George Cobuc

George Cobuc ( 20 September 1866 9 May 1918) was a romanian poet, translator, teacher, and
journalist, best remembered for his verses describing, praising and eulogizing rural life, its many
travails but also its occasions for joy.
Cobuc was born in Hordou, since known as Cobuc, in Bistria-Nsud County, and died
in Bucharest. Although his work was later co-opted by Communist propagandists to
embellish Marxist-Leninist rhetoric marginalizing intellectuals while emphasizing "the alliance
between peasants and the laboring class", he is still widely regarded as a master of verse,
accomplished translator and loving chronicler of the Romanian human and geographical topography.

Biography
Early life
His father Sebastian Cobuc, a Greek Catholic priest looked up to by his parish, drew from a line
reputed to have yielded fourteen consecutive generations of priests. George attended primary
school and graduated to secondary classes in the neighboring village of Telciu. He happily took to
the scholarly bent encouraged by his father, earning the praise of instructors and being chosen
among the few who were to sign up for advanced courses at Liceul Romnesc(Romanian Lyceum),
a higher learning academy in the town of Nsud. He soon found himself doubling as teacher.
He began tearing through the library of the institution, impressing colleagues with his encyclopedic
inclinations, and joined a local literary club, the Virtus Romana Rediviva, an association his father
frowned upon as a deviation for a prospective career as clergyman. In 1884, already a well-loved
teacher at the age of 24, he published his very first poems in the yearly almanac of the literary club.

First works
Cobuc began attending courses at the University of Cluj in 1884, while collecting fairy tales and
popular stories, which he rewrote and published to local success. He became so popular that three
years later, he was asked to become editor in chief of the main Cluj newspaper, Tribuna.
He soon published what widely became known as his first masterpiece, Nunta Zamfirei ("Zamfira's
Wedding") to enthusiastic praise in Romanian literary circles. He moved to Bucharest, capital
of Romania and the center of cultural discourse. His contributes to the periodical Convorbiri
Literare to consistent acclaim. In collaboration with other former educators, he pieced together a
praised Romanian language textbook: Carte romneasc de citire (the "Romanian Book of
Reading").

1890s

George Cobuc on a 2014 Romanian stamp

In 1893, he published Balade i idile ("Ballads and Pastorals") a volume which cemented his
reputation. He began dabbling in poetry with political subtext, penning the emphatic Noi vrem
pmnt ("We Demand Land"), Lupta vieii ("Life's struggle"), and overviewes the debut of yet another
literary magazine, Vatra. In 1895, he married Elena Sfetea.
He completed the first Romanian translation of Virgil's Aeneid in 1896, and also published a
collection of various poems and short stories, Versuri i proz ("Verses and Prose"). His output as a
translator is astonishing: within the span of three years, he published large portions
of Kalidassa's Sanskrit Abhignnashkuntala (a part of them through German translations), and a
new Romanian translation of Homer's Odyssey. Cobuc also undertook the translation of various
works by Friedrich Schiller. The Romanian Academy deemed him an "outstanding member" in 1898.
He further contributed to literature by completing, a decade later, the epic effort of translating Dante
Aligheri's Divine Comedy in its entirety.

Later life
In December 1901, he joined Alexandru Vlahu in founding and, until 1905, editing the influential
magazine Smntorul, a traditionalist publication appealing to those intellectuals who could claim
peasant roots. After more than a decade of tremendous success as an author, he experienced
personal tragedy in 1915, when his only son, Alexandru, died in a car accident. Heartbroken, Co buc
ceased all work. He is buried at Bellu cemetery.