Littérature roumaine

Littérature roumaine, ensemble d'écrits en langue roumaine, dont le développement est parallèle à un riche folklore - lyrique, épique, dramatique et didactique - qui a continué dans les temps modernes.

L'ancienne période

Les premières traductions en roumain provenaient du slave et consistaient en vers interlinéaires ou interpolations dans des textes religieux du XVe siècle. De la même période datent les textes dits rhotacisants, conservés en exemplaires du XVIe siècle, écrits à Maramureş, dans le nord de la Transylvanie, probablement sous l'impulsion du mouvement hussite. Il s'agit notamment du Psautier de Şcheia et du Codex de Voroneƫ, qui contient les Actes des Apôtres et le Psautier de Voroneƫ.

Le premier livre imprimé en Valachie en 1508 était un livre liturgique slave. Un certain diacre Coresi a imprimé des traductions roumaines des Actes des Apôtres (1563). Ses autres publications qui survivent sont le Tîlcul evangheliilor şi molitvenic («Sermons et Livre de Prières») et Evanghelia cu învăƫătură (1581; «Commentaire sur les Évangiles»); ils ont tous encouragé l'utilisation du roumain. Pendant cette période, une littérature profane a également été produite, mais elle consistait principalement en traductions de livres grecs, slaves, byzantins et asiatiques.

L'impression de livres religieux roumains s'est poursuivie au XVIIe siècle et a reçu un nouvel élan en Transylvanie, en Valachie et en Moldavie par la controverse résultant de la Réforme protestante. Un métropolite moldave, Dosoftei, un grand érudit et théologien, s'est enfui en Pologne lors des combats entre la Pologne et la Turquie et en 1673 y a publié le premier psautier métrique roumain, qui était également la première poésie à être écrite en roumain. Il est revenu en Moldavie en 1675 et en 1679 a traduit la liturgie du grec. Son autre contribution exceptionnelle à la littérature roumaine fut sa Viaƫa şi petrecerea sfinƫilor (1682-1686, «La vie des saints»), dans laquelle il introduisit des idiomes populaires et encouragea le développement d'un style de prose plus flexible.

Toward the end of the 17th century, the monastery of Snagov, near Bucharest, became a centre of literary activity, and books were printed in Romanian, Greek, Slavonic, and Arabic. Religious literature reached its climax with a translation of the Bible (1688) that became the basis for all later translations.

Historiography was at its height with the humanist historiographers of 17th-century Moldavia, whose leader was Miron Costin. He wrote a chronicle of Moldavia in Romanian and a poem on the history of his country in Polish. The chronicle was continued by his son Nicolae, who also pioneered the collection of folklore and legends. Dmitry Kantemir (Dimitrie Cantemir), prince of Moldavia, a great linguist and historiographer, wrote Latin histories of Romania, Moldavia, and the Ottoman Empire. A special place among Moldavian historians is occupied by Nicolae Milescu, who wrote theological, historical, and travel works.

The 18th century

Most Romanian literature of the 18th century presents a picture of social oppression and decadence under Ottoman rule. A rich secular and apocryphal literature circulated in manuscript, but there was no progress in comparison with that of the past. In Moldavia a new cultural centre arose at Rădăuƫi. The principal achievements of the century were the Minei (“Lives of the Saints”) of 1776–80 and 1807–15 (each in 12 volumes, published in Râmnicu Vâlcea and in the monastery of Neamƫ, respectively), whose rich and lucid language put them alongside the Bible of 1688.

Lyric poetry was cultivated toward the end of the century in love songs (1769–99), in the tradition of the ancient Greek poet Anacreon, by Alecu Văcărescu. Alecu’s father, Ienăchiƫă, a moralist poet, also wrote the first Romanian grammar, while his son Iancu, the father of Romanian poetry, overshadowed his predecessors with his poems. The fourth poet of the Văcărescu family was Nicolae. The lyric tradition was carried on in Walachia by B.P. Mumuleanu.

The national renaissance

The first landmark of this period was the uprising of Tudor Vladimirescu (1821) in Walachia against the Ottoman Turks and the return of the national rulers. Romanticism carried forward the falling wave of the Latinist movement. In the second half of the 19th century, a serious literary criticism, which originated in German philosophy and French culture, inaugurated modern Romanian literature.

Transylvanian Latinism crossed the Carpathians and had beneficial effects on the Greek-inspired culture of Walachia. Ion Heliade Rădulescu, who came under this influence, founded the first Romanian newspaper in Walachia and the Societatea Filarmonică (1833), which later created a national theatre in Bucharest. He was a pioneer of Italian influence, which was taken up in Moldavia by Gheorghe Asachi, who introduced the historical short story, wrote verses in Romanian and Italian, and founded a periodical, Albina Românească. The outstanding literary personality among a galaxy of minor poets and translators who enriched the Romantic heritage was Grigore Alexandrescu. Alexandrescu wrote Poezii (1832, 1838, and 1839) and Meditaƫii (1863), fables and satires influenced mostly by French writers. A literary magazine, Dacia Literară, edited by Mihail Kogălniceanu, a leading statesman and father of modern Romanian historiography (1840), marked a beginning of the traditionalist trend in literature. Alecu Russo, another leader of 1848, enriched literature with a biblical prose poem, Cântarea României.

Leading writers of the second half of the century were Vasile Alecsandri and Mihail Eminescu. Alecsandri’s rich output comprised poetry (Doine şi lăcrimioare [1853] and Suvenire si Mărgăritărele [1856]), prose (Buchetiera din Florenƫa [“A Bouquet from Florence”] and Călătorii în Africa), and plays (Fîntîna Blanduziei, Ovidiu, and Despot Vodă). He also revealed treasures of Romanian folklore in Balade (1852–53) and Poezii populare (1866). Eminescu, a philosophical lyric poet, created modern Romanian poetry. He was influenced by Hindu thought and German philosophy but remained rooted in tradition. He raised Romanian poetry to new heights and was the guiding star in every aspect of cultural life. His writings include short stories and political and philosophical essays.