Ion Luca Caragiale (Romanian pronunciation: [iˈon ˈluka karaˈdʒjale]; 13 February [O.S.

30
January] 1852[1] – 9 June 1912), commonly referred to as I. L. Caragiale, was
a Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and
journalist. Leaving behind an important cultural legacy, he is considered one of the greatest
playwrights in Romanian language and literature, as well as one of its most important writers and
a leading representative of local humour. Alongside Mihai Eminescu, Ioan Slavici and Ion
Creangă, he is seen as one of the main representatives of Junimea, an influential literary society
with which he nonetheless parted during the second half of his life. His work, spanning four
decades, covers the ground between Neoclassicism, Realism, and Naturalism, building on an
original synthesis of foreign and local influences.

Although few in number, Caragiale's plays constitute the most accomplished expression of
Romanian theatre, as well as being important venues for criticism of late-19th-century Romanian
society. They include the comedies O noapte furtunoasă, Conu Leonida față cu reacțiunea, O
scrisoare pierdută, and the tragedy Năpasta. In addition to these, Caragiale authored a large
number of essays, articles, short stories, novellas and sketch stories, as well as occasional
works of poetry and autobiographical texts such as Din carnetul unui vechi sufleur. In many
cases, his creations were first published in one of several magazines he edited
— Claponul, Vatra, and Epoca. In some of his later fiction writings, including La hanul lui
Mânjoală, Kir Ianulea, Abu-Hasan, Pastramă trufanda and Calul dracului, Caragiale adopted
the fantasy genre or turned to historical fiction.

Ion Luca Caragiale was interested in the politics of the Romanian Kingdom, and oscillated
between the liberal current and conservatism. Most of his satirical works target the
liberal republicans and the National Liberals, evidencing both his respect for their rivals
at Junimea and his connections with the literary critic Titu Maiorescu. He came to clash with
National Liberal leaders such as Dimitrie Sturdza and Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, and was a
lifelong adversary of the Symbolist poet Alexandru Macedonski. As a result of these conflicts, the
most influential of Caragiale's critics barred his access to the cultural establishment for several
decades. During the 1890s, Caragiale rallied with the radical movement of George Panu, before
associating with the Conservative Party. After having decided to settle in Berlin, he came to voice
strong criticism for Romanian politicians of all colours in the wake of the 1907 Romanian
Peasants' Revolt, and ultimately joined the Conservative-Democratic Party of Tache Ionescu.

He was both a friend and rival to writers such as Mihai Eminescu, Titu Maiorescu, and Barbu
Ștefănescu Delavrancea, while maintaining contacts with, among others,
the Junimist essayist Iacob Negruzzi, the socialist philosopher Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea,
the literary critic Paul Zarifopol, the poets George Coșbuc and Mite Kremnitz, the
psychologist Constantin Rădulescu-Motru, and the Transylvanian poet and activist Octavian
Goga. Ion Luca was the nephew of Costache and Iorgu Caragiale, who were major figures of the
19th century Romanian theatre. His sons Mateiu and Luca were both modernist writers.

Biography[edit]
Background and name[edit]
Ion Luca Caragiale was born into a family of Greek descent, whose members first arrived in
Wallachia soon after 1812, during the rule of Prince Ioan Gheorghe Caragea—Ștefan Caragiali,
as his grandfather was known locally, worked as a cook for the court in Bucharest.[2][3]

Ion Luca's father, who reportedly originated from the Ottoman capital of Istanbul, settled
in Prahova County as the curator of the Mărgineni Monastery[4] (which, at the time, belonged to
the Greek Orthodox Saint Catherine's Monastery of Mount Sinai). Known to locals as Luca
Caragiali, he later built a reputation as a lawyer and judge in Ploiești, and married Ecaterina, the
daughter of a merchant from the Transylvanian town of Brașov.[3][5][6] Her maiden name was given
as Alexovici (Alexevici)[3][5][6] or as Karaboa (Caraboa).[7] She is known to have been Greek herself,
 and, according to historian Lucian Nastasă, some of her relatives were Hungarian members
[3][6][8]

of the Tabay family.[3] The couple also had a daughter, named Lenci.[9]

Ion Luca's uncles, Costache and Iorgu Caragiale, managed theater troupes and were very
influential figures in the development of early Romanian theatre — in Wallachia
and Moldavia alike.[10][11] Luca Caragiali had himself performed with his brothers during his youth,
before opting to settle down.[12] All three had stood criticism for not taking part in the Wallachian
Revolution, and defended themselves through a brochure printed in 1848.[13] The Caragiali
brothers had two sisters, Ecaterina and Anastasia.[14]

Especially in his old age, the writer emphasized his family's humble background and his status
as a self-made man.[3][14][15] On one occasion, he defined the landscape of his youth as "the
quagmires of Ploiești".[16] Although it prompted his biographer Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea to
define him as "a proletarian", Caragiale's account was disputed by several other researchers,
who noted that the family had a good social standing.[3]

Ion Luca Caragiale was discreet about his ethnic origin for the larger part of his life. In parallel,
his foreign roots came to the attention of his adversaries, who used them as arguments in
various polemics.[6][14][17][18] As his relations with Caragiale degenerated into hostility, Mihai
Eminescu is known to have referred to his former friend as "that Greek swindler".[19] Aware of
such treatment, the writer considered all references to his lineage to be insults.[14] On several
occasions, he preferred to indicate that he was "of obscure birth".[3]

Caragiale in Balkan costume, photographed ca. 1900

Nevertheless, as literary critic Tudor Vianu noted, Caragiale's outlook on life was
explicitly Balkanic and Oriental, which, in Vianu's view, mirrored a type "which must have been
found in his lineage".[20] A similar opinion was expressed by Paul Zarifopol, who speculated that
Caragiale's conservative mindset was possibly owed to the "lazyness of one true
Oriental"[21] (elsewhere, he referred to the writer as "a lazy southerner, fitted with definitely
supranormal intelligence and imagination").[22]

In his main work on the history of Romanian literature, George Călinescu included Caragiale
among a group of "Balkan" writers, whose middle class status and often foreign origin, he
argued, set them apart irrespective of their period—others in this category were, in chronological
order, Anton Pann, Tudor Arghezi, Ion Minulescu, Urmuz, Mateiu Caragiale, and Ion Barbu.[23] In
contrast, critic Garabet Ibrăileanu proposed that Caragiale's Wallachian origin was of particular
importance, serving to explain his political choices and alleged social bias.[24]

On one occasion, Caragiale mentioned that his paternal grandfather was "a Greek cook".[14] In
several contexts, he referred to his roots as being in the island of Hydra.[2] In one of his
photographs, he posed in Oriental costume and sitting cross-legged, which was interpreted by
Vianu as an additional reference to his Balkan background.[25] Two of his biographers, Zarifopol
and Șerban Cioculescu, noted that a section of Caragiale's fairy tale Kir Ianulea was a likely self-
reference: in that fragment of text, the Christian Devil, disguised as an Arvanite trader, is shown
taking pride in his Romanian language skills.[26]
Investigations carried out by the Center of Theatric Research in Athens, Greece and made public
in 2002 offered an alternative take on the Caragiales' origin. According to this perspective, Ștefan
Caragiali was a native of Kefalonia, and his original surname, Karaialis, was changed on Prince
Caragea's request.[2][8] Various authors also believe that Caragiale's ancestors
were Albanian[11] or Aromanian.[27]

Originally, Ion Luca was known as Ioanne L. Caragiali.[28][29] His family and friends knew him
as Iancu or, rarely, Iancuțu—both being antiquated hypocoristics of Ion.[30] The definitive full
version of his features the syllable ca twice in a row, which is generally avoided in Romanian due
to its scatological connotations. It has however become one of the few cacophonies accepted by
the Romanian Academy.[31]