A selection from the poetic, prose and dramaturgical creation of writer Vasile Alecsandri is presented in three volumes of the Inheritance collection of the publishing house “Științaˮ, which were compiled by literary researcher Mihai Papuc. The texts are accompanied by informative, historical-literary notes and comments. The third volume includes a unique text from the press of that time, a preface to a volume by Vasile Alecsandri, IPN reports.

In a conference held to launch the volumes, doctor of philology Margareta Curtescu said that Vasile Alecsandri is the one who placed the poetry on the grounds of authenticity, drawing his inspiration from the Romanian folklore and folk poems. Vasile Alecsandri’s doinas include not only people’s motifs, but also archetypal images, references to Romanian myths, superstitions and beliefs.

As a narrator, Vasile Alecsandri left pages on which the current readers can discover exotic worlds through a journal of travel in Africa or pages about the mysterious Italy. Vasile Alecsandri is also the founder of dramaturgy, who diversified the dramatic genres and shaped the Romanian dramaturgy through comic forms, through the classical structure of plays and imposed the historical drama and the antique inspiration drama in Romanian literature, stated Margareta Curtescu. She noted that the three volumes contain notes and references to different historical and literary data.

Maria Shleahtitski, director of the National Museum of Romanian Literature, called on the public to read these volumes by detaching themselves from the stereotypes about Vasile Alecsandri’s works taught at school. Vasile Alecsandri catches again the attention of literary history and should be read and perceived in a different way.

For his part, Mihai Papuc said this collection in the first volume includes almost all the original poems of Vasile Alecsandri. The second volume contains the prose reproduced from the “Prose” volume that appeared as part of the Complete Works edition of the 19th century. The third volume is a selection of Vasile Alecsandri’s dramas.

Vasile Alecsandri was born in 1821. He was a poet, dramatist, folklorist, politician, minister of foreign affairs, a founding member of the Romanian Academy and the creator of the Romanian theater. He died in September 1890.

The three volumes were launched within the Bookfest International Book Fair that is held in Chisinau during August 30 – September 3.