A final tribute will be paid on Monday, at the Romanian Athenaeum, to the renowned critic and literary historian Nicolae Manolescu. The funeral will take place on Tuesday, at the “Sfântul Ioan” Cemetery in Râmnicu Vâlcea.
Nicolae Manolescu. PHOTO The truth
“People who want to pay their last respects to the president of the Romanian Writers' Union, the academician Nicolae Manolescu, can do so on Monday, March 25, between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., at the Romanian Athenaeum”announced the Romanian Writers' Union.
The Romanian Writers' Union later stated that there was a change in the funeral program of the academician Nicolae Manolescu.
“Since the service will start at 12.00 in Râmnicu-Vâlcea, the time of departure from the headquarters of the Writers' Union on Tuesday, March 26, will be 8.30 and not 9.00”.
The literary critic Nicolae Manolescu died on Saturday, at the age of 84.
Who was Nicolae Manolescu
President of the Writers' Union, director of the weekly “Romania literară”, critic and literary historian of great reputation, one of the greatest personalities of Romanian literature of all time, Nicolae Manolescu was born on November 27, 1939, Râmnicu Vâlcea. His parents were high school teachers. In 1953, after the arrest of his parents for political reasons, he was adopted by his maternal grandfather and took his name.
In 1956, Nicolae Manolescu completed his pre-university studies at the Gheorghe Lazăr High School in Sibiu. In 1962 he became a graduate of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Bucharest. He obtained the title of Doctor of Letters with the thesis The Opera of Titu Maiorescu at the University of Bucharest, in 1974, recalls the Romanian Writers' Union.
The doctoral thesis was the basis of his book Maiorescu's Contradiction. He was a teaching staff at the University of Bucharest, Faculty of Philology, then called Letters, from 1963. Not being a member of the communist party, he became a full professor only in 1990. He was a literary columnist for the magazine Contemporanul from 1962 to 1972, then for the magazine Romania literary from 1972 to 1989.
He ran this magazine from 1990 until the last days of his life. In 1997 he was elected a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy, later becoming a full member in 2013. He was President of the Romanian Writers' Union, elected in 2005, re-elected in 2009, 2013, 2018 and the last time in May 2023, being the personality who held this position for the longest time.
Between 1997-2000 he produced the cultural talk show Profesiunea mea, cultura, on Pro TV. In 2006, he was appointed as Romania's ambassador to UNESCO, a position he held for many years. He made his publishing debut with the volume Lecturi infidele in 1966.
He published numerous works of literary criticism and history, as well as memoirs, as well as the brilliant tablets entitled Themes, collected in seven volumes.
His books remain fundamental: Maiorescu's Contradiction, Sadoveanu or the utopia of the book, Noah's Ark. Essay on the Romanian novel. His fundamental work is the Critical History of Romanian Literature – 5 Centuries of Literature (2008, revised second edition appearing in 2020), states the Romanian Writers' Union
Nicolae Manolescu's literary critic and historian activity, covering over six decades, exerted an important influence on Romanian literature, starting from the 1960s until today. The literary generation of the 60's owes its imposition in literature to a good extent. As the coordinator of the Cenacl de Luni (1977-1983, when it was abolished by the communist authorities) she was essential for the literary paradigm change brought by the Generation of 1980. In the political field, Nicolae Manolescu got involved immediately after the revolution of 1989. He was founding member of the Civic Alliance.
He was president of the Civic Alliance Party (PAC), from July 1991. His party was a member of the Romanian Democratic Convention, on whose lists Nicolae Manolescu was elected, in September, as a senator from Sibiu, in the 1992-1996 legislature.
Within the National-Liberal Alliance, he was designated as a candidate for Romania's presidency. Later PAC merged with PNL (1998), and Nicoae Manolescu retired from politics in 2000. For his activity, he was decorated with the National Order “Faithful Service” in the rank of Grand Cross, with the national Order “Star of Romania” in the rank de Mare Cruce, the highest distinction of the Romanian state, and with the medal and title “Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres”, from the French Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research.
He was appointed Professor Emeritus of the University of Bucharest. He was appointed Professor Emeritus of the University of Bucharest. He became Doctor Honoris Causa of the Universities “Ovidius” Constanța, the University of the West, Timișoara, “Vasile Alecsandri” from Bacău and other universities in the country. From January 14, 2017, he became Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Balti, Republic of Moldova.
Nicolae Manolescu identified himself with Romanian literature, he was constantly at the center of living literature, he was a mentor to hundreds of students and doctoral students, as a teacher, as well as to young writers from several generations.
As a politician and journalist of attitude, he campaigned for democracy and freedom, the Romanian Writers' Union also states.
