3. His Backround and family
• Ion Creangă was born in Humulesti . The family had reached a significant
position within their community: Ştefan sin Petre had made a steady income
from his itinerant trade in wool, while his wife was the descendant of the
Creangăs of Pipirig, a family of community leaders. The latter's members
included Moldavian Metropolitan , as well as Smaranda's father, Vornic
David, and her uncle Ciubuc Clopotarul, a monk at Neamţ Monastery Proud of
this tradition, it was her who insisted for her son to pursue a career in the
Church. According to his own recollection, the future writer was born on March
1, 1837—a date which has since been challenged. Creangă's other statements
mention March 2, 1837, or an unknown date in 1836.The exactitude of other
accounts is equally unreliable: community registers from the period gave the
date of June 10, 1839, and mention another child of the same name being born
to his parents on February 4, 1842 (the more probable birth date of Creangă's
younger brother Zahei). The imprecision also touches other aspects of his
family life: noting the resulting conflicts in data, Călinescu decided that it was
not possible for one to know if the writer's parents were married to each other
(and, if so, if they were on their first marriage), nor how many children they
had together. At a time when family names were not legally required, and
people were primarily known by various nicknames and patronymics, the boy
was known to the community as Nică, a hypocorism formed from Ion, or more
formally as Nică al lui Ştefan a Petrei ("Nică of Ştefan of Petru", occasionally
Nic-a lui Ştefan a Petrei)
4. Biography
• Ion Creangă was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, raconteur and
schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th century Romanian literature, he is best
known for his Childhood Memories volume, his novellas and short stories,
and his many anecdotes. Creangă's main contribution to fantasy and
children's literature includes narratives structured around eponymous
protagonists ("Harap Alb", "Ivan Turbincă", "Dănilă Prepeleac"), as well as
fairy tales indebted to conventional forms ( "The Goat and Her Three
Kids"). Widely seen as masterpieces of the Romanian language and local
humor, his writings occupy the middle ground between a collection of
folkloric sources and an original contribution to a literary realism of rural
inspiration. They are accompanied by a set of contributions to erotic
literature, collectively known as his "corrosives".
• A defrocked Romanian Orthodox priest with an unconventional lifestyle,
Creangă made an early impact as an innovative educator and textbook
author, while pursuing a short career in nationalist politics with the group.
His literary debut came late in life, closely following the start of his close
friendship with Romania's national poet Mihai Eminescu and their common
affiliation with the influential conservative literary society Junimea.
Although viewed with reserve by many of his colleagues there, and
primarily appreciated for his records of oral tradition, Creangă helped
propagate the group's cultural guidelines in an accessible form. Later
criticism has often described him, alongside Eminescu, and Ioan Slavici, as
one of the most accomplished representatives of Junimist literature.
5. Ion Creangă as a deacon
Ion Creangă
His signature
Creangă's house in Humulesti
7. Was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager,
political commentator and journalist. He is considered one of the greatest Romanian
playwrights and writers, a leading representative of local humor, and a main
representative of Junimea, an influential literary society with which he parted during the
second half of his life.
Ion Luca Caragiale was born into a family of Greek descent, whose members first
arrived in Wallachia soon after 1812, during the rule of Prince Ioan Gheorghe Caragea—
Ştefan Caragiali, as his grandfather was known locally, worked as a cook for the court in
Bucharest.Ion Luca's father, who reportedly originated from the Ottoman capital of
Istanbul, settled in Prahova County as the curator of the Mărgineni Monastery (which, at
the time, belonged to the Greek Orthodox Saint Catherine's Monastery of Mount Sinai).
Known to locals as Luca Caragiali, he later built a reputation as a lawyer and judge in
Ploieşti, and married Ecaterina, the daughter of a merchant from the Transylvanian town
of Braşov.Her maiden name was given as Alexovici (Alexevici)or as Karaboa (Caraboa). She
is known to have been Greek herself,and, according to historian Lucian Nastasă, some of
her relatives were Hungarian members of the Tabay family.The Caragiali couple also had a
daughter, named Lenci.
Biography
8. Literary debut
• Ion Luca made his literary debut in 1873, at the age of 21, with
poems and humorous chronicles printed in G. Dem. Teodorescu's
liberal-inspired satirical magazine Ghimpele. He published relatively
few articles under various pen names—among them Car., the
contraction of his family name, and the more elaborate Palicar.He
mostly performed basic services for the editorial staff and its printing
press, given that, after Luca Caragiali died in 1870, he was the sole
provider for his mother and sister.Following his return to Bucharest,
he became even more involved with the radical and republican wing
of the liberal trend—a movement commonly referred to as "the
Reds". In June 1874, Caragiale amused himself at the expense of N.
D. Popescu-Popnedea, the author of popular almanacs, whose taste
he questioned. In 1878, Caragiale and Maiorescu left for Iaşi, where
they attended Junimea 's 15th anniversary, and where Caragiale
read his first draft of the celebrated play O noapte furtunoasă.
11. Biography
• Mircea Eliade (March 13.1907 – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian historian
of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of
Chicago . He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who
established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day. His
theory that hierophanies form the basis of religion, splitting the human
experience of reality into sacred and profane space and time, has proved
influential.One of his most influential contributions to religious studies
was his theory of Eternal Return, which holds that myths and rituals do
not simply commemorate hierophanies, but, at least to the minds of the
religious, actually participate in them.
• His literary works belong to the fantastic and autobiographical genres
.The best known are the novels Maitreyi ("La Nuit Bengali" or "Bengal
Nights"), Noaptea de Sânziene ("The Forbidden Forest"), Isabel şi apele
diavolului ("Isabel and the Devil's Waters") and Romanul Adolescentului
Miop ("Novel of the Nearsighted Adolescent"), the novellas Domnişoara
Christina ("Miss Christina") and Tinereţe fără tinereţe ("Youth Without
Youth"), and the short stories Secretul doctorului Honigberger ("The Secret
of Dr. Honigberger") and La Ţigănci ("With the Gypsy Girls").
12. Adolescence and literary debut
• After completing his primary education at the school on Mântuleasa Street, Eliade
attended the Spiru Haret National College in the same class as Arşavir Acterian,
Haig Acterian and Petre Viforeanu (and several years the senior of Nicolae
Steinhardt , who eventually became a close friend of Eliade's). Among his other
colleagues was future philosopher Constantin Noica and Noica's friend, future art
historian Barbu Brezianu.
• As a child, Eliade was fascinated with the natural world, which formed the setting
of his very first literary attempts, as well as with Romanian folklore and the
Christian faith as expressed by peasants. Growing up, he aimed to find and record
what he believed was the common source of all religious traditions. The young
Eliade's interest in physical exercise and adventure led him to pursue
mountaineering and sailing , and he also joined the Romanian Boy Scouts.
• With a group of friends, he designed and sailed a boat on the Danube , from
Tulcea to the Black Sea. In parallel, Eliade grew estranged from the educational
environment, becoming disenchanted with the discipline required and obsessed
with the idea that he was uglier and less virile than his colleagues. In order to
cultivate his willpower, he would force himself to swallow insects and only slept
four to five hours a night. At one point, Eliade was flunking four subjects, among
which was the study of Romanian language.
• Instead, he became interested in natural science and chemistry, as well as the
occult, and wrote short pieces on entomological subjects. Despite his father's
concern that he was in danger of losing his already weak eyesight, Eliade read
passionately. One of his favorite authors was Honoré de Balzac , whose work he
studied carefully. Eliade also became acquainted with the modernist short stories
of Giovanni Papini and social anthropology studies by James George Frazer.
15. Biography
• Lucian Blaga was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of
the interbellum period. He was a philosopher and writer highly acclaimed for his
originality, a university professor and a diplomat. He was born on 9 May 1895
in Lancrăm, near Alba Iulia,Romania, his father being an Orthodox priest. He did
not speak any words until he was four, and he later described his early childhood,
in an autobiographical work "The Chronicle and the Song of Ages", as "under the
sign of the incredible absence of word". In the poem "Self-Portrait" he describes
himself : "Lucian Blaga is silent like a swan.“
• His elementary education was in Sebeş (1902–1906), after which he attended the
"Andrei Şaguna" Highschool in Braşov (1906–1914), under the supervision of a
relative, Iosif Blaga, who happened to be the author of the first Romanian treatise
on the theory of drama. At the outbreak of the First World War, he began
theological studies at Sibiu, where he graduated in 1917. He published his first
philosophy article on the Bergson theory of subjective time. From 1917 to 1920, he
attended courses at the University of Vienna, where he studied philosophy and
obtained his PhD.
• Upon returning to the re-unified Romania, he contributed to the Romanian press
in Transylvania, being the editor of the magazinesCulture in Cluj ,and The
Banat in Lugoj.
16. • 1.The God Waits
Through the stubble-field
mice and calves
are playing
and the grapevines
hold
little toads
on their palms.
A dandelion
between my lips,
I wait for her
to come.
I just want to
pass my clean,
stretched-out fingers
through her hair,
through her hair
and then through the clouds
and to gather from them,
like from a spinning bundle,
wisps of lightning,
just as, in the fall,
you glean gossamer
from the air.
• 2.The soul of the village
Girl, put your hands on my knees
I think eternity was born in the
village
Here all thoughts are slower
And your heart pumps more seldom
As if it were not beating within your
chest,
But deep down underground.
Here can be healed the thirst for
redemption
And if your feet are bleeding
Just sit on humid ground.
Now that the evening comes
The soul of the village flies nearby
Like the aroma an freshly cut grass
Like smoke rising from the straw
roofs
Like a dance of young animals on
high tombs.
19. Biography
• Mihai Eminescu born Mihail Eminovici; January 15, 1850 – June
15, 1889) was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often
regarded as the most famous and influential
Romanian poet.Eminescu was an active member of
the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the
newspaper Timpul ("The Time"), the official newspaper of
the Conservative Party 1880–1918).His poetry was first published
when he was 16 and he went to Vienna to study when he was 19.
The poet's Manuscripts, containing 46 volumes and approximately
14,000 pages, were offered by Titu Maiorescu as a gift to the
Romanian Academy during the meeting that was held on January
25, 1902.[Notable works includeLuceafărul (The Vesper/The Evening
Star/The Lucifer/The Daystar), Odă în metru antic (Ode in Ancient
Meter), and the fiveLetters (Epistles/Satires). In his poems he
frequently used metaphysical, mythological and historical subjects.
In general his work was influenced by the German
philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer
20. Family
• His father was Gheorghe Eminovici from Călineşti,
a Romanian village in Suceava county, Bucovina, which was then
part of the Austrian Empire (while his father came from Banat). He
crossed the border into Moldavia, settling in Ipotești, near the town
of Botoșani. He married Raluca Iuraşcu, an heiress of an old
aristocratic Moldavian family. In a register of the members of
Junimea, Eminescu himself wrote down the date of his birth as
December 22, 1849 and in the documents of the Gymnasium
from Cernăuţi, where Eminescu studied, the date of December 14,
1849 is written down as his birthday. Nevertheless, Titu Maiorescu,
in his work Eminescu and His Poems (1889) quoted N. D. Giurescu's
researches and adopted his conclusion regarding the date and place
of Mihai Eminescu's birth, as being January 15, 1850, in Botoșani.
This date resulted from several sources, amongst which there was a
file of notes on christenings from the archives of the Uspenia
(Domnească) Church of Botoșani; inside this file, the date of birth
was „January 15, 1850” and the date of christening was the 21st, of
the same month. The date of his birth was confirmed by the poet's
elder sister, Aglae Drogli, who affirmed that the place of birth was
the village of Ipotești
21. Poetry
• His most notable poems are:
• Doina (the name is a traditional type of Romanian song), 1884
• Lacul (The Lake), 1876
• Luceafărul (The Vesper), 1883
• Floare albastră (Blue Flower), 1884
• Dorinţa (Desire), 1884
• Sara pe deal (Evening on the Hill), 1885
• O, rămii (Oh, Linger On), 1884
• Epigonii (Epigones), 1884
• Scrisori (Letters or "Epistles-Satires")
• Şi dacă (And if...), 1883
• Odă (în metru antic) (Ode (in Ancient Meter), 1883
• Mai am un singur dor (I Have Yet One Desire),1883
• La Steaua (At Star),1886
