Octav Botez (born Panaite-Octavian Botez; May 15, 1884–September 25, 1943) was a

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 literary critic and historian. Born in Iași, his father Panait was a general in the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces ( ro, Forțele Terestre Române) is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Lan ...

, his mother was Smaranda (''née'' Nastasachi) and his brother was Eugeniu Botez. He attended primary school in the Sărărie neighborhood, followed by the National College and then the literature faculty of the

University of Iași 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 M ...

, where he studied between 1901 and 1906. His first published work appeared in 1904 in

Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol (; March 23, 1847, Iaşi – February 27, 1920, Bucharest) was a Romanian historian, philosopher, professor, economist, sociologist, and author. Among his many major accomplishments, he is the Romanian historian cred ...

's ''Arhiva'' review. He passed a qualifying examination in 1909 for French and philosophy, and taught high school from 1909 to 1913. In 1923, he earned a doctorate in philosophy, with a thesis on Xenopol as theoretician and philosopher of history, and was granted the title of

docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de con ...

in 1930. In 1927, Botez joined the faculty of his alma mater as an associate professor. In 1936, following the death of

Garabet Ibrăileanu Garabet Ibrăileanu (; May 23, 1871 – March 11, 1936) was a Romanian- Armenian literary critic and theorist, writer, translator, sociologist, University of Iași professor (1908–1934), and, together with Paul Bujor and Constantin Stere, fo ...

, he became a full professor in the department of modern Romanian literary history, holding the position until his own death. His articles appeared in ''Arhiva'' as well as in other Iași magazines, particularly ''

Viața Românească ''Viața Românească'' (, "The Romanian Life") is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania. Formerly the platform of the left-wing traditionalist trend known as poporanism, it is now one of the Writers' Union of Romania's main venues. ...

''; he belonged to the intellectual circle associated with the latter publication. His reviews there were gathered into his 1923 debut volume, ''Pe marginea cărților'', but he only occasionally penned criticism, instead preferring to focus on problems of literary historiography, as exemplified in his posthumous ''Figuri și note istorico-literare'' (1944).Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. I, p. 199. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. He died in Iași in 1943. A street there now bears his name.

Bibliography

*''Pe marginea cărților'' (1923). Iași *''Alexandru Xenopol, gânditor'' (1925). Iași *''În jurul teoriei genurilor literare'' (1930). Iași *''Naturalismul în opera lui Delavrancea'' (1936). Bucharest *''Alexandru Xenopol, teoretician și filosof al istoriei'' (1928). Bucharest: Casa Școalelor *''Titu Maiorescu și locul lui în cultura românească'' (1940). Iași: Brawo *''Figuri și note istorico-literare'' (1944). Bucharest: Casa Școalelor

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Botez, Octav 1884 births 1943 deaths Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni Alexandru Ioan Cuza University faculty Romanian schoolteachers Romanian literary critics Romanian literary historians