ALECSANDRI, VASILE. - Romanian writer and politician intimately linked to the political and artistic life of his people, b. 1819, d. 1890. A revolutionary of '48, he fought in the Crimea. As Minister of Foreign Affairs he vigorously championed the cause of independence and national unity with Napoleon III and Victor Emmanuel II. His appointment as minister plenipotentiary later brought him back to France for another five years, at the end of which he retired to the quiet of his Mircesti, where he died.
Of a balanced and reserved nature, a conservative in politics and a sincere patriot, he had a predilection for and a fairly broad knowledge of French literature (in France, indeed, he obtained his baccalaureate), feeling its profound influence throughout his life, whereas from Italy, to which he was bound by spontaneous enthusiasm and by the memory of his love affair with Elena Negri, he derived only a vein of exoticism of a landscape character (Il lago di Como, La gondola che passa, etc.) or of a patriotic character, as in the verses A Polestro, A Magenta, A Solferino, Al bersagliere morente, written during the campaign of '59, of whose events he was a direct witness.
A sincere poet though not of lofty flight, whose vision is often disturbed by literary reminiscences, the meritorious first editor of Romanian folk songs finely elaborated (1866), a passionate singer of national glories, he left several collections of purely lyrical tone (Doine si lâcrâmiare, Suvenire, from 1842-52), or folkloric-patriotic as well as erotic (Mârgâritârele, from 1852-62 and Ostasii noştri si legende noua, from 1880) or epic-legendary (Legende, Varii), achieving his highest note of poetry in the Pasteluri (1862-75) of vivid local or exotic color, in which the memory of Lamartine, of Hugo and sometimes even of Gautier often steals in. And various and contradictory French influences, from Molière to Scribe, Labiche, Hugo, Augier, permeate even his dramatic production, to which belong three verse dramas (Despot-Vodâ, Ocidin, Fântâna Blandusiei) and numerous comedies.
Affectionately attached to the Provençal movement of the Félibriges (Mistral translated some of his poems into Provençal), he wrote a Song of the Latin race (Cântecul gintei latine) which was awarded a prize at the international Latin festivals of Montpellier (1882).
A passionate traveler, besides a youthful novella on an Italian subject, La fioraia fiorentina, he left us the sprightly prose of his travel journals and reports of his diplomatic missions. On the commission of King Carol he organized the Romanian Academy on the model of the Institut de France.
Bibliography10 works
Jole Scudieri Ruggieri