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The present paper illustrates several significant moments from the history of Eminescu's critical interpretation. It focuses mainly on the first stages when the Romantic writer's myth crystallized, namely E Lovinescu's "reading" of the poet's eroticism through the lens of Freud's theories. We endeavored to prove that Lovinescu's interpretation was just one among others (Ibrăileanu, Călinescu, Vianu, Caracostea), as the whole context favored a psychological understanding of Eminescu's personality. In order to sketch a still more convincing picture we brought into discussion the most recent studies dealing with different aspects of Eminescu's life and work and our conclusion shows clearly that, notwithstanding its limits, Lovinescu's understanding was a revolutionary and crucial one for the later developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]