Paul Sterian
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Paul Sterian (May 1, 1904 – September 14, 1984) was a
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
n poet and civil servant.


Biography

Born into a cultured family in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
, his parents were physician Eraclie Sterian and his wife Alexandrina (''née'' Gulimănescu); he was married to . From 1910 to 1917, Sterian attended the applied school of the society for the education of the Romanian people, followed by Gheorghe Lazăr High School from 1918 to 1921. From 1921 to 1924, he studied at the philosophy and law faculty of the
University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...
. He earned a degree ''magna cum laude'', with a thesis on the emotions and the
endocrine gland The endocrine system is a network of glands and organs located throughout the body. Along with the nervous system, it makes the neuroendocrine system, which controls and regulates many of the body's functions. Endocrine glands are ductless gland ...
s, applying a theory by
Constantin Ion Parhon Constantin Ion Parhon (; 15 October 1874 – 9 August 1969) was a Romanian neuropsychiatrist, endocrinologist and politician. He was the first head of state of the Romanian People's Republic from 1947 to 1952. Parhon was President of the Physici ...
. Also at Bucharest, he took a doctorate in public law, his dissertation dealing with copyright. From 1926 to 1929, he studied at the
University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
; Sterian's second doctoral thesis, in law and economics, had to do with Romania and
World War I reparations Following their defeat in World War I, the Central Powers agreed to pay war reparations to the Allied Powers. Each defeated power was required to make payments in either cash or kind. Because of the financial situation in Austria, Hungary, and ...
. In Paris, upon the recommendation of Mircea Vulcănescu,
Ilarie Voronca Ilarie Voronca (pen name of Eduard Isidor Marcus; 31 December 1903, Brăila – 8 April 1946, Paris) was a Romanian avant-garde poet and essayist. Life and career Voronca was of History of the Jews in Romania, Jewish ethnicity. In his early yea ...
, and
Benjamin Fondane Benjamin Fondane () or Benjamin Fundoianu (; born Benjamin Wechsler, Wexler or Vecsler, first name also Beniamin or Barbu, usually abridged to B.; November 14, 1898 – October 2, 1944) was a Romanian and French poet, critic and existentialist ph ...
, he worked for an insurance firm. He was valued by
Dimitrie Gusti Dimitrie Gusti (; 13 February 1880 – 30 October 1955) was a Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian, and voluntarist philosopher; a professor at the University of Iași and the University of Bucharest, he served as Romania's Minister ...
, performing psychotechnic tests in a rural environment as part of the sociologist's research teams and working on the 1929 film about
Drăguș Drăguș (; ) is a commune in Brașov County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of a single village, Drăguș, part of Viștea Commune until being split off in 2004. Drăguș is located at the western edge of Brașov County, in the central p ...
village. From 1929 to 1930, he was a civil servant at the Labor Ministry, then in 1931 headed the national office for student aid. In this capacity, he was able to join a
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
-affiliated institute in 1932. In 1931, he was in New York City on a scholarship from the
Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...
. In 1932, he was an editor for ''Curentul'' and ''Cuvântul'' newspapers; the following year, he worked as an economic adviser. He was an administrator for the 1937 Paris Expo; in 1938, he became economic adviser to the Romanian legation in Washington, D.C. and head of Romania's economic legation in New York City. After returning home, Sterian worked at the Ministries of National Economy (1940–1941),
Finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...
(1942) and
Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...
(1944). After the 1944 coup d'état, he was excluded from the government but not charged with war crimes; from 1945 to 1948, until
nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...
, he headed a textile factory. Victor Durnea
"Cazul Paul Sterian - Ortodox și futurist"
in ''
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 ...
'', Nr. 29/2007.
In 1948, upon the advent of the
communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...
, he became a day laborer, followed by an accountant's position in 1950. In 1951, he began inspecting credit records at
Tecuci Tecuci () is a city in Galați County, Romania, in the historical region of Western Moldavia. It is situated among wooded hills, on the right bank of the Bârlad River, and at the junction of railways from Galați, Bârlad, and Mărășești. ...
. He successively worked as an accountant in Bucharest (1953),
Balotești Balotești is a Communes of Romania, commune in the northwestern part of Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. Two small rivers flow through this location: Cociovaliștea and Vlăsia. It is composed of three villages: Balotești, Dumbrăveni, and Săft ...
(1954), and at the state fruit and vegetable monopoly Aprozar (1956). In 1957 and 1963, he was head of external relations for the composers' union, holding a similar position at the geriatrics institute from 1964 to 1969. In the late 1950s, he was arrested and sent to Aiud Prison; it is possible that this was due not to his work during the
Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and MareÈ™al (Romania), marshal who presided over two successive Romania during World War II, wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister and ''ConducÄ ...
regime but because of his affiliation with the "Burning Pyre" (''Rugul Aprins'')
Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the Eastern Orthodox Church. S ...
prayer group. Sterian had made donations to Antim Monastery and held conferences there in 1948-1949. He was amnestied in the early 1960s. His literary work appeared in ''
Contimporanul ''Contimporanul'' (antiquated spelling of the Romanian word for "the Contemporary", singular masculine form) was a Romanian (initially a weekly and later a monthly) avant-garde literary and art magazine, published in Bucharest between June 1922 ...
'', ''Azi'', ''Floarea de foc'', ''
Gândirea ''Gândirea'' ("The Thinking"), known during its early years as ''Gândirea Literară - Artistică - Socială'' ("The Literary - Artistic - Social Thinking"), was a Romanian literary, political and art magazine. Overview Founded by Cezar P ...
'', ''Cuvântul'', '' unu'' and ''
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. ...
''.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, p. 623-24. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sterian, Paul 1904 births 1984 deaths Writers from Bucharest Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church University of Bucharest alumni Romanian poets Christian poets Romanian newspaper editors 20th-century Romanian civil servants 20th-century Romanian writers Romanian prisoners and detainees Inmates of Aiud prison Gheorghe Lazăr National College (Bucharest) alumni