Ion Luca Caragiale - Settings

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The writer had an unprecedented familiarity with the social environments, traits, opinions, manners of speech, means of expression and lifestyle choices of his day—from the rural atmosphere of his early childhood, going through his vast experience as a journalist, to the high spheres of politics (National Liberal as well as Conservative, Junimist as well as socialist). An incessant traveler, Caragiale carefully investigated everyday life in most areas of the Romanian Old Kingdom and Transylvania. He was an unusually sociable man: in one of his letters from Berlin, he asked Alceu Urechia to send his regards to over 40 of his acquaintances in Sinaia (from Austro-Hungarian diplomats to street vendors or beggars).

Several of his major works have a rural setting—they include Năpasta, În vreme de război, La hanul lui Mânjoală, Calul dracului, Păcat, and O făclie de Paşte, as well as fragments of the pseudo-fairy tales he authored late in life. Nevertheless, Caragiale is foremost known and acclaimed for his urban themes, which form the background to the vast majority of his most accomplished writings.

The author depicted the city in all stages of its development and in all its atmospheres—from nightlife to Căldură mare's midday torpor, from noisy slums and the Târgul Moşilor fair in Obor to the English-inspired tea parties of the urban elite. This large fresco drew comparisons with his generation colleague Ion Creangă, who was argued to have done the same for the countryside. Caragiale was especially proud of the opening paragraph in his Ultima emisiune... story, part of Momente şi schiţe, which, he believed, the "corner of a slum" was suggested to perfection.

Tudor Vianu also noted that, among cities and towns, Caragiale preferred Bucharest and those provincial centers most exposed to Central European influences (specifically, the summer retreats in the Prahova Valley and other Wallachian stations on the way to Transylvania). The enclosed world of the Romanian Railways also appealed to the writer, and an impressive number of his sketches relate to it in various ways.