Sofia Nădejde (born Sofia Băncilă; September 14, 1856 – June 11, 1946) was a

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

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

, playwright,

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, women's rights activist and

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

. Born in Botoșani, her parents were merchant Vasile Băncilă-Gheorghiu and his wife Pulheria (''née'' Neculce). Her husband was journalist Ioan Nădejde, and she was the sister of painter Octav Băncilă. She attended primary and girl's boarding school in her native town, taking her high school-leaving examination in Iași. A member of the socialist circle in the latter city, she undertook a sustained journalistic campaign for women's social and political emancipation. In 1893, she led '' Evenimentul literar'' magazine; publications that ran her work include '' Femeia română'', the official socialist '' Contemporanul'', '' Drepturile omului'', '' Literatură și știință'', '' Lumea nouă'', '' Lumea nouă științifică și literară'', ''

Universul ''Universul'' was a mass-circulation newspaper in Romania. It existed from 1884 to 1953, and was run by Stelian Popescu from 1914 to 1943 (with a two-year break during World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbrev ...

'', '' Albina'', '' Adevărul'', '' Noua revistă română'', '' Dimineața'' and '' Arta''. She was part of the ''Contemporanul'' circle, alongside

Constantin Mille Constantin Mille (; December 21, 1861 – February 20, 1927) was a Romanian journalist, novelist, poet, lawyer, and socialist militant, as well as a prominent human rights activist. A Marxist for much of his life, Mille was noted for his vocal sup ...

, Traian Demetrescu, Anton Bacalbașa,

Paul Bujor Paul Bujor (born Pavel Bujor;Mărghitan & Mancaș, p. 43 August 2, 1862 – May 17, 1952) was a Romanian zoologist, physiologist and marine biologist, also noted as a socialist writer and politician. Hailing from rural Covurlui County, he studied ...

and Ștefan Băsărăbeanu. Her articles dealt with the evolution of the family, women's place in the socialist movement, prejudices regarding women's education, social movements and women's work, both rural and factory. She displayed deep familiarity with contemporary European philosophical and scientific thinking, referencing John Stuart Mill,

Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, psychologist, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social Darwinism. Spencer originated the expression " survival of the fi ...

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and August Bebel. Writing in ''Contemporanul'', she began a campaign against the then-common idea that women's smaller brains precluded them from attaining a higher spiritual plane or participating in politics. Using the latest available information, Nădejde demonstrated that female brains are proportionally larger than men's, and was involved in an especially acerbic polemic with

Titu Maiorescu Titu Liviu Maiorescu (; 15 February 1840 – 18 June 1917) was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the ''Junimea'' Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of ...

. She then shifted to factors such as

social environment The social environment, social context, sociocultural context or milieu refers to the immediate physical and social setting in which people live or in which something happens or develops. It includes the culture that the individual was educate ...

prejudice Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...

, discriminatory laws and insufficient education to explain women's backward state, using Mill's '' Subjection of Women'' to call for political and civil rights.Mihăilescu, p. 361 In the early 1880s, Nădejde brought together women from various groups and clubs to raise funds for women's education and employment. Starting in 1886 and under the influence of

Marxism Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

, she began to focus on social inequality in general, seeing women's status as a byproduct of capitalism and private ownership. By the mid-1890s, her Marxism had given way to democratic liberalism; she was attracted to the ideas of

Poporanism Poporanism is a Romanian version of nationalism and populism. The word is derived from ''popor'', meaning "people" in Romanian. Founded by Constantin Stere in the early 1890s, Poporanism is distinguished by its opposition to socialism, promotion ...

propagated by the movement's leader

Constantin Stere Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian; russian: Константин Егорович Стере, ''Konstantin Yegorovich Stere'' or Константин Георгиевич Стере, ''Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere''; also known u ...

, writing for the movement's press affiliate '' Evenimentul literar''. In 1899, together with her husband and a significant faction, she left the socialist movement, convinced it had no basis to take hold in agrarian Romania, and lost her interest in political engagement, shifting instead toward

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. Her first published fiction, the novella '' Două mame'', appeared in ''Contemporanul'' in 1884 and 1886. Her first book was the 1893

short story collection A short story collection is a book of short stories and/or novellas by a single author. A short story collection is distinguished from an anthology of fiction, which would contain work by several authors (e.g., ''Les Soirées de Médan''). The s ...

'' Nuvele''. Her work includes sketches and stories: '' Din chinurile vieții. Fiecare la rândul său'' (1895); tales: '' Din lume pentru lume – Povestiri din popor'' (1909); novels: '' Patimi'' (1903), '' Robia banului'' (1906), '' Părinți și copii'' (1907); and

plays Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

: '' O iubire la țară'' (1895), '' Fără noroc'' (1898), '' Ghica Vodă, domnul Moldovei'' (1899), '' Vae victis! Vai de învinși'' (1903). She translated Jules Verne, Henryk Sienkiewicz, Edmondo De Amicis,

Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, and one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, and a ...

Matilde Serao 200px, Matilde Serao, by "Rossi" Matilde Serao (; gr, Ματθίλδη Σεράο; 7 March 1856 – 25 July 1927) was an Italian journalist and novelist. She was the first woman called to edit an Italian newspaper, Il ''Corriere di Roma'' an ...

Karl May Karl Friedrich May ( , ; 25 February 1842 – 30 March 1912) was a German author. He is best known for his 19th century novels of fictitious travels and adventures, set in the American Old West with Winnetou and Old Shatterhand as main pro ...

Camille Flammarion Nicolas Camille Flammarion FRAS (; 26 February 1842 – 3 June 1925) was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astronomy, several notable early science fic ...

Leonid Andreyev Leonid Nikolaievich Andreyev (russian: Леони́д Никола́евич Андре́ев, – 12 September 1919) was a Russian playwright, novelist and short-story writer, who is considered to be a father of Expressionism in Russian liter ...

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 ...

André Theuriet Claude Adhémar André Theuriet (; 8 October 1833 in Marly-le-Roi – 23 April 1907 in Bourg-la-Reine) was a 19th-century French poet and novelist. Life Theuriet was born at Marly-le-Roi ( Seine et Oise), and was educated at Bar-le-Duc in his ...

Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

and Andrei Nekrasov. In her fiction, Nădejde imported the ideas and concerns of her journalistic work, cultivating the notion of "art with tendency" theorized by

Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea (born Solomon Katz; 1855, village of Slavyanka near Yekaterinoslav (modern Dnipro), then in Imperial Russia – 1920, Bucharest) was a Romanian Marxist theorist, politician, sociologist, literary critic, and j ...

.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, p. 183. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. The main theme of her writing was the oppression of women, and her novels are imbued with a feminist sensibility. In the years before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, she also wrote

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

articles concerned with women's ability to function in a modern society and economy. In 1918, she helped found an organization for the civil and political emancipation of women, and in the 1930s, amidst the rise of

totalitarianism Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regu ...

in Europe, she spoke out in favor of democracy and civil rights. After her husband's death in 1928, she moved in with her daughter Amelia, living on a small pension from 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 ...

. She died in her daughter's

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

home in 1946.Mihăilescu, p. 362 In 2018, at the initiative of

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

Elena Vlădăreanu, the "Sofia Nădejde" Awards for Literature Written by Women were established. The awards are presented annually at a Gala and the categories of prizes awarded are

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

Prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the ...

, Debut Poetry, Debut Prose as well as special prizes for Innovation and Outstanding Contributions to Literature.

Notes

References

* Ştefania Mihăilescu (tr.

Maria Bucur Maria Bucur (born 2 September 1968 in Bucharest, Romania) is an American-Romanian historian of modern Eastern Europe and gender in the twentieth century. She has written on the history of eugenics in Eastern Europe, memory and war in twentieth-cent ...

), "Nădejde, Sofia (1856-1946)", in Francisca de Haan, Krasimira Daskalova, Anna Loutfi (eds.), ''Biographical Dictionary of Women's Movements and Feminisms in Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe: 19th and 20th Centuries''. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nadejde, Sofia 1856 births 1946 deaths People from Botoșani Romanian novelists Romanian women novelists Romanian translators Romanian dramatists and playwrights Romanian women dramatists and playwrights Romanian women short story writers Romanian short story writers Romanian magazine editors Romanian women editors Romanian women's rights activists Romanian feminists Romanian socialists Poporanists Romanian socialist feminists 19th-century Romanian people 20th-century translators 20th-century short story writers 20th-century Romanian women writers Women magazine editors People from the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia