Mihai Codreanu

Mihai Codreanu (; July 25, 1876 – October 23, 1957) was a Romanian poet, particularly noted for his sonnets. A native and lifelong resident of Iași, he published his first volume of verse in 1901, followed by another two years later that solidified his reputation. Aside from another book of sonnets in 1914 and two during the 1920s, he authored three highly successful translations of French plays. He also edited a series of newspapers and wrote widely for an array of literary reviews. Attracted to the stage from early on, he led and reformed the main theatre in his city for several years after World War I, and during the 1930s presided over the arts school in Iași. Beginning in 1905, he developed an eye disease that soon left him unable to read or write, tasks that he accomplished through intermediaries.

Biography

Origins and education He was born in Iași. His father Mihail Costache Codreanu, a native of Târgu Ocna, was a judge and a Latin teacher at the National College who died of tuberculosis in September 1877. His mother Natalia was born in 1843 to Dimitrie Mânzariu, who later changed the family name to Mârzescu; she worked as an inspector at a maternity hospital. Her brother was Gheorghe Mârzescu, while Mihai's first cousin was Gheorghe Gh. Mârzescu.

He attended secondary school from 1887 to 1894 in Iași, Bacău and Bucharest, Codreanu's poetic debut came in Lumea ilustrată magazine in 1891. From 1896 to 1900 he studied at the law faculty of the University of Iași, also taking courses in medicine, philosophy and philology.

His first volume of poetry, Diafane ("Diaphanous Forms"), was published in 1901.

Din când în când ("From Time to Time") was published in 1903; and when reviewing this work, critics began to regard him as an authentic poet rather than a novice. The volume, initially published at Iași, appeared two years later as part of the prestigious Bucharest-based Biblioteca pentru toți. Around this period, he lived in a small old apartment in the yard of what is now the Union Museum. Meanwhile, he wrote Cântecul deșertăciunii ("The Song of Vanity", 1921), praised by Ibrăileanu but scorned by Lovinescu. In the event, he went on to become the second winner of an annual national prize for poetry in 1925. He died in 1957, and was buried in Eternitatea cemetery.

Codreanu's first marriage, in April 1906, was to Sofia Betina Veker, who also served as secretary and caregiver. She died in 1946, and the 70-year-old widower quickly married Ecaterina Hare, a 35-year-old native of Bravicea in Bessarabia who had worked as his housekeeper since age 19. Arriving illiterate in his home, she managed to complete fourth grade, with a low passing score, in 1940. In addition to caring for her aged husband, she kept his personal objects in their original state after he died. He is rumored to have fathered a love child, but this individual, who became a university professor, denied the story his entire life.

From 1934, until his death, Codreanu lived in a house called Vila Sonet, built on land donated to him the year before by the Iași authorities in recognition of his achievements.