Lucian Blaga

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Lucian Blaga (May 9 1895 - May 6 1961) was a Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher.

1 Biography
2 Works
3 External links

Biography

A commanding personality of the culture of the inter-bellum period, Lucian Blaga, a Romanian philosopher, author, university professor, and diplomat, is noted in the respective period for elements of originality which bring him universal regard. He was born on May 9, 1895 in Lancrăm, near Alba Iulia, Romania, into a family of priests. His childhood was in his own confession, "under the sign of the incredible absence of word", the future poet - who would later describe himself as "mute as a swan" - not beginning to speak until four years of age.

His first classes were at Sebeş (1902-1906), followed by the "Andrei Şaguna" school in Braşov (1906-1914), where a relative of his, Iosif Blaga, was a professor, the author of the first Romanian treatise on the theory of drama. In the year of the outbreak of the First World War, he began theological studies at Sibiu, where he obtained a degree in 1917. From 1917 to 1920, he attended courses at the University of Vienna, where he studied philosophy and obtained his PhD.

Upton returning to re-unified Romania, he contributed to the Romanian press in Transylvania, being the editor of the magazines Culture in Cluj and The Banat in Lugoj.

In 1926, he became involved in Romanian diplomacy, occupying successives posts at Romania's legations in Warsaw, Prague, Lisbon, Bern and Vienna. He was chosen member of the Romanian Academy in 1937. His acceptance speech was entitled Elogiul satului românesc (The Eulogy of the Romanian Village).

In 1939, he became professor of cultural philosophy at the University of Cluj, temporarily located in Sibiu in the years following the Dictate of Vienna. In Sibiu he edited, beginning in 1943, the magazine Saeculum, which was published annually.

He was dismissed from his university professor chair in 1948 and he worked as librarian for the branch department (Cluj) of the History Institute of the Romanian Academy. Until 1960, he was allowed to publish only translations.

In 1956, he was nominated to the Nobel Prize for Literature on the proposal of Bazil Munteanu of France and Rosa del Conte of Italy, but the Romanian Communist government sent to emissaries to Sweden to protest the nomination.

He died of cancer on May 6, 1961, and is buried in Lancrăm, Romania.

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