Călinescu was born in
Bucharest,
Romania, the son of Radu Călinescu, an engineer, and Dora Călinescu (née Vulcănescu), a homemaker.[1] He attended the
Ion Luca Caragiale High School [
ro] in Bucharest, obtaining his diploma in 1952. He then pursued his studies at the
University of Bucharest, graduating in 1957.[2] Călinescu became an assistant professor in the Department of Universal and Comparative Literature at the University of Bucharest, and made his literary debut in Gazeta literară [
ro]. He was offered a
Fulbright grant and defected to the
United States in 1973.[3]
From 1973 to 1975 Călinescu was a visiting professor at Indiana University Bloomington, before becoming an associate professor there in 1976, and a full professor in 1978.[1] He was awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship in 1975. He became a naturalized American citizen in 1980.[1] Upon his retirement he became an Emeritus Professor at Indiana University. He lived with his wife in Bloomington, Indiana, and died there in 2009.
Matei Călinescu, Eugène Ionesco: Teme identitare și existențiale (Eugène Ionesco: Identity and Existential Themes) Iași:
Junimea, 2006, 491 p.
Matei Călinescu, Ionesco: Recherches identitaires, Paris:
Oxus, 2005, 348 p.
Matei Călinescu, Un fel de jurnal, 1973–1981 (A Diary of Sorts, 1973–1981), Iași:
Polirom, 2005.
Matei Călinescu, Ion Vianu, Amintiri în dialog (Memories in Dialogue), Bucharest: Editura Litera, 1994; 2nd ed. with preface and two new chapters included as an Epilogue, Iași:
Polirom, 1998; 3rd edition, Iași:
Polirom, 2005.
Matei Călinescu, Tu: Elegii și invenții (You: Elegies and Inventions, poems), Iași: Polirom, 2004.
Matei Călinescu, Portretul lui M (The Portrait of M, a memoir), Iași: Polirom, 2003.
Matei Călinescu, Rereading, New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1993, 336 p. Translated into Romanian as A citi, a reciti. Către o poetică a (re)lecturii, Iași: Polirom, 2003.
ISBN0-300-05657-5
Matei Călinescu, Despre Ioan P. Culianu și Mircea Eliade. Amintiri, Lecturi, Reflecții, Iași: Polirom, 2002, 177 p., 2nd ed., Iași: Polirom, 2002, 231 p.
Matei Călinescu, Exploring Postmodernism, (co-edited with Douwe W. Fokkema), Amsterdam and Philadelphia:
John Benjamins, 1988, 270 p., Paperback edition, 1990.
Matei Călinescu, Selections of Poetry translated into English in Mundus Artium, 1976; New Letters, 1976; Seneca Review, 1981; Correspondences, 1982; and 2 PLUS 2, 1983.
Matei Călinescu, Umbre de apă, poeme, (Water Shadows, poems), Bucharest: Editura
Cartea Românească, 1972.
Matei Călinescu, Versuri (Lines), Bucharest: Editura Eminescu, 1970.
Matei Călinescu, Viața și opiniile lui Zacharias Lichter (The Life and Opinions of Zacharias Lichter), a short novel, Bucharest: Editura Pentru Literatură, 1969. Translated into Hungarian, 1971; Polish, 1972; French excerpts, in Cahiers de l'Est, 1, 2, 1975; and English, 2018. 2nd ed., enlarged, Bucharest: Editura Eminescu, 1971; 3rd ed., with new preface, 1995, Iași: Polirom, 1995; 4th edition, Iași: Polirom, 2004.
Awards
1969: Romanian Writers' Union Prize for Fiction, for Viața și opiniile lui Zacharias Lichter (The Life and Opinions of Zacharias Lichter)[1]
2006: Writers' Union Prize for Essay and Criticism, for Eugène Ionesco: Teme identitare și existențiale (Eugène Ionesco: Identity and Existential Themes)
References
^
abcde"Matei (Alexe) Calinescu." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit:
Gale, 2002. Retrieved via Biography In Context database, 2018-03-31.