Raicu Ionescu-Rion (born Raicu Ionescu; August 24, 1872 – April 19, 1895) was a

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

n literary critic and socialist commentator. Born in Bălăbănești,

Galați County Galați () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Moldavia region, with the capital city at Galați, between latitude, 45°25'N and latitude, 46°10'N latitude, longitude, 27°20'E and longitude, 28°10'E longitude. It borders the counties of Vaslu ...

, he came from a poor peasant family. He attended primary school in

Tăcuta Tăcuta is a commune in Vaslui County, Western Moldavia, Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to t ...

village (1879–1882), the Codreanu High School in

Bârlad Bârlad () is a city in Vaslui County, Romania. It lies on the banks of the river Bârlad (river), Bârlad, which waters the high plains of Western Moldavia. At Bârlad the railway from Iași diverges, one branch skirting the river Siret (river ...

(1882–1889), and the faculty of literature and philosophy at the

University of Iași The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in , Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former was converted to a university, the University of , as it was named ...

(1890–1893), meanwhile taking classes on a scholarship at the higher normal school. While in high school in 1887, together with

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 ...

, N. Savin, D. Moscu, and T. Cardaș, he founded the socialist Oriental literary society. During this period, he undertook a systematic reading of

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, ; ; 1809 – 19 January 1865) was a French anarchist, socialist, philosopher, and economist who founded mutualist philosophy and is considered by many to be the "father of anarchism". He was the first person to ca ...

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.Max Nordau Max Simon Nordau (born Simon Maximilian Südfeld; 29 July 1849 – 23 January 1923) was a Hungarian Zionism, Zionist leader, physician, author, and Social criticism, social critic. He was a co-founder of the Zionist Organization together with Theo ...

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

, and

Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English polymath active as a philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in '' ...

, as well as of

Hippolyte Taine Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (21 April 1828 – 5 March 1893) was a French historian, critic and philosopher. He was the chief theoretical influence on French naturalism, a major proponent of sociological positivism and one of the first practitione ...

and

Georg Brandes Georg Morris Cohen Brandes (4 February 1842 – 19 February 1927) was a Danish critic and scholar who greatly influenced Scandinavian and European literature from the 1870s through the turn of the 20th century. He is seen as the theorist behind ...

. His published debut came in 1889 with the article "Împrejurări ușurătoare", published in the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

''Școala nouă'', an outfit headed by P. Mușoiu and E. Vaian, and where Ibrăileanu was chief editor. He contributed social criticism and theoretical articles to the socialist newspapers ''Critica socială'' and ''Munca'', as well as to ''Evenimentul'' (also edited by Ibrăileanu). The majority of his literary studies appeared in ''Evenimentul literar''. He worked as a substitute teacher 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 ...

(1893-1895), where he died of

consumption Consumption may refer to: * Eating *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically known as consumption * Consumer (food chain), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of n ...

. He used the pen names Rion, V. Rion, Noir, Th. Bulgarul, Faust, Paul Fortună, and G. Mirea. His close friends Ibrăileanu and Sofia Nădejde published a posthumous collection of his criticism as ''Scrieri literare'' (1895). In his work, Ionescu-Rion showed himself to be a follower and admirer of

Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea (born Solomon Katz; 21 May 1855 – 7 May 1920) was a Romanian Marxist theorist, politician, sociologist, literary critic, and journalist. He was also an entrepreneur in the city of Ploiești. Constantin Dobroge ...

, also displaying a close affinity with Ibrăileanu.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. I, p. 774. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ionescu-Rion, Raicu 1872 births 1895 deaths People from Bălăbănești Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni Romanian literary critics Romanian schoolteachers Romanian socialists 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Romania Gheorghe Roșca Codreanu National College alumni