Russo, Alecu

Born Mar. 17 (29), 1819, in Kishinev (?); died Feb. 4(16), 1859, in Jassy. Moldavian and Rumanian writer.

Russo studied in Switzerland and Vienna. Upon returning to his native land, he joined the democratic movement. In the nonextant comedy Jignicerul Vadrà (staged 1846) he derided outdated mores. Russo took part in the revolutionary events of 1848 in Moldavia and Transylvania. His chief work was the lyrical and publicistic prose poem Ode to Rumania (1850), devoted to the hard lot of the common people and their aspirations for freedom. The sketches “Linden Cliff” and “Soveja” attacked vestiges of feudalism in Moldavia. Russo’s articles “Folk Poetry” (1846), “Moldavian Sketch” (1851), and “Meditations” (1855) affirmed the social purpose of literature. Russo was one of the first to collect Moldavian folklore.