Academic Simion: Alfred Nobel Gold Medal for Philology, recognition of critical activity of an East European

Academician Eugen Simion, head of the Department of Literature and Philology with the Romanian Academy, is winner of the 2018 Alfred Nobel Gold Medal awarded by the International Society of Philology considers the prize is a recognition of the critical activity of an East European individual. 

"It has been awarded to the greatest linguists of the last century, starting with Trubetzkoy, Roman Jakobson, Yuri Lotman... A few years ago, it was granted to Umberto Eco, whilst last year it went to Noam Chomsky, the great American linguist. Well, this year it happened to be granted to me. Possible to be granted to Eastern Europe too. Well, I don't see it very close to a continuation of the noted prize given by the Swedish Academy. I only take it as it is, let's say, as a recognition of the critical activity of an individual from Eastern Europe," Eugen Simion told AGERPRES. 

According to a release by the Romanian Academy sent on Tuesday night to AGERPRES, the awarding ceremony will take place at the beginning of 2019 at the European Parliament seat in Strasbourg and will be followed by the organisation of another ceremony, according to the regulation, in the laureate's country of origin. 

"I wrote to the President of Romania to organise the awarding ceremony at the very seat of the Presidency," Simion added, specifying that the event is to take place in January most probably. 

In the letter sent to the Romanian Academy, the International Society of Philology addresses congratulations to the laureate, academic Eugen Simion, and Romania. The Romanian literary critic and historian Eugen Simion is the 20th awardee of the reputed prize. 

Eugen Simion is a literary critic and historian, essayist and editor, literature professor with the Faculty of Letters at University of Bucharest. He used to teach classes of Romanian culture and civilisation at the Universite Paris IV (Sorbonne) and to be a visiting professor at the Ecole Normale Superieure de Paris (Fontenay-aux-Roses). He is the director of the George Calinescu Literary History and Theory Institute with the Romanian Academy. 

Eugen Simion is an impressive member of the Romanian Academy ever since 1992, only one year after he was elected corresponding member. From 1998 to 2006 he was chairman of the Romanian Academy. He initiated and coordinated fundamental projects of the Romanian Academy, among which "The general dictionary of the Romanian literature", the full facsimile editing of the manuscripts of (national poet, ed. n.) Mihai Eminescu, the Pleiade-type collection, "The Fundamental Works", of which until now 200 volumes were published. He is a founder (1999) and chairman of the National Foundation for Science and Art under the Romanian Academy aegis. 

Simion is a member of the Europea Academy (London), of the Royal Academy of Science and Letters of Denmark, of the Moral and Political Sciences Academy of France, of the Academy of Athens, of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova and recently of the Academy of Sciences and and Letters of Serbia.