Alecu Russo (17 March 1819 – 5 February 1859) was a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n writer,

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

and publicist. Russo is credited with having discovered one of the most elaborate forms of the Romanian national folk ballad '' Miorița''. He was also a contributor to the Iași periodical ''Zimbrul'', in which he published one of his best-known works, ''Studie Moldovană'' ("Moldovan Studies"), in 1851–1852. He also wrote ''Iașii și locuitorii lui în 1840'' ("Iași and its inhabitants in 1840"), a glimpse into Moldavian society during the ''Organic Statute'' administration, and two travel accounts (better described as

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

studies), ''Piatra Teiului'' and ''Stânca Corbului''. Russo is also notable for his ''Amintiri'' ("Recollections"), a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

, and for the

prose poem Prose poetry is poetry written in prose form instead of verse form while otherwise deferring to poetic devices to make meaning. Characteristics Prose poetry is written as prose, without the line breaks associated with poetry. However, it make ...

. Both these works appeared in 1855 in

Vasile Alecsandri Vasile Alecsandri (; 21 July 182122 August 1890) was a Romanian patriot, poet, dramatist, politician and diplomat. He was one of the key figures during the 1848 revolutions in Moldavia and Wallachia. He fought for the unification of the Roma ...

's literary magazine, România Literară. Biserica Barboi35

He died shortly before the age of 40. His cause of death is recorded as ''troahnă'', usually denoting influenza, but sometimes a euphemism for tuberculosis. He was buried with great pomp at the Bărboi Church, in Iași.Gheorghe Brătescu, ''Din tradițiile medicinii și ale educației sanitare: studii și note'', p. 290. Bucharest: Editura Medicală, 1978

Presence in anthologies

''The Bessarabia of my Soul / Basarabia Sufletului meu''. A collection of poetry from the Republic of Moldova, bilingual English & Romanian, Daniel Ioniță and Maria Tonu (editors), with Eva Foster, Daniel Reynaud and Rochelle Bews, MediaTon, Toronto, Canada, 2018.

Notes

External links

Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions:Alecu Russo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russo, Alecu 1819 births 1859 deaths Writers from Chișinău Literary critics Writers from the Principality of Moldavia 19th-century Moldavian people