Profile of Ioan Slavici on Famous Like Me

Ioan Slavici (18 January 1848 – 17 August 1925) was a Romanian writer from Transylvania.

Slavici was born in the village of Åžiria, near Arad, in 1848, the year of the great revolutions that swept throughout Europe, also reaching his native Transylvania, then part of the Habsburg Empire. Until 1868, Slavici studied in various schools in Transylvania, obliged to learn Hungarian and German, the use of Romanian being forbidden in the schools. In 1868, Slavici left Transylvania for Budapest where he intended to study law. The following year, however, financial difficulties forced him to return home and take a job as a notary. During this time, he saved money to continue his studies.

Two years later, he left for Vienna in the course of his military service. This proved to be a decisive moment in the life of the future writer, for here he met Mihai Eminescu, the great Romanian poet, who had also come to Vienna to study. The two became friends and Eminescu encouraged and assisted Slavici in developing his writings. The same year marked his literary debut in Convorbiri Literare, the review of the Junimea society in Iasi. In 1872, Slavici again had to interrupt his studies because of financial difficulties. Two years later he moved to Iasi, where he participated in the meetings of the Junimea society. His first book, Nuvele din popor, a collection of short stories, appeared in 1881. It included Moara cu noroc and Budulea Taichii, two of Slavici's most well-known works.

In 1882 he was selected as a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy. In 1884, Slavici moved back to Transylvania. Here, he became actively involved in the Romanian national movement, serving as a member of the Central Committee of the National Party, the principal political formation of the Romanians of Transylvania. For his nationalist activities, Slavici was sentenced to one year in prison by the Hungarian authorities. Six years later he moved to Bucharest. In 1894, he began publishing the first parts of his most famous novel, Mara, which was published in its entirety, as a book, only 12 years later.

In 1909, Slavici began to work for the pro-German newspaper Ziua in Bucharest. With the outbreak of World War I, this brought him into conflict with other intellectuals who supported the Allied powers. In 1916 Romania entered the war on the side of the Allies. With the collapse of the Allied forces in the East, the German army swiftly invaded Romania, occupying Bucharest. The Romanian Government took refuge at IaÅŸi. During this time, Slavici collaborated with the German forces, working as editor of the occupation journal, Bucharest Gazette. After the German withdrawal, Slavici was put on trial for his wartime activities and spent one year in prison. His collaboration with the Germans during the war had permanently tarnished his reputation.

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