Gheorghe S. Becescu-Silvan, or Sylvan (May 1875 – 29 March 1924), was a Romanian writer, lawyer and political figure, also noted as a hiker and mountaineer. His complex, sometimes conflictual, relationship with the Romanian Orthodox Church began in adolescence, when he gave up on his seminary education and joined groups of socialist intellectuals. He was well-liked in his youth for his poetic contributions, with some seeing him as a great promise—especially through his work for Adevărul; however, he also came to be regarded by various peers as indolent, wasteful, and ultimately underachieving. In the 1890s, Becescu established and led magazines that created links between the socialists and the Literatorul circle. He himself came to question the latter, especially after its embrace of Symbolism, preferring instead a form of neo-romanticism, tinged with Romanian nationalism, that inspired his historical novels. He saw himself as an ally of the Sămănătorul group, but had to deal with harsh criticism from its leader, Nicolae Iorga, who regarded Silvan's historical research as subpar. He eventually experienced independent success with his novels, as well as with his work in promoting tourism along the Southern Carpathians; though born in Western Moldavia, he became primarily associated with Prahova County, living most of his life in Ploiești. Beginning in the 1910s, Becescu-Silvan was primarily a lawyer and a politician—though he promised new novels, including one about Jesus. After a definitive break with Iorga, he stood with the National Liberal Party, into which he channeled his mixture of nationalism and progressivism. He irritated the Conservative Party and other right-wing factions by continuously pushing for electoral and land reforms, as well as with his eyewitness critique of Romanian actions during the Second Balkan War. By the time of World War I, he was serving in the Deputies' Assembly, which had turned itself into a constituent assembly. At this stage, he embraced the Entente's cause, expressing hopes that the still-neutral country would declare against Austria-Hungary and the other Central Powers; thus eventually happened in August 1916. Following massive defeats in 1916–1917, Silvan followed the rump Parliament to Iași. Here, he moderated his radicalism, emerging as a critic of left-wing dissenters, who had been emboldened by the February Revolution in allied Russia. Self-exiled in republican Ukraine, he returned to capitulating Romania in 1918, living for most of the year in relative seclusion. Silvan and other Ententists were then empowered by the November Armistice and the unexpected creation of Greater Romania, allowing them a triumphal return. He still quarreled with his National Liberal colleagues during the 1919 election, unsuccessfully presenting his own list of "National Peasantists". Silvan's political career was briefly revived in the early 1920s, when he joined People's League, which sent him to the Senate, and then again to the Assembly. He criticized the group's policies from within, though he remained close to its leader, Alexandru Averescu; the two of them registered a major defeat in the 1922 election, which was also Silvan's final political campaign. He ultimately died of an untreatable pyelonephritis. Though he publicly embraced Freethought, he had always enjoyed a friendly report with the Orthodox monastic communities, including at Cheia Monastery (where he was ultimately buried). His novel about the Romanian War of Independence was sampled in at least one textbook, but its author remained largely forgotten by readers, and sometimes posthumously panned by literary historians.
Biography
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