Profira Sadoveanu

Profira Sadoveanu
Sadoveanu in 1977
Born	(1906-05-22)22 May 1906 Fălticeni, Kingdom of Romania
Died	3 October 2003(2003-10-03) (aged 97) Bucharest, Romania
Pen name	Valer Donea
Occupation	Journalist editor translator literary secretary dramaturge
Period	c. 1920–1990
Genre	Reportage memoir essay biography adventure novel lyric poetry sonnet prose poem pastiche children's poetry musical comedy closet drama children's theater screenplay teleplay
Literary movement	Poporanism Viața Romînească Socialist Realism
Relatives	Mihail Sadoveanu (father) Paul-Mihu Sadoveanu (brother)
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Profira Sadoveanu (pen name Valer Donea; 21 May 1906 – 3 October 2003),^[1] also credited as Profirița^[2] and known after her marriage as Sadoveanu Popa,^[3][4] was a Romanian prose writer and poet, noted as the daughter, literary secretary, and editor of the celebrated novelist Mihail Sadoveanu. She was born during her father's stay in Fălticeni, on the traditional border between Western Moldavia and Bukovina, and is sometimes regarding as belonging to a Bukovinan literary tradition. She had fond memories of the place, where she had a carefree childhood on her paternal estate. During the campaigns of World War I, the family relocated to the urban center of Iași, purchasing a villa on Copou Hill. Profira's adolescence saw her socializing with some major figures in Romanian literature, who were friends of her father. Her own debut as a poet, in the 1920s, was overseen by George Topîrceanu.

In the early 1930s, Sadoveanu was an aspiring playwright and thespian, working with Ion Sava and Costache Popa on the production of independent plays, and contributing a musical comedy of her own. Popa, also active as a translator and interior designer, became her husband for the next four decades, and moved with her to Bucharest. Profira's choice for a career in theater was actively discouraged by her father, who was instead fully supportive of her becoming a writing professional; he personally handled the manuscript of her first novel, in 1933, and had her publish reportage works in his Adevărul. This second debut earned her critical attention, though her later efforts in the field were touched by allegations of immorality and plagiarism from Sadoveanu Sr. She spent much of World War II editing his works for print in a luxury edition—a project interrupted briefly by the fascist National Legionary State, during which the Sadoveanus and Popas went into hiding, fearing for their lives. Her attempt to return as a poet, in 1944, saw her most copies of her new book being destroyed by American bombers. During the final stages of the war, she also arranged for print a novel written by her brother Paul-Mihu, who had been killed in action at Turda.

The Romanian communist regime, inaugurated in 1948, openly celebrated Sadoveanu Sr, including by selecting him as republican head of state. At this stage, Profira, like Mihail and her stepmother Valeria, converted her style to Socialist Realism, contributing the screenplay to a 1952 film, Mitrea Cocor. Regarded as a leading authority on her father, whose secretary she had been for decades, she was allowed to continue with editing a definitive edition of his works, as well as numerous lifetime and posthumous biographies of him, and memoirs of her own childhood. She alternated these with a number of prose poems, which represent adaptations of his narrative style in verse form; with Mircea Drăgan and Alexandru Mitru, she also adapted his Frații Jderi into a 1974 film. In parallel, Sadoveanu Jr had a steady output as a translator of Russian-, French- and English-language works, introducing the Romanian public to the novels of Peter Neagoe and William Saroyan.