Raicu Ionescu-Rion (born Raicu Ionescu; August 24, 1872 – April 19, 1895) was a
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
n literary critic and socialist commentator.
Born in Bălăbănești,
Galați County
Galați () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in Moldavia region, with the capital city at Galați.
History
Historically Galați is part of Moldavia. In 1858, it was represented by Alexandru Ioan Cuza at the ''ad hoc Divan'' at Iași, in the wa ...
, he came from a poor peasant family. He attended primary school in Tăcuta village (1879-1882), high school in Bârlad (1882-1889) and the faculty of literature and philosophy at
Iași University
The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mi ...
(1890-1893), meanwhile taking classes on a scholarship at the higher normal school. While in high school in 1887, together with Garabet Ibrăileanu, N. Savin, D. Moscu and T. Cardaș, he founded the socialist Oriental literary society. During this period, he undertook a systematic reading of
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European Socia ...
,
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
and
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English philosopher, psychologist, biologist, anthropologist, and sociologist famous for his hypothesis of social Darwinism. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest" ...
, as well as of
Hippolyte Taine
Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (, 21 April 1828 – 5 March 1893) was a French historian, critic and philosopher. He was the chief theoretical influence on French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism and one of the first practition ...
and Georg Brandes. His published debut came in 1889 with the article "Împrejurări ușurătoare", published in the
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
''Școala nouă'', an outfit headed by P. Mușoiu and E. Vaian, and where Ibrăileanu was chief editor. He contributed social criticism and theoretical articles to the socialist newspapers ''Critica socială'' and ''Munca'', as well as to ''Evenimentul'' (also edited by Ibrăileanu). The majority of his literary studies appeared in ''Evenimentul literar''. He worked as a substitute teacher in
Târgoviște
Târgoviște (, alternatively spelled ''Tîrgoviște''; german: Tergowisch) is a city and county seat in Dâmbovița County, Romania. It is situated north-west of Bucharest, on the right bank of the Ialomița River.
Târgoviște was one of the ...
(1893-1895), where he died of consumption. He used the pen names Rion, V. Rion, Noir, Th. Bulgarul, Faust, Paul Fortună and G. Mirea. His close friends Ibrăileanu and
Sofia Nădejde
Sofia Nădejde (born Sofia Băncilă; September 14, 1856 – June 11, 1946) was a Romanian novelist, playwright, translator, journalist, women's rights activist and socialist.
Born in Botoșani, her parents were merchant Vasile Băncilă-Gheor ...
published a posthumous collection of his criticism as ''Scrieri literare'' (1895). In his work, Ionescu-Rion showed himself to be a follower and admirer of
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea (born Solomon Katz; 1855, village of Slavyanka near Yekaterinoslav (modern Dnipro), then in Imperial Russia – 1920, Bucharest) was a Romanian Marxist theorist, politician, sociologist, literary critic, and jour ...
, also displaying a close affinity with Ibrăileanu.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. I, p. 774. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.