12 Facts About Dinu Nicodin

The scion of an old and prosperous boyar family, Dinu Nicodin lived in Bucharest, where his main residence was the Capsa Hotel.

Dinu Nicodin was reportedly a passionate hunter, sharing this hobby with the other surviving members of Romanian boyardom.

Dinu Nicodin's other activities centered on eccentric and adventurous pursuits: a dueler and a horse rider, he was a financial expert, and once tasked by the government with overseeing the liquidation of a bank.

Shortly before his 1948 death, Dinu Nicodin was in correspondence with young critic Ion Negoitescu.

Dinu Nicodin was among those who tried to obtain Negoitescu a scholarship to study in France, but their common project ultimately failed.

Dinu Nicodin had an eccentric position in the field of Romanian literature, and has traditionally been described by literary critics and historians as a hard to classify figure, and found primarily interesting for using a distinctive stylistic category of the Romanian language.

Dinu Nicodin's note on the subject deemed "puzzling" other critics' reactions to Nicodin's work, including comparisons made between the author and the 19th century Romantic prose writer Alexandru Odobescu.

Present in Lovinescu's various autobiographical texts, Dinu Nicodin is briefly mentioned in the memoirs of female novelist Lucia Demetrius, whose debut was under the auspices of Lovinescu's circle.

Demetrius, who describes the aged author as a "very elegant" man, reports that Dinu Nicodin gave a good reception to her unpublished work, but notes feeling "stunned" that Lovinescu, who mediated between his two associates, callously intervened in their correspondence.

Dinu Nicodin described his colleague as "well-built, with the calm gaze of men who have seen and are aware of many things", and recalled: "he dressed himself in accordance with the latest fashion in London, wore the most expensive perfumes of Paris, spoke with a studied foreign accent [and] carried out his correspondence on extra fine paper".

Dinu Nicodin was often ignored altogether in works of literary history published both before and after the establishment of Romania's communist regime.

In 2008, Dinu Nicodin was granted a sizable entry in Nicolae Manolescu's own overview of Romanian literature.