- Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu (
31 October 1881 —1943) was aRomania n modernist literary historian, literary critic,academic , and novelist, who in 1919 established the "Sburătorul " literary club. He was the father ofMonica Lovinescu , and the uncle ofHoria Lovinescu ,Vasile Lovinescu , andAnton Holban . He was elected to theRomanian Academy postumously, in 1991.Biography
Born in
Fălticeni , he was a graduate of theUniversity of Bucharest 's Faculty of Classical Languages and briefly worked as a highschool teacher inPloieşti . He made his literary debut in the literary supplement of "Adevărul ", and became permanently featured in the periodical "Epoca", as the author of pieces on "Sămănătorul " 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 his
doctorate inParis for his work onJean-Jacques Weiss , and an additional history on the accounts 19th century French travelers gave ofGreece . Both were praised byÉmile Faguet .Lovinescu was posthumously elected to the
Romanian Academy .Views
Building on the legacy of
Titu Maiorescu , Lovinescu aimed to show that both the author and critic are never cut out from their social and cultural environments. He opposed Garabet Ibrăileanu's "theory 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 a "group mind"; it also adhered to the esthetical tenets ofImpressionism .The main advocate of Modernism, Lovinescu rejected the proccupation of
Romanian populism and the "Sămănătorul" group had with rural themes, arguing in favour of novels with an urban setting. His "Sburătorul" published works by a new generation of writers, realists to symbolists to earlyavant-garde :Camil Petrescu ,Ion Barbu ,Tudor Vianu ,Liviu Rebreanu ,Benjamin Fondane ,Ilarie Voronca ,Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu , and many others.The polemic with "Sămănătorul" extended over decades: Lovinescu is also remembered for his rejection of Nicolae Iorga's thesis on the origin of
Hospodar s 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 ofEurope , Lovinescu pointed out that some of the very firstvoivode s mentioned seemed to have been perfectly familiar with feudal relations, and well-integrated in European culture (for example, he pointed out that works at Curtea de Argeş Monastery had unearthed the remains of a hospodar dressed in accordance with European fashion of the time).Major works
* "The History of Modern Romanian Civilisation" (I-III)
* "The History of Contemporary Romanian Literature" (I-IV)
* "Critical Essays" (10 volumes)
* "Memoirs" (I-III).
* "T. Maiorescu" (I-II),
* "T. Maiorescu and His Contemporaries" (I-II);
* "T. Maiorescu and His Legacy in Criticism"His arguably most famous epics are the two novels about
Mihai Eminescu 's loves: "Mite" (1934) - centered onMite Kremnitz , and "Bălăuca" (1935) - aboutVeronica Micle .Eugen Lovinescu was a noted translator of works in
Latin andAncient Greek , as well as the author ofRomanian language textbooks.
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