These traits are complemented by Manoliu's activities in cultural journalism, alternating between contributions to left-wing papers and support for the far-right and mystical philosophy of Nae Ionescu.
[2] Manoliu had noted contributions in Bilete de Papagal (which he also edited, under director Tudor Arghezi), and, from 1930 to 1930, he was editor of the newspaper Curentul,[3] and, in 1931, also put out Pământul magazine,[1] based in Botoșani.
[4] Such works place him among the writers who regarded living as a mystical experience, a succession of revolutionary discontent, gratuitous gestures, and deep anguish—the "new generation" authors, or Trăirists.
[6] Animated by the idea of a role for his literary generation (based on this "new spirituality" of the 1930s),[1] he formed part of a group of writers who sought to integrate Romanian culture into the wider European context, while giving it a specific national dimension: Mircea Eliade, Emil Cioran, Mihail Sebastian, Anton Holban, Constantin Noica, Mircea Vulcănescu, Nicolae Steinhardt, Petru Comarnescu, Petre Pandrea, and Edgar Papu.
[4] Also a contributor to newspapers and magazines including România Literară, Cuvântul, and Discobolul,[1] Manoliu is mainly known for his work in Sandu Tudor's Credința and Floarea de Foc, the spiritualized and left-leaning Orthodox periodicals.
[3] It was mainly an antifascist tribune, grouping together moderate left-wingers and writers affiliated with the underground Romanian Communist Party (Geo Bogza, George Macovescu, Stephan Roll).
[3] Manoliu returned to his work in fiction with Moartea nimănui ("Nobody's Death", 1939), a novel on moral degeneration, and Domnița Ralú Caragea (1939), a historical retelling of Rallou Karatza's activities.
[2] Following the start of Operation Barbarossa of 1941, in which Romania participated as a Nazi ally, Manoliu penned articles blaming the Soviets for the Katyn massacre, for which the perpetrators long denied responsibility.
He was eventually arrested, in circumstances that he himself failed to clarify, and then sent into internal exile at Costișa in Neamț County, but re-imprisoned after being caught reading (in 1958) a philosophical work by the self-exiled Cioran.
[2][4][11][17] Reportedly, he was still snubbed by Stancu, by then the Romanian Writers' Union, but won his first contract with Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, taking over for Eugen Barbu.
[4] Other authors whom he rendered into Romanian include Jacques Bainville, Adelbert von Chamisso, Pierre Corneille, Ferenc Körmendi, D. H. Lawrence, Johannes Linnankoski, Jack London, and Jean Racine.
[1] As noted by literary historian George Călinescu, his debut with the Jewish-themed Rabbi Haies Reful, taking place in a Moldavian market town at the dawn of the 20th century,[1][4][20] is "confusing and lyrical".
[4] In Moartea nimănui, Manoliu's style is heavily indebted to Gide, but mainly recalls the proletarian literature of George Mihail Zamfirescu and Carol Ardeleanu.
[21] Set in the sugar mill of Chitila and in homeless shelters, it shows young intellectuals driven to destitution and despair, and introduces Mortaru, a homosexual character.
As noted by Florescu in 2008, his 1970s Jurnal de peregrin ("Pilgrim's Diary") "provides one of the most dramatic images of the aging intellectual, taken with the notion of failure and the awareness of his demise", a "despairing monologue, with no possibility of evading into the much richer past."