The literary critic and historian Nicolae Manolescu died, at the age of 84 / “The most important Romanian literary critic and historian after the Second World War. God rest his soul”

Nicolae Manolescu died at the age of 84. President of the Romanian Writers’ Union, Nicolae Manolescu, was hospitalized in serious condition at the Elias Hospital, after suffering a cardiac arrest.

The Elias Hospital sent an announcement confirming the death of academician Nicolae Manolescu: “The President of the Writers’ Union, a prominent figure of Romanian culture, passed away in the afternoon of March 23, 2024, at the Elias Emergency University Hospital, following severe complications cardiac and pulmonary problems that occurred against the background of pre-existing chronic ailments”, the press release states.

Messages of tribute and condolences are pouring in on social media:

• Publicist Mircea Mihăieș: “Nicolae Manolescu, the most important Romanian literary critic and historian since the Second World War, has died. God rest his soul!”
• Journalist Cristian Tudor Popescu: “One of the great literary critics and teachers of Romanian culture. I will keep his memory alive”.
• The writer Florin Toma: “One of the most enlightened and erudite spirits, the literary critic and historian, teacher and academician, president of the Writers’ Union, Mr. Nicolae Manolescu, has left us. A great loss for education, culture and literature in Romania. May God illuminate his Path!”
• The writer Doina Jela: “Since 1995, when I made my debut, he accompanied me in all the essential steps, he supported me, he was by my side, I felt him in solidarity and on the same side of the barricade, by my side, in everything that was important to say, to support, to defend. The void he leaves behind will be difficult to fill, and the scope his personality hard to match, no matter how many spots in the sun they will seek and find confreres in a life and work of unquestionable and unrivaled authority. God bless him from now on Qin his care”.
• Writer Arina Avram: A great star of letters has left! May God rest him in eternal glory. He was born in Vâlcea county, where I also lived with my parents.”
• Journalist Emilian Frâncu: “He spent his childhood in Râmnicu Vâlcea, a city of which he became an honorary citizen. He founded the Civic Alliance Party and I had the honor of being close to him as president of the Vâlcea county branch in 1992… He supported, for a long time in Romania, the concept of civic liberalism. May God take care of his soul entered, from now on, in immortality!”
• Ministry of Culture: “Illustrious personality of Romanian cultural life”. “We received with sadness the news of the departure from us of Mr. Nicolae Manolescu, an illustrious personality of Romanian cultural life. (…) Through the priceless dowry he leaves in the chest of Romanian culture, the memory of Nicolae Manolescu will remain alive not only for the generations of students who read him or will read him, but also for each of us, when we feel the need for a specialized, quality readings. Condolences to the family and to all those who knew and appreciated him!”.

Nicolae Manolescu (born Apolzan, in a family of high school teachers) also had political activity, after the Revolution of 1989. He was ambassador of Romania to UNESCO and in the 1992-1996 legislature he was elected as a senator in Sibiu county on the party lists OCL-(PAC). In 1992, he was nominated as a candidate for the presidency of Romania by the Civic Alliance. He was president of the Romanian Writers’ Union, from 2005.

One of his seminal books is The critical history of Romanian literaturepublished in 2008 in a definitive edition.

Biographical data:

• He was born into a family of high school teachers. His father, Petru Apolzan, who was also a school inspector at one time, was originally from Sibiel, with ancestry in Apoldu de Jos. His mother, Sabina, centenarian, French teacher, was Virgil Ierunca’s teacher. In 1953, after the arrest of his parents for political reasons, he was adopted by his maternal grandfather and took his name, Manolescu.
• In 1956 Nicolae Manolescu completed his pre-university studies at Gheorghe Lazăr High School in Sibiu. In 1962 he became a graduate of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Bucharest. In 1974 he obtained the title of Doctor of Letters with a thesis The work of Titu Maiorescu at the University of Bucharest. The doctoral thesis formed the basis of his book Maiorescu’s contradictiona critical incursion, a biographical and psychoanalytical essay, a necessary hermeneutic exercise, as the studies on Maiorescu suffered from excessive politicization.
• The university teaching career at the Department of Romanian Literature of the Faculty of Philology in Bucharest began in 1963; he is appointed full professor in 1990. He also teaches foreign students. Debuts with the literary chronicle in Literary newspaper, accepting exactly the clichés of realist-socialist dogmatism, according to Marian Nițescu’s analysis. He then became a literary chronicler of Romania Literare for thirty years, a good part of that time under the leadership of George Ivașcu.
• He coordinated the works of the Monday Cenacle, where most eighties poets made their debut until it was abolished, for political reasons. From 1990 he became the director and columnist of the magazine Romania Literară. Chronicler of the magazine contemporary from 1962 to 1972, the period from which the texts date in which “the language, marked by the same dogmatism, acquires a personal touch” (“Our poets are aware that they express a superior humanism and, from this perspective, they feel the need to reconsider the universe, translating into great symbols the ideas, the ethical values ​​of communism… etc.”, “Praise of creation”, contemporary, no. 44, 1. Nov. 1963), proves the same M. Nițescu.
• Chronicler of the magazine Literary Romania from 1972 to 1989. In 1997 he is elected corresponding member of the Romanian Academy, and since 2005 he is president of the Romanian Writers’ Union.
• In 2006, he was appointed ambassador of Romania to UNESCO. He made his editorial debut with the volume Unfaithful readings in the year 1966.
• In 2008 he published The critical history of Romanian literaturewhich bears the subtitle 5 centuries of literature in which he continued the canonization efforts, the second history of Romanian literature from its origins to the present day, the first being the one written by G. Călinescu.
• In an interview published on 04.04.2022, Nicolae Manolescu tells how he came to be a literary critic. He knew that his purpose was to become a literature teacher, but he did not realize his career as a literary critic until the end of the faculty, when professor George Ivașcu offered him to write for Contemporanul. At first, Nicolae Manolescu was incredulous and declared that he wanted to write prose, but the teacher told him that he had the structure of a literary critic and gave him three books for his first article. After three weeks, Nicolae Manolescu returned with the article and received criticism from the teacher, telling him to write one article a week. He accepted and continued to write for Contemporanul for 32 years, with a break and then another 3-4 years.
• Nicolae Manolescu mentioned that in his biography there are two people who decisively influenced him. In terms of literature, it was George Călinescu, and in terms of career, the university, it was George Ivașcu.
• Nicolae Manolescu is a founding member of the Civic Alliance. He becomes president of the Civic Alliance Party (PAC) (July 1991). The party was a member of the Romanian Democratic Convention, on whose lists Nicolae Manolescu was elected, in September, as a senator.
• In the 1992-1996 legislature, Nicolae Manolescu was elected PAC senator from Sibiu. During his parliamentary activity, he was a member of the Commission of the Romanian Parliament for European Integration and the Commission for Defence, Public Order and National Security. In 1992, PAC together with PL’93, founded the National Liberal Alliance (ANL). At the extraordinary Congress of the ANL, Nicolae Manolescu was designated as a presidential candidate. Nicolae Manolescu submitted his candidacy for the presidency on September 20, 1992.
• In 1998 PAC, the party founded by Nicolae Manolescu, merges with PNL, in an attempt to unify the liberal movement. In 2000, Nicolae Manolescu resigned as president of the PNL National Council and retired from political life (Biographical data source: wikipedia.org)