Monica Lovinescu
Monica Lovinescu (she published several works as Monique Saint-Come and Claude Pascal; b. November 19 1923, Bucharest) is a Romanian essayist, short story writer, literary critic, translator, and journalist, noted for her activities as an opponent of the Romanian Communist regime. She is the daughter of literary figure Eugen Lovinescu. She was married to the literary critic Virgil Ierunca.
A graduate of the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Letters, Monica Lovinescu made her literary debut in Vremea magazine, regularly publishing prose works in Revista Fundaţiilor Regale and theater chronicles in Democraţia. The rapid steps undertaken towards the establishing of an overtly communist rule in Romania forced her to take refuge in France: awarded a scholarship in September, she demanded political asylum after Romania became a People's Republic (in early 1948).
She published extensively on the subject of communism in her country, as well as works on Romanian literature. Her articles were frequently featured in prestigious magazines such as Kontinent, Les Cahiers de l'Est, and L'Alternative. She contributed the Romanian chapter of the collection of essays titled Histoire des spectacles (published by Éditions Gallimard).
Between 1951 and 1974, Monica Lovinescu was a contributor for Romanian language broadcasts of the Radiodiffusion Française, as well as a member of the station's staff for Eastern Europe. From the 1960s onwards, she was a journalist for Radio Free Europe, creating two weekly pieces that were influential in generating an internal opposition to the Nicolae Ceauşescu regime. Their main purpose was to inform Romanians of cultural and political trends on in the Free World. Part of the broadcast scripts were published as Unde Scurte ("Shortwaves"), in Madrid (1978).
She was the target of violent attacks in the Romanian communist press, the most notable of them being carried out by journalists Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor. Tudor maintains his views on her and other Radio Free Europe broadcasters, while frequently displaying nostalgia for the Ceauşescu epoch.
Lovinescu has translated several Romanian literary works into French.
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