Ioan Alexandru Brătescu-Voinești
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ioan Alexandru Brătescu-Voinești (January 1, 1868 – December 14, 1946) was a Romanian short story writer and politician. The scion of a minor aristocratic family from
Târgoviște Târgoviște (, alternatively spelled ''Tîrgoviște'') is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Dâmbovița County, Romania. It is situated north-west of Bucharest, on the right bank of the Ialomița (river), Ialomița River. Târgoviște was ...
, he studied law and, as a young man, drew close to the ''
Junimea ''Junimea'' was a Romanian literary society founded in Iași in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi. The foremost personali ...
'' circle and its patron
Titu Maiorescu Titu Liviu Maiorescu (; 15 February 1840 – 18 June 1917) was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the ''Junimea'' Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Culture of Romania, Romanian culture in ...
. He began publishing fiction as an adolescent, and put out his first book of stories in 1903; his work centered on the fading provincial milieu dominated by old class structures. Meanwhile, after a break with Maiorescu, he drew toward ''
Viața Românească ''Viața Românească'' (, "The Romanian Life") is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania. Formerly the platform of the left-wing traditionalist trend known as poporanism, it is now one of the Writers' Union of Romania's main venues. ...
'' and
Garabet Ibrăileanu Garabet Ibrăileanu (; May 23, 1871 – March 11, 1936) was a Romanian-Armenian literary critic and theorist, writer, translator, sociologist, University of Iași professor (1908–1934), and, together with Paul Bujor and Constantin Stere, fo ...
. In 1907, Brătescu-Voinești entered the Romanian parliament, where he would serve for over three decades while his written output declined. In his later years, he became an outspoken anti-Semite and fascist, a stance that, following his country's defeat in World War II, gave way to anti-communism near the end of his life.


Biography


Literary work

Born in
Târgoviște Târgoviște (, alternatively spelled ''Tîrgoviște'') is a Municipiu, city and county seat in Dâmbovița County, Romania. It is situated north-west of Bucharest, on the right bank of the Ialomița (river), Ialomița River. Târgoviște was ...
, his parents were Alexandru Brătescu, a low-ranking ''
boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...
'' and the son of a ''
pitar ''Pitar'' is a genus of saltwater clams, marine bivalve molluscs in the subfamily Callocardiinae of the family Veneridae, the Venus clams. The genus contains over 60 species. Species * '' Pitar aequinoctialis'' Fischer-Piette, 1969 * '' ...
'' (bread supplier), and Alexandrina, daughter of Ion Voinescu, a major in the
Wallachian Revolution of 1848 The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and nationalist uprising in the Principality of Wallachia. Part of the Revolutions of 1848, and closely connected with the unsuccessful revolt in the Principality of Moldavia, it sough ...
. He was the second of four children. His childhood took place amidst the traditional environment of old Târgoviște and at the Brătești estate. He attended primary school in his native town from 1875 to 1879, then at the Cocorăscu boarding school and finally at Saint Sava High School in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
from 1879 to 1883. One theory, unsupported by documentary evidence, is that his literary debut occurred with a poem in Târgoviște's ''Armonia'' magazine in 1883; a likelier scenario is that it took place in ''România'' magazine in 1887, when he published the short story "Dolores" with the help of
Alexandru Vlahuță Alexandru Vlahuță (; 5 September 1858 – 19 November 1919) was a Romanian writer. His best known work is '' România pitorească'', an overview of Romania's landscape in the form of a travelogue. He was also the main editor of ''Sămănătoru ...
. He attended the medical faculty of the
University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...
from 1889 to 1890, but switched to law. At the same time, he audited the logic and history of philosophy course taught by
Titu Maiorescu Titu Liviu Maiorescu (; 15 February 1840 – 18 June 1917) was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the ''Junimea'' Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Culture of Romania, Romanian culture in ...
, entered Bucharest's ''
Junimea ''Junimea'' was a Romanian literary society founded in Iași in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi. The foremost personali ...
'' circle, and in 1890 began contributing to its ''
Convorbiri Literare ''Convorbiri Literare'' () 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 Titu Maiorescu in 1867. The ma ...
''. His father died in 1890, and Maiorescu took on the role of father figure in the young man's life. After graduating in 1892, he was appointed a judge through his mentor's intervention, serving at Bucharest,
Pitești Pitești () is a city in Romania, located on the river Argeș (river), Argeș. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated in th ...
,
Craiova Craiova (, also , ) is the largest city in southwestern Romania, List of Romanian cities, the seventh largest city in the country and the capital of Dolj County, situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It i ...
, and Târgoviște. Living in his native town for nearly two decades after arriving there in 1896, he practiced as a lawyer after leaving the bench. Brătescu-Voinești found life there rather constraining: he had to sell the Brătești property at a loss, and lived on the irregular income earned from lawyer's fees. He lacked a literary discussion circle, largely editing his own work, and would eventually enter politics out of boredom. He married
Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The Sud-Est (development region), ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2021 Romanian ...
native Penelope Popescu, who was beautiful but poor; the couple had two children. His choice of wife perturbed Maiorescu, who surmised the union would reduce the social standing of Brătescu-Voinești, and in 1896 invited him on a trip to Great Britain (the two had already journeyed to Switzerland and twice to Italy, on Maiorescu's money). While abroad, the younger man engaged in bizarre behavior; upon his return home, the critic asked his brother whether he had not lost his mind. He also steadfastly refused to marry the niece of Maiorescu's wife.Lucian Nastasă, ''Intelectualii și promovarea socială'', p. 112. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Limes, 2004. The cumulative effect of these transgressions was to prompt the mentor to cut off ties that were never renewed, in spite of the younger man's attempts to restore relations. A postscript took place in 1903, when Brătescu-Voinești submitted the short story "Neamul Udreștilor" (later published in ''Voința națională'') for Maiorescu's review. Although some critics have speculated that the changes suggested by the latter caused their break, the writer in fact accepted nearly all of them.Mănucă, p. 11 In either case, after that date, he split with ''Junimea'' and became affiliated with the ''
Viața Românească ''Viața Românească'' (, "The Romanian Life") is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania. Formerly the platform of the left-wing traditionalist trend known as poporanism, it is now one of the Writers' Union of Romania's main venues. ...
'' group. Alongside
Mihail Sadoveanu Mihail Sadoveanu (; occasionally referred to as Mihai Sadoveanu; 5 November 1880 â€“ 19 October 1961) was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and political figure, who twice served as acting President of Romania, head of st ...
, he was one of the magazine's most valued contributors, and entered the public eye thanks to his appearance in its pages. Moreover, its patron
Garabet Ibrăileanu Garabet Ibrăileanu (; May 23, 1871 – March 11, 1936) was a Romanian-Armenian literary critic and theorist, writer, translator, sociologist, University of Iași professor (1908–1934), and, together with Paul Bujor and Constantin Stere, fo ...
somewhat filled in the gap left by the break with Maiorescu. His first book was the 1903 ''Nuvele și schițe'', enlarged and re-edited as ''În lumea dreptății'' (1906), followed by ''Întuneric și lumină'' (1912), after which his fiction gave way to opinion journalism, collected as ''În slujba păcei'' (1919). In 1912, he served as interim director of the
National Theatre Bucharest The National Theatre Bucharest () is one of the national theatres of Romania, located in the capital city of Bucharest. Founding It was founded as the ''Teatrul cel Mare din București'' ("Grand Theatre of Bucharest") in 1852, its first director ...
. In 1913, he served as a platoon commander in the
Second Balkan War The Second Balkan War was a conflict that broke out when Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia and Kingdom of Greece, Greece, on 1 ...
; he was amused by the respect his troops showed due to his white hair, but also became a vehement pacifist thanks to the experience. This caused a break with ''Viața Românească'', which he believed was leading public opinion in the wrong direction. He was credited with co-writing the 1915 play ''Sorana'' alongside A. de Herz, but later claimed the latter had not contributed a single line. He reissued the play in 1920 without Herz' name on the cover, prompting the latter to sue and win the case.Mănucă, p. 16 From 1918 to 1919, he worked on ''Dacia'' and ''Lamura'', magazines he headed together with Vlahuță and, following the latter's death, alone from 1919 to 1922. His task at ''Dacia'', communicated from government sources, was to discredit those who had collaborated with the country's German occupiers during World War I (of which Herz was emblematic). Brătescu-Voinești and his chief declined to do so, but nevertheless received warnings from potential targets such as
Tudor Arghezi Ion Nae Theodorescu (21 May 1880 – 14 July 1967) was a Romanian writer who wrote under the pen name Tudor Arghezi (. He is best known for his unique contribution to poetry and children's literature. Biography Early life He graduated from Sai ...
. Brătescu-Voinești evoked the medium of the crumbling ancient ''boyar'' class and its uncomplicated structure, of small-time provincial clerks; his characters are unable to adapt to the modern world, their souls filled with candor, hurt when they come into contact with the brutal bourgeois world, incapable of withstanding the impact of lies and injustice. Although romantic, his material is handled using a classic, direct, simple, often confessional tone. His sympathetic participation in the destinies he narrates gives his prose an intensely lyrical flavor, which helps account for its charm and popularity.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. I, p. 215. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.


Move toward politics

After entering political life, he was a member of parliament continuously from 1907 until 1940, and served as secretary of the Assembly of Deputies from 1914 to 1940. He was a member of the National Liberal Party from 1907 to 1914. Elected a corresponding member of the
Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its bylaws, the academy's ma ...
in 1908, he advanced to titular member in 1918. Between 1920 and 1940, he published only sporadically: ''Rătăcire'' (1923), ''Firimituri'' (1929), ''Cu undița'' (1933) and ''Din pragul apusului'' (1935). Between 1920 and 1932, he wrote school textbooks in collaboration with other authors. Starting in 1937, he veered toward fascism, setting forth his theories in programmatic pamphlets: ''Huliganism?'' (1938), ''Strigăte de alarmă în chestia evreiască'' (1940) and ''Germanofobie?'' (1942). His transition was somewhat surprising: other than his pacifist essays of 1919, Brătescu-Voinești had heretofore not made waves within his conservative circles. But beginning with an anti-Semitic press campaign of 1937, he passed through all the stages of Romanian anti-Semitism, from "popular" and traditional form to the politically and ideologically radical variant. A declared follower of Mihail Eminescu's nationalism and an unreserved admirer of
A. C. Cuza Alexandru C. Cuza (8 November 1857 – 3 November 1947), also known as A. C. Cuza, was a Romanian far-right politician and economist. Early life Cuza was born in Iași into a family of mixed Armenian-Greek origins. He was the grandson of Moldav ...
, he proudly called himself a "hooligan", praised Hitlerism and stood beside
Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and MareÈ™al (Romania), marshal who presided over two successive Romania during World War II, wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister of Romania, Prime Minister and ''ConducÄ ...
during World War II, backing
racial laws Anti-Jewish laws have been a common occurrence throughout the history of antisemitism and Jewish history. Examples of such laws include special Jewish quotas, Jewish taxes and Jewish "disabilities". During the 1930s and early 1940s, some law ...
and deportation of the Jews. Brătescu-Voinești was friends with Antonescu, who in March 1943 granted him an interview in which he thanked Germany for supporting his efforts to rid the country of parasites and internal enemies, and pledged to continue the fight until
Jewish Bolshevism Jewish Bolshevism, also Judeo–Bolshevism, is an antisemitic and anti-communist conspiracy theory that claims that the Russian Revolution of 1917 was a Jewish plot and that Jews controlled the Soviet Union and international communist moveme ...
was eradicated. In his 1942 ''Originea neamului românesc și a limbii noastre'', he built on discredited pre-World War I theories of
Nicolae DensuÈ™ianu Nicolae DensuÈ™ianu (; 18 April 1846 – 24 March 1911) was a Romanian ethnologist and collector of Romanian folklore. He was a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy, with a specialty in history. His main work, for which he is chiefly ...
to claim that all
Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...
were of Dacian origin, that the Romans were descended from Geto-Dacians, with Latin a literary form of Dacian, and that Italian, French, and Spanish had "Romanian" roots. Near the end of his life, he engaged in a polemic against the rising
Romanian Communist Party The Romanian Communist Party ( ; PCR) was a communist party in Romania. The successor to the pro-Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave an ideological endorsement to a communist revolution that would replace the social system ...
: eschewing the invective and incitement of other Romanian fascists, he adopted a feeble biologism, claiming that Marxist doctrine is contradicted by the example of wasps, bees, ants and termites. Concurrently, ''
Scînteia ''Scînteia'' ( Romanian for "The Spark") was the name of two newspapers edited by Communist groups at different intervals in Romanian history. The title is a homage to the Russian language paper '' Iskra''. It was known as ''Scânteia'' until ...
'' and other newspapers affiliated with the party hurled copious epithets at the aging figure, denouncing his wartime collaborationism and printed output.Ana Selejan, ''Trădarea intelectualilor: Reeducare și prigoană'', p. 41-2. Bucharest: Editura Cartea Românească, 2005.


Notes


References

*
''Introducere în opera lui Al. Brătescu-Voinești''
. Bucharest: Editura Virtual, 2011.


External links

*
Stories
an
Books
at the Central University Library of Iași {{DEFAULTSORT:Bratescu-Voinesti, Ioan Alexandru 1868 births 1946 deaths People from Târgoviște Romanian nobility Saint Sava National College alumni University of Bucharest alumni 20th-century Romanian lawyers 19th-century Romanian judges Romanian male short story writers Romanian short story writers Romanian dramatists and playwrights Romanian opinion journalists Romanian magazine editors Romanian textbook writers Junimists Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) National Liberal Party (Romania) politicians Romanian fascists Romanian pacifists Romanian military personnel of the Second Balkan War Titular members of the Romanian Academy Burials at Bellu Cemetery