A Romanian Disraeli: Take Ionescu and Fin-de-siècle Aesthetics

The present paper reflects on the relationship between political oratory and literature by taking into consideration the wider context of Romania's cultural modernisation (second half of the 19th century). The analysis builds on the hypothesis that, during this period, there is an extension of literature into politics and a projection of political action/speech into aesthetics and applies this frame on Take Ionescu's youth speeches, as well as on his fictions (poetry, novels, short-stories, memoirs). Taking into consideration his intellectual biography and other circumstances, my conclusion is that - much like Benjamin Disraeli - Take Ionescu embodies the political dandy, an autonomous figure, a personality-as-large-as-an-institution, who can also act as a catalyst of dissidence.