Nina Cassian (pen name of Renee Annie Cassian-Mătăsaru 27 November 1924 – 14 April 2014) possessed a comple artistic personality – poet, translator, journalist, pianist, and composer. She debuted trenchantly, in an absurdist–surrealist manner (At the scale of 1/1 – 1948), condemned by the Communist authorities as decadent (N. Manolescu). Seemingly frightened, Cassian submitted, with some enthusiasm, to the demands of socialist-realism (1948–1956). She eventually returned to her own voice, ‚a brilliantly lucid one with ludic accents’ (Alex Ștefănescu) – without focusing on a single style, rather loving  ’all genres with a kind of poetic nymphomania’ (N. Manolescu). In 1985 she took refuge in the USA.

 
Publications:

Transitions №7

Ion Buzu, Nina Cassian, Nora Iuga, Aura Maru, translated from Romanian by Daniel Ionita – with assistance from Professor Daniel Reynaud, Dr Adriana Paul, Eva Foster and Rochelle Bews