Theodor Dimitrie Speranția (; born Theodor Dimitrie Nădejde ; May 4, 1856 – March 9, 1929) 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 playwright, humorist, folklorist and journalist. Born in Deleni,

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 ...

, his father was D. Nădejde, a

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the Eastern Orthodox Church. S ...

deacon; his son was poet Eugeniu Sperantia; and he was the cousin of political brothers

Ioan Ioan is a variation on the name John (first name), John found in Aromanian language, Aromanian, Romanian language, Romanian, Bulgarian language, Bulgarian, Russian language, Russian, Welsh language, Welsh (), and Sardinian language, Sardinian. It ...

and Gheorghe Nădejde.Stănuța Crețu, ''Dicționarul literaturii române de la origini pînă la 1900'', p. 605. Bucharest: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, 1979. He attended primary school at

Târgu Frumos Târgu Frumos (also spelled ''Tîrgu Frumos'', sometimes ''Târgul / Tîrgul Frumos''), ) is a town in Iași County, Western Moldavia, Romania. Eleven villages were administered by the town until 2004, when they were split off to form Balș, Cos ...

, where a teacher changed ''Nădejde'' to ''Speranția'' (both words, the first Slavic and the second Latin in origin, signify 'hope'). He then entered the Veniamin Costachi seminary in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...

, which he left under the influence of socialist ideas. Subsequently, he entered the faculties of science and 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 ...

. Together with the Nădejde brothers and Nicolae Russel, he published the socialist newspaper ''Besarabia''. He entered the Iași socialist circle in 1880 and was one of the founders of its ''

Contemporanul ''Contemporanul'' (''The Contemporary'') was a Romanian literary magazine published in Iaşi, Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukrain ...

'' magazine, to which he contributed from 1881 to 1888. At that point, he moved to

Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu (; 26 February 1838 – ) was a Romanian writer and philologist who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history. Life He was born Tadeu Hâjdeu in Cristineștii Hotinului (now Kerstentsi in Chernivtsi ...

's . Together with Zamfir Arbore and Ștefan Besarabeanu, he published in 1891. He enrolled at the

University of Liège The University of Liège (), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium founded in 1817 and based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French (language), French. History The university was foun ...

, where he earned a doctorate in literature and philosophy in 1886. While there, he became acquainted with the European folklore revival and delved into comparative literature. He subsequently moved to the Romanian capital

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 1906, in a private capacity, he taught a course on domestic folk literature at 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 ...

. Speranția made his published debut with poems in in 1873. Publications for which he wrote include ''

'', ''

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 ...

'', '' Convorbiri Literare'', '' Dimineața'', , '' Familia'', , , , , , and . He edited several of his own magazines, including , and . He published numerous books of entertaining stories (, 1889; , 1898; , 1903; , 1903; , 1909; , 1911; , 1918; , 1918; , 1926), plays (, I, 1894; ''...'', 1894; , 1900; , 1900; , 1908; , 1912; , 1922; , 1922), novels (, 1902; , I-II, 1908; , 1921), children's stories (, 1903; , 1929) and folklore studies (, 1904; , 1914). He was elected a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy in 1891.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. II, p. 592. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sperantia, Theodor 1856 births 1929 deaths People from Iași County Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni 19th-century Romanian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Romanian dramatists and playwrights Romanian folklorists Romanian poets Romanian humorists Romanian novelists Romanian children's writers Romanian magazine editors Romanian magazine founders Romanian newspaper editors Romanian socialists Corresponding members of the Romanian Academy People from the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia