Andrei Pleşu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Andrei Pleşu (born 23 August 1948) is a Romanian writer, essayist, politician.
Born in Bucharest, he studied at the University of Bucharest and in the 1970s and 1980s received two Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Scholarships to study in Bonn and Heidelberg. He worked as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest and is now a professor at the University of Bucharest, where he teaches history of arts and philosophy of religion. As a researcher at the Institute for Art History in Bucharest in the 1980s, along with Gabriel Liiceanu, he attended Constantin Noica's seminars in Păltiniş.
His early works revolved around art history and theory, but soon his essays in the cultural magazines and elsewhere became oriented towards cultural anthropology and philosophy. Also, his exhuberant writing style gained him recognition as one of the leading Romanian essayists of his age.
A scandal with the communist regime resulted in his exile to Tescani, a village in the north of Moldavia, and he was forbidden from publishing. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989 he was one of the founders of the "New Europe College" an institute of advanced studies, and of the cultural magazine Dilema (now Dilema Veche). As a writer, he is very successful and his books have all been well received.
He also became involved in politics, serving as Romania's minister of culture from 1990 to 1991 and foreign minister from 1997 to 1999. From 2000 to 2004, he was a member of the National College for the Study of the Former Securitate Archives. He resigned this last position in protest against political pressures on the committee; after the 2004 elections brought Traian Băsescu to power, he became presidential counsellor for external affairs, a position he held until June 2005, when he resigned invoking health issues.
On 13 September 2006, after a supper with Traian Basescu, the President of Romania, at wich Andrei Pleşu, Mircea Dinescu, and Adriana Saftoiu(presidential counselor) participated, Mircea Dinescu said:
It was a meeting meant to stress our reconciliation. Both I and Andrei (Pleşu) reconciliated with the President. The enemies we have in common are too united and too insolent for us to attack each other.
Andrei Pleşu never denied his reconciliation with Traian Basescu.
[edit] Books
- Călătorie în lumea formelor ("Journey to the world of forms"), Meridiane, 1974
- Pitoresc şi melancolie ("The Picturesque and melancholy"), Univers, 1980
- Francesco Guardi, Meridiane, 1981
- Ochiul şi lucrurile ("The eye and things"), Meridiane, 1986
- Minima moralia ("The moral minimum"), Cartea românească, 1988
- Dialoguri de seară ("Evening dialogues"), Harisma, 1991
- Jurnalul de la Tescani ("The Tescani Journal"), Humanitas, 1993
- Limba păsărilor ("The language of birds"), Humanitas, 1994
- Chipuri şi măşti ale tranziţiei ("Faces and masks of the Transition"), Humanitas, 1996
- Transformări, inerţii, dezordini. 22 de luni după 22 decembrie 1989 ("Transformations, Inertias, Disorders", co-authors Petre Roman and Elena Ştefoi), Polirom, 2002
- Despre îngeri ("About angels"), Humanitas, 2003
- Obscenitatea publică, ("Public obscenity"), Humanitas, 2004
- Comédii la porţile Orientului, ("Comedies at gates of the Orient"), Humanitas, 2005
[edit] Audio books
- Despre îngeri ("About angels"), Humanitas, 2003,2005
- Comédii la portile Orientului,("Comedies at gates of the Orient"), Humanitas, 2005
- Un alt fel de Caragiale, (" A different Caragiale"), Humanitas, 2006
