Luceafărul (poem)
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''Luceafărul'' (originally spelled ''Luceafĕrul'' according to obsolete norms; ; variously rendered as "The Morning Star", "The Evening Star", "The Vesper", "The Daystar", or "Lucifer") is a narrative poem by Romanian author
Mihai Eminescu Mihai Eminescu (; born Mihail Eminovici; 15 January 1850 – 15 June 1889) was a Romanians, Romanian Romanticism, Romantic poet, novelist, and journalist from Moldavia, generally regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Emin ...
. It was first published in
1883 Events January * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * January 16 – ...
, out of
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, by Romanian expatriates in
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
. It is generally considered Eminescu's masterpiece, one of the greatest accomplishments in
Romanian literature Romanian literature () is the entirety of literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language or by any authors native to Romania. Early Romanian literature inc ...
, and one of the last milestones in Europe's
romantic poetry Romantic poetry is the poetry of the Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. It involved a reaction against prevailing Neoclassical ideas of the 18th c ...
. One in a family or "constellation" of poems, it took Eminescu ten years to conceive, its final shape being partly edited by the philosopher
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 Culture of Romania, Romanian culture in ...
. During this creative process, Eminescu distilled Romanian folklore, Romantic themes, and various staples of Indo-European myth, arriving from a versified fairy tale to a
mythopoeia Mythopoeia (, ), or mythopoesis, is a subgenre of speculative fiction, and a theme in modern literature and film, where an artificial or fictionalized mythology is created by the writer of prose fiction, prose, poetry, or other literary forms. T ...
, a self-reflection on his condition as a genius, and an illustration of his
philosophy of love Philosophy of love is the field of social philosophy and ethics that attempts to describe the nature of love. Current theories There are many different theories that attempt to explain what love is, and what function it serves. Among the p ...
. The eponymous celestial being, also referred to as " Hyperion", is widely identified as Eminescu's
alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...
; he combines elements of
fallen angel Fallen angels are angels who were expelled from Heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" does not appear in any Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven. Such angels are often described ...
s, ''
daimon The daimon (), also spelled daemon (meaning "god", "godlike", "power", "fate"), denotes an "unknown superfactor", which can be either good or hostile. In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology a daimon was imagined to be a lesser ...
s'', '' incubi'', but is neither mischievous nor purposefully seductive. His daily mission on the
firmament In ancient near eastern cosmology, the firmament means a celestial barrier that separates the heavenly waters above from the Earth below. In biblical cosmology, the firmament ( ''rāqīaʿ'') is the vast solid dome created by God during the G ...
is interrupted by the calls of Princess Cătălina, who asks for him to "glide down" and become her mate. He is persuaded by her to relinquish his immortality, which would require approval from a third protagonist, the
Demiurge In the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy, the Demiurge () is an artisan-like figure responsible for fashioning and maintaining the physical universe. Various sects of Gnostics adopted the term '' ...
. The Morning Star seeks the Demiurge at the edge of the Universe, but only receives a revelation of mankind's irrelevancy. In his brief absence, the Princess is seduced by a fellow mortal. As he returns to his place in the sky, Hyperion understands that the Demiurge was right. ''Luceafărul'' enjoys fame not just as a poetic masterpiece, but also as one of the last works completed and read publicly by Eminescu before his debilitating mental illness and hospitalization. It has endured in cultural memory as both the object of critical scrutiny and a strong favorite of the public. Its translators into various languages include figures such as Günther Deicke, Zoltán Franyó, Mite Kremnitz, Leon Levițchi, Mate Maras, Corneliu M. Popescu, David Samoylov, Immanuel Weissglas, Todur Zanet, and Vilém Závada. The poem left a distinct legacy in literary works by
Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. One of the most influential scholars of religion of the 20th century and in ...
,
Emil Loteanu Emil Loteanu (6 November 1936 – 18 April 2003) was a Moldovan and Soviet film director born in what is now Republic of Moldova. He moved to Bucharest and Moscow in his early life. His best known films are '' Lăutarii'', '' Gypsies Are Found Ne ...
, Alexandru Vlahuță, and, possibly,
Ingeborg Bachmann Ingeborg Bachmann (; 25 June 1926 – 17 October 1973) was an Austrian poet and author. She is regarded as one of the major voices of German-language literature in the 20th century. In 1963, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature b ...
. It has also inspired composers Nicolae Bretan and
Eugen Doga Eugen Doga (1 March 1937 – 3 June 2025) was a Moldovan composer. He made significant contributions to various forms of music during his career. He created ballets, ''Luceafărul'', ''Venancia'', and ''Queen Margot'', the opera ''Dialogues of ...
, as well as various visual artists.


Outline

''Luceafărul'' opens as a typical fairy tale, with a variation of "
once upon a time "Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 in storytelling in the English language and has started many narrative ...
" and a brief depiction of its female character, a "wondrous maiden", the only child of a royal couple—her name, Cătălina, will only be mentioned once, in the poem's 46th stanza. She is shown waiting impatiently for nightfall, when she gazes upon the Morning Star: —''translation by Corneliu M. Popescu,
quoted in Kenneth Katzner, ''The Languages of the World'', p. 113. London etc.:
Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...
, 2002. ''
Hyperion senses her attention and gazes back, and, although a
non-physical entity In ontology and the philosophy of mind, a non-physical entity is an object that exists outside physical reality. The philosophical schools of idealism and dualism assert that such entities exist, while physicalism asserts that they do not. Positin ...
, also begins to desire her company. Sliding through her window when she is asleep, he caresses Cătălina as she dreams of him. In one such a moment, she moans for him to "glide down upon a ray" and become her betrothed. Urged on by this command, the Morning Star hurls himself into the sea, reemerging as a "fair youth", or "handsome corpse with living eyes". Returning to Cătălina while she is awake, Hyperion proposes that they elope to his "coral castles" at the bottom of the sea; this horrifies the Princess, who expresses her refusal of a "lifeless" and "alien" prospect—although she still appears bedazzled by his "angel" looks. However, within days she returns to dreaming of the Morning Star and unconsciously asking for him to "glide down". This time, he appears to her a creature of fire, offering Cătălina a place in his celestial abode. She again expresses her refusal, and compares Hyperion's new form to that of a ''
daimon The daimon (), also spelled daemon (meaning "god", "godlike", "power", "fate"), denotes an "unknown superfactor", which can be either good or hostile. In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology a daimon was imagined to be a lesser ...
''. In this restated form, her refusal reads: —''translation by Leon Levițchi, in Prickett, p. 237 (using "daemon"); in Săndulescu, p. 16 (has "demon").'' Cătălina is not interested in acquiring immortality, but asks that he join the mortal realm, to be "reborn in sin"; Hyperion agrees, and to this end abandons his place on the
firmament In ancient near eastern cosmology, the firmament means a celestial barrier that separates the heavenly waters above from the Earth below. In biblical cosmology, the firmament ( ''rāqīaʿ'') is the vast solid dome created by God during the G ...
to seek out the Demiurge. This requires him to travel to the edge of the Universe, into a cosmic void. Once there, the Demiurge laughs off his request; he informs Hyperion that human experience is futile, and that becoming human would be a return to "yesterday's eternal womb". He orders Hyperion back to his celestial place, obliquely telling him that something "in store" on Earth will prove the point. Indeed, while Hyperion was missing, Cătălina had found herself courted, then slowly seduced, by a "conniving" courtly page, Cătălin. The poem's "tragic denouement allots each of the three lovers their own sphere with frontiers impossible to trespass."Prickett, p. 231 As he resumes his place on the firmament, Hyperion catches sight of the happy couple Cătălin and Cătălina. She gazes back and calls on him, but only as a witness to, and good-luck charm for, her new love. The last two stanzas show Hyperion returning to his silent, self-absorbed, activities: —''translation by Levițchi, in Prickett, p. 249; in Săndulescu, p. 25.''


Publication history

As noted by the editor Perpessicius, during the interwar a "most absurd" urban legend had spread, according to which Eminescu had written the poem on the night train taking him to
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
. In fact, several drafts of the poem exists, some as long as the finished piece. Perpessicius rates these as "standalone types" and, in 1938, opted to publish them as separate pieces in his companion to Eminescu's work, with philologist Petru Creția calling them the "''Luceafărul'' constellation". Antonio Patraș
"Eminescu, poet al nopții. Lecturi în palimpsest"
in '' Convorbiri Literare'', February 2015
Its earliest recognizable component is ''Fata-n grădina de aur'' ("Girl in the Garden of Gold"), written ca. 1873, when Eminescu was in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. It was the '' ottava rima'' version of a Romanian folklore prose-piece—retrieved by the
Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...
n Richard Kunisch and published in 1861 ''Das Mädchen im goldenen Garten''. The source was cryptically identified as "the German K." in Eminescu's notebooks, and the bibliographic information was pieced together by Moses Gaster. Entire portions of the later poem also surface in another piece of the period. Called ''Peste codri stă cetatea'' ("Over the Woods There Stands a City"), it briefly depicts the Princess dreaming of her chosen one, the Morning Star. Eminescu made several discreet returns to his drafts, adding the central theme of the Hyperion as a misunderstood genius, and finally in April 1882 went public with ''Legenda Luceafĕrului'' ("Legend of the Morning Star"). He was in Bucharest as a guest of the '' Junimea'' society, where he read out the variant on April 17; he then worked closely with its doyen
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 Culture of Romania, Romanian culture in ...
, who helped him with critical insight. During these exchanges, the work acquired its celebrated final stanza. There followed a second reading on April 24, when, in his diaries, Maiorescu recorded the "beautiful legend" simply as ''Luceafărul''. Maiorescu endorsed the work and promoted it with public readings in both Bucharest and
Buftea Buftea () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania, located north-west of Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Rom ...
, lasting into January 1883, and attended by Eminescu, Petre P. Carp, Alexandru B. Știrbei, and Ioan Slavici. First published in ''Almanachulŭ Societății Academice Socialŭ-Literare Romănia Jună'', put out by the Romanian colony of
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
in April 1883, it was taken up in August by the ''Junimist'' tribune, '' Convorbiri Literare''. At some point in this interval, Eminescu had fallen terminally ill, and was sent to an Oberdöbling asylum for treatment. Around November 1883, as he began work on a first edition of Eminescu's collected poems, Maiorescu decided to cut out four stanzas—those detailing negotiations between Hyperion and Demiurge—, in an effort to improve flow. This puzzled later editors: in his own volume,
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 ...
kept the omission, but included the missing part as an appendix, while D. R. Mazilu hesitated between the versions in his search for an "ideal" and "purified" ''Luceafărul''. In terms of vocabulary and linguistic purism, scholar
Iorgu Iordan Iorgu Iordan (; also known as ''Jorgu Jordan'' or ''Iorgu Jordan''; – September 20, 1986) was a Romanian linguist, philologist, diplomat, journalist, and left-wing agrarian, later communist, politician. The author of works on a large variety o ...
assessed that ''Luceafărul'' three out of 98 stanzas have words of exclusively old-layer Latin provenance, with some 30 additional stanzas featuring only one or two non-Latin words. Running at 392 lines in its unabridged version, the work alternates
iambic tetrameter Iambic tetrameter is a meter (poetry), poetic meter in Ancient Greek poetry, ancient Greek and Latin poetry; as the name of ''a rhythm'', iambic tetrameter consists of four metra, each metron being of the form , x – u – , , consisting of a spo ...
and iambic trimeter. This is an old pattern in Romanian poetry, previously observed in Dosoftei's preamble to '' Erofili'', and is described by critic as "lapidary, enunciative, solemn in its simplicity." Alex. Ștefănescu
"Despre Luceafărul"
in '' România Literară'', Nr. 34/2015
The rhythmic sequencing has created a long-standing dilemma about the intended pronunciation of ''Hyperion'': while common Romanian phonology favors ''Hypérion'', the text suggests that Eminescu used ''Hyperión''.
Artistic license Artistic license (and more general or contextually-specific, derivative terms such as creative license, poetic license, historical license, dramatic license, and narrative license) refers to deviation from fact or form for artistic purposes. It ...
also surfaces in the apparent pleonasm, with which Cătălina beckons Hyperion: ''Cobori în jos, luceafăr blând'' ("Descend down, gentle Morning Star"). Some Eminescu exegetes see here an intellectual stress on the separation between the realms, breached by "divine descent into humanity", Ilie Constantin
"Cătălina, Hyperion, Cătălin"
in '' România Literară'', Nr. 1/2000
or the repetition one associates with
incantation An incantation, spell, charm, enchantment, or bewitchery is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung, or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremonial ri ...
.


Themes and allusions


Mythology

The versified story is so indebted to folklore that, according to Perpessicius, it should be published alongside those works of folk poetry which Eminescu himself collected and kept. Nevertheless, the same author concedes that Eminescu ultimately "fashioned his own ornaments" from the folkloric level, producing an "intensely original" work. These "ornaments" include: "the iambic rhythms of his stanzas, the images, the enchanting celestial voyage, the dialogue between Hyperion and the Demiurge, nd Cătălin who seems to have been lifted out of a subtle comedy by Marivaux". Likewise, critic C. Gerota sees Eminescu's poem as a "great work of art" emerging "from Kunisch's prosaic fairy tale"; "only the form" is folkloric. An Aarne–Thompson inventory, proposed by the scholar Dumitru Caracostea, finds that Eminescu essentially refashioned the myth of ''Animal Bride''. The fairy or '' samodiva'' became the ''
daimon The daimon (), also spelled daemon (meaning "god", "godlike", "power", "fate"), denotes an "unknown superfactor", which can be either good or hostile. In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology a daimon was imagined to be a lesser ...
''—within a narrative rearranged by Eminescu and, to some extent, by Kunisch. Caracostea rejects as too narrow the interpretations advanced by Gheorghe Bogdan-Duică, according to whom ''Luceafărul'' was directly inspired by
Lithuanian mythology Lithuanian mythology () is the mythology of Lithuanians, Lithuanian polytheism, the religion of pre-Christian Lithuanians. Like other Indo-European studies, Indo-Europeans, Lithuanians (tribe), ancient Lithuanians maintained a polytheistic myth ...
—namely, by the story of Saulė's revenge on
Aušrinė Aušrinė ("dawning", not to be confused with ''Aušra'', "dawn") is a feminine deity of the morning star (Venus) in the Lithuanian mythology. She is the Wiktionary:antipode, antipode to "Vakarinė", the evening star. Her cult possibly stems fr ...
. In various ways, ''Luceafărul'' has connections with the
fallen angel Fallen angels are angels who were expelled from Heaven. The literal term "fallen angel" does not appear in any Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religious texts, but is used to describe angels cast out of heaven. Such angels are often described ...
motif in
Christian mythology Christian mythology is the body of myths associated with Christianity. The term encompasses a broad variety of legends and narratives, especially those considered sacred narratives. Mythological themes and elements occur throughout Christian l ...
. Mythographer Victor Kernbach notes that the name was already used in folkloric sources for the demon Lucifer, or for a localized version of Samyaza. As described by the Eminescu scholar Gisèle Vanhese, ''Luceafărul'' is not just "Eminescu's masterpiece", but also "the achievement of Romantic reflection regarding the Sons of Darkness." The latter category of folkloric beings, themselves probably derived from fallen angels, includes the '' Zburători'', which act as the Romanian equivalent of '' incubi''. Their visitation of young girls at night also echoes more distant themes from
Ancient Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories concern the ancient ...
, such as
Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...
' seduction of
Semele Semele (; ), or Thyone (; ) in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia (Greek goddess), Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele ...
and Io, or the story of
Cupid and Psyche Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from ''Metamorphoses'' (also called ''The Golden Ass''), written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (or Platonicus). The tale concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psy ...
—the latter was one of Eminescu's favorite references. The ''Zburători''s most elaborate depiction in
Romantic poetry Romantic poetry is the poetry of the Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. It involved a reaction against prevailing Neoclassical ideas of the 18th c ...
was an eponymous 1830s piece by Ion Heliade Rădulescu, but they also show up in the works of Constantin Stamati and Constantin Negruzzi. Variations of the theme, and more direct echoes from
Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...
('' Heaven and Earth'') and
Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...
("The Sylph"), appear in various early poems by Eminescu, and in some portions of the "constellation". ''Zburători'' are directly mentioned in the draft poem ''Peste codri stă cetatea''—although, in later intermediary versions, the ''incubus'' had been a '' Zmeu'', and the Demiurge had been called "
Adonai Judaism has different names given to God in Judaism, God, which are considered sacred: (), (''Adonai'' ), (''El (deity), El'' ), ( ), (''El Shaddai, Shaddai'' ), and ( ); some also include I Am that I Am.This is the formulation of Josep ...
". As seen by Vanhese, the Morning Star is a syntheses of ''incubi'' (he appears to Cătălina in her dreams) and Lucifer (with whom he shares the celestial attribute). She argues that, with Eminescu's poem, "the myth of the Romantic demon reaches its most accomplished expression in European culture", equaled in visual arts by Mikhail Vrubel's ''Demon Seated''. This contrasts readings by Caracostea and
Tudor Vianu Tudor Vianu (; January 8, 1898 – May 21, 1964) was a Romanian literary criticism, literary critic, art critic, poet, philosopher, academic, and translation, translator. He had a major role on the reception and development of Modernism in Liter ...
, who see the Morning Star as primarily angelic—if he appears "handsome as a daemon" during his second incarnation, it is because passion has momentarily transfigured him. Comparatist
Pompiliu Constantinescu Pompiliu Constantinescu (May 17, 1901 – May 9, 1946) was a Romanian literary critic. Biography He was born on May 17, 1901, in Bucharest, "''in a place where he saw the light of day for the first time, on Sabines Street no. 109, the son of J ...
assumes a similar stance, whereby the ''daimon'' is "pacified by the supreme awareness of his superior essence." While noting that Eminescu had a great interest in Lucifer as a literary trope, mythographer Ioan Petru Culianu asserts that the Morning Star is only incidentally related to the fallen angels myth, and more than anything a Romanian
Hesperus In Greek mythology, Hesperus (; ) is the Evening Star, the planet Venus in the evening. A son of the dawn goddess Eos ( Roman Aurora), he is the half-brother of her other son, Phosphorus (also called Eosphorus; the "Morning Star"). Hesperus' Rom ...
. Composite in inspiration, the Morning Star as a male god is an original creation by Eminescu. The transition to this ultimate form was eased by lexical precedent: in Romanian, the Morning and Evening Stars are gendered male, and "the biblical notion of Lucifer" was already being confounded in folklore with either celestial body. In folk sources, the celestial identification is also incomplete: generally used for
Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
, the name ''Luceafărul'' may transfer to
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
, "whichever is more prominent at dusk." In describing his new deity, Eminescu apparently assigned him an original attribute, detailed in the 5th stanza: he is the god of seafarers, dragging their ships across the ocean. This metaphor alludes to
celestial navigation Celestial navigation, also known as astronavigation, is the practice of position fixing using stars and other celestial bodies that enables a navigator to accurately determine their actual current physical position in space or on the surface ...
. Astronomers Alastair McBeath and A. D. Gheorghe focus on another connection, seeing Hyperion as a component of "meteor mythology", alongside
shapeshifting In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest existen ...
'' Balauri''. They also argue that Hyperion's "rapid flight" back to Earth alludes to the
Eta Aquariids The Eta Aquariids are a meteor shower associated with Halley's Comet. The shower is visible from about April 19 to about May 28 each year with peak activity on or around May 5. Unlike most major annual meteor showers, there is no sharp peak fo ...
, and that the celestial void from which he takes flight is a
black hole A black hole is a massive, compact astronomical object so dense that its gravity prevents anything from escaping, even light. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will form a black hole. Th ...
. Mystery subsists as to why Eminescu opted to give his Morning Star the unrelated moniker "Hyperion", which references the
Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( ; ) were the pre-Twelve Olympians, Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). The six male ...
of Greek mythology. Philologist Rodica Marian argues that the Morning Star only acquires the name, and learns his true nature, upon meeting the Demiurge. Several experts are in agreement that, in choosing "Hyperion", Eminescu alluded to a
folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...
, which gives ''hyper''+''
aeon The word aeon , also spelled eon (in American and Australian English), originally meant "life", "vital force" or "being", "generation" or "a period of time", though it tended to be translated as "age" in the sense of "ages", "forever", "timele ...
'' ("above timelessness"). As noted by the anthologist Stephen Prickett, the name itself "points to the immortal condition of the male protagonist". Caracostea has a dissenting opinion, arguing that the meaning is literally "superior being", selected by Eminescu from a 1799 novel by Friedrich Hölderlin. By contrast, the two mortals have distinctively local, Christian and folksy, names, akin to ''
Katherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...
''.


Philosophy of love

The personal mythology of ''Luceafărul'' is overall a poetic rendition of a personal
philosophy of love Philosophy of love is the field of social philosophy and ethics that attempts to describe the nature of love. Current theories There are many different theories that attempt to explain what love is, and what function it serves. Among the p ...
. Caracostea proposes that Eminescu had special reason to dwell on the poem, which must therefore express "a fundamental experience". This is not the case for other ideas he borrowed from Kunisch, which merely resulted in conventional pieces such as " Miron and The Disembodied Beauty". The "allegorical meaning" is explained by Eminescu's own comment: " eniusis immortal, but lacks good fortune." The result, according to scholar Geo Vasile, is Eminescu's "triumph in the world of ideas": "Here, the Albatross-poet extends his wings in all their magnificent reach." Geo Vasile
"Eminescu, recitiri"
in '' România Literară'', Nr. 3/2013
As noted by Lovinescu, the entire project is "suffused with Schopenhauerian pessimism"; according to Gerota, Eminescu's text is Schopenhauerian, but beyond that inspired by
Alfred de Vigny Alfred Victor, Comte de Vigny (; 27 March 1797 – 17 September 1863) was a French poet and early French Romanticism, Romanticist. He also produced novels, plays, and translations of Shakespeare. Biography Vigny was born in Loches (a town to wh ...
's "Moses"—although ''Luceafărul'' "rises up to an allegorical form, with greater reach and livelier content." The Schopenhauerian influence is nuanced by Caracostea, who notes that the four stanzas cut out by Maiorescu were this-worldly and optimistic: the Demiurge denies Hyperion sheer mortality, but offers to make him a leader of men; the implication is that such figures are superhuman. Beyond this context, some have identified a larger meditation on the
human condition The human condition can be defined as the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, reason, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered ...
. Classicist Cicerone Poghirc argued that ''Luceafărul'' is about the unbridgeable separation imposed by ''
dharma Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear Untranslatability, translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold ...
'', which Eminescu had read about in the ''
Katha Upanishad The ''Katha Upanishad'' (, ), is an ancient Hindu text and one of the '' mukhya'' (primary) Upanishads, embedded in the last eight short sections of the ' school of the Krishna Yajurveda.Paul Deussen. ''Sixty Upanishads of the Veda''. Volume 1 ...
''. Likewise, comparatist Rosa del Conte sees the work as the "lyrical solving of a metaphysical intuition—about the transcendence which doesn't allow man neither to live, nor to be". In her reading, ''Luceafărul'' is on a philosophical continuum with other Eminescian poetry; the metaphor of "time as death" first appears in relation to Hyperion's withdrawal, and is fully developed in the posthumous "Memento Mori: The Panorama of Vanities". According to Marian, who criticizes traditional scholarship and relies on insights from Constantin Noica, the core theme is "ontological dissatisfaction". The accent, she argues, falls on a genius' inability to "elevate" a world that only he understands to be flawed. Constantinescu suggests an intermediary position, discussing the ''daimon''s "taming", his evolution towards a
platonic love Platonic love is a type of love in which sexual desire or romantic features are nonexistent or have been suppressed or sublimated, but it means more than simple friendship. The term is derived from the name of Greek philosopher Plato, tho ...
"that surpasses everything erotic in Eminescu's poetry". Beyond the "celestial allegory", Perpessicius notes, ''Luceafărul'' is also a love poem, "one of the most natural, most authentic, most universal." Ștefănescu reads ''Luceafărul'' as a
star-crossed The terms "star-crossed" and "star-crossed lovers" refer to two people who are not able to be together for some reason. These terms also have other meanings, but originally mean that the pairing is being "thwarted by a malign star" or that th ...
fable and "eerie love-story", rating it above ''
Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...
''. The implications of this have created enduring polemics between exegetes, an early example being one opposing Caracostea to
George Călinescu George Călinescu (; 19 June 1899 – 12 March 1965) was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies. He is currently considered one of the most important Romani ...
. The latter, following other Freudian literati, commented that Eminescu was essentially obsessed with the idea of love, with ''Luceafărul'' displaying his casual
objectification of women Sexual objectification is the act of treating a person solely as an object of sexual desire (a sex object). Objectification more broadly means treating a person as a commodity or an object without regard to their personality or dignity. Objecti ...
. The same point is made by Culianu, who notes that Eminescu identified love itself with a
damsel in distress The damsel in distress is a narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has been kidnapped or placed in other peril. The "damsel" is often portrayed as beautiful, popular, and of high social status; she is usually depicted ...
situation and
voyeurism Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of watching other people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions of a private nature. The term comes from the French ''voir'' which means "to see". ...
, both of which, he argues, exist in the "erotic scenario" called ''Luceafărul''. Contrarily, Caracostea insisted that Eminescu's erotic passion was subsumed to a "quest for the absolute", manifested "in all other aspects of ispoetic being". Clues of Eminescu's views on love are contrasted by the element of physical desire, that of a young girl expecting her suitors—"the surge within a human being of a longing that she can only half-comprehend." This "puberal crisis" and "mysterious invasion of longing" had also appeared in Heliade Rădulescu's piece. Such precedents suggest that Cătălina is a feeble, ''
ingénue The ''ingénue'' (, , ) is a stock character in literature, film and a role type in the theater, generally a girl or a young woman, who is endearingly innocent. ''Ingénue'' may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in such role ...
'', victim of her instincts. According to Geo Vasile: "she recognizes her own biological fate and accepts being courted by her mortal neighbor .. The maiden who happened to catch Hyperion's affection stands for the narrow fold, the human, historical, ontological conspiracy, downright puny when confronted with the nocturnal body's destiny". Author Ilie Constantin notes that Cătălin was a natural suitor, who "expunges Hyperion from Cătălina's attention, so that he and she may embark on their own union". In contrast to such readings, Vanhese sees the Princess as a playful destroyer, in the vein of ''
La Belle Dame sans Merci "La Belle Dame sans Merci" ("The Beautiful Lady without Mercy") is a ballad produced by the English poet John Keats in 1819. The title was derived from the title of a 15th-century poem by Alain Chartier called '' La Belle Dame sans Mercy ...
'' and ''
Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...
''.


Biographical record

Reviewing the placated tone implicit in the poem, Constantinescu proposes that ''Luceafărul'' "condenses not just one experience, but a whole sum of experiences, of sentimental failures." According to a story transmitted by the ''Junimist'' Ioan Alexandru Brătescu-Voinești, who claimed to have heard it from Maiorescu, Eminescu poured into the poem his bitterness towards an unfaithful lover, Veronica Micle. In this version of events, Micle is Cătălina and the page Cătălin is Eminescu's one-time friend and colleague,
Ion Luca Caragiale Ion Luca Caragiale (; According to his birth certificate, published and discussed by Constantin Popescu-Cadem in ''Manuscriptum'', Vol. VIII, Nr. 2, 1977, pp. 179–184 – 9 June 1912), commonly referred to as I. L. Caragiale, was a Romanians, ...
; Maiorescu is the Demiurge. Perpessicius dismisses the account as ''vorbe de clacă'' ("balderdash"), but notes that it was to some extent "natural" that rumors would emerge. Brătescu-Voinești was partly backed by another source, Eminescu aficionado Alexandru Vlahuță, who reported his friend's "one-time fling, a curious episode, which inspired him to write the poem ''Luceafărul'' and which I cannot render here."Caracostea, p. 26 According to Caracostea, this testimony can be discounted, as Vlahuță also hints that Eminescu was delusional. Researcher Șerban Cioculescu discovered that one aspect of the story was verifiable, namely that Caragiale had had a sexual escapade with Micle before February 1882. Eminescu knew and was angered about it, canceling his offer of marriage. However, Caracostea claims, the inspiration for the poem may have been Eminescu's other love interest, Cleopatra Lecca-Poenaru. On one of his notebooks, where he tries out various versions of Hyperion's travels to the cosmic edge, Eminescu interrupts himself with a diatribe, addressed to the "lousy coquette, Cleopatra." Caracostea also argues that the Caragiale–Micle affair, while confirmed, cannot have been mirrored in the poem, as the most relevant passages were written long before 1882.


Legacy


Cultural symbol


Emergence

Writing in the 1940s, Caracostea pleaded for the poem to be "re-invoked" and kept alive, its themes and hidden meanings explained to successive generations. A while after, Constantinescu was to note that, "a Romantic in his work and in his life, Eminescu never had a chance to enjoy, after his death, a destiny like the Morning Star, with whom he identified, and if his glow was indeed 'deathless', it never was 'cold'." This popular enthusiasm for the poem has been criticized by some scholars, who noted its negative implications. According to Eugen Negrici, the "Eminescu myth" is a resilient element of literary culture, leading from a '' poète maudit'' trope to the "aggressive tabooing and delirium about genius." As he notes, ''Luceafărul'' was especially important as
autofiction Autofiction is, in literary criticism, a form of fictionalized autobiography. Definition In autofiction, an author may decide to recount their life in the Third-person narrative, third person, to modify significant details and characters, use in ...
, encouraging "analogical reasoning" among its readers: "the text has produced exhilaration in academia and has stirred affection for the poet, a distortion sparked by the mystique of writings which bear the mark of destiny". Culianu also refers to the "absurdities" and "bewildering speculations" allowed by critical tradition, a "
Tower of Babel The Tower of Babel is an origin myth and parable in the Book of Genesis (chapter 11) meant to explain the existence of different languages and cultures. According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language migrates to Shin ...
erected for worshiping ''Luceafărul''." During Eminescu's withdrawal from public life, the poem slowly garnered its cult following. In 1887 already, the pedagogue Gh. Gh. Arbore was introducing the poem as one of the most significant ever written in Romanian. Some of its most enthusiastic promoters in the 1890s were young socialists, who, though opposed to ''Junimist'' politics, were won over by Eminescu's poetic style, and by samples of his social critique—especially the poem " Emperor and Proletarian". At a congress in September 1890, Constantin Vasiliu acknowledged that there was a clash of visions between the two poetic texts, both by Eminescu; however, he offered the conclusion that Eminescu was complex enough for producing both a "philosophy of annihilation" and a socialist-like attack on the "corrupt society that had engulfed him." Literary historian Savin Bratu suggests that the first decade of Eminescu's posterity was marked by a clash of vision as to who Eminescu actually was. The Maiorescu disciples looked to ''Luceafărul'' and '' Glossa'', whereas "socialist students" found themselves in "Emperor and Proletarian". As noted by Caracostea, two anti-''Junimist'' authors, Aron Densușianu and Alexandru Grama, resisted the poem's growing popularity, producing conjectural "words of scorn". The former claimed in 1896 that Eminescu's poetry was "generally libidinous, poorly conceptualized", with ''Luceafărul'' as "drivel of that most hysterical kind". Caracostea's own embrace of the poem showed its influence on the emergent (and otherwise anti-''Junimist'') symbolist movement. The first author to draw inspiration from ''Luceafărul'' was Micle. The alleged Cătălina reused the themes in poems she completed after Eminescu's illness and death. She was closely followed by Eminescu's disciple Vlahuță, whose 1894 novel, ''Dan'', "transposes the conflict highlighted in ''Luceafărul''." In 1902, the
Romanians in Hungary The Romanians in Hungary (, ) constituted a small minority. According to the most recent Hungarian census of 2011 (based on self-reporting), the population of Romanians was 35,641 or 0.3%, a significant increase from 8,482 or 0.1% of 2001. The ...
established a literary magazine of the same name, in what was a conscious nod to Eminescu's poem.Neubauer ''et al.'', p. 51 Four years later, the poem had entered the Romania's national curriculum with a 7th-grade textbook by Petre V. Haneș. Mircea Anghelescu
"Eminescu în manualele școlare"
in '' România Literară'', Nr. 11/2000
During this interval, ''Luceafărul'' and other Eminescian writings became the inspiration for hugely popular
postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. In some places, one can send a postcard f ...
s illustrated by Leonard Salmen. A
bibliophile A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...
edition with 22 artworks by Mișu Teișanu came out at the eponymous ''Luceafărul'' Society in 1921–1923. By then, Symbolist Dimitrie Paciurea had begun work on several works directly referencing Hyperion, including sketches for an Eminescu monument, leading up to his ''Sky Chimera''; Nicolae Bretan had adapted the poem into an eponymous opera, which he himself translated into Hungarian. Sculptor Ion Schmidt-Faur also paid homage (to the poem rather than its protagonist) in his 1929 relief of Cătălin and Cătălina, installed at the base of his Eminescu statue in Iași. During the interwar, the identification of poet and protagonist was also taken up by Lovinescu in his work as a biographical novelist: he intended to write a romanticized account, also titled ''Luceafărul'', dealing mainly with the hero's childhood in Ipotești.
Mircea Eliade Mircea Eliade (; – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian History of religion, historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. One of the most influential scholars of religion of the 20th century and in ...
rendered ample homage to ''Luceafărul'', in his novel '' Miss Christina'', but especially so in his short story ''Șarpele'' ("The Serpent"), which relies on intertextual allusion to the point of becoming its "
hierophany A hierophany is a manifestation of the sacred. The word is a formation of the Greek adjective ''hieros'' (, 'sacred, holy') and the verb ''phainein'' (φαίνειν, 'to reveal, to bring to light'). Mircea Eliade The word ''hierophany'' recurs ...
". Andronic the aviator, a central character in the latter narrative, is a modern-day Morning Star, replicating "the fall".


Communist peak and aftermath

The Morning Star reference peaked in usage under the
communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...
. With the advent of Socialist Realism, Eminescu's political works were ignored, but ''Luceafărul'' remained in the textbooks, with commentary by Perpessicius and Alexandru Rosetti. In 1959,
Marietta Sadova Marietta may refer to: Places in the United States *Marietta, Jacksonville, Florida *Marietta, Georgia, the largest US city named Marietta *Marietta, Illinois *Marietta, Indiana *Marietta, Kansas *Marietta, Minnesota *Marietta, Mississippi *Mar ...
penned a stage adaptation, taken up by the National Theater Bucharest; Emil Botta and Mimi Botta were its two protagonists. Mythical recovery was particularly strong during the final stages of national communism, when, Negrici argues, Eminescu was publicly celebrated with "grotesque displays". Both "Morning Star" and "Demiurge" were informal titles used in the
personality cult A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create an ideali ...
of
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ;  – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...
. The new arms of
Botoșani County Botoșani County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia (encompassing a few villages in neighbouring Suceava County from Bukovina to the west as well), with the county seat at Botoșani. Demographics As of 1st of December 20 ...
, approved in 1972, featured an allegorical and canting representation of Eminescu as a five-pointed star. In 1988, the
Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...
fabricated an Eminescu Pond in Ipotești, complete with
neon lighting Neon lighting consists of brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain Rarefaction, rarefied neon or other gases. Neon lights are a type of cold cathode gas-discharge lamp, gas-discharge light. A neon tube is a sealed gla ...
in the shape of a Morning Star. During that period,
Sabin Bălașa Sabin Bălașa (; 17 June 1932 – 1 April 2008) was a contemporary Romanian Painting, painter. His works were described by himself as belonging to cosmic Romanticism. Biography Bălașa was born in Iancu Jianu, Olt, Dobriceni, Olt County. Aft ...
contributed a fresco of Hyperion for the halls of
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in , Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former was converted to a university, the University of , as it was named ...
. Young Romanian poets also took interest in the myth, with Ana Blandiana penning ''Octombrie, noiembrie, decembrie'' ("October, November, December"), which is in part a feminized version of ''Luceafărul''. Although interest in the poem was preserved after the 1989 Revolution, it was largely confined to the private sphere. Ștefănescu stated that, by 2015, Hyperion was more famous than his creator, as
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
is to
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
. He also observed that the once-popular
metonymy Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word " suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such as sales ...
"Morning Star of Romanian poetry" (for Eminescu) had faded out of use, as " wooden tongue ..relegated to official speeches." As a title, ''Luceafărul'' remained in use by trade unionists involved in the violent Mineriads of the 1990s, applied to their leader Miron Cozma. In his final book, published in 2000, philosopher Laurențiu Ulici argued that Hyperion had become recognized as one incarnation of the national psychology, in an
oxymoron An oxymoron (plurals: oxymorons and oxymora) is a figure of speech that Juxtaposition, juxtaposes concepts with opposite meanings within a word or in a phrase that is a self-contradiction (disambiguation), self-contradiction. As a rhetorical de ...
ic blend: the other component was Caragiale's creation, the easy-going, cynical and prosaic Mitică. Hyperion remained important as a cultural symbol within the
Romanian diaspora The Romanian diaspora is the Romanians, ethnically Romanian population outside Romania and Moldova. The concept does not usually include the ethnic Romanians who live as natives in nearby states, chiefly those Romanians who live in Ukraine, Hun ...
, which had published its first edition. In the late 1940s, Eliade and Virgil Ierunca founded their own ''Luceafărul'' as an anti-communist journal in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. Another exile, Paul Celan, reportedly introduced his Austrian friend
Ingeborg Bachmann Ingeborg Bachmann (; 25 June 1926 – 17 October 1973) was an Austrian poet and author. She is regarded as one of the major voices of German-language literature in the 20th century. In 1963, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature b ...
to Eminescu's poem—its core themes were discovered by critics in Bachmann's novel '' Malina'' (1971). In the
Moldavian SSR The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic or Moldavian SSR (, mo-Cyrl, Република Советикэ Сочиалистэ Молдовеняскэ), also known as the Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldovan SSR, Soviet Moldavia, Sovie ...
, where Eminescu was being reclaimed for Moldovan literature, references to the message of ''Luceafărul'' were toned down due to Soviet censorship. In 1954, Vasile Coroban introduced it is a "political poem"; the following year, it was only allowed 25 pages in the Eminescu monograph put out by Constantin Popovici, which awarded 70 pages to the "revolutionary" verse in "Emperor and Proletarian". The poem still had a cult readership among the Romanians of that area, where, in 1974, Gheorghe Vrabie contributed a set of illustrations in
aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used ...
and eau-forte. The Soviet republic also hosted a Luceafărul Theatre and produced a
feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...
of the same name, directed by
Emil Loteanu Emil Loteanu (6 November 1936 – 18 April 2003) was a Moldovan and Soviet film director born in what is now Republic of Moldova. He moved to Bucharest and Moscow in his early life. His best known films are '' Lăutarii'', '' Gypsies Are Found Ne ...
. Starring Vasile Zubcu-Codreanu in the title role, it is the only Eminescu Biographical film, biopic. In 1983, the poem also inspired Loteanu to write the script for a ballet, with music by
Eugen Doga Eugen Doga (1 March 1937 – 3 June 2025) was a Moldovan composer. He made significant contributions to various forms of music during his career. He created ballets, ''Luceafărul'', ''Venancia'', and ''Queen Margot'', the opera ''Dialogues of ...
. Alexa Ispas, a Romanians in the United Kingdom, Romanian expatriate in Scotland, adapted the poem into a theatrical play, performed in English at Govanhill Baths (2014).


Published translations

''Luceafărul''s first-ever translation was in January 1883, when Maiorescu's friend Mite Kremnitz rendered the draft poem into German, with a new version produced ten years later by Edgar von Herz. Several others followed in that language, including Immanuel Weissglas' (1937), Olvian Soroceanu's (1940), Zoltán Franyó's (1943), and Günther Deicke's (1964). Nicolae Sulică self-published a fragmentary Latin version, titled ''Hesperus'', for his 1920s magazine ''Incitamentum''. In the 1950s and '60s, Franyó and then Sándor Kacsó translated the entity of Eminescu's poetic work into Hungarian, while Vilém Závada produced his Czech version of ''Luceafărul''. Carlo Tagliavini rendered fragments of the poem into Italian, with commentary, in 1923, while numerous translations were attempted in French, for instance that of Ion Ureche (1939). A Greek version, done by Rita Boumi-Pappa, appeared in a 1964 edition of Eminescu verse; the Bulgarian Eminescu corpus, translated by various local poets and appearing in 1973, included a ''Luceafărul''-themed drawing by Ivan Kosev. In Russian, David Samoylov has penned a version of ''Luceafărul'' that reportedly stays very close to the Romanian original.Copcea, p. 97 Leon Levițchi's corpus of English translations from Eminescu first appeared in 1978, one year after the death of another celebrated Eminescu translator, the teenaged Corneliu M. Popescu. In 1984, Cartea Românească put out a volume featuring Deicke and Popescu's versions, and renditions into seven other languages: French, by Mihail Bantaș; Spanish, by Omar Lara; Armenian, by H. Dj. Siruni; Russian, by Yuriy Kozhevnikov and I. Mirinski; Italian, by Mario De Micheli; Hungarian, by Jenő Kiss; and Portuguese, by Dan Caragea. New Italian renditions were also done by Marco Cugno (1989–1990) and Geo Vasile (2000). There are also several versions of the poem in Serbo-Croatian, including one by Mate Maras (1998). Another English version, the work of Josef Johann Soltesz, was printed in 2004, followed by Tomy Sigler's Hebrew (2008) and Todur Zanet's Gagauz language, Gagauz (2013), then by Miroslava Metleaeva's new Russian and Güner Akmolla's Crimean Tatar language, Crimean Tatar (both 2015). The project of translating into French was again taken up in the 2010s, with Jean-Louis Courriol authoring a celebrated adaptation. Courriol has nevertheless avoided including it in French anthologies, arguing that ''Luceafărul'' was no longer relevant or understandable. Marta Petreu
"Conversații cu Jean-Louis Courriol"
in ''Apostrof'', Nr. 9/2013; Mihai Vornicu
"Traducător – trădător… Eminescu și problema traducerii lui în franceză"
in '' Convorbiri Literare'', July 2015


Notes


References


External links


''Almanachulŭ Societății Academice Socialŭ-Literare Romănia Jună'' (1883)
archived from the Central University Library of Cluj-Napoca copy {{DEFAULTSORT:Luceafarul (poem) Poetry by Mihai Eminescu Narrative poems Philosophical poems Romanian philosophy Works originally published in Austrian magazines 1883 poems 1883 in Austria Fiction set on Venus Fiction set on Jupiter Fiction about meteoroids