An intellectual with liberal-left ideas who nonetheless proved flexible enough to write praises of the King under Carol's dictatorship, Călinescu outwardly adhered to the new Communist ideology after 1947, likely noting the practical advantages of such a shift in loyalties.

He made numerous research trips to the Soviet Union (Kiev, Moscova, Leningrad appeared in 1949) and the People's Republic of China (Am fost în China nouă, in 1953), publishing his impressions in these two volumes.

From 1948 to 1953 Călinescu was mistrusted and marginalized, despite being named to the Academy of the Romanian People's Republic in 1949; even after destalinization began in the Soviet Union in 1953, the Romanian establishment continued to favor the "wooden-tongued," socialist realist models the Soviets had begun to abandon.
Călinescu's total inability to write convincingly in this style resulted in his continued perception as a reactionary conservative.
Nonetheless, he was invited to resume his columns on a permanent basis in 1956, marking the beginning of his rehabilitation.
Before the end of his life, all of his works, with the exception of his monumental Istoria, were issued in new editions.
Istoria would appear (to great acclaim) only in the 1980s, through the efforts of Călinescu's assistant Alexandru Piru.
An intellectual with liberal-left ideas who nonetheless proved flexible enough to write praises of the King under Carol's dictatorship, Călinescu outwardly adhered to the new Communist ideology after 1947, likely noting the practical advantages of such a shift in loyalties.
He made numerous research trips to the Soviet Union (Kiev, Moscova, Leningrad appeared in 1949) and the People's Republic of China (Am fost în China nouă, in 1953), publishing his impressions in these two volumes.
From 1948 to 1953 Călinescu was mistrusted and marginalized, despite being named to the Academy of the Romanian People's Republic in 1949; even after destalinization began in the Soviet Union in 1953, the Romanian establishment continued to favor the "wooden-tongued," socialist realist models the Soviets had begun to abandon. Călinescu's total inability to write convincingly in this style resulted in his continued perception as a reactionary conservative. Nonetheless, he was invited to resume his columns on a permanent basis in 1956, marking the beginning of his rehabilitation. Before the end of his life, all of his works, with the exception of his monumental Istoria, were issued in new editions. Istoria would appear (to great acclaim) only in the 1980s, through the efforts of Călinescu's assistant Alexandru Piru.
George Călinescu