previous            A–Z            next        Pauline Elisabeth Ottilie Luise zu Wied Pseudonyms:        Carmen Sylva        Dito und Idem Pauline Elisabeth Ottilie Luise zu Wied (1843–1916) was the Queen consort of Romania as the wife of Kind Carol I of Romania; widely know by her literary name of Carmen Sylva. As Carmen Sylva she wrote with facility in German, Romanian, French and English. She left behind an large oeuvre of writings, which include poems, plays, novels, short stories, essays, collections of aphorisms, etc. Her earliest publications were ‘Sappho’ and ‘Hammerstein’, two poems published in Leipzig in 1880. In 1888 she received the Prix Botta, a prize awarded triennially by the Académie Française, for her volume of prose aphorisms ‘Les Pensées d’une rein’ [The thoughts of a Queen], (Paris, 1882).        Several of the works of Carmen Sylva were written in collaboration with Marie von Bardeleben (1952–1916), one of her maids of honour, these were published between 1881 and 1888, in some cases under the pseudonym Dito und Idem. See also Marie von Bardeleben and Dito und Idem. Sources: Room, A. (1981), ‘Name Stories’, Naming Names, p.93 ‘Elisabeth of Wied’, Wikipedia, retrieved 17 September 2013 previous            A–Z            next