Mihail Crama (born Eugen EnÃÂchescu Pasad; January 1, 1923 â April 17, 1994) was a Romanian poet and prose writer.
Born in Cetatea AlbÃÂ, his parents were Mihail EnÃÂchescu, a military physician, and his wife Maria (née Pasad), a nurse. He attended the military high school in IaÃÂi and Nicolae BÃÂlcescu High School in BrÃÂila, graduating in 1941. His first poems and articles appeared in 1939 in the local newspapers Ancheta, Cuvântul, Facla and Expresul. Initially enrolling in a school for Gendarmerie officers, he abandoned this in favor of the University of Bucharest's law faculty, from which he obtained a degree in 1945. Subsequently, he worked as a legal adviser at the Justice Ministry and as head of the civil section within the Supreme Tribunal.
Crama's contributions appeared in Vremea, Claviaturi, Adonis, Prepoem, Revista FundaÃÂiilor Regale and Caiet de poezie. He read poetry in the SburÃÂtorul circle and joined the group of writers affiliated with Kalende magazine. His first book was the 1947 Decor penitent, which earned the Carol I Academic Foundation Prize. After two decades of silence, self-imposed in order to avoid compromises with the communist regime, he returned with the short volumes of verse Dincolo de cuvinte (1967), DeterminÃÂri (1970), Codice (1974) and Ianuarii (1976). Together with his debut volume and the set of unpublished poems Decor penitent II, all were issued in 1979 as ÃÂmpÃÂrÃÂÃÂia de searÃÂ, which earned the Romanian Academy's Eminescu Prize. His 1986 SingurÃÂtatea din urmÃÂ, apparently autobiographical, was philosophical in scope. Trecerea (1981) and Dogma (1984; Bucharest Writers' Society Prize) were two late poetry volumes. CÃÂlÃÂtor spre porÃÂile asfinÃÂitului, a novel written from 1988 to 1991 and published posthumously in 2006, takes up the autobiographical theme. The protagonist, now mature, works in the legal profession, both on the BÃÂrÃÂgan Plain and in a city readily apparent as BrÃÂila.