Elena Văcărescu

Hélène Vacaresco, Romanian Elena Vacarescu ( born September 21, 1864 in Bucharest, † February 17, 1947 in Paris) was a Romanian - French writer and two-time winner of the Académie française. She was appointed " Ambassador of Romanian culture " by the French Foreign Minister Joseph Paul Boncour and Paul Éluard.

Life

Hélène was a daughter of the Romanian boyar Ioan Vacarescu, he fell in the Russo- Ottoman War (1877-1878), and his wife Eufrosina Fălcoianu, a descendant of the prince of Wallachia, Michael the Brave. She was the granddaughter of the poet Iancu Vacarescu ( 1786-1863 ). She grew up on the family estate on near Targoviste and was taught at home by governesses and only tutors with the help of her father's library. In addition to geography, history, mathematics, art, dance and music Hélène also learned French and English.

In the 1880s Vacaresco studied French literature at the prestigious Sorbonne in Paris, where she met Victor Hugo. At the same time she also attended courses of philosophy, aesthetics and history, but also poetry, under the direction of the writer and the first Nobel Prize for Literature Sully Prudhomme.

In 1888 Vacaresco was invited by her literary achievements of the Romanian Queen Elizabeth, also known under the pseudonym Carmen Silva, in the Royal Palace of Bucharest. After the early death of her daughter Maria (1870-1874 scarlet fever ) transferred the monarch her ​​maternal love to the young writer. In the following years she established herself as the maid of honor and accompanied them on their trips to Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Russia and Serbia. 1889 Vacaresco fell in love with the German -born Prince Ferdinand of Hohenzollern- Sigmaringen ( 1865-1927 ), a nephew and heir of King Charles I., and in May 1891, she celebrated her engagement. But according to the constitution of 1866, it was forbidden to the Romanian throne to marry a local woman. As a result of these events was Queen Elizabeth, who was the love affair well, sent under the guise of a nervous suffering abroad. While Vacaresco lived in exile in Paris, married Prince Ferdinand - the second son of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern- Sigmaringen and Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal from the House of Saxe -Coburg and Gotha - 1893 Princess Marie of Edinburgh, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria and the Russian Tsar Alexander II was.

In her house in the Rue Washington Hélène Vacaresco maintained a successful literary salon and published some of their articles in French journals, including the " Revue des deux mondes ", " Revue de Paris ", " L' Illustration ", " Le Figaro ", " The Contemporary Review" and "The Magasine ". She also worked as a translator for Mihai Eminescu, Lucian Blaga, Octavian Goga, George Topîrceanu, Ion and Ion Vinea Minulescu.

Offices and honors

Primary literature

Poetry

Folk Songs

Novels

Autobiographies

Plays

• Stana, 1904
• Pe Urma dragostei