Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea

Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea

Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea around 1900

Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea (born April 11, 1858 in Bucharest , † April 29, 1918 in Iași ) was a Romanian writer , member of the Romanian Academy , speaker , lawyer , politician , mayor of Bucharest and minister . He is one of the most famous Romanian writers.

Education

The last son of a poor family was actually called “Albu”. So that he could learn to read and write, his parents placed him in the care of a deacon of the Orthodox Church “Sf. Gheorghe Nou ”. Due to his intelligence he was able to attend elementary school, which he left in 1869 under the name of "Ștefănescu Barbu ". After a year he received a scholarship, thanks to which he finished high school at the boarding school “Sf. Sava ”, where the teachers attested his talent and ability to adapt. The strict rules of upbringing that prevailed there and the oppressive atmosphere inspired him early on to make his first literary attempts.

In 1877 he first began studying medicine , but quickly switched to law at the University of Bucharest and received his doctorate in 1882.

writer

Soon after starting his studies, he published his first poems in the România liberă newspaper , followed by his first volume of poetry Poiana lungă - Amintiri , for which he received good reviews in the magazines Viața literară , România liberă and Familia . In the tradition of the time, he had only signed with his first name Barbu. Now he established himself as a writer and published under the name Barbu Delavrancea. He had chosen this name after the region he loved Vrancea (1884) and initially even signed “de la Vrancea”. In 1884, after returning from a two-year stay in Paris, during which he had deepened his legal knowledge through further studies, he successively published the works Șuier , Fanta-Cella , Iancu Moroi , Răzmirița , Palatul de cleştar and Odinioară . In the same year he represented the România liberă to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the " Junimea " society in Iași, where he became friends with Ion Luca Caragiale , whom he later successfully defended in a sensational trial. He also met Vasile Alecsandri .

Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea around 1915

Delavrancea's signature

In 1885 the author founded the newspaper "Epoca", of which he became editor-in-chief. Alexandru Vlahuță and Anghel Demetrescu were among his staff . Due to the increase in poverty in the population, he published his first socially critical articles, Cum suntem guvernați (How we are governed) and Fiii poporului și sărăcia poporului (The Sons of the People and the Poverty of the People).

Attracted by the personality of Bogdan Petriceicu-Haşdeu , he took an editorial position at his magazine Revista nouă . In addition to writing, Delavrancea became more and more involved in politics, which was expressed in the articles in the newspapers "Democrația" and "Voința națională". He also promoted the then young authors Mihail Sadoveanu and Dumitru Pătrășcanu , whose rich language he appreciated.

In 1899 he was elected mayor of Bucharest and held the office until 1901. He then continued to write, including Hagi-Tudose and Die Moldauische Trilogie , and he also served as Minister of State in various departments.

On May 12, 1912, he was accepted into the Romanian Academy (Academia Română) , whether his literary work .

He was the father of the pianist and writer Cella Delavrancea and of Henrieta Delavrancea , one of the first architects in Romania.

Politician

He was also active as a politician. He began his activities in this regard in the "Liberal Party", of which he remained until 1899. He then switched to the “Conservative Party”, which later enabled him to become the mayor of Bucharest.

In this position, despite disputes with the council members, he ensured that the capital's infrastructure was significantly improved. His most important achievements include the expansion of electric street lighting, the improvement of the supply of drinking water to the population, the contract to build new trams and the paving of streets with stones, such as the restoration of Strada Lipscani and Calea Victoriei.

In addition to his office as mayor, he also performed numerous other functions. He was a Member of Parliament in Putna , Mehedinți and Vaslui , Vice President of the Chamber, Minister of Public Works (1910–1912), and finally Minister of Industry and Trade (1917).

In his honor, numerous streets and boulevards in Romanian cities were named after him, except in Bucharest, among others in Baia Mare , Braşov , Constanța , Cluj-Napoca , Giurgiu , Iaşi, Oradea , Piteşti , Ploieşti , Satu Mare and Timişoara .

Works (selection)

Novellas and short stories

• Sultănica (1885)
• Apă și foc
• Sorcova
• Odinioară (1884)
• De azi și de demult
• Văduvele
• Liniște (1887)
• Paraziții (1892)
• Trubadurul (1887)
• Zobia
• Milogul
• Înainte de alegeri
• Iancu Moroiu (1884)
• Hagi-Tudose
• Domnul Vucea
• Bursierul
• Șuier (1884)
• Răzmerița
• Bunicul
• Bunica
• Boaca și Onea
• Micuții
• Angel Demetriescu
• Irinel

fairy tale

• Neghiniță
• Norocul dracului
• Moș Crăciun
• Palatul de cleştar (1884)
• Dăparte, dăparte
• Poveste
• Stăpânea odată (1909)

Poetry

• Nu e giaba cafea
• Sadi-el-Mahib
• Fanta-Cella (1884)
• Sentino

Dramas

• Trilogy of the Vltava
  • Apus de soare (1909)
  • Viforul (1910)
  • Luceafărul (1910)
• A doua conștiință
• Irinel (1912)
• Hagi-Tudose (1913)

Speeches (selection)

• Inocent (Innocent) (March 11, 1902 via Caragiale)
• Plagiarism against the publicist Constantin Alexandru Ionescu, who had accused Caragiale of plagiarism
• Din estetica poeziei populare (On the aesthetics of the folk poem) (May 22, 1913)
• Lecture on admission, spoken on the occasion of his admission to the "Romanian Academy" (May 12, 1912)
• Synthesis of his previous studies on folklore
• Patrie și patriotism (Fatherland and Patriotism) (January 24, 1915)
• Lecture in the "Ateneul Român", in front of the "Societatea Tinerimea Română".
• Pământ și drepturi (Plaice and Rights) (June 9, 1917) -
• Lecture given during the session of the Chamber (1917)

literature

• G. Călinescu: Istoria literaturii române de la origini până în prezent . Editura Minerva, Bucureşti 1984
• Constantin Cubleşan: Opera literară a lui Delavrancea . Editura Minerva, Bucureşti 1982
• Al. Săndulescu, Delavrancea , Bucureşti, Editura Albatros, 1975
• Delavrancea interpretat de ... , selecție de Al Săndulescu. Editura Eminescu, Bucureşti 1975
• Șt. Emilia Milicescu: Pe urmele lui Delavrancea . Editura Sport-Turism, București 1986
• Mircea Zaciu, Marian Papahagi, Aurel Sasu: Dicționarul scriitorilor români , vol. II. Editura Albatros, Bucureşti 1998.

Web links

Commons : Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ dreptonline.ro
2. ↑ ro.biography.name
3. ↑ see also: List of Mayors of Bucharest
4. ↑ revista.rrapl.ro  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ^ Stan Stoica (ed.): Dicţionar biografic de istorie a României . Editura Meronia, Bucureşti 2008
6. ↑ statscrop.com