Mihai Dragomirescu

Mihail Dragomirescu (March 22, 1868 – November 25, 1942) was a Romanian aesthetician, literary theorist, and critic. Born in Plătărești, Călărași County, he completed his early education in his native village and then attended secondary school in Bucharest. He earned a degree from the University of Bucharest, where his thesis focused on Herbert Spencer. His literary career began in 1892 with a prose poem in *Convorbiri Literare*. As a protégé of Titu Maiorescu, he was involved in the establishment of the Cultural League for the Unity of All Romanians in 1890. Dragomirescu served as an editor for *Convorbiri Literare* from 1895 to 1906. Amidst a crisis within the *Junimea* literary society, he broke away to establish a new critical school. He founded the magazine *Convorbiri* in 1907, which later became *Convorbiri Critice* (1908–1910). His critical approach emphasized aesthetic purism, blending Maiorescu's ideas with his own, focusing on the "soul" as the core of art and its transformation through imagination and intellect. He also headed *Falanga* magazine at different times. Dragomirescu had a long academic career at the University of Bucharest, starting as a substitute professor in 1895, becoming a full professor in 1906, and retiring in 1938. In 1922, he founded the Literature Institute and in 1938, he was made an honorary member of the Romanian Academy. His significant works include *Critica "științifică" şi Eminescu* (1895), *Știința literaturii* (1926), and *Dialoguri filosofice. Integralismul* (1929), where he detailed his "theory of the masterpiece" and "aesthetic integralism." His critical framework is considered an intellectual heir to Maiorescu's neo-*Junimism* and a precursor to structuralism, emerging during a time of declining determinism and historicism in Europe. He was married twice, first to Adelina Poenaru, with whom he divorced after fifteen years, and then to Laura, a translator.