National Romanticism: The Formation of National Movements

Mihai Eminescu: Political articles

MIHAI EMINESCU: POLITICALARTICLES Title: ‘Românul’ a contractat năravul (‘Românul’ has acquired the habit); Pseudo-‘Românul’ în ‘Semibarbaria’ lui (Pseudo-‘Romanian’ in its ‘semi-barbarity’); Dar, domnilor, Mi-e ruşine (But, Gentlemen, I am ashamed) Originally published: ‘Românul’ a contractat năravul in Timpul (29 July 1881); Pseudo-‘Românul’ în ‘Semibarbaria’ lui in Timpul (25 October 1881); ‘Dar, domnilor, Mi-e ruşine’remained in manuscript Language: Romanian The excerpts used are from Mihai Eminescu, Opere (Bucharest: Ed. Academiei , 1985), vol. XII, pp. 266–268, 378–379; and Opere (Bucharest: Ed. Academiei, 1980), vol. IX, pp. 459–460. About the author Mihai Eminescu (originally Eminovici) [1850, Botoşani (Bukovina) – 1889, Bucharest ]: Poet and journalist. In 1860, he began his schooling in Czernowitz (Rom. Cernăuţi, Ukr. Chernovci). He failed the second grade and went to Sibiu (Hun. Nagyszeben, Ger. Hermannstadt) in Transylvania. In 1864, he returned to Czernowitz and enrolled at a private lycée. Shortly thereafter, however, he joined a theater company. His father managed to get him back to Czernowitz, where Eminescu published his first poem. However, he abandoned school again and joined the theater company of Iorgu Caragiale, the uncle of the playwright Ion Luca Caragiale. He continued writing poetry and published in Familia, a prestigious literary journal in Transylvania edited by Iosif Vulcan (1841–1907). It was Vulcan who changed Mihai ’s name from Eminovici to Eminescu. In 1869 he enrolled at the University of Vienna. There he participated in the foundation of the student association România Jună (‘Young Romania’). In 1871 the association organized a famous celebration at Putna Monastery in memory of Moldavia’s glorious voivode, Stephen the Great (r. 1457–1504). In 1872 Eminescu received a scholarship from ‘Junimea,’ a literary association founded in 1861 in Iaşi, and went to Berlin to continue his studies. In 1874, having failed to obtain a doctorate, Eminescu returned to Iaşi, where he became a school inspector and later the director of the Central Library. In 1877, persuaded by Caragiale and Ioan Slavici (1848–1925), he moved to Bucharest and worked until 1883 for the journal Timpul (The time), the main conservative newspaper of the period. From 1884 he was constantly hospitalized and died in miserable MIHAI EMINESCU: POLITICAL ARTICLES 195 conditions in 1889. While he was relatively marginal during his lifetime, Eminescu emerged as the most important figure of the modern Romanian ‘cultural canon.’ It was the literary critic, Titu Maiorescu (1840–1917), who acknowledged the literary talent of the young poet and published his first volume of poetry in 1883. Later on, Eminescu was declared not only the greatest Romanian poet, but also the father of Romanian ethnic nationalism, as opposed to the liberal nationalism of the generation of 1848. During the decades of ‘national communism,’ he was also greatly manipulated by ‘autochthonist’ authors (Ilie Bădescu and Zoe Dumitrescu-Buşulenga) and radical nationalists (Ion Lăncrănjan and Corneliu Vadim-Tudor). Main works: Poesii [Poems] (1883); Proză şi Versuri [Prose and poems] (1890); Nuvele [Novels] (1893); Literatura populară [Popular literature] (1902); Scrieri politice şi literare [Political and literary writings] (posthumous collection, 1905). Context Romania gained independence in 1878 and was proclaimed a kingdom in 1881. The international consolidation of the new state was matched by a series of domestic reforms. Moreover, Romanian politics experienced a period of ideological consolidation, during which two main political groups emerged: liberal and conservative. The Liberal Party was formed in 1875. It claimed to represent the revolutionary tradition of 1848 and advocated the modernization of Romanian society based on the Western European model. The establishment of the Conservative Party followed in 1876. It invoked the autochthonous Romanian tradition as its main source of legitimacy and urged that Romania’s rural character should be preserved. The liberals dominated Romanian politics for a long period (between 1876 and 1888). During this period a new generation of liberal politicians emerged on the political scene. The liberal leaders who had participated in the revolution of 1848 and played a major role in the unification of 1859, such as Mihail Kogălniceanu, C. A. Rosetti and Ion C. Brătianu, were replaced in the 1880s by a new group of politicians. This new generation, which included Nicolae Fleva, Mihail Pherekyde, Eugen Carada, Vasile Lascăr, P. S. Aurelian and Ion I. C. Brătianu, lacked the political credibility of the ‘founding fathers’ of the Liberal Party. Corruption and internal political struggles characterized the...