Mihai Gafița dating history

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Mihai or Mihail Gafița (Francized Mikhaï Gafitza; October 21, 1923 – March 4, 1977) was a Romanian literary historian, critic, editor, and children's novelist, also noted as a communist activist and politician. He began his career during World War II, with pieces published in a youth magazine put out by Universul. During his time studying at the University of Bucharest, he became involved in left-wing agitation, joining the National Popular Party and serving as chairman of its youth sections, as well as of the National Union of Romanian Students. Having been embraced by the Romanian Communist Party (known then as the Workers' Party), Gafița emerged as one of its interpreters of Romanian literature, and excelled in particular as a writers' biographer. The late 1940s saw him espousing Socialist Realism, with noted fanaticism in public, but also working to reinstate disgraced authors such as Ion Vinea. He was controversially involved with coaxing the acclaimed writer Cezar Petrescu, converting him to communism and encouraging him to rewrite his novels on Socialist-Realist manner; Gafița also joined the ranks of communist censors by bracketing out thousands of pages from Petrescu's last novel.