31 Facts About Dem Theodorescu

Dem Theodorescu came to support fascism, and publicly praised the Iron Guard movement before and during World War II.

The son of Ion and Aurelia Dem Theodorescu, the future writer hailed from the village of Roesti, in Valcea County, where he was born on October 26,1888.

Dem Theodorescu sent pieces to N D Cocea's socialist review, Facla, under the pen name Fidelio.

Around 1912, Dem Theodorescu was a sympathizer of the Symbolist movement, the radical side.

In tandem, Theodorescu was co-opted on the staff of Constantin Radulescu-Motru's Noua Revista Romana, where he usually signed his contributions as Ravaillac, Ravaiac, and Teo.

Dem Theodorescu signed with his name, covering topics such as the British railway strike.

Dem Theodorescu became more politically involved with the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

Dem Theodorescu returned with sarcastic comments on Ententists such as Octavian Goga and Take Ionescu, accused of having "sold" Romania to the Russian Empire.

Gazeta Bucurestilor, the collaborationist daily put out by Slavici and Arghezi, enlisted Dem Theodorescu, who contributed there mainly under the pseudonym Ion Olteanu.

Dem Theodorescu was by then fully committed to the Central Powers and the puppet administration set up by Lupu Kostaki.

Dem Theodorescu registered as a party member in or around February 1919.

Dem Theodorescu was purged from the Romanian Writers' Society, based on the motion of its President, Mihail Dragomirescu.

Dem Theodorescu soon returned to his career in the press, with articles published in Cocea's Rampa and in the illustrated monthly Gloria Romaniei.

Dem Theodorescu was hosted by Flacara, a tribune of moderate Symbolism, where he published a critique of, his old rival Goga, whose work in poetry, he argued, had become too docile and mainstream.

Dem Theodorescu's earliest contribution to the paper was a defense of the Socialist-Communist Party, whose members, affiliates of the Comintern, faced prosecution for dissent.

In 1924, Dem Theodorescu joined the staff of Cuvantul Liber, Filotti's own newspaper, where he debuted with an article on a major social issue, that of knowledge workers and their payment.

At Cuvantul Liber, Dem Theodorescu embarked on a personal polemic with the far-right intellectual Nichifor Crainic, who, years later, still alleged that Dem Theodorescu was merely "a hireling of the Jews".

Dem Theodorescu stayed with Cuvantul after Seicaru took over as publisher, but he continued to write for the rival Adevarul.

Dem Theodorescu solved this conflict of interest by switching to the pen name of Rastignac for his Cuvantul articles, which reputedly managed to confuse his own colleagues there.

Dem Theodorescu was interviewed by novelist I Valerian for a 1927 issue of his Viata Literara, detailing his previous work in the press.

Dem Theodorescu's mounting dissatisfaction with the electoral mores of Romanian liberalism was given voice in a 1929 piece for Contimporanul, where he ridiculed the political marches of the opposition People's Party, as well as the indifference of governing National Liberals.

In 1932, Dem Theodorescu was still a contributor to the leftist press, with articles published in Progresul Social review.

In 1936, under contract with Alcaly Company, Dem Theodorescu published his third and final novel, Robul.

The Jewish writer Mihail Sebastian, his former employee at Cuvantul, claimed that, in private, Dem Theodorescu was more conciliatory than Popescu.

Dem Theodorescu sided with the new establishment after the arrival to power of the fascist National Christian Party, and then after the creation of a National Renaissance Front.

Dem Theodorescu's text earned critical attention for having updated and adapted the original to Romanian street-language, with direct borrowings from Ion Luca Caragiale.

Dem Theodorescu maintained official positions throughout most of World War II and the Ion Antonescu dictatorship, when Romania was allied to Nazi Germany.

Dem Theodorescu left an unpublished novel inspired by theatrical life, Rita Rizu.

In writing it, Theodorescu took revenge on his political opponents of World War I As noted by culture critic Eugen Lovinescu, the book is seasoned with irony, which is "an admirable weapon when it comes to clashes of ideas", but "a dissolving factor in matters of creativity".

Dem Theodorescu is made to defend himself in a lengthy trial which ends with his acquittal, but finds that Roxana has deserted both him and the cause.

Socialismul newspaper complained that Dem Theodorescu painted a grim picture of Romanian socialism, showing Stancu as bereft "of one's basic spiritual qualities".