Mateiu Caragiale

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Mateiu Caragiale

Mateiu Ion Caragiale (also credited as Matei; Mateiŭ is an antiquated version; March 25, 1885-January 17, 1936; he was born and died in Bucharest) was a Romanian writer, the illegitimate son of playwright Ion Luca Caragiale and Maria Constantinescu. In 1889, his father married Alexandrina Burelly, bringing his son into his new family. Caragiale was sent to school at St George's College, Weybridge, where he discovered a passion for history and heraldry.

In 1904, his father moved to Berlin bringing Mateiu with him - in hopes that he could be persuaded to study law, but Mateiu spent his time reading and exploring the German capital.

Unhappy with Mateiu's attitude, Ion Luca sent him back to Romania in 1905, where he tried to enroll at the Cavalry Officers' Academy, but was rejected. He enrolled at the Law School in Bucharest, but quit one year later. In 1907, he became sick and returned to Berlin.

He had his first thoughts on Craii de Curtea-Veche in 1910. Two years later, he published his first 13 poems in the magazine Viaţa Românească. His father died in June 1912 and Mateiu returned to Bucharest, where he became the chief of the Cabinet at the Ministry of Public Works.

In 1913, he wrote the story Remember and in 1919 became the director of the press bureau of the Minister of Internal Affairs. In 1921 he published the story Remember and in 1923 married Marica Sion, the daughter of the poet Gheorghe Sion.

In 1926 and 1927, Gândirea magazine published his novel Craii de Curtea-Veche (an informal title used in English is "The Idle Princes of the Old Court"). He also started the novels Soborul ţaţelor and Sub pecetea tainei, but they would remain unfinished.

Craii de Curtea-Veche was chosen "best Romanian novel of the twentieth century" in a poll conducted by the literary magazine Observator Cultural [1] (No. 45-46) in early 2001 among 102 Romanian literary critics.