One of the most important Romanian authors of the first half of the twentieth century, Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu is particularly noteworthy for incorporating psychological analysis in her fiction. Often compared by critics in Romania to her French and English contemporaries Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf, Papadat-Bengescu was the first Romanian writer to depict the deeper motivations of her characters' words and actions. In addition, she was the first major Romanian woman writer to address in fiction the specific problems of women.

Hortensia Bengescu was born on 8 December 1876 in the small town of Ivesti, Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Her father was then a captain and later a general in the army; her mother was a teacher. Both parents were interested in French literature, and Bengescu learned to speak French at home. She attended a private school, where she studied French and German and demonstrated an early appreciation for music and...