N. Rădulescu-Niger: cel mai prolific scriitor al romanului sentimental românesc
N. Rădulescu-Niger: The Most Prolific Author of the Romanian Sentimental Novel

Summary/Abstract: This article seeks to foreground the study of the Romanian interwar sentimental novel, a literary phenomenon that offers a generous and intellectually stimulating perspective on popular literature and the novelists who enjoyed widespread acclaim during that period. N. Niger-Rădulescu stands out as the most prolific author of sentimental fiction in the first three decades of the twentieth century. A critical reading of his literary output reveals, on the one hand, the strategies employed to engage a broad readership, and on the other, the ideological underpinnings promoted by sentimental narratives. These novels adhere to a formula shaped by the sensibility of the Belle Époque, a model that informs both the structure and the rhetoric of the genre. The Fiancé of Sorrow (Logodnicul durerii) provides a compelling illustration of Rădulescu-Niger’s fictional universe, where romantic plots are interwoven with elements typical of melodrama and populated by stereotypical characters. To disregard the literary value of such a widely read author on the basis of preconceived critical judgments would be reductive. Consequently, a renewed scholarly approach is necessary — one that reclaims and reassesses the positive contributions of this particular case within the broader context of Romanian popular literature.

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