Caton Theodorian
Caton Theodorian, or Teodorian, was a Romanian playwright, poet, short story writer and novelist. He was a maternal nephew of the politician Eugeniu Carada through his Oltenian father, a scion of the boyar nobility. His noble origins informed his chief works in both naturalistic fiction and drama, which mainly deal with social decline and boyar obsessions with heredity. Although showcased by the National Theatre Bucharest, Theodorian's plays were dismissed by critics as vulgar or wordy, and were sometimes rejected by the public. His most treasured contribution was a 1915 comedy, Bujoreștii, which synthesizes his recurrent themes. A moderate in ideological terms, the writer never openly affiliated with either the Romanian Symbolists or their Sămănătorul rivals, but frequented and was published by both. During the final twenty years of his life, he was attached to the Sburătorul circle.
In addition to writing, of which he did relatively little, Theodorian worked as an actor and prompter, a newspaper editor, and finally as a clerk. He had jobs with various state regulatory bodies, and several times with the Romanian Police, briefly serving as commissioner in Vâlcea County. He then had a prominent position in the Romanian Writers' Society, but resigned due to political disagreements during the early stages of World War I. Like his brother Mariu Theodorian-Carada, Caton disliked the Entente Powers, and opposed Romania's entry into the war. He spent the war years fleeing occupation and bombardments, moving from Valea Mare to Iași, then to Paris, Lausanne, and Bern. He returned to a prominent job in the Romanian Arts Ministry, and, in his final year, took an executive position in the new General Directorate of the Press and Propaganda; he was also the founder, and for long president, of the Society of Romanian Dramatic Authors.
Biography
Origins and early life
Born in Craiova, his parents were Ion Theodorian and his wife Emma. As noted by Mariu Theodorian, his father was often mistaken for Armenian, due to his general appearance and Armenian-sounding surname. The surname was of recent origin, having been chosen by Ion, who claimed it was the original name of his father, Praporshchik Constantin Theodor. The latter, possibly an Aromanian immigrant to Wallachia, had fought with the 1821 revolutionaries and then the Wallachian regulars, before becoming a customs officer and gentleman farmer. Through his grandmother, Uța Scărișoreanu, Theodorian descended from the lower ranks of Oltenian boyardom, but his family estates had been sold off to pay outstanding debts.Ion, an avid reader of literature and political science, had failed as a businessman and an actor, entering the civil service of Wallachia and then that of the United Principalities. He was head of the police of Craiova, and then the deputy prefect of Fălciu County, where, in 1867, he quelled a tax riot of the local Jews. It was in Fălciu that he met his future brother-in-law, Eugeniu Carada, later famous as a co-leader of the National Liberal Party. The Caradas were an ethnic Greek clan of publicans and butchers, settled in Bucharest, catering to, then marrying into, Wallachian nobility. In 1870, having returned to Oltenia, Theodorian Sr organized the city's riotous opposition to Domnitor Carol of Hohenzollern, and then, helped by Carada, advanced through the party ranks. He had two other sons in addition to Mariu and Caton: Ștefan and Ion "Nonu" Theodorian.
The Theodorian brothers were orphaned in 1879, when Ion died of chickenpox contracted on a political tour—as recounted in Caton's memoir, Prima durere. Mariu was adopted by his uncle Eugeniu and his aunt Sultana, while Caton began his education at the private C. Dima Popovici Institute in his native city, where his mother was the principal. He then attended Craiova's D. A. Sturdza College, and, according to his own testimony, was briefly colleagues with writer Traian Demetrescu. From 1885 to 1887, he attended military high school. His uncle wished for him to become an officer, but Caton ran away from school, allegedly spending some time studying in Paris, then working for Teodor Popescu's theatrical troupe as a prompter, copyist and extra. He secured his first government post in 1888, possibly through Carada's contacts.
Theodorian headed ephemeral provincial publications such as Lumina, which hosted his literary debut, and was for a while both editor and writer at Adevărul and Naționalul, often signing as Alexandru Răzvan, Olymp, and Zaveră. For a while, he frequented Alexandru Macedonski's Literatorul circle in Bucharest, putting out poetry and prose fragments in the eponymous magazine. His first book was the 1891 collection of sketches and short stories Petale, with a preface by Macedonski; around the same time, he debuted as a dramatist in Craiova, with Manopere electorale and Patima. Although he remained affiliated with magazines that promoted Romanian Symbolism, he was also published in more traditionalist reviews—such as Luceafărul, Sămănătorul, and Ramuri. As noted by literary historians, he always remained "without precise affiliations", an "eclectic" and "moderate".
Police chief and SSR organizer
In parallel to his writing, Theodorian advanced through with his bureau jobs, working as second inspector for State Monopolies in 1896, and being assigned a clerical position at Bucharest Police Headquarters in 1897. In April 1898, while commanding the police unit in Gara de Nord, he apprehended a ring of mail thieves who had thrived on transited Western merchandise. Later that year, he became head of police in Râmnicu Vâlcea, mediating between his politically ambitious brother and the Vâlcea County prefect. He married Ana Iancovescu in 1899, and had two daughters from her—Emma and Alice. From 1901 to 1903, he was a deputy prefect in Northern Dobruja, moving between Babadag, Sulina, Cataloi and Măcin. He was again in Vâlcea as a village inspector on the Lotru, putting out the magazine Râmnicul. Following the peasants' revolt of March 1907 and the cession of power to a National Liberal cabinet, he became for a while director of the Vâlcea prefecture. During this interval, he played host to an informal gathering of writers, including Victor Eftimiu, Octavian Goga, and Ilarie Chendi. According to Eftimiu, it was here that Chendi showed the first signs of a debilitating mental disease.Theodorian returned to short-story writing with Prima durere, followed by Calea sufletului, then La masa calicului, also debuting as a novelist with the 1908 Sângele Solovenilor. His work took him to Buzău County, where he was a field inspector for agriculture, but he also returned to Bucharest where, in 1910, with Mariu and Ion I. C. Brătianu, he visited his uncle Eugeniu at his deathbed. He was by then involved with the Romanian Writers' Society, having joined its embryonic predecessor in 1908–1909, and becoming an executive committee member of the reorganized forum in November 1911, reelected in 1912 and 1914.
He was at that time a frequent guest of Casa Capșa restaurant, known to others as "the man with glass in his eye", for his habit of wearing monocles. As noted by literary historian George Călinescu, while lacking "a particular career", Theodorian maintained a "sumptuous" lifestyle; also: "beyond outbursts of violence and a domineering nature, he was a sentimental character." The same is also argued by the dramatist Mircea Ștefănescu: "Caton Theodorian appeared to be aggressive to all those who did not know him well." This, however, was just a front, which allowed Theodorian to "defend his profession with staunchness and dignity." Visiting the Kingdom of Italy and the German Empire in 1912, Theodorian sent numerous postcards to the hospitalized Chendi. When Chendi committed suicide, he proposed erecting a bust in his likeness.
With other Society members, among them Goga, Emil Gârleanu, and Cincinat Pavelescu, he traveled into Austria-Hungary, attending literary parties for the Romanian community of Transylvania. Between 1910 and 1926, Theodorian was also a member in the reading committee at the National Theatre Bucharest. Although he reported in 1911 that he was working on a new novel, Față'n față, it never came out. As noted in 1974 by Capșa colleague I. Peltz, he "wrote little, but bragged about it to no end." He eventually returned with a tragedy, Ziua cea din urmă, hosted by Noua Revistă Română in 1912, and staged at Bucharest's Modern Theater by Marioara Voiculescu's company in 1913. In early 1914, following a dispute with the dramatist Dimitrie Anghel, the latter challenged him to a duel. When Theodorian refused to fight, Anghel published a letter calling him various names, including an "intriguer" and "ridiculous Oltenian knight".
Two more volumes of short prose also came out in 1914: Povestea unei odăi and Cum plânge Zinica. In his other contributions, he translated books by Théophile Gautier, Émile Zola, and Arnould Galopin. His adaptation of Romain Coolus' Une femme passa was included by George Diamandy in the National Theater program of 1914; the next year, Alexandru Mavrodi did the same with Amicul Teddy, translated by Theodorian and V. Enescu from Rivoire–Besnard's Mon ami Teddy. Elected SSR vice president in January 1915, during Diamandy's mandate, Theodorian followed up with his own comedy, Bujoreștii. Viewed by several critics as his masterpiece and one of the best Romanian comedies, it was also described by Tudor Vianu as a rare break with the "Romantic formula" of Romanian theater. Bujoreștii was soon after taken up by the National Theater, then under Ion Peretz, and premiered with Constantin Radovici as lead. The play was also included in the Iași Theatre repertoire, where it was appreciated by the public, but panned by local critics.