Sami Damian
Sami Damian (sometimes referred to as S. Damian or Samy Damian (born Samuel Druckmann, 18 July 1930, Alba Iulia, Romania - 1 August 2012) was a Romanian-born Jewish literary critic and essayist.
Biography
[edit]Studies
[edit]S. Damian studied at the Jewish "Cultura Max Aziel" middle school in Bucharest, then at the "Mihai Eminescu" Literature and Literary Criticism School in Bucharest (1950-1955), and at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest (diploma received in 1972).
Literary activity
[edit]S. Damian made his debut around 1955/1956 with literary criticism written in the spirit of that age's dogmatism.[1]
He worked for a while as a copy editor for Contemporanul, Gazeta literară, România literară and Luceafărul.
Marginalised for a period of time, he was sent to West Germany in the mid-1970s to teach Romanian language and literature at the University of Heidelberg, after which he defected.[2] He would continue to teach there until 1995.[3]
After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, he published several books of literary criticism, essays, etc.
He married Simona Timaru-Druckmann in 1996.
In 1998 Ion Negoițescu's book Dialoguri după tăcere. Scrisori către S. Damian ("Dialogues after silence. Letters to S. Damian") was published.
He had a twin brother, Marcel.[4]
Books
[edit]- Generalitatea și individualitatea ideii operei literare (The Generality and Individuality of the Idea of Literary Work), 1955
- Încercări de analiză literară (Attempts at Literary Analysis), 1956
- Direcții și tendințe în proza nouă (Directions and Tendencies in the New Prose), 1963
- Intrarea în castel (Entering the Castle), București, 1970
- G. Călinescu romancier. Eseu despre măștile jocului (G. Calinescu, Novelist. An Essay on the Game Masks), 1971
- Scufița Roșie nu mai merge în pădure (Litte Red Riding Hood Does Not Go Into the Woods Anymore), 1994
- Fals tratat despre psihologia succesului (False Treatise on the Psychology of Success), 1972; ediția București, 1995
- Duelul invizibil (The Invisible Duel), 1996
- Replici din burta lupului (Replies From the Wolf's Belly), București, 1997
- Aruncând mănușa (Throwing the Gauntlet), București, 1999
- Pivnițe, mansarde, nu puține trepte (Basements, Attics, Not Few Stairs), 2002
- Aripile lui Icar (The Wings of Icarus), 2004
- Trepte în sus, trepte în jos (Stairs Up, Stairs Down), 2006
- Păr de aur, păr de cenușă (Hair of Gold, Hair of Ashes), 2007
- Nu toți copacii s-au înălțat la cer (Not All the Trees Have Grown to the Sky), 2010
- Zbor aproape de pământ (Flying Close to the Ground), 2008
Awards
[edit]- Romanian Writers' Union Award, 1970
References
[edit]- ^ Sandulescu, Al. (2003). "Un analist şi un evocator: S. Damian". Romania literara. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
- ^ Dimisianu, Gabriel (2012). "Deja uitatul S. Damian". Romania literara. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
- ^ "In memoriam S. Damian". Romania literara. 2012. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
- ^ "In memoriam: SAMI DAMIAN" (in Romanian). Archived from the original on 12 October 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
- Article in România literară by Gelu Ionescu Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine (in Romanian)
- Article in România literară about Pivnițe, mansarde, nu puține trepte Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (in Romanian)
- Obituary Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine (in Romanian)
