page_title: Romanian literature
section_title: National awakening
hierarchical_section_title: Romanian literature / History / National awakening
caption_attribution_description: Ion Luca Caragiale
context_page_description: Romanian literature is literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language.
context_section_description: As the revolutionary ideas of nationalism spread in Europe, they were also used by the Romanians, who desired their own national state, but were living under foreign rule. Many Romanian writers of the time were also part of the national movement and participated in the revolutions of 1821 and 1848. The Origin of the Romanians began to be discussed and in Transylvania, a Latinist movement Şcoala Ardeleană emerged, producing philological studies about the Romanic origin of Romanian and opening Romanian language schools.
  Romanians studied in France, Italy and Germany, and German philosophy and French culture were integrated into modern Romanian literature, lessening the influence of Ancient Greece and the Orient over time. In Wallachia an important figure of the time was Ion Heliade Rădulescu, who founded the first Romanian-language journal and the Philharmonic Society, which later created the National Theatre of Bucharest.
  The most important writers of the second half of the century were Vasile Alecsandri and later Mihai Eminescu. Alecsandri was a prolific writer, contributing to Romanian literature with poetry, prose, several plays, and collections of Romanian folklore. Eminescu is considered by most critics to be the most important and influential Romanian poet. His lyric poetry had many of its roots in Romanian traditions, but was also influenced by German philosophy and Hindu traditions.
  Titu Maiorescu's Junimea literary circle, founded in 1863 and frequented by many Romanian writers, played an important role in Romanian literature. Many outstanding Romanian writers, including Ion Luca Caragiale, who wrote some of the best Romanian comedies, Ion Creangă, who wrote traditional Romanian stories and Barbu Ştefănescu Delavrancea, published their works during this time. George Coșbuc was a poet, translator, teacher, and journalist, best known for his verses describing, praising and eulogizing rural life. Nicolae Bălcescu, Dimitrie Bolintineanu, Alecu Russo, Nicolae Filimon, Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, Alexandru Odobescu, Grigore Alexandrescu, Constantin Negruzzi, Alexandru Vlahuță, Alexandru Macedonski, Petre Ispirescu, Duiliu Zamfirescu and Ioan Slavici are also important literary personalities of the era.
caption: Ion Luca Caragiale
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.4.7", "Image DateTime": "2016:02:02 09:20:42", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "158", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "230", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6260", "EXIF SubSecTime": "875", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "764", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "988"}