Ionel Gherea, also known as Ioan Dobrogeanu-Gherea or Ion D. Gherea (Francized J. D. Ghéréa; 1895 – December 15, 1978), was a Romanian philosopher, essayist, and concert pianist. The son of Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, a Marxist theoretician and critic, and the brother of communist militant Alexandru "Sașa" Gherea, he was only mildly interested in politics of any kind, embracing an apolitical form of left-libertarianism. Largely self-taught, he became interested in the aestheticism of his brother-in-law, Paul Zarifopol, who became one of his main references. As a youth, Zarifopol took him to meet playwright Ion Luca Caragiale and his family, who were also influential on Gherea's writing, and the focus of his old-age memoirs. Gherea's debut as a writer was a 1920 novel written jointly with Luca Caragiale, which was also his only contribution to the genre. Following Constantin's death and Sașa's imprisonment, he had to handle family affairs, but his mismanagement of their money led him into remorseful despair; in 1924, he briefly disappeared, and was presumed to have committed suicide.
Enjoying national success as an accompanist for George Enescu and répétiteur for the Bucharest Conservatory, Gherea also became a respected literary essayist, well-liked for his impressionistic approach and his direct expression. He was also a noted Romanian phenomenologist, ontologist, and philosopher of art; his main work was condensed and published in France as Le Moi el le monde (1933), which was only translated into Romanian some six years after his death. Gherea's lasting friendship with philosopher Constantin Noica transcended ethnic and ideological barriers, also bringing him into contact with the far-right thinker Nae Ionescu. As a committed anti-authoritarian, Gherea was repressed by during the first decade of Romanian communism, being identified as "decadent" by the regime's official philosopher, Constantin Ionescu Gulian. He reemerged in the 1960s as a memoirist and Nietzsche translator, and was sought after to provide details on his father's family life. Selections from Gherea's essays appeared in quick succession, but, having lived a discreet life, he was still largely ignored by the public at the time of his death.
Biography
Origins and early life Born into a Jewish family in Ploiești, he was the third child of Marxist doyen Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea and his wife Sofia (née Parcevska, or Parcevskaia),Eugen Simion (ed.), Dicționarul general al literaturii Române, Vol. 6, pp. 325–326. Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2007. herself noted as a translator of stories by Anton ChekhovOvidiu Lazăr, "A. P. Cehov — lecturi", in Teatrul Azi, Issues 6–7–8/2004, p. 44; Radu Stelian, "Medalion. Centenarul Cehov", in Iașul Literar, Vol. XI, Issue 1, January 1960, p. 60 and Maxim Gorky.Tamara Gane, "Gorki și scriitorii români", in Viața Românească, Vol. XXI, Issue 3, March 1968, pp. 110, 112 The family originated in Yekaterinoslav, a Ukrainian part of the Russian Empire: patriarch Gherea, born Solomon Abramovich Katz,Zigu Ornea, "Ediții. Zarifopol și corespondenții săi", in România Literară, Issue 31/1987, p. 19 fled to Romania to escape persecution for his political activism, and worked menial jobs before getting his break in journalism.Atanasiu, pp. 373–377 At Iași, he married Sofia; she was the daughter of a Polish gourmet chef, who was also Gherea's business associate.Păcurariu, pp. 42–43 Around the time of Ionel's birth, his father, mother, and his grown-up siblings were managing the Ploiești Train Station Restaurant, a venue for commercial and literary transactions, but also a hangout for Romanian and exile Russian Marxists, including Leon Trotsky and Pavel Axelrod.Atanasiu, pp. 57–58, 178–180; Păcurariu, passim Alexandru soon made his name as a revolutionary socialist, and later communist, militant.Beke, pp. 240–241Ion Felea, "Acuzat în procesul din Dealul Spirii", in Viața Românească, Vol. XXV, Issue 6, June 1972, pp. 44–45 Vladimir Tismăneanu, "Un stilist al ideilor: Paul Zarifopol și snobismul mesianic", in LaPunkt, July 21, 2014
Gherea's early education took place at home, largely because his father feared that he would otherwise be exposed to scarlet fever and tonsillitis; Constantin also made sure that his youngest son would be introduced to serious literature, beginning with works by Charles Dickens and Leo Tolstoy.Gherea & Corbea, pp. 14, 15 Ionel then enrolled at the local Saints Peter and Paul High School, where he graduated from the sciences section. It was around that time that the young Gherea brothers met the writer and political radical N. D. Cocea, who, Ionel notes, had a "great power of seduction". Alexandru and Ionel were split over political issues: while both had a calling for socialism, Ionel saw himself as "not at all political in spirit"; Cocea then scolded him over his apparent passivity: "he told me that a time would come when I'll come to regret not taking an interest in, and not fighting for, the future of mankind".Gherea & Corbea, p. 14
Together with his elder sister Ștefania and her husband, literary critic Paul Zarifopol, Ionel lived in Germany for a time, especially in Leipzig, and in Italy, but returned home upon the outbreak of World War I. In his father's houses in Ploiești and Sinaia, as well as in Germany, he became acquainted with Caragiale; Gherea became friends with the playwright's younger son Luca (Luki). Other cultural figures whom he met in the family homes include Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea, Alexandru Vlahuță, George Coșbuc, Panait Cerna and Sextil Pușcariu. His memoirs include sharply drawn portraits as well as revealing anecdotes about Caragiale and his elder son, Mateiu. As noted by cultural sociologist Zigu Ornea, the war ended young Gherea's prospects of studying in Germany; though his father was pained by this apparent failure, Ionel himself found an opportunity to read only what he pleased, and slid into bohemianism.Zigu Ornea, "Ediții. Filosoful Ioan D. Gherea", in România Literară, Issue 19/1984, p. 8
Literary critic Alexandru Paleologu sees Zarifopol as Gherea Jr's main "intellectual influence"—their literary contributions were forever twinned, though not entirely alike.Alexandru Paleologu, "Ioan D. Gherea", in România Literară, Issue 2/1979, p. 8 Around 1915, Ionel was in the audience as Gherea Sr gave some of his select few speeches at gatherings of the Social Democratic Party.Gherea & Corbea, p. 14 According to one report in Opinia newspaper, his earliest philosophical contributions came out that year, in Constantin Rădulescu-Motru's Noua Revistă Română."Ultima oră. Sinuciderea lui Ionel Dobrogeanu-Gherea. Cauzele actului disperat.—Personalitatea celui dispărut", in Opinia, March 12, 1924, p. 4 Ionel had entered the University of Bucharest Faculty of Letters, where he became close friends with poet Artur Enășescu and met Tudor Vianu, his fellow critic.Tudor Vianu, Scriitori români, Vol. III, p. 321. Bucharest: Editura Minerva, 1971. He was also close to Lucia Demetrius, and, together with Zarifopol, helped her launch her career as a novelist. Lucia Demetrius, "Memorii", in România Literară, Issue 4/2004
To his father's chagrin, Ionel Gherea never graduated, focusing instead on his literary career. Together with Luki, he wrote the novel Nevinovățiile viclene ("The Cunning Naïvetés"). A study in adolescent psychology, which has earned posthumous appreciation, Ioana Pârvulescu, "În numele fiului", in România Literară, Issue 10/2001 it appeared in Viața Romînească in 1920. The work shocked conservative sensibilities with its supposed libertinage, and was only taken up by the literary magazine following Zarifopol's intercession. Novelist Ionel Teodoreanu, famous for similar novels of the interwar, recognized them as precursors in the field of "adolescent literature", but also noted that Gherea surpassed the expectations by also returning as an accomplished critic. He recalls that Viața Romîneascăs chief ideologue, Garabet Ibrăileanu, had likened young Gherea to an Arabian colt, overflowing with qualities.Ionel Teodoreanu, Masa umbrelor, p. 23. Iași: Editura Junimea, 1983
Ionel and Ștefania Gherea looked after their father during his terminal illness in 1920;Gherea & Corbea, p. 15 with Luki dying the next year, Gherea Jr never returned to fiction writing. In 1922, he married the daughter of a Romanian engineer, Popovici, originally from Ploiești; she brought him a sizable dowry. Also then, Alexandru was involved in the creation of a Romanian Communist Party, an activity which saw his prosecution in the Dealul Spirii Trial. Its proceedings were attended by Sofia, who had to be evicted after her emotional outburst. During this interval, Ionel was handling family affairs, but lost some of the assets—as much as 200 thousand lei—with his market speculation. In early 1924, his relatives reported him as missing, fearing that the "fragile young man" he was going to harm himself over his shame."Ultima oră. Știri diverse", in Adevărul, March 11, 1924, p. 4 Based on details from a letter he had addressed to his wife, Opinia reported that he had committed suicide in Constanța, on March 5; Alexandru Gherea and Zarifopol reportedly traveled there to see for themselves.
Pianist-philosopher Later in the 1920s, Gherea dedicated himself to philosophy and criticism, with essays which appeared in Revue Philosophique, Viața Romînească and its satellite, Adevărul Literar și Artistic, Kalende, later in Zarifopol's Revista Fundațiilor Regale and Revista de Filosofie. Such works reveal his intellectual debt to Blaise Pascal; a generous use of irony; complex readings from Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, but also of Marcel Proust, Paul Valéry, Francis Jammes, and Knut Hamsun. As he noted in a 1975 interview, his father was only an indirect influence on his work, shaping his own "left-wing sympathies" and his belief that "the social environment [explains] the aesthetic phenomenon".Gherea & Corbea, p. 12 His abstract, philosophically grounded speculations somewhat resemble Zarifopol's (with much of it stemming from a single conversation they had in 1915 or 1916); unlike his onetime mentor, he often wrote down impressionist thoughts in the manner of Anatole France, one of his favorite authors, glossing over the discrepancies and limitations of the texts he discussed. According to Paleologu, he is most akin stylistically to the Anglo-Saxon essayists, from T. S. Eliot and G. K. Chesterton to Bertrand Russell, being similarly adverse to "all pedantry or arrogance". Gherea is especially known for his pioneering study on Proust's snobbery, which appeared in the 1929 edition of Adevărul Literar și Artistic, and in which he opposed Zarifopol's own Proustianism. Dana Pîrvan-Jenaru, "Receptarea lui Proust în România", in Observator Cultural, Issue 436, August 2008