Ioan Alecu Bassarabescu (commonly rendered I. A. Bassarabescu; December 17, 1870 – March 27, 1952) was a Romanian comedic writer, civil servant and politician, who served one term (1926–1927) in the Senate of Romania. His work, mainly in prose form, is remembered as an accomplished and noteworthy contribution to Romanian literature, capturing the dreary life of provincial clerks in the early 20th century. Not interested in producing a singular novel, like his mentor Gustave Flaubert, he concentrated instead on the sketch story genre.
In his debut stage, Bassarabescu belonged to Junimea, the mainly literary and politically conservative club. He was friends with Titu Maiorescu, Junimea leader, and with the Junimist author Ioan Alexandru Brătescu-Voinești (with whom he is often compared). Married into a political family, Bassarabescu had joined the Conservative Party by 1906, and, although still mainly active as a teacher, received high appointments in the bureaucracy.
During World War I, Bassarabescu he supported the Central Powers and was even appointed Prefect of Prahova County under a German-led occupation. This put his political career on hold until 1925, when he joined the People's Party. Moving into right-wing populism in the 1930s, Bassarabescu had stints in the National Agrarian Party and the National Christian Party, and joined the official National Renaissance Front in 1939. His last years were spent in seclusion: losing his fortune to Allied carpet bombing, stripped of his Romanian Academy membership by the communist regime, he died suddenly in a road accident.
Biography
Early life and debut Bassarabescu descended from boyar families that occupied court positions in Wallachia: his father, Alecu, was a pitar; his mother, Elisa, was the daughter of a staroste, relatives with General Romulus Boteanu.Călinescu, p. 581 Alecu had received a progressive education at the Saint Sava Academy; his colleagues there later instigated the 1848 Revolution in Wallachia.Călinescu, p. 581; Eftimiu, p. 462 Although he had settled in the Danube port of Giurgiu, his own family was more closely associated with Bucharest, the national capital. Noted members of this branch include Nicolae "Nae" Bassarabescu, who worked as a journalist in the liberal-radical press,Eftimiu, p. 462 later setting up the first newsstand chain in town, and composer George Bassarabescu. Mihai Sorin Rădulescu, "Bucureștii doctorului Vătămanu", in Viața Românească, Nr. 3-4/2009
One of the couple's seven children, Ioan Alecu was born in Giurgiu, an ethnic Romanian baptized into the Romanian Orthodox Church. Vasile Pop-Luca, "Arhiva Revistei Române. Fondul N. I. Herescu" , in Revista Română (ASTRA), Nr. 4/2003 In 1877, the family left the city because of Ottoman bombardments during the Romanian War of Independence, settling in Bucharest. Bogdan Vladu, "Giurgiu și masoneria", in Adevărul Giurgiu edition, November 7, 2013 The eight-year-old Bassarabescu was first enlisted at school in Bucharest's Yellow Ward, and later in the Green Ward.
Enrolled at Saint Sava National College, Bassarabescu was classmates with various intellectual luminaries and political figures of his generation, among them Constantin Banu, Ion Livescu and Scarlat Orăscu.Livescu, pp. 7, 299–300 Influenced by their teacher, classical scholar Anghel Demetriescu, they formed their own literary club, which held its meetings in the Saint Sava basement.Livescu, pp. 7, 300. See also Eftimiu, p. 463 Together, they put out the makeshift literary review Armonia, described by an aging Bassarabescu as polygraphed "with the faintest and least readable violet letters to have ever been used for writing in this world."Livescu, pp. 299–300 It was soon replaced by a less makeshift periodical, the bi-monthly Studentul Român. Bassarabescu published his first short stories in that paper, and then in the youth review Generația Viitoare, before being hosted (with words of praise and encouragement) by the literary supplement of Românul newspaper.Eftimiu, p. 463
Studentul Român only put out three issues, closing down due to a "lack of funds", but not, as Bassarabescu quipped, to a "lack of scientific and literary contributions".Livescu, p. 300 By this time, the Saint Sava pupils began attending literary- and social-themed conferences at the Romanian Atheneum. It was there that Bassarabescu met the successful writer Alexandru Vlahuță, who gave him some of his first literary pointers.Petre Haneș, "Fapte și comentarii. I. A. Bassarabescu despre Al. Vlahuță", in Preocupări Literare, Nr. 5/1942, p. 270 Soon, Bassarabescu's pieces were hosted by Revista Nouă, a literary journal managed by Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu (1893).Călinescu, p. 581; Eftimiu, p. 463 This was an impressive feat, to judge by Bassarabescu's own words: "imposingly grand" and "too expensive" venture, Revista Nouă had fascinated him and his Saint Sava colleagues. He also dabbled in parodic poetry, some of which was published by the Symbolist review, Literatorul.
By 1896, after such permutations, Bassarabescu was firmly affiliated with Junimea, contributing to the Junimist tribune, Convorbiri Literare, and cultivating a friendship with its founder, Titu Maiorescu.Boia (2010), p. 165 Like his generational colleague Ioan Alexandru Brătescu-Voinești, Bassarabescu joined in just as the Convorbiri Literare, for long disregarded by Maiorescu, was entering its decline stage. As noted by literary historian Zigu Ornea, the stories of Bassarabescu and Brătescu-Voinești were a rare diversion, the magazine having grown "monotonous", "suffocated by bulky specialized studies".Ornea, pp. 113, 120 Bassarabescu was not dissuaded by such problems: he would contribute to the magazine throughout most of his life. He managed to impress a wide range of professionals, from the Junimist novelist Duiliu Zamfirescu (who guessed in him a future "great writer") to the independent Ilarie Chendi.Eftimiu, pp. 463–464
Between his move from Revista Nouă to Junimea, Bassarabescu had enlisted at the Literature and Philosophy Faculty of the University of Bucharest (graduated 1897), while also working as a Finance Ministry clerk. At around that time, he had moved to Ploiești city, Prahova, where he would live for most of his life, and became a teacher of geography and French. Various sources have it that his relocation occurred in 1896 or 1897, but, according to literary historian George Călinescu, Bassarabescu had spent 1898 working as a substitute teacher in Focșani. Around that moment, his work appeared in the review Noutatea, put out in Iași by Berman Goldner-Giordano. Victor Durnea, "Pseudonimele lui G. Ibrăileanu. Colaborator la Noutatea (Iași, 1897)", in România Literară, Nr. 11/2008
Political and literary rise
In January 1900, with the start of a new Convorbiri Literare series, Bassarabescu was co-opted onto the journal's editorial committee, overseen by geographer Grigore Antipa.Ornea, pp. 119–120 According to Ornea, the panel membership evidenced in itself that political Junimism had mutated into eclecticism: Antipa was a National Liberal, and one regular member, Dimitrie Voinov, a socialist.Ornea, p. 120 Like other Convorbiri Literare contributors, Bassarabescu saw his work published in the more radical right-wing Sămănătorul magazine, but he did not necessarily identify with the Sămănătorul agenda.Călinescu, p. 601. See also Lovinescu, p. 201 He was invited to publish there by his mentor Vlahuță, who rewarded his contribution with an original canvas by painter Nicolae Grigorescu. In 1903, he answered a similar call from Livescu, publishing in the new magazine Revista Teatrelor.Livescu, p. 34
Politically, he leaned toward the mainstream Conservative Party, which had Maiorescu as chief doctrinaire. It is probable that Bassarabescu began frequenting the Ploiești Conservative chapter in or around 1901, making friends with political boss Temelie Dinescu, and courting his intellectual daughter, Ecaterina Dinescu. Paul D. Popescu, "Femei prahovene de azi, de ieri și mai de demult – Ecaterina Bassarabescu (I)", in Ziarul Prahova, December 14, 2010 From about 1906, he registered formally with the Conservative Party.
In April 1904, Bassarabescu married Ecaterina Dinescu. The modest ceremony was compensated by a sizable dowry (including a family home on R. Stanian Street) and a honeymoon in Venice. Paul D. Popescu, "Femei prahovene de azi, de ieri și mai de demult – Ecaterina Bassarabescu (II)", in Ziarul Prahova, December 21, 2010 Temelie Dinescu died just four months after the event, leaving them ownership of another home, located on a street that was named in his honor. Some time after, Ecaterina gave birth to a daughter, Maria-Elisabeta (whom both parents nicknamed Cireșica, "Little Cherry").
The first bound collection of Bassarabescu's novellas and stories was released (as Nuvele) in 1903, with Editura Socec. In 1907, Editura Minerva and Biblioteca pentru toți published two other selections, Vulturii ("The Eagles") and Norocul ("Luck").Călinescu, p. 1007 With Mihail Sadoveanu, A. de Herz, Emil Gârleanu, George Ranetti and some others, he was employed by the National Theatre Bucharest to work on professional translations of comedy and drama. As Livescu recounts, this was a project heralded by manager Pompiliu Eliade, who had recently been "appalled" by the poor-quality translations already in circulation.Livescu, pp. 93–94 Bassarabescu was assigned to work on comedies by Georges Courteline, and, Livescu argues, did an "excellent" job.Livescu, pp. 111, 144 In 1908, Socec published his adaptation of a 15th-century farce, Master Pierre Pathelin (as Ovidiu Șicană). His wife also wrote poetry and prose, published in reviews such as Luceafărul, Convorbiri Critice or Epoca, usually under the pen name of Irena Mohor.
During those years, the Bassarabescu family played host to a long succession of writers visiting Ploiești. Bassarabescu became rather close friends with two senior figures on the cultural scene: the Ploiești literary theorist Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea and satirist Ion Luca Caragiale.Eftimiu, p. 464 In March 1908, Bassarabescu affiliated with the prototype Romanian Writers' Society, and was elected a member of its steering committee. Teodor Vârgolici, "Centenarul Societății Scriitorilor Români" , in România Literară, Nr. 15/2008 As such, he had a say in the scandal during which the Society, which was Christian-only, moved to reprimand a Jewish Romanian writer, Eugen Porn, and was in turn accused of antisemitism. Bassarabescu took a partisan position, acknowledging that some of Porn's concerns were valid, but concluding that Porn was rather the anti-Romanian.Victor Durnea, "Primii pași ai Societății Scriitorilor Români (IV). 'Afacerea Porn' (continuare)", in Transilvania, Nr. 5-6/2006, p. 56
A Freemason, he was proposed for membership in the Romanian Academy by Duiliu Zamfirescu and seconded by Maiorescu, themselves Freemasons. He was elected a corresponding member on March 25, 1909. Also in 1909, Socec published another selection of his writings, Noi și vechi ("New Ones and Old Ones"). Some two years later, Bassarabescu received high appointment in the Education Ministry, as Inspector for the Arts for Minister Constantin C. Arion. In 1912, he was commissioned as Inspector-General for Education.
Germanophile and Prefect The onset of World War I marked a turn in Bassarabescu's life. During Romania's neutrality years (1914–1916), he adapted himself to the Germanophile sentiments of his Junimist and Conservative peers. He gave lectures at the Bucharest Conservative Club, on topics such as Realpolitik and the British Empire. He also joined Junimea geographer Simion Mehedinți in putting out Dumineca Poporului review, but contributed his trademark satirical pieces, rather than political articles. Such works were grouped in the 1916 volume Nenea ("Old Chap"), published with Alcaly.