Constantin Al. Ionescu-Caion (, born Constantin Alexandru Ionescu and commonly known as Caion; 1882 – November or December 1918) was a Romanian journalist and poet, primarily remembered for his legal dispute with humorist Ion Luca Caragiale. He was a Symbolist, a disciple of Alexandru Macedonski, and a militant Francophile, as well as a leading opponent of literary tradition. His scattered work comprises essays, short stories and prose poetry, noted for their cultural references, but made little impact on Romanian literature. As a journalist, Caion prioritized scandals, accusing Caragiale of plagiarism and losing the subsequent celebrity trial of 1902, before partly recanting and winning the retrial. Despite his own coquetries with Romanian nationalism, Caion focused his verve on Transylvania's contemporary nationalist literary current.
Ionescu-Caion was the founder of several magazines, most notably Românul Literar. Originally conceived as a literary supplement for the daily Românul, it became a tribune of Macedonski's Romanian Symbolist movement, and helped discover George Bacovia, the celebrated modern poet. During World War I, when he oscillated between the two opposing camps, Caion put out the journal Cronicarul. This was his last known activity in the Romanian press.
A contradictory figure, Caion was equated with infamy and ridicule in the Romanian context, and his evidently unsubstantiated allegations against Caragiale have traditionally puzzled literary historians. In Transylvania, the word Caion was for a while synonymous with yellow journalist.
Biography
Early career Little is recorded about Caion's roots, other than that he was a devout Roman Catholic, and a regular presence at Saint Joseph Cathedral.Cruceanu, p.17 He had a very early debut in cultural journalism. After 1897, when he was 15, his literary chroniclers saw print in several newspapers, under various pseudonyms such as C. A. I. Nică Burdușel, Ion Filionescu, Marin Gelea, Isac Șt. Micu, Roman Mușat, among others.Tudor Opriș, Istoria debutului literar al scriitorilor români în timpul școlii (1820-2000), Aramis Print, Bucharest, 2002, p.22. In January 1898, he was employed by Adevărul daily, covering the Romanian tour of Sâr Péladan. Péladan, a writer, mystic and self-styled mage, failed to impress the young reporter, who reported on his various claims with a note of irony.Mitchievici, p.328 Also then, he affiliated with Macedonski's eclectic art magazine Literatorul (known during the period as Revista Literară). Interested in the Roman Empire, he published with Literatorul a comparative biography of Julius Caesar and Augustus, republished as a book by Carol Göbl of Bucharest.Teodorescu et al., p.702-703
Also in 1898, Ionescu-Caion completed his adaptation of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver, published by the Adevărul collection Biblioteca Enciclopedică as Trei ani de suferință: O călătorie curioasă ("Three Years of Suffering: A Strange Voyage"). It came with Caion's own critical study of Swift. According to Anglicist Mihaela Mudure, Caion, "a famous journalist and a minor writer", was thus the first Romanian to publish an essay on Swift, albeit one that was "not very sophisticated"; she also notes that the translation added a sexual twist to some of Gulliver's adventures.Mihaela Mudure, "From the Infantile to the Subversive: Swift's Romanian Adventures", in Hermann J. Real (ed.), The Reception of Jonathan Swift in Europe, Continuum International Publishing Group, New York City, 2005, p.251-252. Caion published other such translations with Biblioteca Enciclopedică, rendering works by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Louis Henri Boussenard, Henry de Graffigny, Louis Jacolliot and others.Teodorescu et al., p.551, 703
Under contract with Adevărul (1899), Caion published his translation from Prosper Castanier novellas, dealing with "Roman decadence". Writing in 2011, critic Angelo Mitchievici suggested that Caion's introduction to the volume exaggerated Castanier's merits, but was still "interesting" for showing the popularity of "decadentism" in 1890s Romania: Caion's argument was that Rome fell victim to "Asiatic luxury" and sophisticated sexuality ("orgies").Mitchievici, p.293 Caion's own texts on the subject of decadence were published as booklets by the French company Retaux Frères.Teodorescu et al., p.702 His bibliography for 1899 includes the essay Coversații despre artă ("Conversations on Art"), and, also with Adevărul, a selection of his own novellas.Teodorescu et al., p.702, 703
Not much is known about Caion's other involvements, other than that he attended the University of Bucharest Faculty of Letters, in the same year as fellow journalist Eugen Porn.Durnea (2006), p.62 Although living in the capital, he maintained links with the youth of Iași, and published alongside I. I. Mironescu in the high school magazine C. Negruzzi. His work included an essay about the works of the eponymous novelist. A "Constantin Ionescu", whom literary historian Victor Durnea tentatively identifies as the future Caion, was arrested by Romanian Police on Calea Victoriei, Bucharest, during the breakup of a student nationalist rally (September 13, 1894). Victor Durnea, "C. Stere și 'Afacerea de onoare' de la 1894", in Transilvania, Nr. 2/2009, p.32-33 He was still enlisted at the university in 1899, when he organized a charity event to benefit the impoverished schoolchildren of Câmpina."Parte neoficială. Telegrame", in Monitorul Oficial, December 21, 1899, p.7299
Symbolist beginnings
Despite his subsequent involvement in various scandals, Ionescu-Caion was not universally perceived as a mediocre journalist. Historian Lucian Boia notes that he "was not without merit as a publicist."Boia, p.128 Around the year 1900, Caion became a sympathizer of the Romanian Symbolist movement, whose leader was the poet Macedonski. Attached by philologist Ștefan Cazimir to a "Secessionist" current in Romanian literature, Caion made himself noted for a prose poem entirely dedicated to his lover's hair (a recurring theme in Symbolist literature, taken to extremes by the Romanian author). Ștefan Cazimir, "Secesionismul în literatura română (IV)" , in România Literară, Nr. 5/1999 A regular presence in Macedonski's house, Caion mounted a campaign to promote minor Romanian Symbolist authors in France. As noted by critics, the French contacts were themselves fringe magazines, with Legitimist and Traditionalist Catholic agendas. "Cronica măruntă", in Gândirea, Nr. 22-23/1922, p.427 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library)
Caion had an enduring interest in history and, in 1900, completed his monograph on Wallachian Prince Gheorghe Bibescu. Titled Asupra domniei lui Bibescu ("On Bibescu's Reign"), it was first published as an addendum to Georges Bibesco's pamphlet, O execuție ("An Execution"). Bibesco, the Prince's destitute son, continued to employ Caion as his defender and co-author: in 1901, they published an ampler work on the subject of Bibescu family grievances against the modern Romanian establishment. In tandem, Caion publicized his comparison of historical and psychological determinism, with a topical booklet. His first synthesis, Studii istorice ("Historical Studies"), was also available in 1901.Teodorescu et al., p.703
Caion also affiliated with the eclectic journal Noua Revistă Română, where he published historical documents of dubious authenticity"Procesul...", p.2 and, in 1902, the essay Din umbră. Moravuri antice ("From the Shadows. Antique Morals"). "Bibliografie", in Tribuna Poporului, Nr. 4/1902, p.3 (digitized by the Babeș-Bolyai University Transsylvanica Online Library); Teodorescu et al., p.702 From 1900 to 1903, he was employed by the Bucharest Conservatory, lecturing in "selective world history", and publishing his conferences as a university textbook.
According to at least one account, Caion first encountered Caragiale's irony when he sent him a couple of Symbolist poems. The senior writer picked up on their involuntary humor, and proceeded to ridicule Caion. Cosmin Ciotloș, "Marcă înregistrată" , in România Literară, Nr. 22/2011 Literary historian Tudor Vianu believes that Caion was especially infuriated when Caragiale's magazine, Moftul Român, made a public mockery of his Secessionist prose poem.Vianu, p.188 In his gibe, Caragiale feigned enthusiasm about the young writer's debut. Parodying Caion, he suggested that the young poet carry on writing a "lyrical-decadent-symbolist-mystical-capillary-secessionist" novel about a hairdressers' art society, whose members glue strands of hair onto canvasses or carve soap into human figures.Ștefan Cazimir, Caragiale față cu kitschul, Cartea Românească, Bucharest, 1988, p.101-102.
Caragiale scandal Caion followed an elaborate recipe for revenge, with exposes in the Symbolist Revista Literară review, of which he was by then the co-editor.Ghemeș, p.125 The owner, Th. M. Stoenescu, had been Caragiale's adversary since the 1880s.Simion, p.7 Described by Vianu as "a real pathological character",Vianu, p.188. Vianu also calls Caion a man "of inexplicable perversity" (p.373) Caion claimed to expose Caragiale's drama, Năpasta, as plagiarized. In his report, Caion suggested that the real author was a Hungarian, Kemény Istvan—who, in fact, never existed."Procesul...", p.2; Ghemeș, p.125; Stamatoiu (2000), p.49; Vianu, p.188, 373-374 In order to back his claim, Caion published quotes from Năpasta alongside a supposed translation from Kemény. Reading these fragments in good faith, Caragiale was astonished by what he took to be a bizarre coincidence.
Macedonski followed the developments with enthusiasm, granting further exposure to Caion's claims. For Macedonski, the young accuser embodied "the aspiration for beauty", "the new aesthetics", "courage and selflessness".Cioculescu, p.139 As commentators have suggested, the poet responded to Caragiale's satires of him and his Symbolist salon, and attacking, in Caragiale, the entire anti-Symbolist club Junimea.Cioculescu, p.132-140; Vianu, p.188 At Revista Literară, Stoenescu began suspecting a canard, and asked Caion to present further proof for his accusations. The latter produced two sheets printed in Romanian Cyrillic, which reportedly included fragments from an 1884 Romanian translation.Cioculescu, p.132-133 Unconvinced, the editor promptly suspended his collaboration with Caion.Cioculescu, p.133, 134 The latter soon changed his statements, arguing that "Kemény" was a pseudonym used by Leo Tolstoy, and that Caragiale was guilty of copying The Power of Darkness.
Although Stoenescu was a disciple of his, Macedonski favored Caion in this dispute, and employed him to write more denunciations of Caragiale in the magazine Forța Morală.Cioculescu, p.133-134, 135-140; Vianu, p.374 Forța Morală expanded on the initial accusations, claiming to have discovered an entire history of plagiarism in Caragiale's writings (from Victorien Sardou to Alfred Duru).Cioculescu, p.136-139 Following Macedonski's intercession, Caion was also supported by the historian Grigore Tocilescu, who made Caragiale the sole topic of his Romanian Atheneum conference (January 24, 1902).Cioculescu, p.137