Marin Preda
Marin Preda (; 5 August 1922, Siliștea Gumești, Teleorman County, Kingdom of Romania – 16 May 1980, Mogoșoaia, Ilfov County, Socialist Republic of Romania) was a Romanian novelist, post-war writer and director of Cartea Românească publishing house. His last novel, ""Cel mai iubit dintre pământeni"" ("The Most Beloved of Earthlings)," published just a couple of months before his death, has been perceived as a very daring critique of the beginnings of communism in Romania. However, the novelist, who received the highest distinctions and was well regarded by party leaders, cannot be considered an actual opponent of the communist  regime. An eyewitness stated that in 1970 Marin Preda had told Nicolae Ceaușescu in the context of a small reunion: ""If you want to introduce socialist realism, I, Marin Preda, will commit suicide.""”" But the author had never publicly criticized socialist realism and never doubted the legitimacy of the communist regime. At the time of his death, Marin Preda was a member of the Great National Assembly. Biography. Childhood. Preda was born in Teleorman County in a village called Siliștea Gumești, son of Tudor Călărașu, "a ploughman", and of Joița Preda. The child will bear the mother's name, as  the parents had not concluded a legal marriage, only in this way Joița Preda still receive a pension as a war widow. Joița came with two girls from her first marriage: Măria (nicknamed Alboaica - after the man's name) and Mița (Tita).Tudor Călărașu also had three sons with his first wife who had died: Ilie (Paraschiv), Gheorghe (Achim) and Ion (Nilă). In the family of the two spouses were also born: Ilinca, Marin and Alexandru (Sae). The child Marin Preda spent his childhood in this large family which - despite the two plots of land "received for ownership" – was not secured . Education. In September 1929, the teacher Ionel Teodorescu enrolled Marin Preda in the first grade, but the father, who sent his children to school only at the age of 8, did not let him attend. The following year he was re-enrolled in the first grade, at the Primary School of his native village. But, as in any family in the country, the child also participated in household duties (herding cattle, field work), which ment that in the first classes he was often absent from school. But gradually, he proved to be among the best students in his series, and  won the award with crown (scene evoked in The Moromete Family). The year 1933–1934 (4th grade) was one of the hardest in the student's life: his father could no longer buy books and he got malaria. The teacher had shown to him a lot of goodwill, helped him finish the school year and lent him books. When he could not find new books in the village, he went to borrow in the neighboring communes: ""What that? – his father has shouted once – you have to walk 30 km to Recea, to take a book?! Is it made of gold? If  he had put him to an easier job than that, a big noise would have come out ..."". With repeated pleas and insistence, he obtained from his mother a promise that she would convince his father to send him to the "school of teachers". In 1934 and 1937 he attended grades V - VII, having as teacher Ion Georgescu from Balaci, a neighboring village. The teacher would remember in his old age that the student Marin Preda "was a dreamer in the classroom", but "he did well, in writing", on a given topic about the Union of Principalities did "sensational work". He  finished 7th grade with an overall average of 9.78. The exam for obtaining the graduation certificate of seven classes was taken at the Center School in Ciolănești (a commune ten kilometers away from Siliștea Gumești). On June 18, the certificate no. 71 on graduation of the seven primary classes, with the general average on objects 9, 15 was issued. Leaving his native village. In 1937, avoiding the Teacher Training School in Alexandria (at that time, the county seat was in Turnu Măgurele), where the fees were too high, he went to the Normal School in Câmpulung-Muscel, but was rejected  at the medical examination due to myopia. (Each county having a school of teachers, and those who belong to that county were preferred at exams.) The father now intended to send him to a trade school. However, the librarian Constantin Păun from Miroși intervened as a savior, from whom the student Marin Preda bought books, and took him to the Normal School in Abrud, where he succeeded at the scholarship exam with a grade of 10. He integrated into the life of an intern of the Pedagogical school. The teaches were satisfied with him and he got along well with  his transylvanian colleagues and in 1939 he spent the winter holiday with a colleague from Abrud. In the autumn of 1939 he was transferred to the Normal School from Cristur-Odorhei, where he continued his studies for another year. As with Abrud, he showed a special interest in history, Romanian and even mathematics. At the meetings of the Literary Society in the school, he was noticed by the teacher Justin Salanțiu, who predicted that "he will become a great writer", in the society he wrote and read some sketches. A composition that had its own father as its hero, chosen  to be published in the school magazine, remained unpublished, the expected magazine no longer appeared due to the dramatic events that had followed. The three years of Transylvanian life will be evoked in ""Life as a prey"" and in ""The Most Beloved of Earthlings"". In 1940, following the Vienna Dictate, the student Preda Marin received an assignment for a similar school in Bucharest. In January 1941 he witnessed the turbulent events of the legionary rebellion and its repression by Ion Antonescu. He contacted some transylvanian refugees and met with his soldiers settled in Bucharest. All this was described in "Delirium  and in Life as a Prey" three decades after. At the end of the 1940-1941 school year (with help of the school head), he took the skills test, but due to material difficulties he decided to drop out of school. During the summer he did not return to the village: ""I had the impression that if I return, I will not be able to leave."" He had failed to publish anything and not even found a job, Marin Preda found increasingly difficult: ""It is impossible for me to remember and understand how I was able to live, from what  sources, all autumn and all winter of 1941 -1942. Only unrelated, unnatural things ... I had nowhere to sleep, there was sleet all over Bucharest, and I walked non-stop by tram from Gara de Nord to Gara de Est. All day and all night."" Sometimes he visited his brother Nilă, in a tiny attic where "he was lost for hours, with his elbows under his neck." In the collective volume of poems "Barbed Wire", Geo Dumitrescu included the poem "The Return of the Wandering Son" by Marin Preda, but the volume was not allowed for printing. In 1941, also through  Geo Dumitrescu, Marin Preda was hired as a proofreader at the newspaper "Timpul" ("Time"). Literary activity. In April 1942 he made his debut with the sketch ""Părlitu"" (“Burnt”) in the newspaper "Timpul" (no. 1771 and 1772 of April 15 and 16), on the literary page "Popasuri" ("Halts"), endorsed by Miron Radu Paraschivescu. His debut at the age of 20 gave him a confidence in his writing, continuing to publish sketches and stories: ""Strigoaica"" ("The Undead"), ""Salcâmul"" ("The Acacia"), ""Calul"" ("The Horse"), ""Noaptea"" ("The Night"), ""La câmp"" ("In the Field"). In September, he left the position of proofreader at "Timpul". For  a short time he was a civil servant at the Institute of Statistics. On the recommendation of Eugen Lovinescu, the poet Ion Vinea hired him as editorial secretary at "Evenimentul zilei" ("The event of the day"). In March 1943, a column has appeared in the newspaper "Vremea războiului" ("The war time"). In April, "Evenimentul zilei" published the sketch "Rotila". He took a part in several meetings of the "Sburătorul" ("The Flier") circle, led by the critic Eugen Lovinescu, where the short story "Calul" produced a vivid impression on those present, arousing the delight of Dinu Nicodin, who has bought the  manuscript for a large sum of money. The short story was included in his debut volume edited in 1948, ""Întâlnirea din pământuri"" ("The Meeting between the Lands"). In the short story after which the name of the volume was given, the critics immediately recognized the author's father, who has appeared with a changed name in "Moromeții". It is built on the technique of "fly on the wall" (a perfectly objectified, behaviorist narrative, used at the time by Albert Camus, William Faulkner or later by Truman Capote). A forerunner of Marin Preda in Romanian literature had been Anton Holban in  the short story ""Chinuri"" ("Pungs"). Between 1943-1945 he was taken to the army, an experience described in later works, in the novels ""Life as a Prey"" and ""Delirium"". In 1945 he became a proofreader for the newspaper "România liberă"("Free Romania"). Between 1949 and 1955, he wrote the first volume of the novel ""Moromeții"" that was considered the masterpiece of the writer. Then in 1952 he became and editor of the magazine "Viaţa Românească" ("Romanian Life"). In 1956 he received the State Literature Prize for the novel ""Moromeții"". A year later, in 1957, the writer made a trip to Vietnam . On the way back, he stopped in Beijing. In 1955 he married the poet Aurora Cornu. The love letters sent to the poet were published posthumously. They divorced in 1959. He then remarried Eta Vexler, who later immigrated to France in the early 1970s. He had two sons with his third wife, Elena, Nicolae and Alexandru. In 1960-1961, he read the world's great novelists. He was fascinated by William Faulkner, with whom his prose has obvious affinities. In 1965 he translated with his wife Eta the novel "The Plague" by Albert Camus. In 1968 he was elected the  vice president of "Uniunea Scriitorilor" ("Writers' Union"), and in 1970 he became director of the “Cartea Românească (“Romanian Book”) publishing house, which he led until his sudden death in 1980. In 1970 he translated in collaboration with Nicolae Gane Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel: "Demons". His novel, ""Marele singuratic"" ("The Great Lonely One"), received the Writers' Union Award in 1971. Preda's novel "Delirium" ("Delirul") is considered to reflect the attempt to review Ion Antonescu's role against the background of re-surging nationalist pride in Communist Romania. Here, Antonescu is painted as a tragic figure, who joined Germans, regarding this  as the only way to re-gain Bessarabia. The first edition of the novel quickly sold out. He became a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy in 1974, and was promoted to titular post-mortem member in 1990. The second edition of the novel ""Marele singuratic"" had appeared in 1976, and in 1977 he published ""Viața ca o pradă"" ("Life as a Prey"), a comprehensive autobiographical novel whose main theme is the crystallization of an artist's conscience. In 1980, Marin Preda published his last novel, "Cel mai iubit dintre pământeni" ("The Most Beloved Earthling"), regarded as 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. Between 1975 and 1980 he lived in Bucharest on the street (after the painter name) Alexandru Romano no. 21. Awards. He was awarded the Second Class Star Order of the Socialist Republic of Romania (1971) ""for special merits in the work of building socialism, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Romanian Communist Party establishment"". Death. On May 16, 1980, that the novelist died at the Writers' Mansion of Mogoșoaia Palace. The autopsy, which  took place 24 hours after his death, showed that his blood alcohol concentration was 3.5 BAC, enough to fall into a coma. The official cause of death was asphixiation. His family is convinced that his sudden death has something to do with the publication of the novel ""Cel mai iubit dintre pământeni"" and occurred in occult conditions.According to the forensic report, ""Marin Preda's death was violent and was due to mechanical asphyxia by clogging the airways with a soft body, possibly bed linen, in an alcoholic coma"". Marin Preda was buried on the Writers' Alley in Bellu Cemetery . Numismatics. On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the birth of Marin Preda, the National Bank of Romania, on August 10, 2012, put into circulation, for the attention of the numismatists, a commemorative silver coin, with the title of 999 ‰, with a face value of 10 lei. The coin is issued in proof quality, in a circulation of 500 copies. The edge of the coin is serrated. The diameter of the coin is 37 mm and its mass is 31,107 g. The coins are individually packaged in transparent methacrylate capsules, and are accompanied by presentation brochures written in romanian , english and french and signed certificates of authenticity by the NBR governor and the central cashier of this institution. The currency has circulation power on the Romanian territory. The selling price of a copy of this coin, including the methacrylate capsule and the accompanying brochure, is 340 lei.