Anton Naum (January 17, 1829–August 27, 1917) was a

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...

n, later

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n poet and translator. Born in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

, his parents were Theodor Naum, a small-time merchant and landlord, and his wife Zamfira (''née'' Nactu); both were of Aromanian origin. He studied at ''

Academia Mihăileană Academia Mihăileană was an institution of higher learning based in Iași, Moldavia, and active in the first part of the 19th century. Like other Eastern European institutions of its kind, it was both a high school and a higher learning institut ...

'' in his native city. This was followed, from 1858 to 1865, by courses at the literature faculty of the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

and the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment (''grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ne ...

. Upon his return home in 1865 and until 1892, he began working as a high school teacher, offering classes in history and French at Iași's ''Institutele Unite'', Central High School, military school and Vasile Lupu Normal School. From 1868 to 1871, he was primary school inspector for the counties of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

Botoșani Botoșani () is the capital city of Botoșani County, in the northern part of Western Moldavia, Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu, Nicolae Iorga and Grigore Antipa. ...

Suceava Suceava () is the largest urban settlement and the seat town ( ro, oraș reședință de județ) of Suceava County, situated in the historical region of Bukovina, northeastern Romania, and at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central and Eastern E ...

, Neamț and

. In October 1897, he was called as a substitute professor at

Iași University The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mi ...

in place of the deceased

Ștefan Vârgolici Ștefan G. Vârgolici (October 13, 1843–) was a Moldavian, later Romanian poet, critic and translator. Born in Borlești, Neamț County, he attended secondary school at ''Academia Mihăileană'' in Iași, followed by the literature and philos ...

and began teaching in the department of modern Romance literature. He was soon made a full professor of French, retiring in 1907 but continuing to teach until 1909. A member of ''

Junimea ''Junimea'' was a Romanian literary society founded in Iași in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi. The foremost personali ...

'' since 1872, from that year he was a consistent contributor to the pages of its organ, ''

Convorbiri Literare ''Convorbiri Literare'' ( Romanian: ''Literary Talks'') is a Romanian literary magazine published in Romania. It is among the most important journals of the nineteenth-century Romania. History and profile ''Convorbiri Literare'' was founded by ...

'', writing original and translated poetry. He was the oldest member of the society, nicknamed "chaste Naum" for his modesty and reserve. His first book was ''Aegri somnia'' (1876), followed by ''Versuri'' (1890) and ''Povestea vulpei'' (1902). He became a corresponding member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

in 1887, and was elevated to titular status in 1893. He translated

Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (; 1 November 1636 – 13 March 1711), often known simply as Boileau (, ), was a French poet and critic. He did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, in the same way that Blaise Pascal did to reform the ...

(the entirety of ''L'Art poétique''),

Frédéric Mistral Joseph Étienne Frédéric Mistral (; oc, Josèp Estève Frederic Mistral, 8 September 1830 – 25 March 1914) was a French writer of Occitan literature and lexicographer of the Provençal form of the language. He received the 1904 Nobel P ...

(in 1882, he received a prize at the

Floral Games Floral Games were any of a series of historically related poetry contests with floral prizes. In Occitan, their original language, and Catalan they are known as ''Jocs florals'' (; modern Occitan: ''Jòcs florals'' , or ''floraus'' ). In French the ...

Forcalquier Forcalquier (; oc, Forcauquier, ) is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. Forcalquier is located between the Lure and Luberon mountain ranges, about south of Sisteron and west of the Durance river. Dur ...

for his rendition of ''

Mirèio ''Mirèio'' (; ''Mirèlha'' in classical norm, ) is a poem in Occitan by French writer Frédéric Mistral. It was written in 1859, after eight years of effort. Mirèio, a long poem in Provençal consisting of twelve songs, tells of the thwarted lo ...

s first canto),

André Chénier André Marie Chénier (; 30 October 176225 July 1794) was a French poet of Greek and Franco-Levantine origin, associated with the events of the French Revolution of which he was a victim. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precur ...

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rem ...

François Ponsard François Ponsard (1 June 1814 – 7 July 1867) was a French dramatist, poet and author and was a member of the Académie française. Biography Ponsard was born at Vienne, Isère in 1814 and trained as a lawyer. His first literary work wa ...

and

Alfred de Musset Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay (; 11 December 1810 – 2 May 1857) was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.His names are often reversed "Louis Charles Alfred de Musset": see "(Louis Charles) Alfred de Musset" (bio), Biography.com, 2007 ...

. His poems tended toward the classical but were receptive to pre-romantic and romantic rhetorical influences, in the same vein as

Barbu Paris Mumuleanu Barbu Paris Mumuleanu (1794 – May 21, 1836) was a Wallachian poet. Born in Slatina, Romania, Slatina, his father was originally from a village and sold trinkets. Initially employed as a logothete to the ''vistier'' (treasurer),Alexandru Piru, ''I ...

Vasile Cârlova Vasile Cârlova (; February 4, 1809 – September 18, 1831) was a Wallachian officer and early Romantic poet. Biography Born into a low-ranking Romanian boyar family in Buzău, Cârlova remained an orphan in 1816, and, after being adopted by ...

and

Grigore Alexandrescu Grigore Alexandrescu (; 22 February 1810, Târgovişte – 25 November 1885 in Bucharest) was a nineteenth-century Romanian poet and translator noted for his fables with political undertones. He founded a periodical, ''Albina Româneascǎ'' ...

. By his early 50s, Naum had become a depressed, aging bachelor with suicidal tendencies who suffered from extreme shyness toward women. However, at age 53, he married Ecaterina Pandeli, almost thirty years his junior. Naum then found renewed motivation in life, his looks improved, he abandoned his isolated existence, and his appetite for writing increased. The couple had two sons: Alexandru, who went on to teach art history at Iași;Lucian Nastasă, ''Intelectualii și promovarea socială'', p. 50, 102-03. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Limes, 2004. and philologist Teodor Naum.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, p. 179. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naum, Anton 1829 births 1917 deaths Writers from Iași Romanian people of Aromanian descent University of Paris alumni Academic staff of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Romanian poets Romanian translators Romanian schoolteachers Junimists Titular members of the Romanian Academy 20th-century translators 19th-century translators