Iosif Vulcan (March 31, 1841 – September 8, 1907) was an ethnic Romanian Austro-Hungarian magazine editor, poet, playwright, novelist and cultural figure. He founded the literary magazine Familia, which he published for four decades. A titular member of the Romanian Academy, he presided over its literary section from 1904 to 1907.
Biography
Early life
Vulcan was born in Pusztahollód, Bihar County, in the Kingdom of Hungary, now Holod, Bihor County, Romania. His father Nicolae was the local Greek-Catholic parish priest from 1831 to 1844. Nicolae was a nephew of Bishop Samuil Vulcan and was born in Șinca Veche to a family originating in Wallachia.Drimba 1974, p.15-16 His mother Victoria (Viktória) Irinyi came from an old family of Romanian origins called Irimie before its name was Magyarized. The daughter of a schoolmaster from Létavértes (Leta Mare), her brother was János Irinyi.George Călinescu, Alexandru Philippide (eds.), Istoria literaturii romîne: III, p.551. Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, 1973Drimba 1974, p.18-19Drimba 1987, p.xxviIoan Saizu, Intelectuali români implicați în dezvoltarea civilizației economice, p.15. Editura Academiei Române, 2003, Vulcan's parents had six children, five of whom died early. His father was transferred to the Létavértes parish in 1844 before being named canon in Oradea (Nagyvárad) in 1879. Vulcan was attached to his parents as well as to Létavértes, where his mother is buried. He attended primary school there from 1847 to 1851, returning for his high school and university vacations. In later years, he came back for leisure as his busy schedule permitted.Maria Berényi, Cultură românească la Budapesta în secolul al XIX-lea, p.154. Pentru Minoritățile Naționale și etnice din Ungaria, Budapest, 2000,
He attended the Premonstratensian high school in Oradea from 1851 to 1859, followed by a law degree from the University of Pest; he passed the bar examination, but soon devoted himself to literature. József Szinnyei, "Vulkánu József", in Magyar írók élete és munkái, vol. XIV. Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, 1914 In 1853, while in high school, he helped start a magazine that appeared until 1870.Neș, p.3 There are poems of his written in Pest in 1859, when he was eighteen.Neș, p.3-4 His earliest dated poem, "Câte stele sunt pe ceriuri…", was written at Létavértes on 10 August 1859 and later included in his first volume.Iosif Vulcan, Poesii, Pest, 1866, p. 179 He became involved with Gura Satului ("The Voice of the Village") in Pest in 1861 and thereafter with Concordia and Aurora Română. He wrote feuilletons for Concordia, a Romanian political newspaper. Vulcan often spent time in Létavértes during his student days, writing his first love poems there, about a sweetheart who lived in the town.
Familia and later activity
He launched Familia literary magazine in Pest-Buda in 1865 and would lead it for some forty years. In 1866, he published his first volume of poetry.Neș, p.4 The same year, "De-aș avea" ("If I Had"), a poem that marked the proper literary debut of sixteen-year-old Mihai Eminovici, appeared in Familia. Vulcan received it with enthusiasm, publishing him under the more Romanian-sounding name Mihai Eminescu. Vulcan later recounted that the poems sent from Cernăuți in February 1866 were signed "M. Eminovici", and that he, "without asking him, Romanianized his name and published them under the name Eminescu". Iosif Vulcan, "Mihail Eminescu", Familia, an. XXI, seria II, nr. 2, 13/24 January 1885, p. 14 A good part of the latter's work would continue to appear in Vulcan's magazine until 1883. Ion Buzași, "'Eminescu în Transilvania'" , România literară, 23/2000Călin-Andrei Mihăilescu, "Mihai Eminescu: The Foundational Truth of a Dual Lyre", in Marcel Cornis-Pope and John Neubauer (eds.), History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe, p.86. John Benjamins Publishing, 2010, In 1867, Vulcan visited France, a bold act for a resident of the Austrian Empire, which encouraged German-language education. In 1868, he traveled to Romania. In 1869, in addition to a volume of short stories, he published a biography of Prince Carol, as well as an anthology of writings by Andrei Mureșanu, Ion Heliade Rădulescu, Timotei Cipariu, August Treboniu Laurian, Mihail Kogălniceanu, George Bariţ and Vasile Alecsandri. He showed a sincere admiration for Romania and its prince. In July 1869, he published in Familia an appeal, "Să fondâmu teatru natiunalu" ("Let us found a national theatre"), calling for contributions to a fund for a Romanian-language theatre; among those who answered was the young Eminescu, whose article "Repertoriulu nostru teatralu" appeared in the magazine in January 1870. Familia, an. V, nr. 29, 20 July 1869, p. 337-338 Familia, an. VI, nr. 3, 18/30 January 1870, p. 25-28 A preparatory programme signed by Vincențiu Babeș, Iosif Hodoşiu, Petru Mihályi, Alexandru Mocioni and Vulcan followed in March 1870, and the Society for the Creation of a Romanian Theatre Fund was set up at Deva on 4-5 October 1870, with Hodoşiu as president and Vulcan as secretary; from 1870, Familia served as the society's official organ. Iosif Vulcan, "Istoricul Societății pentru fond de teatru român", Familia, an. XXXV, nr. 22-24, 1899, p. 253-254, 267-268, 279-280 The fund reported at the society's general assemblies grew from 3,670 florins in 1870 to 54,785 florins in 1890. Vulcan presided over the society from 1895 to 1907;Neș, p.5 his own comedies remained staples of its amateur network, which staged them 166 times in 112 Transylvanian localities between 1900 and 1906, led by Sărăcie lucie and Ruga de la Chizătău. Ioan Colban, Viorel Faur, "Receptivitatea românilor transilvăneni" (documentary annexes), in Societatea pentru crearea unui fond de teatru român (centenary volume), Brașov, 1971, p. 58-75
In addition to his work in Romanian, Vulcan published Hungarian-language translations of Romanian poets in various magazines. In 1871, he was elected as an external member of the Kisfaludy Society; his reception speech of 31 May 1871 dealt with Romanian folk poetry. Pál Köteles (ed.), Iosif Vulcan a Kisfaludy Társaságban. Kriterion, Bucharest, 1970, p. 117 On 20 November 1871, he married Aurelia Popovici in a mixed-faith marriage (he Greek-Catholic, she Orthodox) that was unusual for the time, with Iosif Hodoşiu and his wife as godparents; Lucia Cornea, "Relații de rudenie în mediul intelectual românesc din vestul Transilvaniei. Studiu de caz - familia Aureliei Popovici-Vulcan", Crisia, XXXVIII, Oradea, 2008, p. 118-125 the couple led a happy life together and she inspired a number of his poems.Neș, p.6 The daughter of a lawyer and landowner from Comlăuș,Drimba 1974, p.95 she lived until 1928. Lucia Cornea, "Date referitoare la istoricul Casei Vulcan din Oradea" , p.211, Crisia, 2007, XXXVII In 1877, he collaborated on a Hungarian-language anthology of Romanian folk poetry, contributing twelve ballads, sixteen romances and a preface on the general subject.Neș, p.6-7 The anthology, Román népdalok, was published by the Kisfaludy Society in Budapest, with György Ember and Iulian Grozescu as fellow contributors. Over the course of the 1870s, he continued publishing short stories, novels, travel accounts and a comedy play. He made periodic trips to Bucharest, where he developed connections, gathered material for his writing but also savored the cultural and national atmosphere he found in the Romanian capital.Neș, p.17 These visits increased starting in the early 1890s as his involvement there deepened.Drimba 1974, p.119
In 1879, he was elected corresponding member of the Romanian Academy. In 1880, he moved to Oradea, taking Familia to a new headquarters. Lira mea ("My Lyre"), a work of erotic and patriotic poems, came out in 1882. In 1891, he became a titular member of the Romanian Academy, giving his introductory speech on Dimitrie Țichindeal. Nicolae Iorga commented that of the members from outside Romania, Vulcan was the most regular attendee. Indeed, from 1891 until shortly before his death, he was present at every regular session, taking part in the Academy's activities and rigorously carrying out the assignments he received.Drimba 1974, p.263 He served as a referee in the Academy's prize competitions, and in April 1900 he successfully proposed George Coșbuc for corresponding membership. Analele Academiei Române, series II, vol. XVII, p. 434-440, 467; vol. XXII, p. 216 From March 1904 until April 1907, he was president of the Academy's literary section, elected on Titu Maiorescu's proposal. Analele Academiei Române, seria II, tom. XXVI, p. 201-202; vol. XXIX, p. 219 In June 1904, Oradea celebrated the fortieth anniversary of his literary activity and of Familia. During the 1890s, encouraged by the reception of his first play, he published a number of other comedies.Neș, p.7 Against the backdrop of the Transylvanian Memorandum trial and rising national sentiment, he wrote a historical tragedy about the young Stephen III of Moldavia; this premiered at the National Theatre Bucharest in October 1892.Neș, p.7-8 He gave frequent speeches at meetings of ASTRA and at other cultural events throughout Transylvania. In 1902, during the authorities' confiscation of Teodor V. Păcățian's documentary volume Cartea de Aur, one of the seized copies was taken from Vulcan's home, a fact recorded with irony by Oradea's government-aligned Hungarian newspaper Szabadság. Szabadság, Nagyvárad, 16 July 1902, p. 2 Teodor V. Păcățian, Cartea de Aur, vol. VIII, Sibiu, 1915, p. 102-104 He died in Oradea on 26 August/8 September 1907 of acute nephritis. Funeral announcement, Tribuna, Sibiu, September 1907, p. 173 Bishop Demetriu Radu officiated the funeral service, with speeches given by numerous Romanian and Hungarian cultural associations. He was buried in the Olosig cemetery in Oradea.Neș, p.8 His remains were later moved to Oradea's Rulikowski cemetery. Imre Kordics, Zoltán I. Péter, László Farkas, A nagyváradi Rulikowski temető. Varadinum Script Kiadó, Nagyvárad, 2019, p. 144 After his death, his widow donated his literary estate, comprising over a hundred volumes, manuscripts and correspondence, to the ASTRA Museum in Sibiu. Gazeta Transilvaniei, October 1907, p. 7 Tribuna, Sibiu, October 1907, p. 54 Taking account of Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu's death one day earlier, critic Ilarie Chendi commented: "A day after Hasdeu, a much smaller flame was extinguished: the life of the elderly Iosif Vulcan. The late academician did not have the character of a great man, or of a fighter, or of an erudite personage, but few achieved more beautiful results than he did through perseverance and love of his work." Ion Simuț, "Viaţa literară în 1907" , România literară, 12/2004
Appraisal and legacy
According to literary critic Cornelia Ștefănescu, Vulcan can be seen primarily as an enthusiast, a man who wrote for various magazines in Transylvania and several in Pest, having written two by hand in his schooldays, before devoting his energies to Familia; who travelled widely and wrote about his experiences; who helped initiate societies before organizing their activities, crisscrossing Transylvania (including stops in Gherla, Deva, Șomcuta Mare, Năsăud and Oradea) while promoting Romanian culture. She observes that his writing lacks external stylization, "saccharine images, complaisant rhetoric or gratuitous elegies", instead drawing its essence from authentic, realist folk roots. Cornelia Ștefănescu, "Un entuziast: Iosif Vulcan" , România literară, 28/2003