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Eugen Lovinescu | |
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| Born | (1881-10-31)31 October 1881 |
| Died | 16 July 1943(1943-07-16) (aged 61) Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania |
| Resting place | Grădini Cemetery, Fălticeni, Romania |
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| Alma mater | University of Bucharest |
| Literary movement | Modernism |
| Spouse | Ecaterina Bălăcioiu-Lovinescu [ro] |
| Children | Monica Lovinescu |
| Relatives | Anton Holban |
Eugen Lovinescu (Romanian:[e.uˈdʒenloviˈnesku]; 31 October 1881 – 16 July 1943) was a Romanianmodernist literary historian,literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established theSburătorul literary club. He was the father ofMonica Lovinescu, and the uncle ofHoria Lovinescu [ro],Vasile Lovinescu [ro], andAnton Holban. He was elected to theRomanian Academy posthumously, in 1991.
Born inFălticeni, he was a graduate of theBoarding High School inIași and of theUniversity of Bucharest's Faculty ofClassical Languages, and briefly worked as a high school teacher of Latin inPloiești.[1] He made his literary debut in the literary supplement ofAdevărul, and became permanently featured in the periodicalEpoca, as the author of pieces onSămănătorul writers (such asMihail Sadoveanu,Ion Agârbiceanu, andOctavian Goga). At the time, Lovinescu was already taking a stand which would lead to the prolonged disputes withNicolae Iorga andGarabet Ibrăileanu.
He obtained hisdoctorate inParis for his work onJean-Jacques Weiss, and an additional history on the accounts 19th century French travelers gave of Greece. Both were praised byÉmile Faguet.
In 1936, his candidacy for acceptance into theRomanian Academy was refused.[1] Lovinescu was posthumously elected to the Romanian Academy.[2] He died in 1943 inBucharest and was buried in the family crypt at the Grădini Cemetery in Fălticeni.[3]
Building on the legacy ofTitu Maiorescu, Lovinescu aimed to show that both the author and critic are never cut out from their social and cultural environments. He opposedGarabet Ibrăileanu'stheory of selection (the compromise between individual genius and social requirement), proposing instead the idea that creation and demand occupy the very same moment in time. Lovinescu's analysis was backed by the views of Faguet,Jules Lemaître, as well asGabriel Tarde's notion of agroup mind; it also adhered to the esthetical tenets ofImpressionism.
The main advocate of Modernism, Lovinescu rejected the preoccupation ofPoporanism and theSămănătorul group had with rural themes, arguing in favour of novels with an urban setting. HisSburătorul published works by a new generation of writers,realists tosymbolists to earlyavant-garde:Camil Petrescu,Ion Barbu,Tudor Vianu,Liviu Rebreanu,Benjamin Fondane,Ilarie Voronca,Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu, and many others.
The polemic withSămănătorul extended over decades: Lovinescu is also remembered for his rejection of Nicolae Iorga's thesis on the origin of the Romanian reignant Princes as an institution inWallachia andMoldavia. While Iorga claimed that they had been a creation of peasant communities delegating power to their most able members, in a regional sphere that would have been virtually cut off from the rest of Europe, Lovinescu pointed out that some of the firstvoivodes mentioned seemed to have been perfectly familiar withfeudal relations, and well-integrated in European culture (for example, he pointed out that works atCurtea de Argeș Monastery had unearthed the remains of ahospodar dressed in accordance with European fashion of the time).
His arguably most famous epics are the two novels aboutMihai Eminescu's loves:Mite (1934) – centered onMite Kremnitz, andBălăuca (1935) – aboutVeronica Micle.
Eugen Lovinescu was a noted translator of works inLatin andAncient Greek, as well as the author ofRomanian language textbooks.
Ahigh school [ro] in Bucharest is named after him,[4] and so are streets in Bucharest,Cluj-Napoca,Constanța,Pitești, andSatu Mare. The building in Bucharest where he lived and where theSburătorul literary society held is meetings from 1938 to 1943 is now calledCasa Lovinescu [ro].[5] In 2001,Poșta Română issued a 2,200 lei stamp in his honor.
