Marin Preda
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Marin Preda (5 August 1922–16 May 1980) was a Romanian novelist, often considered the best of post-WWII Romania.
Preda was born in Siliştea-Gumeşti village, Teleorman county, into a family of peasants. He studied at the village school, then at Abrud and Cristur-Odorhei. He moved to Bucharest in 1940 and became a proofreader at the Timpul ("Times") magazine.
His first novella was Calul ("The Horse"), written in 1943 and read to the Sburătorul literary circle of Eugen Lovinescu. It was included in his debut volume of 1948, Întâlnirea din pământuri. ("The Meeting between the Lands"). Between 1943 and 1945 he served in the army, which was to inspire some of his later works.
In 1945 he was hired as a proofreader at the România liberă ("Free Romania") newspaper, and beginning in 1952 served as an editor at the cultural magazine Viaţa Românească ("Romanian Life"). His novel Moromeţii ("The Morometes"), was awarded the State Literature Prize in 1956.
In 1965, he became vice-president of the "Uniunea Scriitorilor" (Writers' Union) and in 1970 the director of the "Cartea Românească" publishing house, keeping this job until his death. He became a member of the Romanian Academy in 1974.
In 1954 he married Aurora Cornu; they divorced in 1959. He was married to Eta Vexler, who was forced to emigrate to France in the early 1970s. He was never able to join her there. With his third wife, Elena, he had two sons, Nicolae and Alexandru.
In 1980 he published his last novel, Cel mai iubit dintre pământeni ("The Most Beloved of Earthlings"), which was a violent critique of communism. After a few short weeks on the market, the novel was withdrawn from all public, university, and school libraries and all bookshops. It was not much later, on May 16, 1980, that the novelist died under suspicious circumstances, apparently suffocated with a pillow at the Writers' Mansion of the Mogoşoaia Palace.
Stories circulated afterwards to influence the population said that he had died choking on his own vomit at the Writer's Mansion, after getting extremely drunk. However, those who saw his body after he died said that he may have been shot in the head, since on his temple there was a bullet wound. It had been masked carefully, but it was visible after a few days when the body started decaying. His brother, Saie, believes that he was executed on orders of the Securitate (Secret Police), but the dossier regarding this has disappeared from the Securitate's archive.
[edit] Works
- 1948 - Întâlnirea din pământuri ("The Meeting between the Lands")
- 1949 - Ana Roşculeţ
- 1952 - Desfăşurarea ("The Unfolding")
- 1955 - Moromeţii ("The Moromete Family")
- 1956 - Ferestre întunecate ("Dark Windows")
- 1959 - Îndrăzneala ("The Daring")
- 1962 - Risipitorii ("The Prodigals")
- 1967 - Moromeţii, second part
- 1968 - Intrusul ("The Intruder")
- 1972 - Imposibila întoarcere ("The Impossible Return")
- 1972 - Marele singuratic ("The Great Loner")
- 1973 - Întâlnirea din pământuri, second edition
- 1975 - Delirul ("The Delirium")
- 1977 - Viaţa ca o pradă ("Life as a Prey")
- 1980 - Cel mai iubit dintre pământeni ("The Most Beloved of Earthlings")
