DAVIDESCU, NICOLAE

born 1888, Bucharest, Rom. died 1954 Romanian poet and novelist whose early poems, Inscriptii (1916), showed the influence of Charles Baudelaire. Among his prose works the novel Zna din fundul lacului (1912; The Fairy at the Bottom of the Lake) was an exercise in symbolism, and Vioara muta (1928; The Muted Violin), in social psychology. In the epic Cntecul omului (192837; The Song of Man), he aimed at re-creating world history. Two collections of his literary criticism were published posthumously: Aspecte si directii literare (1975; Literary Conventions and Directions) and Poezii, teatru, proza (1977; Poetry, Drama, Prose).