Nicolae Steinhardt. Despre fericire
Nicolae Steinhardt. About Happiness

Summary/Abstract: The author analyzes the signifi cances of the notion of happiness, a concept discussed by many Romanian renowned intellectuals, including Nicolae Steinhardt. Steinhardt attempts to present happiness in a genetic, chronological manner, implying what’s before and after it. This is the signifi cance of his thought. What intrigues in The Happiness Diary [Jurnalul fericirii] is the fact that data is not presented chronologically, but spread in pieces between 1924 and 1971. Yet, the stages are clear, and the core of the entire diary is represented by detention and baptism. The mechanism which triggered happiness couldn’t have produced without the intervention of detention. This doesn’t mean that detention is necessarily needed, but for the superfi cial and volatile Steinhardt, it was essential. It separated him, in existential terms, from common life and prepared him for the time of authentic living. Steinhardt’s conception is obviously existentialist; sometimes even acknowledged as such. After the baptism received with his entire thought and spirit in the hard conditions of detention, Steinhardt lives the existential moment of happiness.

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