Panait Istrati (August 10 1884, Braila - April 18 1935, Bucharest) was a French language Romanian writer.

Born in Brăila, he was the son of the laundress Joiţa Istrate and of a Greek smuggler.

Raised in Baldovineşti, he studied in primary school for 6 years, including being held back twice. He then earned his living by being a apprentice of a pub-keeper, pastrycook, and pedlar. In the meantime, he was a prolific reader. His wanderings took him to Bucharest, Constantinople, Cairo, Naples, Paris, and Switzerland.

Living in misery, ill and alone, he attempted suicide in 1921 on his way to Nice, but was saved. He wrote a letter to Romain Rolland, who immediately replied, and in 1923 his story Chira Chiralina was published, with a preface by Rolland.

In 1927 he visited Moscow and Kyiv (and was later to assist at the filming of a movie depicting his adventures there). In 1929 he travelled again to the USSR and learned the truth of Stalin's communist dictatorship, out of which experience he wrote his famous book, The Confession of a Loser.

Thereafter, he suffered a crisis of conscience mainly due to being branded a "fascist" by his former communist friends. He returned to Romania ill and demoralised, was treated for tuberculosis in Nice, then returned to Bucharest.

Isolated and unprotected, he died at Filaret Sanatorium. He is remembered the world over for his astute remark, "All right, I can see the broken eggs. Where's this omelet of yours?"

Bibliography

• Codin
• Haiducii
• Nerantula
• Ciulinii Bărăganului.

External links

• http://www.ici.ro/romania/culture/l_istrate.html