Duiliu Zamfirescu

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Duiliu Zamfirescu

Pseudonym: Don Padil
Born: October 30, 1858
Dumbrăveni, Vrancea County
Died: June 30, 1922
Agapia
Occupation: novelist, poet, short story writer, journalist, memoirist, politician, diplomat, lawyer, schoolteacher
Nationality: Romanian
Writing period: 1877–1920
Genres: fiction, lyric poetry, autobiography
Literary movement: Romanticism
Literatorul
Junimea
Influences: Alexandru Macedonski, Leo Tolstoy, Titu Maiorescu

Duiliu Zamfirescu (October 30, 1858-June 30, 1922) was a Romanian novelist, poet, short story writer, lawyer, nationalist politician, journalist, diplomat and memoirist. In 1909, he was elected a member of the Romanian Academy, and, for a while in 1920, he was Foreign Minister of Romania. Zamfirescu is best remembered for his Comăneştenilor literary cicle, comprising his novels Viaţa la ţară, Tănase Scatiu, În război, Îndreptări and Anna.

[edit] Biography

Born in Plăineşti, Râmnicu Sărat County (present-day Dumbrăveni, Vrancea County), he attended elementary school and gymnasium in Focşani, and later studied at the Matei Basarab High School in Bucharest (1873-1876), before entering the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Law.[1] He graduated in 1880.[2]

Zamfirescu made his debut with a series of poems in Ghimpele review in 1877, and, later in the same year, became an enthusiastic supporter of the Romanian war effort during the Independence War, an experience which placed its mark on his later works and choice of subjects.[3] Three years later, he became associated with Alexandru Macedonski's Literatorul, a circle of Symbolist writers, publishing a Romantic poem titled Levante şi Kalavryta ("Levante and Kalavryta").[4] Also in 1880, he was appointed to an attorney position in the Northern Dobrujan town of Hârşova, while being employed, until 1884, as literary columnist for România Liberă, writing articles in which he declared his distaste for naturalism,[5] as well as distancing himself from the Realism of his contemporaries Ion Luca Caragiale and Ioan Slavici (despite common perception, he claimed he had "nothing in common" with the latter two).[6] At the time, he also contributed political articles under the pen name Don Padil.[7]

In 1882, after briefly serving as a prosecutor in Târgovişte and resigning, Zamfirescu moved back to Focşani, where he practiced law and was a French language substitute teacher.[8] Later in the same year, he settled in Bucharest and joined România Liberă's editorial staff, publishing his first volume of prose, Fără titlu ("Untitled"), in 1883.[9] Zamfirescu authored his debut novel, În faţa vieţii ("Facing Life") in 1884 — the work was noted for the chapter "Pesimistul de la Soleni" ("The Pessimist of Soleni"), a satire of socialist thinker Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea.[10] In 1885, he entered a competition for the office of legation Attaché, and was consequently employed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while teaching Romanian language at the Sf. Gheorghe High School.[11] He entered the Junimea circle and began writing for its journal, Convorbiri Literare, bringing his writings to the attention of Titu Maiorescu,[12] while becoming a regular in the literary circle formed around the restaurant Casa Capşa.[13]

Ultimately, in May 1885, Zamfirescu was dispatched to Italy, as legation secretary in Rome, a position which he filled until 1906, with a hiatus (1892-1894) during which he was asigned to Greece and later Belgium.[14] He was a colleague of Dimitrie Ghyka,[15] and remembered for welcoming the ethnic Romanian Transylvanian activist Badea Cârţan during the latter's celebrated trip to the Italian capital (1896).[16] Zamfirescu married an Italian woman who died in 1920.[17]

An enthusiastic admirer of Leo Tolstoy's writings, he began work on a monograph entirely dedicated to the latter (excerpts of which were first published in 1892 issues of Convorbiri Literare).[18] With his 1894 volume of poetry Alte orizonturi ("Other Horizons"), Zamfirescu entered a prolific phase of his literary career: in 1894-1895, Convorbiri Literare serialized his novel Viaţa la ţară ("Life in the Country"), followed in 1895-1896 by Tănase Scatiu, and, in 1897-1898, În război ("At War");[19] in 1895, he also published his collected novellas (Nuvele romane, "Roman Novellas"), followed by the poetry volumes Imnuri păgâne ("Pagan Hymns", 1897), and Poezii nouă ("New Poems", 1899).[20] Between 1901 and 1902, his novel Îndreptări ("Betterments") was serialized by the magazine Literatură şi Artă Română, which was a sign of cooling relations between Zamfirescu and his mentor Maiorescu (nevertheless, Convorbiri Literare continued to publish Zamfirescu's novel Anna in 1906).[21] He apparently strived to include in his work both major tendencies of 19th century Romanian literature — "art for art's sake" as preached by Maiorescu and the "tendentious art" notably advocated by Dobrogeanu-Gherea.[22]

In 1909, Zamfirescu was accepted to the Academy, and delivered a much-discussed speech on the influence of Poporanism in literature.[23] The same year, he was named a Minister Plenipotentiary and the Romanian Kingdom's envoy to the Danube Commission.[24] His Furfanţo volume of short stories and his novel Lydda were both printed in 1911.[25]

During World War I, following the occupation of southern Romania by the Central Powers, Zamfirescu followed Romanian authorities in their Iaşi refuge.[26] By late 1918, he became a founding member of the People's Party,[27] led by General Alexandru Averescu, and edited the Iaşi-based voice of the movement, Îndreptarea.[28] Under the second Averescu cabinet, Zamfirescu served as Foreign Minister in March-June 1920, and then as President of the Chamber of Deputies.[29] In July 1921, he was involved in projects to crown King Ferdinand I as "King of Greater Romania".[30]

Duiliu Zamfirescu's last published works were his poetry volume Pe Marea Neagră ("On the Black Sea", 1919) and a collection of autobiographical pieces and short stories, O muză ("A Muse", 1920).[31] He died at Agapia in 1922, and was buried in Focşani's southern cemetery.[32]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLIII
  2. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLIII
  3. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLIII
  4. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLIV
  5. ^ Cristea, p.XXXVII; Săndulescu, p.XLIV
  6. ^ Zamfirescu, in Cristea, p.XXXVII
  7. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLIV
  8. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLIIV
  9. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLIV
  10. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLIV
  11. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLIV-XLV
  12. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLIV-XLV
  13. ^ Şontică
  14. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLV
  15. ^ Ghyka
  16. ^ Luica
  17. ^ Ghyka
  18. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLV
  19. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLV
  20. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLV
  21. ^ Săndulescu, p.XLV-XVI
  22. ^ Cristea, p.XLI
  23. ^ Săndulescu, p.XVI
  24. ^ Săndulescu, p.XVI
  25. ^ Săndulescu, p.XVI
  26. ^ Săndulescu, p.XVI
  27. ^ Scurtu
  28. ^ Săndulescu, p.XVI
  29. ^ Săndulescu, p.XVI
  30. ^ Kirileanu
  31. ^ Săndulescu, p.XVI
  32. ^ Săndulescu, p.XVI

[edit] References

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