Otilia Cazimir (pen name of Alexandra Gavrilescu; February 12, 1894 – June 8, 1967) was a Romanian poet, prose writer, translator and publicist, nicknamed the "poetess of gentle souls", known as a children's poems author.
Biography
Origins and early work
Born in
Cotu Vameș Cotu may refer to several villages in Romania:
* Cotu, a village in Cuca Commune, Argeș County
* Cotu, a village in Uda Commune, Argeș County
* Cotu, a village in Copălău Commune, Botoşani County
* Cotu, a village in Breasta Commune, Dolj C ...
,
Neamț County
Neamț County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the historic region of Moldavia, with the county seat at Piatra Neamț. The county takes its name from the Neamț River.
Demographics
Population
In 2011, it had a population of 470,766 ...
, she was the fifth child of schoolteachers Gheorghe Gavrilescu and his wife Ecaterina (''née'' Petrovici).
She attended middle and high school in
Iași and took courses at 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 ...
's literature and philosophy faculty, but did not graduate.
Her pen name, which she never liked, was selected by her mentors,
Mihail Sadoveanu
Mihail Sadoveanu (; occasionally referred to as Mihai Sadoveanu; November 5, 1880 – October 19, 1961) was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and political figure, who twice served as acting head of state for the communis ...
and
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 ...
: the former came up with "Otilia", the latter with "Cazimir".
[Sanda Golopenția, "Otilia Cazimir", in Katharina M. Wilson (ed.), ''An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers'', Vol. 1, p. 229-30. Taylor & Francis, 1991, ][ Simona Lazăr]
"Otilia Cazimir şi 'diluviul lent de arome'"
, ''Jurnalul Național
''Jurnalul Național'' is a Romanian newspaper, part of the INTACT Media Group led by Dan Voiculescu, which also includes the popular television station Antena 1. The newspaper was launched in 1993. Its headquarters is in Bucharest
Buchare ...
'', February 12, 2013 She was quoted as saying: "Allow me to confess to you, after so many years, that this name, that I still bore in dignity, I never liked. I have nothing in common with the heroines of German legends, and the first Otilia that I have ever met, the little girl I shared a school bench in first grade, was stupid, fat and pimply...". She is known to have also utilised other pen names, such as Alexandra Casian, Ofelia, Magda or Dona Sol, which she used to sign in the press, particularly her more "feminist" works.
In 1912, she made her debut with poems in ''
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.
...
'', to which she remained a loyal contributor. Other magazines that published her work include ''Însemnări ieșene'', ''Adevărul literar și artistic'', ''Lumea'', ''
Bilete de Papagal'', ''Iașul nou'', ''Iașul literar'', ''Orizont'', ''Gazeta literară'' and ''Cronica''. Her first book was the 1923 poetry volume ''Lumini și umbre'', followed by ''Fluturi de noapte'' (1926) and ''Cântec de comoară'' (1931).
Cazimir's poems focus on the universe becoming domestic, while in its turn, the domestic perpetuates the cosmic.
Her prose books were ''Din întuneric. Fapte și întâmplări adevărate. Din carnetul unei doctorese'' (1928), ''Grădina cu amintiri și alte schițe'' (1929), ''În târgușorul dintre vii...'' (1939); she also authored a novel, ''A murit Luchi...'' (1942).
Some of these works include poetic sketches reminiscent of
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry or
Colette
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...
, while others are in a more realist vein. Cazimir worked as inspector-general of theaters in the
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...
region from 1937 to 1947.
She was involved in a discreet, years-long relationship with the married poet
George Topîrceanu
George Topîrceanu (; March 20, 1886 – May 7, 1937) was a Romanian poet, short story writer, and humourist.
Biography
He was born in Bucharest, the son of Ion Topîrceanu, a furrier and his wife, Paraschiva (née Cosma), a carpet weaver. Th ...
.
[ Ramona Iacobuțe]
"Tulburătoarea poveste de dragoste dintre Otilia Cazimir şi George Topîrceanu"
''Adevărul'', January 30, 2015
Communist period and legacy
Cazimir won 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 ...
's prize in 1927, the Femina Prize (1928), the national prize for poetry (1937) and the
Romanian Writers' Society The Romanian Writers' Society ( ro, Societatea Scriitorilor Români) was a professional association based in Bucharest, Romania, that aided the country's writers and promoted their interests. Founded in 1909, it operated for forty years before the e ...
prize (1942).
She was a successful children's writer (''Jucării'', 1938; ''Baba Iarna intră-n sat'', 1954), and published her memoirs as ''Prietenii mei scriitori...'' in 1960. Her poetry dated after 1944, when the
Romanian Communist Party began its ascent to power, is often marked by prevailing
socialist realist
Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ...
norms;
the
communist regime
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...
awarded her the Order of Labor in 1954.
Some of her poems were set to music by composers such as
Rodica Sutzu
Rodica Lucia Sutzu (15 April 1913 - 8 May 1979) was a Romanian composer and pianist who studied with Nadia Boulanger and served as the Romanian Radio piano soloist for almost 20 years.
Sutzu was born in Iași to Elena Jules Cazaban and Rudolf Sut ...
.
Cazimir translated French literature (
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...
) as well as Russian and Soviet (
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...
,
Aleksandr Kuprin
Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin (russian: link=no, Александр Иванович Куприн; – 25 August 1938) was a Russian writer best known for his novels ''The Duel'' (1905)Kuprin scholar Nicholas Luker, in his biography ''A ...
,
Anton Chekhov,
Konstantin Fedin
Konstantin Aleksandrovich Fedin ( rus, Константи́н Алекса́ндрович Фе́дин, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈfʲedʲɪn, a=Konstantin Alyeksandrovich Fyedin.ru.vorb.oga; – 15 July 1977) was a So ...
.
Arkady Gaidar). Finding her standard poems to be "typically feminine",
Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu (; 31 October 1881 – 16 July 1943) was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the ''Sburătorul'' literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the u ...
labeled her as "gracious and minor".
She died in Iași;
[Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. I, p. 289. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. ] her house there has been a museum since 1972, and includes the office where she wrote, portraits and local landscapes, her eyeglasses and inkwell, manuscripts and a library replete with signed books.
She died in Iași in 1967, and was buried at the city's
Eternitatea Cemetery
Eternitatea is the biggest cemetery in Iași, Romania.
Notable interments
* Vasile Adamachi, philanthropist
* Petre Andrei, sociologist and politician
* Dimitrie Anghel, poet and writer
* Alexandru Bădărău, politician, academic, and journa ...
.
Poems
* Lumini și umbre, Viața Românească Publishing, Iași, 1923;
* Fluturi de noapte, Cartea Românească Publishing, București, 1926;
* Cântec de comoară, "Naționala" S. Ciornei Publishing, București, 1931;
* Jucării, București, 1938;
* Poezii, "Regele Carol II" Literature and Art Foundation, București, 1939;
* Catinca și Catiușa, două fete din vecini (in collaboration with Th. Kiriacoff-Suruceanu), Cartea Rusă Publishing, București, 1947;
* Stăpânul lumii, Cartea Rusă Publishing, București, 1947;
* Alb și negru (in collaboration Th. Kiriacoff-Suruceanu), Cartea Rusă Publishing, București, 1949;
* Baba Iarna intră-n sat, Tineretului Publishing, București, 1954;
* Poezii, „Regele Carol II” Literature and Art Foundation, București, 1956;
* Versuri, preface by Const. Ciopraga, Editura de Stat pentru Literatură si Artă, București, 1957;
* Poezii, București, 1959;
* Partidului de ziua lui, București, 1961;
* Poezii (1928-1963), preface by Const. Ciopraga, București, Tineretului Publishing, 1964;
* Cele mai frumoase poezii, preface Const. Ciopraga, București, Tineretului Publishing, 1965;
* Poezii, Ion Creangă Publishing, București, 1975;
* Ariciul împărat, Ion Creangă Publishing, 1985
File:Topîrceanu & Cazimir.jpg, Cazimir and George Topîrceanu
George Topîrceanu (; March 20, 1886 – May 7, 1937) was a Romanian poet, short story writer, and humourist.
Biography
He was born in Bucharest, the son of Ion Topîrceanu, a furrier and his wife, Paraschiva (née Cosma), a carpet weaver. Th ...
File:Casa memorială Otilia Cazimir.JPG, Cazimir's house in Iași
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cazimir, Otilia
1890s births
1967 deaths
People from Neamț County
Romanian women poets
Romanian women children's writers
Romanian translators
Romanian children's writers
Romanian memoirists
Socialist realism writers
20th-century Romanian poets
20th-century Romanian novelists
20th-century Romanian women writers
20th-century translators
Romanian women novelists
20th-century memoirists
Burials at Eternitatea cemetery