Ronetti Roman

Ronetti Roman (sometimes given as Moise Ronetti-Roman; born Aron Blumenfeld; 1847–January 7, 1908) was an Austrian-born Romanian playwright and poet. Likely a native of Galicia, he settled permanently in Romania in the mid-1870s. Across the ensuing three decades, he made a name for himself as a polemical journalist, also writing poetry and satire, and concerning himself with the status of the country's Jews. His chief literary contribution was the 1900 play Manasse, which explores the intergenerational conflict between older, devout, tradition-bound Jews and their more secular, modern, assimilated descendants. While very successful with audiences, the play also drew fire from nationalist circles that took to the streets to block its staging on two separate occasions.

Biography

Origins and early life The scion of a Hasidic Jewish family, he was born in 1847 in Jezierzany, in the Austrian Empire's Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria; today, the place is called Ozeryany and is located in Ukraine's Ternopil Oblast. However, some sources suggest he was born in the Moldavian town of Herța in 1851. the later Satira jocului was in the same genre. He also wrote verses ("Telegraful", "Rusia"), of which the most polished was Radu, His 1898 essay Două măsuri,

Manasse

Initial success and 1906 scandal

His play Manasse, published in 1900, expanded upon the ideas he set forth in Două măsuri. On the other hand, Eugen Lovinescu, writing in 1914, called it "the most powerful drama written in the Romanian language", while an emotional Mihail Dragomirescu asserted that the "Shakespearean drama Manasse will have to serve, alongside Caragiale, as a model for our future dramaturgy". The latter, following in the footsteps of a strongly positive review by Eliade, insisted the play be judged on its aesthetic merits, free from preconceptions. At the time he was writing in 1905, Convorbiri Literare did not tolerate an anti-Sămănătorist line, so he published in Epoca instead.

1913 scandal and legacy Davila, who meanwhile returned to his old post, planned to stage Manasse in October 1913. Iorga, this time assisted by Cuza, again stirred up the students against what they considered an "anti-Romanian" performance. These events occurred against a backdrop of petitions by native-born Jews asking that all Romanian Jews be granted citizenship. Politicians who considered Jews unassimilable opposed the idea, and Interior Minister Take Ionescu remarked that "it would be pure madness on our part to stage Manasse right when the Jewish question is being forced upon us". However, Davila ignored the students (who formed but a vocal minority of the total) and merely delayed the play until later in the month. The day before the scheduled performance, a meeting involving students and professors was held on Queen Elisabeth Boulevard. The latter generally resorted to platitudes: Vasile Pârvan "praised the students' enthusiasm, but suggested the matter does not deserve such importance"; Simion Mehedinți recognized he "did not know the play Manasse and was in no capacity to discuss it, but believed the role of the National Theatre is to safeguard the ancestral religion and creed"; Dragomirescu asserted that "there are spectators who have the right to demand this play, just as students have the right to protest against it". Subsequently, the students left to protest in front of the theatre. Acting upon instructions received from the government, police prefect Dimitrie Moruzzi banned the performance on grounds of "maintaining order". Manasse'''s themes of integration into Romanian society markedly influenced Jewish writers who came to the fore after World War I. Translated into Yiddish in 1902 by Jacob Sternberg, it performed at the Czernowitz Jewish theatre.