Eugen Lovinescu

Lovinescu, Eugen 

Born Oct. 31, 1881, in Fălticeni; died July 15, 1943, in Bucharest. Rumanian critic, philosopher, and writer.

Lovinescu graduated from the philology faculty of the University of Ia§i. He wrote works on classical philology and Rumanian and French literature as well as several novels. Lovinescu expounded his literary and critical principles in History of Modern Rumanian Civilization (vols. 1–3, 1924–25), which provided a theory of simultaneous development of European nations under the influence of the Great French Revolution. Lovinescu’s fundamental works include Criticism (vols. 1–8, 1909–23) and History of Modern Rumanian Literature (vols. 1–2, 1927).

An advocate of bourgeois liberalism, Lovinescu rejected the ideals of Rumanian populist literary currents. He opposed fascism, stressing its essential hatred for humanity, and highly valued the progressive nature of the Soviet path of development. Lovinescu was a theoretician of apolitical art. His impressionist theories promoted the development of Rumanian modernism.

WORKS

Texte critice. [Bucharest, 1968.]
Scrieri [vols.] 1–3. [Bucharest] 1969–70.

REFERENCES

Tertulian, N. E. Lovinescu sau contradicţiile estetismului. Bucharest, 1959.
Vrancea, I. E. Lovinescu, critic literar. [Bucharest, 1965.]
Vrancea, I. E. Lovinescu: Artistul. [Bucharest] 1969.

IU. P. ZAIUNCHKOVSKII