Academician Mircea Martin, renowned literary critic, essayist, editor and university professor, received the Cantemir Prize on Thursday evening at the Elisabeta Palace.
The distinction was awarded during an event hosted by Prince Radu, dedicated to the 7th Royal Colloquium, held in the capital, and to the awarding of the 11th Cantemir Prize.
In his speech, Prince Consort Radu emphasised the importance of organising the Royal Colloquium and awarding the Cantemir Prize and welcomed the participation of the Romanian Academy in this project.
"I hope with all my heart that the works will continue annually and I am very encouraged by the fact that the Romanian Academy has attached itself to this idea, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, in its own annual projects, and the Academia Europaea is also in an institutional intersection with our projects, which makes me believe that in the years to come there will not only be a tomorrow for the colloquium, but also for the Cantemir Prize. (...) I am happy that our generation can carry on the connection between the Romanian spirit and the Crown, that has been made to last, has been strengthened over three consecutive centuries by those who are today on the walls of the Palace, like icons," Prince Radu said, told Agerpres.
Mircea Martin deemed the reception of this award as a "colossal surprise".
"It is a colossal surprise. (...) My connection with the 'serene prince of Romanian culture' does not exist directly. Perhaps it is only in spirit that his legacy unites me, namely belief and the effort made by virtue of this belief that, as an enemy of his family, a well-known chronicler, used to say, 'people are born in Moldova too', people are born in Romania too. This conviction, transformed into a belief, is probably at the basis of everything I have written and done," said the academician.
Mircea Martin emphasised that he has always believed in George Calinescu's assertion that "every nation is entitled to hope that from its earthly place it will be able to utter the universal truths". "I believed from the very beginning when I found this phrase that it is true and that we, the intellectuals of this marginal nation, must do everything we can to inscribe Romanian culture and the Romanian nation in an order of Europe and of the world," he went on to say.
With the theme "Synchronisms. Romania and Europe", the Royal Colloquium will take place on 23 October at the Filipescu-Cesianu House and is organised by the Orbis Tertius Association, the Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes and the Memory of Romanian Exile and the Bucharest City Museum.