Pantazi Ghica
Encyclopedia
Pantazi Ghica was a Wallachia
n-born Romania
n politician and lawyer, also known as a dramatist, poet, short story writer, and literary critic. A prominent representative of the liberal current
, he was the younger brother and lifelong collaborator of Ion Ghica
, who served as Prime Minister of the Romanian Kingdom
in 1866-1867 and again in 1870-1871. Pantazi Ghica began his political career as a participant in the Wallachian Revolution of 1848
, a collaborator of the Romantic
historian and activist Nicolae Bălcescu
, and a member of the radical
grouping headed by C. A. Rosetti
. Although twice involved in the administration of Buzău County
, Ghica lived much of his life in exile or in Bucharest
, and was also a soldier for the Ottoman Empire
during the Crimean War
. After 1875, he was a prominent member of the National Liberal Party
.
Generally seen as a mediocre writer, he was foremost noted for his associations with the literary figures Nicolae Filimon
, Vasile Alecsandri
, Dimitrie Bolintineanu
, Alexandru Odobescu
and Alexandru Macedonski
, as well as for his extended polemic with the conservative
literary society Junimea
. Ghica's work and political convictions were criticized and often ridiculed by Junimist intellectuals such as Titu Maiorescu
, Mihai Eminescu
, and Ion Luca Caragiale
. He is most likely one of the unnamed liberal politicians who are negatively portrayed in Eminescu's poem Scrisoarea a III-a.
Pantazi Ghica suffered from kyphosis
. Notably, this physical defect is mentioned for satirical
effect in Eminescu's poem and in Caragiale's autobiographical work, Din carnetul unui vechi sufleur.
, a prestigious group of Phanariote
hospodars and boyar
s in the Danubian Principalities
, whose origins were Greek and Albanian
. He was the twelfth of fifteen children born to Ban
Dimitrie Ghica and his wife Maria Câmpineanu (a boyaress of the Câmpineanu family). Ion, Pantazi, Temistocle and Maria Ghica were the only four children to survive into adulthood.
Like his siblings, Pantazi Ghica studied at the Saint Sava College
in Wallachia's capital. It was around that time that he befriended the poet Bolintineanu, who was twelve years his senior and by then already a friend of Ion Ghica. His mother later took him to France
, where he is known to have been enlisted in a boarding house
. Upon his return to Wallachia in 1847, together with his brother, Ghica was involved in the agitation leading up to the 1848 uprising, and became Bălcescu's secretary. Before the revolution toppled Prince Gheorghe Bibescu
and created a new administration, Bălcescu sent Pantazi Ghica as an agitator, in service to the revolutionary organization Frăţia. Ghica was assigned the task of spreading propaganda
in the counties
of Buzău and Prahova
. A common Russian
-Ottoman
intervention quelled the rebellion in autumn of the same year, to reestablish the Regulamentul Organic
government. Both Ghica brothers, like most other revolutionaries, were arrested and exiled from Wallachia.
The younger Ghica again settled in Paris, were his mother Maria was still residing. Following her death, he moved to Istanbul
, joining his brother Ion (who was soon after offered protection by Sultan
Abdülmecid I
). Again in Paris by 1849, he became close friends with a group of Wallachian revolutionaries in exile, including D. Berindey, the physician Iatropolu, Alexandru Zissu and George Creţeanu; the five exiles signed a blood brother
hood pact.
Ghica attended high society
meetings, and befriended a tenor
at the Opéra National de Paris. He later claimed to have maintained close contacts with famous Parisian literary figures such as Alexandre Dumas
and Alfred de Musset
, and to have introduced them to Romanian culture
—this was to be disputed by his Romanian adversaries, who noted that the account provided inaccurate details. Reportedly, he also associated with literary critic Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr
, composers Daniel Auber
and Fromental Halévy
, and playwright Eugène Scribe
. He probably studied for a while at the University of Paris
' Law Faculty, but it is unclear whether he ever completed his education. His detractors later claimed that Pantazi Ghica had spent more time in the debtors' prison than among students, while Ion Ghica is known to have objected to his brother's lifestyle and to have asked Bălcescu to supervise him.
Around 1850, he fell in love with Camila de Fernex, who was related to the family of his French host, Aimé Guyet de Fernex. They were married in March 1852, when the Catholic
Camila obtained a matrimonial dispensation
from Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour
, the Archbishop of Paris
. Records of the events show that the matter of his marriage was only settled at the end of a long debate: the Romanian Orthodox
Ghica had initially consented to have his children baptized Catholic, and then retracted his statement, leaving Archbishop Sibour to consent after obtaining a less compelling verbal agreement from him. The wedding ceremony took place at a Greek Orthodox
church in Marseille
.
The brothers Ghica returned to Bucharest separately during the late 1850s. Their arrival coincided with the outbreak of the Crimean War
: Pantazi Ghica joined the Ottoman Army
, serving as a Yüzbaşı
in the Cossack Corps (part of the Imperial Guard). Decorated and promoted, he was again present in Bucharest as Russia was defeated and the Treaty of Paris
allowed Wallachia to decide a new administration. Ion Ghica, who was promoted Bey
of Samos Island
in 1854, unsuccessfully applied for the office of Wallachian Prince during 1858, and later rose to ministerial offices.
In 1856-1858, he was a prosecutor
in Dâmboviţa County
, before starting a private practice as a lawyer on Bucharest's Podul Mogoşoaiei
. Pantazi Ghica subsequently became one of the main liberal activists, and rallied with its most radical
wing, that headed by Rosetti. This came at a time when Wallachia's united with Moldavia
under the rule of Alexander John Cuza
(proclaimed in 1859, and effected in 1862). Following Cuza's election in both countries, Ghica joined the civil service
: he first replaced his friend George Creţeanu as inspector in the Ministry of Justice
(April–September 1859) and department head in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (before 1860). He returned to his practice, and, in 1861, was a legal representative for people arrested during the anti-unionist riots in Craiova
. In 1862, he was appointed attorney for the Ministry of Education.
In 1859, Pantazi Ghica joined Dimitrie Bolintineanu
in editing the journal Dâmboviţa, but, just a year later, his articles were the subject of a scandal, and he was arrested for allegedly breaking the ethics of journalism
. He shared a cell with his colleague, N. T. Orăşanu, a noted adversary of Carol's rule. He was also an associate of the writer Alexandru Odobescu
, and, after 1861, collaborated on his monthly literary magazine
Revista Română. It was here that he published a critical review of Ciocoii vechi şi noi, a novel by his friend Nicolae Filimon
, which upset the latter (as a consequence, relations between the two soured). For a while during those years, Ghica edited two satirical magazine, Păcală (named in honor of the eponymous folk hero
) and Scrânciobul.
In 1863, he went on a trip to Moldavia, where he notably visited his relative Cleopatra Ghica (married into the Russian Trubetskoy
family). He was again involved in a trial for calumny, but he was able to prove that the incriminated article was not his. Ghica also took interest in the activities of Iacob Negruzzi, a Moldavian-born writer who arrived in Bucharest around 1865—it was Ghica who introduced Negruzzi to the Rosetti circle. By the 1870s, he was also contributing articles to Rosetti's journal Românul. During the same period, he began publishing his literary pieces in Revista Contimporană.
In 1866, Domnitor
Cuza was replaced with Carol of Hohenzollern
. Apparently, Pantazi Ghica had played a secondary part in the conspiracy that toppled Cuza, as a local commander of the Citizens' Guard. Ghica was subsequently assigned the office of Buzău County prefect
by the first of his brother's cabinets. The appointment was welcomed by Vasile Alecsandri
, who was keeping a detailed correspondence with both brothers. However, his time in office was cut short, allegedly because he came to be disliked by Carol. He returned to the capital, where he purchased a villa on Cometei Street (the present-day Căderea Bastiliei Street), nearby Piaţa Romană
. For a second time in eight years, he was exposed to public scrutiny for having failed to honor his debts: in 1868, his possessions in Buzău
were sequestrated
. Late in the year, he was Alecsandri's representative during a legal conflict with the peasants residing on his domain (after winning the trial, Alecsandri reciprocated by introducing Ghica to his friend, Minister of the Interior Mihail Kogălniceanu
).
poet Alexandru Macedonski
, who was also his neighbor. In 1875, Pantazi Ghica was witness to a scandal involving the Romanian Army and Ion Emanuel Florescu
, the Minister of War. That year, the officer Ioan Crainic, who considered himself insulted by Florescu, handed in his resignation from the military and challenged the Minister to a duel
(asking Ghica to serve as both his courier and witness); the problems were eventually avoided after Florescu ordered his subordinates to arrest Crainic. At the time, Macedonski engaged in liberal politics, and, in 1876, co-founded the short-lived newspaper Stindardul, alongside Ghica, Bonifaciu Florescu, and George Fălcoianu. The publication was inspired by the renowned journalist Nicolae Moret Blaremberg. Later, Ghica also published essays in Macedonski's newly-founded and more prestigious magazine, Literatorul.
He was for long a member of the Chamber of Deputies
and the Senate
, representing the liberal tendency and, late in life, the National Liberals
. In June 1881, promoting the designs of one Traian Theodorescu, he unsuccessfully presented Parliament
with a proposal to have a submarine
built for the Romanian Navy
. During the same year, he was a cabinet-appointed inspector of historical monuments in Moldavia. In spring of 1882, shortly before his death, Ghica, like many of his fellow National Liberals, spoke out against I. Filibiliu, a teacher at the Matei Basarab High School who had administered a mild form of corporal punishment
to one of his pupils.
Pantazi Ghica died at his house on Cometei Street, and was buried at his family's estate in Ghergani. Camila Ghica survived him by 21 years: reportedly afflicted by dementia
in old age, she died in 1908, at the age of 80.
Ghica published the first of his many Romantic
novella
s by the 1860s, when he collaborated on Odobescu's magazine. Literary critic Tudor Vianu
noted that some of his works had a strong connection with Bohemianism
, while others are thought to be influenced by the Romantic author Dimitrie Bolintineanu
. With time, however, Ghica moved away from Romanticism, and developed his own brand of Realism
, which did not exclude imagination and speculation, and which hailed Alecsandri as a prime example of writing. He was also opposed to Macedonski's notion of "sublime absurdity", arguing that the definitive criterion for creating poetic imagery was significance, and proposing elements of didacticism
to feature in every work. In one instance, he argued that beauty "must absolutely be united with the good".
Ghica's work of hidden memoirs, the novella Un boem român ("A Romanian Bohemian"), was a tale of adventure and unrequited love
: its main character, Paul, whose adventures mirror many in Ghica's life, elopes with a married woman, only to find that she is not faithful to him either. The plot is probably the first one in Romanian literature to discuss the topic of free love
]. In 1850, Ghica authored a piece in honor of the deceased poet Vasile Cârlova
, titled O lacrimă a poetului Cârlova ("One of Poet Cârlova's Tears"). It depicted Cârlova drinking from a skull-shaped cup with the inscription Lina, adu-ţi aminte! ("Lina, remember!", allegedly in honor of a nun he had loved).
In addition, Pantazi Ghica wrote a lengthy satire
the high society
in his day (Schiţe din societatea română, "Sketches of the Romanian Society"), and, as a result of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, the play Răniţii români ("The Wounded Romanians"). Ghica was outraged to find that the National Theater
did not accept his play, and, as a consequence, issued a formal protest. He contributed several romantic comedies, including, among others, Iadeş ("Wishbone") and Sterian Păţitul (roughly, "Sterian Who Has Learned"). He is also the most likely author of a piece sometimes attributed to his brother, in which the author explores the literary legacy of Don Juan
.
—a literary society which expressed a conservative
vision and was opposed to the cultural and political tenets of liberalism. Ghica's works were among those discussed by Junimeas Titu Maiorescu
in his famous essay of 1873, Beţia de cuvinte. The title, meaning literally "inebriation with words", attacked Romantic liberals over their experiments with Romanian language
, their Romantic nationalist
aesthetic guidelines, and their emphatic prose. The influential Maiorescu saw these as a main source for the widespread cultural and social problems facing Romania during its process of Westernization
.
Thus, Revista Contimporană contributors such as Ghica, V. A. Urechia
, August Treboniu Laurian
, and Gheorghe Sion are listed by Maiorescu as negative examples in Romanian literature, for their use of coined neologisms, as well as for their tautologies
and contradictions. Maiorescu sarcastically recorded that Ghica was introducing new words to the Romanian lexis
, through the means of Francization
. Among other samples, the author used as illustrations several fragments from Pantazi Ghica's novella Marele vistier Cândescu ("The Great Treasurer Cândescu"). He noted the implicit tautology in Ghica's term silenţiu lugubru ("lugubrious silence"), pointing out that the first word covered the meaning of "silent" (thus leaving the notion to be read "silent silence"). A more complex one, listing several synonym
s on end, read:
Pantazi Ghica, Urechia, D. A. Laurian and Petru Grădişteanu decided to issue a common reply to Maiorescu's accusations, using Românul as their venue. The Junimist intellectual believed that their answer was an ignoratio elenchi
, and dismissed their defense as "beside the point" (nu e la chestie). On the occasion, he also presented Ghica with more of his own mistakes.
Although not a Junimist, Odobescu himself agreed with such views, and pointed out further inexactitudes in the works of Pantazi Ghica—these comments are featured in a chapter of his major book, the Pseudo-cynegetikos, in its revised edition of 1887. Odobescu recorded the polemic between Ghica and the contributors to Junimeas magazine Convorbiri Literare—the former stood accused of having embellished his own biography by claiming to have won the interest of French writers during his stay in Paris
. Odobescu hinted that he agreed with this assessment, stressing that Alexandre Dumas
and Alfred de Musset
had since died, and thus could not confirm that Pantazi Ghica had befriended them. He also noted, like the Junimists, that the chronological order indicated by Ghica was spurious. The latter argument referred to Ghica's statement that, in 1852, Dumas and de Musset had listened to his rendition of Vasile Alecsandri
's poem Înşiră-te Mărgărite, which had in fact been completed in 1856, and first made available for the public four years later.
Ghica was unnerved by Maiorescu's reaction to his work, and verbally attacked the younger literary critic in several contexts spanning his career. This was the case in 1878, when both of them stood in the Chamber for opposite camps, and when Ghica heckled Maiorescu, who was giving a speech. On one occasion, Pantazi Ghica depicted Maiorescu as "a sort of a literary trickster", and himself claimed that his adversary was "at odds with grammar". Elsewhere, he claimed that Maiorescu's style "entirely lacks the conditions of serious criticism". With time, the conflict between Ghica and Convorbiri Literare degenerated into open hostility. Thus, in an unsigned piece of 1875, the magazine claimed to translate Victor Hugo
's Chansons des rues et des bois: instead of the hunchback Mayeux, whom Hugo had placed at the end of a cortege grouping all animals, the Convorbiri Literare version had introduced "Pantazi" and adapted the rhyme accordingly.
Maiorescu's verdicts on Pantazi Ghica were shared by more modern Romanian critics. Tudor Vianu called Ghica "prolific, but not gifted". Elsewhere, he backed Ghica's inclusion among the "victims of Inebriation with words [italics in the original]", as well as Maiorescu's criticism of his Francized speech. Vianu's generation colleague George Călinescu
defined Pantazi Ghica as "untalented" (although he acknowledged his "vast literary culture"), while Ştefan Cazimir likened his writings for the stage to what he believed was Ion Luca Caragiale
's worst play, the melodrama
O soacră. Călinescu referred to Marele vistier Cândescu as featuring "annoying neologisms" and "the lack of any intuition, no matter how modest, for historical color." Two exceptions among commentators were Gheorghe Adamescu, who valued several of Ghica's works (including his 1850 piece about Vasile Cârlova
), and Ştefan Sihleanu, who credited Ghica with having single-handedly introduced Alessandro Manzoni
's type of historical novel
s to local literature, in their adapted novella form.
and demagogy
. In Mihai Eminescu
's lengthy poem Scrisoarea a III-a, an entire section elaborates a virulent anti-liberal discourse. Of it, a group of lyrics are believed to refer to Pantazi Ghica (identified by his appearance and his kyphosis
) or, alternatively, to a composite portrayal of the two brothers. They read:
Eminescu followed Ghica's political career with interest. In one of his articles for the Conservative journal Timpul
, published in early 1882, he examined the Filibiliu affair, he took the teacher's side, arguing that both Ghica and Filibiliu's other National Liberal
detractor, Petru Grădişteanu, were exaggerating. He commented that the scandal was largely owed to the victim's father having made use of his political connections with the Ion Brătianu
cabinet, and protested when the teacher assigned a provincial post as a punitive measure. This was one of several polemics between Eminescu and various associates of Rosetti: literary historian Perpessicius
argued that they were partly responsible for the "super-tensed" relations between Românul and Timpul. George Călinescu identified other, less-known, poems by Eminescu, which also allude to Ghica's style, politics and personal life.
The dramatist Ion Luca Caragiale, who wrote many of his works under the influence of Junimist principles, developed his own thesis on the political shortcomings of the liberal trend. As part of it, he argued that there was an essential difference between, on one hand, the major liberal figures of the 1848 revolution (Nicolae Bălcescu
, Ion Câmpineanu and Ion Heliade Rădulescu
) and, on the other, members of the National Liberal Party such as Pantazi Ghica, Nicolae Misail
and Mihail Pătârlăgeanu. In his view, the latter group usurped the revolutionary legacy, while the former could have found itself best represented by the emerging Conservative Party.
, which earned him the moniker Fantazaki (a pun on his two names, it originated in fantezie, the Romanian word for "fantasy") and the colloquial title of "king of the Romanian Bohemia". Among his recorded eccentricities were the contrast in his attitudes toward dogs and cats (a lover of the former, he despised the latter), and his refusal to travel anywhere except by coach. A rumor which probably made it into Eminescu's poetry had it that Pantazi Ghica, the alleged lover of famed and usually foreign actresses, sold tickets to their shows in front of coffee houses. Nonetheless, others knew him as a gentleman
, praising him for his kindness and sociability.
At some stage in their lives, Pantazi Ghica and his friend C. A. Rosetti briefly associated with a circle of actors meeting in the house of theater manager Iorgu Caragiale (Ion Luca's uncle). Ion Luca Caragiale
's 1907 work, Din carnetul unui vechi sufleur, featured an anecdote about Pantazi Ghica and Iorgu Caragiale, recounting how the former had fallen in love with an unnamed actress. According to the story, Ghica, who had asked the group of actors to facilitate an amorous meeting with the object of his affection, was the target of a prank: Iorgu Caragiale reportedly arranged for his colleague, a certain Matache Piţirigă, to dress up in female clothes and meet Ghica in an unlit room. The story went that the Pantazi Ghica caressed Piţirigă, causing the latter to become indignant and thus reveal his true identity. According to Ion Luca Caragiale, a shocked Pantazi Ghica ran out of the room and into the Fialcowsky coffee house. The amused reaction of the public surprised him, and he subsequently found that, in the dark, Piţirigă had smeared his face with soot
. In its initial unpublished version, Din carnetul unui vechi sufleur simply described Iorgu Caragiale's victim as "a hunchback". Caragiale later added to his own text:
Another anecdote of the time had it that Pantazi Ghica was deeply resented by Domnitor
Carol
. According to the story, this was sparked by one of Carol's hunting trips in the vicinity of Buzău
. Ghica, who was charged with organizing the event, allegedly thought he could gain more favor with the monarch by using a bear which, unbeknown to Carol, had been previously tamed by Romani
trainers (see Ursari
). Carol found out that this was the case, and, feeling insulted, ordered Pantazi Ghica to be relieved from his office of prefect. The short-lived magazine Satyrul once accused Ghica of having plagiarized
for his Iadeş, and of having only added a dog as a character to separate his text from the source. As a result, a series of satirical lithographs, with Pantazi Ghica as their subject, showed a hunchback man in the company of a hunchback dog. Jokes about his medical condition even made it into the Chamber: a fellow deputy once made a public reference to Pantazi Ghica's arched spine, to which Ghica replied that it seemed arched because he only presented such colleagues with his back.
In 2010, researcher Radu Cernătescu proposed that Pantazi Ghica is the inspiration behind Gore Pirgu, the prototype social climber depicted in Craii de Curtea-Veche
novel. The work, a Romanian classic, was written in the 1920s by Caragiale's estranged son Mateiu
, and, Cernătescu notes, shows Ghica in company with decadent aristocrats from the Cantacuzino
and Soutzos
clans.
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
n-born Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n politician and lawyer, also known as a dramatist, poet, short story writer, and literary critic. A prominent representative of the liberal current
Liberalism and radicalism in Romania
This article gives an overview of Liberalism and Radicalism in Romania. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in this scheme...
, he was the younger brother and lifelong collaborator of Ion Ghica
Ion Ghica
Ion Ghica was a Romanian revolutionary, mathematician, diplomat and twice Prime Minister of Romania . He was a full member of the Romanian Academy and its president for four times...
, who served as Prime Minister of the Romanian Kingdom
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
in 1866-1867 and again in 1870-1871. Pantazi Ghica began his political career as a participant in the Wallachian Revolution of 1848
Wallachian Revolution of 1848
The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and Romantic nationalist uprising in the Principality of Wallachia. Part of the Revolutions of 1848, and closely connected with the unsuccessful revolt in the Principality of Moldavia, it sought to overturn the administration imposed by...
, a collaborator of the Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
historian and activist Nicolae Bălcescu
Nicolae Balcescu
Nicolae Bălcescu was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.-Early life:...
, and a member of the radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
grouping headed by C. A. Rosetti
C. A. Rosetti
Constantin Alexandru Rosetti was a Romanian literary and political leader, born in Bucharest into a Phanariot Greek family.In 1845, Rosetti went to Paris, where he met Alphonse de Lamartine, the patron of the Society of Romanian Students in Paris. In 1847, he married Mary Grant, the sister of the...
. Although twice involved in the administration of Buzău County
Buzau County
Buzău is a county of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Buzău.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 496,214 and the population density was 81/km².*Romanians – 97%*Roma – under 3% declared, and others....
, Ghica lived much of his life in exile or in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, and was also a soldier for the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
during the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
. After 1875, he was a prominent member of the National Liberal Party
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
.
Generally seen as a mediocre writer, he was foremost noted for his associations with the literary figures Nicolae Filimon
Nicolae Filimon
Nicolae Filimon was a Wallachian Romanian novelist and short-story writer, remembered as the author of the very first Realist novel in Romanian literature, Ciocoii vechi şi noi , which was centered on the self-seeking figure of Dinu Păturică...
, Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri was a Romanian poet, playwright, politician, and diplomat. He collected Romanian folk songs and was one of the principal animators of the 19th century movement for Romanian cultural identity and union of Moldavia and Wallachia....
, Dimitrie Bolintineanu
Dimitrie Bolintineanu
Dimitrie Bolintineanu was a Romanian poet , diplomat, politician, and a participant in the revolution of 1848. He was of Macedonian Aromanian origins...
, Alexandru Odobescu
Alexandru Odobescu
Alexandru Ioan Odobescu was a Romanian author, archaeologist and politician.-Biography:He was born in Bucharest, the second child of General Ioan Odobescu and his wife Ecaterina. After attending Saint Sava College and, from 1850, a Paris lycée, he took the baccalauréat in 1853 and studied...
and Alexandru Macedonski
Alexandru Macedonski
Alexandru Macedonski was a Wallachian-born Romanian poet, novelist, dramatist and literary critic, known especially for having promoted French Symbolism in his native country, and for leading the Romanian Symbolist movement during its early decades...
, as well as for his extended polemic with the conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
literary society Junimea
Junimea
Junimea was a Romanian literary society founded in Iaşi in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi...
. Ghica's work and political convictions were criticized and often ridiculed by Junimist intellectuals such as Titu Maiorescu
Titu Maiorescu
Titu Liviu Maiorescu was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the Junimea Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of the 19th century....
, Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul , the official newspaper of the Conservative Party...
, and Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...
. He is most likely one of the unnamed liberal politicians who are negatively portrayed in Eminescu's poem Scrisoarea a III-a.
Pantazi Ghica suffered from kyphosis
Kyphosis
Kyphosis , also called roundback or Kelso's hunchback, is a condition of over-curvature of the thoracic vertebrae...
. Notably, this physical defect is mentioned for satirical
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
effect in Eminescu's poem and in Caragiale's autobiographical work, Din carnetul unui vechi sufleur.
Early life and revolutionary activities
Pantazi was born into the Ghica familyGhica family
The Ghica family were a Romanian noble family, active in Wallachia, Moldavia and in the Kingdom of Romania. In the 18th century, several branches of the family went through a process of Hellenization...
, a prestigious group of Phanariote
Phanariotes
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Phanariote Greeks were members of those prominent Greek families residing in Phanar , the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople, where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is situated.For all their cosmopolitanism and often Western education, the Phanariots were...
hospodars and boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
s in the Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...
, whose origins were Greek and Albanian
Albanians of Romania
The Albanians are an ethnic minority in Romania. As an officially recognized ethnic minority, Albanians have one seat reserved in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies to the League of Albanians of Romania .-Demographics:In the 2002 census 520 Romanian citizens indicated their ethnicity was Albanian,...
. He was the twelfth of fifteen children born to Ban
Ban (title)
Ban was a title used in several states in central and south-eastern Europe between the 7th century and the 20th century.-Etymology:The word ban has entered the English language probably as a borrowing from South Slavic ban, meaning "lord, master; ruler". The Slavic word is probably borrowed from...
Dimitrie Ghica and his wife Maria Câmpineanu (a boyaress of the Câmpineanu family). Ion, Pantazi, Temistocle and Maria Ghica were the only four children to survive into adulthood.
Like his siblings, Pantazi Ghica studied at the Saint Sava College
Saint Sava College
Saint Sava College was one of the earliest academic institutions in Wallachia, Romania. It was the predecessor to both Saint Sava National College and the University of Bucharest.-History:...
in Wallachia's capital. It was around that time that he befriended the poet Bolintineanu, who was twelve years his senior and by then already a friend of Ion Ghica. His mother later took him to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, where he is known to have been enlisted in a boarding house
Boarding house
A boarding house, is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "bed...
. Upon his return to Wallachia in 1847, together with his brother, Ghica was involved in the agitation leading up to the 1848 uprising, and became Bălcescu's secretary. Before the revolution toppled Prince Gheorghe Bibescu
Gheorghe Bibescu
Gheorghe Bibescu was a hospodar of Wallachia between 1843 and 1848. His rule coincided with the revolutionary tide that culminated in the 1848 Wallachian revolution.-Early political career:...
and created a new administration, Bălcescu sent Pantazi Ghica as an agitator, in service to the revolutionary organization Frăţia. Ghica was assigned the task of spreading propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
in the counties
Counties of Romania
The 41 judeţe and the municipality of Bucharest comprise the official administrative divisions of Romania. They also represent the European Union' s NUTS-3 geocode statistical subdivision scheme of Romania.-Overview:...
of Buzău and Prahova
Prahova County
Prahova is a county of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploieşti.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 829,945 and the population density was 176/km². It is Romania's most populated county, having a population density double than the country's mean...
. A common Russian
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
-Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
intervention quelled the rebellion in autumn of the same year, to reestablish the Regulamentul Organic
Regulamentul Organic
Regulamentul Organic was a quasi-constitutional organic law enforced in 1834–1835 by the Imperial Russian authorities in Moldavia and Wallachia...
government. Both Ghica brothers, like most other revolutionaries, were arrested and exiled from Wallachia.
Exile
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, joining his brother Ion (who was soon after offered protection by Sultan
Ottoman Dynasty
The Ottoman Dynasty ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1299 to 1922, beginning with Osman I , though the dynasty was not proclaimed until Orhan Bey declared himself sultan...
Abdülmecid I
Abdülmecid I
Sultan Abdülmecid I, Abdul Mejid I, Abd-ul-Mejid I or Abd Al-Majid I Ghazi was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on July 2, 1839. His reign was notable for the rise of nationalist movements within the empire's territories...
). Again in Paris by 1849, he became close friends with a group of Wallachian revolutionaries in exile, including D. Berindey, the physician Iatropolu, Alexandru Zissu and George Creţeanu; the five exiles signed a blood brother
Blood brother
Blood brother can refer to one of two things: two males related by birth, or two or more men not related by birth who have sworn loyalty to each other. This is usually done in a ceremony, known as a blood oath, where the blood of each man is mingled together...
hood pact.
Ghica attended high society
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
meetings, and befriended a tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
at the Opéra National de Paris. He later claimed to have maintained close contacts with famous Parisian literary figures such as Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
and Alfred de Musset
Alfred de Musset
Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.Along with his poetry, he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du siècle from 1836.-Biography:Musset was born on 11 December 1810 in Paris...
, and to have introduced them to Romanian culture
Culture of Romania
Romania has a unique culture, which is the product of its geography and of its distinct historical evolution. Like Romanians themselves, it is defined as the meeting point of three regions: Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, but cannot be truly included in any of them...
—this was to be disputed by his Romanian adversaries, who noted that the account provided inaccurate details. Reportedly, he also associated with literary critic Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr
Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr
Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr was a French critic, journalist, and novelist. His brother Eugène was a talented engineer, and his aunt Carme Karr was a writer, journalist and suffragist in La Roche-Mabile....
, composers Daniel Auber
Daniel Auber
Daniel François Esprit Auber was a French composer.-Biography:The son of a Paris print-seller, Auber was born in Caen in Normandy. Though his father expected him to continue in the print-selling business, he also allowed his son to learn how to play several musical instruments...
and Fromental Halévy
Fromental Halévy
Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy , was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera La Juive.-Early career:...
, and playwright Eugène Scribe
Eugène Scribe
Augustin Eugène Scribe , was a French dramatist and librettist. He is best known for the perfection of the so-called "well-made play" . This dramatic formula was a mainstay of popular theater for over 100 years.-Biography:...
. He probably studied for a while at the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
' Law Faculty, but it is unclear whether he ever completed his education. His detractors later claimed that Pantazi Ghica had spent more time in the debtors' prison than among students, while Ion Ghica is known to have objected to his brother's lifestyle and to have asked Bălcescu to supervise him.
Around 1850, he fell in love with Camila de Fernex, who was related to the family of his French host, Aimé Guyet de Fernex. They were married in March 1852, when the Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
Camila obtained a matrimonial dispensation
Matrimonial dispensation
A matrimonial dispensation is the relaxation in a particular case of an impediment prohibiting or annulling a marriage. It may be granted: in favour of a contemplated marriage or to legitimize one already contracted; in secret cases, or in public cases, or in both; in foro interno only, or in...
from Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour
Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour
Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour was a French Catholic Archbishop of Paris....
, the Archbishop of Paris
Archbishop of Paris
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris is one of twenty-three archdioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The original diocese is traditionally thought to have been created in the 3rd century by St. Denis and corresponded with the Civitas Parisiorum; it was elevated to an archdiocese on...
. Records of the events show that the matter of his marriage was only settled at the end of a long debate: the Romanian Orthodox
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
Ghica had initially consented to have his children baptized Catholic, and then retracted his statement, leaving Archbishop Sibour to consent after obtaining a less compelling verbal agreement from him. The wedding ceremony took place at a Greek Orthodox
Greek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
church in Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
.
The brothers Ghica returned to Bucharest separately during the late 1850s. Their arrival coincided with the outbreak of the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
: Pantazi Ghica joined the Ottoman Army
Military of the Ottoman Empire
The history of military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the years between 1300 and 1453 , the classical period covers the years between 1451 and 1606 , the reformation period covers the years between 1606 and 1826 ,...
, serving as a Yüzbaşı
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in the Cossack Corps (part of the Imperial Guard). Decorated and promoted, he was again present in Bucharest as Russia was defeated and the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1856)
The Treaty of Paris of 1856 settled the Crimean War between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, Second French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The treaty, signed on March 30, 1856 at the Congress of Paris, made the Black Sea neutral territory, closing it to all...
allowed Wallachia to decide a new administration. Ion Ghica, who was promoted Bey
Bey
Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...
of Samos Island
Samos Island
Samos is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of Asia Minor, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and the only municipality of the regional...
in 1854, unsuccessfully applied for the office of Wallachian Prince during 1858, and later rose to ministerial offices.
Prosecutor, lawyer and journalist
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
in Dâmboviţa County
Dâmbovita County
Dâmbovița ; also spelt Dîmbovița is a county of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Târgoviște.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 541,763 and the population density was 134/km²...
, before starting a private practice as a lawyer on Bucharest's Podul Mogoşoaiei
Calea Victoriei
Calea Victoriei is a major avenue in central Bucharest. It leads from Splaiul Independenţei to the north and then northwest up to Piaţa Victoriei, where Şoseaua Kiseleff continues north....
. Pantazi Ghica subsequently became one of the main liberal activists, and rallied with its most radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
wing, that headed by Rosetti. This came at a time when Wallachia's united with Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
under the rule of Alexander John Cuza
Alexander John Cuza
Alexander John Cuza was a Moldavian-born Romanian politician who ruled as the first Domnitor of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia between 1859 and 1866.-Early life:...
(proclaimed in 1859, and effected in 1862). Following Cuza's election in both countries, Ghica joined the civil service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
: he first replaced his friend George Creţeanu as inspector in the Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice (Romania)
The Ministry of Justice of Romania is one of the fifteen ministries of the Romanian Government. It administers the judicial system.The current minister of justice is Cătălin Predoiu, an independent.-External links:* *...
(April–September 1859) and department head in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (before 1860). He returned to his practice, and, in 1861, was a legal representative for people arrested during the anti-unionist riots in Craiova
Craiova
Craiova , Romania's 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximately equal distances from the Southern Carpathians and the River Danube . Craiova is the chief...
. In 1862, he was appointed attorney for the Ministry of Education.
In 1859, Pantazi Ghica joined Dimitrie Bolintineanu
Dimitrie Bolintineanu
Dimitrie Bolintineanu was a Romanian poet , diplomat, politician, and a participant in the revolution of 1848. He was of Macedonian Aromanian origins...
in editing the journal Dâmboviţa, but, just a year later, his articles were the subject of a scandal, and he was arrested for allegedly breaking the ethics of journalism
Journalism ethics and standards
Journalism ethics and standards comprise principles of ethics and of good practice as applicable to the specific challenges faced by journalists. Historically and currently, this subset of media ethics is widely known to journalists as their professional "code of ethics" or the "canons of journalism"...
. He shared a cell with his colleague, N. T. Orăşanu, a noted adversary of Carol's rule. He was also an associate of the writer Alexandru Odobescu
Alexandru Odobescu
Alexandru Ioan Odobescu was a Romanian author, archaeologist and politician.-Biography:He was born in Bucharest, the second child of General Ioan Odobescu and his wife Ecaterina. After attending Saint Sava College and, from 1850, a Paris lycée, he took the baccalauréat in 1853 and studied...
, and, after 1861, collaborated on his monthly literary magazine
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
Revista Română. It was here that he published a critical review of Ciocoii vechi şi noi, a novel by his friend Nicolae Filimon
Nicolae Filimon
Nicolae Filimon was a Wallachian Romanian novelist and short-story writer, remembered as the author of the very first Realist novel in Romanian literature, Ciocoii vechi şi noi , which was centered on the self-seeking figure of Dinu Păturică...
, which upset the latter (as a consequence, relations between the two soured). For a while during those years, Ghica edited two satirical magazine, Păcală (named in honor of the eponymous folk hero
Păcală
Păcală is a fictional character in Romanian folklore, literature and humor. An irreverent young man, seemingly a peasant, he reserves contempt and irony for the village authorities , but often plays the fool...
) and Scrânciobul.
In 1863, he went on a trip to Moldavia, where he notably visited his relative Cleopatra Ghica (married into the Russian Trubetskoy
Trubetskoy
Trubetskoy , Трубецкой , Трубяцкі , Trubecki , Trubetsky , Трубецький , Troubetzkoy , Trubezkoi or Trubetzkoy , is a Ruthenian Gediminid gentry family of Black Ruthenian stock, like many other princely houses of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, later prominent in Russian...
family). He was again involved in a trial for calumny, but he was able to prove that the incriminated article was not his. Ghica also took interest in the activities of Iacob Negruzzi, a Moldavian-born writer who arrived in Bucharest around 1865—it was Ghica who introduced Negruzzi to the Rosetti circle. By the 1870s, he was also contributing articles to Rosetti's journal Românul. During the same period, he began publishing his literary pieces in Revista Contimporană.
In 1866, Domnitor
Domnitor
Domnitor was the official title of the ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1866....
Cuza was replaced with Carol of Hohenzollern
Carol I of Romania
Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...
. Apparently, Pantazi Ghica had played a secondary part in the conspiracy that toppled Cuza, as a local commander of the Citizens' Guard. Ghica was subsequently assigned the office of Buzău County prefect
Prefect (Romania)
A prefect in Romania represents the Government in each of the country's 41 counties, as well as the Municipality of Bucharest.-Attributes:The main attributes of prefects are defined at Article 123 of the Constitution of Romania:...
by the first of his brother's cabinets. The appointment was welcomed by Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri was a Romanian poet, playwright, politician, and diplomat. He collected Romanian folk songs and was one of the principal animators of the 19th century movement for Romanian cultural identity and union of Moldavia and Wallachia....
, who was keeping a detailed correspondence with both brothers. However, his time in office was cut short, allegedly because he came to be disliked by Carol. He returned to the capital, where he purchased a villa on Cometei Street (the present-day Căderea Bastiliei Street), nearby Piaţa Romană
Piata Romana
Piaţa Romană is a major traffic intersection in Sector 1, central Bucharest.Two major boulevards intersect in Piaţa Romană: Lascăr Catargiu Boulevard and Magheru Boulevard . The two roads also coincide geographically with the Bucharest Metro Line M2...
. For a second time in eight years, he was exposed to public scrutiny for having failed to honor his debts: in 1868, his possessions in Buzău
Buzau
The city of Buzău is the county seat of Buzău County, Romania, in the historical region of Wallachia. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Carpathian Mountains and the lowlands of Bărăgan Plain.The city's name dates back to 376 AD when the name...
were sequestrated
Sequestration (law)
Sequestration is the act of removing, separating, or seizing anything from the possession of its owner under process of law for the benefit of creditors or the state.-Etymology:...
. Late in the year, he was Alecsandri's representative during a legal conflict with the peasants residing on his domain (after winning the trial, Alecsandri reciprocated by introducing Ghica to his friend, Minister of the Interior Mihail Kogălniceanu
Mihail Kogalniceanu
Mihail Kogălniceanu was a Moldavian-born Romanian liberal statesman, lawyer, historian and publicist; he became Prime Minister of Romania October 11, 1863, after the 1859 union of the Danubian Principalities under Domnitor Alexander John Cuza, and later served as Foreign Minister under Carol I. He...
).
Final years
His new Bucharest residence became a meeting spot for literary figures. Ghica notably associated with the much younger SymbolistSymbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
poet Alexandru Macedonski
Alexandru Macedonski
Alexandru Macedonski was a Wallachian-born Romanian poet, novelist, dramatist and literary critic, known especially for having promoted French Symbolism in his native country, and for leading the Romanian Symbolist movement during its early decades...
, who was also his neighbor. In 1875, Pantazi Ghica was witness to a scandal involving the Romanian Army and Ion Emanuel Florescu
Ion Emanuel Florescu
Ion Emanuel Florescu was a Romanian army general who served as Prime Minister of Romania for a short time in a provisional government in 1876 and then in 1891 ....
, the Minister of War. That year, the officer Ioan Crainic, who considered himself insulted by Florescu, handed in his resignation from the military and challenged the Minister to a duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
(asking Ghica to serve as both his courier and witness); the problems were eventually avoided after Florescu ordered his subordinates to arrest Crainic. At the time, Macedonski engaged in liberal politics, and, in 1876, co-founded the short-lived newspaper Stindardul, alongside Ghica, Bonifaciu Florescu, and George Fălcoianu. The publication was inspired by the renowned journalist Nicolae Moret Blaremberg. Later, Ghica also published essays in Macedonski's newly-founded and more prestigious magazine, Literatorul.
He was for long a member of the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...
and the Senate
Senate of Romania
The Senate of Romania is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 137 seats , to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts , to serve four-year terms.-Former location:After the Romanian...
, representing the liberal tendency and, late in life, the National Liberals
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
. In June 1881, promoting the designs of one Traian Theodorescu, he unsuccessfully presented Parliament
Parliament of Romania
The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...
with a proposal to have a submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
built for the Romanian Navy
Romanian Naval Forces
The Romanian Navy is the navy branch of the Romanian Armed Forces; it operates in the Black Sea and on the Danube.-History:-Development of the Romanian Navy:The Romanian Navy has been founded in 1860 as a river flotilla on the Danube...
. During the same year, he was a cabinet-appointed inspector of historical monuments in Moldavia. In spring of 1882, shortly before his death, Ghica, like many of his fellow National Liberals, spoke out against I. Filibiliu, a teacher at the Matei Basarab High School who had administered a mild form of corporal punishment
Corporal punishment
Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
to one of his pupils.
Pantazi Ghica died at his house on Cometei Street, and was buried at his family's estate in Ghergani. Camila Ghica survived him by 21 years: reportedly afflicted by dementia
Dementia
Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging...
in old age, she died in 1908, at the age of 80.
Works
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
s by the 1860s, when he collaborated on Odobescu's magazine. Literary critic Tudor Vianu
Tudor Vianu
Tudor Vianu was a Romanian literary critic, art critic, poet, philosopher, academic, and translator. Known for his left-wing and anti-fascist convictions, he had a major role on the reception and development of Modernism in Romanian literature and art...
noted that some of his works had a strong connection with Bohemianism
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
, while others are thought to be influenced by the Romantic author Dimitrie Bolintineanu
Dimitrie Bolintineanu
Dimitrie Bolintineanu was a Romanian poet , diplomat, politician, and a participant in the revolution of 1848. He was of Macedonian Aromanian origins...
. With time, however, Ghica moved away from Romanticism, and developed his own brand of Realism
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
, which did not exclude imagination and speculation, and which hailed Alecsandri as a prime example of writing. He was also opposed to Macedonski's notion of "sublime absurdity", arguing that the definitive criterion for creating poetic imagery was significance, and proposing elements of didacticism
Didacticism
Didacticism is an artistic philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature and other types of art. The term has its origin in the Ancient Greek word διδακτικός , "related to education/teaching." Originally, signifying learning in a fascinating and intriguing...
to feature in every work. In one instance, he argued that beauty "must absolutely be united with the good".
Ghica's work of hidden memoirs, the novella Un boem român ("A Romanian Bohemian"), was a tale of adventure and unrequited love
Unrequited love
Unrequited love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such, even though reciprocation is usually deeply desired. The beloved may or may not be aware of the admirer's deep affections...
: its main character, Paul, whose adventures mirror many in Ghica's life, elopes with a married woman, only to find that she is not faithful to him either. The plot is probably the first one in Romanian literature to discuss the topic of free love
Free love
The term free love has been used to describe a social movement that rejects marriage, which is seen as a form of social bondage. The Free Love movement’s initial goal was to separate the state from sexual matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery...
]. In 1850, Ghica authored a piece in honor of the deceased poet Vasile Cârlova
Vasile Cârlova
Vasile Cârlova was a Wallachian officer and early Romantic poet.-Biography:Born into a low-ranking Romanian boyar family in Buzău, Cârlova remained an orphan in 1816, and, after being adopted by an aunt, moved to Craiova...
, titled O lacrimă a poetului Cârlova ("One of Poet Cârlova's Tears"). It depicted Cârlova drinking from a skull-shaped cup with the inscription Lina, adu-ţi aminte! ("Lina, remember!", allegedly in honor of a nun he had loved).
In addition, Pantazi Ghica wrote a lengthy satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
the high society
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
in his day (Schiţe din societatea română, "Sketches of the Romanian Society"), and, as a result of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, the play Răniţii români ("The Wounded Romanians"). Ghica was outraged to find that the National Theater
National Theatre Bucharest
The National Theatre Bucharest is one of the national theatres of Romania, located in the capital city of Bucharest.-Founding:It was founded as the Teatrul cel Mare din Bucureşti in 1852, its first director being Costache Caragiale...
did not accept his play, and, as a consequence, issued a formal protest. He contributed several romantic comedies, including, among others, Iadeş ("Wishbone") and Sterian Păţitul (roughly, "Sterian Who Has Learned"). He is also the most likely author of a piece sometimes attributed to his brother, in which the author explores the literary legacy of Don Juan
Don Juan
Don Juan is a legendary, fictional libertine whose story has been told many times by many authors. El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina is a play set in the fourteenth century that was published in Spain around 1630...
.
Beţia de cuvinte
By the close of 1860s, Pantazi Ghica was among the main targets of early criticism from JunimeaJunimea
Junimea was a Romanian literary society founded in Iaşi in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi...
—a literary society which expressed a conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
vision and was opposed to the cultural and political tenets of liberalism. Ghica's works were among those discussed by Junimeas Titu Maiorescu
Titu Maiorescu
Titu Liviu Maiorescu was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the Junimea Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of the 19th century....
in his famous essay of 1873, Beţia de cuvinte. The title, meaning literally "inebriation with words", attacked Romantic liberals over their experiments with Romanian language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
, their Romantic nationalist
Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
aesthetic guidelines, and their emphatic prose. The influential Maiorescu saw these as a main source for the widespread cultural and social problems facing Romania during its process of Westernization
Westernization
Westernization or Westernisation , also occidentalization or occidentalisation , is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in such matters as industry, technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle, diet, language, alphabet,...
.
Thus, Revista Contimporană contributors such as Ghica, V. A. Urechia
V. A. Urechia
V. A. Urechia was a Moldavian-born Romanian historian, Romantic author of historical fiction and plays, academic and politician...
, August Treboniu Laurian
August Treboniu Laurian
August Treboniu Laurian was a Transylvanian Romanian politician, historian and linguist. He was born in the village of Fofeldea in Nocrich. He was a participant at the 1848 revolution, an organizer of the Romanian school and one of the founding members of the Romanian Academy.Laurian was a member...
, and Gheorghe Sion are listed by Maiorescu as negative examples in Romanian literature, for their use of coined neologisms, as well as for their tautologies
Tautology (rhetoric)
Tautology is an unnecessary or unessential repetition of meaning, using different and dissimilar words that effectively say the same thing...
and contradictions. Maiorescu sarcastically recorded that Ghica was introducing new words to the Romanian lexis
Romanian lexis
The lexis of the Romanian language , a Romance language, has changed over the centuries as the language evolved from Vulgar Latin, to Proto-Romanian, to medieval, modern and contemporary Romanian.-Medieval Romanian:...
, through the means of Francization
Francization
Francization or Gallicization is a process of cultural assimilation that gives a French character to a word, an ethnicity or a person.-French Colonial Empire:-Francization in the World:...
. Among other samples, the author used as illustrations several fragments from Pantazi Ghica's novella Marele vistier Cândescu ("The Great Treasurer Cândescu"). He noted the implicit tautology in Ghica's term silenţiu lugubru ("lugubrious silence"), pointing out that the first word covered the meaning of "silent" (thus leaving the notion to be read "silent silence"). A more complex one, listing several synonym
Synonym
Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
s on end, read:
"[...] all left in silence but their faces showed the same pain, the same exasperation, the same desperation."
Pantazi Ghica, Urechia, D. A. Laurian and Petru Grădişteanu decided to issue a common reply to Maiorescu's accusations, using Românul as their venue. The Junimist intellectual believed that their answer was an ignoratio elenchi
Ignoratio elenchi
Ignoratio elenchi is the informal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but does not address the issue in question...
, and dismissed their defense as "beside the point" (nu e la chestie). On the occasion, he also presented Ghica with more of his own mistakes.
Although not a Junimist, Odobescu himself agreed with such views, and pointed out further inexactitudes in the works of Pantazi Ghica—these comments are featured in a chapter of his major book, the Pseudo-cynegetikos, in its revised edition of 1887. Odobescu recorded the polemic between Ghica and the contributors to Junimeas magazine Convorbiri Literare—the former stood accused of having embellished his own biography by claiming to have won the interest of French writers during his stay in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Odobescu hinted that he agreed with this assessment, stressing that Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas, père
Alexandre Dumas, , born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie was a French writer, best known for his historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world...
and Alfred de Musset
Alfred de Musset
Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.Along with his poetry, he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du siècle from 1836.-Biography:Musset was born on 11 December 1810 in Paris...
had since died, and thus could not confirm that Pantazi Ghica had befriended them. He also noted, like the Junimists, that the chronological order indicated by Ghica was spurious. The latter argument referred to Ghica's statement that, in 1852, Dumas and de Musset had listened to his rendition of Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri was a Romanian poet, playwright, politician, and diplomat. He collected Romanian folk songs and was one of the principal animators of the 19th century movement for Romanian cultural identity and union of Moldavia and Wallachia....
's poem Înşiră-te Mărgărite, which had in fact been completed in 1856, and first made available for the public four years later.
Ghica was unnerved by Maiorescu's reaction to his work, and verbally attacked the younger literary critic in several contexts spanning his career. This was the case in 1878, when both of them stood in the Chamber for opposite camps, and when Ghica heckled Maiorescu, who was giving a speech. On one occasion, Pantazi Ghica depicted Maiorescu as "a sort of a literary trickster", and himself claimed that his adversary was "at odds with grammar". Elsewhere, he claimed that Maiorescu's style "entirely lacks the conditions of serious criticism". With time, the conflict between Ghica and Convorbiri Literare degenerated into open hostility. Thus, in an unsigned piece of 1875, the magazine claimed to translate Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
's Chansons des rues et des bois: instead of the hunchback Mayeux, whom Hugo had placed at the end of a cortege grouping all animals, the Convorbiri Literare version had introduced "Pantazi" and adapted the rhyme accordingly.
Maiorescu's verdicts on Pantazi Ghica were shared by more modern Romanian critics. Tudor Vianu called Ghica "prolific, but not gifted". Elsewhere, he backed Ghica's inclusion among the "victims of Inebriation with words [italics in the original]", as well as Maiorescu's criticism of his Francized speech. Vianu's generation colleague George Călinescu
George Calinescu
George Călinescu was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies...
defined Pantazi Ghica as "untalented" (although he acknowledged his "vast literary culture"), while Ştefan Cazimir likened his writings for the stage to what he believed was Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...
's worst play, the melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
O soacră. Călinescu referred to Marele vistier Cândescu as featuring "annoying neologisms" and "the lack of any intuition, no matter how modest, for historical color." Two exceptions among commentators were Gheorghe Adamescu, who valued several of Ghica's works (including his 1850 piece about Vasile Cârlova
Vasile Cârlova
Vasile Cârlova was a Wallachian officer and early Romantic poet.-Biography:Born into a low-ranking Romanian boyar family in Buzău, Cârlova remained an orphan in 1816, and, after being adopted by an aunt, moved to Craiova...
), and Ştefan Sihleanu, who credited Ghica with having single-handedly introduced Alessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni was an Italian poet and novelist.He is famous for the novel The Betrothed , generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature...
's type of historical novel
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
s to local literature, in their adapted novella form.
Ghica's politics and the Junimists
The conservative groupings were especially critical of Pantazi Ghica's politics. Iacob Negruzzi, who eventually rallied with the Junimists, resented Rosetti's radical circle, and left an unflattering memoir of its meetings. Several other writers who associated with Junimea attacked the two brothers Ghica for their alleged corruptionPolitical corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
and demagogy
Demagogy
Demagogy or demagoguery is a strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears, vanities and expectations of the public—typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist, populist or religious themes...
. In Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul , the official newspaper of the Conservative Party...
's lengthy poem Scrisoarea a III-a, an entire section elaborates a virulent anti-liberal discourse. Of it, a group of lyrics are believed to refer to Pantazi Ghica (identified by his appearance and his kyphosis
Kyphosis
Kyphosis , also called roundback or Kelso's hunchback, is a condition of over-curvature of the thoracic vertebrae...
) or, alternatively, to a composite portrayal of the two brothers. They read:
Vezi colo pe uriciunea fără suflet, fără cuget, Cu privirea-mpăroşată şi la fălci umflat şi buget, Negru, cocoşat şi lacom, un izvor de şiretlicuri, La tovarăşii săi spune veninoasele-i nimicuri; Toţi pe buze-având virtute, iar în ei monedă calpă, Quintesenţă de mizerii de la creştet până-n talpă. |
See down there the soulless, thoughtless fright, With his eyebrow-covered sight and his jaws all swollen and bloated, Black-faced, hunchbacked and greedy, the source of ruses, To his comrades he recounts his venomous trifles; All of them having virtue on their lips, and within them forged currency, A quintessence of filth from tip to toe. |
Eminescu followed Ghica's political career with interest. In one of his articles for the Conservative journal Timpul
Timpul
Timpul is a newspaper published in Romania, originally published as the official platform of the defunct Conservative Party....
, published in early 1882, he examined the Filibiliu affair, he took the teacher's side, arguing that both Ghica and Filibiliu's other National Liberal
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
detractor, Petru Grădişteanu, were exaggerating. He commented that the scandal was largely owed to the victim's father having made use of his political connections with the Ion Brătianu
Ion Bratianu
Ion C. Brătianu was one of the major political figures of 19th century Romania. He was the younger brother of Dimitrie, as well as the father of Ionel, Dinu, and Vintilă Brătianu...
cabinet, and protested when the teacher assigned a provincial post as a punitive measure. This was one of several polemics between Eminescu and various associates of Rosetti: literary historian Perpessicius
Perpessicius
Perpessicius was a Romanian literary historian and critic, poet, essayist and fiction writer. One of the prominent literary chroniclers of the Romanian interwar, he stood apart in his generation for having thrown his support behind the modernist and avant-garde currents of Romanian literature...
argued that they were partly responsible for the "super-tensed" relations between Românul and Timpul. George Călinescu identified other, less-known, poems by Eminescu, which also allude to Ghica's style, politics and personal life.
The dramatist Ion Luca Caragiale, who wrote many of his works under the influence of Junimist principles, developed his own thesis on the political shortcomings of the liberal trend. As part of it, he argued that there was an essential difference between, on one hand, the major liberal figures of the 1848 revolution (Nicolae Bălcescu
Nicolae Balcescu
Nicolae Bălcescu was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.-Early life:...
, Ion Câmpineanu and Ion Heliade Rădulescu
Ion Heliade Radulescu
Ion Heliade Rădulescu or Ion Heliade was a Wallachian-born Romanian academic, Romantic and Classicist poet, essayist, memoirist, short story writer, newspaper editor and politician...
) and, on the other, members of the National Liberal Party such as Pantazi Ghica, Nicolae Misail
Nicolae Misail
- External links :* * * -References:...
and Mihail Pătârlăgeanu. In his view, the latter group usurped the revolutionary legacy, while the former could have found itself best represented by the emerging Conservative Party.
Anecdotes
A socialite, Ghica was famed for his hectic lifestyle and his eclectic cultureEclecticism
Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories in particular cases.It can sometimes seem inelegant or...
, which earned him the moniker Fantazaki (a pun on his two names, it originated in fantezie, the Romanian word for "fantasy") and the colloquial title of "king of the Romanian Bohemia". Among his recorded eccentricities were the contrast in his attitudes toward dogs and cats (a lover of the former, he despised the latter), and his refusal to travel anywhere except by coach. A rumor which probably made it into Eminescu's poetry had it that Pantazi Ghica, the alleged lover of famed and usually foreign actresses, sold tickets to their shows in front of coffee houses. Nonetheless, others knew him as a gentleman
Gentleman
The term gentleman , in its original and strict signification, denoted a well-educated man of good family and distinction, analogous to the Latin generosus...
, praising him for his kindness and sociability.
At some stage in their lives, Pantazi Ghica and his friend C. A. Rosetti briefly associated with a circle of actors meeting in the house of theater manager Iorgu Caragiale (Ion Luca's uncle). Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...
's 1907 work, Din carnetul unui vechi sufleur, featured an anecdote about Pantazi Ghica and Iorgu Caragiale, recounting how the former had fallen in love with an unnamed actress. According to the story, Ghica, who had asked the group of actors to facilitate an amorous meeting with the object of his affection, was the target of a prank: Iorgu Caragiale reportedly arranged for his colleague, a certain Matache Piţirigă, to dress up in female clothes and meet Ghica in an unlit room. The story went that the Pantazi Ghica caressed Piţirigă, causing the latter to become indignant and thus reveal his true identity. According to Ion Luca Caragiale, a shocked Pantazi Ghica ran out of the room and into the Fialcowsky coffee house. The amused reaction of the public surprised him, and he subsequently found that, in the dark, Piţirigă had smeared his face with soot
Soot
Soot is a general term that refers to impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of a hydrocarbon. It is more properly restricted to the product of the gas-phase combustion process but is commonly extended to include the residual pyrolyzed fuel particles such as cenospheres,...
. In its initial unpublished version, Din carnetul unui vechi sufleur simply described Iorgu Caragiale's victim as "a hunchback". Caragiale later added to his own text:
"...When, a couple of years back, I was adding the lines above to my notebook, the cheated young man was still alive; today he is dead—may God forgive all the lyrics and all the prose with which he has enriched our young literature, all the speeches he has held in succession in front of the two Chambers and during public meetings!—and since «one should only speak well of the dead», here is name pure and simple: Pantazi Ghica."
Another anecdote of the time had it that Pantazi Ghica was deeply resented by Domnitor
Domnitor
Domnitor was the official title of the ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1866....
Carol
Carol I of Romania
Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...
. According to the story, this was sparked by one of Carol's hunting trips in the vicinity of Buzău
Buzau
The city of Buzău is the county seat of Buzău County, Romania, in the historical region of Wallachia. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Carpathian Mountains and the lowlands of Bărăgan Plain.The city's name dates back to 376 AD when the name...
. Ghica, who was charged with organizing the event, allegedly thought he could gain more favor with the monarch by using a bear which, unbeknown to Carol, had been previously tamed by Romani
Roma minority in Romania
The Roma constitute one of the major minorities in Romania. According to the 2002 census, they number 535,140 people or 2.5% of the total population, being the second-largest ethnic minority in Romania after Hungarians...
trainers (see Ursari
Ursari
The Ursari or Richinara are the traditionally-nomad occupational group of animal trainers among the Roma people.An endogamous category originally drawing the bulk of its income from busking performances in which they used brown bears...
). Carol found out that this was the case, and, feeling insulted, ordered Pantazi Ghica to be relieved from his office of prefect. The short-lived magazine Satyrul once accused Ghica of having plagiarized
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
for his Iadeş, and of having only added a dog as a character to separate his text from the source. As a result, a series of satirical lithographs, with Pantazi Ghica as their subject, showed a hunchback man in the company of a hunchback dog. Jokes about his medical condition even made it into the Chamber: a fellow deputy once made a public reference to Pantazi Ghica's arched spine, to which Ghica replied that it seemed arched because he only presented such colleagues with his back.
In 2010, researcher Radu Cernătescu proposed that Pantazi Ghica is the inspiration behind Gore Pirgu, the prototype social climber depicted in Craii de Curtea-Veche
Craii de Curtea-Veche
Craii de Curtea-Veche is a novel by the inter-war Romanian author Mateiu Caragiale...
novel. The work, a Romanian classic, was written in the 1920s by Caragiale's estranged son Mateiu
Mateiu Caragiale
Mateiu Ion Caragiale was a Romanian poet and prose writer, best known for his novel Craii de Curtea-Veche, which portrays the milieu of boyar descendants before and after World War I. Caragiale's style, associated with Symbolism, the Decadent movement of the fin de siècle, and early modernism, was...
, and, Cernătescu notes, shows Ghica in company with decadent aristocrats from the Cantacuzino
Cantacuzino family
The Cantacuzino or Cantacuzène family is an old boyar family of Wallachia and Moldavia, a branch of Greek Kantakouzinos family, allegedly descended from the Byzantine Emperor John VI Cantacuzenus. No definite genealogical links between Byzantine Greek and Romanian Cantacuzinos have been established...
and Soutzos
Soutzos family
The Soutzos or Soutsos is a Greek Phanariote family which grew into prominence and power in Constantinople during the last centuries of Ottoman Empire and gave several short-reign hospodars to the Danubian Principalities, like Mihai Suţu, and his nephew Michael Soutzos . The main branch of the...
clans.