RUMANIA’S GORKI

Southland Times, Issue 25312, 15 June 1935, Page 13

RUMANIA’S GORKI

Panait Istrati, the Rumanian novelist, who has been described as “a Gorki of the Balkans,” died recently at Bucharest, aged 50. His own career has been as thrilling as a character novel. The son of a Greek smuggler and a Rumanian peasant mother, he ran away from home when 12, and tried his luck at many things. He was in turn a mason, a labourer, an engineer, a locksmith, a valet, a house painter, a docker, a journalist, a waiter in a cabaret, a sandwichman and a photographer. Of all his adventures he kept notes, with his thoughts on life. Then, in 1921 he wrote a letter to Romain Rolland, the French author, telling in brief his life history. Having done so he cut his throat and was taken into hospital at Nice. Rolland, impressed by the genius of the man, persuaded him, after his recovery, to write novels about his astonishing experiences. Istrati followed the advice, and his

books were great successes. They were written in French, of which he knew nothing until he was 30. His death followed a long illness.