Mickiewicz, or paths to independence
Romanian independence activists Vasile Alecsandri and Ion Ghica in Istanbul, 1855. photo: Wikimedia
In the 19th century, Romania and Poland were united by a common goal: ridding themselves of the foreign powers that dominated them. The lands inhabited by Romanians, much like the territories of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, were under the control of three powerful empires (in Romania’s case, these were Turkey, Austria-Hungary, and Russia). The unification of Romanian lands and the achievement of independence became a priority for Romanian political activists.
One figure who was to play a role in this process was famed Polish writer Adam Mickiewicz. Many Romanians, as with many Poles, met Mickiewicz in person during their emigration to France in the 1840s. Romanian activists attended Mickiewicz’s lectures at the Collège de France, and shortly after, during the so-called Springtime of Nations, some of them joined the editorial board of the La Tribune des Peuples, the newspaper run by Mickiewicz. They primarily became acquainted with Mickiewicz’s works through French translations.
In 1850, one of these exiled activists (likely Nicolae Bălcescu or Alecu Russo, and usually attributed to the latter), inspired by the freedom-oriented rhetoric and biblical poetics of Mickiewicz’s The Books and the Pilgrimage of the Polish Nation, wrote the prose poem Cântarea României (The Song of Romania). It quickly became known as a masterpiece of Romanian messianism, becoming a cornerstone of the Romanian identity.
Mickiewicz’s influence, with his ideals of politically-engaged literature, also appeared in the individual works of Romanian revival activists and poets. As the late Mihai Mitu, one of the most famed literary translators of Polish into Romanian, pointed out, many Romanian authors of the time used the name 'Konrad' as a kind of patriotic pseudonym, a reference to Mickiewicz’s Konrad Wallenrod. The ties with Poland and Mickiewicz are also evident in the works of Vasile Alecsandri, Romania’s most prominent poet before Mihai Eminescu. Alecsandri expressed solidarity with Poland many times, writing works in the tradition of Polish messianism (such as Christ is Risen) and sometimes contributing to the Siberian literary tradition (The March to Siberia).
Mickiewicz’s influence also entered Romanian literature through other, less revolutionary channels. In the 1850s, Gheorghe Asachi, a poet from Moldavia, adapted Mickiewicz’s ballads. Interestingly, while translating Mickiewicz’s stories, Asachi moved the settings from the poet's native Lithuania and Belarus to the Carpathian region of his own homeland, Moldavia. Since Asachi did not mention Mickiewicz’s authorship, these ballads were long considered to be drawn from Romanian folklore.
The patriotic and literary activity of Romanian activists bore fruit in 1859, when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia united to form the first Romanian state. Full independence was achieved in 1878, and the final unification with Transylvania occurred in 1918, similar to Poland’s own regaining of independence that same year.
