Alexandru Depărățeanu (February 25, 1834–January 9, 1865) was a

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...

n, later

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n poet and playwright. Alexandru Deparateanu

Born in Roșiorii de Vede, his parents were Petru Depărățeanu and his wife Elisabeta (''née'' Altanlâu). He studied in his native town and at

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

's Saint Sava College, after which he went to the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

from 1856 to 1858, without earning a degree. From 1860 to 1865, Depărățeanu was deputy

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

of Teleorman and Târgului plăși, and in 1864 was a deputy to the Legislative Chamber. Depărățeanu's contributions appeared in ''Buciumul'', ''Seculul'' and ''Naționalul''. Two books of his poetry were published in 1861: ''Ciocoii vechi și ciocoii noi'' and ''Doruri și amoruri''. These were followed by his 1864 historical drama ''Grigorie Vodă – domnul Moldovei''. Among the first translators from Spanish to Romanian, he worked with a few '' romancero'' texts, finding convincing equivalent terms. His poetry bears all the marks of a transitional era and suffers from the lexical uncertainties of a language under the impact of French influence. Nevertheless, pre- Eminescian and even pre-

Symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

tones are dimly perceptible. As a playwright (aside from the 1864 work, he wrote a comedy in 1852, ''Don Gulică sau pantofiorii miraculoși'', that was published posthumously), he shows sufficient talent for creating scenes, even managing beautiful sequences in the Romance drama style. These are comparable to the achievements of

Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu (; 26 February 1838 – ) was a Romanian writer and philologist who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history. Life He was born Tadeu Hâjdeu in Cristineștii Hotinului (now Kerstentsi in Chernivtsi ...

and

Vasile Alecsandri Vasile Alecsandri (; 21 July 182122 August 1890) was a Romanian patriot, poet, dramatist, politician and diplomat. He was one of the key figures during the 1848 revolutions in Moldavia and Wallachia. He fought for the unification of the Roma ...

.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. I, p. 478. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deparateanu, Alexandru 1834 births 1865 deaths People from Roșiorii de Vede Saint Sava National College alumni 19th-century people from the Principality of Wallachia Romanian civil servants Romanian poets Romanian dramatists and playwrights Spanish–Romanian translators Romanian translators University of Paris alumni 19th-century translators Romanian expatriates in France