Neagoe, Peter

Peter Neagoe was born November 7, 1881, in Transylvania (now Romania). He attended the University of Bucharest, Romanian Academy of Fine Arts, and National Academy of Design (New York). He came to the United States in 1901, eventually becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen then relocated to Paris following World War I. During World War II he worked for the U.S. Office of War Information, preparing radio broadcasts for the Romanian people. He married married Anna Frankeul, an artist, on July 31, 1911. He died October 28, 1960, in Woodstock, NY.

Neagoe wrote essays, short stories, and novels, many about Romanian peasant life, and edited the periodical New Review as well as an anthology of stories and poems by many of Neagoe's fellow expatriates entitled Americans Abroad . While many of his stories had Romanian settings or characters, he also wrote a number of stories set in America. His characterization and style were praised by critics; regarding his book Easter Sun, a reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement wrote, "Mr. Neagoe writes with an unaffected simplicity perfectly adapted to his subject . . . and one feels that his peasant characters are created out of an intimate understanding, not merely observed." Neagoe also wrote a book of childhood reminiscences entitled Time to Keep, in which he describes his boyhood in Romania.