All the prominent Rumanians of this period were politicians, striving to emancipate the country from the Turkish yoke, and later to effect the union of Moldavia and Walachia. These po litical aspirations form the keynote of the poetry and historical novels of Bolintineanu (1826-73). He was discovered by Radulescu, spent nine years in exile, returned in 1857 to Walachia and rose to high administrative posts. His main strength lay in his historical ballads, a genre which he introduced. Grigorie Alexan drescu (1812-85), another pupil of Eliade, is noted chiefly for his satirical rhymed fables. In Teodor Serbanescu (1837-1901) we find the reflex of Bolintineanu of the earlier period, in the beauty and simplicity of his lyrics.
Like Serbanescu, Vasile Alecsandri (1821-9o) (q.v.) was a Moldavian. In 1855 he published, under the influence of Percy's Reliques, his collection of folk poems, Ballades et chants popu laires de la Roumanie. This, together with the old chronicles, edited by Mihail Kogalniceanu (1845), constituted a living monu ment of the vernacular. Their importance as an inspiration and stimulus to the new writers was fully appreciated by Titu Maior escu, who became the leading critical spirit in Rumanian letters. Under Maiorescu's influence a group of national writers gath ered round the newly founded periodical Convorbiri Literare. Among them were I. Creqngn, who in his "Recollections of Child hood" and other tales embodied the spirit of the Moldavian peas antry ; I. L. Caragiale, who, beside a realistic drama and two volumes of excellent short stories, showed in his comedies Scrisoarea din Urma (The Lost Letter) and Noaptea Furtunoasa (Stormy Night) the grotesque effects of a hasty introduction of Western manners into a semi-oriental society; and above all the poet Michail Eminescu (q.v.). He has been called the Rumanian Leopardi, on account of his all-pervading sadness. But there is another side to Eminescu—his broad conception of the Rumanian race. It was this that impressed writers of the later generations such as Prof. Torga, who in his Istoria Literaturii Romine in secolul al XVIII. lea, 1688-1821, etc. (1901) arrived at a clearer understanding of what a national literature may be. His own periodical Siimcincitorul, and the reviews Convorbiri Literare, edited by Prof. Mehedintzi, Luceafeirul and Viata Romoineascd, are the chief exponents of modern Rumanian letters.
Among Eminescu's followers the most important was A. Vla hutza (1858-1919). G. C4Duc is the poet of the Rumanian peasant. He is a Transylvanian, and so was Octavian Goga (1881 1938), another poet of rich gifts, who however in latter years turned to politics and was one of the best leader writers.
Rumanian prose suffered in consequence of the philological confusion brought about by Eliade and his assistants, mostly Transylvanians who came to Rumania proper after 1848. N.
Balcescu edited the ancient Walachian chronicles and wrote an admirable history of the reign of Michael the Brave. His friend and literary executor A. Odobescu was a consummate scholar of ancient and mediaeval antiquities, an unsurpassed satirist, and creator of the Rumanian historical novel (Mihnea V oda, 1858, and Doamna Kiajna, 1860). The first Rumanian novel to describe contemporary manners is the Ciocoii vechi si not (1863) of Nicolae Filimon (1819-65).
Ioan Ghica, a contemporary of the revolutionaries of 1848, gath ered his recollections into two volumes, Amintiri (1890) and Scrisori catre V. Alecsandri (1887), which beside their historical value have become a model of Rumanian prose. Among writers of fiction mention is also due to Ion Slavici (1848-1925), whose short stories describe the life of Transylvanian peasantry; Barbu Stelanescu de la Vrancea (1858-1918), whose stories are char acterized by wealth of imagery and richness of language ; Ion Popovici-Banatseanu, and Marcu Beza, whose volume of short stories Pe Drumuri (1914) and novel 0 Viata (1921) represent the life of the romantic Vlach population scattered throughout the mountains of Macedonia, Epirus and Thessaly. I. Al. Bratescu Voinesti's two volumes of short stories, In Lumea Dreptdtii (In the World of Justice, 1908) and In Tuneric ci Lumina' (Darkness and Light) were awarded, 1925, the great prize of the manian Academy. Duiliu Zamfirescu's trilogy Din Viata Comcinestilor is a kind of Rumanian Forsyte Saga, while Liviu Rebreanu's novel Ion (1921) deals with the peasant's love of the land. Michael Sadonuvea is a prolific writer of vivid and graphic short stories depicting the life of the Rumanian country-side.
Most popular among Rumanian dramatists is Ioan Caragiale (1852-1912) who brought on the stage living types of the lower and middle classes, and skilfully portrayed the effect of modern veneer on old customs. Barbu de la Vrancea's trilogy, Apus de Soare, Luceafeirul, Viforul (Sunset, The Evening Star, The Storm), is inspired by Rumanian history and folklore; Victor Eftimiu's fairy play Insird-te, meirgarite! (String, Ye Pearls!) is founded on a folk tale ; so is Adrian Maniu's rhymed drama Mesterul (The Master Builder, 1922).