page_title: Ioan A. Bassarabescu
section_title: Political and literary rise
hierarchical_section_title: Ioan A. Bassarabescu / Biography / Political and literary rise
caption_attribution_description: Română: Casa în care a locuit scriitorul I. A. Bassarabescu, Str. Ștefan cel Mare nr. 10, Ploiești This is a photo of a historic monument in județul Prahova, classified with number PH-IV-m-B-16879
context_page_description: Ioan Alecu Bassarabescu was a Romanian comedic writer, civil servant and politician, who served one term 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. 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.
context_section_description: 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. 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. 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. 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.
  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. 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. 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"). With Mihail Sadoveanu, A. de Herz, Emil Gârleanu, George Ranetti and some others, he was employed by the National Theater 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. Bassarabescu was assigned to work on comedies by Georges Courteline, and, Livescu argues, did an "excellent" job. 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. In March 1908, Bassarabescu affiliated with the prototype Romanian Writers' Society, and was elected a member of its steering committee. 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.
  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.
caption: Temelie Dinescu and Bassarabescu's residence in Ploiești
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