Garabet Ibrăileanu (; May 23, 1871 – March 11, 1936) was a Romanian-

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

and theorist, writer,

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

, sociologist, University of Iași professor (1908–1934), and, together with Paul Bujor and

Constantin Stere Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian language, Romanian; , ''Konstantin Yegorovich Stere'' or Константин Георгиевич Стере, ''Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere''; also known under his pen name ''Șărcăleanu''; ...

, for long main editor of 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. ...

'' literary magazine between 1906 and 1930. He published many of his works under the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Cezar Vraja.

Biography

Ibrăileanu was born into a family of

origin, in Târgu Frumos,

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 cou ...

, and attended the Roman-Vodă High School in Roman. During the 1890s, he was attracted to

Socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, and began a collaboration with the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

press - periodicals such as ''Munca'' and ''

Adevărul (; meaning "The Truth", formerly spelled ''Adevĕrul'') is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in Iași, in 1871, and reestablished in 1888, in Bucharest, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published during the Kingd ...

''. He adopted part of the themes and goals expressed by the defunct '' Junimea'', merging them with the ideas of

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

thinker Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, into a new form of Romanian populism, making it the main attribute of the magazine he led. He is remembered as the first mentor to such diverse figures as

Mihail Sadoveanu Mihail Sadoveanu (; occasionally referred to as Mihai Sadoveanu; 5 November 1880 – 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 ...

, Ion Agârbiceanu, Ionel Teodoreanu, Gala Galaction, Octavian Goga, George Topîrceanu, and Tudor Arghezi. In his first major

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

(1908), ''Spiritul critic în cultura românească'' (roughly: "Selective Attitudes in Romanian Culture"), Ibrăileanu analysed the trends in Romanian literature from cca. 1840 to cca. 1880, trying to establish what had been the characteristics of original works. This is the first draft of his ''theory of selection'', through which he determined the relationship between social context and artists' subjectivism (using it to explain why original artists had been ignored in favor of conformist ones of lesser talent). His thesis found its first major critic in

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

figure Eugen Lovinescu. He expanded the idea in works of literary criticism that are still influential: in 1909 - ''Scriitori şi curente'' ("Writers and Trends"); in 1912 - ''Opera literară a d-lui Vlahuță'' ("Mr. Vlahuță's Literary Works"), a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

thesis that featured one of Ibrăileanu's most quoted chapters, ''Literatura și societatea'' ("Literature and Society"); in 1930 - ''Studii literare'' ("Literary Studies"), containing his other major writing, ''Creaţie și analiză'' ("Creation and Analysis"). He also authored a volume of

aphorism An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...

s (1930), and a

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

- ''Adela'' (1933). Ibrăileanu died 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 ...

in 1936, and was buried at Eternitatea Cemetery in Iași. Denied admission to 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 ...

throughout his life, Garabet Ibrăileanu received posthumous membership in 1948.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibraileanu, Garabet Poporanists Romanian literary critics Romanian literary historians 20th-century Romanian novelists Romanian male novelists Romanian sociologists Romanian translators Members of the Romanian Academy elected posthumously People from Târgu Frumos Romanian people of Armenian descent 1871 births 1936 deaths 20th-century translators 20th-century Romanian male writers Academic staff of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Burials at Eternitatea cemetery Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni