Cel mai iubit dintre pământeni
Cel mai iubit dintre pământeni (The Earth's Most Beloved Son) is the last novel by Romanian writer Marin Preda. Written in 1980, it is a long, first‑person tale about life in Communist Romania and the brutal Stalinist era.
Victor Petrini is a bright philosopher who teaches in the 1950s. He begins an affair with his best friend's wife, Matilda, who becomes his wife and the mother of their daughter. Their marriage does not bring happiness, and their bond soon fades.
Petrini is arrested by the Securitate, wrongly accused of ties to a terrorist group, and sent to prison and forced labor. The punishment wrecks his plans and ideals. In prison he is divorced and abandoned, and he hardens to survive. He even kills one of his torturers in self‑defense, a crime he hides from the authorities.
When he is released, Petrini has to start over from zero. He works as a pest controller and later as a bookkeeper in a state‑run company. He meets and falls in love with Suzy. In self‑defense, he kills Suzy’s ex‑husband by throwing him from a cable car, and he ends up back in jail.
The novel is an epic, told in the first person, about a man trying to endure and understand life under a brutal regime. In 1993, a film adaptation directed by Șerban Marinescu, with Ștefan Iordache portraying Petrini, was released.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 11:56 (CET).