Early decades The future writer was born in the town of
Piatra Neamț, in
Moldavia region, the son of Simon Rotman. His first steps in cultural journalism happened before 1926, when he was affiliated with the newspaper
Cugetul Românesc; his earliest poems were published in cultural magazines such as
Chemarea and
Flacăra, and a debut
novella,
Iudita și Holofern ("
Judith and
Holofernes"), saw print in 1927. Sergiu Dan's brother, Mihail Dan, was also a journalist, known for his translations from
Soviet author
Vladimir Mayakovsky. In the late 1920s, Sergiu Dan and his friend Romulus Dianu were in
Bucharest. It was there that Dan joined the literary circle of novelist
Camil Petrescu, and took part in the regular literary disputes at
Casa Capșa and Corso restaurants. By 1928, he had fallen out with Petrescu: ridiculing the "noocratic" philosophical project outlined by Petrescu, and calling its author "insane" and "poltroonish". He later expressed regret for the incident, noting that he had been especially amused by Petrescu's eccentric decision to store his philosophical manuscript in the
Vatican Library. His texts were featured in various other venues:
Vremea,
Revista Fundațiilor Regale,
Universul Literar (the literary supplement of
Universul daily) and
Bilete de Papagal (the satirical newspaper of poet
Tudor Arghezi). In this context, Dan also joined the
Sburătorul club, formed around the eponymous magazine of literary theorist
Eugen Lovinescu, as one of the Jewish writers whom Lovinescu welcomed into his movement. During his period at
Contimporanul, Dan embarked on a conflict with the
Surrealist and
far leftist group at
unu, the magazine of poet
Sașa Pană. This controversy reflected the major discrepancies between
Contimporanul and other avant-garde venues. Pandrea claimed that, between them, Dan and Vinea made off with 150,000
lei from the affair, whereas their victim Manoilescu fell into permanent disfavor. In 1932, Sergiu Dan joined the staff of Vinea's gazette
Facla, with novelist
Ion Călugăru, poet
N. Davidescu, writer-director
Sandu Eliad, and professional journalists
Nicolae Carandino and
Henric Streitman. Dan resumed his writing career with
Arsenic, published by Cultura Națională in 1934, and
Surorile Veniamin ("The Veniamin Sisters", Editura Vatra, 1935).
Between Transnistria and Aiud Sergiu Dan became a victim of
antisemitic repression during the early stages of
World War II, when
authoritarian and
fascist regimes took over (
see Romania during World War II). Initially, he was expelled from the Writers' Society. In July 1940, writing for
Universul Literar, fascist author Ladmiss Andreescu proposed a boycott of Dan's work, and an overall ban on Jewish literature. Under the
National Legionary State, some authors sympathetic to the ruling
Iron Guard celebrated its enforcement of censorship as a revolution against modernist literature. In their magazine
Gândirea, Dan was referred to as an exponent of "Judaic morbidity". Dan escaped the
Pogrom of January 1941, hidden and protected by his friend Vinea. Later, the new dictatorial government of
Conducător Ion Antonescu listed Dan as one of the Jewish authors specifically banned, on a special inventory with nationwide circulation. Dan was also among the Jewish men and women who were deported to
concentration camps in Romanian-administered
Transnistria (
see Holocaust in Romania); he was eventually released and could return to Bucharest, where he was under treatment with the Jewish physician and fellow writer
Emil Dorian, before the
August 1944 Coup managed to topple Antonescu. Dealing with his Transnistrian deportation, the novel
Unde începe noaptea was published by Editura Naționala Mecu in 1945. The book, written as a response to early signs of
Holocaust denial, Two years later, Naționala Mecu released another one of Dan's war-themed novels,
Roza și ceilalți ("Roza and the Others"). After 1948, Sergiu Dan's political views collided with the agenda set by the
Romanian communist regime, and he was eventually arrested. Reportedly, Dan had first attracted political persecution upon himself when, in 1947, he spoke out as a defense witness at the trial of his friend, the PNȚ journalist Nicolae Carandino. The
Securitate secret police confiscated his works in progress, which reputedly formed part of a special secret archive. The conditions of Dan's new detainment were characterized by literary historian
Henri Zalis as "savage". Dianu, who had worked with Vinea and controversial journalist
Pamfil Șeicaru during the war years, was also in custody by 1950, as one of the journalists charged with having tarnished "the world's luminous transformation on the path toward the justest regime in the history of mankind". Dan was eventually released around 1955, when, according to Zalis (a personal witness to the events, alongside novelist
Zaharia Stancu), he confided to fellow members of the official Writers' Union about his time in prison. The Union later exposed Dan to sessions of "self-criticism", forcing him to comply with the demands of
Socialist realism (
see Socialist realism in Romania). His later bibliography includes:
Taina stolnicesei ("The
Stolnik Woman's Secret"), published by
Editura de stat pentru literatură și artă (ESPLA) in 1958 and
Tase cel Mare ("Tase the Great"),
Editura pentru literatură, 1964. In 1970,
Editura Minerva republished
Roza și ceilalți and
Arsenic, while
Cartea Românească printed his last volume,
Dintr-un jurnal de noapte ("From a Nightly Diary"). That year, in protest against
communist censorship, Dan refused to accept the
Meritul Cultural medal. He also concentrated on his translator's activity, being noted for his rendition of
Madame Bovary and
Salammbô, the classical works of French novelist
Gustave Flaubert. His overall contribution also covers
Romanian-language versions of works by
Louis Aragon,
Michel Droit,
Maurice Druon,
Anatole France,
Boris Polevoy,
Elsa Triolet and
Voltaire. In 1973, he was interviewed by the young literary critics Ileana Corbea and Nicolae Florescu for the volume
Biografii posibile ("Possible Biographies"). ==Work==