Alexandru Jar
1911–1988
- Nationality
- Romania
- Occupation
- writer
Alexandru Jar (Romanian pronunciation: [alekËsandru ËÊar]; pen name of Alexandru Avram [aËvram]; November 20, 1911 â November 10, 1988) was a Romanian poet and prose writer. Born into a Jewish family in IaÈi, his parents were Iacob Avram and his wife Èura Bella; he was self-taught.
Incarceration history
- Drancy concentration campDates unknown
- Drancy concentration campDates unknown
Biography
Alexandru Jar (Romanian pronunciation: [alekËsandru ËÊar]; pen name of Alexandru Avram [aËvram]; November 20, 1911 â November 10, 1988) was a Romanian poet and prose writer. Born into a Jewish family in IaÈi, his parents were Iacob Avram and his wife Èura Bella; he was self-taught. He married the revolutionary Olga Bancic, and the couple began life together as members of the banned Romanian Communist Party, alternately entering and escaping prison. They went into exile in France, where in 1939 Olga gave birth to a daughter, Dolores. After the surrender of Paris during the World War II Battle of France, Jar entered the French Resistance, while his wife was captured by the Nazis and beheaded. He returned to Romania in 1943. Jar recalled his wartime experience in the poems of the 1945 collection Sânge Èi vis ('Blood and dream') and in the 1948 short story book Interogatoriu. After the Coup of 1944 against Romania's pro-Axis dictator, he occupied various administrative positions in what would soon become the Romanian Writers' Union. He made his literary debut in 1930 in Bluze albastre magazine. Other publications that ran his work include Cuvântul liber, Èantier, Vremea, TinereÈea and FlacÄra. Following two further poetry volumes that appeared in 1946 (Poemul marii deÈteptÄri and Fragment de veac), he worked on prose. Jar turned out a large number of novels (Evadare, 1949; SfârÈitul jalbelor, 1950; La borna 202, 1951; Marea pregÄtire, 1952; Undeva pe DunÄre, 1952; O poveste simplÄ, 1955; Lagard cel însemnat, 1966; TrÄdarea lunii, 1968; Eu, Consula!, 1971), as well as a few short story volumes, such as Tehnicul Èi-a fÄcut datoria (1951) and Nasul Èi fericirea lumii (1976). He was barred from publishing between 1956 and 1966, due to a less rigid approach he had taken that set off vehement criticism and "unmasking". He was awarded the State Prize in 1950 and the Order of Tudor Vladimirescu, 2nd class in 1971.