Culture - Literature - Liviu Rebreanu

LIVIU REBREANU
(1885-1944)

1885, November 27 Our great novelist is born in Târlisiua village, Bistrita-Nasaud county, being the first born of the 13 children of the Vasile Rebreanu teacher and Ludovica from Beclean. Both parents are from free paesant families from the Somes river valley.
1891-1891 Primary school in Maieru village.
1895-1899 Gimnazium at Nasaud and Bistrita.
1900-1903 Superior military school from Sopron.
1903-1908 Military Academy at Budapest, after he is officer in Gyula, from where he resigns.
1908-1909 Clerk at Magura Ilvei, Vararea. Literary debut in the review Luceafarul from Sibiu. Crosses the mountains and settles down in Bucharest.
1910 At the Hungarian government request he is imprisoned at Vacaresti and extradite; imprisoned in Gyula till August, after he returns to Bucharest
1911-1919 Literary secretary at the National theater from 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).
1920 The novel Ion brings him the consacration and the prize of the Romanian Academy.
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 tryed, during the war, to cross on the Romanian side. Follows 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 artistical level of his novels.
1944, September 1 Dies in Valea Mare, Arges county.

The novel Ion introduce us in the life of the paesants 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 fixes his eyes on Ana, rich man's, Vasile Baciu, daughter. But the rich man does not want him as his son-in-law. He deshonour Ana, to oblige the father to give him his daughter and the fortune. The goal is reached, specially when Ana really loves him. Ion, the master of the lands, is now satisfied. Kisses the gained land, but beats Ana, now his wife.
Suddenly, Ion is ruled by a love for the beautiful Florica, old sympathy, now married. Florica answers to Ion's wild passion.
Ana understands the cruel reality. Beated by her husband and by her father she hangs herself. Their child dies too. The quarrel between Ion the his father-in-law begins again.
Till the end, Ion does not stop his passion for Florica, and in a night the two are catched by Florica's husband who kills Ion.

Padurea spânzuratilor is the artistical transfiguration of his brother Emil case. The hero of the novel is Apostol Bologa, son of a Romanian lawyer from Transylvania. In the Hungarian schools he gets an perverse education, contrary to his Romanian soul. He become a conscientious Austian officer, he even contributes (by his vote in court) at the condamnation to death of a Czech officer, who have deserted.
Follows his soul metamorphosis, under the influence of the Czech officer Klapka, who drip in his heart the hatred against the Austrian empire and the love for the Romanian nation. Sent on the Romanian front, in the Orriental Carphatians, the thought of desertation obsesses him. Being forced again to take part in a mility tribunal, to judge the Romanian paesant for espionage, Apostol Bologa starts in the night towards the Romanian lines, to get to his blood brothers. He is caught and hanged.

Last update: 1999, September 8
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1885, November 27	Our great novelist is born in Târlisiua village, Bistrita-Nasaud county, being the first born of the 13 children of the Vasile Rebreanu teacher and Ludovica from Beclean. Both parents are from free paesant families from the Somes river valley.
1891-1891	Primary school in Maieru village.
1895-1899	Gimnazium at Nasaud and Bistrita.
1900-1903	Superior military school from Sopron.
1903-1908	Military Academy at Budapest, after he is officer in Gyula, from where he resigns.
1908-1909	Clerk at Magura Ilvei, Vararea. Literary debut in the review Luceafarul from Sibiu. Crosses the mountains and settles down in Bucharest.
1910	At the Hungarian government request he is imprisoned at Vacaresti and extradite; imprisoned in Gyula till August, after he returns to Bucharest
1911-1919	Literary secretary at the National theater from 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).
1920	The novel Ion brings him the consacration and the prize of the Romanian Academy.
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 tryed, during the war, to cross on the Romanian side. Follows 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 artistical level of his novels.
1944, September 1	Dies in Valea Mare, Arges county.