Nina Cassian facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nina Cassian
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Cassian ca. 1978
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| Born | Renée Annie Cassian-Mătăsaru 27 November 1924 Galați, Kingdom of Romania |
| Died | 14 April 2014 (aged 89) New York City, United States |
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| Nationality | Romanian, American |
| Spouse | Vladimir Colin (1943–1948) Al. I. Ștefănescu Maurice Edwards |
Nina Cassian (born Renée Annie Cassian-Mătăsaru; November 27, 1924 – April 14, 2014) was a famous Romanian writer. She was a poet, wrote children's books, and worked as a translator. She was also a journalist, a talented pianist, a composer, and a film critic.
Nina Cassian lived in Romania for the first 60 years of her life. In 1985, she moved to the United States for a teaching job. She later received permanent asylum, which meant she could stay in the US. New York City became her home for the rest of her life. Many of her works were published in both Romanian and English.
Contents
Life and Work
Early life and education
Nina Cassian was born in Galați, Romania, in 1924. She was the only child in a Jewish family. Her father, Iosif Cassian-Mătăsaru, was a translator. Her mother was a singer.
In 1926, her family moved to Brașov. Nina became very interested in languages during this time. She spent time with children from German and Hungarian families. In 1935, her family moved to Bucharest. There, Nina went to a high school for girls in a Jewish neighborhood.
She took many different lessons as she grew up. She learned drawing from artists like George Loewendal. She also took acting lessons. Nina studied piano and musical composition with famous teachers. In 1944, she started studying literature at the University of Bucharest. However, she left after one year.
Life in Communist Romania
In the mid-1940s, Nina Cassian began to make a name for herself in Romanian literature. She married poet Vladimir Colin in 1943. They were married until 1948. She also became good friends with the famous poet Paul Celan. They played creative games together, like "Exquisite Corpse." Nina and Paul loved languages and used them to inspire their writing.
In 1945, Nina Cassian published her first poem. It was called Am fost un poet decadent ("I Used to Be a Decadent Poet"). Her first book of poems, La scara 1/1 ("Scale 1:1"), came out in 1947. These early writings were inspired by French poets. However, her work was criticized by the government in 1948.
Because of this strong criticism, she changed her writing style. She started writing in a way that the government approved of. This style was called "socialist-realistic." This period lasted for about eight years.
During this time, Nina Cassian also started writing children's books. One popular book was Copper Red and the Seven Dachsies. It became a bestseller in Romania. Another was Tigrino and Tigrene, a story in verse. She explained in an interview why she focused on children's books. She said that during that time, imagination and metaphors were only allowed in children's literature. She wanted to keep her creativity. Some of her children's books were translated into English.
Nina Cassian later married Al. I. Ștefănescu.
Moving to the USA
In 1985, Nina Cassian traveled to the United States. She was a visiting professor at New York University. While she was there, a friend in Romania, Gheorghe Ursu, was arrested. He died in prison after being arrested by the secret police. He had a diary that contained some of Nina's poems. These poems criticized the government.
Because of this, Nina decided to stay in the United States. She was given asylum, which meant she could live safely in the US. She continued to live in New York City and later became an American citizen.
In the US, she began writing poems in English. Her poems were published in famous magazines like The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly. She also published collections of her English poems. These include Life Sentence (1990) and Take My Word for It (1998).
In the US, she married Maurice Edwards. Nina Cassian passed away from a cardiac arrest in New York on April 14, 2014.
Books
Here is a list of books written by Nina Cassian:
- La scara 1/1, Bucharest, 1947
- Sufletul nostru, Bucharest, 1949
- An viu nouă sute şaptesprezece, Bucharest, 1949
- Nică fără frică, Bucharest, 1950
- Ce-a văzut Oana, Bucharest, 1952
- Horea nu mai este singur, Bucharest, 1952
- Tinereţe, Bucharest, 1953
- Florile patriei, Bucharest, 1954
- Versuri alese, Bucharest, 1955
- Vârstele anului, Bucharest, 1957
- Dialogul vântului cu marea, Bucharest, 1957
- Botgros, căţel fricos, Bucharest, 1957
- Prinţul Miorlau, Bucharest, 1957
- Chipuri hazlii pentru copii, Bucharest, 1958
- Aventurile lui Trompişor, Bucharest, 1959
- Încurcă-lume, Bucharest, 1961
- Sărbătorile zilnice, Bucharest, 1961
- Spectacol în aer liber. O monografie a dragostei, Bucharest, 1961
- Curcubeu, Bucharest, 1962
- Poezii, foreword by Ovid S. Crohmălniceanu, Bucharest, 1962
- Să ne facem daruri, Bucharest, 1963
- Disciplina harfei, Bucharest, 1965
- Îl cunoaşteţi pe Tică?, Bucharest, 1966
- Sângele, Bucharest, 1966
- Destinele paralele. La scara 1/1,1967
- Uite-l este... Uite-l nu e, Bucharest, 1967
- Ambitus, Bucharest, 1969
- Întâmplări cu haz, Bucharest, 1969
- Povestea a doi pui de tigru numiţi Ninigra şi Aligru, Bucharest, 1969
- Cronofagie. 1944-1969, Bucharest, 1970
- Recviem, Bucharest, 1971
- Marea conjugare, Bucharest, 1971
- Atât de grozavă şi adio. Confidenţe fictive, Bucharest, 1971; Second edition (Confidenţe fictive. Atât de grozavă şi adio şi alte proze), Bucharest, 1976
- Loto-Poeme, Bucharest, 1971
- Spectacol în aer liber. O (altă) monografie a dragostei, foreword by Liviu Călin, Bucharest, 1974
- Între noi, copii, Bucharest, 1974
- O sută de poeme, Bucharest, 1975
- Viraje-Virages, bilingual edition, translated by the author, Eugene Guillevic and Lily Denis, Bucharest, 1978
- De îndurare, Bucharest, 1981
- Blue Apple, translation by Eva Feiler, New York, 1981
- Numărătoarea inversă, Bucharest, 1983
- Jocuri de vacanţă, Bucharest, 1983
- Roşcată ca arama şi cei şapte şoricei, Bucharest, 1985
- Copper Red and the Seven Dachsies, 1985
- Lady of Miracles, translation by Laura Schiff, Berkeley, 1988
- Call Yourself Alive, translation by Brenda Walker and Andreea Deletant, London, 1988
- Life Sentence, New York-London, 1990
- Cheerleader for a Funeral, translation by the author and Brenda Walker, London-Boston, 1992
- Desfacerea lumii, Bucharest, 1997
- Take My Word for It, New York, 1997
- Something Old, Something New: Poems and Drawings, Tuscaloosa, 2002
- Memoria ca zestre, Cartea I (1948–1953, 1975–1979, 1987–2003), Cartea a II-a (1954–1985, 2003–2004), Cartea a III-a (1985–2005), Bucharest, 2003–2005
- Continuum, New York, 2009
Presence in English language anthologies
Nina Cassian's poems have also appeared in these English poetry collections:
- Testament - 400 Years of Romanian Poetry - 400 de ani de poezie românească - bilingual edition - Daniel Ioniță (editor and principal translator) with Daniel Reynaud, Adriana Paul & Eva Foster - Editura Minerva, 2019 - ISBN: 978-973-21-1070-6
- Romanian Poetry from its Origins to the Present - bilingual edition English/Romanian - Daniel Ioniță (editor and principal translator) with Daniel Reynaud, Adriana Paul and Eva Foster - Australian-Romanian Academy Publishing - 2020 - ISBN: 978-0-9953502-8-1 ;
- Born in Utopia - An anthology of Modern and Contemporary Romanian Poetry - Carmen Firan and Paul Doru Mugur (editors) with Edward Foster - Talisman House Publishers - 2006 - ISBN: 1-58498-050-8
- Testament - Anthology of Romanian Verse - American Edition - monolingual English language edition - Daniel Ioniță (editor and principal translator) with Eva Foster, Daniel Reynaud and Rochelle Bews - Australian-Romanian Academy for Culture - 2017 - ISBN: 978-0-9953502-0-5
See also
In Spanish: Nina Cassian para niños
