Talk:Mihai Eminescu

message: Eminescu is regarded as the first nationalist Romanian personality by an extreme-right political and cultural movement in Romania called Noua Dreaptă (translation: The New Right; url: http://www.nouadreapta.org/). Other influences in politics and way of thinking can be found (though unfortunately my knowledge is limited), in which case a reference to them should be made in the main article. As it is, this is probably too small to be mentioned anyway. Dndfan 21:29, July 22, 2005 (UTC)
: He did influence the politics of his time through his many articles in the press. But no, I don't think his influence can be found in todays' Romanian politics. bogdan ʤjuʃkə | Talk 22:30, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Influences in modern times

message: 1. Ancestors. His paternal grandfather used to sign Iminovici. He must have come from Transylvania, crossing the Carpathians in the eighteenth century. There are no other Eminescu, Eminovici, or Iminovici in Moldavia, but some were found in Transylvania. His father Gheorghe's (George) wanderings back and forth from Moldavia to Austrian-ruled Bukowina may be an indication of the family's nostalgia for German (i.e. Austrian) discipline (both Bukowina and Transylvania, lying north and west of Moldova, were part of the Austrian Empire, although the Hungarian influence in Transylvania was also strong). Gheorghe kept good commercial ties with Bukowina, and insisted on sending his sons to German schools. Thanks to services rendered, he was made căminar by the Moldavian prince. This was not a trade, but rather the lowest rank in the Moldavian aristocracy, which was also a bureaucracy. In late 18th-early 19th century Moldavia, nobles were civil servants. Hence, Gheorghe Eminovici was really in charge of taxes, but held at the same time an aristocratic rank, which allowed him to marry up. 
2. Place of birth. Most likely, and according to most biographers (starting with Călinescu's classical 1932 Life of Mihai Eminescu), he was born in the city of Botoşani, where proper care could have been provided to the căminar's wife (at least he was baptized there, and in 1850 children were baptized early, lest they died pagan). Then the family went back to Ipoteşti, a really small village and a place Eminescu would always consider "home", which is why some sources still give Ipotesti as his place of birth.
3. Name. Mihail and Mihai are, in a way, the official (i.e. religiously correct) and the casual forms of the same name, but Mihai is the only form Romanians have used for centuries (e.g. Michael the Brave, who died in 1601 after having briefly united Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania, is always called Mihai, not Mihail, by 17th-century historians). Orthodox priests have insisted that the final -l cannot be dropped, since it is part of God's name (see the etymology for Michael), that is why in all baptismal records the name reads Mihail, but few people have actually called themselves that way. The other problem is the final -u in the family name Eminovici(u). It is a silent u, today extinct, that was still kept then in the spelling of masculine nouns with no article, and consequently in the spelling of some names originated from these nouns. In some cases, though, adding a silent -u to your name was either a matter of hyper-correctness, or of snobishness (like adding a silent -e at the end of some English names, see Anne of Green Gables, where the girl's real name was Ann, but she thought Anne looked better on paper); a good example here would be that of Romanian novelist Mateiu Caragiale, marvelous writer and great snob, whose real first name should be Matei. Although young Eminescu's signature as Eminoviciu is famously reproduced in print, NO modern critic has ever written or would ever think of writing his ex-name any other way than Eminovici. After all, Shakespeare spelled his name Shakspere, but who's asking him today?
4. De-aş avea means If I had.
5. There has been a continuous debate regarding his illness and death. Some (previously serious and passionate researchers of Eminescu's life who have turned into conspiracy theorists, like N. Georgescu and Theodor Codreanu) have published several books that try to prove he was never ill and that he was assassinated. After all, Eminescu did not just die in a mental institution, as many bowdlerized sources will tell you. Anyone who reads any complete biography of the poet will learn that he was also assaulted by a fellow patient. The name of this patient is known (Poenaru). While this may not have been at all the cause of his death, it did stir it up for the conspiracy theorists. It is also true (cf. Calinescu, which is still a most reliable source) that Eminescu's brain was damaged beyond repair before any autopsy was possible. Gheorghe Marinescu, who is considered the greatest Romanian neurologist of all time, witnessed all this (he was a young intern of 26). These are all facts. Now the conspiracy theories may be summarized as follows: Eminescu was the leader (or a leader) of a secret society that intended to start a military revolution in Transylvania, but Romania signed a secret treaty with Austria the same day Eminescu's supposed illness started. From then on, the fierce nationalist journalist who wanted to become a national leader was little by little silenced (with drugs and, in the end, assasinated) and shown to the general public as a Romantic poet, a little mad and strange. Truth is, Eminescu's first volume of poetry is published after the beginning of his illness and not by himself, but by his friend/mentor Titu Maiorescu, who, say conspiracy theorists, was, just like every other of Eminescu's friends from Junimea (except for Creanga) close to the political circles who had agreed with the secret treaty. Another thing that is true is that the treaty remained secret until WWI, when Romania chose to switch sides, and in the meantime 3 of the 5 founders of Junimea (Maiorescu, Carp, Rosetti) had been prime-ministers of Romania. But the idea of making Eminescu the unknown hero of a huge and hidden political struggle seemed stretched to most people. I only mentioned it because it is part of the debate regarding Eminescu.
6. The article does not mention Eminescu's antisemitism and his xenophobia. The latter is present first of all in his famous poem Doina, forbidden during the communist regime, because it talked of Romanian territories that had been stolen by the USSR. The former accusation seems more serious, since it is based not on a poem (although poems can be the best instruments of propaganda), but on scores of newspaper (op/ed) articles in Timpul. Because of them, Eminescu's antisemitism has been commonplace for Romanian Jews but it is sometimes overlooked by Romanians.
7. The Eminescu scandal should have been mentioned. See this issue of Dilema that set Romania on fire, because young writers dared to challenge not only Eminescu's ideas and attitudes, but also the value of his writings.
http://www.algoritma.ro/dilema/fw.htm?current=arhiva_dilema/search1.htm
:A book was published a year later, including some of the (inflammatory) reactions to these essays.
:: That issue of Dilema can be found here: http://www.algoritma.ro/dilema/arhiva_dilema/265/ IulianU
8. Finally (for now), the debate over Eminescu as Romania's national poet. Is he, and if he is, why is he? Anybody who is informed can argue for or against this. In schools nobody argues. He is, because ... (some old-fashioned 19th-century-like arguments follow).
Maybe none of these deserve to be included in the wiki article. Maybe some do. Anyway, I really-really appreciate Jmabel's willingness to deal with Eminescu. 
:Quatrocentu 07:02, 17 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: It sure sounds like you know the territory more than I do. Please, take a shot at editing the article itself, not just remarking on the talk page! Obviously, it will be helpful if you explicitly cite as many of your sources as possible (a few are indicated above). FWIW, I mentioned Eminescu's anti-semitism in passing in the article on Abraham Goldfaden, citing Michael Riff as a secondary source, but haven't really mentioned it here. -- Jmabel | Talk 04:42, 18 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, please do add these. Articles should be edited by those who know what they are talking about. (I've done #4, which was easy.) Septentrionalis 15:09, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: A little bit about everything

message: : does anyone have a citation either way? - Jmabel | Talk 01:57, 13 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Uncited change in father's place of origin 

message: In the section on family, are "Calinesti" and "Ipotesti" correct? Not "Calineşti" (or possibly "Călineşti") and "Ipoteşti"? - Jmabel | Talk 05:08, 20 November 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: The correct forms are "Călineşti" and "Ipoteşti".  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.208.174.72 (talk) 17:15, 20 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Place names 

message: I see no basis for changing Luceafărul from "morning star" to "evening star." The Catholic Encyclopedia bears out "morning star". The 1911 Britannica wrote "the name given to the "morning star," i.e. the planet Venus when it appears above the E. horizon before sunrise, and sometimes also to the "evening star," i.e. the same planet in the W. sky after sundown, more usually called Hesperus." I am reverting; it would take some very solid citations to override these. - Jmabel | Talk 21:06, 2 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Morning star / evening star 

message: Admittedly, I scanned the page quickly, but I don't see any mention of Eminescu's well-documented antisemitism.
Andrei Oisteanu, in Inventing the Jew: Antisemitic Stereotypes in Romanian and Other Central-East European Cultures, cites 25 instances, including this one (p. 185): "They [the Jews] have introduced and exploited the vice of drinking in villages, have adultered drinks with poisonous matters, and have thus physically envenomed and morally corrupted over populations.… As a foreign race, they have declared a mortal war upon us and have employed instead of knife and pistol, the drinks with poison."
It's fair to mention his deranged ideology since he was such an influencial thinker.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wikisranet (talk • contribs) 15:41, 10 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Antisemitism 

message: I think that details regarding the relation between Eminescu and ROC could be added to the article based, for instance, this link as a source: .--82.137.8.243 (talk) 10:58, 9 July 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Eminescu and the Romanian Orthodox Church 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 3 external links on Mihai Eminescu. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070521175639/http://www.biblacad.ro/Eminescu2.html to http://www.biblacad.ro/Eminescu2.html
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20041015192919/http://www.molddata.md/Literatura/eminescu.html to http://www.molddata.md/Literatura/eminescu.html
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20061230132248/http://eminescu.petar.ro/opera_completa/index.html to http://eminescu.petar.ro/opera_completa/index.html
*Added  tag to http://www.iosifvulcan.ro/eminescu.html
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 08:57, 28 November 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified