Liviu Rebreanu
(1885 - 1944)
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1885, November 27 |
Our greatest novelist was born in Târlisua, Bistrita-Nasaud county, being the first born of the 14 children of Vasile Rebreanu, a schoolteacher, and Ludovica from Beclean. Both parents came from free peasant families from the Somes river valley. |
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1891-1891 |
Primary school in Maieru village. |
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1895-1899 |
Gimnazium in Nasaud and Bistrita. |
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1900-1903 |
Superior military school in Sopron. |
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1903-1908 |
Military Academy in Budapest, then officer in Gyula, from where he resigns. |
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1908-1909 |
Clerk in Magura Ilvei, Vararea. Literary debut in the Luceafarul review from Sibiu. Crosses the mountains and settles down in Bucharest. |
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1910 |
At the Hungarian government request he is imprisoned at Vacaresti and extradited; imprisoned in Gyula till August, afterwards returning to Bucharest |
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1911-1919 |
Literary secretary at the National theatre in Craiova, where he marries the actress Fanny Radulescu. Editorial debut with a short stories volume Framântari (1912) followed by other books: Golanii (1916), Marturisire (1916), Rafuiala (1919). |
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1920 |
The novel Ion brings him the consecration and the prize of the Romanian Academy. |
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1922-1944 |
His fame grows by the publishing of the novel Padurea spânzuratilor, in which we find the motif from the short story Catastrofa. It is inspired by the drama of his brother Emil, sub-lieutenant in the Habsburgic army, hanged because he had tried, during the war, to cross to the Romanian side. Following are the novels: Adam si Eva, (1925), Ciuleandra (1927), Craisorul (1929), Rascoala (1932), Jar (1934), Gorila (1938), Amândoi (1940). The plays: Cadrilul, Plicul and Apostolii are under the artistic level of his novels. |
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1944, September 1 |
Dies in Valea Mare, Arges county. |
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The novel Ion introduces us in the life of the peasants and intellectuals of Transylvania before the war. The action takes place in Pripas village and in the little town Amaradia. Ion al Glanetasului, industrious son of poor parents, has a passion for land. He lays his eyes on Ana, the daughter of a rich man, Vasile Baciu,. But the rich man does not want him as his son-in-law. He dishonours Ana to force the father to give him his daughter and fortune. The goal is reached, especially as Ana really loves him. Ion, the landowner, is now satisfied. He kisses the gained land, but beatsup Ana, now his wife. Suddenly, Ion is overcome by love for the beautiful Florica, his old sweetheart, now married. Florica answers to Ion's wild passion. Ana understands the cruel reality. Beaten by her husband and by her father she hangs herself. Their child dies too. The quarrel between Ion and his father-in-law begins again. Until the end, Ion does not give up his passion for Florica, and one night the two are caught by Florica's husband who kills Ion. Padurea spânzuratilor is the artistic transfiguration of his brother Emil?tm)s real story. The hero of the novel is Apostol Bologa, the son of a Romanian lawyer from Transylvania. In the Hungarian schools he gets an education that is contrary to his Romanian soul. He becomes a conscientious Austrian officer, and even contributes (through his vote in court) to the sentencing to death of a Czech officer, who had deserted from the army. What follows represents a metamorphosis of his soul, under the influence of the Czech officer Klapka, who drips in his heart the hatred against the Austrian Empire and the love for the Romanian nation. Sent on the Romanian front, in the Oriental Carphatians, he becomes obsessed with the thought of desertion. Being forced again to take part in a military tribunal, to judge a Romanian peasant for espionage, Apostol Bologa runs away at night towards the Romanian lines, to join his blood brothers. He is caught and hanged. |