Mara Author:Ioan Slavici, Ileana Alexandra Orlich (Translator) Ioan Slavici (1848-1925) was born in Siria, near Arad, in the western part of Romania. After the completion of military school in 1871 and a brief stint at practicing law, Slavici embarked upon a literary career. He became the editor of some of the most prominent Romanian literary journals and a prolific writer of stories, short stories, novels ... more »and personal memoirs. Slavici became in 1894 a founding member of the literary magazine "Vatra" (The Hearth) where Mara was first published serially in twenty-four issues beginning in 1894. It was first published as a novel in 1906.
Translator Ileana Alexandra Orlich provides a critical study and commentary of Mara, one of Slavici's most important works. Mara distinguishes itself as a masterpiece of "classical harmony in its narrative structure [that] offers the most comprehensive panoramic view of the rural community of Transylvania in the second half of the nineteenth century."