Radu D. Rosetti or Rossetti (December 13Constantin Ciopraga, Literatura română între 1900 și 1918, pp. 296–297. Iași: Editura Junimea, 1970 or 18,Șerban Cioculescu, "Amintiri. Radu D. Rosetti", in România Literară, Issue 39/1982, p. 7Călinescu, p. 593; Cristobald, p. 6; Drăgulănescu, p. 690; Rosetti, Familia, p. 92 1874 – November 1964) was a Romanian poet, playwright, and short story writer, also distinguished as an attorney and activist. The son of playwright-aristocrat Dimitrie Rosetti-Max and nephew of Titu Maiorescu, he had a troubled and rebellious youth, split between Romania and Austria-Hungary; during these debut years, he kept company with senior literary figures such as Ion Luca Caragiale and Alexandru Vlahuță. Graduating from the University of Bucharest at age 26, he was already a successful poet of neoromantic sensibilities, a published translator of plays and novels, and also famous for his unhappy marriage to the literary critic Elena Bacaloglu. Rosetti then switched to writing social-themed plays and stories of his professional life, earning a high profile as a defender of left-wing causes and impoverished clients. He traveled extensively and to exotic locations, publishing a number of volumes detailing his experiences.
From ca. 1913, Rosetti was also the public face of cremation activism, engaged in public polemics with the Romanian Orthodox Church. Although an artillery officer stationed in Chitila, Rosetti was mostly active during World War I as a patriotic orator and propagandist, later returning to his work at the Ilfov County bar association. During the interwar, he maintained contact with both the socialists and the "cremationists", while also experimenting as a Romanian Radio lecturer—but grew more conservative and passéist, attacking modernist literature on several occasions. This attitude consolidated his success as the author of memoirs, though he was rejected by both extremes of the political spectrum for his cherishing of a destitute social system. Largely forgotten during the early stages of Romanian communism, he withdrew to a garret. He was recovered in his late eighties by authors who were curious about his meetings with Romania's literary greats, as well as by humorists who appreciated his cultivation of the epigram genre. Rosetti died in his garret, shortly after returning to publishing.
Biography
Early years The future poet was born in Bucharest to Eftalia (or Natalia) Gheorghiu and Dimitrie Rosetti-Max.Drăgulănescu, p. 690; Rosetti, Familia, pp. 15, 88–89, 92 His father belonged to the boyar aristocracy of Wallachia, which was intertwined with the Phanariotes. His was a more obscure branch of the Rosetti family, descending from an unknown sibling of the 1770s Wallachian Prince, Emanuel Giani Ruset.Rosetti, Familia, pp. 12–13, 27–29 His known ancestor, Scarlat Ruset (died 1821), had uncertain parentage, but was identified by all other Rosettis as a relative.Rosetti, Familia, pp. 13–14, 65–68 Max's father was a Wallachian statesman, Aga Radu Rosetti, who headed the National Theater Bucharest under Prince Gheorghe Bibescu. In 1847, he was Prefect of Gorj County, noted for establishing obligatory medical examinations for the local prostitutes.J.-M. Caillat, Voyage médical dans les provinces danubiennes (Publications de l'Union Médicale, Année 1854), p. 59. Paris: Typographie de Félix Malteste et Cie, 1854. Radu Sr was also Prefect of the Bucharest police during the reign of Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei, who kept him as a Paharnic, but ultimately sacked in 1855 for his alleged mistreatment of foreigners.Nicolae Iorga, Mărturii istorice privitoare la viața și domnia lui Știrbeĭ-Vodă (Ca urmare la Corespondența lui Știrbeĭ-Vodă, I), pp. 255–256, 260–261, 264, 440. Bucharest: Institutul de Arte Grafice și Editură Minerva, 1905. In 1864, with Pantazi Ghica and N. T. Orășanu, he was publishing a satirical newspaper, Nichipercea.Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu (editor: I. Oprișan), Aghiuță 1863–1864, p. 198. Bucharest: Editura Vestala, 2009. He died in 1868, after having squandered much of his and his wife's fortune.Rosetti, Familia, pp. 82–84
Max was the author of light comedies that appeared in Convorbiri Literare, dubbed the "father of Romania's theatrical revue"."Ultima oră. Moartea lui D. R. Rosetti-Max", in Dreptatea, October 13, 1934, p. 4 He was also National Theater chairman, replacing the playwright Ion Luca Caragiale for a time.Rosetti, Familia, p. 89 A collaborator of poet-satirist Iacob Negruzzi,Iorga (1934), p. 23. See also Ursu & Lăcustă, p. 81 he married Negruzzi's sister Maria; another one of Radu's paternal aunts, Ana, was the second wife of culture critic Titu Maiorescu.Rosetti, Familia, pp. 15, 88, 90 Radu D. Rosetti, who described himself as Maiorescu's nephew "by marriage",Nichifor Crainic, "Cronica măruntă. O rectificare", in Gândirea, Issue 1/1943, pp. 55–56 was born to Dimitrie and Natalia when the couple was unmarried; however, they did marry during the child's infancy. The couple divorced around 1889, with "Max" fathering two daughters, Noemi and Florica, from his second marriage, to Alexandra Costovici.Rosetti, Familia, pp. 88–89, 93 Rosetti-Max died in France in October 1934, the result of a car accident.Rosetti, Familia, p. 89
As literary historian George Călinescu suggests, the parental split imposed a "rough life" on Radu, explaining why he, an aristocrat, maintained "quasi-proletarian" customs and sympathies.Călinescu, p. 593 Rosetti himself noted in a 1942 article that: "I never made a fuss about my boyar's rank." He proudly listed himself as a "democrat" like C. A. Rosetti, founder of the left-liberal movement and "some kind of a cousin to my grandpapa".Ursu & Lăcustă, p. 81 The same was noted by his younger friend Victor Eftimiu: "A boy of select birth, [Rosetti] did not linger in that scornful Olympus of his caste, but rather gave himself, spent himself, a troubadour and proletarian, wherever he found impetus, suffering, elation."Eftimiu, p. 225 The poet confessed that the only exception he ever made to his personal standards of "earning my few distinctions with the sweat of my brow" was when he visited a rich relative, Nicolae de Rosetti, and humored his genealogical pride in exchange for gifts of cash.Ursu & Lăcustă, pp. 81–82 Unusually, Rosetti was a contemporary of his homonymous relatives, social historian Radu Rosetti (1856–1926) and General Radu R. Rosetti (1877–1949). As early as 1914, he was making efforts to distinguish himself from the former."Mici Polemici", in Opinia, November 26, 1914, p. 1 Since Rosetti the soldier was also engaged in writing, Radu D. joked to his readers: "If you liked my little work, know that I'm me [...], Radu D. Rosetti. If not, then I wasn't me, [...] but my homonym, General Radu Rosetti. Phone him at his house and call him names." Simona Vasilache, "Alintări", in România Literară, Issue 26/2007 Repeatedly confused with the general by reviewers such as George Panu, he adopted the initial "D." (signaling his patronymic) as a distinguishing mark.Roșu, pp. 528–529
Social revolt Rosetti's first contacts with literary life include his attending, in 1889, the funeral of Romania's national poet, Mihai Eminescu. In later life, he validated the claim that Eminescu had been murdered by a fellow inmate, suggesting gross negligence by his attending physician, Alexandru A. Suțu; Rosetti noted seeing a fresh wound on Eminescu's body.Gr. T., "Interes literar 'postum'", in Adevărul, April 18, 1948, p. 2 Initially raised by his maternal grandmother, he was then sent to various schools, and in 1890 was studying at Andrei Șaguna High School in Brașov, then under Austro-Hungarian rule.Tudor Opriș, Istoria debutului literar al scriitorilor români în timpul școlii (1820–2000), p. 18. Bucharest: Aramis Print, 2002. Călinescu, p. 593; Drăgulănescu, p. 690 He was passionate about the city, where he also learned to speak Hungarian "by necessity". It was here that he met poet Ștefan Octavian Iosif, together with whom he put out the hectographed magazine Păcăleandru. Rosetti's first published poem, appeared in Duminica journal in 1890, and was inspired by his grandmother's death.Drăgulănescu, p. 690 He recalled that his first-ever volume of poetry also came out that year—but noted that there was no merit to this contribution, rating it a "grave mistake".Cristobald, p. 1
Stubborn and rebelling against the prison-like conditions in boarding schools, Rosetti was then placed under private tutors, but did not manage to complete his studies. Reputedly, it was during these years that he first met Caragiale, who (despite being formally uneducated) worked as a teacher of Romanian history at one of the schools attended by young Rosetti.I. Peltz, Amintiri din viața literară, p. 21. Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 1974. As Rosetti recalls, his unorthodox mentor would encourage his students not to snitch on each other, and, on one occasion, took them out of class so that they could listen to a song thrush. Philologist Sebastian Drăgulănescu believes that Caragialesque mannerisms found their way into Rosetti's prose, which preserved a form of "detached irony".Drăgulănescu, p. 691 He was saluted by Caragiale as Romania's second-greatest writer, after Caragiale himself. Later, Rosetti found out that this was a prank: Caragiale would pay that same compliment to other writers in his circle.Ștefan Cazimir, Caragiale față cu kitschul, pp. 32–33. Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 1988. ; Eftimiu, p. 24
Leaving Matei Basarab High School, Rosetti worked for a while as a proofreader at Adevărul daily. With no other means to support himself, he drifted into homelessness, and had to sleep in the editorial offices, on public benches in Cișmigiu Gardens, or in the waiting room at Gara de Nord.Cristobald, p. 6 His verse appeared in Vieața with the support of Alexandru Vlahuță, through whom he came to know Nicolae Grigorescu and Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea, while also maintaining contacts with Caragiale. The latter also published his poetry in the review Vatra, which allowed Rosetti to preserve links with other Romanian magazines published in Austria-Hungary.Iorga (1934), pp. 34–35, 44 Constantin Mille, his Adevărul employer, wrote the preface to his second short volume of verse, Foi de toamnă ("Autumn Leafs", 1892). His lifelong poetic work, described by Călinescu as "provincial and rustic" neoromanticism, comprised a large number of epigrams, madrigals and romanzas; some of the work showed the influence of Traian Demetrescu, and, through him, that of Heinrich Heine.Eftimiu, p. 224 Drăgulănescu proposes that "Foi de toamnă outlines the dominant aspects in both Rosetti's poetry and prose: talkative, prone to improvisation, with a taste for dramatic art, the poet constructs miniature dialogues, puts anecdotes in verse, either in tones of folklore or in the grave and pensive tone of [...] Miron Costin."