Alexandru Mironescu

Alexandru Mironescu (July 23, 1903–January 20, 1973) was a Romanian prose writer.

Born in Tecuci, his parents were Victor Mironescu and his wife Elena. After attending Dimitrie Cantemir High School in Bucharest, he obtained degrees in chemistry and philosophy from the University of Bucharest. He later obtained a doctorate in science from the Sorbonne and one in philosophy at Bucharest. From 1929, he was a lecturer at the latter university and a teacher at Saint Sava National College. He was editor at Semnalul newspaper. Mironescu's first journalistic contribution appeared in Credința newspaper in 1935;[1] exploring both domestic and foreign affairs, he neither commented on daily events as such, nor held firm to a particular ideology, but took the stance of an independent observer, condemning the intellectual elites' isolation with regard to the national, socioeconomic and cultural interest.[2]

Mironescu's first book was the 1937 novel Oamenii nimănui. His work appeared in Evenimentul zilei, Fapta, Familia, Azi, Țara noastră, Vremea and Revista Fundațiilor Regale. He also wrote the novel Destrămare (1939), the unpublished play Joc în umbră and a few philosophical works. He authored a number of organic chemistry textbooks and treatises, and translated André Gide's Retour de l'U.R.S.S..[1]

A devoted practitioner of hesychasm,[3] Mironescu was, from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1953 to 1958,[4] an adherent of the Burning Pyre group within the Romanian Orthodox Church. He stopped publishing after the advent of the Communist regime,[3] and in 1958, together with his son, was arrested for his clandestine religious activity. Sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment, he was freed in 1963.[5] Even in 1968, at the height of Nicolae Ceaușescu's popularity, he confided in his diary that he viewed the regime as disastrous and doomed to fall.[3]

Notes
  1. Aurel Sasu (ed.), Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române, vol. II, p. 125. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. ISBN 973-697-758-7
  2. (in Romanian) Mircea Coloșenco, "Spirit politic românesc superior", in Convorbiri Literare, December 2005
  3. (in Romanian) Marius Vasileanu, "Alexandru Mironescu și 'Admirabila Tăcere'", in Ziarul Financiar, July 18, 2014
  4. (in Romanian) Paul Aretzu, "Credința omului de știință", in Viața Românească, nr. 1-2/2012
  5. Andrei Tudor, Mariana Conovici, Iuliana Conovici (eds.), Am înțeles rostul meu..., p. 390. Humanitas, 2014, ISBN 978-973-5046-08-8
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