and he is buried at Bellu Cemetery in Bucharest.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desliu, Dan
1927 births
1992 deaths
Writers from Bucharest
Romanian poets
Socialist realism writers
Romanian diarists
Romanian communists
Romanian dissidents
Romanian male stage actors
Romanian magazine editors
Romanian newspaper editors
National anthem writers
20th-century diarists
Deaths by drowning
Accidental deaths in Romania
Burials at Bellu Cemetery