__NOTOC__ Petru Comarnescu (23 November 1905 – 27 November 1970) 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 literary and art critic and translator. Born in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

into a family that was related to the

metropolitan bishop In Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), is held by the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a Metropolis (reli ...

, he studied law at 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 ...

(degree in 1928),

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

(degree in 1929) before going in 1931 on a two-year scholarship to the United States of America, where he received a PhD in

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

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, with a thesis entitled ''The Nature of Beauty and Its Relation to Goodness'' (published later in Romanian in 1946 as ''Kalokagathon''). Together with

Mircea Vulcănescu Mircea Aurel Vulcănescu (3 March 1904 – 28 October 1952) was a Romanian philosopher, economist, ethics teacher, sociologist, and politician. Undersecretary at the Ministry of Finance from 1941 to 1944 in the Nazi-aligned government of Io ...

and Alexandru Christian Tell, he started the ''

Criterion Criterion (: criteria) may refer to: General * Criterion, Oregon, a historic unincorporated community in the United States * Criterion Place, a proposed skyscraper in West Yorkshire, England * Criterion Restaurant, in London, England * Criteri ...

'' association and magazine in 1934. Before the Second World War, he published in several Romanian newspapers, for example ''Adevărul'', ''Adevărul literar și artistic'', ''Azi'', ''Stânga'', ''Arta'', ''Excelsior'', ''Da și nu'', ''Ulisse'' and was an editor at ''Vremea'' (1931–1936), ''Rampa'' (1933–1934), ''Revista Fundațiilor Regale'' (from its foundation to 1943). Between 1944 and 1949 he published in ''Bis'', ''Agora'', ''Timpul'', ''Arcades'', ''Națiunea'', and ''Universul''. Between 1949 and 1960, he was not allowed to publish under his own name, due to political reasons. The only exceptions were monographies about painters or sculptors: ''

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'' (1954), Abgar Baltazar (1956), ''Viața și opera lui Rembrandt van Rijn'' ("The Life And Work of Rembrandt") (1957), ''Nicolae Grigorescu'' (1959), ''

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'' (1960). Later, he would also write about other well-known Romanian visual artists, such as

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, sometimes even in English ''The Romanian and the Universal in Brâncuși's Work'' (1970). Trying to avoid being marginalized, he compromised with the Communist authorities, such as by joining the Romanian Workers' Party (''Partidul Muncitoresc Român''), later called the

Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...

(''Partidul Comunist Român''). In 2014 Comarnescu was found to have been an informant for the

Securitate The Department of State Security (), commonly known as the Securitate (, ), was the secret police agency of the Socialist Republic of Romania. It was founded on 30 August 1948 from the '' Siguranța'' with help and direction from the Soviet MG ...

. Alone or in cooperation with others, he translated from English or Russian works of

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, J. B. Priestley,

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Sasha Chorny Alexander Mikhailovich Glikberg ( rus, Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Гли́кберг, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ ˈɡlʲiɡbʲɪrk, a=Alyexandr Mikhaylovich Glickbyerg.ru.vorb.oga; – 5 July 1932), better known as ...

, and

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. He was critically acclaimed by his contemporaries,

Camil Petrescu Camil Petrescu (; 9/21 April 1894 – 14 May 1957) was a Romanian playwright, novelist, philosopher and poet. He marked the end of the traditional novel era and laid the foundation of the modern novel era in Romania. He was a member of the Sbur ...

calling him "''the leader''" of their generation, Barbu Brezianu its "''herald''",

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its "''magus''". Comarnescu was married to Gina Manolescu-Strunga, the daughter of a liberal politician, but she had been in love with

N. D. Cocea N. D. Cocea (common rendition of Nicolae Dumitru Cocea, , also known as Niculae, Niculici or Nicu Cocea; November 29, 1880 – February 1, 1949) was a Romanian journalist, novelist, critic and left-wing political activist, known as a major but c ...

, a well-known writer and journalist, from the age of 17 (and by whom she would become pregnant after her marriage). They divorced two years later. Comarnescu was also a homosexual. He died at age 65 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 ...

, and was buried at the

Voroneț Monastery The Voroneț Monastery is a medieval monastery in the Romanian village of Voroneț, now a part of the town Gura Humorului. It is one of the famous Painted churches of northern Moldavia, painted monasteries from southern Bukovina, in Suceava Co ...

cemetery.

Memberships

* Member of the ''Romanian Writers' Association'' (Societatea Scriitorilor Români)(1945), and later of ''The Romanian Writers' Union'' (Uniunea Scriitorilor din R.S.R). * Member of the ''Fine Arts Association of Romania'' (U.A.P.), Critics section. After facing opposition by some of the members he was finally accepted, being supported by

Alexandru Rosetti Alexandru Rosetti (October 20, 1895 – February 27, 1990) was a Romanian linguist, editor, and memoirist. Born in Bucharest, his parents were Petre Rosetti Bălănescu, a lawyer and landowner, and his wife Zoe (''née'' Cornescu), whose father w ...

Tudor Vianu Tudor Vianu (; January 8, 1898 – May 21, 1964) was a Romanian literary criticism, literary critic, art critic, poet, philosopher, academic, and translation, translator. He had a major role on the reception and development of Modernism in Liter ...

Ion Frunzetti Ion Frunzetti (1918–1985) was a Romanian art critic and historian. He was vice president of the Union of Fine Artists, head of the Literature and Arts Section of the Academy of Social and Political Sciences, professor at Bucharest Buchares ...

and

Vlaicu Bârna Vlaicu Victor Virgil Bârna (December 4, 1913 – March 11, 1999) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian poet. Born in Crișan, Hunedoara County, in the Transylvania region, his parents Ion Bârna and Maria (''née'' Pavel) were peasants. After ...

Awards and prizes

*Meritul Cultural clasa I (1946) *Meritul Cultural în rang de Cavaler, clasa a II-a (1947) *Ordinul Cultural în rang de Cavaler, clasa a II-a (1968) *The Fine Arts Association of Romania's Criticism Prize (1965) *Gold Medal of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), on the occasion of the 16th congress held in

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

, Italy.

Selected works

*''Homo Americanus'' (1933) *''Zgârie-norii New York-ului'' (1933) *''America văzută de un tânăr de azi'' (1934) *''Răspântii- forme de viață culturală'' (1936) *''Artă și imagine'' (1939) *''Soluțiile artei în cultura modernă'' (1943) *''Giordano Bruno'' (1947) *''Chipurile și priveliștile Americii'' (1940) *''America. Lume nouă, viață nouă'' (1947) *''Chipurile și priveliștile Europei (posthumously) (1980) *''Pagini de Jurnal'', Editura Noul Orfeu, Bucharest, 2003

Books about him

*Monica Ștefan (Grosu), ''Petru Comarnescu – un neliniștit în secolul său'' (PhD thesis, published as a monography).

References

*Al. Piru, ''Istoria Literaturii Române'', Ed. Grai și suflet-Cultura națională, Bucharest, 1994
Article about him in the Romanian newspaper Evenimentul
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comarnescu, Petru 1905 births 1970 deaths Romanian literary critics Romanian art critics University of Bucharest alumni University of Southern California alumni Romanian expatriates in the United States 20th-century Romanian LGBTQ people Writers from Iași Romanian communists Securitate informants Romanian translators