Alecu Russo (March 17, 1819 near Chișinău – February 5, 1859 in Iași), was a

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 ...

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 ...

n writer, literary critic and publicist. Russo is credited with having discovered one of the most elaborate forms of the Romanian national folk ballad '' Miorița''. He was also a contributor to the Iași periodical ''Zimbrul'', in which he published one of his best-known works, ''Studie Moldovană'' ("Moldovan Studies"), in 1851–1852. He also wrote ''Iașii și locuitorii lui în 1840'' ("Iași and its inhabitants in 1840"), a glimpse into Moldavian society during the ''Organic Statute'' administration, and two travel accounts (better described as

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

studies), ''Piatra Teiului'' and ''Stânca Corbului''. Russo is also notable for his ''Amintiri'' ("Recollections"), a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

, and for the

prose poem Prose poetry is poetry written in prose form instead of verse form, while preserving poetic qualities such as heightened imagery, parataxis, and emotional effects. Characteristics Prose poetry is written as prose, without the line breaks associ ...

. Both these works appeared in 1855 in

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 Romani ...

's literary magazine,

România Literară ''România Literară'' is a cultural and literary magazine from Romania. In its original edition, it was founded on 1 January 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași until 3 December 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared o ...

He died shortly before the age of 40. His cause of death is recorded as ''troahnă'', usually denoting influenza, but sometimes a euphemism for tuberculosis. He was buried with great pomp at the Bărboi Church, in Iași.Gheorghe Brătescu, ''Din tradițiile medicinii și ale educației sanitare: studii și note'', p. 290. Bucharest: Editura Medicală, 1978

Presence in anthologies

''The Bessarabia of my Soul / Basarabia Sufletului meu''. A collection of poetry from the Republic of Moldova, bilingual English & Romanian, Daniel Ioniță and Maria Tonu (editors), with Eva Foster, Daniel Reynaud and Rochelle Bews, MediaTon, Toronto, Canada, 2018.

Notes

External links

Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions:Alecu Russo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russo, Alecu 1819 births 1859 deaths Writers from Chișinău Romanian literary critics Romanian memoirists Romanian essayists Romanian travel writers Moldovan writers Moldovan male writers 19th-century memoirists