Ion Pop (born 1 July 1941) is a Romanian writer, translator, literary critic, and historian specializing in the study of the Romanian avant-garde. Throughout his career, he has served as a university professor at Babeș-Bolyai University, director of the Romanian Cultural Center in Paris, and dean of the Faculty of Letters in Cluj. He was a key figure in the leadership of the literary magazine Echinox from 1969 to 1983. He was elected a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy in 2015 and became a titular member in 2024.
Early life and education
Ion Pop was born on 1 July 1941 in Mireșu Mare, to Ana (née Teudean) and Vasile Pop. He attended primary school in Mireșu Mare before continuing his education at Elementary School No. 5 (later renamed "Simion Bărnuţiu") and the "Emil Racoviță" High School in Cluj between 1955 and 1959. From 1959 to 1964, he completed his undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Philology at the Babeș-Bolyai University. In 1971, he obtained his doctorate in philology with his thesis titled Avangardismul poetic românesc [The Romanian poetic avant-garde].
Academic career
In 1964, Pop began teaching at Babeș-Bolyai University, holding positions successively as a junior assistant from 1964 to 1966, an assistant from 1966 to 1971, a lecturer from 1972 to 1989, and a university professor from 1990 until 2007. Between 1973 and 1976, he worked as an associate assistant at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University.
Pop served as the director of the Romanian Cultural Center in Paris from 1990 to 1993. He served as the Dean of the Faculty of Letters from 1996 to 2000. In 2015, he became a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy, and he was elevated to a titular member in 2024.
Literary and editorial activity
Pop made his literary debut with verses published in 1959 in the cultural magazine Steaua. In 1963, a selection of his poems was published in Luceafărul, accompanied by an introductory presentation written by Mircea Zaciu. His editorial debut occurred in 1966 with the poetry collection Propuneri pentru o fântână [Proposals for a well]. In 1969, he published both his first volume of literary criticism, Avangardismul poetic românesc, and his second book of poetry, Biata mea cumințenie.
From 1969 until 1973, Pop served as the editor-in-chief of the student magazine [Equinox]. Following his departure for Paris, he transitioned to the role of director of the publication, a post he held until 1983. Alongside (who became editor-in-chief in 1973) and (assistant editor-in-chief from 1972), Pop formed the editorial leadership team that managed successive groups of writers until a structural change was mandated by communist authorities in 1983. During his tenure at Echinox, Pop regularly published editorials, poetry, literary chronicles, interviews, and translations from French and German.
During his stay in France, Pop co-edited a 1976 special issue of the magazine Les Lettres nouvelles entitled Écrivains roumains d'aujourd'hui [Romanian writers of today] in collaboration with writer Dumitru Țepeneag. His collected dialogues and interviews with French and Swiss authors were compiled into the two-volume publication Ore franceze [French hours] (1979–2002), the first volume of which received the Writers' Union Prize.
Pop contributed to several academic collective projects, including Scriitori români. Mic dicționar [Romanian writers. A short dictionary] (1978) and the four-volume Dicționarul scriitorilor români [Dictionary of Romanian writers] (1995–2002). He also coordinated the four-volume reference work Dicționar analitic de opere literare românești [Analytic dictionary of Romanian literary works] (1998–2003).
Selected Works
Propuneri pentru o fântână, București, 1966 Avangardismul poetic românesc, București, 1969 Biata mea cumințenie, București, 1969 Poezia unei generații, Cluj, 1973 Transcrieri, Cluj-Napoca, 1976 Gramatică târzie, Cluj-Napoca, 1977 Ore franceze, vol. I, București, 1979, vol. II, Iași, 2002 Nichita Stănescu. Spațiul și măștile poeziei, București, 1980 ed. 2, București, 2011 Lucian Blaga. Universul liric, București, 1981 Lecturi fragmentare, București, 1983 Jocul poeziei, București, 1985 ed. 2, Cluj-Napoca, 2006 Soarele și uitarea, Cluj-Napoca, 1985 Amânarea generală, Cluj-Napoca, 1990 Avangarda în literatura română, București, 1990 ed. 2, București, 2000 A scrie și a fi. Ilarie Voronca și metamorfozele poeziei, București, 1993 ed. 2, București, 2007 Recapitulări, București, 1995 Pagini transparente. Lecturi din poezia română contemporană, Cluj-Napoca, 1997 Gellu Naum. Poezia contra literaturii, Cluj-Napoca, 2001 Viață și texte, Cluj-Napoca, 2001 Descoperirea ochiului, pref. Gheorghe Grigurcu, București, 2002 Elegii în ofensivă, București, 2003 Lucian Blaga în 10 poeme, Cluj-Napoca, 2004 Introducere în avangarda literară românească, București, 2007 „Echinox”. Vocile poeziei, Cluj-Napoca, 2008 Litere și albine, Cluj-Napoca, 2010 Din avangardă spre ariergardă, București, 2010 În fața mării, Cluj-Napoca, 2011 Interviuri. Între biografie și bibliografie, Cluj-Napoca, 2011 Dezordinea de zi. Publicistică 2000–2011, Cluj-Napoca, 2012 Scara din bibliotecă, eseuri critice, Cluj-Napoca, 2013 Poeme 1976-2011, Cluj-Napoca, 2015 Poezia românească neomodernistă, Cluj-Napoca, 2018 Ore, zile, ani de prietenie. Corespondență Ion Pop-Mircea Zaciu, Cluj-Napoca, 2019 Lista de așteptare, versuri, Cluj-Napoca, 2019
Translations
Georges Poulet, Conștiința critică (La conscience critique), București, 1979 Jean Starobinski, Textul și interpretul, București, 1985, 1789. Emblemele rațiunii, București, 1990 Gérard Genette, Introducere în arhitext. Ficțiune și dicțiune, București, 1994 Tristan Tzara, Şapte manifeste Dada. Lampisterii. Omul aproximativ, București, 1996 Tzvetan Todorov, Omul dezrădăcinat, Iași, 1999 Paul Ricoeur, De la text la acțiune, Cluj-Napoca, 1999 Paul Morand, București, Cluj-Napoca, 2000
References
Further reading Cordoș, Sanda, Ion Pop – 70. Pitești: Paralela 45, 2011. ISBN 9789734711895. Borbély, Ştefan, Ion Pop: Șapte decenii de melancolie și literatură. Cluj-Napoca: Eikon, 2011. ISBN 9789737574589.
External links Profile at the Cluj Branch of the Romanian Writers' Union