b. 1921, Iaşi – d. 2005, Cluj. Literary historian, critic, ideologue.
The entire library, containing more than 10,000 books, magazines, Romanian and foreign extracts, correspondence, as well as archival documents, was donated, by the will of Adrian Marino, to the Central University Library of Cluj. The room for PhD students and young researchers today bears his name.
Adrian Marino was born on September 5, 1921, in Iasi, the son of engineer Nicolae Marino and Natalia (b. Nicolau). He began his university studies in Iaşi (1941), but continued them in Bucharest. He made his publishing debut in the Literary Journal (1939), still a student. In 1947, he obtained his PhD with a thesis entitled Viaţa lui Alexandru Macedonski. His university career, just begun, was abruptly cut off in 1947 when he was arrested for participating in the illegal circle of peasant youth studies. After eight years in detention, he was deported to Băragan, forcibly residing in Lateşti (1957-1963). From 1964 he settled in Cluj, the city of his wife Lidia Bote, resuming his work as a historian and literary critic. He made his editorial debut in 1966 with Macedonski's Life, a volume awarded with the Romanian Academy Award. Between 1966-1989 he carried out a laborious activity of historian and literary critic, collaborating on numerous Romanian and foreign magazines, publishing a series of books and studies that brought him a well-deserved notoriety. Despite the times, he managed to preserve his creative freedom, continuing to write and publish reference books in the criticism of literary ideas and hermeneutics. We must mention some of them: the work of Alexandru Macedonski (1967), Introduction to literary criticism (1968), Modern, Modernism, Modernity (1969), Dictionary of Literary Ideas,I, A-G (1973), Olé! España! (1974), European Notebooks (1976), Romanian Presences and European Realities (1978), Mircea Eliade's Hermeneutique (1981), Etimble ou le comparisms militant (1982), Hermeneutica of the idea of literature (1987), etc.
He continued his literary research after 1990, consuming the massive work Biography of the idea of literature in five volumes. He was particularly involved in the sphere of criticism of ideas, of political ideology, by publishing: Escapes to the Free World (1993), For Europe. Integration of Romania. Ideological and cultural aspects (1995), Politics and culture. For a new culture Romanian (1996), Censorship in Romania. Historical introductory sketch (2000), Third speech. Culture, ideology and politics in Romania (2001) etc.
He died on 17 March 2005, leaving behind a vast work, but did not succeed in carrying out the project to which he dedicated the last years of his life: a critique of the idea of freedom and censorship in Romania, an idea sketched out in the final written texts. Five years after his passing, the memoir, entitled The Life of a Single Man, sparked a series of polemics about the author's personality. Beyond these controversies, Adrian Marino remains in the consciousness of his contemporaries as a great erudite, a man of culture and a remarkable critic. Those who visit the "Adrian Marino" Room in the Central University Library of Cluj cannot fail to be impressed by the value, richness and diversity of the books.
