Ronetti Roman (sometimes given as Moise Ronetti-Roman; born Aron
Blumenfeld; 1847â€"January 7, 1908) was an Imperial 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.The scion of a Hasidic
Jewish family,[1] 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.[2] A Hebrew tutor in Moldavia in his adolescence,[1] he worked
as a teacher in Sadigura, in Austrian Bukovina; and as an accountant
in Bacău. He then undertook studies at Hârlău and in Suceava, the
latter also in Bukovina. In 1869, he entered the medical faculty of
Berlin University, additionally auditing courses in philology and
philosophy,[2] but did not graduate.[1] He then travelled to Italy and
France.[2]Settling in Romania for good in 1874,[1] he worked as a
German teacher at the V. A. Urechia Institute in the national capital
Bucharest and as a German translator at the Foreign Ministry,[2] the
latter from 1878.[1] Following his 1883 marriage to the Eleonora
Herșcovici, the daughter of a leaseholder, he was a farmer and land
manager at Roznov and Davideni in NeamÈ› County, living on an estate
in the latter village.[1][2]His first published work consisted of
Hebrew-language journalism that appeared in Hamagid between 1868 and
1872, where he signed Moise Roman (Romano) and R. Moran.[2] He always
avoided using his real surname and kept his first name a secret as
well. Determined to become a Romanian writer, he submitted satiric
pamphlets and articles on social issues[1] to Revista literară și
științifică (1876), Adevărul, Almanahul Dacia, Calendarul
Răsăritul, Convorbiri Literare, Curentul nou, Egalitatea,
Mântuirea, Opinia, Reforma, România Liberă, Timpul, Anuar pentru
israeliți and Flacăra.[2] He was friends with Mihail
Kogălniceanu;[2] while writing for the Conservative Party's Timpul,
he also became close with Mihai Eminescu and Ion Luca Caragiale, and
the three together attended meetings of Titu Maiorescu's Junimea for a
time.[1][2]
Blumenfeld; 1847â€"January 7, 1908) was an Imperial 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.The scion of a Hasidic
Jewish family,[1] 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.[2] A Hebrew tutor in Moldavia in his adolescence,[1] he worked
as a teacher in Sadigura, in Austrian Bukovina; and as an accountant
in Bacău. He then undertook studies at Hârlău and in Suceava, the
latter also in Bukovina. In 1869, he entered the medical faculty of
Berlin University, additionally auditing courses in philology and
philosophy,[2] but did not graduate.[1] He then travelled to Italy and
France.[2]Settling in Romania for good in 1874,[1] he worked as a
German teacher at the V. A. Urechia Institute in the national capital
Bucharest and as a German translator at the Foreign Ministry,[2] the
latter from 1878.[1] Following his 1883 marriage to the Eleonora
Herșcovici, the daughter of a leaseholder, he was a farmer and land
manager at Roznov and Davideni in NeamÈ› County, living on an estate
in the latter village.[1][2]His first published work consisted of
Hebrew-language journalism that appeared in Hamagid between 1868 and
1872, where he signed Moise Roman (Romano) and R. Moran.[2] He always
avoided using his real surname and kept his first name a secret as
well. Determined to become a Romanian writer, he submitted satiric
pamphlets and articles on social issues[1] to Revista literară și
științifică (1876), Adevărul, Almanahul Dacia, Calendarul
Răsăritul, Convorbiri Literare, Curentul nou, Egalitatea,
Mântuirea, Opinia, Reforma, România Liberă, Timpul, Anuar pentru
israeliți and Flacăra.[2] He was friends with Mihail
Kogălniceanu;[2] while writing for the Conservative Party's Timpul,
he also became close with Mihai Eminescu and Ion Luca Caragiale, and
the three together attended meetings of Titu Maiorescu's Junimea for a
time.[1][2]
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