Theodor Dimitrie Speranția (; born Theodor Dimitrie Nădejde ; May 4, 1856 – March 9, 1929) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n playwright, humorist, folklorist and journalist. Born in Deleni,

Iași County Iași County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia, with the administrative seat at Iași. It is the most populous county in Romania, after the Municipality of Bucharest (which has the same administrative level as that of a c ...

, his father was D. Nădejde, a

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates ...

deacon; his son was poet

Eugeniu Sperantia Eugeniu Sperantia ( – January 11/12, 1972) was a Romanian poet, aesthetician, essayist, sociologist and philosopher. He was born in Bucharest to folklorist Theodor Speranția and his wife Elena (''née'' Cruceanu), a relative of poet Mihail ...

; and he was the cousin of political brothers

Ioan Ioan is a variation on the name John found in Romanian, Bulgarian, Russian, Welsh (), and Sardinian. It is usually masculine. The female equivalent in Romanian and Bulgarian is Ioana. In Russia, the name Ioann is usually reserved for the cle ...

and

Gheorghe Nădejde Gheorghe is a Romanian given name and surname. It is a variant of George, also a name in Romanian but with soft Gs. It may refer to: Given name * Gheorghe Adamescu * Gheorghe Albu * Gheorghe Alexandrescu * Gheorghe Andriev * Gheorghe Apostol ...

.Stănuța Crețu, ''Dicționarul literaturii române de la origini pînă la 1900'', p. 605. Bucharest: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, 1979. He attended primary school at

Târgu Frumos Târgu Frumos (also spelled ''Tîrgu Frumos'', sometimes ''Târgul / Tîrgul Frumos''), ) is a town in Iași County, Western Moldavia, Romania. Eleven villages were administered by the town until 2004, when they were split off to form Balș, Cost ...

, where a teacher changed ''Nădejde'' to ''Speranția'' (both words, the first Slavic and the second Latin in origin, signify 'hope'). He then entered the Veniamin Costachi seminary in Iași, which he left under the influence of socialist ideas. Subsequently, he entered the faculties of science and of literature and philosophy at the

University of Iași 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 M ...

. Together with the Nădejde brothers and

Nicolae Russel Nikolai Konstantinovich Sudzilovsky (russian: Николай Константинович Судзиловский; be, Мікалай Канстанцінавіч Судзілоўскі, Mikalaj Kanstancinavič Sudzilowski also known as Nicholas ...

, he published the socialist newspaper ''Besarabia''. He entered the Iași socialist circle in 1880 and was one of the founders of its ''

Contemporanul ''Contemporanul'' (The Contemporary) is a Romanian literary magazine published in Iaşi, Romania from 1881 to 1891. It was sponsored by the socialist circle of the city. A new magazine ''Contimporanul ''Contimporanul'' (antiquated spelling of ...

'' magazine, to which he contributed from 1881 to 1888. At that point, he moved to

Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu ( 26 February 1838 – ) was a Romanian writer and philologist, who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history. Life He was born Tadeu Hâjdeu in Cristineștii Hotinului (now Kerstentsi in Chernivtsi ...

's . Together with

Zamfir Arbore Zamfir Constantin Arbore (; born Zamfir Ralli, russian: Земфирий Константинович Арборе-Ралли, ''Zemfiriyi Konstantinovich Arborye-Ralli''; also known as Zamfir Arbure, Zamfir Rally, Zemphiri Ralli and Aivaza;Felea ...

and Ștefan Besarabeanu, he published in 1891. He enrolled at the

University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...

, where he earned a doctorate in literature and philosophy in 1886. While there, he became acquainted with the European folklore revival and delved into comparative literature. He subsequently moved to the Romanian capital

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. In 1906, in a private capacity, he taught a course on domestic folk literature at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...

. Speranția made his published debut with poems in in 1873. Publications for which he wrote include ''

'', '' Adevărul'', ''

Convorbiri Literare ''Convorbiri Literare'' ( Romanian: ''Literary Talks'') is a Romanian literary magazine published in Romania. It is among the most important journals of the nineteenth-century Romania. History and profile ''Convorbiri Literare'' was founded by ...

'', '' Dimineața'', , '' Familia'', , , , , , and . He edited several of his own magazines, including , and . He published numerous books of entertaining stories (, 1889; , 1898; , 1903; , 1903; , 1909; , 1911; , 1918; , 1918; , 1926), plays (, I, 1894; ''...'', 1894; , 1900; , 1900; , 1908; , 1912; , 1922; , 1922), novels (, 1902; , I-II, 1908; , 1921), children's stories (, 1929) and folklore studies (, 1904; , 1914). He was elected a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy in 1891.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, p. 592. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sperantia, Theodor 1856 births 1929 deaths People from Iași County Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni 19th-century Romanian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Romanian dramatists and playwrights Romanian folklorists Romanian poets Romanian humorists Romanian novelists Romanian children's writers Romanian magazine editors Romanian magazine founders Romanian newspaper editors Romanian socialists Corresponding members of the Romanian Academy