Early life and debut Bassarabescu descended from
boyar families that occupied court positions in
Wallachia: his father, Alecu, was a
pitar; his mother, Elisa, was the daughter of a
staroste, relatives with General
Romulus Boteanu. Alecu had received a
progressive education at the
Saint Sava Academy; his colleagues there later instigated the
1848 Revolution in Wallachia. Although he had settled in the
Danube port of
Giurgiu, his own family was more closely associated with
Bucharest, the national capital. Noted members of this branch include Nicolae "Nae" Bassarabescu, who worked as a journalist in the
liberal-radical press, later setting up the first
newsstand chain in town, and composer George Bassarabescu. One of the couple's seven children, In 1877, the family left the city because of
Ottoman bombardments during the
Romanian War of Independence, settling in Bucharest. The eight-year-old Bassarabescu was first enlisted at school in Bucharest's Yellow Ward, and later in the Green Ward. Influenced by their teacher, classical scholar
Anghel Demetriescu, they formed their own literary club, which held its meetings in the Saint Sava basement. Together, they put out the makeshift literary review
Armonia, described by an aging Bassarabescu as
polygraphed "with the faintest and least readable violet letters to have ever been used for writing in this world." It was soon replaced by a less makeshift periodical, the bi-monthly
Studentul Român. Bassarabescu published his first short stories in that paper, and then in the youth review
Generația Viitoare, before being hosted (with words of praise and encouragement) by the literary supplement of
Românul newspaper.
Studentul Român only put out three issues, closing down due to a "lack of funds", but not, as Bassarabescu quipped, to a "lack of scientific and literary contributions". By this time, the Saint Sava pupils began attending literary- and social-themed conferences at the
Romanian Atheneum. It was there that Bassarabescu met the successful writer
Alexandru Vlahuță, who gave him some of his first literary pointers. Soon, Bassarabescu's pieces were hosted by
Revista Nouă, a literary journal managed by
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu (1893). This was an impressive feat, to judge by Bassarabescu's own words: "imposingly grand" and "too expensive" venture,
Revista Nouă had fascinated him and his Saint Sava colleagues. Like his generational colleague
Ioan Alexandru Brătescu-Voinești, Bassarabescu joined in just as the
Convorbiri Literare, for long disregarded by Maiorescu, was entering its decline stage. As noted by literary historian
Zigu Ornea, the stories of Bassarabescu and Brătescu-Voinești were a rare diversion, the magazine having grown "monotonous", "suffocated by bulky specialized studies". Bassarabescu was not dissuaded by such problems: he would contribute to the magazine throughout most of his life. Between his move from
Revista Nouă to
Junimea, Bassarabescu had enlisted at the Literature and Philosophy Faculty of the
University of Bucharest (graduated 1897), while also working as a
Finance Ministry clerk.
Political and literary rise 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. 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, 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. With
Mihail Sadoveanu,
A. de Herz,
Emil Gârleanu,
George Ranetti and some others, he was employed by the
National Theatre 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). 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. As historian
Lucian Boia notes, the suspicion is still standing: an entry in Maiorescu's diary shows that Bassarabescu had left the hospital on at least one occasion during the interval of his supposed illness. He also resumed his literary activity, which resulted in the 1919 volume
Un dor împlinit ("A Satisfied Longing", Steinberg Publishers), followed in 1923 by another Socec edition of
Nuvele and
Moș Stan ("Old Man Stan",
Editura Cultura Națională).
Conservative decline and 1925 return Throughout the war and down to Marghiloman's death, Bassarabescu held on to the presidency of a declining Prahova Conservative chapter. Historian Dorin Stănescu places blame for the party's decline on Bassarabescu himself, noting that his investigation for treason contributed to its dismal results in the
election of November 1919. In the mid 1920s, Bassarabescu himself abandoned the Conservative-Progressives, and made a successful return to national politics. He joined the
People's Party (PP) of
Alexandru Averescu. In exchange, he was made Vice President of the PP section in Prahova and, following the
June 1926 election, a
Senator for that county. At the time, his more virulently antisemitic colleague, Brătescu-Voinești, was gathering support for purging the literary world of what he called "abject" Jewish influences. Bassarabescu occasionally joined in, such as when he cosigned Brătescu's letter to novelist
Mihail Sadoveanu, an ambiguous document which implied that Sadoveanu had given in to such Jewish influences. Three years later, Bassarabescu followed the National Agrarians into their merger with the
National-Christian Defense League, and became a member of the resulting
National Christian Party (PNC). As noted by Bassarabescu himself, he was still a PNC member in May 1938, "upon the chief's [Goga's] death". In 1935,
Convorbiri Literare, in the process of recovering unknown writings by the late Maiorescu, also published four letters that Maiorescu had sent to Bassarabescu decades before. He was by then a highly decorated member of the establishment: a recipient of the
Order of the Crown (commander), the
Order of the Star of Romania (officer) and the
Cultural Merit Order (officer). The same year, Ecaterina Bassarabescu died, leaving Ioan Alecu to be cared for by daughter Maria-Elisabeta. The latter was a career woman, who had graduated law school and was among the first Romanian female judges. later sources describe the circumstances of this accident as generally suspicious. The
Giurgiu County library in his native city bears his name since 1991. ==Literary work==