Simion Stolnicu (pen name of Alexandru I. Botez; November 6, 1905 – November 29, 1966) 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 poet. Born in Puchenii-Moșneni,

Prahova County Prahova County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploiești. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 762,886 and the population density was 161/k ...

, his parents were Al. Botez, a ''

Căile Ferate Române Căile Ferate Române (; abbreviated as the CFR) was the state railway carrier of Romania. The company was dissolved on 1 October 1998 by splitting into several successor companies. CFR as an entity existed from 1880, even though the first ra ...

'' clerk, and his wife Ecaterina (''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Ionescu). He attended primary school in his native village from 1914 to 1918, under the name Alexandrescu I. Alexandru. He then went to Saint Sava National College in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

from 1918 to 1925, privately taking the final years of high school at

Câmpina Câmpina () is a city in Prahova County, Romania, north of the county seat Ploiești, located on the main route between Wallachia and Transylvania. Its existence is first attested in a document of 1503. It is situated in the historical region of ...

. He studied at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

from 1932 to 1938, graduating from the literature faculty, with a specialty in French and Italian. He taught high school in

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Ble ...

, Câmpina and, from 1949,

Comarnic Comarnic () is a town in Prahova County, Muntenia, Romania, with a population of 11,106 as of 2021. Four villages are administered by the town: Ghioșești, Podu Lung, Poiana, and Posada. Geography The town is situated in the southern foothills ...

. He made his literary debut in 1924, with poems published in the

Cluj Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

magazine ''Cosânzeana'' under the name Al. I. Alexandrescu. In 1925, his verses appeared in ''Adevărul literar'' under the name Al. I. Botez. He first wrote as Simion Stolnicu, a name suggested by

Eugen Lovinescu Eugen Lovinescu (; 31 October 1881 – 16 July 1943) was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the ''Sburătorul'' literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the ...

, in ''

Sburătorul ''Sburătorul'' was a Romanian modernist literary magazine and literary society, established in Bucharest in April 1919. Led by Eugen Lovinescu, the circle was instrumental in developing new trends and styles in Romanian literature, ranging f ...

'' in 1926. He founded ''Rapsodul'' magazine in Ploiești in 1927. Other publications that ran his work include '' Bilete de Papagal'', ''Kalende'', ''Vremea'', ''Ulise'', ''Abecedar'', ''Azi'', '' Revista Fundațiilor Regale'' and ''Universul literar''. His first volume of poetry was ''Punct vernal'', followed by ''Pod eleat'' (1935). He died in Gura Beliei, near Comarnic. The posthumous ''Șerpuiri între lut și torțele de aur'' (1973), aside from older poems, includes verses from 1935 to 1966. A second posthumous volume is ''Printre scriitori și artiști'' (1988). Poems, prose, drama, essays and memoirs remain as unpublished manuscripts.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, p. 638. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stolnicu, Simion 1905 births 1966 deaths People from Prahova County Saint Sava National College alumni University of Bucharest alumni Romanian poets Romanian magazine founders Romanian schoolteachers