Carmen Sylva as the Promoter of Romanian National Heritage in Germany
Carmen Sylva as the Promoter of Romanian National Heritage in Germany

Author(s): Mihaela Hristea
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Cultural history, Political history, Social history, Romanian Literature, Theory of Literature, Sociology of Art, History of Art, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Addleton Academic Publishers
Keywords: Carmen Sylva; Queen Elisabeth of Romania; literary identity; pseudonym; cultural promotion; German reception; royal authorship; national representation; Romanian culture; women writers;
Summary/Abstract: Elisabeth was the first queen of Romania who managed to get out of the anonymity of the daily preoccupations of the court and to get out of the shadow of the king’s personality. After the death of her young daughter, Maria, she found solace in literary creation and channeled all her energy into the effort to promote the Romanian culture in Germany and around the world. Through her numerous writings, Queen Elisabeth of Romania with her full name Elisabeth Pauline Ottilie Luise zu Wied popularized, in Germany, both the Royal Crown and her works. She begins to use in her works the pseudonym Carmen Sylva (The Song of the Forest), which recalls its origin and which, probably, at King Carol’s advice, should have made a distinction between the person of the queen and the poet.

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