Early years Born in
Bucharest, Beldie grew up in the
mahala of
Gorgani, just south of
Cișmigiu Gardens. He was a second-generation Bucharester, with his paternal family stemming from the western province of
Oltenia. On that side, he descended from an old line of
pandur rebels, called
Beldie,
Băldan, or
Pietraru. His great-grandfather Nicolae, Beldie recalled, participated in the
1821 uprising, only to betray the revolutionary cause, and then settled with other renegade
pandurs on the
Vâlsan River floodplain. His grandfather, Ghiță Beldie, resided in
Stroeștii Argeșului, but traded in
țuică all over the
Argeș River valley. Beldie's father, Dumitru, left the impoverished countryside for a life in the city; his father and brothers, however, were committed to the a peasant life, and benefited from the
land reforms. Dumitru, a restaurant owner, was a sympathizer of
socialism, acquainted with a number of prominent contemporary Romanians. Young Beldie received a
progressive education, which even included enrollment in
pre-kindergarten. He was later given private lessons in French, German and English, in addition to attending school, and took classes in dance and bicycling. He observed
Westernization and
urbanization as a
bohemian outsider, His time in school was an annoyance, and he twice failed to get his remove, passing his finishing exams in private. but was much annoyed by Aderca's "contentious and categorical" nature. With such professional credentials, Beldie was asked to contribute on other publishing projects, and became close to the burgeoning
Symbolist movement. He met and befriended, or quarreled with, a host of Symbolists and post-Symbolists, leaving characterological notes on
Adrian Maniu,
N. Davidescu,
Emil Isac, and
Mihail Sorbul. Like the younger Symbolists, Beldie also took a keen interest in avant-garde aesthetics. He claimed to have played a personal part in bringing
Expressionism to Romania, but was perplexed by
Cubism, and declared himself unconvinced by Marinetti's
Futurism. Another one of his new friends was Nae Ionescu, with whom he would quarrel and reunite several times before 1940. According to Beldie's own testimony, they were both intrepid womanizers and self-seekers. Despite his libertine outlook, on July 29, 1910, Beldie married the actress Eugenia Gh. Ionescu, with whom he lived on Schitul Maicilor Street, Bucharest. On August 29, 1912, Eugenia gave birth to a son, Alexandru "Puiu" Beldie. This did not prevent Beldie from pursuing other women. Enrolling at the
University of Bucharest Faculty of Philosophy and Literature, he met
Cora Irineu, who became passionately in love with him, and whom Beldie helped introduce to literary life. the
aphorisms published as
Ce vrem? Catechism pentru suflete nehotărîte ("What Is It We Want? A Catechism for Indecisive Souls"). Both were came out with Yellow Books (
Cărți Galbene), an imprint of
Editura Minerva, According to critic
Gheorghe Grigurcu, Beldie should be regarded as an immediate but "modest" precursor for Nae Ionescu's own brand of philosophic vitalism, or
Trăirism. Instead of intellectualism, Beldie proposed a new brand of
elitism and, historian Adrian Majuru notes, saw his as "a solitary life among the idiots". In 1919, Beldie became editorial secretary at another of Rădulescu-Motru's magazines,
Ideea Europeană, which took over the old offices of
Noua Revistă Română. This allowed him to organize a series of conferences held in various cities by, among others, Nae Ionescu, Ortiz, Irineu,
Octav Onicescu,
Mircea Florian,
Virgil Bărbat, and
Emanoil Bucuța. Beldie began an affair with Irineu, leaving with her on official assignments to
Transylvania. To the irritation of his
Ideea Europeană friends, these trips turned into sexual escapades, with both Beldie and Irineu neglecting their real tasks.
Final decades On February 11, 1924, Irineu committed suicide by revolver. This was due either to Beldie's philandering (which probably caused some of his other lovers to kill themselves) but Beldie left sarcastic notes about the intellectual abilities of its other members. In 1933, Ionescu defected to the
Iron Guard, a
fascist movement opposed to Carol II. As documented by Beldie, his wealth grew over the coming years, as he became the representative of
Nazi-linked
IG Farben in Romania, and included villas in
Băneasa and
Balcic and a
Mercedes-Benz car with a chauffeur paid by the firm. Beldie ended his career in the public service as head of
Loteria de Stat (1932–1935). Beldie Jr became a distinguished
dendrologist, forestry engineer, and environmentalist. Like his father before him, he was also a bohemian. before returning to teach in Romania. He was married three times, but had no children. ==Legacy==