"Creangă" redirects here. For other uses, see Creangă (surname).

Ion Creangă
Nică al lui Ștefan a Petrei
Ion Torcălău
Ioan Ștefănescu

Born 1837 or 1839

Târgu Neamț, Principality of Moldavia

Died December 31, 1889

Iași, Kingdom of Romania

Pen name Ioan Vântură-Țară

Occupation Short story writer, educator, folklorist, poet,

textile worker, cleric, politician

Nationality Moldavian, Romanian

Period 1864–2021

Genre Anecdote, children's literature, erotic

literature, fable, fairy tale, fantasy, lyric
poetry, memoir, novella, satire, short
 story, sketch story

Literary Realism, Junimea
movement

Signature

Ion Creangă (Romanian pronunciation: [iˈon ˈkre̯aŋɡə]; March 1, 1837 – December 31, 1889) was
a Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th century Romanian literature,
he is best known for his Childhood Memories volume, his novellas and short stories, and his
many anecdotes. Creangă's main contribution to fantasy and children's literature includes narratives
structured around eponymous protagonists ("Harap Alb", "Ivan Turbincă", "Dănilă Prepeleac", "Stan
Pățitul"), as well as fairy tales indebted to conventional forms ("The Story of the Pig", "The Goat and
Her Three Kids", "The Mother with Three Daughters-in-Law", "The Old Man's Daughter and the Old
Woman's Daughter"). Widely seen as masterpieces of the Romanian language and local humor, his
writings occupy the middle ground between a collection of folkloric sources and an original
contribution to a literary realism of rural inspiration. They are accompanied by a set of contributions
to erotic literature, collectively known as his "corrosives".
A defrocked Romanian Orthodox priest with an unconventional lifestyle, Creangă made an early
impact as an innovative educator and textbook author, while pursuing a short career
in nationalist politics with the Free and Independent Faction. His literary debut came late in life,
closely following the start of his close friendship with Romania's national poet Mihai Eminescu and
their common affiliation with the influential conservative literary society Junimea. Although viewed
with reserve by many of his colleagues there, and primarily appreciated for his records of oral
tradition, Creangă helped propagate the group's cultural guidelines in an accessible form. Later
critics have often described him, alongside Eminescu, Ion Luca Caragiale and Ioan Slavici, as one of
the most accomplished representatives of Junimist literature.
Ion Creangă was posthumously granted several honors, and is commemorated by a number of
institutions in both Romania and neighboring Moldova. These include the Bojdeuca building in Iași,
which, in 1918, was opened as the first memorial house in Romania. His direct descendants
include Horia Creangă, one of the leading Romanian architects during the interwar period.

Contents

 1Biography

o 1.1Background and family

o 1.2Childhood, youth and ordination

o 1.3Beginnings as schoolteacher and clash with the Orthodox Church

 o 1.4Defrocking and the Bojdeuca years

o 1.5Junimea reception

o 1.6Literary consecration

o 1.7Illness and death

 2Work

o 2.1Cultural context

o 2.2Narrative style and language

o 2.3Creangă's specificity

o 2.4Most prominent tales

o 2.5Devil-themed stories and "Harap Alb"

o 2.6Childhood Memories

o 2.7Didactic writings

o 2.8Moș Nichifor Coțcariul and "corrosives"

 3Legacy

o 3.1Estate, family and early cultural impact

o 3.2Early 20th century and interwar echoes

o 3.3Under communism

o 3.4After 1989

 4Notes

 5References

 6External links

Biography[edit]
Background and family[edit]
Ion Creangă was born in Humulești in the Principality of Moldavia, a former village which has since
been incorporated into Târgu Neamț city, the son of Orthodox trader Ștefan sin Petre Ciubotariul and
his wife Smaranda.[1] His native area, bordering on heavily forested areas, [2] was in the Eastern
Carpathian foothills, and included into what was then the principality of Moldavia. The surrounding
region's population preserved an archaic way of life, dominated by shepherding, textile
manufacturing and related occupations,[3] and noted for preserving the older forms of local folklore.
[4]
 Another characteristic of the area, which left an impression on Creangă's family history, was
related to the practice of transhumance and the links between ethnic Romanian communities on
both sides of the mountains, in Moldavia and Transylvania: on his maternal side, the writer
descended from Maramureș-born peasants,[5] while, according to literary historian George Călinescu,
his father's origin may have been further southwest, in Transylvania-proper. [2]
The family had reached a significant position within their community: Ștefan sin Petre had made a
steady income from his itinerant trade in wool, while his wife was the descendant of the Creangăs
of Pipirig, a family of community leaders. The latter's members included Moldavian
Metropolitan Iacob Stamati, as well as Smaranda's father, Vornic David, and her uncle Ciubuc
Clopotarul, a monk at Neamț Monastery.[6] Proud of this tradition, it was her who insisted for her son
to pursue a career in the Church.[7] According to his own recollection, the future writer was born on
March 1, 1837—a date which has since been challenged. [6] Creangă's other statements mention
March 2, 1837, or an unknown date in 1836. [8] The exactitude of other accounts is equally unreliable:
community registers from the period gave the date of June 10, 1839, and mention another child of
the same name being born to his parents on February 4, 1842 (the more probable birth date of
Creangă's younger brother Zahei). [8] The imprecision also touches other aspects of his family life:
noting the resulting conflicts in data, Călinescu decided that it was not possible for one to know if the
writer's parents were married to each other (and, if so, if they were on their first marriage), nor how
many children they had together. [8] At a time when family names were not legally required, and
people were primarily known by various nicknames and patronymics, the boy was known to the
community as Nică, a hypocorism formed from Ion, or more formally as Nică al lui Ștefan a
Petrei ("Nică of Ștefan of Petru", occasionally Nic-a lui Ștefan a Petrei).[9]

Childhood, youth and ordination[edit]

Casa din Humulești ("The House in Humulești"), painting by Aurel Băeșu

After an idyllic period, which is recounted in the first section of his Childhood Memories, Ion Creangă
was sent to primary school, an institution then in the care of Orthodox Church authorities, where he
became noted for his rebellious attitude and appetite for truancy.[2] Among his colleagues was a
female student, Smărăndița popii (known later as Smaranda Posea), for whom he developed an
affection which lasted into his adult life, over decades in which the two no longer saw each other.
[10]
 He was taught reading and writing in Cyrillic alphabet through peer tutoring techniques, before the
overseeing teacher, Vasile a Ilioaiei, was lassoed off the street and conscripted by the Moldavian
military at some point before 1848.[2] After another teacher, whom the Memories portray as a drunk,
died from cholera in late 1848, David Creangă withdrew his grandson from the local school and took
him to a similar establishment in Broșteni, handing him into the care of a middle-aged woman,
Irinuca.[11] Ion Creangă spent several months at Irinuca's remote house on the Bistrița River, before
the proximity of goats resulted in a scabies infection and his hastened departure for Pipirig, where he
cured himself using birch extract, a folk remedy mastered by his maternal grandmother Nastasia.[2]
After returning to school between late 1849 and early 1850, Creangă was pulled out by his
financially struggling father, spent the following period working in wool-spinning, and became known
by the occupational nickname Torcălău ("Spinster").[2] He only returned in third grade some four
years later, having been sent to the Târgu Neamț public school, newly founded by Moldavian
Prince Grigore Alexandru Ghica as part of the Regulamentul Organic string of reforms.[2] A colleague
of future philosopher Vasile Conta in the class of priest and theologian Isaia "Popa Duhu"
Teodorescu, Creangă was sent to the Fălticeni seminary in 1854.[12] After having been registered
as Ioan Ștefănescu (a variant of his given name and a family name based on his patronymic), the
adolescent student eventually adopted his maternal surname of Creangă.[6] According to Călinescu,
this was done either "for aesthetic reasons" (as his new name, literally meaning "branch" or "bough",
"sounds good") or because of a likely discovery that Ștefan was not his real father. [6] Dan Grădinaru,
a researcher of Creangă's work, believes that the writer had a special preference for the
variant Ioan, generally used in more learned circles, instead of the variant Ion that was consecrated
by his biographers.[10]
Having witnessed, according to his own claim, the indifference and mundane preoccupations of his
peers, Creangă admitted to having taken little care in his training, submitting to the drinking culture,
playing practical jokes on his colleagues, and even shoplifting, while pursuing an affair with the
daughter of a local priest.[8] According to his own statement, he was a philanderer who, early in his
youth, had already "caught the scent" of the catrință (the skirt in traditional costumes).[13] In August
1855, circumstances again forced him to change schools: confronted with the closure of his Fălticeni
school,[8] Creangă left for the Central Seminary attached to Socola Monastery, in Moldavia's capital
of Iași.[14] Ștefan sin Petre's 1858 death left him without means of support, and he requested being
directly ordained, but, not being of the necessary age, was instead handed a certificate to attest his
school attendance.[8] He was soon after married, after a brief courtship, to the 15-year-old Ileana,
daughter of Priest Ioan Grigoriu from the church of the Forty Saints, where he is believed to have
been in training as a schoolteacher.[8] The ceremony took place in August 1859,[8] several months
after the personal union between Moldavia and its southern neighbor Wallachia, effected by the
election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as Domnitor. Having been employed as a cantor by his father in
law's church, he was ordained in December of the same year, assigned to the position of deacon in
Holy Trinity Church, and, in May 1860, returned to Forty Saints. [8]
Relations between Creangă and Grigoriu were exceptionally tense. Only weeks after his wedding,
the groom, who had probably agreed to marriage only because it could facilitate succeeding
Grigoriu,[15] signed a complaint addressed to Metropolitan Sofronie Miclescu, denouncing his father in
law as "a killer", claiming to have been mistreated by him and cheated out of his wife's dowry, and
demanding to be allowed a divorce.[8] The response to this request was contrary to his wishes: he
was ordered into isolation by the Dicasterie, the supreme ecclesiastical court, being allowed to go
free only on promise to reconcile with Grigoriu. [8]
Beginnings as schoolteacher and clash with the Orthodox Church[edit]

Ion Creangă as a deacon

In 1860, Creangă enlisted at the Faculty of Theology, part of the newly founded University of Iași,[8]
[15]
 and, in December 1860, fathered a son, Constantin. [8] His life still lacked in stability, and he
decided to move out of Grigoriu's supervision and into Bărboi Church, before his position as deacon
was cut out of the budget and his belongings were evicted out of his temporary lodging in 1864. [8] He
contemplated leaving the city, and even officially requested a new assignment in the more
remote Bolgrad.[8] Since January 1864, when the Faculty of Theology had been closed down, [15] he
had been attending Iași's Trei Ierarhi Monastery normal school (Trisfetite or Trei Sfetite), where he
first met the young cultural figure Titu Maiorescu, who served as his teacher and supervisor, and
whence he graduated as the first in his class (June 1865). [15][16] Embittered by his own experience with
the education system, Creangă became an enthusiastic promoter of Maiorescu's ideas on education
reform and modernization, and in particular of the new methods of teaching reading and writing.
[17]
 During and after completing normal school, he was assigned to teaching positions at Trisfetite.
[18]
 While there, he earned the reputation of a demanding teacher (notably by accompanying his
reports on individual students with characterizations such as "idiot", "impertinent" or "envious").
[19]
 Accounts from the period state that he made use of corporal punishment in disciplining his pupils,
and even surpassed the standards of violence accepted at the time. [10]
In parallel, he was beginning his activities in support of education reform. By 1864, he and several
others, among them schoolteacher V. Răceanu, [20] were working on a new primer, which saw print in
1868 under the title Metodă nouă de scriere și cetire pentru uzul clasei I primară ("A New Method of
Writing and Reading for the Use of 1st Grade Primary Course Students"). It mainly addressed the
issues posed by the new Romanian alphabetical standard, a Romanization replacing Cyrillic
spelling (which had been officially discarded in 1862).[21] Largely based on Maiorescu's
principles, Metodă nouă ... became one the period's most circulated textbooks.[21][22] In addition
to didactic texts, it also featured Creangă's isolated debut in lyric poetry, with a naïve piece
titled Păsărica în timpul iernii ("The Little Bird in Wintertime").[21] The book was followed in 1871 by
another such work, published as Învățătoriul copiilor ("The Children's Teacher") and co-authored by
V. Răceanu.[23] It included several prose fables and a sketch story, "Human Stupidity",[20] to which later
editions added Poveste ("A Story") and Pâcală (a borrowing of the fictional folk character better
known as Păcală).[24]
In February 1866, having briefly served at Iași's Pantelimon Church, he was welcomed
by hegumen Isaia Vicol Dioclias into the service of Golia Monastery.[8] Around 1867, his wife Ileana
left him. After that moment, Creangă began losing interest in performing his duties in the clergy, and,
while doing his best to hide that he was no longer living with his wife, took a mistress. [15] The
marriage's breakup was later attributed by Creangă himself to Ileana's adulterous affair with a Golia
monk,[25][26] and rumors spread that Ileana's lover was a high-ranking official, the protopope of Iași.
[21]
 Creangă's accusations, Călinescu contends, are nevertheless dubious, because the deacon
persisted in working for the same monastery after the alleged incident. [25]

Ion Creangă's home (present-day Creangă Museum) in Golia Monastery

By the second half of the 1860s, the future writer was also pursuing an interest in politics, which
eventually led him to rally with the more nationalist group within the Romanian liberal current, known
as Free and Independent Faction.[27][28] An agitator for his party, Creangă became commonly known
under the nickname Popa Smântână ("Priest Sour Cream").[21][29] In April 1866, shortly
after Domnitor Cuza was toppled by a coup, and just before Carol I was selected to replace him,
the Romanian Army intervened to quell a separatist riot in Iași, instigated by Moldavian
Metropolitan Calinic Miclescu. It is likely that Creangă shared the outlook of other Factionalists,
according to which secession was preferable to Carol's rule, and was probably among the rioters.
[30]
 At around the same time, he began circulating antisemitic tracts, and is said to have demanded
that Christians boycott Jewish business.[10][31] He is thought to have coined the expression Nici un ac
de la jidani ("Not even a needle from the kikes").[10] He was eventually selected as one of the
Factionalist candidates for an Iași seat in the Romanian Deputies' Chamber, as documented by the
memoirs of his conservative rival, Iacob Negruzzi.[32] The episode is supposed to have taken place at
the earliest during the 1871 suffrage.[32]
By 1868, Creangă's rebellious stance was irritating his hierarchical superiors, and, according to
Călinescu, his consecutive actions show that he was "going out of his way for scandal". [19] He was
initially punished for attending a Iași Theater performance, as well as for defiantly claiming that there
was "nothing scandalous or demoralizing" in what he had seen, [15][19] and reportedly further
antagonized the monks by firing a gun to scare off the rooks nesting on his church. [15][21][26][33] The latter
incident, which some commentators believe fabricated by Creangă's detractors, [26] was judged
absurd by the ecclesiastical authorities, who had been further alarmed by negative reporting in the
press.[15][19][21] When told that no clergyman other than him had been seen using a gun, Creangă
issued a reply deemed "Nasreddinesque" by George Călinescu, maintaining that, unlike others, he
was not afraid of doing so.[19] Confronted by Metropolitan Calinic himself, Creangă allegedly argued
that he could think of no other way to eliminate rooks, being eventually pardoned by the prelate
when it was ruled that he had not infringed on canon law.[15]
Defrocking and the Bojdeuca years[edit]

Creangă's Bojdeuca in Iași

Creangă eventually moved out of the monastery, but refused to relinquish his key to the church
basement,[19] and, in what was probably a modernizing intent, chopped off his long hair, one of the
traditional marks of an Orthodox priest.[15][26][34] The latter gesture scandalized his superiors,
particularly since Creangă explained himself using an ancient provision of canon law, which
stipulated that priests were not supposed to grow their hair long. [15][19] After some assessment, his
superiors agreed not to regard this action as more than a minor disobedience. [15][19] He was
temporarily suspended in practice but, citing an ambiguity in the decision (which could be read as a
banishment in perpetuity), Creangă considered himself defrocked.[35] He relinquished his clerical
clothing altogether and began wearing lay clothes everywhere, a matter which caused public
outrage.[15]
By then a teacher at the 1st School for Boys, on Română Street, Creangă was ordered out of his
secular assignment in July 1872, when news of his status and attitude reached Education
Minister Christian Tell.[15][26][34] Upset by the circumstances, and objecting in writing on grounds that it
did not refer to his teaching abilities,[15][26] he fell back on income produced by a tobacconist's shop he
had established shortly before being dismissed.[26][34] This stage marked a final development in
Creangă's conflict with the church hierarchy. Summoned to explain why he was living the life of a
shopkeeper, he responded in writing by showing his unwillingness to apologize, and indicated that
he would only agree to face secular courts.[36] The virulent text notably accused the church officials of
being his enemies on account of his "independence, sincerity, honesty" in supporting the cause of
"human dignity".[37] After the gesture of defiance, the court recommended his defrocking, its decision
being soon after confirmed by the synod.[26][36]
In the meantime, Creangă moved into what he called Bojdeuca (or Bujdeuca, both being Moldavian
regional speech for "tiny hut"), a small house located on the outskirts of Iași. Officially divorced in
1873,[15][38] he was living there with his lover Ecaterina "Tinca" Vartic.[21][38][39] A former laundress who
had earlier leased one of the Bojdeuca rooms,[21] she shared Creangă's peasant-like existence. This
lifestyle implied a number of eccentricities, such as the former deacon's practice of wearing loose
shirts throughout summer and bathing in a natural pond. [40][41] His voracious appetite, called
"proverbial gluttony" by George Călinescu,[19] was attested by contemporary accounts. These depict
him consuming uninterrupted successions of whole meals on a daily basis. [19][21][41][42]
In May 1874, soon after taking over Minister of Education in the Conservative Party cabinet
of Lascăr Catargiu, his friend Maiorescu granted Creangă the position of schoolteacher in the Iași
area of Păcurari.[15][43] During the same period, Ion Creangă met and became best friends with Mihai
Eminescu, posthumously celebrated as Romania's national poet.[44] This is said to have taken place
in summer 1875, when Eminescu was working as an inspector for Maiorescu's Education Ministry,
overseeing schools in Iași County: reportedly, Eminescu was fascinated with Creangă's talents as a
raconteur, while the latter admired Eminescu for his erudition. [45]
Junimea reception[edit]

Page from a Romanian Cyrillic book in Creangă's collection. Creangă's 1878 marginalia identify it as a gift

from Mihai Eminescu, referred to as "the eminent writer and the greatest poet among Romanians"

At around the same time, Creangă also began attending Junimea, an upper class literary club
presided upon by Maiorescu, whose cultural and political prestige was increasing. This event, literary
historian Z. Ornea argued, followed a time of indecision: as a former Factionalist, Creangă was a
natural adversary of the mainstream Junimist "cosmopolitan orientation", represented by both
Maiorescu and Negruzzi, but was still fundamentally committed to Maiorescu's agenda in the field of
education.[46] Literary historians Carmen-Maria Mecu and Nicolae Mecu also argue that, after
attending Junimea, the author was able to assimilate some of its innovative teachings into his own
style of pedagogy, and thus helped diffuse its message outside the purely academic environment. [47]
The exact date of his reception is a mystery. According to Maiorescu's own recollections, written
some decades after the event, Creangă was in attendance at a Junimea meeting of 1871, during
which Gheorghe Costaforu proposed to transform the club into a political party. [48] The information
was considered dubious by Z. Ornea, who argued that the episode may have been entirely invented
by the Junimist leader, and noted that it contradicted both Negruzzi's accounts and minutes kept
by A. D. Xenopol.[49] According to Ornea's assessment, with the exception of literary critic Vladimir
Streinu, all of Creangă's biographers have come to dismiss Maiorescu's statement. [32] Several
sources mention that the future writer was introduced to the society by Eminescu, who was an active
member around 1875.[50] This and other details lead Ornea to conclude that membership was granted
to Creangă only after the summer break of 1875.[51]
Gradually[19] or instantly,[52] Creangă made a positive impression by confirming with the Junimist ideal
of authenticity. He also became treasured for his talkative and jocular nature, self-effacing
references to himself as a "peasant", and eventually his debut works, which became subjects of his
own public readings.[53] His storytelling soon earned him dedicated spectators, who deemed
Creangă's fictional universe a "sack of wonders"[19] at a time when the author himself had started
casually using the pseudonym Ioan Vântură-Țară ("Ioan Gadabout").[54] Although still in his forties,
the newcomer was also becoming colloquially known to his colleagues as Moș Creangă ("Old Man
Creangă" or "Father Creangă"), which was a sign of respect and sympathy. [55] Among Ion Creangă's
most dedicated promoters were Eminescu, his former political rival Iacob Negruzzi, Alexandru
Lambrior and Vasile Pogor,[56] as well as the so-called caracudă (roughly, "small game") section,
which comprised Junimists who rarely took the floor during public debates, and who were avid
listeners of his literary productions[52] (it was to this latter gathering that Creangă later dedicated
his erotic texts).[54] In parallel to his diversified literary contribution, the former priest himself became a
noted voice in Junimist politics, and, like his new friend Eminescu, voiced support for the group's
nationalist faction, in disagreement with the more cosmopolitan and aristocratic segment led by
Maiorescu and Petre P. Carp.[57] By that the late 1870s, he was secretly redirecting political support
from the former Factionalists to his new colleagues, as confirmed by an encrypted letter he
addressed to Negruzzi in March 1877.[28]

Literary consecration[edit]
Autumn 1875 is also often described as his actual debut in fiction prose, with "The Mother with Three
Daughters-in-Law", a short story first publish in October by the club's magazine Convorbiri Literare.[21]
[58]
 In all, Convorbiri Literare would publish 15 works of fiction and the four existing parts of
his Childhood Memories before Creangă's death.[59] Reportedly, the decision to begin writing down
his stories had been the direct result of Eminescu's persuasion. [21][60] His talent for storytelling and its
transformation into writing fascinated his new colleagues. Several among them, including
poet Grigore Alexandrescu, tasked experimental psychologist Eduard Gruber with closely studying
Creangă's methods, investigations which produced a report evidencing Creangă's laborious and
physical approach to the creative process.[13] The latter also involved his frequent exchanges of ideas
with Vartic, in whom he found his primary audience. [61] In addition to his fiction writing, the emerging
author followed Maiorescu's suggestion and, in 1876, published a work of
educational methodology and the phonemic orthography favored by Junimea: Povățuitoriu la cetire
prin scriere după sistema fonetică ("Guide to Reading by Writing in the Phonetic System"). [23] It was
supposed to become a standard textbook for the training of teachers, but was withdrawn from
circulation soon afterward, when the Catargiu cabinet fell. [62]
After losing his job as school inspector following the decisions of a hostile National Liberal executive,
[63]
 Mihai Eminescu spent much of his time in Bojdeuca, where he was looked after by the couple. For
five months after quarreling with Samson Bodnărescu, his fellow poet and previous landlord,
Eminescu even moved inside the house, where he reputedly pursued his discreet love affair with
woman writer Veronica Micle, and completed as many as 22 of his poems.[21] Creangă introduced his
younger friend to a circle of companions which included Zahei Creangă, who was by then a cantor,
as well as Răceanu, priest Gheorghe Ienăchescu, and clerk Nicșoi (all of whom, Călinescu notes,
had come to share the raconteur's lifestyle choices and his nationalist opinions). [64] Eminescu was
especially attracted by their variant of simple life, the rudimentary setting of Creangă's house and the
group's bohemian escapades.[21][65] Circumstances drew the two friends apart: by 1877, Eminescu had
relocated in Bucharest, the capital city, regularly receiving letters in which Creangă was asking him
to return.[21] He was however against Eminescu's plan to marry Veronica Micle, and made his
objection known to the poet.[66] In 1879, as a sign that he was formalizing his own affair with Tinca
Vartic, Creangă purchased the Bojdeuca in her name, paying his former landlord 40 Austrian
gulden in exchange.[21] That same year, he, Răceanu and Ienăchescu published the
textbook Geografia județului Iași ("The Geography of Iași County"), followed soon after by a map of
the same region, researched by Creangă and Răceanu. [20] A final work in the area of education
followed in 1880, as a schoolteacher's version of Maiorescu's study of Romanian grammar, Regulile
limbei române ("Rules of the Romanian Language").[20]
Illness and death[edit]

Creangă (top) with A. C. Cuza and N. A. Bogdan, during balneotherapy in Slănic-Moldova, 1885

Creangă's grave in Eternitatea Cemetery, Iași

By the 1880s, Creangă had become afflicted with epilepsy, suffering accelerated and debilitating
episodes.[67] He was also severely overweight, weighing some 120 kilograms (over 250 pounds), with
a height of 1.85 meters (6 feet),[21] and being teasingly nicknamed Burduhănosul ("Tubby") by his
friends[21][54] (although, according to testimonies by his son and daughter-in-law, he did not actually
look his size).[10]
Despite his activity being much reduced, he still kept himself informed about the polemics agitating
Romania's cultural and political scene. He was also occasionally hosting Eminescu, witnessing his
friend's struggle with mental disorder. The two failed to reconnect, and their relationship ended.
[68]
 After one of the meetings, he recorded that the delusional poet was carrying around a revolver
with which to fend off unknown attackers—among the first in a series of episodes which ended with
Eminescu's psychiatric confinement and death during June 1889. [69] Around that time, Creangă, like
other Junimists, was involved in a clash of ideas with the emerging
Romanian socialist and atheistic group, rallied around Contemporanul magazine. This occurred
after Contemporanul founder Ioan Nădejde publicly ridiculed Învățătoriul copiilor over its take
on creationism, quoting its claim that "the invisible hand of God" was what made seeds grow into
plants.[70] Creangă replied with a measure of irony, stating that "had God not pierced the skin over our
eyes, we would be unable to see each other's mistakes". [70] Nevertheless, Călinescu argued,
Nădejde's comments had shaken his adversary's religious sentiment, leading Creangă to question
the immortality of the soul in a letter he addressed to one of his relatives in the clergy. [71] According to
other assessments, he was himself an atheist, albeit intimately so. [10]
In 1887, the National Liberal Ministry of Dimitrie Sturdza removed Creangă from his schoolteacher's
post, and he subsequently left for Bucharest in order to petition for his pension rights.[72] Having
hoped to be granted assistance by Maiorescu, he was disappointed when the Junimea leader would
not respond to his request, and, during his final years, switched allegiance to the literary circle
founded by Nicolae Beldiceanu (where he was introduced by Gruber).[72] Among Creangă's last
works was a fourth and final part of his Memories, most likely written during 1888.[73] The book
remained unfinished, as did the story Făt-frumos, fiul iepei ("Făt-Frumos, Son of the Mare").[59] He
died after an epileptic crisis, on the last day of 1889, [74] his body being buried in Iași's Eternitatea
Cemetery.[75] His funeral ceremony was attended by several of Iași's intellectuals (Vasile Burlă, A. C.
Cuza, Dumitru Evolceanu, Nicolae Iorga and Artur Stavri among them).[76]

Work[edit]
Cultural context[edit]
The impact of Ion Creangă's work within its cultural context was originally secured by Junimea.
Seeking to revitalize Romanian literature by recovering authenticity, and reacting against those
cultural imports it deemed excessive, the group notably encouraged individual creativity among
peasants.[77] Reflecting back on Maiorescu's role in the process, George Călinescu wrote: "A literary
salon where the personal merit would take the forefront did not exist [before Junimea] and, had
Creangă been born two decades earlier, he would not have been able to present 'his peasant
material' to anyone. Summoning the creativity of the peasant class and placing it in direct contact
with the aristocrats is the work of Junimea."[77] His cogenerationist and fellow literary historian Tudor
Vianu issued a similar verdict, commenting: "Junimea is itself ... an aristocratic society.
Nevertheless, it is through Junimea that surfaced the first gesture of transmitting a literary direction
to some writers of rural extraction: a phenomenon of great importance, the neglect of which would
render unexplainable the entire subsequent development of our literature." [78] Also referring to cultural
positioning within and outside the group, Carmen-Maria Mecu and Nicolae Mecu took the
acceptance of "literate peasants" such as Creangă as exemplary proof of Junimist "diversity" and
"tolerance".[79]
Maiorescu is known to have had much appreciation for Creangă and other writers of peasant origin,
such as Ion Popovici-Bănățeanu and Ioan Slavici.[80] Late in life, he used this connection to challenge
accusations of Junimist elitism in the face of criticism from more populist traditionalists.
[81]
 Nonetheless, Junimea members in general found Creangă more of an entertainer rather than a
serious writer, and treasured him only to the measure where he illustrated their theories about the
validity of rural literature as a source of inspiration for cultured authors. [41][82] Therefore, Iacob
Negruzzi sympathetically but controversially referred to his friend as "a primitive and uncouth talent".
[83]
 Maiorescu's critical texts also provide little individual coverage of Creangă's contributions,
probably because these failed to comply exactly with his stratification of literary works
into poporane ("popular", that is anonymous or collective) and otherwise. [84] Tudor Vianu's theory
defines Creangă as a prime representative of the "popular realism" guidelines (as sporadically
recommended by the Junimist doyen himself), cautioning however that Creangă's example was
never mentioned in such a context by Maiorescu personally. [85]
Although he occasionally downplayed his own contribution to literature, [21][41] Creangă himself was
aware that his texts went beyond records of popular tradition, and made significant efforts to be
recognized as an original author (by corresponding with fellow writers and willingly submitting his
books to critical scrutiny).[41] Vianu commented at length on the exact relationship between the
narrative borrowed from oral tradition and Creangă's "somewhat surreptitious" method of blending
his own style into the folkloric standard, likening it to the historical process whereby local painters
improvised over the strict canons of Byzantine art.[86] Creangă's complex take on individuality and the
art of writing was attested by his own foreword to an edition of his collected stories, in which he
addressed the reader directly: "You may have read many stupid things since you were put on this
Earth. Please read these as well, and where it should be that they don't agree with you, take hold of
a pen and come up with something better, for this is all I could see myself doing and did." [41]
An exception among Junimea promoters was Eminescu, himself noted for expressing a dissenting
social perspective which only partly mirrored Maiorescu's take on conservatism. According to
historian Lucian Boia, the "authentic Moldavian peasant" that was Creangă also complemented
Eminescu's own "more metaphysical" peasanthood.[87] Similarly, Z. Ornea notes that the poet used
Creangă's positions to illustrate his own ethnonationalist take on Romanian culture, and in particular
his claim that rural authenticity lay hidden by a "superimposed stratum" of urbanized ethnic
minorities.[88] 20th century critics have described Creangă as one of his generation's most
accomplished figures, and a leading exponent of Junimist literature. This verdict is found in several
of Vianu's texts, which uphold Creangă as a great exponent of his generation's literature,
comparable to fellow Junimea members Eminescu, Slavici and Ion Luca Caragiale.[89] This view
complements George Călinescu's definition, placing the Moldavian author in the company of Slavici
and Caragiale as one of the "great prose writers" of the 1880s. [90] Lucian Boia, who noted that "the
triad of Romanian classics" includes Creangă alongside Eminescu and Caragiale, also cautioned
that, compared to the other two (with whom "the Romanians have said almost all there is to say
about themselves"), Creangă has "a rather more limited register". [87]
The frequent comparison between Creangă and Caragiale in particular is seen by Vianu as
stemming from both their common "wide-ranging stylistic means" and their complementary positions
in relations to two superimposed phenomenons, with Caragiale's depiction of the petite
bourgeoisie as the rough equivalent of Creangă's interest in the peasantry. [91] The same parallelism is
explained by Ornea as a consequence of the two authors' social outlook: "[Their works] have
cemented aesthetically the portrayal of two worlds. Creangă's is the peasant world, Caragiale's the
suburban and urban one. Two worlds which represent, in fact, two characteristic steps and two
sociopolitical models in the evolution of Romanian structures which ... were confronting themselves
in a process that would later prove decisive."[92] According to the same commentator, the two plus
Eminescu are their generation's great writers, with Slavici as one "in their immediate
succession."[93] While listing what he believes are elements bridging the works of Creangă and
Caragiale, other critics have described as strange the fact that the two never appear to have
mentioned each other, and stressed that, although not unlikely, a direct encounter between them
was never recorded in sources.[10]
Narrative style and language[edit]
Highlighting Ion Creangă's recourse to the particularities of Moldavian regionalisms and archaisms,
their accumulation making Creangă's work very difficult to translate, [94] George Călinescu reacted
against claims that the narratives reflected antiquating patterns. He concluded that, in effect,
Creangă's written language was the equivalent of a "glossological museum", and even contrasted by
the writer's more modern everyday parlance.[64] Also discussing the impression that Creangă's work
should be read with a Moldavian accent, noted for its "softness of sound" in relation to
standard Romanian phonology, Călinescu cautioned against interpretative exaggerations,
maintaining that the actual texts only offer faint suggestions of regional pronunciation. [95] Contrasting
Creangă with the traditions of literature produced by Wallachians in what became the
standard literary language, Călinescu also argued in favor of a difference in mentality: the "balance"
evidenced by Moldavian speech and illustrated in Ion Creangă's writings is contrasted by the
"discoloration and roughness" of "Wallachianism".[96] He also criticized those views according to
which Creangă's variant of the literary language was "beautiful", since it failed to "please everyone
on account of some acoustical beauty", and since readers from outside the writer's native area could
confront it "with some irritation." [97] For Călinescu, the result nevertheless displays "an enormous
capacity of authentic speech", also found in the works of Caragiale and, in the 20th century, Mihail
Sadoveanu.[98] According to the same commentator, the dialectical interventions formed a
background to a lively vocabulary, a "hermetic" type of "argot", which contained "hilarious double
entendres and indecent onomatopoeia", passing from "erudite beauty" to "obscene laughter".
[99]
 Some of the expressions characteristic of Creangă's style are obscure in meaning, and some
other, such as "drought made the snake scream inside the frog's mouth", appear to be spontaneous
and nonsensical.[13] Another specific trait of this language, commented upon by Vianu's and
compared by him to the aesthetics of Classicism, sees much of Creangă's prose being set to a
discreet poetic meter.[100]
The recourse to oral literature schemes made it into his writings, where it became a defining trait. As
part of this process, Călinescu assessed, "Creangă acts as all his characters in turn, for his stories
are almost entirely spoken. ... When Creangă recounts, the composition is not extraordinary, but
once his heroes begin talking, their gesticulation and wording reach a height in typical
storytelling."[101] According to the critic, discovering this "fundamental" notion about Creangă's work
was the merit of literary historian and Viața Românească editor Garabet Ibrăileanu, who had
mentioned it as a main proof of affiliation to realism. [102] The distinctive manner of characterization
through "realistic dialogues" is seen by Vianu as a highly personal intervention and indicator of the
Moldavian writer's originality.[103] Both Vianu and Călinescu discussed this trait, together with the
technique of imparting subjective narration in-between characters' replies, as creating other meeting
points between Creangă and his counterpart Caragiale. [104] Partly replicating in paper the essence of
social gatherings, Ion Creangă often tried to transpose the particular effects of oral storytelling into
writing. Among these characteristic touches were interrogations addressed to the readers as
imaginary listeners, and pausing for effect with the visual aid of ellipsis.[105] He also often interrupted
his narratives with concise illustrations of his point, often in verse form, and usually introduced
by vorba ceea (an expression literally meaning "that word", but covering the sense of "as word goes
around").[106] One example of this connects the notions of abundance and personal satisfaction:

De plăcinte râde gura, The mouth will laugh for pie,

De vărzare și mai tare.[64] It will laugh even harder for cabbage pie.

In other cases, the short riddles relate to larger themes, such as divine justification for one's
apparent fortune:

Dă-mi, Doamne, ce n-am avut, Lord, give me that I did not own,
Să mă mir ce m-a găsit.[106] So that I may marvel at things having found me.
Creangă's specificity[edit]
Despite assuming the external form of traditional literature, Ion Creangă's interests and creative
interventions, Călinescu noted, separated him from his roots: "peasants do not have [his] entirely
cultured gifts. ... Too much 'atmosphere', too much dialogic 'humor', too much polychromy at the
expense of linear epic movements. The peasant wants the bare epic and desires the unreal." [107] The
commentator passed a similar judgment on the author's use of ancient sayings, concluding that,
instead of crystallizing and validating local folklore, the accounts appeal to cultured tastes, having as
the generation of comedy and volubility as their main purpose. [41][108] According to Vianu's assessment
Creangă was "a supreme artist"[109] whose use of "typical sayings" attests "a man of the people, but
not an anonymous and impersonal sample." [41] These verdicts, directly
contradicting Junimist theories, were mirrored by several other 20th century exegetes belonging to
distinct schools of thought: Pompiliu Constantinescu, Benjamin Fondane and Ion Negoițescu.
[41]
 Writing during the second half of the century, critic Nicolae Manolescu passed a similar judgment,
believing that Creangă was motivated by a "strictly intellectual sensuousness" and the notion that
"pleasure arises from gratuitousness",[13] while Manolescu's colleague Mircea Braga referred to "the
great secret of the man who has managed to transfer unaltered the code of popular creativity into
the immanence of the cultured one." [110] In Braga's assessment, this synthesis managed "the
impossible", but the difficulty of repeating it with each story also resulted in mediocre writings: "from
among his few texts, even fewer are located on the relatively highest level of the relative aesthetic
hierarchy".[111]
Călinescu viewed such intellectual traits as shared by Creangă with his Wallachian
counterpart Anton Pann, in turn linking both writers to the satirical component of Renaissance
literature, and specifically to François Rabelais.[112] Within local tradition, the literary historian saw a
symbolic connection between Creangă and the early 18th century figure, Ion Neculce, one of
Moldavia's leading chroniclers.[113] While he made his own comparison between Creangă and Pann,
Tudor Vianu concluded that the Moldavian writer was in fact superior, as well as being more relevant
to literature than Petre Ispirescu, the prime collector of tales in 19th-century Wallachia. [114] Also
making use of the Rabelais analogy, literary chronicler Gabriela Ursachi found another analogy in
local letters: Ion Budai-Deleanu, an early 19th-century representative of the Transylvanian School,
whose style mixes erudite playfulness with popular tastes.[13] These contextual traits, researchers
assess, did not prevent Creangă's overall work from acquiring a universal aspect, particularly since
various of his writings use narrative sequences common throughout world literature. [115]
George Călinescu also assessed that these literary connections served to highlight the elevated
nature of Creangă's style, his "erudite device", concluding: "Writers such as Creangă can only show
up in places where the word is ancient and equivocal, and where experience has been condensed
into unchanging formulas. It would have been more natural for such a prose writer to have emerged
a few centuries later, into an era of Romanian humanism. Born much earlier, Creangă showed up
where there exists an ancient tradition, and therefore a species of erudition, ... in a mountain
village ... where the people is unmixed and keeping [with tradition]." [99] Outlining his own theory about
the aspects of "national specificity" in Romanian letters, he expanded on these thoughts, listing
Creangă and Eminescu as "core Romanians" who illustrated a "primordial note", complemented by
the "southern" and "Balkan" group of Caragiale and others.[116] Claiming that the "core" presence had
"not primitive, but ancient" origins, perpetuated by "stereotyped wisdom" and "energetic fatalism", he
asserted: "Creangă shows our civilization's contemporaneity with the world's oldest civilizations,
our Asian age."[117] The alternating national and regional characteristics in Creangă's writings are
related by historian Neagu Djuvara with the writer's place of birth, an affluent village in an isolated
region, contrasting heavily with the 19th century Wallachian countryside: "if the mud hut villages of
the Danube flood plain are to be taken into account, one finds himself in a different
country."[118] Ornea, who noted that Eminescu effectively shared Creangă's worldview, believed the
latter to have been dominated by nostalgia for a world of independent landowning peasants, and
argued that Creangă's literary and political outlook were both essentially conservative. [119] Ornea
commented: "One could say that it was through [this form of nostalgia] that the writer debuted and
that, within the space of his work it became, in its own right, an expression of the world that was
about to vanish."[120] Commenting on Creangă's "robust realism" and lack of "sentimentality", Vianu
contrarily asserted: "Creangă's nostalgia ... has an individual, not social, sense."[121]
The witty and playful side of Creangă's personality, which became notorious during his time
at Junimea and constituted a significant part of his appeal, was reflected into a series of anecdotes.
These accounts detail his playing the ignorant in front of fellow Junimists in order not to antagonize
sides during literary debates (notably, by declaring himself "for against" during a two-option vote), his
irony in reference to his own admirers (such as when he asked two of them to treasure the
photograph of himself in the middle and the two of them on either side, while comparing it to
the crucifixion scene and implicitly assigning them the role of thieves), and his recourse to puns and
proverbs which he usually claimed to be citing from oral tradition and the roots of Romanian humor.
[53]
 The latter habit was notably illustrated by his answer to people who would ask him for money: "not
since I born was I as poor as I was poor yesterday and the day before yesterday and last week and
last week and throughout life". [64] His joyfulness complemented his overall Epicureanism and
his gourmand habits: his accounts are often marked by a special interest in describing acts related to
food and drink.[42][122] Overall, Eduard Gruber's report contended, Creangă's writing relied on him being
"a strong sensual and auditive type", and a "very emotional" person. [13]
Ion Creangă's sense of humor was instrumental in forging the unprecedented characteristics of his
work. American critic Ruth S. Lamb, the writer's style merges "the rich vocabulary of the Moldavian
peasant" with "an original gaiety and gusto comparable to that of Rabelais." [123] According to George
Călinescu: "[Creangă] got the idea that he was a clever man, like all men of the people, and
therefore used irony to make himself seem stupid." [19] In Călinescu's view, the author's antics had
earned him a status equivalent to that of his Wallachian Junimist counterpart Caragiale, with the
exception that the latter found his inspiration in urban settings, matching "Nasreddinisms" with
"Miticism".[124] Z. Ornea sees the main protagonists in Creangă's comedic narratives as, in effect,
"particularized incarnations of the same symbolic character", while the use of humor itself reflects
the traditional mindset, "a survival through intelligence, that of a people with an old history, whose
life experience has for centuries been concentrated into gestures and words." [125]

Most prominent tales[edit]

Part of Ion Creangă's contribution to the short story, fantasy and children's literature genres involved
collecting and transforming narratives circulating throughout his native region, which intertwine with
his characteristic storytelling to the point where they become original contributions. [126] According to
Călinescu, the traditional praise for Ion Creangă as a creator of literary types is erroneous, since his
characters primarily answered to ancient and linear narrative designs. [97] The conclusion is partly
shared by Braga, who links Creangă's tales to ethnological and anthropological takes on the themes
and purposes of fairy tales, postulating the prevalence of three ancient and related narrative pretexts
throughout his contributions: the preexistence of a "perturbing situation" (attributable to fatality), the
plunging of the hero into a rite of passage-type challenge, a happy ending which brings the triumph
of good over evil (often as a brutal and uncompromising act).[127] Like their sources and predecessors
in folklore, these accounts also carry transparent morals, ranging from the regulation of family life to
meditations about destiny and lessons about tolerating the marginals.
[97]
 However, Swedish researcher Tom Sandqvist argues, they also illustrate the absurdist vein of
some traditional narratives, by featuring "grotesqueries" and "illogical surprises". [128]
With "The Goat and Her Three Kids", written mainly as a picturesque illustration of motherly love,
[97]
 Creangă produced a fable in prose, opposing the eponymous characters, caricatures of a
garrulous but hard-working woman and her restless sons, to the sharp-toothed Big Bad Wolf,
a satirical depiction of the cunning and immoral stranger. [42][101] The plot shows the wolf making his
way into the goat's house, where he eats the two older and less obedient kids, while the youngest
one manages to escape by hiding up the chimney—the symbolism of which was psychoanalyzed by
Dan Grădinaru, who claims it constitutes an allusion to Creangă's own childhood.
[10]
 The dénouement sees an inversion of the natural roles, an episode which, ethnologist Șerban
Anghelescu notes, is dominated by "the culinary fire": the goat exercises her brutal revenge by
trapping and slowly cooking the predator.[42] This approach partly resonates with that of "The Mother
with Three Daughters-in-Law", in which Creangă makes ample use of a traditional theme in
Romanian humor, which portrays mothers-in-law as mean, stingy and oppressive characters. [129] The
embodiment of such offensive traits, she is also shown to be ingenious, pretending that she has a
hidden third eye which always keeps things under watch.[130] The narrator sides with the three young
women in depicting their violent retribution, showing them capturing their oppressor, torturing her
until she is left speech impaired, and leaving her on the brink of death. [42][131] The mother-in-law's end
turns into a farce: the eldest and most intelligent of the killers manipulates her victim's dying sounds
into a testament partitioning her wealth, and a thin decorum is maintained at the funeral ceremony
by the daughters' hypocritical sobbing. [132]
"The Story of the Pig" partly illustrates the notion that parental love subdues even physical repulsion,
showing an elderly peasant couple cherishing their adopted porcine son, who, unbeknown to them,
is enchanted.[133] The creature instantly offsets his parents' sadness and immobility by his witty
intelligence.[132] Having applied his perseverance and spells to erect a magical bridge, the piglet fulfills
the requirement for marrying the emperor's daughter, after which it is uncovered that he is a Făt-
Frumos or Prince Charming character who assumes his real identity only by night. [134] Although the
plot is supposed to deal with imperial magnificence in fairy tale fashion, the setting is still primarily
rural, and the court itself is made to look like an elevated peasant community. [134] According to
researcher Marcu Beza, the text is, outside of its humorous context, a distant reworking of ancient
legends such as Cupid and Psyche.[135] The story introduces three additional characters, old women
who assess and reward the efforts of the virtuous: Holy Wednesday, Holy Friday and Holy Sunday.
[136]
 They represent a mix of Christian and pagan traditions, by being both personifications of
the liturgical calendar and fairy-like patrons of the wilderness (zâne).[137]
A similar perspective was favored by "The Old Man's Daughter and the Old Woman's Daughter".
Here, the theme echoes Cinderella, but, according to Călinescu, the rural setting provides a sharp
contrast to the classical motif.[138] Persecuted by her stepmother and stepsister, the kind and loving
daughter of the old man is forced into a position of servitude reflecting the plight of many peasant
women in Creangă's lifetime.[138] In this case, the old man is negatively depicted as cowardly and
entirely dominated by his mean wife.[139] The focal point of the narrative is the meeting between the
good daughter and Holy Sunday. The latter notices and generously rewards the girl's helpful nature
and mastery of cooking; in contrast, when her envious sister attempts the same and fails, she ends
up being eaten by serpent-like creatures (balauri).[42][140] The happy ending sees the good girl marrying
not Prince Charming, but a simple man described as "kind and industrious"—this outcome,
Călinescu assessed, did not in effect spare the old man's daughter from a life of intense labor. [138] A
story very similar to "The Old Man's Daughter ..." is "The Purse a' Tuppence", which teaches that
greed can shatter families,[132] while offering symbolic retribution to men who are unhappy in
marriage.[97] The old man's rooster, chased away by the old woman for being unproductive, ends up
amassing a huge fortune, which he keeps inside his belly and regurgitates back into the courtyard;
the jealous old woman ends up killing her favorite hen, who has failed in replicating the rooster's
feat.[42][141]
Devil-themed stories and "Harap Alb"[edit]

Depiction of Hell in an 18th-century Romanian Orthodox mural (Sfântul Elefterie Vechi, Bucharest)

Several of Creangă's characteristic novellas are infused with themes from Christian mythology,

fictionalizing God, Saint Peter and the army of devils, most often with the comedic intent of showing
such personages behaving like regular people.[87][142] A defining story in this series is "Dănilă
Prepeleac", whose eponymous peasant hero is characterized by what Șerban Anghelescu calls
"idiocy serving to initiate",[42] or, according to Gabriela Ursachi, "complete, and therefore sublime,
stupidity."[13] The first part of the story shows Dănilă exchanging his oxen for an empty bag—a set of
dialogues which, George Călinescu argued, is almost exactly like a comedy play. [143] In what was
described as a complete reversal in characterization, the hero uses intelligence and ruse to trick and
frighten several devils.[144] Contrarily, "Stan Pățitul" shows its hero fraternizing with a lesser demon.
Following the opening episode, in which the latter accidentally eats a bit of mămăligă dedicated by
Stan to those who honor God, Satan himself condemns his subordinate to service the peasant. [42]
[138]
 Călinescu highlights the naturalness of exchanges between the two protagonists, the latter of
whom assumes the endearing form of a frail boy, Chirică, who ends up moving in with Stan and
entering his service.[145] The writing was also noted for other realistic elements alluding to everyday
life, such as the overtly colloquial exchange between Chirică and Satan, or the episodes in which the
young devil helps Stan woo a peasant woman.[138] Although relatively young, Stan himself is referred
to as stătut ("frowzy" or "lacking in freshness"), and the wording reflects rural attitudes about men
who fail to marry during a certain age interval.[146] Toward the end, the story focuses on a corrupt old
woman who tries to trick Stan's new wife into committing adultery, but fails and is banished to the
remotest area of Hell.[146] Viewed by Călinescu as Creangă's "most original manner of dealing with
the fabulous", and paralleled by him with Caragiale's Kir Ianulea on account of its realist approach to
the supernatural,[134] "Stan Pățitul" is, according to Vianu, untraceable in its inspiration: "[its] folk origin
could not be identified, but it is not dismissible".[147]
Another account in this series is "Ivan Turbincă", whose protagonist, a Russian serviceman, is
shown rebelling against Heaven and Hell, and ultimately accomplishing the human ideal of cheating
Death.[148][149][150] The plot retells a theme present in both Romanian tradition and Ukrainian folklore,
[149]
 while, according to researcher of children's literature Muguraș Constantinescu, the main
character is similar to German tradition's Till Eulenspiegel.[151] In the beginning of the account, God
rewards the soldier's exemplary charity by granting him a pouch (turbincă), which can miraculously
trap anything in existence.[151] In order to circumvent the laws of nature, Ivan subsequently makes use
of both his magical item and his innate shrewdness. In one such episode, pretending not to
understand the proper position of bodies inside a coffin, he tricks impatient Death into taking his
place, and traps her inside.[149][151] Eventually, he is allowed to keep his life, but is promised an eternity
of old age, which he ingeniously counterbalances by attending an endless succession of wedding
parties, and therefore never having to feel sad.[148]
"Harap Alb", one of Ion Creangă's most complex narratives, carries a moral defined by Călinescu as
"the gifted man will earn a reputation under any guise." [97] The story opens with a coming of
age quest, handed down by a king to his three sons: the most fit among them is supposed to reach
the court of the Green Emperor, who is the king's brother, and succeed him to the throne. According
to Călinescu, the mission bases itself on travels undertaken by young men in Creangă's native
region, while the subsequent episodes in the narrative reinforce the impression of familiarity, from
the "peasant speech" adopted by the villain known as the Bald Man, to the "crass vulgarity"
evidenced by the antagonist Red Emperor.[152] Forced to pass himself off as a foreign servant (or
"Moor"), the prince is three times tested and aided by Holy Sunday, who doubles as the queen
of zâne creatures.[137] Călinescu described as "playful realism" the method through which Creangă
outlined the mannerisms of several other characters, in particular the allegorical creatures who
provide the youngest prince with additional and serendipitous assistance. [153] In one noted instance,
the characters Setilă ("Drink-All") and Flămânzilă ("Eat-All") help the hero overcome seemingly
impossible tasks set by the Red Emperor, by ingesting unnaturally huge amounts of food and drink.
[122]

The tale builds on intricate symbolism stemming from obscure sources. It features what Muguraș
Constantinescu calls "the most complex representation of Holy Sunday", with mention of her isolated
and heavenly abode on "flower island". [137] A background antithesis opposes the two fictional
monarchs, with the Red Emperor replicating an ancient tradition which attributes malignant
characteristics to the color.[146][154] By contrast, the Green Emperor probably illustrates the ideals of
vitality and healthy lifestyle, as hinted by his culinary preference for "lettuce from the garden of the
bear".[155] Historian Adrian Majuru, building on earlier observations made by linguist Lazăr Șăineanu,
also connects the servant-prince's antagonists with various reflections of ethnic strife in Romanian
folklore: the Red Emperor as standing for the medieval Khazars ("Red Jews"), the Bald Man as a
popular view of the Tatars.[154]

Childhood Memories[edit]
Main article: Childhood Memories (Creangă)

The second part of Childhood Memories in manuscript form, introductory paragraphs

Childhood Memories is, together with a short story about his teacher Isaia Teodorescu (titled "Popa
Duhu"),[156] one of Creangă's two memoirs. George Călinescu proposed that, like his fairy tales, the
book illustrates popular narrative conventions, a matter accounting for their special place in
literature: "The stories are true, but typical, without depth. Once retold with a different kind of
gesticulation, the subject would lose all of its lively atmosphere." [97] Also based on the techniques of
traditional oral accounts, it features the topical interventions of a first-person narrator in the form
of soliloquies, and reflects in part the literary canon set by frame stories.[97] The resulting effect,
Călinescu argued, was not that of "a confession or a diary", but that of a symbolic account depicting
"the childhood of the universal child."[97] According to Vianu, the text is especially illustrative of its
author's "spontaneous passage" between the levels of "popular" and "cultured" literature: "The idea
of fictionalizing oneself, of outlining one's formative steps, the steady accumulation of impressions
from life, and then the sentiment of time, of its irreversible flow, of regret for all things lost in its
consumption, of the charm relived through one's recollections are all thoughts, feelings and attitudes
defining a modern man of culture. No popular model could have ever stood before Creangă when he
was writing his Memories, but, surely, neither could the cultured prototypes of the genre, the first
autobiographies and memoirs of the Renaissance". [157] Grădinaru and essayist Mircea Moț analyzed
the volume as a fundamentally sad text, in stated contrast with its common perception as a
recollection of joyful moments: the former focused on moments which seem to depict Nică as a
loner,[10] the latter highlighted those sections which include Creangă's bitter musings about destiny
and the impregnability of changes.[41] A distinct interpretation was provided by critic Luminița Marcu,
who reacted against the tradition of viewing Creangă's actual childhood as inseparable from his own
subjective rendition.[10]
Several of the book's episodes have drawn attention for the insight they offer into the culture,
structure and conflicts of traditional society before 1900. Commenting on this characteristic, Djuvara
asserted: "even if we take into account that the grown-up will embellish, transfigure, 'enrich' the
memories of his childhood, how could we not recognize the sincerity in Creangă's heart-warming
evocation of his childhood's village?"[158] The book stays true to life in depicting ancient customs:
discussing the impact of paganism on traditional Romanian customs, Marcu Beza communicated a
detail of Creangă's account, which shows how January 1 celebrations of Saint Basil opposed the
loud buhai players reenacting a fertility rite to people preferring a quieter celebration.[159] The work
also offers details on the traditional roles of a rural society such as that of Humulești, in the context
of social change. Muguraș Constantinescu highlights the important roles of old men and women
within Nică's universe, and especially that of his grandfather and "clan leader" David Creangă.
[160]
 The latter, she notes, is an "enlightened man" displaying "the wisdom and balance of the ripe
age", a person able to insist on the importance of education, and a churchgoer who frowns on "his
wife's bigotry."[161] The seniors' regulatory role within the village is evidenced throughout the book,
notoriously so in the episode where the boy captures a hoopoe who bothers his morning sleep, only
to be tricked into releasing it by old man, who understands the bird's vital role as village alarm clock.
[161]

Another significant part of the account, detailing Creangă's education, shows him frustrated by the
old methods of teaching, insisting on the absurd image of children learning by heart and chanting
elements of Romanian grammar and even whole texts.[162] The narrator refers to this method as "a
terrible way to stultify the mind".[163] The negative portrayal of teaching priests was commented by
writer and critic Horia Gârbea as proof of the author's anticlericalism, in line with various satirical
works targeting the Romanian clergy: "Creangă's Memories of the catechism school would
discourage any candidate."[164]

Didactic writings[edit]
Creangă's contribution to literature also covers a series of didactic fables written as lively dialogues,
among them "The Needle and the Sledge Hammer", in which the objects of
traditional metalworking scold the byproducts of their work for having forgotten their lowly origin.
[165]
 The inspiration behind this theme was identified by Călinescu as "The Story of a Gold Coin",
written earlier by Creangă's Junimist colleague Vasile Alecsandri.[166] A similar piece, "The Flax and
the Shirt", reveals the circuit of fibers from weed-like plants into recycled cloth, leading to the
conclusion that "all things are not what they seem; they were something else once, they are
something else now;—and shall become something else."[153] The technique employed by Creangă
has the flax plant teaching the less knowledgeable textile, a dialogue which Călinescu likened to that
between old women in a traditional society.[153] Included alongside the two stories were: Pâcală, a
writing which, Mircea Braga argued, is not as much didactic as it is a study in dialogue; "The Bear
Tricked by the Fox", which uses legendary and humorous elements in an attempt to explain why
bears are the tail-less species among mammals; and Cinci pâini ("Five Loafs of Bread"), which
serves as a condemnation of greed.[167]
With "Human Stupidity", Creangă builds a fable about incompetence in its absolute forms. The story
centers on a peasant's quest to find people who are less rational than his wife, having been
infuriated by her panic at the remote possibility that a ball of salt could fall from its place of storage
and kill their baby. This, essayist and chronicler Simona Vasilache argues, highlights "a family-based
division" of illogical behavior, in which women are depicted as the main propagators of both
"astonishing nonsense" and "prudent stupidity". [168] Instead, literary critic Ion Pecie identified inside
the narrative a meditation on "the link between spirit and nature", with the unpredictable ball of salt
representing the equivalent of a "sphinx".[169] His colleague Gheorghe Grigurcu argued that such
conclusions "may seem excessive", but that they were ultimately validated by the literary work being
"a plurality of levels".[169] A similar piece is the prose fable "The Story of a Lazy Man": fed up with the
protagonist's proverbial indolence, which has led him as far as to view chewing food as an effort, his
fellow villagers organize a lynching.[42][169][170] This upsets the sensibility of a noblewoman who happens
to witness the incident. When she offers to take the lazy man into her care and feed him bread
crumbs, he seals his own fate by asking: "But are your bread crumbs soft?" [42] The peculiar effect of
this moral is underlined by Anghelescu: "The lazy man dies as a martyr of his own
immobility."[42] Braga interpreted the story as evidence of "the primacy of ethics" over social aspects
in the local tradition.[170] Ion Pecie saw in the story proof of Creangă's own support for capital
punishment with a preventive or didactic purpose, even in cases were the fault was trivial or
imagined, concluding: "Here, ... Creangă loses much of his depth." [169] Pecie's conclusion was treated
with reserve by Grigurcu, who believed that, instead, the narrator refrains from passing any
judgment on "the community's instinctual eugenic reaction".[169]
Partly didactic in scope, several of Creangă's anecdotes involve Ion Roată, a representative to
the ad hoc Divan which voted in favor of Moldo-Wallachian union, and the newly
elected Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza. The texts convey a sense of tension between the
traditional boyar aristocracy and the peasant category, closely reflecting, according to historian Philip
Longworth, a conflict mounting during the second half of the 19th century. [171] The same is argued by
Ornea, who also proposes that the protagonist offers insight into Creangă's own conservative
reflexes and his complex views on the union, while outlining several connections which the brand
of social criticism professed by Junimea.[172] Although Roată, a real-life person, was a representative
of the pro-union National Party, his main interest, according to the stories themselves, was in
curbing the boyars' infringement of peasant rights. [173] The stories' narrator directs his hostility not at
boyars in general, but at the younger Romantic nationalist ones, whom he portrays as gambling on
Moldavia's future: "[There was] a clash of ideas opposing old boyars to the youth of Moldavia's ad
hoc Divan, even though both were in favor of 'Union'. It's only that the old ones wanted a negotiated
'Union', and the young ones a 'Union' done without proper thinking, as it came to pass." [174] According
to Muguraș Constantinescu: "[Roată] opposes the intelligence of common folk, their common sense,
their humor and the pleasure of allegorical discourse to the pompous and hollow speeches of some
politicians".[55] In this context, Cuza's presence is depicted as both legitimate and serendipitous, as
he takes a personal interest in curbing boyar abuse. [175]

Moș Nichifor Coțcariul and "corrosives"[edit]

Seen by Romanian critic Radu Voinescu as an extended anecdote, [176] the novella Moș Nichifor
Coțcariul ("Old Man Nichifor Slyboots") establishes a connection with the language of fairy tales,
being located in a legendary and non-historical age. [177] It details the elaborate seduction of a
young Jewish bride by a worldly Moldavian wagoner, on the route between Târgu Neamț and Piatra.
The episode, which the text itself indicates is just one in a series of Nichifor's conquests among his
female clients, highlights the seducer's verbose monologue, which covers accounts of his unhappy
marriage, allusions about the naturalness of physical love, and intimidating suggestions that wolves
may be tempted to attack the wagon (prompting the young woman to seek refuge in his arms).
[178]
 The seducer's behavior, Constantinescu notes, presents an alternative to the theme of old age as
a time of immobility: "the still-green old man, the rake, the joker who enjoys his amorous escapades,
while justifying them by the natural course of life". [161] Nichifor mostly expresses himself with the help
of folk sayings, which he casually mixes in with personal observations about the situation. [179] The
background to the plot is a record of various superstitions, some anticlerical or antisemitic: Nichifor
voices the belief that priests crossing one's path will produce bad luck, as well as the claim that
Jewish apothecaries sold "poisons".[180]
The reception of Moș Nichifor Coțcariul by Junimea illustrated its ambivalence toward Creangă.
Maiorescu found the text "interesting in its way and decisively Romanian", but asked Convorbiri
Literare journal to either modify it or refrain from publishing it altogether. [181] This was complemented
by its author's own self-effacing assessment: calling the text "a childish thing", he suggested to
Maiorescu that revisions were needed, stating "I have written it long, because there was no time for
me to write it short."[21] Contrarily, the writer's posterity referred to it as one of the greatest Romanian
contributions to the genre: according to George Călinescu, the insight into Nichifor's musings
resulted in transforming the writing as a whole into "the first great Romanian novella with a
stereotypical hero",[13][107] while Voinescu described the entire story as "a true masterpiece." [176]
The narrative approaches of Moș Nichifor Coțcariul bordered on Creangă's contributions to erotic
literature, pieces collectively known as "corrosives"[13][21][182] and which have for long treated with
discretion by literary historians. In Călinescu's view, this chapter in Creangă's literature created
another link between the Moldavian writer and the Renaissance tradition of Rabelais: "All
Rabelaisians have penetrated deeply into the realm of vulgarity." [99] The taste for titillating accounts
was also cultivated by Junimea members, who discreetly signaled their wish to hear more explicit
content by asking Creangă to recount stories from "the wide street". [13][21][183] A product of this
context, Moș Nichifor Coțcariul itself is said to have had at least one sexually explicit variant,
circulated orally.[176][183]
Two stories with explicit pornographic content survive as samples of Creangă's erotic authorship:
"The Tale of Ionică the Fool" and "The Tale of All Tales" (also known as Povestea pulei, "Tale of the
Dick" or "Tale of the Cock"). The former shows its cunning hero having intercourse with a priest's
daughter, moving between prose and verse to describe the act.[54] "The Tale of All Tales", which
makes ample use of vulgar speech, recounts how a peasant disrespectful of divinity has his entire
maize harvest transformed into male genitalia, but is able to turn out a profit by catering to the sexual
appetites of women.[184] The final section, seen by Gârbea as a sample of anticlerical jeers recorded
by "the defrocked Creangă", depicts the rape of a priest by one such sexual object. [185] Although
explicit, literary historian Alex. Ștefănescu argued, the text "is refined and full of charm".[186] While
acknowledging both "corrosives" for their "popular charm" in the line of Rabelais and Geoffrey
Chaucer, and noting that they still display the author's place as a "great stylist", Voinescu also
signaled the texts' "very obvious" debt to folkloric sources. [187] In his definition, Ion Creangă is
"possibly the only writer" to draw on the legacy of "luscious popular jests" found in local "erotic
folklore".[176] Nevertheless, according to literary critic Mircea Iorgulescu, "The Tale of All Tales" may in
fact be based on Parapilla, a pornographic leaflet circulating in Italian and French.[184]

Legacy[edit]
Estate, family and early cultural impact[edit]
Soon after the Creangă's death, efforts began to collect his manuscript writings and the updated
versions of his printed works. This project involved his son Constantin, alongside A. D.
Xenopol, Grigore Alexandrescu and Eduard Gruber, the latter of whom obtained the works from
Tinca Vartic.[72] The first edition was published as two volumes, in 1890–1892, but the project came
to an abrupt halt due to Gruber's insanity and death. [72] Creangă's final known work, the fragment
of Făt-frumos, fiul iepei, was published by Convorbiri Literare in 1898.[59] The Gruber copies were
sold to a Dr. Mendel, and only a part of them was recovered by exegetes, alongside various
fragments accidentally discovered at Iași market, where they were being used for wrapping paper.
  The collection, structured into a whole by folklorist Gheorghe T. Kirileanu, was published
[188]

by Editura Minerva in 1902 and 1906.[189] In addition to being mentioned in the memoirs of several
prominent Junimists, Creangă had his political career fictionalized and satirized by Iacob Negruzzi,
who transformed him, as Popa Smântână, into a character of his satirical
poems Electorale ("Electorals").[29] The same author referred to his counterpart in one of
his epigrams.[54]
Shortly after her lover's death, Tinca Vartic married a man who lived in the same part of Iași. [21] The
target of organized tourism from as early as 1890, [39] the Iași Bojdeuca nevertheless fell into
disrepair.[21] It was eventually purchased by an "Ion Creangă Committee", whose members included
Constantin Creangă,[21] Kirileanu and the ultra-nationalist politician A. C. Cuza.[190] It was set up as the
first of Romania's "memorial houses" on April 15, 1918. [21][39][190] Restored the same year and again in
1933–1934,[39] it houses an important part of Creangă's personal items and the first known among
Creangă's portraits, painted by his contemporary V. Mușnețanu. [21][39] While Constantin Creangă had a
successful career in the Romanian Army,[72] one of the writer's two grandsons, Horia Creangă,
became one of the celebrated modern architects of the interwar period, earning his reputation by
redesigning much of downtown Bucharest.[191]
The popularity of Ion Creangă's accounts outside his regional and dialectal context, together with his
own contribution as an educator, played a part in the evolution of standard Romanian, at a new
phase in which many dialectal variations were incorporated into the spoken language. [192] His
primers Metodă nouă ... and Învățătoriul copiilor went through many editions during the late 19th
century.[21][22] The impact of his works was also a contributing factor to preserving a noted interest in
rural subjects, a subsequent defining trait in modern Romanian literature. Discussing "stylistic
harmony", which he believed to be bridging all of Romania's social and literary environments,
philosopher Mircea Eliade wrote: "Romanians consider Ion Creangă a classic writer belonging to the
modern age. His work can be read and understood by the entire range of social classes, in all the
provinces of our country. In spite of the abundant presence of Moldavian words in his writings, the
work would not remain a stranger to its readers. What other European culture can take pride in
having a classic writer read by all categories of readers?" [193] The "thematic grip of the village" was
noted by American academic Harold Segel, who investigated its impact on "some of the most
revered names in the history of Romanian literature", from Creangă and Slavici to interwar
novelist Liviu Rebreanu.[194]

Early 20th century and interwar echoes[edit]

Ion Creangă, as depicted on a 1937 Romanian stamp

A more thorough evaluation of Creangă's literature began after 1900. At the time, it became a topic
of interest to the emerging traditionalist and populist trend, illustrated by the two venues
rivaling Junimea: the right-wing Sămănătorul, led by Nicolae Iorga, and the left-wing Poporanists,
among which was Garabet Ibrăileanu.[195] The new editions of his works enlisted the collaboration
of Sămănătorist intellectuals Ilarie Chendi and Ștefan Octavian Iosif.[196] Tudor Vianu however noted
that, unlike Eminescu's outlook, Creangă's "authentic ruralism" did not complement the "spiritual
complications", global social class perspective and intellectual background associated with these
trends, making Creangă "the least Sămănătorist among our writers."[197] According to Ornea, Creangă
has "nothing in common" with the Sămănătorul ideology in particular: while the group shared his
nostalgic outlook on the rural past in stark contrast to the modernized world, the Moldavian author
could "maintain, intelligently, the middle ground between contraries". [93] Likewise, Mircea Braga
reacted against the perception of Creangă as announcing a "series" of authors, noting that, for all
imitation, he was "an exceptional and, as far as Romanian literary history goes, unique creator." [198]
Directly influenced by Creangă, several early 20th century and interwar authors within the new
traditionalist trend explicitly stood for the legacy of folkloric, spontaneous and unskilled literature: the
peasant writer I. Dragoslav, whose memoirs borrow stylistic elements from Creangă's
accounts; Constantin Sandu-Aldea, an agriculturalist by profession, who took inspiration from his
techniques of rendering dialogue; and Ion Iovescu, whom the Sburătorul literary circle acclaimed as
"a new Creangă", and who made ample use of a modernized Muntenian dialect.[199] Similarly,
the Aromanian activist and author Nicolae Constantin Batzaria, who divided his career between
Romania and the southern Balkans, combined Creangă's storytelling techniques with the traditions
of Turkish literature,[200] while the reworking of regional folklore themes earned intellectual Constantin
S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor a reputation as "the Oltenian Creangă".[201] During the 1910s, folklorist Tudor
Pamfile published a specialized magazine named Ion Creangă in honor of the writer.[202] Creangă's
various works also provided starting points for several other writers of diverse backgrounds. They
included representatives of the Symbolist movement, such as Victor Eftimiu, who was inspired by
Creangă's narrative style in writing his fantasy and verse play Înșir'te mărgărite.[203] Another such
author was poet Elena Farago, whose didactic children's story Într-un cuib de rândunică ("Inside a
Swallow's Nest") borrows from "The Flax and the Shirt". [204]
With the interwar period and the spread of modernist literature, a new generation of critics, most
notably George Călinescu and Vladimir Streinu, dedicated important segments of their activity to the
works of Ion Creangă.[205] Other such figures were Șerban Cioculescu, whose contribution attempts to
elucidate the more mysterious parts of the writer's vocabulary, [13] and educator Dumitru Furtună,
whose biographical studies provided a main source for subsequent research. [28] By then, interest in
Creangă's life and writings had diversified. This phenomenon first touched Romanian theater when I.
I. Mironescu dramatized a section of Creangă's Memories as Catiheții de la Humulești ("The
Catechists from Humulești")—a literary contribution judged "superfluous" by George Călinescu, who
noted that the original was already "dramatic" in style. [206] The writer's stories also became an
inspiration for Alfred Mendelsohn and Alexandru Zirra, two Romanian composers who worked in
children's musical theater, who adapted, respectively, "Harap Alb" and "The Goat and Her Three
Kids".[207] Creangă was also a secondary presence in Mite and Bălăuca, two biographical novels
centered on Eminescu's amorous life, written by the prominent interwar critic Eugen Lovinescu, to
whom Călinescu reproached having largely ignored Creangă in his nonfictional texts. [208] Creangă's
writings also earned followers among the more radical wing of the modernist scene. The authenticity
and originality of Creangă's prose were highlighted and treasured by the influential modernist
venue Contimporanul, in particular by its literary chroniclers Ion Vinea and Benjamin Fondane.
[209]
 Likewise, while formally affiliating with Surrealism, the avant-garde author Ion
Călugăru contributed various prose works which borrow some of Creangă's storytelling techniques to
depict the lives of Jewish Romanian communities from Moldavia.[210]
In stages after World War I, the 19th century writer became better known to an international
audience. This process produced translations into English, some of which, Călinescu argued,
reached significant popularity among British readers of Romanian literature. [117] In contrast,
writer Paul Bailey assessed that the variants used antiquated words and "sounded terrible" in
English.[211] Among the series of early English-language versions was a 1920 edition of
Creangă's Memories, translated by Lucy Byng and published by Marcu Beza. [212] It was also during
the interwar that Jean Boutière published the first-ever French-language monograph on the
Romanian writer, originally as a Ph.D. thesis for the University of Paris.[28]
While their author continued to receive praise for his main contributions, the erotic tales were most
often kept hidden from the public eye. George Călinescu summarized this contrast by stating: "The
'corrosives' left by Creangă are not known publicly." [99] An exception to this rule was Kirileanu's
Creangă reader of 1938, published by Editura Fundațiilor Regale as the first critical edition of his
entire literature.[78] According to critic Adrian Solomon, the Romanian tradition of silencing obscene
language and sexually explicit literature through censorship made "The Tale of All Tales" circulate
"rather like a samizdat", which left writers with "no solid tradition to draw on, and precious little
chance to evade ... the vigilant morals of a straitlaced public." [213] The nationalist aspects of Ion
Creangă's public discourse were however approved of and recovered by the far right of the 1920s
and '30s. High-ranking Orthodox cleric Tit Simedrea referred to Creangă as a predecessor when, in
1937, he urged his congregation to refrain from purchasing merchandise sold by Jews (a measure
which he believed was a practical alternative to the Jews' forced eviction). [31] In 1939, as part of a
press campaign targeting Călinescu's work, the fascist journal Porunca Vremii accused the literary
historian of having exposed Creangă's biography for the sake of compromising the "genial
Moldavian" by turning him into "an unfrocked epileptic and a drunk." [214]
Creangă inspired a 1920 painting by Octav Băncilă, which shows Creangă listening to Eminescu
reading his poems.[215] Two busts of the author were erected in Iași, respectively at his grave
site[75] and, in 1932, the gardens of Copou neighborhood.[216] After 1943, another such piece was
unveiled in Bucharest's Cișmigiu Gardens, as part of Rotunda Scriitorilor monument.[217]

Under communism[edit]

Lev Averbruh's bust of Ion Creangă (Alley of Classics, Chișinău)

During Romania's restrictive communist period, which lasted between 1948 and 1989, the critical
evaluation of Ion Creangă's work went through several periods, complementing political
developments. Throughout the first part of this interval, when socialist realism was politically
imposed on Romanian letters, Creangă was spared the posthumous censorship which affected
several other classical writers (see Censorship in Communist Romania). His work was officially
praised for its aesthetic qualities, but its association with the condemned Junimea was omitted from
critical commentary, and readers were instead referred to Creangă as a realist critical
of bourgeois society.[218] In 1948, the new authorities granted him posthumous membership in
the Romanian Academy.[219] The following year, at the height of Soviet occupation, official critic Barbu
Lăzăreanu controversially described Creangă as a writer indebted to Russian folklore.[220]
By the second half of communist rule, several new approaches in the critical assessment of
Creangă's literature were emerging. His work became a main topic of critical interest and the sole
subject of many works, to the point where Nicolae Manolescu assessed that "everything has been
said about Creangă".[221] Within this exegetic phenomenon, an original interpretation of his stories
from an esoteric perspective was written by philosopher Vasile Lovinescu as Creangă și Creanga de
aur ("Creangă and the Golden Bough").[222] During the final two decades of communism,
under Nicolae Ceaușescu, the recovery of nationalist discourse into official dogma also encouraged
the birth of Protochronism. In one of its aspects, theorized by cultural historian Edgar Papu, this
approach controversially reevaluated various Romanian writers, Creangă included, presenting them
as figures who anticipated most developments on the world stage. [223] Papu's own conclusion about
"Harap Alb", outlined in a 1983 volume, depicted Creangă as a direct predecessor
of Italian semiotician Umberto Eco and his celebrated volume The Open Work—a conclusion which
literary historian Florin Mihăilescu has seen as proof of Papu's "exegetic obsession", lacking in
"sense of humor, not just sense of reality."[224] One of Papu's disciples, national
communist ideologue Dan Zamfirescu, claimed that Creangă was equal to, or even more important
than world classics Homer, William Shakespeare and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, while asserting
that the eponymous protagonist of "Ivan Turbincă" stands as "the character who dominates world
history in our century".[225] Left outside the scope of this critical interest, the "corrosives" were left out
of new Creangă readers (such as Iorgu Iordan's 1970 edition), being, according to a 1976 essay by
scholar George Munteanu, "still unpublishable" for lack of "a general level of aesthetic education"
among Romanians.[226]
A second museum entirely dedicated to the writer was opened at his Târgu Neamț home in 1951,
[227]
 and donated to the state by his successors in 1965. [228] During the following decades, it reportedly
became the most visited memorial house in Romania. [227] The authorities also financed a new cultural
center, raised in the immediate vicinity of Bojdeuca during 1984–1989.[39] In 1965, the Ion Creangă
Children's Theater, a state-run institution, was founded in Bucharest, and its subsequent activity
included staging several of the writer's fairy tales for a junior public. [229][230] Among such contributions
were two adaptation of "Harap Alb", directed respectively by Ion Lucian[230] and Zoe Anghel Stanca.
[231]
 In 1983, Timișoara-based author Șerban Foarță also completed work on a stage version of "Ivan
Turbincă".[232]
A new publishing house, Editura Ion Creangă, was created as a main publisher of children's
literature, and its output included editions of Creangă's own works.[233] The new editions were
illustrated by several visual artists of note, among them Corneliu Baba,[234] Eugen Taru[228] and Lívia
Rusz,[233][235] while "Harap Alb" became a project of comic book artist Sandu Florea, earning him
a Eurocon prize.[236] A major project of the time involved Creangă translations into other languages,
including Hungarian (a celebrated contribution by Hungarian-Romanian author András Sütő).
[237]
 During the same epoch, Creangă and his stories first became sources of inspiration for
the Romanian film industry. Among the first were two contributions of filmmaker Elisabeta Bostan,
both released in the early 1960s and based on the Memories: Amintiri din copilărie (starring child
actor Ion Bocancea as the young Nică and Ștefan Ciubotărașu as the grown-up narrator),
and Pupăza din tei (focusing on the hoopoe story). In 1965, celebrated Romanian director Ion
Popescu-Gopo released De-aș fi Harap Alb, a loose adaptation of "Harap Alb", starring Florin
Piersic in the title role. Popescu-Gopo also directed the 1976 film Povestea dragostei, which was
based on "The Story of the Pig" and the 1985 film "Ramasagul" which was based on "The Bag with 2
Coins". The series also includes Nicolae Mărgineanu's biographical film of 1989, Un bulgăre de
humă, focuses on the friendship between Creangă (played by Dorel Vișan) and Eminescu (Adrian
Pintea).[238]
The legacy of Ion Creangă was also tangible in the Soviet Union, and especially in the Moldavian
SSR (which, as the larger section of Bessarabia, had been part of interwar Greater Romania, and
later became independent Moldova). Initially, his writings, titled Moldavian Stories, formed part of the
Soviet curriculum in the Moldavian Autonomous Region (Transnistria).[239] Following the Soviet
occupation of Bessarabia, Creangă was one of the Romanian-language writers whose works were
still allowed for publishing by the new authorities. [240] This provided local contributors to Romanian
literature contact with older cultural models, directly inspiring the experimental or Postmodern prose
pieces by Vlad Ioviță[241] and Leo Butnaru.[240] The endorsement of Creangă's public image within the
Moldavian SSR was also reflected in art: in 1958, the writer's bust, the work of sculptor Lev
Averbruh, was assigned to the Alley of Classics in Chișinău.[242] His works were illustrated by one of
the Moldavian SSR's leading visual artists, Igor Vieru, who also painted a portrait of the author. [243] In
1967, Ioviță and filmmaker Gheorghe Vodă released Se caută un paznic: an adaptation of "Ivan
Turbincă" and one of the successful samples of early Moldovan cinema, it was also noted for the
musical score, composed by Eugen Doga.[150] Also during that period, "The Goat ..." and "The Purse
a' Tuppence" were made into animated shorts (directed by Anton Mater and Constantin Condrea). In
1978, an operatic version of "The Goat and Her Three Kids" was created by composer Zlata Tkach,
based on a libretto by Grigore Vieru.[244]

After 1989[edit]

Creangă on a 2014 Romanian stamp

After the 1989 Revolution, which signaled the end of communism, Creangă's work was subject to
rediscovery and reevaluation. This implied the publishing of his "corrosives", most notably in a 1998
edition titled Povestea poveștilor generației '80 ("The Tale of the Tales of the 80s Generation").
Edited by Dan Petrescu and Luca Pițu, it featured a Postmodern reworking of Povestea
poveștilor by Mircea Nedelciu, a leading theorist of the Optzeciști writers.[186][245] A trilingual edition of
Creangă's original text was published in 2006 as a Humanitas project, with illustrations made for the
occasion by graphic artist Ioan Iacob.[246] The book included versions of the text in English (the work
of Alistair Ian Blyth) and French (translated by Marie-France Ionesco, the daughter of
playwright Eugène Ionesco), both of which were noted for resorting exclusively to antiquated slang.
[246]
 In 2004, another one of Creangă's stories was subjected to a Postmodern interpretation,
with Stelian Țurlea's novel Relatare despre Harap Alb ("A Report about Harap Alb").[247] In 2009,
Țurlea followed up with a version of "The Old Man's Daughter and the Old Woman's Daughter";[248] a
year later, his colleague Horia Gârbea published a personal take on "The Story of a Lazy Man".
[249]
 Ion Creangă's own didactic tales have remained a presence in the Romanian curriculum after
2000, particularly in areas of education targeting the youngest students. [250]
New films based on Creangă's writings include, among others, Mircea Daneliuc's Tusea și
junghiul of 1992 (an adaptation of "The Old Man's Daughter ...") and Tudor Tătaru's Moldovan-
Romanian co-production Dănilă Prepeleac (1996). There were also several post-1989 theatrical
adaptations of Ion Creangă's texts, contributed by various Romanian dramaturges. Some of these
are Cornel Todea's variant of "Harap Alb" (with music by Nicu Alifantis),[230][251] Cristian Pepino's take
on "The Goat and Her Three Kids",[252] Mihai Mălaimare's Prostia omenească (from "Human
Stupidity")[253] and Gheorghe Hibovski's Povestea poveștilor, a fringe theater show using both
Creangă's original and Nedelciu's text.[254]
In 1993, answering a petition signed by a group of cultural personalities from Iași, Metropolitan
Daniel (the future Patriarch of All Romania) signed a decision to posthumously revert the decision to
exclude Ion Creangă from among the Moldavian clergy. [26] The public polled during a 2006 program
produced by the Romanian Television nominated Creangă 43rd among the 100 greatest
Romanians.[255] New monuments honoring the writer include a bust unveiled in Târgu Neamț, the
work of sculptor Ovidiu Ciobotaru.[256] The patrimony associated with Creangă's life has also sparked
debates: local authorities in Târgu Neamț were criticized for not maintaining the site near his house
in its best condition,[228] while the Fălticeni where he once lived was controversially put up for sale by
its private owners in 2009, at a time when city hall could not exercise its pre-emption right.[257]
Creangă's name was assigned to several education institutions, among them Bucharest's Ion
Creangă National College, and to an annual prize granted by the Romanian Academy. There is
an Ion Creangă commune, in Neamț County, and streets or squares were also named in the writer's
honor in cities throughout Romania: Târgu Neamț, Iași, Fălticeni,
Bucharest, Arad, Brăila, Brașov, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova, Drobeta-Turnu
Severin, Oradea, Ploiești, Sibiu, Suceava, Târgu Mureș, Tecuci, Timișoara, Tulcea, etc. A quarter in
northern Bucharest, near Colentina, is also named Ion Creangă. Creangă's name was assigned to
several landmarks and institutions in post-Soviet Moldova. Among them is the Ion Creangă
Pedagogical State University, founded on the basis of Chișinău's normal school.

Notes[edit]
1. ^ Călinescu, p. 477; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 206–207
2. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g Călinescu, p. 477
3. ^ Călinescu, p. 477, 488; Djuvara, p. 226–227, 244
4. ^ Călinescu, p. 477, 517, 974–975
5. ^ Călinescu, p. 477. See also Vianu, Vol. II, p. 206
6. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Călinescu, p. 477, 478
7. ^ Călinescu, p. 477, 478; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 206–207
8. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Călinescu, p. 478
9. ^ Călinescu, p. 477; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 206
10. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k (in Romanian)Luminița Marcu, "O monografie
spectaculoasă" Archived 2010-11-02 at the Wayback Machine, in România Literară, Nr. 21/2000
11. ^ Călinescu, p. 477, 479
12. ^ Călinescu, p. 477; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 207
13. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k (in Romanian)Gabriela Ursachi, "Decembrie"Archived 2011-07-28 at
the Wayback Machine, in România Literară, Nr. 50/2004
14. ^ Călinescu, p. 478; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 207
15. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q (in Romanian) Z. Ornea, "Nonconformisme celebre
(1997)" Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, in Dilema Veche, Vol. V, Nr. 26, January 2008
16. ^ Călinescu, p. 479; Ornea (1998), p. 233–234, 235. See also Vianu, Vol. II, p. 32, 207
17. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 233–236
18. ^ Călinescu, p. 479; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 207
19. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m Călinescu, p. 479
20. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Vianu, Vol. II, p. 208
21. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w xy z aa ab (in Romanian) Adrian Pârvu, "Spațiul viral al
geniului: o cameră și un ceardac" Archived 2009-09-02 at the Wayback Machine, in Jurnalul Național,
December 20, 2005
22. ^ Jump up to:a b Ornea (1998), p. 233–234
23. ^ Jump up to:a b Ornea (1998), p. 234; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 208
24. ^ Braga, p. 205–206, 215
25. ^ Jump up to:a b Călinescu, p. 478–479
26. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i (in Romanian)Constantin Coroiu, "Preoția lui Creangă", in Convorbiri
Literare, December 2007
27. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 231, 234; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 207
28. ^ Jump up to:a b c d (in Romanian) Cornelia Ștefănescu, "Mărturii despre Ion
Creangă" Archived 2010-11-15 at the Wayback Machine, in România Literară, Nr. 15/2003
29. ^ Jump up to:a b Călinescu, p. 435; Ornea (1998), p. 231; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 207
30. ^ Vianu, Vol. II, p. 207
31. ^ Jump up to:a b Oișteanu, p. 140
32. ^ Jump up to:a b c Ornea (1998), p. 231
33. ^ Călinescu, p. 479; Vianu, Vol. I, p. 302; Vol. II, p. 208
34. ^ Jump up to:a b c Călinescu, p. 479; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 208
35. ^ Călinescu, p. 479. See also Vianu, Vol. II, p. 208–209
36. ^ Jump up to:a b Vianu, Vol. II, p. 209
37. ^ Vianu, Vol. I, p. 302; Vol. II, p. 209
38. ^ Jump up to:a b Călinescu, p. 479; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 209
39. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f (in Romanian) "Muzeul Literaturii Române Iași", hosted by Dacia Literară;
retrieved August 3, 2009
40. ^ Călinescu, p. 479; Vianu, Vol. I, p. 302; Vol. II, p. 214
41. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j (in Romanian)Gheorghe Grigurcu, "Ion Creangă între natură și
cultură" Archived 2009-04-05 at the Wayback Machine, in România Literară, Nr. 44/2004
42. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l (in Romanian)Șerban Anghelescu, "Poveștile cu poale-n brîu",
in Observator Cultural, Nr. 462, February 2009
43. ^ Călinescu, p. 479; Ornea (1998), p. 234; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 209–210
44. ^ Călinescu, p. 445, 480; Ornea (1998), p. 232–233, 239–241, 244–245; Vianu, Vol. II,
p. 210–212
45. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 233, 239–240, 245; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 210
46. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 234–236
47. ^ Mecu & Mecu, p. 189
48. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 230–231
49. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 230–232
50. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 200, 232–233, 244–245; Vianu, Vol. I, p. 304; Vol. II, p. 210
51. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 232–233
52. ^ Jump up to:a b Ornea (1998), p. 236
53. ^ Jump up to:a b Călinescu, p. 479–480
54. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e (in Romanian) Silvia Craus, "Balurile Junimii", in Ieșeanul, February 28, 2006
55. ^ Jump up to:a b Constantinescu, p. 61
56. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 236–237; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 18, 210–211
57. ^ Mecu & Mecu, p. 187
58. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 232; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 210
59. ^ Jump up to:a b c Vianu, Vol. II, p. 211
60. ^ Vianu, Vol. I, p. 305; Vol. II, p. 210
61. ^ Vianu, Vol. I, p. 305; Vol. II, p. 209, 220–221
62. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 234
63. ^ Călinescu, p. 445
64. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Călinescu, p. 480
65. ^ Călinescu, p. 480; Vianu, Vol. I, p. 303; Vol. II, p. 210
66. ^ Nastasă, p. 110
67. ^ Călinescu, p. 480; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 211, 212. See also Ornea (1995), p. 443
68. ^ Vianu, Vol. II, p. 211–212
69. ^ Călinescu, p. 445–446
70. ^ Jump up to:a b Călinescu, p. 545
71. ^ Călinescu, p. 546
72. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Vianu, Vol. II, p. 212
73. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 236; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 212
74. ^ Călinescu, p. 480; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 211, 212
75. ^ Jump up to:a b (in Romanian) "Ansamblul funerar al scriitorului Ion Creangă", "Bustul scriitorului
Ion Creangă", "Mormântul scriitorului Ion Creangă", entries in Patrimoniul istoric și arhitectural, Iași,
România database; retrieved August 3, 2009
76. ^ Nastasă, p. 65
77. ^ Jump up to:a b Călinescu, p. 397
78. ^ Jump up to:a b Vianu, Vol. II, p. 213
79. ^ Mecu & Mecu, p. 186–187
80. ^ Călinescu, p. 413; Ornea (1998), p. 57–58, 65, 67, 70–71, 157
81. ^ Călinescu, p. 413; Ornea (1998), p. 57–58, 70–71
82. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 236–239, 252, 258–259; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 211, 214
83. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 237; Vianu, Vol. I, p. 305, 306; Vol. II, p. 211, 214
84. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 124, 238–239, 252
85. ^ Vianu, Vol. II, p. 217; Vol. III, p. 208–209, 211–212
86. ^ Braga, p. 213; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 215–216
87. ^ Jump up to:a b c Lucian Boia, Romania: Borderland of Europe, Reaktion Books, London, 2001,
p. 247. ISBN 1-86189-103-2
88. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 239–241
89. ^ Vianu, Vol. I, p. 305; Vol. II, p. 136–137, 221–222
90. ^ Călinescu, p. 477–514
91. ^ Vianu, Vol. II, p. 217
92. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 229
93. ^ Jump up to:a b Ornea (1998), p. 244
94. ^ Anca Mureșan, "The Stylistics of the Parts of the Speech in Memories of Childhood", in
the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu's American, British and Canadian Studies, Vol. V, December
2004
95. ^ Călinescu, p. 480–481
96. ^ Călinescu, p. 10
97. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i Călinescu, p. 481
98. ^ Călinescu, p. 631
99. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Călinescu, p. 488
100. ^ Vianu, Vol. I, p. 306; Vol. II, p. 221
101. ^ Jump up to:a b Călinescu, p. 482
102. ^ Călinescu, p. 667
103. ^ Vianu, Vol. II, p. 216–221, 229
104. ^ Călinescu, p. 482; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 217, 219
105. ^ Michel Moner, Cervantès conteur. Écrits et paroles, Casa de Velázquez, Madrid, 1989,
p. 81–82. ISBN 84-86839-08-4
106. ^ Jump up to:a b Călinescu, p. 480, 488
107. ^ Jump up to:a b Călinescu, p. 486
108. ^ Călinescu, p. 487–488
109. ^ Vianu, Vol. I, p. 306
110. ^ Braga, p. 200
111. ^ Braga, p. 214
112. ^ Călinescu, p. 487–488, 975
113. ^ Călinescu, p. 10, 24
114. ^ Vianu, Vol. I, p. 304, 306
115. ^ Beza, p. 104–105; Călinescu, p. 484; Ornea (1995), p. 84; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 215
116. ^ Călinescu, p. 974–975
117. ^ Jump up to:a b Călinescu, p. 975
118. ^ Djuvara, p. 227
119. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 240–244
120. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 241
121. ^ Vianu, Vol. II, p. 214
122. ^ Jump up to:a b Simona Brânzaru, "Thoughts about a Possible History of Gaster's Presence in
Romanian Literature", in Plural Magazine, Nr. 23/2004
123. ^ Lamb, p. 243
124. ^ Călinescu, p. 430, 479, 493, 449
125. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 243
126. ^ Călinescu, p. 56, 487–488
127. ^ Braga, p. 207–213
128. ^ Tom Sandqvist, Dada East. The Romanians of Cabaret Voltaire, MIT Press, Cambridge,
Massachusetts & London, 2006, p. 227, 247. ISBN 0-262-19507-0
129. ^ Călinescu, p. 482; Constantinescu, p. 63–65
130. ^ Constantinescu, p. 64
131. ^ Călinescu, p. 482; Constantinescu, p. 64–65
132. ^ Jump up to:a b c Constantinescu, p. 65
133. ^ Călinescu, p. 481, 483; Constantinescu, p. 65–66
134. ^ Jump up to:a b c Călinescu, p. 483–484
135. ^ Beza, p. 104–105
136. ^ Braga, p. 210; Constantinescu, p. 66–67
137. ^ Jump up to:a b c Constantinescu, p. 66–67
138. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Călinescu, p. 484
139. ^ Constantinescu, p. 68
140. ^ Constantinescu, p. 67–68
141. ^ Braga, p. 207, 210, 212
142. ^ Călinescu, p. 482–483, 484
143. ^ Călinescu, p. 482–483
144. ^ Braga, p. 209, 210, 212–213
145. ^ Călinescu, p. 483
146. ^ Jump up to:a b c Constantinescu, p. 69
147. ^ Vianu, Vol. II, p. 215
148. ^ Jump up to:a b Constantinescu, p. 70–71
149. ^ Jump up to:a b c Tudor Pamfile, "Enemies and Friends of Man II" (excerpts), in Plural Magazine,
Nr. 24/2004
150. ^ Jump up to:a b (in Romanian) Ana-Maria Plămădeală, "Spațiul fascinant în care muzica se
întîlnește cu filmul", in Revista Sud-Est, April 2002
151. ^ Jump up to:a b c Constantinescu, p. 70
152. ^ Călinescu, p. 484–485
153. ^ Jump up to:a b c Călinescu, p. 485
154. ^ Jump up to:a b Adrian Majuru, "Khazar Jews. Romanian History and Ethnography" (excerpts),
in Plural Magazine, Nr. 27/2006
155. ^ Constantinescu, p. 68–69, 71
156. ^ Braga, p. 208; Vianu, Vol. II, p. 207
157. ^ Vianu, Vol. II, p. 220
158. ^ Djuvara, p. 226
159. ^ Beza, p. 9
160. ^ Constantinescu, p. 62–63
161. ^ Jump up to:a b c Constantinescu, p. 62
162. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 235–236
163. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 235
164. ^ Gârbea, p. 127–128
165. ^ Braga, p. 206–207; Călinescu, p. 485
166. ^ Călinescu, p. 317, 485
167. ^ Braga, p. 206, 208, 212
168. ^ (in Romanian) Simona Vasilache, "Drobul de sare" Archived 2011-07-28 at the Wayback
Machine, in România Literară, Nr. 44/2007
169. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e (in Romanian) Gheorghe Grigurcu, "Un soi de revizuiri"Archived 2011-07-28 at
the Wayback Machine, in România Literară, Nr. 23/2003
170. ^ Jump up to:a b Braga, p. 212
171. ^ Philip Longworth, The Making of Eastern Europe, Macmillan Publishers, Houndmills &
London, 1997, p. 136, 155. ISBN 0-333-66804-9
172. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 242–243
173. ^ Constantinescu, p. 61; Ornea (1998), p. 242–243
174. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 242
175. ^ Braga, p. 208, 211
176. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Voinescu, p. 1127
177. ^ Braga, p. 208–209
178. ^ Călinescu, p. 486–487, 488
179. ^ Călinescu, p. 486–487; Constantinescu, p. 62
180. ^ Oișteanu, p. 189, 223, 349
181. ^ Ornea (1998), p. 237, 252
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