Banus, Maria (1914—)

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Banus, Maria (1914—)

Rumanian poet. Born in Bucharest, Rumania, in 1914; studied law and philology.

Known as the grande dame of Rumanian poetry, Maria Banus had her first work published when she was 14. Throughout the 1930s, she was active in anti-fascist movements, and during World War II she worked for the Resistance in Rumania. Though she was named an official "Stalinist poet" following the war and the occupation of Rumania, Banus was soon disenchanted with the Soviet regime and returned to her own voice; her writing varies from what has been called "impetuous and spontaneous" to poems of great precision and tenderness. Banus was also a translator of poetry from the German, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, and French, including the poems of Goethe, Pushkin, Neruda, Hikmet, and Rimbaud. Her works include The Girl's Country (1937), Joy (1947), I Am Speaking to You, America! (1955), Metamorphosis (1963), and Anyone and Something (1972). Demon in Brackets was translated into English by Dan Dutescu and published by Dufour (1994).