Anton Naum (January 17, 1829–August 27, 1917) 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. Born 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 ...

, his parents were Theodor Naum, a small-time merchant and landlord, and his wife Zamfira (''née'' Nactu); both were of Aromanian origin. He studied at ''

Academia Mihăileană was an institution of higher learning based in Iași, Moldavia, and active in the first part of the 19th century. Like other Eastern European institutions of its kind, it was both a high school and a higher learning institute, housing several fa ...

'' in his native city. This was followed, from 1858 to 1865, by courses at the literature faculty of the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

and the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

. Upon his return home in 1865 and until 1892, he began working as a high school teacher, offering classes in history and French at Iași's ''Institutele Unite'', Central High School, military school and Vasile Lupu Normal School. From 1868 to 1871, he was primary school inspector for the counties of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Botoșani Botoșani () is the capital city of Botoșani County, in the northern part of Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu, Nicolae Iorga and Grigore Antipa. Origin of the ...

Suceava Suceava () is a Municipiu, city in northeastern Romania. The seat of Suceava County, it is situated in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of Bukovina and Western Moldavia, Moldavia, northeastern Romania. It is the largest urban ...

, Neamț and

. In October 1897, he was called as a substitute professor at

Iași University The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in , Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former was converted to a university, the University of , as it was named ...

in place of the deceased

Ștefan Vârgolici Ștefan G. Vârgolici (October 13, 1843–) was a Moldavian, later Romanian poet, critic and translator. Born in Borlești, Neamț County, he attended secondary school at '' Academia Mihăileană'' in Iași, followed by the literature and phi ...

and began teaching in the department of modern Romance literature. He was soon made a full professor of French, retiring in 1907 but continuing to teach until 1909. A member of ''

Junimea ''Junimea'' was a Romanian literary society founded in Iași in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi. The foremost personali ...

'' since 1872, from that year he was a consistent contributor to the pages of its organ, ''

Convorbiri Literare ''Convorbiri Literare'' () is a Romanian literary magazine published in Romania. It is among the most important journals of the nineteenth-century Romania. History and profile ''Convorbiri Literare'' was founded by Titu Maiorescu in 1867. The ma ...

'', writing original and translated poetry. He was the oldest member of the society, nicknamed "chaste Naum" for his modesty and reserve. His first book was ''Aegri somnia'' (1876), followed by ''Versuri'' (1890) and ''Povestea vulpei'' (1902). He became a corresponding member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its bylaws, the academy's ma ...

in 1887, and was elevated to titular status in 1893. He translated

Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (; 1 November 1636 – 13 March 1711), often known simply as Boileau (, ), was a French poet and critic. He did much to reform the prevailing form of French poetry, in the same way that Blaise Pascal did to reform the ...

(the entirety of ''L'Art poétique''),

Frédéric Mistral Joseph Étienne Frédéric Mistral (; , 8 September 1830 – 25 March 1914) was an Occitan writer and lexicographer of the Provençal form of the language. He received the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of the fresh origina ...

(in 1882, he received a prize at the

Floral Games Floral Games were any of a series of historically related poetry contests with floral prizes. In Occitan, their original language, and Catalan they are known as (, ; modern or ). In French, they became the (), and in Basque (). The origina ...

Forcalquier Forcalquier (; ) is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. Forcalquier is located between the Lure Mountain( fr) and Luberon mountain ranges, about south of Sisteron and west of the Durance river. Dur ...

for his rendition of ''

Mirèio ''Mirèio'' (; ''Mirèlha'' in classical norm, ) is a poem in Occitan language, Occitan by French writer Frédéric Mistral. It was written in 1859, after eight years of effort. Mirèio, a long poem in Provençal consisting of twelve songs, tells ...

s first canto),

André Chénier André Marie Chénier (; 30 October 176225 July 1794) was a French poet associated with the events of the French Revolution, during which he was sentenced to death. His sensual, emotive poetry marks him as one of the precursors of the Romantic ...

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rema ...

François Ponsard François Ponsard (1 June 1814 – 7 July 1867) was a French dramatist, poet and author and was a member of the Académie française. Biography Ponsard was born at Vienne, Isère in 1814 and trained as a lawyer. His first literary work w ...

and

Alfred de Musset Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay (; 11 December 1810 – 2 May 1857) was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.His names are often reversed "Louis Charles Alfred de Musset": see "(Louis Charles) Alfred de Musset" (bio), Biography.com, 2007 ...

. His poems tended toward the classical but were receptive to pre-romantic and romantic rhetorical influences, in the same vein as

Barbu Paris Mumuleanu Barbu Paris Mumuleanu (1794 – May 21, 1836) was a Wallachian poet. Born in Slatina, Romania, Slatina, his father was originally from a village and sold trinkets. Initially employed as a logothete to the ''vistier'' (treasurer),Alexandru Piru, ''I ...

, Vasile Cârlova and

Grigore Alexandrescu Grigore Alexandrescu (; 22 February 1810, Târgoviște – 25 November 1885 in Bucharest) was a nineteenth-century Romanian poet and translator noted for his fables with political undertones. He founded a periodical, ''Albina Românească'' ...

. By his early 50s, Naum had become a depressed, aging bachelor with suicidal tendencies who suffered from extreme shyness toward women. However, at age 53, he married Ecaterina Pandeli, almost thirty years his junior. Naum then found renewed motivation in life, his looks improved, he abandoned his isolated existence, and his appetite for writing increased. The couple had two sons: Alexandru, who went on to teach art history at Iași;Lucian Nastasă, ''Intelectualii și promovarea socială'', p. 50, 102-03. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Limes, 2004. and philologist Teodor Naum.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, p. 179. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naum, Anton 1829 births 1917 deaths People from the Principality of Moldavia Writers from Iași Romanian people of Aromanian descent University of Paris alumni Academic staff of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Romanian poets Romanian translators Romanian schoolteachers Junimists Titular members of the Romanian Academy 20th-century translators 19th-century translators