Death of Ceauşescu’s poet laureate

In the wake of the funeral of Nicolae Ceauşescu’s "court poet,"România liberă explains "how Adrian Păunescu became a hero" and looks back on the controversy that surrounded the author who died on 5 November, aged 67. A prolific writer who produced more than 50 books and founded "Cenaclul Flacăra" — “Flame Circle,” which was one of the major social and artistic movements of the communist era, and a key influence on Romanian youth in the 1970s and 1980s — Păunescu was ostracised following the 1989 revolution. However, he later recovered sufficient popularity to run for the Socialist Labour Party in the 1996 presidential election. He "is still viewed as a hero by the man in the street," notes România liberă, although "intellectuals continue to question his integrity and the literary value of his work."