Poetry
Fabule
Not translated into English
Alecu Donici · 1840
Synopsis
Two books of fables in verse, in which animals tell of the failings of men and the bad customs of society. The author mixes his own pieces with adaptations, in particular from the Russian fabulist Krylov. Among the most popular are the fly at the plough, the impossible team of the crayfish, the frog and the pike, the two dogs, and Arvinte's antery.
Context
The first book appeared in Iași in 1840, the second in 1842; both mix fables by the author and translations, as noted by the ESP of Chișinău. Their author had begun by translating Krylov and Pushkin, whose Gypsies he published in 1837, and the debt to the Russian fabulist is strong. His fables have been collected in editions of his works, and one of the streets of Chișinău bears his name.
Who it is for
Fables in Romanian verse, to be read one at a time, in the language of the mid-nineteenth century.
Prizes and reception
Mihai Eminescu, in Les Épigones, hailed their author with a line that makes him a “nest of wisdom”.