Moldavian-born Romanian writer and poet
Nicolae Gane
(February 1, 1838 ? April 16, 1916) was a
Moldavian
, later
Romanian
prose writer, poet and politician.
Born in
F?lticeni
, his family were
boyars
of small and medium importance; his parents were
postelnic
Matei Gane and his wife Ruxandra (
nee
V?sescu). He began his education at the primary school founded in his native town by
Neofit Scriban
, followed by Louis Jourdan's French boarding school in
Ia?i
. Gane intended to study fine arts in Paris, but encountering opposition from his family, opted instead for a government career. Thanks to his connections, he obtained a position in Ia?i as secretary and translator for Moldavia's director of prisons. He resigned after a day and returned to F?lticeni, where he was named a member of the
Suceava County
tribunal. He was dismissed during demonstrations backing the
union of the Principalities
in 1857, and restored in 1860, following the union, as president of the same tribunal.
[1]
Over the next several years, he alternated jobs in the magistracy with administrative ones, migrating through several Moldavian towns in the process;
[1]
his positions included
prefect
of Suceava County (1863) and later of
Dorohoi County
. In 1864, he joined the
Foc?ani
appeals court,
[2]
but the following year, transferred to a similar position at Ia?i, where he settled for the remainder of his life.
[1]
[2]
A member of the
Romanian Freemasonry
, he attained the rank of Master Mason in 1866.
[3]
His appeals court colleague
Vasile Pogor
and the brothers
Iacob
and
Leon C. Negruzzi
introduced Gane to the recently founded
Junimea
society, of which he remained a leading member, even though in 1883 he joined its political rival, the
National Liberal Party
(PNL). His lengthy political career included two stints as
prefect
of Ia?i County (1870, 1901), five terms as mayor of Ia?i (1872-1876; 1881; 1887-1888; 1896-1899; 1907-1911), a seat in the
Assembly of Deputies
in nearly every PNL-controlled legislature,
[1]
and, from November 1897 to April 1899, the
presidency
of the
Senate
.
[4]
In March 1888, when PNL leader
Ion C. Br?tianu
reshuffled the cabinet in a moment of crisis, he named two new ministers. One of them was Gane, who received the
Agriculture, Industry, Commerce and Domains
portfolio; the government went on to serve for three weeks.
[5]
During Gane's time as mayor, his city acquired paved roads and gas lighting, as well as a new building for the
Ia?i National Theatre
in 1896.
[2]
Gane made his literary debut in
Junimea'
s
Convorbiri Literare
in 1867, with the short story "Fluierul lui ?tefan".
[1]
Over the years until 1886,
[2]
the same magazine published the writings he managed to put together during his time off, periodically published in book form (
Novele
, I-II, 1880;
Novele
, I-III, 1886). He also tried his hand at poetry (
Poezii
, 1873;
Poezii
, 1886), but was more successful as a prose writer; his sentimental and nostalgic stories were widely read in his day and appreciated by later authors.
[1]
In addition, he wrote several memoiristic accounts.
[2]
After 1906, he preferred to publish in
Via?a Romaneasc?
. Elected a corresponding
member of the Romanian Academy
in 1882, he rose to titular member in 1908, was president of its literary section in 1912, and vice president of the Academy from 1912 to 1913. In 1906, he published a translation of
Dante Alighieri
's
Inferno
, written in imperfect
tercets
.
[1]
His wife Sofia was the daughter of Pavel Stoianovici, a
Serb
who had arrived from
Bessarabia
around 1827, and of Pavel's wife, the daughter of a
Greek
and
Bulgarian
rakia
-maker at
Bucharest
's
Curtea Veche
. The couple had five daughters and three sons; two became magistrates and one a cavalry officer, and all the children who married took spouses from among the Moldavian
boyar
families.
[6]
Three Gane-related sites in Ia?i are listed as
historic monuments
by Romania's
Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs
: his early 19th-century house, now a museum; his 1943 bust, located in
Copou Park
; and his grave in
Eternitatea cemetery
.
[7]
Nicu Gane National College
in F?lticeni bore his name from 1923 to 1948, and has again done so since 1970.
[8]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Aurel Sasu (ed.),
Dic?ionarul biografic al literaturii romane
, vol. I, p. 617. Pite?ti: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.
ISBN
973-697-758-7
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
(in Romanian)
Ciprian Teodorescu,
Academicieni ie?eni
, p. 159-60, at the Gheorghe Asachi Ia?i County library site
- ^
R?dulescu, p. 143
- ^
Ion Alexandrescu,
Enciclopedia de istorie a Romaniei
, vol. II, p. 70. Bucharest: Editura Meronia, 2000.
ISBN
973-820-000-8
- ^
Constantin Bacalba?a
,
Bucure?tii de alt?dat? III (1884-1888)
, p. 252. Bucharest: Editura Humanitas, 2014.
ISBN
973-504-680-6
- ^
R?dulescu, p. 74-5
- ^
(in Romanian)
Lista Monumentelor Istorice 2010: Jude?ul Ia?i
- ^
(in Romanian)
Istoric
at the Nicu Gane National College site
References
[
edit
]
- Mihai Sorin R?dulescu,
Elita liberal? romaneasc?, 1866-1900
. Bucharest: Editura All, 1998.
ISBN
973-939-293-8
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Corpul Ponderator
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1864?1866
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Senat
1866?1940
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Senat
since 1990
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