Sorin Alexandrescu (born 18 August 1937) is a Romanian-born academic, literary critic,

semiotician Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter. Semiosis is an ...

, linguist, essayist, and translator. Born 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 ...

as the son of Constantin, a magistrate, and Ileana,

Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. One of the most influential scholars of religion of the 20th century and in ...

's sister, he graduated from the "Mihai Viteazu" High School in his hometown (1955), and after that, from the Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest (1959). After teaching

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

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 ...

, where he was considered to be a structuralist, he was sent in 1969 by the Romanian authorities to teach Romanian language and literature at universities in Amsterdam and Groningen. In 1974 he decided to defect. In 1976, he founded the ''International Journal of Roumanian Studies''. During the 1989 Romanian Revolution, he returned to Romania as a correspondent for a Dutch newspaper. In 1998, he was named presidential adviser for culture. In 2001, he settled permanently in Romania again. That same year, he was one of the founders of the so-called ''Centrul de Excelență în Studiul Imaginii'' at the

, together with Dan Grigorescu, , Laura Mesina, Vlad Alexandrescu, Vasile Morar and Zoe Petre.

Books

* ''The Logic of Personages'', 1973 * ''Logique du personnage: reflexions sur l'univers faulknerien'', (1974) * ''Dimitrie Cantemir: Roemeens historicus en politicus 1673-1723'', Bussum 1975 * ''Transformational grammar and the Rumanian language'', 1977 * ''Richard Rorty'', 1995 * ''Figurative of the Art. Beginning and End. 20th Century in Romania'', 1998 * ''Paradoxul român'', 1998 * ''Identitate în ruptură. Mentalitati românești postbelice'', 2000 * ''La modernité a l'Est. 13 aperçus sur la literature roumaine'', 2000

References

External links

Articles by Sorin Alexandrescu
in ''Observator cultural''
Centrul Cultural Pitești

Solomon Marcus, ''Observator cultural'' - numărul 126, iulie 2002

Carmen Mușat, ''Observator cultural'' - numărul 338, septembrie 2006 ''Interviews''

Raluca Alexandrescu, ''Observator cultural'' - numărul 52, februarie 2001

Raluca Alexandrescu, ''Observator cultural'' - numărul 53, februarie 2001

Carmen Mușat, ''Observator cultural'' - numărul 547, octombrie 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexandrescu, Sorin 1937 births University of Bucharest alumni Romanian literary critics Dutch academics Linguists from Romania Linguists from the Netherlands Romanian expatriates in the Netherlands Romanian defectors Communication scholars Structuralists Academic staff of the University of Bucharest Living people 20th-century Romanian translators 20th-century Romanian essayists