He was born in Pantelimoncommune, near Bucharest, from a Jewish father and a Romanian mother. His father was an engineer, architect and decorated World War I participant. Due to his lineage from his father side, he was to be subject to anti-semitic discrimination during the fascist governments of World War II Romania. Between 1919 and 1929, he attended Spiru Haretprimary school and college in Bucharest, where, despite his background, he was taught Religion by a Christian priest. His talent for writing was first noticed when he joined the Sburătorul literary circle.
In 1944 he was reinstated at the Revista Fundațiilor Regale, and held his job until 1948, when King Michael I was forced to abdicate by the Communist Party of Romania. From 1948 until 1959, he witnessed a new period of deprivation, this time from the Romanian Communist regime – when non-communist intellectuals were deemed "enemies of the people". In 1959, during the kangaroo court trial of his former school colleague Constantin Noica, he refused to take part as a witness against him. As a consequence, he was accused of "crimes of conspiracy against social order", he was included in the "batch of mystical-Iron Guardist intellectuals", and sentenced to thirteen years of forced labor, in gulag-like prisons. He would serve his penalty at Jilava, Gherla, Aiud and other communist jails. While in prison, he was baptizedOrthodox Christian, on March 15, 1960, by fellow convict Mina Dobzeu, a well known Bessarabian hermit, having as godfatherEmanuel Vidraşcu, a former chief of staff and adjutant of Antonescu. Witnesses to the event were also Alexandru Paleologu, two Roman Catholic priests, two Greek-Catholic priests and a Protestant priest. He would later state that his baptism had an "ecumenical character". This episode would be the base for his best-known and most celebrated work, the Happiness Diary.
Later years
After his release in 1964, he has a successful and notable activity as translator and publisher. His first celebrated literary works, Între viață și cărți, and Incertitudini literare were published in 1976 and 1980, respectively. A new chapter in Steinhardt's life began in 1980, after being accepted in Rohia Monastery. He worked as the monastery’s librarian, while at the same time dedicating himself to writing. During this time, his fame as a counselor and father-confessor had grown, attracting tens of visitors weekly to Rohia. He died at Baia Mare city hospital. His funeral, under surveillance by the Securitate, was attended by many of his close friends and admirers. In 2017, Steinhardt was posthumously elected a member of the Romanian Academy.
The ''Happiness Diary''
The first edition was confiscated by the Securitate in 1972, and restituted in 1975, after censorship intervention. Meanwhile, he had finished writing a second version of the book, which is in its turn confiscated in 1984. In the end, Steinhardt edited several versions, one of which had reached Monica Lovinescu and Virgil Ierunca in Paris; Monica Lovinescu would later broadcast the book in a series of episodes, via Radio Free Europe.
Works
Due to political reasons, most of his work has been published post-mortem in its uncensored version.
În genul... tinerilor - published 1934;
Între viață și cărți – published 1976;
Incertitudini literare - published 1980;
Geo Bogza - Un poet al Efectelor, Exaltării, Grandiosului, Solemnității, Exuberanței și Patetismului – published 1982;
Critică la persoana întâi – published 1983;
Escale în timp și spațiu – published 1987;
Prin alții spre sine – published 1988;
Post-mortem
Jurnalul fericirii – published 1991;
Monologul polifonic – published 1991;
Dăruind vei dobândi – published 1992;
Primejdia mărturisirii – published 1993;
Drumul către iubire – published 1999;
Taina împărtășirii ;
Călătoria unui fiu risipitor ;
Drumul către isihie ;
Ispita lecturii ;
N. Steinhardt răspunde la 365 de întrebări adresate de Zaharia Sângeorzan ;
