Înainte de sfârșit e totdeauna prea devreme

This book brings together poems by Matei Călinescu. Some had appeared in print; others had not. Teodor Dună chose and edited the texts. Readers get a broad view of Călinescu’s poems. The book forms part of a series of his work.

The poems come from four books. These include Semn (1968) and Versuri (1970). They also include Umbre de apă (1972) and Tu: elegii și invenții (2004). Almost two-thirds of his poems in print appear here. Adriana Călinescu supplied about 140 works not yet in print. Dună chose 24 poems from them. Several poems first came out in journals.

Călinescu lived from 1934 to 2009. He wrote poems, fiction, and essays. He also wrote literary criticism, which studies and judges texts. He worked on literary theory: ideas about how texts work. He taught comparative literature, which studies texts across cultures.

He was born in Bucharest. He studied English at the University of Bucharest. He earned his degree in 1957. He then checked proofs and edited texts at Gazeta literară. In 1963, he became Tudor Vianu’s assistant at the university.

He left Romania in 1973. He joined Indiana University in Bloomington. At first, he was a visiting professor and Fulbright fellow. He later became a professor there. He led its comparative literature department from 1996 to 1998.

Before he left Romania, seven of his books were in print. These dealt with literary criticism and history. He had also brought out three books of poems. A novel of his had won an award. His work returned to print in Romania after 1989. In 2016, Humanitas began a series to collect his writings. This followed his wishes.