Densusianu, Ovid

(b. Dec. 29, 1873, Fagaras, Rom.--d. June 9, 1938, Bucharest), folklorist, philologist, and poet who introduced trends of European modernism into Romanian literature.

Educated at Iasi and later in Berlin and Paris, Densusianu was appointed professor of Romance languages at the University of Bucharest. Strongly influenced by western European Symbolism, he opposed the bucolic school of writing then established in Romania and in 1905 founded the opposition review Viata Noua ("New Times"), which he published for 20 years. In French he wrote Histoire de la langue roumaine (1901-14; "A History of the Romanian Language"); in Romanian, Dictionar general al limbii Române (1909; "A General Dictionary of the Romanian Tongue"), Flori alese din cântecele poporului (1920; "An Anthology of the Songs of the People"), the poems Raze pe lespezi (1920; "Sunlight on the Paving Stones"), and Literatura româna moderna (1920-33; "Modern Romanian Literature"). His poetry is published under the pseudonym Ervin.

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