page_title: Românul
section_title: Literary circle
hierarchical_section_title: Românul / History / Literary circle
caption_attribution_description: English: Photomontage of public domain images. Portraits of the Românul(ŭ) newspaper contributors, in ca. 1857-67. Top row, from left: C. A. Rosetti, Maria Rosetti, Cezar Bolliac, D. Bolintineanu. Bottom row, from left: N. Nicoleanu, C. D. Aricescu, Alexandru Odobescu, Dimitrie Brătianu.
context_page_description: Românul, was a political and literary newspaper published in Bucharest, Romania, from 1857 to 1905. Established as the leading voice of Romanian liberalism in the state of Wallachia, it had direct connections to the radical ideology of Western Europe. Its founder and director was the aristocrat C. A. Rosetti, known as Romantic poet, Masonic promoter and left-wing activist, seconded by the brothers Ion C. Brătianu and Dimitrie Brătianu. Românul's roots were planted in the 1848 revolutionary movement, whose press organ, Pruncul Român, was a direct predecessor.
  In its first editions, Românul helped circulate the slogans of the national emancipation ideal, and campaigned for Moldavia to join Wallachia in a union of the principalities, the basis of modern Romania. Although that union was achieved in 1859, Rosetti fell out with the elected Domnitor Alexander John Cuza, censuring his dictatorial inclinations and being in turn censored. Românul men helped topple Cuza in February 1866, after which Românul became the expression of radicalism in government.
context_section_description: With a primarily cultural agenda, Românul gathered around it a cosmopolitan and multicultural club. In its first year, it hosted one of the first serialized novels in Romanian literature, called Omul muntelui ("Man of the Mountain"). Signed by a "Lady L.", it was probably written by the Franco-Romanian Marie Boucher (who enlisted the help of Moldavian author V. A. Urechia). Two other women writers were noted contributors to Românul. One was Rosetti's Guernseyian wife Maria. The other was a Moldavian unionist, Sofia Cocea.
  Românul also received contributions from Austrian E. "Iernescu" Winterhalder, the pioneer stenographer and co-owner of Rosetti's print shop. Winterhalder and Rosetti had already collaborated on an almanac of literature, which notably hosted some of the first works by the junior "48-ist" Alexandru Odobescu. In an 1859 piece for Românul, Winterhalder assured the reading public that Bucharest was fast becoming recognized for its Westernization efforts. Odobescu himself was a staff writer at Românul, where he published his historical novella on Mihnea cel Rău (October 1857), and then his friendly polemic with Rosetti, on the subject of dramaturgy. The Românul founder was twice manager of the National Theater Bucharest, and, as such, published calls for the young boyars to sponsor the national repertoire, or chronicles of the plays staged by theater pioneer Matei Millo. Similar articles were later published in Românul by the actress and feminist Maria Flechtenmacher.
  In May 1858, Românul published Sciarlatanul ("The Charlatan"), a story by the Wallachian novelist Alexandru Pelimon. Also in correspondence with the newspaper, the Aromanian Romantic poet Dimitrie Bolintineanu introduced the work of his disciple, Mihail Zamphirescu (August 1858), and complained about the disenfranchisement of Aromanian immigrants to Romania (March 1861). Românul played host to the Albano-Romanian aristocrat Dora d'Istria, being one of the first local periodicals to acknowledge her literary work (her text, L'Italia s'è fatta!, was published by Rosetti in December 1860).
caption: Some of Românul's original contributors. Top row, from left: C. A. Rosetti, M. Rosetti, Bolliac, Bolintineanu.
  Bottom row, from left: Nicoleanu, Aricescu, Odobescu, D. Brătianu
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