"The God of genius absorbed me from the people as the sun absorbes a golden cloud from the pain sea".
National and universal poet
The total writer of the Romanian literature
Peerless poet
Tutelary genius of the Romanian culture
Creator of the literary language
Luminary of the Romanian culture
Heis born on the 15th of January 1850 in Botosani, the seventh of the eleven children of Gheorghe and Raluca Eminovici. He is baptised in Uspenia church, near his home, in the city center. The house, today dissapeared, was from his mother dowry. His father Gheorghe had the rank of collector of duties on spirits and worked as bailiff on an estate from Dumbraveni (on the way to Suceava). Between 1850-1856Mihai spends his childhood in Botosani and, of course, travels with his parents in a carriage to Durnesti estate, on the way to Prut river, taken on lease, to Agafton, Bucecea, Catamaresti, Cucorani etc. Between 1860-1863he attends the primary school. He obtains good results in the first year of study ("excellent" at Romanian language, "very good" at history), but in the second one he goes like a crawfish, neglecting Mathematics and Latin language, thus having to repeat it. He returns to Ipotesti, he is wipped again by his father, who takes him tied up to Cernauti. He repeats the second form but after Easter (1863) he is no longer in the class register. Mihai has another chance to continue his highschool studies in Cernauti, privately. He takes care of Aron Pumnul's library. But in January, at only 16 years, he is devastated by the death of his teacher. He cries heavily, knowing that spiritually he is the adoptive son of Aron Pumnul. In the evening he reads to his collegue Stefanelii the poem La moartea lui Aron Pumnul (At Aron Pumnul's death), composed in the same day. This is his first creation, published in a booklet of homage dedicated to this occasion: Lacramioarele învataceilor gimnazisti din Cernauti la moartea preaiubitului lor profesor Aron Pumnul (Lilies-of-the-valley of the pupils from Cernauti highschool at the death of their beloved teacher Aron Pumnul). He signs M. Eminoviciu, privatist.
In Ipotesti he has his first love. Casandra Elena is the daughter of Gheorghe Alupului and she is older than Mihai. She is like a white flower of sweet cherry tree. They are walking by the waterside, by the forest, to the enchanted lake. Later, Mihai finds out that the 19 years old girl was taken by the flying spirit, dieing of dropsy. Sad, he evokes her in: De-as avea, Din strainatate, Mortua est (in the begining titled Elena), Aveam o muza or Floare albastra.
He sends the poem De-as avea to the Familia magazine, led by Iosif Vulcan, who publishes it imediately (March 1866), changing his name from Eminovici to Eminescu. He travels a lot on foot to Blaj ("litlle Rome", about which Aron Pumnul had told him). With his boots torn and a perse on his back (with some books and copy book in which he has gathered some folklore), Mihai goes down the Hula hill to Blaj ("abode of the Romanian spirit"), he tries to take him exams, but does not succeed, not having learning conditions. He earns money, sleeps in an attic, eats plums with black bread and washes himself in Tarnava river (he is a good swimmer). He reads avidely the books from the library, he writes lirics in parks. His money from Ipotesti does not come in time, and he goes to Sibiu, in the search of his brother Neculai, but he was gone to Timisoara. It is autumn and he is in misery with bare feet. A theologist buys him some shoes. His passport has expired, and, being helped by Popa Bratu from Rasinari (the grandfather of the poet O. Goga), he crosses the Austro-Hungarian border clandestinely to his country Romania, through the mountains. On the 1st of September 1872 he reads at Junimea society the poem Egipetul and the short story Sarmanul Dionis. Impressed, the members of the society decide to support his studies in Berlin. Titu Maiorescu wanted him to be "doctor in philosophy" and his successor at the Iasi University. Eminescu studies at Humbolt University in Berlin several sources. Maiorescu sends him 100 ducats for his doctorate, but suddenly Eminescu leaves Berlin, renouncing to take the exams. He goes to Königsberg, the town of the philosopher Kant, searching documents about Romanians history. In the summer of 1874 he arrives in Iasi without taking his doctor title. Maiorescu names him director of the Central Library, he is sworning in before Stefan Micle, the rector and husband of Veronica. He is invited to the literary evenings of Veronica Micle. He teaches German at the Academic Institute. In 1875, being appointed by Maiorescu school reviser for Iasi and Vaslui counties, he visits many schools and makes detailed reports. He becomes good friend with Ion Creanga. His love for Veronica is growing. The period between 1875 and 1883 is the time of his masterpieces: Luceafarul, Scrisorile (5), Doina. In 1876 he leaves the newspaper after a conflict with other member from the staff. He leaves Iasi where he has created the pearls from the veronian cycle: Fat-Frumos din tei, Calin, Lacul, Dorinta, Peste vârfuri s.o. In 1883 it is published the first edition of Eminescu's poems, under Maiorescu’s supervision. His literary activity is stimulated by the collaboration with Titu Maioresc and „Junimea” literary society, by his friendship with Ion Creanga, Slavici and Caragiale. The most part of his poems are published in „Convorbiri Literare”, the most important literary magazine of the time. In the summer of 1883, the poet is hospitalized because of an old illness. He is taken first by his friends, and especially by Titu Maiorescu, to a sanatory led by the doctor Al. Sutu, then to a clinic in Vienna. But his illness has worsen and the poet returns to Bucharest, where he dies on the 15th of June 1889. He was buried in Bellu cemetery and many people participated to the ceremony: Lascar Catargi, the Prime Minister of the time, his good friends Titu Maiorescu, Mihail Kogalniceanu, Th. Rosetti and a lot of students and journalists. „Thus, the greatest Romanian poet disappeared”, wrote George Calinescu.
And If...
And if the branches tap my pane
And the poplars whisper nightly,
It is to make me dream again
I hold you to me tightly.
And if the stars shine on the pond
And light its sombre shoal,
It is to quench my mind's despond
And flood with peace my soul.
And if the clouds their tresses part
And does the moon outblaze,
It is but to remind my heart
I long for you always.
Mihai Eminescu
The Fundamental Motifs of the Eminescian Creation
The motif is a modality by which the theme is achieved in the literary creation. The term motif derives from the participle of the verb “motus” of the latin “ movere” (to move) , stating its significance in urging the action , role that it fulfills by its frequency within the literary creation. Many of the “motifs“ occur in epic creations but nevertheless in lyrical or dramatic creations also , yet beneficiating of a specific pattern within each literary genre .
In the universe of Mihai Eminescu` s poetry, there appear an abundance of motifs whose original artistic endeavors underline their unique, unmistakable resonance = the linden tree, the poplar tree, the lake, the moon, the sea, the stars, etc. These motifs – further to appear in the next table-, represent for the students an example that facilitates the introduction to a new concept within the universe of the eminescian creation.
The Motif /The poem
/ The quotaThe Woods / The story of the woods
Amidst the woods / “Highly praised King Woods does rule
countless creatures hid inside,
and all these flourishing arose
from grace of kingly wooden heart abide “
“Amidst the very being of the woods
spring out all feathery flocks of birds “
The Linden Tree / Linden Prince Charming / “Amidst the thickness of the woods – he got
Nearby the ancient and tall, the linden tree “
The Evening Star / “ Just beneath the linden trees aligned
Sat two lonely youngsters down “
The Desire / “ Just beneath the linden trees aligned
Sat two lonely youngsters down “
The Poplar Tree / Alongside rows of poplar trees / “Alongside rows of poplar trees
I used to come a lot “
And if ….. / “And if the twigs would drum the glass
And all the poplars would collide
Is for I keep thee in my mind
And gently draw you by “
The Evening Star / The Evening Star / “ Nearby the window , out of sight,
the Evening Star awaits”
The reed bent / Forget your world / “ Shivering the foaming waves
among the bent of reed these tear apart”
The Lake / “May the reed bent bring her by
To softly lay upon my chest”
The Locust Tree / Evening hill / “To gently smile and fall asleep beneath the height of Locust tree . Such night of wealth would worth a life “
Oh, mother / “Above the blackened holy grave in mourn
Wreath locust trees of wither autumn and the wind “
Blue Flower / Calin ( Tale Scripts) / “ Wet blue flowers shudder in the scented atmosphere “
…………………………………….
“For blue flowers spring throughout her hair and a star upon her head “
Blue Flower / Oh, blue flower! Oh, blue flower!
Yet the world is full of sorrow “
The Spring / The Desire / “ Come to the spring amidst the woods
Quivering spring of shingling grit “
Calin ( Tale Scripts) / “ Over there, nearby the spring, all the grass is made of snow”
The Lake / The Lake / “ The bluish lake of wooden lands
Burdened with yellow lilies all around “
The Fairy from the Tales / “ Near the lake, on which the clouds
Weaved the finest of the shadows “
The Sea / One crave more / “ You should let me die
on the shore of the sea “
The connections between Romanian and Universal literature
Though the notion of the universal literature, of the universal vision of the art is very old, the method of comparison in order to study literature, began to develop when the notion “the horizon of the universal literature” appeared, the horizon that includes the conscience that each national literature has some specific traits, but there are some common things for all of them.
In the XX century, the modern tendencies in the literature contributed to the approach of the literatures and to the extension of the literary values.
The comparison of the literatures arises the problem of relation between the general and the particular in each literature, between the universality and the specific traits of each national literature. This relation can be studied in different ways, for example: the relation between the countries and culture which can be seen in the art, the circulation of reasons, legends and myths, common literary categories. This work shows just a few examples which can prove the connection between our national literature and the universal one.
Balzac and the Romanian literature
In the Romanian literature since the beginning of the XIX century till nowadays Balzac played an important role in the development of the literature and this determined more levels of concordance, interference and assimilation of the “Human comedy”.
The proof that his works were well known in our country is attested by the fact that libraries from Iasi and Bucharest ordered his books in 1833. At the literary meetings in that period of time the most exciting and important subject was represented by his books.
To promote Balzac’s books two Romanian men of culture worked a lot: Heliade Radulescu and Mihail Kogalniceanu in the XIX century.
The study of Balzac’s work has great consequences in the Romanian literature. The assimilation of his method of creativity is done gradually, the necessity to apply it appears in the second half of the XIX century. B.P.Hasdeu in his study “The movement of the letters in the East” compares the novel “Musu Tachi Paspandachi” by I.V.Adrian with the novel “The clerk” by Balzac. In that period of time the concordance with the work of Balzac would be seen in the typology, the physiologies being grafted on the classical characters of La Bruiere (for example “The physiology of the provincials”). A deep expression of the physiology presented by Balzac is the prologue of the novel “Old and newboyars” by Nicole Filimon, where the character of a parvenu is described. The art of the typology also affects some portraits, for example the satiric portraits of Heliade or from the novels of B.P.Hasdeu. Balzac’s method was used and this can be noticed in the development of the novel. For example “The secrets of the heart” by Mihail Kogalniceanu, 1850 and “The old and new boyars” by Nicolae Filimon, 1863.
The last one represents an important event in the evolution of the Romanian realistic novel, and some tendencies from the novels of Balzac can be noticed: the conflict of the exponents of two social categories, the importance paid to the political and social contradictions, the creation of some typologies based on positive and negative characters, the physical portrait talking about moral features, the background which is important to define the mentality and the behaviour of the character, the special attention paid to the old documents, the local colour established with the help of the old language containing greek and neogreek aspects.
“The human comedy” is translated more and more at the end of the XIX century: Eugenie Grandet-1896, Father Goriot-1909, the colonel Chabert-1910, Gobseck-1911, Search of the absolute-1912, A dubious affair-1913, having a great impact on the Romanian realism. The relation of the Romanian literature is better consolidated during the inter-war period. The Romanian novelists try many narrative techniques of the modern novel (under the influence of Marcel Proust and Andre Gide or James Joyces), but in the same time there is a tendency to come back to the traditional models (Balzac)
George Calinescu is a supporter of Balzac both theoretically and practically. In some articles (“Some words about the novel”) he shows the human traits of Balzac’s novel which must be revealed by any novel which accomplishes its function of cognition. The novel “Otilia’s enigma” (1938) has a certain esthetic value through the complexity of the narrative method, the predominant being that of Balzac: the creation of the social fresco of Bucharest at the beginning of the XX century, the themes treated by Balzac (the theme of paternity, the theme of inheritance, the theme of marriage), the careful description of the background, the classical typology (the type of the greedy man, the type of the parvenu), the art of the detail.
Some works by Sadoveanu explain the influence of Balzac.
The aspiration to build a new “Human Comedy” can be seen at the Romanian author Cezar Petrescu who realized a big literary project, made of 15 novels, novels that showed and investigated the relations and the social process of that period, novels that investigated the relations and the psychological process of the human being. The title of this literary project is “The chronicle of the XX century” and the titles of the cycles are almost similar with the titles found in the creation of Balzac. For example “Peace and war” and Balzac has “Scenes from military life.”, “The markets where you can die” and Balzac has “ Scenes about the life in the province”, “ The capital that kills” and “Scenes about the life of the partisans”.
G. Calinescu says that the tendency to make a huge portrait of the human personalities is the main element of the realism, his work being “the richest one in characters and social levels” from all the Romanian literature. The author tried to investigate the various levels of the society of that period, presenting human personalities, manners, the social and political fresco (the problem of the intellectual, the agricultural problem, the personal tragedy of the poor person, the world of the businessmen without any scruples, the social simulations after the second world war)
The critic Ovid Crohmalniceanu notices in the “Romanian literature between the two wars” the influence of Balzac, but also in some novels written after the second world war: foe example “ Poor Ioanide”-1955, “ The black chest of drawers”-1960 by George Calinescu or “ the end of the era in Bucharest”-1944 by Ion Marin Sadoveanu.
Present at all the levels of the evolution of the Romanian novel, the work of Honore de Balzac remains the stimulus of the original creation in this vast domain of the novel, contributing to the whole universal literature.
Mihai Eminescu and Lermotov