George or Gheorghe Ranetti, born George Ranete "Ranetti George", entry in the University of Florence, Dipartimento di Lingue e Letterature Neolatine, Cronologia della Letteratura RumenaMihail Straje, Dicționar de pseudonime, anonime, anagrame, astronime, criptonime ale scriitorilor și publiciștilor români, pp. 587–588. Bucharest: Editura Minerva, 1973. Radian, p. 372 (October 1875 – May 25, 1928), was a Romanian poet, journalist and playwright, known as the founder and editor of Furnica magazine. A professional journalist from the late 1890s, he alternated between political dailies and literary reviews, being sympathetic to Romanian nationalism and traditionalism, and working under Ion Luca Caragiale at Moftul Român. By 1904–1906, he was active on the margin of left-wing traditionalism, or Poporanism, showing himself sympathetic to republican or generically anti-elitist ideologies. Such views and influences seeped into his activity at Furnica, which was for decades a prominent institution in Romanian humor.
Ranetti's literature, redolent of Caragiale and Anton Bacalbașa, was mostly ephemeral in nature, and often referenced the politics of his native Mizil. His articles, fables, sketch stories and plays, with their critique of Francization and affectation, earned him a following in the general public, but were regarded by critics and scholars as dated, overreaching, or overall inferior to the Caragiale model. His satire often had very precise targets, including King Carol I and his courtier Ioan Kalinderu, politician George D. Pallade, and actor Ion Brezeanu. In addition to putting out original texts, Ranetti was a noted translator and dramaturge, who adapted works by Georges Courteline and Paul Gavault.
Nationalism also influenced Ranetti's politics, including his vocal support for the Entente Powers during World War I. That period saw him engaged in polemics with colleagues Emil Fagure and A. de Herz, and contributing to nationalist propaganda as co-editor of România newspaper. His postwar years, marked by his split from, then return to, Furnica, were spent writing parody novels and collecting his scattered poetry. By the time of his death, he was an editor and writer for Universul daily.
Biography
Early life and debut George Ranetti-Ranete was born in 1875, either on October 10Călinescu, p. 729 or October 18, in Mizil town, Prahova County. The son of Vasile Ranetti (or Ranete) and Lina Ioachimescu, he had a younger brother, Atanase Ranetti-Picolo (born March 1878), who also pursued a career in the press.Călinescu, pp. 728–729 The family, despite being assumed Greek,Călinescu, p. 728 was in fact Romanian. According to Ranetti, his ancestors were peasants. However, genealogical studies have confirmed his belonging to the local aristocracy. His ancestors may have included the boyar Hranete, or more certainly a Ranete sin Dimitrie Căpitanu, ennobled in Wallachia 1819. His paternal grandfather had lost his boyar status and worked as a trader in Fefelei, outside Mizil; Ranetti's father, Vasile, was a lawyer in town, who briefly served as Deputy Mayor in a Conservative-Party administration."George Ranetti despre debutul său literar"; "Note biografice", in Universul Literar, Issue 21/1928, p. 335
After school in Mizil, George went to Saints Peter and Paul Lyceum in Ploiești. Using the pen name Rolla, he published his first article, a defense of his father's politics, in the local paper Gazeta Buzăului ( 1890); he made sure that his first poems, motivated by unrequited love and "ridiculously naive", were never published. Even before graduation, he began working as a telegraphist for the Ploiești branch of the Romanian Post.Basil Clony, "Francmasonii în Bucureștiul vesel de altădată. De ce nu m'am făcut mason", in Curentul, April 25, 1943, pp. 7–8 After getting his baccalaureate, he was for a while a student of law at the University of Bucharest. From about 1894, he became a contributor to Adevărul daily, under the assumed name of Namuna. His jokes and his first published translation, from Edmond Haraucourt, were screened by the editor, Anton "Tony" Bacalbașa—whom Ranetti saw as "my literary godfather". Also as Namuna, he joined Ion Ionescu-Quintus in translating August Strindberg's Father (1895).Valeriu P. Stancu, "Ionescu-Quintus, Ion G.", in Dicționarul general al literaturii române. H/L, p. 326. Bucharest: Museum of Romanian Literature, 2017.
Some of his earliest work saw print in traditionalist magazines: Vatra and Pagini Literare, 1894,Iorga (1934), pp. 43–44 Povestea Vorbei, from March 1897,"Bibliografii", in Epoca, March 20, 1897, p. 4 and Floare Albastră, 1898.Ornea, Sămănătorismul, p. 32 He alternated these contributions with pieces that appeared in the provincial press of Iași, including, in 1896, the daily Sara (as Șandernagor)Constantin Ostap, "Caragiale și presa ieșeană (I)", in Convorbiri Literare, September 2002 and, in 1897, the socialist Noutatea. Victor Durnea, "Pseudonimele lui G. Ibrăileanu. Colaborator la Noutatea (Iași, 1897)", in România Literară, Issue 11/2008 In September of that year, he was present at the students' national congress. Alongside Panait Zosin, he endorsed a minority view, which was that Romanian Jews should be allowed to join student bodies."De la congresul Studenților. Ziua a doua", in Opinia, September 11, 1897, pp. 2–3 Ranetti himself never graduated university. Though feeling encouraged enough to start writing professionally, he remained in Bucharest as a postal employee. By 1898, he was working as an editor of Nicolae Fleva's Dreptatea, and living on Rosetti Street, outside Cișmigiu, when his house was robbed by an unknown assailant."Diverse. Din Capitală", in Epoca, July 10, 1898, p. 2 Also in 1898, he and Tony wrote for the left-leaning satirical newspaper Ardeiul, put out in Târgu Jiu by Witold Rolla-Piekarski,Constantin Titel Petrescu, Socialismul în România. 1835 – 6 septembrie 1940, p. 124. Bucharest: Dacia Traiana, [n. y.] then for Tony's own Moș Teacă. His many engagements prevented him from finishing work on a translation of Cyrano de Bergerac, as commissioned by the National Theater Bucharest. He brought in Duțescu Duțu and Vasile Leonescu to complete that project."Informațiunĭ", in Universul, August 26, 1898, p. 3
Ranete-Ranetti made national news in October 1898, after historian Grigore Tocilescu had described him as "a kike and a socialist" (the young author was amused, indicating that he was neither).Sigma, "Foi răzlețe. 'Jidan și Socialist'", in Romanul, October 5, 1898, p. 1 Using the pen name Tarascon, Ranetti published his first volume of humorous verse, Dom Paladu, in 1899. It went to three more editions by 1902.Călinescu, p. 1019 He was in parallel a reporter for Epoca (where his brother also took a salary) and Lupta, where he published his first epigrams. Ranetti also continued Bacalbașa's work by bringing back Moș Teacă in 1899, signing his articles there as G. Ranetty, Nagor, Rolla, Romeo, Șan, Șander, Șandernagor, Tarascon, Tarasconată, Ghiță, or Jorj Delamizil (roughly: "Georgy of Mizil"). In this new edition, Moș Teacă was putting out pieces deriding Christianity, for instance depicting the Annunciation as an act of adultery. This activity sparked a national controversy, with România Jună asking that Moș Teacă be banned and its publisher investigated."Depravație morală", in Tribuna Poporului, Issue 2/1900, pp. 2–3
By then, the more famous comedic writer Ion Luca Caragiale had declared himself entertained by Ranetti's "delicious" poetry. The two authors met regularly in Vadu Săpat, in the family home of Leonida Condeescu, who was serving as Mizil's mayor in 1895."Fără Eminescu am fi mai săraci", in Poștalionul. Publicație Lunară a Primăriei și Consiliului Local Mizil, Vol. IX, Issue 89, February 2012, pp. 6–7 Together, they helped publish Ciurda Literară, a satirical paper established in Mizil by Șerban Grigorescu.Agatha Grigorescu-Bacovia, Poezie sau destin, p. 173. Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 1981 Employed by Caragiale, Ranetti worked for a while as editor of the satirical magazine Moftul Român, in its second edition;Iorga (1934), p. 30 he was also a guest speaker at Caragiale's banquet, marking his silver jubilee in literature, in February 1901.Constantin Bacalbașa, Bucureștii de altă dată, Vol. III, p. 3. Bucharest: Universul, 1936; Faust-Mohr, pp. 32–33 He continued to publish standalone booklets and volumes, either as himself or under the pen name Cyrano: Strofe și apostrofe ("Stanzas and Apostrophes", 1900), Ahturi și ofuri ("Aahs and Oohs", 1901), Eu rîd, tu rîzi, el rîde ("I Laugh, You Laugh, He Laughs", 1903). In its original edition, Ahturi și ofuri carried a preface by Ranetti's colleague and mentor, the recently deceased Tony. From 1901 to 1904, Ranetti edited the satirical paper Zeflemeaua ("Badinage"), for which he used Cyrano, Jorj Delamizil, and a set of other pen names—Cyr, Ghiță, Ghiță Delacoperativă, Peneș, Putifar, V. V. Rița, and Kiriac Napadarjan (or N'a pas d'argent). The paper also delved in investigative journalism, and its stated mission was to expose cases of corruption. Silvia Craus, "Cațavencii de altădată", in Bihoreanul, November 2005 Its editorial office published another one of Ranetti's books, presented as Dom Paladu's letters from Italy (Scrisori din Italia).
Furnica and Poporanism With Caragiale's departure for Berlin in 1904, Ranetti began feeling alone on the Romanian scene. In epigrams he wrote at the time, he pleaded with Caragiale to return, and chided D. Teleor for attempting to revive Moftul Român without its leading talent. Mircea Popa, "Caragiale în oglinda poeziei vremii", in Apostrof, Issue 6/2012 Those years brought his involvement as a dramaturge of the National Theater, one of several writers brought in by Chairman Pompiliu Eliade.Livescu, p. 95 In 1903, he adapted for the stage a story by Georges Courteline.Massoff, p. 190 His own play, Săracul Dumitrescu ("Poor Dumitrescu"), was produced by the same company the following year.Livescu, p. 102; Massoff, p. 194 He was employed by the Oteteleșeanu Park Theater, where, in 1905, he adapted a foreign play, as Mița Tirbușon ("Little Mary Corkscrew"); also then, the "Lyric Theater" staged two other of his adaptations—Doctorul damelor ("A Ladies' Doctor") and Țivila dela hotel Ghidale ("A Civilian Lady in Hotel Ghidale").Faust-Mohr, pp. 91, 94 In 1903 or 1904, Ranetti also finished his "character novel" Căsnicie modernă ("A Modern Marriage"). He was also writing occasional chronicles of plays staged by the National Theater, many of them taken up in Ion Livescu's Revista Teatrelor, 1903,Livescu, p. 34 and Universul, 1904.Eftimiu, p. 472 One was read by young Victor Eftimiu, a future playwright and friend of Ranetti, who was thus convinced to pursue a career in the field.Eftimiu, p. 292
Ranetti and the traditionalists had in common a mutual dislike for the Francization and aristocratic pretense of fin de siècle Romanian culture. This hostility seeped into rhyming letters sent by Ranetti to his self-exiled friend Caragiale,Eftimiu, pp. 472–473 and then into a topical volume, the 1904 Franțuzomania ("Frenchie-mania"). Also that year, he became the chief editor at Furnica ("The Ant"). It had been founded by him and Nae Dumitrescu Țăranu, son of a rich agriculturist. He would publish there under a host of pseudonyms, revisiting his Zeflemeaua ones, but also add more to the list: George Biciușcă, Caiafa, Coco, Contele de Techirghiol ("Count of Techirghiol"), Ghiță Delagambrinus (or the mock-aristocratic Lord Ghytza and Don Ghițos Delagambrinos y Mizilos), Netty, Ghiță Nifilistul, Sarsailă, Tovarășul Ghiță. Overall, the magazine was viewed as lowbrow and ribald, including by Caragiale—who did not want to be sent any copies at his new home in Berlin, where he was raising a family.Dimitrie Gusti, "Câteva amintiri despre Caragiale", in Revista Fundațiilor Regale, Vol. XII, Issue 4, April 1945, p. 16