Biography

Born in Cerţeşti, Galaţi County

Galati County

Galaţi is a county of Romania, in Moldavia region, with the capital city at Galaţi.-History:Historically Galaţi is part of Moldavia...

, he graduated from the Gheorghe Roşca Codreanu High School in Bârlad

Bârlad

Bârlad is a city in Vaslui County, Romania. It lies on the banks of the Bârlad River, which waters the high plains of eastern Moldavia....

 in 1929. He then entered the University of Iaşi

Alexandru Ioan Cuza University

The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University is a public university located in Iaşi, Romania. The University of Iaşi, as it was named at first, is the oldest higher education institution in Romania, founded one year after the establishment of the Romanian state, by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan...

, graduating from its Letters and Philosophy Faculty in 1933. He subsequently obtained a doctorate in Philology. A librarian at his Iaşi faculty in 1932, he became a teaching assistant there upon graduation and until 1935. From that year until 1937, he was secretary of the Institute of Romanian Philology and of its publication. In 1939, he was editorial secretary at George Călinescu

George Calinescu

George Călinescu was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies...

's Jurnalul Literar, and until 1940, when he moved to Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

, he was a high school teacher in Iaşi

Iasi

Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...

. From 1941 to 1956, he taught at Gheorghe Lazăr High School and at Spiru Haret High School. A member of the Romanian Communist Party

Romanian Communist Party

The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...

 from the period when it was banned by the Kingdom of Romania

Kingdom of Romania

The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...

 prior to 1944 (according to his own testimony, he joined in 1935), he was among those who, in 1948, alongside Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu

Lucretiu Patrascanu

Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu was a Romanian communist politician and leading member of the Communist Party of Romania , also noted for his activities as a lawyer, sociologist and economist. For a while, he was a professor at Bucharest University...

, fell out of favour with the new Communist regime

Communist Romania

Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...

. Tried and sentenced to death, his penalty was first commuted to hard labour; then, following a review of his case, he was declared innocent and freed in 1954.

During his time as teacher, he was also editorial secretary at the weekly Vremea and editor at Timpul

Timpul

Timpul is a newspaper published in Romania, originally published as the official platform of the defunct Conservative Party....

magazine. From 1945 to 1946, he served as editor-in-chief of N. D. Cocea

N. D. Cocea

N. D. Cocea was a Romanian journalist, novelist, critic and left-wing political activist, known as a major but controversial figure in the field of political satire...

's Victoria daily. From 1958 to 1968, he headed the University of Bucharest

University of Bucharest

The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...

's History of Romanian Literature Department, also directing the History of Contemporary Romanian Literature department there from 1966 to 1968. Ivaşcu was editor-in-chief of Contemporanul

Contemporanul

Contemporanul is a Romanian literary magazine published in Iaşi, Romania from 1881 to 1891 being sponsored by the socialist circle of the city....

magazine from 1955 to 1971, and was also in charge of Lumea from 1963 to 1966, as well as of Arcades and Revue Roumaine. He directed România Literară

România Literară

România literară is a cultural and literary magazine from România founded in 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași between January 1, 1855 until December 3, 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared in October 10, 1855 as a continuation of Gazeta literară...

from 1971 until his death. He was a member of the Romanian Journalists' Council and of the Academy of Social and Political Sciences. In 1969 and 1971, he received the Romanian Writers' Union Prize.

He and Florica Georgescu-Condurachi had one daughter, Voichiţa. Georgescu-Condurachi fled to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 1978, followed by their daughter in 1981. Subsequently, Ivaşcu wrote to dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu

Nicolae Ceausescu

Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...

, addressing him as "beloved conducător

Conducator

Conducător was the title used officially in two instances by Romanian politicians, and earlier by Carol II.-History:...

", in order to "disavow" his daughter's deed. According to poet Mircea Dinescu

Mircea Dinescu

Mircea Dinescu is a Romanian poet, journalist and editor.He was born in Slobozia, the son of Ştefan Dinescu, a metalworker and Aurelia . Dinescu studied at the Faculty of Journalism of the Ştefan Gheorghiu Academy, and was considered a gifted young poet during his youth, with several poetry...

 and historian Stelian Tănase

Stelian Tanase

Stelian Tănase is a Romanian writer, historian, journalist, political analyst, and talk show host. Having briefly engaged in politics during the early 1990s, after the fall of the Communist regime, he has remained a leading figure of the Romanian civil society.A founding member of both the Group...

, the letter was probably a formality, meant to ensure retention of his privileges, such as his position at România Literară.