Background
Born in Răcari, Dâmbovița County, Munteanu was of Transylvanian roots: his father, a schoolteacher, was a first-generation immigrant to the Kingdom of Romania.
Born in Răcari, Dâmbovița County, Munteanu was of Transylvanian roots: his father, a schoolteacher, was a first-generation immigrant to the Kingdom of Romania.
Professionally, he was active as a magistrate and prison inspector. Making his publishing debut in Alexandru Macedonski"s Forța Morală in 1901, and subsequently joining the Symbolist writing club at Literatorul, he enlisted at the University of Bucharest. Additionally, his work was hosted in Caion"s Românul Literar.
Macedonski held him in high esteem as "the incomparable maestro", but, according to literary historian George Călinescu, this should not dissuade from the fact that Munteanu was "minuscule" as a poet.
In 1904, he published the Symbolist magazine Pleiada, which ran for two editions, usually signing his pieces there as Donar. In 1908, Munteanu was also co-opted by Ion Minulescu at the radical Symbolist review, Revista Celor L"alți.
His contribution there was noted by the anti-Symbolist traditionalist Nicolae Iorga, who believed Munteanu to be "a good versifier". A regular at Mihail Dragomirescu"s Convorbiri Critice magazine (from 1907), Munteanu"s first book was the 1909 Aripi negre ("Black Wings").
Dragomirescu, introducing him as an "idyllic poet from the Macedonski school", proposed that his piece Țiganii ("The Gipsies") should be considered "a descriptive, colorful, masterpiece".
From 1911 to 1916, Munteanu was a contributor to Flacăra. He served as a magistrate at Piatra Neamț, Iași, Bazargic, Câmpulung, Brăila, Sibiu, Odorhei, Deva and ultimately ChișinăUniversity During his stay in Bessarabia, he began contributing to the literary review Teatrul, put out by Cincinat Pavelescu, and also had samples of his work featured in Transylvania"s Gândirea (from 1930).
In the few books that he published at significant intervals (Aripi fantastice, 1925.
Simfonia vieții, 1943. Bisericuța neamului, 1943), Romantic echoes are found alongside Symbolist motifs, while well-drawn images are eclipsed by an ample tendency toward grandiloquence.
His sonnets, reviewer Ion Șiugariu notes, were conventional and prosaic, echoing both Sămănătorul and Parnassianism. Although not "a great poet", Munteanu was "earnest", without the "obscurities" of modernist literature.
From 1937 to 1938, answering to Justice Minister Vasile P. Sassu, Munteanu worked as general director of penitentiaries.
He was on hand to investigate the July 1937 prison riots at Târgu Ocna. Subsequently, he was a Permanent Councilor to the Legislative Council until June 1945, when he was ordered to retire. Munteanu survived the establishment of a Romanian communist regime, and, in 1956, was visiting fellow poet Dumitru Iov at his home in Bucharest.
He was a member of the Pahuci student fraternity, inviting Macedonski to its sessions, before graduating with a degree in law.