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Vasile Alecsandri | |
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| Born | 21 July 1821 |
| Died | 22 August 1890 (1890-08-23) (aged 69) |
| Occupation(s) | Poet,playwright, politician, anddiplomat |
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Vasile Alecsandri (Romanian pronunciation:[vaˈsilealeksanˈdri]; 21 July 1821 – 22 August 1890) was aRomanian patriot,[1][2][3] poet, dramatist, politician and diplomat.[4] He was one of the key figures during the 1848 revolutions inMoldavia andWallachia. He fought for the unification of theRomanian Principalities, writing "Hora Unirii" in 1856 and giving up his candidacy for the title ofprince of Moldavia, in favor ofAlexandru Ioan Cuza. He became the first minister of foreign affairs ofRomania and was one of the founding members of theRomanian Academy. Alecsandri was a prolific writer, contributing to Romanian literature with poetry, prose, several plays, and collections of Romanian folklore, being considered, alongsideMihai Eminescu, which admired and was inspired by the writings of Alecsandri, as one of the most important Romanian writers in the second half of the 19th century.
Alecsandri was born in theMoldavian town ofBacău and he was ofGreek origin. His parents were Vasile Alecsandri, a middle-rankingnobleman,[5] from the nobleGreek family of Alecsandri,[6] and Elena Cozoni, aRomanianizedGreek woman.[5] They had seven children, of which three survived: one daughter, Catinca, and two sons, Iancu — a future armycolonel – and Vasile.
The family prospered in the lucrative business ofsalt andcerealstrade. In 1828, they purchased a large estate inMircești, a village nearSiret River. The young Vasile spent time there studying with a devoutmonk fromMaramureș, Gherman Vida, and playing with Vasile Porojan, aGypsy boy who became a dear friend. Both characters would later appear in his work.
Between 1828 and 1834, he studied at the Victor Cuenim "pensionnat", an elite boarding school for boys inIași. He moved toParis in 1834, where he dabbled inchemistry,medicine, andlaw, but soon abandoned all in favor of what he called his "lifelong passion",literature. He penned his first literary essays in 1838 inFrench, which he had mastered to perfection during his stay in Paris. After a brief return home, he left forWestern Europe again, visitingItaly,Spain, and southernFrance.
A year later, Alecsandri attended a party celebrating the name day of Costache Negri, a family friend. He there fell in love with Negri's sister. The 21-year-old and not long divorced Elena Negri responded enthusiastically to the 24-year-old youngster's love declarations. Alecsandri began writing love poems until a sudden illness forced Elena to head abroad toVenice. He met her there, where they shared two torrid months.
They cruised toAustria,Germany, and to Alecsandri's former romping grounds, France. Elena's chest illness aggravated in Paris, and after a brief stint in Italy, they both boarded a French ship to return home 25 April 1847. Tragedy struck on the ship, when Elena died in her lover's arms. Alecsandri channeled his mourning into a poem, "Steluța" (Little Star). Later, he dedicated his "Lăcrimioare" (Little Tears) collection of poems to her.
In 1848, he became one of the leaders of therevolutionary movement based in Iași. He wrote a widely read poem urging the public to join the cause, "Către Români" (To Romanians), later renamed "Deșteptarea României" (Romania's Awakening). Together with Mihail Kogălniceanu and Costache Negri, he wrote a manifesto of the revolutionary movement in Moldavia, "Dorințele partidei naționale din Moldova" (Wishes of the National Party of Moldavia).
However, as revolution failed, he fled Moldavia throughTransylvania and Austria, moving on to Paris, where he continued to write political poems.
After two years, he returned to a triumphant staging of his new comedy, "Chirița în Iași". He toured the Moldavian countryside, collecting, reworking, and arranging a vast array of Romanian folklore, which he published in two installments, in 1852 and 1853. The poems included in these two enormously popular collections became the cornerstone of the emerging Romanian identity, especially the ballads "Miorița", "Toma Alimoș", "Mânăstirea Argeșului", and "Novac și Corbul." His volume of original poetry, "Doine și Lăcrămioare", further cemented his reputation.
Broadly revered in Romanian cultural circles, he oversaw the establishment of "România Literară", to which writers from both Moldavia and Wallachia contributed. He was one of the most vocal unionists, supporting the union the two Romanian provinces, Moldavia and Wallachia. In 1856, he published in Mihail Kogălniceanu's newspaper, Steaua Dunării, the poem "Hora Unirii", which became the anthem of the unification movement.
The end of 1855 saw Alecsandri pursuing a new romantic interest, in spite of promises made to Elena Negri on her deathbed. At age 35, the now renowned poet and public figure fell in love with the young Paulina Lucasievici, the daughter of an innkeeper. The romance moved at a lightning pace: they moved in together to Alecsandri's estate at Mircești and, in 1857, their daughter Maria was born.
Alecsandri found satisfaction in the advancement of those political causes he had long championed. The two Romanian provinces united and he was appointed minister of External Affairs byAlexandru Ioan Cuza. He toured the West, pleading to some of his friends and acquaintances in Paris to acknowledge the newly formed nation and support its emergence in the turbulentBalkan area.[7]
The diplomatic tours tired him. In 1860, he settled in Mircești for what would be the rest of his life. He married Paulina more than a decade and a half later, in 1876.
Between 1862 and 1875, Alecsandri wrote 40 lyrical poems, including "Miezul Iernii, "Serile la Mircești, "Iarna," "La Gura Sobei", "Oaspeții Primăverii", and "Malul Siretului." He also dabbled in epic poems, collected in the volume "Legende", and he dedicated a series of poems to the soldiers who participated in theRomanian War of Independence.[citation needed] He also wrote the lyrics ofȘtefan Nosievici'smarch "Drum bun".[8]
In 1879, his "Despot-Vodă" drama received the award of theRomanian Academy. He continued to be a prolific writer, finishing a fantastic comedy, "Sânziana și Pepelea," (1881) and two dramas, "Fântâna Blanduziei" (1883) and "Ovidiu" (1884).
In 1881, he wroteTrăiască Regele (Long Live the King), which became the national anthem of theKingdom of Romania from 1884 until the abolition of the monarchy in 1947.
Alecsandri was also a member of theMacedo-Romanian Cultural Society.[9]
Long suffering fromcancer, Alecsandri died in 1890 at his estate in Mircești.[7]
Alecsandri had an important political career. He was one of the supporters of slave emancipation. He was allegedlyantisemitic,[10] although, according to some Romanian historians (includingNeagu Djuvara), he had distant Jewish roots.[11][12][13][14]
The appearance of the literary stereotype of the "Polish Jew," or Ostjude, in Romanian literature was largely due to Vasile Alecsandri, the most important and most popular writer of the time. The Jew was depicted with sidecurls, and caftan, he used characteristic jargon and was portrayed as having "typical" personality traits — he was an unscrupulous cheat, a profit–hungry usurer, an exploiter and "poisoner" of the peasant.[15]
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Gaster, Moses (1911). "Alecsandri, Vasile". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 538–539.
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