Vacarescu FAMILY,
Romanian boyars of Phanariote (Greek) origin, a gifted family
that gave the first poets to Romanian literature.
Ienachita (1740-99), after traveling and
studying in St. Petersburg and Vienna, wrote poems inspired
by Russian folk songs. He wrote the first Romanian grammar book
(Gramatica româneasca, 1787). His chief poems,
Amarîta turturea ("Sad Turtledove") and Testamentul,
reveal a high artistic level and a mastery of a rich Romanian
language. Ienachita's sons, Alecu (1765-99) and Nicolae (1784-1825), also wrote poems inspired by folk songs
and modern Greek anacreontics. They composed love poems and
satires.
Iancu (1792-1863), son of Alecu, was the most important writer
of the Vacarescu family. A poet several times
exiled for his anti-Russian activity, he was the first Romanian
playwright and also an able translator into Romanian of plays
by Jean Racine, Molière, and August von Kotzebue. His
Colectii de poezii ("Collected Poems") appeared in 1848.
Elena (also spelled Hélène; 1866-1947), a niece
of Iancu, was a poet and novelist who wrote in French. A maid
of honour of Queen Elizabeth of Romania, she had a love affair
with the Crown Prince (afterward King) Ferdinand; the marriage
was opposed by King Carol I, and Elena was exiled to Paris,
where she spent the rest of her life. She published many volumes
of lyrical verse: Chants d'aurore (1886: "Dawn Songs"),
for which she was awarded the prize of the French Academy; L'Âme
sereine (1896; "The Serene Soul"); Lueurs et flammes
(1903; "Gleams and Flames"); and Dans l'or du soir (1928;
"In the Gold of the Evening"). She also wrote a few novels.
In 1925 she was elected an honorary member of the Romanian Academy.
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