Raicu Ionescu-Rion (bornRaicu Ionescu; August 24, 1872 – April 19, 1895) was aRomanian literary critic and socialist commentator.
Born inBălăbănești,Galați County, he came from a poor peasant family. He attended primary school inTăcuta village (1879–1882),[1] theCodreanu High School inBârlad (1882–1889),[2] and the faculty of literature and philosophy at theUniversity of Iași (1890–1893), meanwhile taking classes on a scholarship at the higher normal school. While in high school in 1887, together withGarabet Ibrăileanu, N. Savin, D. Moscu, and T. Cardaș, he founded the socialist Oriental literary society. During this period, he undertook a systematic reading ofPierre-Joseph Proudhon,Karl Marx,Friedrich Engels,Max Nordau,Charles Darwin, andHerbert Spencer, as well as ofHippolyte Taine andGeorg Brandes. His published debut came in 1889 with the article "Împrejurări ușurătoare", published in theRomanȘcoala nouă, an outfit headed by P. Mușoiu and E. Vaian, and where Ibrăileanu was chief editor. He contributed social criticism and theoretical articles to the socialist newspapersCritica socială andMunca, as well as toEvenimentul (also edited by Ibrăileanu). The majority of his literary studies appeared inEvenimentul literar. He worked as a substitute teacher inTârgoviște (1893-1895), where he died ofconsumption. He used the pen names Rion, V. Rion, Noir, Th. Bulgarul, Faust, Paul Fortună, and G. Mirea. His close friends Ibrăileanu andSofia Nădejde published a posthumous collection of his criticism asScrieri literare (1895). In his work, Ionescu-Rion showed himself to be a follower and admirer ofConstantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea, also displaying a close affinity with Ibrăileanu.[1]
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