Ion Heliade Rădulescu | |
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| Born | (1802-01-06)6 January 1802 Târgoviște, Wallachia |
| Died | 27 April 1872(1872-04-27) (aged 70) Bucharest, Romania |
| Pen name | Ion Heliade, Eliad |
| Occupation |
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| Nationality | |
| Period | 1828–1870 |
| Genre |
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| Subject | |
| Literary movement | Romanticism Classicism |
| Signature | |
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Ion Heliade Rădulescu orIon Heliade (also known asEliade orEliade Rădulescu;Romanian pronunciation:[ˈi.on(h)eliˈaderəduˈlesku]; 6 January 1802 – 27 April 1872) was aWallachian, laterRomanian academic,Romantic andClassicist poet, essayist, memoirist, short story writer, newspaper editor and politician. A prolific translator of foreign literature intoRomanian, he was also the author of books onlinguistics and history. For much of his life, Heliade Rădulescu was a teacher atSaint Sava College inBucharest, which he helped reopen. He was a founding member and first president of theRomanian Academy.
Heliade Rădulescu is considered one of the foremost champions ofRomanian culture from the first half of the 19th century, having first risen to prominence through his association withGheorghe Lazăr and his support of Lazăr's drive for discontinuing education inGreek. Over the following decades, he had a major role in shaping the modern Romanian language, but caused controversy when he advocated the massive introduction ofItalianneologisms into theRomanian lexis. ARomantic nationalist landowner siding with moderateliberals, Heliade was among the leaders of the1848 Wallachian revolution, after which he was forced to spend several years in exile. Adopting an original form of conservatism, which emphasized the role of the aristocraticboyars inRomanian history, he was rewarded for supporting theOttoman Empire and clashed with theradical wing of the 1848 revolutionaries.
Heliade Rădulescu was born inTârgoviște, into a family ofGreek ancestry;[1] he was the son of Ilie Rădulescu, a wealthy proprietor who served as the leader of a patrol unit during the 1810s, and Eufrosina Danielopol, a Greek woman,[2] who was also educated inGreek.[3] Three of his siblings died ofbubonic plague before 1829.[3] Throughout his early youth, Ion was the focus of his parents' affectionate supervision: early on, Ilie Rădulescu purchased a house once owned by the scholarGheorghe Lazăr on the outskirts ofBucharest (nearObor), as a gift for his son.[3] At the time, the Rădulescus were owners of a large garden in the Bucharest area, nearbyHerăstrău, as well as of estates in the vicinity ofFăgăraș andGârbovi.[3][4]
After basic education in Greek with atutor known as Alexe, Ion Heliade Rădulescu taught himself reading inRomanian Cyrillic (reportedly by studying theAlexander Romance with the help of his father'sOltenian servants).[5] He subsequently became an avid reader of popular novels, especially during his 1813 sojourn in Gârbovi (where he had been sent after other areas of the country came to be ravaged byCaragea's plague).[4] After 1813, the teenaged Rădulescu was a pupil of theOrthodox monkNaum Râmniceanu; in 1815, he moved on to the Greek school atSchitu Măgureanu, in Bucharest, and, in 1818, to theSaint Sava School, where he studied under Gheorghe Lazăr's supervision.[6]
Between his 1820 graduation and 1821, when effects of theWallachian uprising led to the School ceasing its activities, he was kept as Lazăr's assistant teacher, tutoring inarithmetics andgeometry.[4][7] It was during those years that he adopted the surnameHeliade (also renderedHeliad,Eliad orEliade), which, he later explained, was a Greek version of hispatronymic, in turn stemming from the Romanian version ofElijah.[4][8]
In 1822, after Gheorghe Lazăr had fallen ill, Heliade reopened Saint Sava and served as its main teacher (initially, without any form of remuneration).[4][9][10] He was later joined in this effort by otherintellectuals of the day, such asEufrosin Poteca,[4][9] and, eventually, also opened an art class overseen by theCroatCarol Valştain.[11] This re-establishment came as a result of ordinances issued byPrinceGrigore IV Ghica, who had just been assigned by the Ottoman Empire to the throne of Wallachia upon the disestablishment ofPhanariote rule, encouraging the marginalization ofethnic Greeks who had assumed public office in previous decades.[9] Thus, Prince Ghica had endorsed education in Romanian and, in one of his officialfirmans, defined teaching in Greek as "the foundation of evils" (temelia răutăţilor).[9]
During the late 1820s, Heliade became involved in cultural policies. In 1827, he andDinicu Golescu foundedSoțietatea literară românească (the Romanian Literary Society), which, through its program (mapped out by Heliade himself), proposed Saint Sava's transformation into a college, the opening of another such institution inCraiova, and the creation of schools in virtually all Wallachian localities.[9][12] In addition,Soţietatea attempted to encourage the establishment of Romanian-language newspapers, calling for an end to the state monopoly onprinting presses.[9][13] The grouping, headquartered on central Bucharest'sPodul Mogoșoaiei, benefited from Golescu's experience abroad, and was soon joined by two future Princes,Gheorghe Bibescu andBarbu Dimitrie Știrbei.[9] Its character was based onFreemasonry;[14] around that time, Heliade is known to have become a Freemason, as did a large section of his generation.[15]
In 1828, Heliade published his first work, an essay onRomanian grammar, in theTransylvanian city ofHermannstadt (which was part of theAustrian Empire at the time), and, on 20 April 1829, began printing the Bucharest-based paperCurierul Românesc.[16][17] This was the most successful of several attempts to create a local newspaper, something Golescu first attempted in 1828.[16] Publishing articles in both Romanian and French,Curierul Românesc had, starting in 1836, its own literary supplement, under the title ofCurier de Ambe Sexe; in print until 1847, it notably published one of Heliade's most famous poems,Zburătorul.[18]Curierul Românesc was edited as a weekly, and later as a bimonthly, until 1839, when it began to be issued three or four times a week. Its best-known contributors were Heliade himself,Grigore Alexandrescu,Costache Negruzzi,Dimitrie Bolintineanu,Ioan Catina,Vasile Cârlova, andIancu Văcărescu.[19]
In 1823, Heliade met Maria Alexandrescu, with whom he fell passionately in love, and whom he later married.[4] By 1830, the Heliades' two children, a son named Virgiliu and a daughter named Virgilia, died in infancy; subsequently, their marriage entered a long period of crisis, marked by Maria's frequent outbursts of jealousy.[4] Ion Heliade probably had a number of extramarital affairs: aWallachian Militia officer named Zalic, who became known during the 1840s, is thought by some, including the literary criticGeorge Călinescu, to have been the writer's illegitimate son.[4] Before the death of her first child, Maria Heliade welcomed into her house Grigore Alexandrescu, himself a celebrated writer, whom Ion suspected had become her lover.[4] Consequently, the two authors became bitter rivals: Ion Heliade referred to Alexandrescu as "that ingrate", and, in an 1838 letter toGeorge Bariţ, downplayed his poetry and character (believing that, in one of hisfables, Alexandrescu had depicted himself as anightingale, he commented that, in reality, he was "a piteousrook dressed in foreign feathers").[4] Despite these household conflicts, Maria Heliade gave birth to five other children, four daughters and one son (Ion, born 1846).[20]
In October 1830, together with his uncle Nicolae Rădulescu, he opened the first privately owned printing press in his country, operating on his property atCișmeaua Mavrogheni, inObor (the land went by the name ofCâmpul lui Eliad – "Eliad's Field", and housed several other large buildings).[13][20] Among the first works he published was a collection of poems byAlphonse de Lamartine, translated by Heliade from French, and grouped together with some of his own poems.[13] Later, he translated a textbook onmeter andLouis-Benjamin Francoeur's standard manual ofArithmetics, as well as works byEnlightenment authors – Voltaire'sMahomet, ou le fanatisme, and stories byJean-François Marmontel.[13] They were followed, in 1839, by a version ofJean-Jacques Rousseau'sJulie, or the New Heloise.[13]
Heliade began a career as acivil servant after thePostelnicie commissioned him to print theOfficial Bulletin, and later climbed through theofficial hierarchy, eventually serving asClucer.[20] This rise coincided with the establishment of theRegulamentul Organic regime, inaugurated, upon the end of theRusso-Turkish War of 1828–1829, by anImperial Russian administration underPavel Kiselyov.[20] When Kiselyov placed an order with Heliade for the printing of official documents, including theRegulament, the writer and his family were made prosperous by the sales. Nevertheless, Heliade maintained contacts with the faction of reformistboyars: in 1833, together withIon Câmpineanu,Iancu Văcărescu,Ioan Voinescu II,Constantin Aristia,Ștefan andNicolae Golescu, as well as others, he founded the short-livedSoţietatea Filarmonică (the Philharmonic Society), which advanced a cultural agenda (and was especially active in raising funds for theNational Theater of Wallachia).[21] Aside from its stated cultural goals,Soţietatea Filarmonică continued a covert political activity.[22]
In 1834, whenPrinceAlexandru II Ghica came to the throne, Heliade became one of his close collaborators, styling himself "court poet".[20] Several of the poems and discourses he authored during the period are written aspanegyrics, and dedicated to Ghica, whom Heliade depicted as an ideal prototype of a monarch.[20] As young reformists came into conflict with the prince, he kept his neutrality, arguing that all sides involved represented a privileged minority, and that the disturbances were equivalent to "the quarrel of wolves and the noise made by those in higher positions over the torn-apart animal that is the peasant".[20] He was notably critical of theradicalMitică Filipescu, whom he satirized in the poemCăderea dracilor ("The Demons' Fall"), and later defined his own position with the words "I hatetyrants. I fearanarchy".[23]
It was also in 1834 that Heliade began teaching at theSoţietatea Filarmonică's school (alongside Aristia and the musicianIoan Andrei Wachmann), and published his first translations fromLord Byron (in 1847, he completed the translation of Byron'sDon Juan).[13][24][25] The next year, he began printingGazeta Teatrului Național (official voice of the National Theater, published until 1836), and translatedMolière'sAmphitryon into Romanian.[26] In 1839, Heliade also translatedMiguel de Cervantes'Don Quixote from a French source.[13] The first collection of his own prose and poetry works saw print in 1836.[13] Interested in the development oflocal art, he contributed abrochure on drawing and architecture in 1837, and, during the same year, opened the first permanent exhibit in Wallachia (featuring copies of Western paintings, portraits, andgypsumcasts of various known sculptures).[11]
By the early 1840s, Heliade began expanding on his notion that modern Romanianneeded to emphasize its connections with otherRomance languages throughneologisms fromItalian, and, to this goal, he publishedParalelism între limba română şi italiană ("Parallelism between the Romanian language and Italian", 1840) andParalelism între dialectele român şi italian sau forma ori gramatica acestor două dialecte ("Parallelism between the Romanian and Italian Dialects or the Form or Grammar of These Two Dialects", 1841).[25] The two books were followed by acompendium,Prescurtare de gramatica limbei româno-italiene ("Summary of the Grammar of the Romanian-Italian Language"), and, in 1847, by a comprehensive list of Romanian words that had originated inSlavic,Greek,Ottoman Turkish,Hungarian, and German (seeRomanian lexis).[25] By 1846, he was planning to begin work on a "universal library", which was to include, among other books, the major the philosophical writings of, among others,Plato,Aristotle,Roger Bacon,René Descartes,Baruch Spinoza,John Locke,Gottfried Leibniz,David Hume,Immanuel Kant,Johann Gottlieb Fichte andGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.[27]
Before Alexandru Ghica was replaced withGheorghe Bibescu, his relations with Heliade had soured.[20] In contrast with his earlier call for moderation, the writer decided to side with theliberal current in itsconspiratorial opposition to Bibescu.[20][25][28] The so-called "Trandafiloff affair" of early 1844 was essential in this process – it was provoked by Bibescu's decision to lease all Wallachian mines to a Russian engineer namedAlexander Trandafiloff, a measure considered illegal by theAssembly and ultimately ending in Bibescu's decision to dissolve his legislative.[29] These events made Heliade publish apamphlet titledMăceșul ("TheEglantine"), which was heavily critical of Russian influence and reportedly sold over 30,000 copies.[29] It was centered on the pun alluding to Trandafiloff's name – trandafir cu of în coadă (lit. "a rose ending in -of", but also "a rose with grief for a stem").[29] Making additional covert reference to Trandafiloff as "the eglantine", it featured the lyrics:
Măi măceșe, măi măceșe,
[...]
Dă-ne pace și te cară,
Du-te dracului din țară.[29]
Eglantine, o eglantine,
[...]
Leave us in peace and go away,
Get the hell out of the country.
In spring 1848, when the firstEuropean revolutions had erupted, Heliade was attracted into cooperation withFrăţia, asecret society founded byNicolae Bălcescu,Ion Ghica,Christian Tell, andAlexandru G. Golescu, and sat on its leadership committee.[28] He also collaborated with the reform-minded French teacherJean Alexandre Vaillant, who was ultimately expelled after his activities were brought to the attention of authorities.[30] On 19 April 1848, following financial setbacks,Curierul Românesc ceased printing (this prompted Heliade to writeCântecul ursului, "The Bear's Song", a piece ridiculing his political enemies).[31]
Heliade progressively distanced himself from the more radical groups, especially after discussions began on the issue ofland reform and the disestablishment of theboyar class. Initially, he accepted the reforms, and, after the matter was debated withinFrăţia just before rebellion broke out, he issued a resolution acknowledging this (the document was probably inspired byNicolae Bălcescu).[32] The compromise also set other goals, including national independence,responsible government,civil rights and equality, universal taxation, a larger Assembly, five-year terms of office for Princes (and their election by theNational Assembly),freedom of the press, anddecentralization.[32] On 21 June 1848, present inIslaz alongside Tell and theOrthodox priest known asPopa Şapcă, he read out these goals to a cheering crowd, in what was to be the effective start of the uprising (seeProclamation of Islaz).[32][33] Four days after the Islaz events, the revolution succeeded in toppling Bibescu, whom it replaced with a Provisional Government which immediately attracted Russian hostility. Presided over byMetropolitanNeofit, it included Heliade, who was also Minister of Education, as well as Tell,Ştefan Golescu,Gheorghe Magheru, and, for a short while, the Bucharest merchantGheorghe Scurti.[34]
Disputes regarding the shape of land reform continued, and in late July, the Government createdComisia proprietăţii (the Commission on Property), representing both peasants and landlords and overseen byAlexandru Racoviţă andIon Ionescu de la Brad.[35] It too failed to reach a compromise over the amount of land to be allocated to peasants, and it was ultimately recalled by Heliade, who indicated that the matter was to be deliberated once a new Assembly had been voted into office.[35] In time, the writer adopted aconservative outlook in respect to boyar tradition, developing a singular view ofRomanian history from a consideration of property and rank in Wallachia.[36] In the words of historianNicolae Iorga: "Eliad had wanted to lead, asdictator, this movement that added liberal institutions to the old society that had been almost completely maintained in place".[37]
Like most other revolutionaries, Heliade favored maintaining good relations with the Ottoman Empire, Wallachia'ssuzerain power, hoping that this policy could help counter Russian pressures.[25][35] AsSultanAbdülmecid I was assessing the situation,Süleyman Paşa was dispatched to Bucharest, where he advised the revolutionaries to carry on with their diplomatic efforts, and ordered the Provisional Government to be replaced byLocotenenţa domnească, atriumvirate ofregents comprising Heliade, Tell, andNicolae Golescu.[35] Nonetheless, the Ottomans were pressured by Russia into joining a clampdown on revolutionary forces, which resulted, during September, in the reestablishment ofRegulamentul Organic and its system of government.[38] Together with Tell, Heliade sought refuge at theBritish consulate in Bucharest, where they were hosted byRobert Gilmour Colquhoun in exchange for a deposit ofAustrian florins.[39]
Leaving his family behind, he was allowed to pass into theAustrian-ruledBanat, before moving into self-exile in France while his wife and children were sent to Ottoman lands.[20][25][40] In 1850–1851, several of his memoirs of the revolution, written in both Romanian and French, were published in Paris, the city where he had taken residence.[41] He shared his exile with Tell and Magheru, as well as withNicolae Rusu Locusteanu.[37]
It was during his time in Paris that he met withPierre-Joseph Proudhon, theanarchist philosopher who had come to advance a moderate small-scale property project (to counter botheconomic liberalism and socialism).[42] Heliade used this opportunity to make the Romanian cause known to the staff of Proudhon'sLa Voix de Peuple.[43] Major French publications to which he contributed includedLa Presse,La Semaine, andLe Siècle, where he also helped publicize political issues pertaining to his native land.[44] Heliade was credited with having exercised influence over historianÉlias Regnault;Nicolae Iorga argued that Regnault's discarded his own arguments in favor of a unified Romanian state to includeTransylvania (a concept which Heliade had come to resent), as well amending his earlier account of the 1848 events, after being exposed to "Eliad'spropaganda".[37]
While claiming to represent the entire body of Wallachianémigrés,[23] Heliade had by then grown disappointed with the political developments, and, in his private correspondence, commented thatRomanians in general were "idle", "womanizing", as well as having "the petty and base envies of women", and argued that they required "supervision [and] leadership".[40] His fortune was declining, especially after pressures began for him to pay his many debts, and he often lacked the funds for basic necessities.[40] At the time, he continuously clashed with other former revolutionaries, including Bălcescu,C. A. Rosetti, and the Golescus, who resented his ambiguous stance in respect to reforms, and especially his willingness to acceptRegulamentul Organic as an instrument of power; Heliade issued the first in a series ofpamphlets condemning young radicals, contributing to factionalism inside theémigré camp.[44] His friendship with Tell also soured, after Heliade began speculating that the revolutionary general was committingadultery with Maria.[40]
In 1851, Heliade reunited with his family on the island ofChios, where they stayed until 1854.[25][40] Following the evacuation of Russian troops from theDanubian Principalities during theCrimean War, Heliade was appointed by thePorte to represent the Romanian nation inShumen, as part ofOmar Pasha's staff.[25] Again expressing sympathy for the Ottoman cause, he was rewarded with the title ofBey.[25] According to Iorga, Heliade's attitudes reflected his hope of "recovering the power lost" in 1848;[37] the historian also stressed that Omar never actually made use of Heliade's services.[45]
Later in the same year, he decided to return to Bucharest, but his stay was cut short when the Austrian authorities, who, under the leadership ofJohann Coronini-Cronberg, had taken over administration of the country as a neutral force, asked for him to be expelled.[25] Returning to Paris, Heliade continued to publish works on political and cultural issues, including an analysis of the European situation after thePeace Treaty of 1856 and an 1858 essay on the Bible.[25] In 1859, he published his own translation of theSeptuagint, under the nameBiblia sacră ce cuprinde Noul şi Vechiul Testament ("The Holy Bible, Comprising theNew andOld Testament").[46]
As former revolutionaries, grouped in thePartida Naţională faction, advanced the idea of union between Wallachia andMoldavia in election for thead hoc Divan, Heliade opted not to endorse any particular candidate, while rejecting outright the candidature of former princeAlexandru II Ghica (in a private letter, he stated: "let them elect whomever [of the candidates for the throne], for he would still have the heart of a man and some principles of a Romanian; only don't let that creature [Ghica] be elected, for he is capable of going to the dogs with this country").[40]
Later in 1859, Heliade returned to Bucharest, which had become the capital of the United Principalities after the common election ofAlexandru Ioan Cuza and later that of an internationally recognizedPrincipality of Romania. It was during that period that he again addedRădulescu to his surname.[28] Until his death, he published influential volumes on a variety of issues, while concentrating on contributions to history and literary criticism, and editing a new collection of his own poems. In 1863,Domnitor Cuza awarded him an annualpension of 2,000lei.[46]
One year after the creation of theRomanian Academy (under the name of "Academic Society"), he was elected its first President (1867), serving until his death.[46] In 1869, Heliade andAlexandru Papiu-Ilarian successfully proposed theItalian diplomat andphilologistGiovenale Vegezzi Ruscalla as honorary member of the Academy.[47] By then, like most other 1848 Romantics, he had become the target of criticism from the younger generation of intellectuals, represented by theIaşi-based literary societyJunimea; in 1865, during one of its early public sessions,Junimea explicitly rejected works by Heliade andIancu Văcărescu.[48]
During theelections of 1866, Heliade Rădulescu won a seat in theChamber as a deputy for the city ofTârgovişte.[40] As Cuza had been ousted from power by a coalition of political groupings, he was the only Wallachian deputy to joinNicolae Ionescu and other disciples ofSimion Bărnuţiu in opposing the appointment ofCarol of Hohenzollern asDomnitor and a proclamation stressing the perpetuity of the Moldo-Wallachian union.[49] Speaking inParliament, he likened the adoption of foreign rule to thePhanariote period.[50] The opposition was nevertheless weak, and the resolution was passed with a large majority.[50]
Among Ion Heliade Rădulescu's last printed works were a textbook onpoetics (1868) and a volume on Romanianorthography.[46] By that time, he had come to consider himself aprophet-like figure, and the redeemer of his motherland,[51] notably blessing his friends with the words "Christ andMagdalene be with you!"[52] His mental health declining, he died at his Bucharest residence on Polonă Street, nr. 20.[40] Heliade Rădulescu's grandiose funeral ceremony attracted a large number of his admirers;[40] the coffin was buried in the courtyard of theMavrogheni Church.[46]
Heliade's most influential contributions are related to his interest in developing the modernRomanian language, in which he synthesizedEnlightenment tenets andRomantic nationalist ideals of the 1848 generation.[53] At a time when Romanian was being discarded by the educated in favor of French orGreek, he and his supporters argued in favor of adapting Romanian to the requirements ofmodernization; he wrote: "Young people, preoccupy yourselves with the national language, speak and write in it; prepare yourselves for its study, for its cultivation, – and cultivating a language means to write in it about all sciences and arts, about all eras and peoples. The language alone unites, strengthens and defines a nation; preoccupy yourselves with it first and foremost, as, through this, you shall be carrying out the most fundamental of policies, you shall be laying the foundation of nationality".[53]
Heliade inaugurated his series of proposals for reforming the language in 1828, when his work onRomanian grammar called for theCyrillic script to be reduced to 27 letters, reflectingphonetic spelling (for this rule, Heliade cited the example of theLatin alphabet as used inAncient Rome).[54] Soon after, he began a campaign in favor of introducingRomanceneologisms, which he wanted to adapt to Romanian spelling.[55] By that time, Romanians in various regions had grown aware of the need to unify thevarieties of Romanian and create a standardRomanian lexis: this notion was first supported by theTransylvaniansGheorghe Şincai andPetru Maior, whose proposal was to unite Romanians around the issue of the choice of liturgical language, bothOrthodox andGreek-Catholic (seeTransylvanian School).[56] Heliade, who first proposed alanguage regulator (an idea which was to be employed in creating theRomanian Academy), expanded on this legacy, while stressing that the dialect spoken inMuntenia, which had formed the basis of religious texts published by the 16th century printerCoresi, serve as the standard language.[57]
In addition, he advocatedaesthetical guidelines in respect to the standard shape of Romanian, stressing three basic principles in selecting words: "proper wording", which called forvernacular words ofLatin origin to be prioritized; "harmony", which meant that words of Latin origin were to be used in their most popular form, even in cases whereeuphony had been altered by prolonged usage; and "energy", through which Heliade favored the primacy of the shortest and most expressive ofsynonyms used throughout Romanian-speaking areas.[58] In parallel, Heliade frowned uponpurist policies of removing widely used neologisms of foreign origin – arguing that these were "a fatality", he indicated that the gains of such a process would have been shadowed by the losses.[59]
These early theories exercised a lasting influence, and, when the work of unifying Romanian was accomplished in the late 19th century, they were used as a source of inspiration: Romania's major poet of the period,Mihai Eminescu, himself celebrated for having created the modernliterary language, gave praise to Heliade for "writing just as [the language] is spoken".[59] This assessment was shared byOvid Densusianu, who wrote: "Thinking of how people wrote back then, in thick, drawly, sleepy phrases, Heliade thus shows himself superior to all his contemporaries, and ... we can consider him the first prose writer who brings in the note of modernity".[60]
A second period in Heliade's linguistic researches, inaugurated when he adoptedÉtienne Condillac's theory that a language could be developed from conventions, eventually brought about the rejection of his own earlier views.[59] By the early 1840s, he postulated that Romanian andItalian were not distinct languages, but rather dialects of Latin, which prompted him to declare the necessity of replacing Romanian words with "superior" Italian ones.[61][62] One of hisstanzas, using his version of theRomanian Latin alphabet, read:
Primi auḑi-vor quel sutteranu resunetu
Şi primi salta-vor afara din grôpa
Sacri Poeţi que prea uşorâ ţêrinâi
Copere, şi quâror puţin d'uman picioarele împlumbă.[63]
Approximated into modern Romanian and English, this is:
Primii auzi-vor acel subteran răsunet
Şi primii sălta-vor afară din groapă
Sacrii Poeţi ce prea uşoară ţărână-i
Acoperă, şi cărora de uman puţin picioarele le sunt legate.
The first ones to hear that subterranean echo
And first to jump out of their pit will be
The sacred Poets whom only too light earth
Covers, and whose legs are superficially tied to humankind.
The target of criticism and ridicule, these principles were dismissed by Eminescu as "errors" and "a priori systems oforthography".[64] During their existence, they competed with bothAugust Treboniu Laurian's adoption of strong Latin mannerisms and the inconsistentFrancized system developed in Moldavia byGheorghe Asachi, which, according to the 20th century literary criticGarabet Ibrăileanu, constituted "theboyar language of his time".[61] Ibrăileanu also noted that Asachi had come to admire Heliade's attempts, and had praised them as an attempt to revive the language "spoken byTrajan's men" – in reference toRoman Dacia.[61]
While defending the role Moldavian politicians in the 1840s had in shaping modern Romanian culture, Ibrăileanu argued that practices such as those of Heliade and Laurian carried the risk of "suppressing the Romanian language", and creditedAlecu Russo, more than his successors atJunimea, with providing a passionate defense of spoken Romanian.[65] He notably cited Russo's verdict: "The modern political hatred aimed at [Russia] has thrown us into Italianism, into Frenchism, and into other -isms, that were not and are not Romanianism, but the political perils, in respect to the enslavement of the Romanian soul, have since passed; true Romanianism ought to hold its head up high".[65] The literary criticGeorge Călinescu also connected Heliade's experimentation to hisRussophobia, in turn reflecting his experiences as a revolutionary: "HatingSlavism and the Russians, who had striven to underline [Slavic influences in Romanian], he said to himself that he was to serve his motherland by discarding all Slavic vestiges".[63] Călinescu notably attributed Heliade's inconsistency to his "autodidacticism", which, he contended, was responsible for "[his] casual implication in all issues, the unexpected move from common sense ideas to the most insane theories".[66]
Overall, Heliade's experiments had marginal appeal, and their critics (Eminescu included) contrasted them with Heliade's own tenets.[63][64] Late in his life, Heliade seems to have acknowledged this, notably writing: "This language, as it is written today by people who can speak Romanian, is my work".[67] One of the few authors to be influenced by the theory was theSymbolist poetAlexandru Macedonski, who, during his youth, wrote several pieces in Heliade's Italian-sounding Romanian.[68] Despite Heliade's thesis being largely rejected, some of its practical effects on everyday language were very enduring, especially in cases where Italian words were borrowed as a means to illustrate nuances and concepts for which Romanian had no equivalent.[69] These includeafabil ("affable"),adorabil ("adorable"),colosal ("colossal"),implacabil ("implacable"),inefabil ("ineffable"),inert ("inert"),mistic ("mystical"),pervers ("perverse" or "pervert"),suav ("suave"), andvenerabil ("venerable").[69]
Celebrated as the founder of WallachianRomanticism, Heliade was equally influenced byClassicism and theAge of Enlightenment.[70] His work, written in a special cultural context (where Classiciasm and Romanticism coexisted), took the middle path between two opposing camps: the Romantics (Alecu Russo,Mihail Kogălniceanu and others) and the Classicists (Gheorghe Asachi,Grigore Alexandrescu,George Baronzi etc.).[71]George Călinescu defined Heliade as "a devourer of books", noting that his favorites, who all played a part in shaping his style and were many times the subject of his translations, included:Alphonse de Lamartine,Dante Aligheri,Ludovico Ariosto,Torquato Tasso,Voltaire,Jean-François Marmontel,Jean-Jacques Rousseau, andFrançois-René de Chateaubriand.[27]
His poetic style, influenced from early on by Lamartine, was infused with Classicism during his middle age, before he again adopted Romantic tenets.[72] Initially making use of guidelines set byNicolas Boileau-Despréaux in respect to poetry, he came to oppose them after readingVictor Hugo's Romantic preface toCromwell (without ever discarding them altogether).[73]
Like the Classicists, Heliade favored a literature highlighting "types" of characters, as the union of universal traits and particular characteristics, but, like the Romantics, he encouraged writers to write from asubjective viewpoint, which he believed to be indicative of their mission as "prophets, ... men who criticize, who point out their society's plagues and who look on to a happier future, waiting for a savior".[74] Through the latter ideal of moral regeneration, Heliade also complimented the Romantic stress on "national specificity", which he adopted in his later years.[75] At the same time, he centered much of his own literary work on non-original material, either by compiling it from various translations or by translating from a single source – having his focus on creating the basis for further development by introducing samples of untappedliterary genres and styles toRomanian literature.[67]
While several of Heliade's contributions to literature have been considered to be of low importance,[76] many others, above all his Romantic poemZburătorul, are hailed as major accomplishments.[77]Zburătorul, borrowing fromRomanian mythology its main character (the eponymousincubus-like being who visits nubile girls at night) also serves to depict the atmosphere of a Wallachian village from that period.[78] According toGeorge Călinescu, the poem's value partly relies on its depiction of lust through the girls' eyes: "lacking the rages ofSappho andPhaedra. Thepuberty crisis is explained through mythology and cured throughmagic".[79]
An 1837 essay of his, centered on a debate regarding the translation ofHomer's works into Romanian, featured a series of counsels to younger writers: "This is not the time for criticism, children, it is the time for writing, so write as much and as good as you can, but without meanness; create, do not ruin; for the nation receives and blesses the maker and curses the destroyer. Write with a clear conscience".[80] Paraphrased as "Write anything, boys, as long as you go on writing!" (Scrieţi, băieţi, orice, numai scrieţi!), this quote became the topic of derision in later decades, and was hailed as an example of Heliade's failure to distinguish between quality and quantity.[81] The latter verdict was considered unfair by the literary historianŞerban Cioculescu and others, who argued that Ion Heliade Rădulescu's main goal was to encourage the rapid development of local literature to a European level.[67] Although he recognized, among other things, Heliade's merits of having removed pretentious boyar discourse from poetry and having favored regularrhyme,Paul Zarifopol accused him andGheorghe Asachi of "tastelessness" and "literary insecurity".[82] He elaborated: "Rădulescu was arguably afflicted with this sin more than Asachi, given his unfortunate ambitions of fabricating a literary language".[82]
Heliade's name is closely connected with the establishment ofRomanian-language theater, mirroring the activities of Asachi inMoldavia.[61][83] Ever since he partook in creatingSoţietatea Filarmonică and theBucharest Theater, to the moment of his death, he was involved in virtually all major developments in local dramatic and operatic art.[84] In August 1834, he was one of the intellectuals who organized the first show hosted bySoţietatea Filarmonică, which featured, alongside acavatina fromVincenzo Bellini'sIl pirata, Heliade's translation ofVoltaire'sMahomet.[85] In subsequent years, members of the association carried out the translation ofFrench theater and other foreign pieces, while encouraging Romanian-language dramatists, an effort which was to become successful during and after the 1840s (whenConstantin Aristia andCostache Caragiale entered their most creative periods).[86] Heliade himself advocateddidacticism in drama (defining it as "the preservation of social health"), and supported professionalism inacting.[87]
Ion Heliade Rădulescu made extensive use of theRomantic nationalist focus on history, which he initially applied to his poetry.[88] In this instance as well, the goal was to educate his public; he wrote: "Nothing is worthy of derision as much as someone taking pride in his parents and ancestors and nothing more worthy of praise than when the ancestors' great deeds serve as a model and an impulse for competition among descendants".[89] The main historical figure in his poetry is the late 16th centuryWallachian PrinceMichael the Brave, the first one to rally Wallachia, Moldavia andTransylvania under a single rule: celebrated in Heliade's poemO noapte pe ruinele Târgoviştii ("A Night on the Ruins ofTârgovişte"), he was to be the main character of a lengthyepic poem,Mihaiada, of which only two sections, written in very different styles, were ever completed (in 1845 and 1859 respectively).[90] Other historical poems also expanded on the ideal of a single Romanian state, while presenting the 1848 generation as a model for future Romanian politicians.[91]
Throughout the 1860s, one of Heliade's main interests was an investigation into the issues involving Romanian history during theorigin of the Romanians and theearly medieval history of theDanubian Principalities. At a time when, in Moldavia, the newly surfacedChronicle of Huru traced a political lineage of the country to theRoman Empire through the means of a narrative which was later proven to be entirely fictional, Heliade made use of its theses to draw similar conclusions regarding Wallachia.[92] Hisconservative views were thus expanded to the level ofhistoriographic thesis:[93][94] according to Heliade,boyars had been anegalitarian and permeable class, which, from as early as the times ofRadu Negru, had adopted humane laws that announced and welcomed those of theFrench Revolution (he notably claimed that thecounty-based administration was ademocratic one, and that it had been copied from theIsraelite model as depicted in the Bible).[93]
The ideal he expressed in a work of the period,Equilibru între antithesi ("A Balance betweenAntitheses") was moderateprogressivism, with the preservation of social peace.[95] InTudor Vianu's view, partly based on earlier assessments by other critics,Equilibru, with its stress on making political needs coincide with social ones through the means of counterweights, evidenced strong influences fromPierre-Joseph Proudhon's thought, as well as vaguer ones from that ofGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.[96] Nonetheless, his system parted withHegelianism in that, instead of seeking a balance between theGeist and existence, it considered the three states of human progress (Thesis, antithesis, synthesis) the reflection of amystical number favored throughout history.[69]
In parallel, Heliade worked on a vast synthesis of his ownphilosophy of history, based on his interpretation ofBiblical theology.[67] His 1858 work,Biblice ("Biblical Writings"), was supposed to form the first of four sections in a Christian history of the world.[67] Referring to this project, Călinescu defined Heliade's ideas as "interesting, no matter how naïve at times, in generalVoltairian andFreemason [in shape]".[69]Biblicele partly evidenced Heliade's interests in theTalmud andZohar-likegematria – with emphasis placed on the numbers 3, 7, and 10 – , as well as ample references to theSephirot.[69] One of his original thoughts on the matter was a reference to "deltas" (triangles) ofdeities – Elohim-Spirit-Matter and Spirit-Matter-the Universe.[69] A portion of Heliade Rădulescu's poems also draw on religious themes and discourse. According toGeorge Călinescu, the poet had attempted to create a parallel to bothThe Divine Comedy and the Bible, fromGenesis toRevelation, with a style influenced by Lamartine andVictor Hugo.[97]
Heliade was aware of the often negative response to his work: in a poem dedicated to the memory ofFriedrich Schiller, he expanded on the contrast between creation and social setting (in reference to mankind, it stressedTe iartă să faci răul, iar binele nici mort – "They forgive the evil committed against them, but never the good").[54] A noted author ofsatire, he used it as a vehicle to criticize social customs of his day, as well as to publicize personal conflicts and resentments.[98] As a maverick, he attacked political figures on both sides: conservatives who mimicked liberalism were the subject of hisAreopagiul bestielor ("TheAreopagus of the Beasts"), while many other of his post-1848 prose and poetry pieces mocked people on theleft wing of liberalism, most notablyC. A. Rosetti and his supporters.[99] During and after his exile, his conflicts withCezar Bolliac andIon Ghica also made the latter two the target of irony, most likely based on Heliade's belief that they intended to downplay his contributions to theWallachian Revolution of 1848.[100]
His autobiographical pieces, marked by acid comments onGreek-language education, and, in this respect, similar to the writings of his friendCostache Negruzzi, also display a dose of self-irony.[100] The enduring polemic withGrigore Alexandrescu, as well as his quarrel with Bolliac, formed the basis of hispamphletDomnul Sarsailă autorul ("Mr.Old Nick, the Author"), an attack on what Heliade viewed as writers whose pretensions contrasted with their actual mediocrity.[101] In other short prose works, Ion Heliade Rădulescu commented on the caricature-like nature ofparvenuBucharesters (the male prototype,Coconul Drăgan, was "an ennobled hoodlum", while the female one,Coconiţa Drăgana, always wished to be the first in line for theunction).[102]
In various of his articles, he showed himself a critic of social trends. During the 1830s, he reacted againstmisogyny, arguing in favor ofwomen's rights: "Who has made man create himself unfair laws and customs, in order for him to cultivate his spirit and forsake [women] into ignorance...?".[103] In 1859, after theJewish community inGalaţi fell victim to apogrom, he spoke out againstAntisemiticblood libel accusations: "Jews do not eat children in England, nor do they in France, nor do they inGermany, nor do they do so wherever humans have become humans. Where else are they accused of such an inhumane deed? Wherever peoples are stillBarbaric or semi-Barbaric".[104]
A large portion of Heliade's satirical works rely on mockery of speech patterns and physical traits: notable portraits resulting from this style include mimicking the manner of Transylvanian educators (with their strict adherence toLatinetymologies), and his critique of theexophthalmos Rosetti (with eyes "more bulged than those of a giant frog").[105][106] Without sharing Heliade's views on literature, the youngerTitu Maiorescu drew comparisons with his predecessor for launching into similar attacks, and usually in respect to the same rivals.[107]
A monument to Ion Heliade Rădulescu, sculpted by theItalian artistEttore Ferrari, stands in front of theUniversity building in central Bucharest. In addition to naming a lecture room after him, theRomanian Academy has instituted theIon Heliade Rădulescu Award – in 1880, it was awarded toBogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, for hisCuvinte den bătrâni, and worth 5,000 goldlei.[108] Ten years after, the prize was the center of a scandal, involving on one side the dramatistIon Luca Caragiale and, on the other, the cultural establishment formed around members of theNational Liberal Party, including Hasdeu andDimitrie Sturdza. The latter disapproved of Caragiale's anti-Liberal stance and his association withJunimea, as well as to hisanti-nationalism, dislike ofdidacticism, and allegedcosmopolitanism.[109][110] They thus refused to grant him the prize.[109][110]
A high school in his nativeTârgovişte bears the nameIon Heliade Rădulescu, as does a village in thecommune ofZiduri,Buzău County. The grave ofTake Ionescu, an influential political figure and one-timePrime Minister of Romania who was Heliade's descendant, is situated inSinaia Monastery, in the immediate vicinity of a fir tree planted by Heliade and his fellow 1848 revolutionaries.[111]
In his 1870 poemEpigonii ("TheEpigones"),Mihai Eminescu paid tribute to early Romanian-language writers and their contributions to literature. An entirestanza is dedicated to Heliade:
Eliad zidea din visuri şi din basme seculare
Delta biblicelor sânte, profeţiilor amare,
Adevăr scăldat în mite, sfinx pătrunsă de-nţeles;
Munte cu capul de piatră de furtune deturnată,
Stă şi azi în faţa lumii o enigmă nesplicată
Şi vegheaz-o stâncă arsă dintre nouri de eres.[112]
Out of dreams and secular tales, Eliad was building
The delta of Biblical saints, of bitter prophecies,
Truth bathed in myth, asphinx imbued with meaning;
A mountain with its head of stone misplaced by the storm,
He still stands today, before the world, as an unsolved enigma
And watches over a burnt rock from between clouds ofheresy.
During the early 1880s,Alexandru Macedonski and hisLiteratorul attempted to preserve Heliade's status and his theories when these were faced with criticism fromJunimea; by 1885, this rivalry ended in defeat for Macedonski, and contributed to the disestablishment ofLiteratorul.[113]
Although aJunimist for a large part of his life, Ion Luca Caragiale himself saw a precursor in Heliade, and even expressed some sympathy for his political ideals. During the 1890s, he republished a piece by Heliade in theConservative Party's main journal,Epoca.[105] One of Caragiale's most significant characters, the Transylvanian schoolteacherMarius Chicoş Rostogan, shares many traits with his counterparts in Heliade's stories.[105] Developing his own theory, he claimed that there was a clear difference between, on one hand, the generation of Heliade Rădulescu,Ion Câmpineanu, andNicolae Bălcescu, and, on the other, the National Liberal establishment formed aroundPantazi Ghica,Nicolae Misail andMihail Pătârlăgeanu – he identified the latter grouping withhypocrisy,demagogy, andpolitical corruption, while arguing that the former could have found itself best represented by the Conservatives.[114]
Comments about Heliade and his Bucharest statue feature prominently in Macedonski's short storyNicu Dereanu, whose main character, a daydreamingBohemian, idolizes the Wallachian writer.[115]Sburătorul, amodernist literary magazine of theinterwar period, edited byEugen Lovinescu, owed its name toZburătorul, making use of an antiquated variant of the name (a form favored by Heliade). During the same years,Camil Petrescu made reference to Heliade in his novelUn om între oameni, which depicts events fromNicolae Bălcescu's lifetime.[116]
In hisAutobiography, the Romanian philosopherMircea Eliade indicated that it was likely that his ancestors, whose original surname wasIeremia, had adopted the new name as a tribute to Heliade Rădulescu, whom they probably admired.[117]
H. Rădulescu, Costache Ion Bălăceanu, C. A. Rosetti, Vasile and Ion Alecsandri and C. Boliac, and A. I. Cuza trace a Greek ancestry.
Heliade Rădulescu (auch Eliade Rădulescu), Ion, rumänischer Schriftsteller und Politiker, * Tîrgovişte 18.01.1802, † Bukarest 9.05.1872, Sohn des Gendarmeriehauptmanns (căpitan de poteră) Ilie Rădulescu und der Griechin Eufrosina Danielopol.
