The National Theatre
Teatrul cel Mare (1852), renamed National (1875): both premieres happened here — the Night (18 January 1879) and the Letter (13 November 1884). The Calea Victoriei building was destroyed in the bombing of 24 August 1944.
Bucharest–Berlin, 1852–1912
Did Caragiale say it — or a minister?
Ion Luca Caragiale died in 1912, in Berlin, but his characters never left the committee room: Cațavencu demands the floor, Farfuridi demands the revision, and the Drunken Citizen has been asking since 1884: “who am I voting for?” Four chapters, one map, one game — to find out who said it.
He invented nothing: he minuted his age. A Stormy Night put the Bucharest mahala on the National Theatre stage on 18 January 1879; A Lost Letter premiered on 13 November 1884, 158 days after the revision law cut the electoral colleges from four to three; the 1901 Momente gave Bucharest its mirror, Mitică; and the Berlin years (1904–1912) ended with a pamphlet on 1907 and a national funeral. The proof is on the map, in the quotations and in the game below.
Birth date: 1 February old style / 13 February new style 1852 (the RO form); some EN sources give 30 January — disputed.
The centerpiece
Mitică's Bucharest
Four dated places, four verified facts. Schematic map, not to scale: the dots are placed illustratively, the dates are not.
Pick a dot to see its story.
Caru' cu Bere
Beer hall since 1879 (Ioan Căbășan and the Mircea nephews); the neo-gothic house at Stavropoleos 5, from 1899. Mitică-era beer hall — opened 22 years before the Momente.
The tram
Horse-drawn trams from 1871 (lines from 1872); electric from 9 December 1894, Obor–Cotroceni. Caragiale's Bucharesters rode both tractions.
The Romanian Athenaeum
On 27 September 1899 Caragiale read his Momente here, in the Thursday- and Sunday-evening lectures.
Four chapters
The life, in four acts
I
A Stormy Night
18 January 1879 · National Theatre, Bucharest
At 26, Caragiale carried the mahala onto the country's first stage: jupân Dumitrache, constable Ipingescu and Rică Venturiano — filing clerk, lyric poet, “contributor to the newspaper The Voice of the National Patriot”, columnist and law student. The play had entered the repertoire through Ion Ghica, the theatres' director general.
The premiere is a literally noisy success: stormy applause after act one, but also organized whistling from the gallery. Bucharest was discovering its own speech on stage — and not everyone liked what they heard.
“...Rică Venturiano, filing clerk..., lyric poet, contributor to the newspaper The Voice of the National Patriot, columnist and law student...” (our translation of the act II, scene II self-introduction)
II
A Lost Letter
13 November 1884 · National Theatre, Bucharest
The masterpiece comes at 32: a lost love letter, an electoral blackmail and the whole county fauna — Cațavencu the lawyer-demagogue, venerable Trahanache, Farfuridi and Brânzovenescu, policeman Pristanda, the Drunken Citizen. The play had been read at Iași, in Iacob Negruzzi's house, on 26 October 1884.
The stage direction states the whole programme: the action takes place “in the capital of a mountain county, in our own days”. No historical fable — the minutes of the present.
“In the capital of a mountain county, in our own days.” ...“Two on 11 February square...” — Pristanda counts the electoral flags (our translation).
III
Mitică and the Momente
1901 · Momente și schițe
After the theatre, the press: Moftul român (1889–1902, with interruptions), Epoca literară, the Notițe critice in Universul. The sketches gathered in Momente beget Mitică — the average Bucharester raised to allegory, the man who talks his way out of anything serious.
On 27 September 1899 he had read his Momente at the Romanian Athenaeum. Two years later the volume sealed the type: Mitică is the mirror in which Bucharest recognizes itself and laughs — at itself.
“The national spiritist review, organ for spreading the occult sciences in Trajan's Dacia” — the masthead of Moftul român (our translation).
IV
Berlin
November 1904 – 9 June 1912 · Schöneberg
Fed up with injustice and newly heir to aunt Mumuloaia, Caragiale moves the family to Berlin: a provisional domicile in November 1904, settled on 14 March 1905. From there he writes “1907, from spring to autumn”, the indictment of the peasants' revolt.
He dies suddenly on 9 June 1912, aged 60. On 22 November the coffin is brought to Bucharest: the cortege leaves from Sf. Gheorghe, loops past the National Theatre and reaches Bellu, with Vlahuță, Sadoveanu and Gârleanu at the head of thousands of Bucharesters. Exile, but not oblivion.
“Long live the beautiful and clever Romanian tongue! May this dear charter of a nation be kept holy for ever!” (our translation of the 60th-jubilee reply)
The game
Caragiale or the politician?
Eight quotations. Four are Caragiale's, four are real politicians' words. Choose before the reveal — many of the real ones sound like his.
Score: 0/8
“Eu pentru cine votez?” (“But who am I voting for?” — our translation)
Who said it?
Answer: Caragiale — the Drunken Citizen, A Lost Letter, act I, scene vii. The popular “Eu cu cine votez?” is a paraphrase; the text reads “eu pentru cine votez?”.
“Trădare să fie, dacă o cer interesele partidului, dar s-o știm și noi!” (“Treason it shall be, if the party's interests demand it — but let us know too!”)
Who said it?
Answer: Caragiale — Zaharia Trahanache, A Lost Letter, act I, scene vi.
“Industria română e admirabilă, e sublimă, putem zice, dar lipsește cu desăvârșire.” (“Romanian industry is admirable, sublime, one might say — but it is utterly missing.”)
Who said it?
Answer: Caragiale — Nae Cațavencu, A Lost Letter, act III, scene v.
“Din două una... ori să se revizuiască, primesc! dar să nu se schimbe nimica...” (“One of two things... either it gets revised, I accept! but nothing shall change...”)
Who said it?
Answer: Caragiale — Tache Farfuridi, A Lost Letter, act III, scene i.
“Să trăiți bine!” (“Live well!”)
Who said it?
Answer: A real politician — Traian Băsescu, his 2009 presidential campaign slogan.
“România lucrului bine făcut” (“The Romania of things well done”)
Who said it?
Answer: A real politician — Klaus Iohannis, his 2014 presidential programme, launched 29 September 2014.
“Mândri că suntem români!” (“Proud to be Romanians!”)
Who said it?
Answer: A real politician — Victor Ponta, his 2014 campaign slogan.
“Mihaela, dragostea mea!” (“Mihaela, my love!”)
Who said it?
Answer: A real politician — Mircea Geoană, the speech on the evening of 6 December 2009.
Full answer key
- “Eu pentru cine votez?” (“But who am I voting for?” — our translation) — Caragiale — the Drunken Citizen, A Lost Letter, act I, scene vii. The popular “Eu cu cine votez?” is a paraphrase; the text reads “eu pentru cine votez?”.
- “Trădare să fie, dacă o cer interesele partidului, dar s-o știm și noi!” (“Treason it shall be, if the party's interests demand it — but let us know too!”) — Caragiale — Zaharia Trahanache, A Lost Letter, act I, scene vi.
- “Industria română e admirabilă, e sublimă, putem zice, dar lipsește cu desăvârșire.” (“Romanian industry is admirable, sublime, one might say — but it is utterly missing.”) — Caragiale — Nae Cațavencu, A Lost Letter, act III, scene v.
- “Din două una... ori să se revizuiască, primesc! dar să nu se schimbe nimica...” (“One of two things... either it gets revised, I accept! but nothing shall change...”) — Caragiale — Tache Farfuridi, A Lost Letter, act III, scene i.
- “Să trăiți bine!” (“Live well!”) — A real politician — Traian Băsescu, his 2009 presidential campaign slogan.
- “România lucrului bine făcut” (“The Romania of things well done”) — A real politician — Klaus Iohannis, his 2014 presidential programme, launched 29 September 2014.
- “Mândri că suntem români!” (“Proud to be Romanians!”) — A real politician — Victor Ponta, his 2014 campaign slogan.
- “Mihaela, dragostea mea!” (“Mihaela, my love!”) — A real politician — Mircea Geoană, the speech on the evening of 6 December 2009.
The numbers
Six numbers, all verified
- Haimanale — the birth (1/13 February 1852)
- 1852
- the Stormy Night premiere (18 January)
- 1879
- the Lost Letter premiere (13 November)
- 1884
- Momente și schițe
- 1901
- Berlin — the death (9 June)
- 1912
- days from the revision (8 June) to the premiere (13 November 1884)
- 158
The myths
Three myths, three corrections
“Caragiale invented the politicians”
He did not invent them — he minuted them. The play is set “in our own days”, and 158 days before the premiere the real law of 8 June 1884 had cut the colleges from four to three: Farfuridi demands the “revision” because the whole country was talking about it. The mirror pairs: Farfuridi ↔ the 1884 revision; Cațavencu the lawyer ↔ the census-exempt professionals, the hunted electorate; the Drunken Citizen ↔ the census voter who knows not “who he votes for”; Pristanda ↔ the constable counting flags at the prefecture, the town hall and the school.
“Mitică is the eternal Bucharester”
Mitică is a literary type, born in the 1901 Momente: the allegory of the average Bucharester, not his ID card. A single real-life model is not firmly documented — according to some accounts, a Sinaia resident. Bucharest adopted him as a nickname, not a mugshot.
“He died forgotten, in exile”
He died in Berlin, but not forgotten: in 1912 the country had celebrated his 60th jubilee, and on 22 November the coffin was met by thousands of Bucharesters, with Vlahuță, Sadoveanu and Gârleanu at the head of the cortege. Exile was an address, not a sentence.
The sources
Sources and method
Stage texts are quoted exactly from ro.wikisource (public domain); the popular “Eu cu cine votez?” does not occur in the text — the original reads “Eu pentru cine votez?”. Biographical dates come from the RO/EN Wikipedia articles, cross-checked; what could not be proven is marked “nedocumentat” (unrecorded) or “disputat” (disputed). The numbers (158 days, the ages) are computed, not approximated, and check.py recomputes them at every build.
