Devout mistresses (I). Otilia Cazimir
The present study is focused on the life and work of Otilia Cazimir, the most prominent lady poet of Iaşi in the interwar period. Involved in a romantic affair with the leading poet George Topârceanu (even though in an adulterine relation), Otilia Cazimir was the official poetess of the influential literary magazine Viaţa românească. After 1945, she gained immense popularity mainly due to her children poems, included in numerous school handbooks, but also because of her poems celebrating the Communist party. In its first part, the study observes the history of her work’s critical reception, and then one proceeds to a close reading of her poetry, volume by volume.
Keywords: Romanian literature, interwar and postwar Romanian poetry, literary life in interwar Iaşi, feminine poetry, Otilia Cazimir