Background
On her father"s side, she descended from an old and noble Greek family. Through her mother, she was of Greek, Turkish and Romanian origin.
On her father"s side, she descended from an old and noble Greek family. Through her mother, she was of Greek, Turkish and Romanian origin.
Origins and early life
Orphaned at a young age, she was raised in the home of Junimist George Panu and briefly with Ion Luca Caragiale, through whom she came to know Alexandru Vlahuță and other contemporary writers. Between 1884 and 1890, she had an incomplete education at the Varlaam and Drouhet boarding schools in her native town. She made her debut with the 1899 poem "Gândul trudiților", which appeared in România muncitoare.
Her work also appeared in Adevărul, Epoca, Sămănătorul, Floarea darurilor, Revista noastră, Făt-Frumos, Luceafărul and Ramuri.
She sometimes signed with the pen names Fatma, Andaluza and Ellen. From 1921 until her death, she headed the Alexandru and Aurelia Aman foundation in Craiova, which today is the Elena Farago Memorial House.
She also worked as an inspector for children"s charity homes. Farago founded Năzuința magazine in 1922.
Mature work and assessment
Her first book was Versuri (1906), followed by poetry volumes Șoapte din umbră (1908), Șoaptele amurgului (1920) and Nu mi-am plecat genunchii (1926).
These reappeared in editions she put together (Poezii alese, 1924. Poezii 1906-1926, 1928. Poezii, 1937), or posthumously, in partly re-edited versions (Poezii, 1957.
Versuri, 1978).
She translated from Henrik Ibsen, Friedrich Nietzsche, Catulle Mendès, French classical and symbolist poetry (Emile Verhaeren, Henri de Régnier, Paul Verlaine, Sully Prudhomme, Edmond Haraucourt, Maurice Maeterlinck), Anatole France and Lafcadio Hearn. Some of these texts appeared only in magazines, while others were published in the Biblioteca pentru toți and Lectura series. She died in Craiova. Her daughter Coca also became a writer
Through her husband, the bank clerk Francisc Farago, she was drawn into socialist circles, attending lectures by Ioan Nădejde, Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, Vasile Morțun and Constantin Stere, also meeting Barbu Brănișteanu and Christian Rakovsky.