Alecu (or Alexandru) Donici (; January 19, 1806 – January 21, 1865) was a

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

n, later

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 poet and translator.

Biography

He was the first of four children of Dimitrie Donici and wife Ileana Lambrino. He studied at the

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Military Academy, and became a junior lieutenant in the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

army. He was of boyar origin.

Aleksandr Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

lived in the Donici family house during his exile in 1820-1823. After 1828, Donici assumed the duties of a civil servant in Chişinău, but later on he chose to resign and in 1835 settled in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

, where most of his literary career unfolded. His chief work, a two-volume book of fables titled ''Fabule'' ("Fables"), was published in Iaşi in 1840; it shows the strong influence of

Ivan Krylov Ivan Andreyevich Krylov (; ; 13 February 1769 – 21 November 1844) is Russia's best-known fabulist and probably the most epigrammatic of all Russian authors. Formerly a dramatist and journalist, he only discovered his true genre at the age of ...

. He translated the works of

and

Antioch Kantemir Antiochus or Antioch Kantemir or Cantemir (; ; ; ; 8 September 1708 – 31 March 1744) was a Moldavian who served as a man of letters, diplomat, and prince during the Russian Enlightenment. He has been called "the father of Russian poetry". ...

Gallery

Image:Aleea Clasicilor Donici.jpg,

Alley of Classics, Chişinău An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road (back lane), or a path, walk, or av ...

Image:MD-2006-50lei-Donici-b.png, Alecu Donici on a Moldovan coin

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donici, Alecu 1806 births 1865 deaths People from Orhei District Romanian poets Romanian male poets Moldovan writers Moldovan male writers Romanian translators 19th-century translators 19th-century poets 19th-century male writers Writers from the Principality of Moldavia 19th-century Moldavian people