{{Short description|Romanian writer, journalist and politician (1873 - 1940)}} thumb|upright=1|Banu {{circa}} 1920 '''Constantin Gheorghe Banu''' (March 20, 1873 – September 8, 1940) was a Romanian writer, journalist and politician, who served as Arts and Religious Affairs Minister in 1922–1923. He is remembered in literary history as the founder of ''Flacăra'' review, which he published in two editions, alongside Petre Locusteanu, Ion Pillat, Adrian Maniu, and, later, Vintilă Russu-Șirianu. A best-selling magazine for its time, it functioned as a launching pad for several writers of the Romanian Symbolist movement.
Banu was an affiliate and orator of the National Liberal Party, which he served continuously for 30 years, as a political journalist, public polemicist, and member of Parliament. His contribution as an essayist, lampoonist, and aphorist reflected his progressive approach to labor and productive life, his critique of conservatism, as well as his concept of civilized political mores.
Banu's career in politics reached the international level during World War I, when he took refuge from German-occupied Romania to campaign for the Romanian cause in Paris. Subsequently, during his term as minister, he focused on negotiating a Romanian Concordat and normalizing relations with the Catholic Church. In his final years in politics, he was an affiliate of the National Liberal Party-Brătianu. These activities, like much of his vast (but fragmentary) work in print, or his speeches, endured as the focus of political controversy.
==Biography== ===Early years and political debut=== Born in Bucharest, his father was a Gheorghe N. Banu, and his mother a Smaranda (or Coralia) Banu. He was French on his mother's side,<ref>Iorga (1967), p. 380; Stavinschi, p. 18</ref> but his exact lineage is unclear. According to Banu himself, his French grandmother led a mysterious life in Bucharest and died at ''Așezămintele Brâncovenești'' Hospital in September 1848. Her husband was a Greek-Romanian known as Koronidy, who may have been a shipbuilder or a schoolteacher from a shipbuilding family.<ref name="stav18">Stavinschi, p. 18</ref> On his father's side, Banu was probably descending from a clan of Romanian shepherds.<ref name="ni(67)380">Iorga (1967), p. 380</ref> His grandfather or great-grandfather was reportedly a ''Staroste'' of the furriers' guild in Galați.<ref name="stav18"/>
Baptized Romanian Orthodox,<ref>Rusu Abrudeanu (1930), p. 557</ref> Banu completed secondary education at Saint Sava National College, a classmate of writer Ioan A. Bassarabescu, actor Ion Livescu, and lawyer-politician Scarlat Orăscu. Influenced by their teacher, classical scholar Anghel Demetriescu, they formed their own literary club, which held its meetings in the Saint Sava basement, putting out the polygraphed magazine ''Armonia'', then the bi-monthly ''Studentul Român''.<ref>Ion Livescu, ''Amintiri și scrieri despre teatru'', pp. 7, 299–300. Bucharest: Editura pentru literatură, 1967</ref> Banu was also in a mathematics class taught by Ștefan Popescu. By his own recollection, he was a struggling student, and had much trouble learning trigonometry from the textbook of Spiru Haret—his future political mentor and employer.<ref>Banu, pp. 169–171</ref>
Banu graduated from the literature and philosophy faculty of the University of Bucharest in 1895, and from the law faculty in 1900.<ref name="stav18"/><ref name="carte">{{in lang|ro}} [http://www.agentiadecarte.ro/2012/03/«rotonda-13-constantin-banu-si-revista-flacara»-la-mnlr/ «Rotonda 13: Constantin Banu şi Revista Flacăra», la MNLR], Agenția de Carte</ref> As he himself noted in 1936: "Although not a literary professional, I always had a soft spot for literature."<ref name="mșev3">Mihail Șerban, "Cu d. Const. Banu, evocând trecutul. După 25 de ani dela apariția revistei ''Flacăra'', fostul ei director ne vorbește despre începuturi, colaboratori și drumul parcurs", in ''Adevărul'', June 27, 1928, p. 3</ref> He also had an enduring passion for history, as noted by his professor Nicolae Iorga, who recommended him for a teacher's chair.<ref name="ni(67)380"/> During a stint as a novice teacher in Brăila, he had his "second encounter" with Haret, who, as Education Minister, was personally inspecting the local schools. He equated listening to Haret's speech as a personal revelation about the sheer force of one's creative energies.<ref>Banu, pp. 171–175</ref>
Returning to Bucharest, Banu began working as a history professor at Matei Basarab High School in 1898,<ref name="stav18"/><ref name="carte"/> part of a teaching staff which came to include Dimitrie D. Pătrășcanu, Emanoil Grigorovitza, Theodor Speranția, Alexandru Toma, and Eugen Lovinescu.<ref>Popescu-Cadem, p. 260</ref> One of his students was the poet George Topîrceanu.<ref name="stav18"/> Banu later transferred to the Nifon Mitropolitul Seminary.<ref name="stav18"/><ref name="carte"/> In this environment, he founded a literary-and-theatrical society, with contributions from pupil Petre Locusteanu, who later became his friend and close associate.<ref name="mșev3"/> His debut in letters came in 1900, with a brochure criticizing the textbook author Serafim Ionescu and the teaching of Romanian history.<ref name="stav19">Stavinschi, p. 19</ref> At the time, Banu also took up work as a promoter of public literacy, joining Ioan Kalinderu and Barbu Știrbey's Steaua Association, which had as its object "the strengthening of education among regular folk through moral, patriotic and useful publications".<ref>"«Steaua»", in ''Albina. Revistă Enciclopedică Populară'', Nr. 51/1901, p. 1976; "«Steaua»", in ''Albina. Revistă Enciclopedică Populară'', Nr. 22/1915, p. 839</ref>
In 1900, Banu's former professor, folklorist G. Dem. Teodorescu, died. Attending his funeral, Banu gave a rousing speech exhorting the values of work ethic.<ref>Petre Haneș, "Figuri de dascăli. II: Teodorescu. Gh. Dem.", in ''Preocupări Literare'', Nr. 1/1942, p. 42</ref> His political articles that appeared in ''Secolul XX'' starting in 1899, as well as his oratorical talent, drew the attention of Haret's own National Liberal Party (PNL).<ref name="carte"/> Around 1903, he was a functionary in the upper echelons of Education Ministry, Chief Inspector of the Private Schools under Minister Haret,<ref>Popescu-Cadem, p. 170; Stavinschi, p. 18</ref> in which capacity he first met and encouraged the novelist (and aspiring politician) Mihail Sadoveanu.<ref>{{in lang|ro}} Ion Simuț, [https://web.archive.org/web/20160313200957/http://romlit.ro/centenarul_debutului_sadovenian "Centenarul debutului sadovenian"], in ''România Literară'', Nr. 41/2004</ref> Upon moving to Bucharest, he took over a villa on Parfumului Street, where he lived with his wife Aneta (or Ioana). She came from a boyar family of Western Moldavia, and owned an estate at Hălăucești.<ref name="stav19"/> Their two sons, Nicolae and Ioan, were respectively born in 1907 and 1908.<ref name="stav19"/>
As noted by memoirist Constantin Kirițescu, Banu quit the education system when his job became "a nuisance, a hindrance to his rise."<ref name="stav21">Stavinschi, p. 21</ref> Working for the liberal press, he was editor-in-chief of ''Voința Națională'' from 1903 and director of ''Viitorul'' from 1907,<ref name="carte"/><ref name="stav19"/> part of a team that also comprised future PNL leader Ion G. Duca and scholar Henric Streitman.<ref>S. Podoleanu, ''60 scriitori români de origină evreească'', Vol. II, p. 311. Bucharest: Bibliografia, Bucharest, [1935]. {{OCLC|40106291}}</ref> At ''Voința Națională'', Banu inaugurated a literary supplement, which put out ''feuilletons'' by Sadoveanu, Ioan Alexandru Brătescu-Voinești, Ilarie Chendi, Nicolae Gane, and Ion Bentoiu.<ref name="mșev3"/> Under his auspices, ''Voința Națională'' also featured commentary on literature, theater and painting.<ref name="carte"/> Under the pen name Teofil, he wrote the column ''Una-alta'' ("This and That") in a literary style, focusing on politics, but also outlining his belief in the didactic value of art.<ref name="carte"/><ref name="mșev3"/> It was also at this paper that he resumed his close collaboration with Locusteanu.<ref name="carte"/>
===''Flacăra'' creation=== Meanwhile, Banu's radical politics collided with the agenda of the Conservative Party and its Prime Minister, Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino. During the peasants' revolt of early 1907, Iorga and Banu's Bucharest homes were searched by police, who confiscated "a great number of letters and important papers."<ref>"Ultima oră. Nuoi perchezițiunĭ", in ''Opinia'', April 8, 1907, p. 3</ref> The riots were repressed with much violence; in the aftermath, Banu asked his students at Nifon Mitropolitul to submit anonymous essays on the "peasant question and the recently quelled peasant uprising." This investigation showed that these rural students generally detested the upper class of "boyars" for their "enormous wealth", which they saw as exploiting the sharecropper's toil.<ref>Mihail E. Ionescu, "'Lecții învățate' din 1907", in ''Magazin Istoric'', April 2007, pp. 19–20</ref>
In his late years, Banu still recalled the impression left on him by the revolt, "this free-riding daughter of Nature": "I have seen pillars of fire roaming the villages, setting train stations alight, and crackling among the ruins."<ref name="mșev3"/> In the election of May, running on PNL lists in Ialomița County,<ref name="stav20">Stavinschi, p. 20</ref> Banu took a seat in the Assembly of Deputies. He was its Secretary from 1907 to 1911.<ref>Călinescu, p. 720; Stavinschi, p. 20</ref> Banu impressed his audience, including the Conservative adversary Alexandru Marghiloman, with his oratorical skill.<ref>Stavinschi, pp. 19, 20</ref> In 1910, he was among the jurors who condemned to prison Gheorghe Stoenescu-Jelea, the would-be assassin of Prime Minister Ion I. C. Brătianu.<ref>Constantin Bacalbașa, ''Bucureștii de altă dată'', Vol. III, p. 256. Bucharest: Universul, 1936</ref> Upon the Conservatives' return to power, he failed to win a seat in the 2nd College Ilfov County in the February 1911 election, running on a coalition anti-Conservative list headed by Nicolae Fleva.<ref>Constantin Bacalbașa, ''Bucureștii de altă dată'', Vol. IV, pp. 12–14. Bucharest: Universul, 1936</ref>
On October 22, 1911,<ref>Baiculescu ''et al.'', p. 245; Călinescu, p. 713; Desa ''et al.'', p. 348; Stavinschi, p. 19</ref> Banu and Locusteanu printed the first issue of ''Flacăra'', a weekly literature and current events magazine. When asked what motivated him to launch his own magazine, Banu referred to his literary passion, and also noted that the magazine (or "literary newspaper") was "of some use to my [liberal] party"—"Duca understood this from the very start, and so he was happy to inaugurate the magazine with an article of his own".<ref name="mșev3"/> The name, literally "Flame", was chosen in oblique reference to the "pillars of fire" of 1907. These, Banu argued, could be turned into constructive fires of "purification".<ref name="mșev3"/>
With its "people's agenda",<ref>Cernat, p. 54</ref> ''Flacăra'' had a regular circulation of 15,000,<ref name="mșev3"/> peaking at 30,000,<ref>Boia, pp. 96–97; Peltz, p. 116</ref> which was unusually high for the demographic and literacy standards of the Kingdom of Romania. This was largely because of Locusteanu's contribution in publicity,<ref>Boia, pp. 96–976</ref> but also, according to Banu, to the talents featured in its pages. Also according to Banu, the magazine owed its survival to Locusteanu and, secondly, to Spiru Hasnaș.<ref name="mșev3"/> It had unparalleled success among the urban middle classes, particularly with its exposure of literary scandals.<ref name="gc713">Călinescu, p. 713</ref> One such series described in detail the suicide attempt, agony, and death of a poet, Dimitrie Anghel. Anghel's estranged wife, Natalia Negru, was enraged by the coverage, and speculated that Anghel had been left to die in order to benefit Banu's circulation. She also contended that Banu and Duca together ran a "liberal mafia".<ref>Natalia Negru, Petre Țurlea, "Reverberații. Încă o dată despre 'triunghiul de dragoste și moarte'", in ''Magazin Istoric'', August 2001, pp. 53–54</ref>
''Flacăra'' was also disliked by professional critics. Reviled for its alleged eclecticism and lack of aesthetic discernment, the magazine became involved in polemics, mainly written by Banu,<ref name="carte"/> who also personally interviewed his featured writers.<ref name="gc713"/> The magazine set out as a mainstream review, hosting established talents such as Ion Luca Caragiale and Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea; its most nonconformist contributors were "moderate" Romanian Symbolists: Ion Minulescu, Caton Theodorian, and Victor Eftimiu,<ref name="gc713"/> later joined by Barbu Nemțeanu,<ref name="pc107–8">Cernat, pp. 107–108</ref> and sometimes by Nicolae Budurescu, Alexandru Dominic, and Eugen Titeanu.<ref>Peltz, pp. 102, 190, 204</ref> Most of Banu's own writings appeared in ''Flacăra''; these included poems, aphorisms and literary, cultural and political articles. He also signed his work as Glaucon and Mefisto, and sometimes used Al. Șerban, Const. Paul and Cronicarul Dâmboviței, pen names he shared with Locusteanu.<ref name="carte"/><ref name="stav19"/> His journalistic work, also carried in George Diamandy's ''Revista Democrației Române'',<ref>Baiculescu ''et al.'', p. 532</ref> sought to express political objectivity and sincerity. Some of his socially themed texts, conceived as sketches or little scenes, denounced parasitism, lack of patriotism, arrogance and aggressive stupidity; his ideology veered toward producerism.<ref name="carte"/> According to literary historian George Călinescu, such works are without stylistic value: "C. Banu shows up in his aphorisms as a grieving but trite Guicciardini, of no humanistic worth".<ref name="gc713"/>
At the time of their publishing, Banu's texts were derided by a rival modernist, Tudor Arghezi, who, by one estimate, wrote half of his lampoons entirely against Banu or ''Flacăra''.<ref name="stav20"/> In Arghezi's magazine ''Facla'', Banu and Locusteanu were viewed as "triumphant mediocrities" and "street organs", on the same artistic level as Radu D. Rosetti and Maica Smara.<ref>Remus Zăstroiu, "Elemente de critică literară în periodicele socialiste dintre 1900 și 1916", in ''Anuar de Lingvistică și Istorie Literară'', Vol. 18, 1967, p. 143</ref> Nevertheless, with Ion Pillat and Adrian Maniu as caretakers of the literary pages, ''Flacăra'' also turned to more radical forms of modernism.<ref>Călinescu, p. 713; Cernat, pp. 23, 32, 54, 61, 188</ref> Pillat, Maniu, and Horia Furtună also "conspired" to relaunch here the disgraced Symbolist mentor, Alexandru Macedonski, serializing his novel ''Thalassa''; and helped launch the career of George Bacovia, publishing his plaquette ''Plumb''.<ref>Tudor Vianu, ''Scriitori români'', Vol. III, Editura Minerva, Bucharest, 1971, pp. 353, 383. {{OCLC|7431692}}</ref> Symbolist N. Davidescu took over as the literary reviewer, pushing an aesthetic ideal that was inspired by readings from Remy de Gourmont;<ref>Cernat, p. 61</ref> the other staff reviewer was Hasnaș who, Călinescu notes, merely wrote "earnestly".<ref name="gc713"/> The magazine also published illustration by, among others, the debuting avant-garde draftsman, Marcel Janco.<ref>Cernat, p. 188</ref>
===World War I=== In the years before World War I, returned to the Assembly, Banu debated major national issues with the Conservative Party doctrinaires. Responding to Constantin C. Arion's call for national unity after the Balkan Wars, he argued that such internal peace could never be achieved with "an aggrieved peasantry as the basis of our State". A land reform, he contended, could even make Romania into a great regional power.<ref>Sebastian-Dragoș Bunghez, "Parlamentul și politica externă a României în ajunul Primului Război Mondial (februarie-iunie 1914)", in ''Cercetări Istorice'', Vol. 33, 2014, pp. 197–198</ref> Nevertheless, Banu was also critical of the populist currents undermining the PNL, and thus picked sides against Iorga and his Democratic Nationalists. His ''Flacăra'' articles, Iorga noted at the time, supported anti-nationalist causes such as Jewish emancipation,<ref>Nicolae Iorga, ''Acțiunea militară a României. În Bulgaria cu ostașii noștri'', p. 19. Bucharest: Editura Socec, 1914</ref> while his parliamentary speeches expressed worries against the rise of Romania's insurrectionist "Boulangisme".<ref>Nicolae Iorga, ''Oameni cari au fost'', Vol. II, p. 332. Bucharest: Editura Fundațiilor Regale, 1935</ref> Banu hoped to appease Conservatives who viewed land reform as proof of socialism, contending that "increasing property" was the best method to curb left-wing agitation and promote "social conservation". He also campaigned for election reform, insisting that it could solve the "periodic convulsions" in Romanian society, and criticizing the Conservatives' electoral ideal as a Potemkin village.<ref>Nicolae Copoiu, "...acest vulcan care fierbe surd", in ''Magazin Istoric'', September 1973, pp. 11–12</ref>
[[File:Plaque Comité unité roumaine, 22 avenue de l'Opéra, Paris 1.jpg|thumb|210px|Plaque honoring the 1917–1918 National Committee for Romanian Unity, at the former ''Hôtel des deux mondes'', Avenue de l'Opéra, Paris. Banu credited as one of three ''La Roumanie'' editors]] By 1914, Banu was also writing for the ''Flacăra'' satellite ''Semnalul'', for the PNL paper ''Democrația'', and for the literary bimonthly ''Văpaia''.<ref>Baiculescu ''et al.'', pp. 178, 613, 694</ref> In July, days after the Sarajevo assassination, Banu was selected on a panel of deputies, headed by Mihail G. Orleanu, which proposed democratic reforms to the 1866 constitution. Other members included Iorga, Constantin Stere, Nicolae Romanescu, and Vintilă Brătianu.<ref>"Comisiunile de studii ale Constituantei", in ''Gazeta Ilustrată'', Nr. 30/1914, p. 4</ref> Romania kept neutral during the first two years of war, but an intellectual battle divided Romanian society, between "Francophiles", who supported the Entente, and "Germanophiles", who looked to the Central Powers. Banu and the National Liberals leaned toward the Entente Francophiles. In October 1914, he directed a rally of university students who vandalized the offices of ''Ziua'', a Germanophile daily put out by Ioan Slavici, and chanted threats against Grigore Gheorghe Cantacuzino, owner of the Germanophile ''Seara''.<ref>Carmen Patricia Reneti, "Relații româno-germane în anul 1914", in ''Revista de Istorie Militară'', Nr. 1–2/2010, pp. 36, 39</ref>
Although, as historian Lucian Boia writes, it remained "without jarring partisanship",<ref>Boia, p. 97</ref> ''Flacăra''{{'}}s Ententist-and-populist tinges were ridiculed and parodied in ''Chemarea'', the radical-left Symbolist review put out by Ion Vinea.<ref name="pc107–8"/> Banu's 1916 book ''Sub mască'' ("Under the Mask"), signed Mefisto, included poems initially published in ''Flacăra''{{'}}s ''Gazeta rimată'' column. Their subjects received varying treatment, with tones that ranged from humor and pamphleteering jokes to invective;<ref name="carte"/> Banu himself acknowledged that such pieces were "sometimes mean and often unfair".<ref name="mșev3"/> As critics note, his critical virulence and moralizing intent were balanced by a certain literary talent, itself subsumed by the categorical nature of polemic.<ref name="carte"/> Also published that year, the brochure ''Trăiască viața!…'' ("Long Live Life!…") is a collection of articles, some of them distinctly autobiographical.<ref name="carte"/><ref>Stavinschi, pp. 18, 20</ref>
Honoring its secret commitment to the Entente, Romania entered the war in August 1916. ''Flacăra'' closed down with a final issue on November 13 of that year,<ref>Baiculescu ''et al.'', p. 245; Desa ''et al.'', p. 348</ref> as Bucharest prepared for the German siege. Banu later escaped to Paris, where, from January 1918, he joined the directorial staff of ''La Roumanie'' journal (with Emil Fagure and Constantin Mille), campaigning in French for the cause of Greater Romania.<ref>Desa ''et al.'', pp. 829–830; Rusu Abrudeanu (1921), pp. 442–443</ref> He intervened directly to obtain statements of solidarity with beleaguered Romania from Ernest Lavisse, Lucien Poincaré, and other French academics, while trying in vain to prevent the Romanian government from negotiating a separate peace with the Central Powers.<ref>Rusu Abrudeanu (1921), pp. 446–450</ref>
With the turn of tides, Banu formed part of the Romanian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, attending as co-director of ''La Roumanie''.<ref name="carte"/> He was reelected to the Assembly in November 1919, ensuring his political survival into the era of universal suffrage: although imposed on the Ialomița voters by the PNL leadership, he overcame both stiff opposition by the Peasants' Party and factional disputes inside his own caucus.<ref>Vișan, pp. 288–290, 294</ref> From his position as deputy, he made overtures toward Iorga and the Democratic Nationalists in power, moderating his party's attacks against them.<ref>Iorga (1930), p. 289</ref> In March 1920, when the anti-PNL coalition was toppled by King Ferdinand I, Iorga proposed that Banu and Matei B. Cantacuzino form a technocratic government of national reconciliation; the monarch preferred a cabinet headed by Alexandru Averescu.<ref>Iorga (1930), pp. 362–364</ref> Banu found himself toppled by his Ialomița constituents during the election of May 1920.<ref name="vișan294">Vișan, p. 294</ref>
Banu put out two more editions of ''Flacăra'' between December 10, 1921, and June 1923, with Vintilă Russu-Șirianu as his second, contributions from old regulars such as Minulescu and Macedonski,<ref name="gc713"/><ref name="Desa et al., p. 209">Desa ''et al.'', p. 209</ref> and food chronicles by Păstorel Teodoreanu.<ref>Florina Pîrjol, "Destinul unui formator de gusturi. De la savoarea 'pastilei' gastronomice la gustul fad al compromisului", in ''Transilvania'', Nr. 12/2011, pp. 19, 25</ref> Banu who wrote regularly for ''Cuget Românesc'' monthly during that interval,<ref name="Desa et al., p. 209"/> had no say in ''Flacăra''{{'}}s management, which went to Pillat, Furtună, and then Minulescu. Despite their "great efforts", he noted, the magazine failed commercially—"such were the times."<ref name="gc713"/>
===Ministerial office and later life=== Still in the Assembly following the 1922 election, Banu served as Arts and Religious Affairs Minister under Prime Minister Brătianu, from January 19, 1922, to October 30, 1923; he was also ''ad interim'' Minister of Public Works on January 19–22, 1922.<ref name="vișan294"/> During that time, he involved himself in negotiating a Concordat, in the hope of normalizing relations with the Holy See. The 1923 constitution gave special recognition to the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Church, but Banu satisfied the former when he stripped state representatives of their right to elect bishops.<ref>Iorga (1939), p. 70</ref> According to memoirist and PNL man Ion Rusu Abrudeanu, he erred in keeping by his side the Greek Catholic functionary Zenovie Pâclișanu, who stood accused of undermining the PNL and of leaking the Concordat draft to the Catholic press in Transylvania.<ref>Rusu Abrudeanu (1930), pp. 557, 562–563, 565–568</ref> Reportedly, Pâclișanu also sabotaged Banu's investigation into allegations of church art smuggling by Catholic clergymen who migrated to Hungary.<ref>Rusu Abrudeanu (1930), pp. 564–565</ref>
Banu's accomplishments as minister include his successful promotion of Romania's first copyright law, on January 15, 1923.<ref>{{in lang|ro}} Cassian Maria Spiridon, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110719230125/http://convorbiri-literare.dntis.ro/TATAapr8.html "Secolul breslei scriitoricești"], in ''Convorbiri Literare'', April 2008</ref> He also founded an Inspectorate of Romanian Museums, under Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaș, but withheld its financing later on.<ref>Tzigara-Samurcaș, pp. 165–166</ref> The two politicians negotiated for a reciprocal exchange of coveted cultural goods between, on one hand, Romania and, on the other, Weimar Germany and the Austrian Republic. They only managed to obtain the Cucuteni Treasure from Berlin.<ref>Tzigara-Samurcaș, p. 338</ref>
By late 1923, Banu was noted for his opposition to the new PNL establishment, whose most prominent figure was Vintilă Brătianu; unlike his colleagues, he did not believe in the goal of "crushing" the opposition, at the time led by the Peasants' Party.<ref>Iorga (1939), pp. 102, 106</ref> Resigning from the Ministry in November, to be replaced by Alexandru Lapedatu,<ref>"Noul ministru al artelor", in ''Ilustrația Săptămânală'', Nr. 2/1923, p. 3</ref> Banu still served in the Senate,<ref name="carte"/> but largely withdrew from public life. His articles and musings were being still published in ''Adevărul'', ''Convorbiri Literare'', and ''Cele Trei Crișuri''.<ref name="carte"/> In 1927, celebrating the golden jubilee of Romanian Independence with conferences at the Bucharest Atheneum, Banu outlined his liberal critique of the conservative ethos, turning against "reactionary" cultural figures such as Caragiale, Mihail Eminescu, and the ''Junimea'' circle.<ref>Cioculescu, pp. 151–154</ref> Such themes were also explored in his lectures, recorded by Radio Romania in 1929 and 1933.<ref name="stav21"/> As Caragiale scholar Șerban Cioculescu noted at the time, Banu's "effete phraseology" and "cliche vocabulary" encased his resentments against conservative intellectuals, who had exposed and satirized the "characteristics of practical liberalism".<ref>Cioculescu, pp. 153–154</ref>
Between 1927 and 1930, the PNL polarized into competing factions: one led by Vintilă Brătianu and the other, the "Georgists", by Gheorghe Brătianu. Banu was on the side of the former, and also expressed his faction's sympathy for King Carol II, who had returned from exile to reclaim his throne.<ref>Ioan Lupaș, "Între «Vintiliști» și «Gheorghiști»", in ''Țara Noastră'', Nr. 10/1930, p. 945</ref> By December 1933, with Vintilă dead and Duca, his one-time colleague at ''Viitorul'', in charge of the party, Banu had embraced Georgism and defected to the PNL's seceded wing, the "National Liberal Party-Brătianu". He and Artur Văitoianu were the most notorious PNL assets to follow Gheorghe Brătianu on this venture.<ref>Vasile Netea, ''Memorii''. Târgu Mureș: Editura Nico, 2010, p. 204. {{ISBN|978-606-546-049-2}}</ref> This move was also a sign of Banu's opposition to the politically ambitious Carol II: Banu, Brătianu, and Constantin C. Giurescu were working on a proclamation against Carol, his ''camarilla'', and Duca, the acting PNL Prime Minister. A year later, after Duca's unexpected assassination by the Iron Guard, a National Peasants' Party administration intervened to stop Banu, Brătianu, P. P. Negulescu and others from coordinating massive opposition rallies.<ref>Petre Țurlea, "România sub stăpânirea Camarilei Regale (1930–1940) (III)", in ''Analele Universității Creștine Dimitrie Cantemir. Seria Istorie'', Vol. 2, Issues 1–2, pp. 172–173, 190–191</ref> The Iron Guard also took notice, and Banu's name appeared on an enemies' list, alongside those of Aristide Blank, Alexandru C. Constantinescu, Wilhelm Filderman, and Gheorghe Gh. Mârzescu.<ref name="stav21"/>
According to Kirițescu, Banu reached the "forefront of politics", but failed to preserve his position—overall, he lacked "the faculty which allows one to wiggle through, to engage in transactions".<ref name="stav21"/> Banu's final book appeared in 1937 as ''Grădina lui Glaucon sau Manualul bunului politician'' ("Glaucon's Garden or A Textbook for Good Politicians"). Here, he uses his political and artistic experience to analyze his peers in 757 sections (aphorisms, words of advice and morality sketches). Through these, he shows his ethical leanings, irony, and skepticism, formulating concise general judgments.<ref name="carte"/>
Banu spent his final years away from the capital, at his wife's home in Hălăucești.<ref name="stav19"/> He died in 1940 at a hospital in Roman,<ref name="ni(67)380"/> and was buried in Plot 21 of Bellu Cemetery, Bucharest.<ref>Gheorghe G. Bezviconi, ''Necropola Capitalei'', p. 63. Bucharest: Nicolae Iorga Institute of History, 1972</ref> His former mentor and adversary Iorga paid homage to him with an obituary in ''Neamul Românesc'', emphasizing that Banu, the "unusual figure" among his peers, belonged to an older era of "dignity and decency, when people were held up by talent and merit".<ref name="ni(67)380"/> Banu's oratory was of "great formal restraint, unjarring."<ref>Iorga (1967), p. 381</ref>
Aneta Guțulescu-Banu survived her husband for decades, dying in 1970.<ref name="stav19"/> Their first-born Nicolae "Bob", who lived to 1985, was married to the actress Lucia, a member of the Rosetti family and niece of the composer George Enescu. Ioan, his brother, died in 2001. Constantin and Aneta's other child was a daughter, Ana-Irina "Nazica", who married the engineer Nicolae Cristofor.<ref name="stav19"/> The villa built by the Banus' on Parfumului Street was nationalized by the communist regime, and assigned to an army institution. In 1987, at the height of the Ceaușima campaign, it was demolished.<ref name="stav19"/>
==Notes== {{reflist|30em}}
==References== *George Baiculescu, Georgeta Răduică, Neonila Onofrei, ''Publicațiile periodice românești (ziare, gazete, reviste). Vol. II: Catalog alfabetic 1907–1918. Supliment 1790–1906''. Bucharest: Editura Academiei, 1969. *C. Banu, "Cum l-am cunoscut pe Spiru Haret", in ''Almanachul Societății Scriitorilor Români'', 1913, pp. 169–175. *Lucian Boia, ''"Germanofilii". Elita intelectuală românească în anii Primului Război Mondial''. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2010. {{ISBN|978-973-50-2635-6}} *George Călinescu, ''Istoria literaturii române de la origini pînă în prezent''. Bucharest: Editura Minerva, 1986. *Paul Cernat, ''Avangarda românească și complexul periferiei: primul val''. Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 2007. {{ISBN|978-973-23-1911-6}} *Șerban Cioculescu, ''Caragialiana''. Bucharest: Editura Eminescu, 1974. {{OCLC|6890267}} *Ileana-Stanca Desa, Dulciu Morărescu, Ioana Patriche, Adriana Raliade, Iliana Sulică, ''Publicațiile periodice românești (ziare, gazete, reviste). Vol. III: Catalog alfabetic 1919–1924''. Bucharest: Editura Academiei, 1987. *Nicolae Iorga, **''Memorii, Vol. II: (Însemnări zilnice maiu 1917–mart 1920). Războiul național. Lupta pentru o nouă viață politică''. Bucharest: Editura Națională Ciornei, 1930. {{OCLC|493897808}} **''Memorii. Vol. IV: Încoronarea și boala regelui''. Bucharest: Editura Națională Ciornei, 1939. {{OCLC|493904950}} **''Oameni cari au fost'', Vol. II. Bucharest: Editura Minerva, 1967. *I. Peltz, ''Amintiri din viața literară''. Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 1974. {{OCLC|15994515}} *C. Popescu-Cadem, ''Document în replică''. Bucharest: Mihail Sadoveanu City Library, 2007. {{ISBN|978-973-8369-21-4}} *Ion Rusu Abrudeanu, **''România și războiul mondial: contribuțiuni la studiul istoriei războiului nostru''. Bucharest: Editura Socec, 1921. **''Păcatele Ardealului față de sufletul Vechiului Regat. Fapte, documente și facsimile''. Bucharest: Cartea Românească, 1930. *Magda Stavinschi, "Chipuri uitate. Constantin Banu", in ''Magazin Istoric'', February 2012, pp. 18–21. *Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaș, ''Scrieri despre arta românească''. Bucharest: Editura Meridiane, 1987. {{OCLC|21342340}} *Marian-Alexandru Vișan, "Ialomița", in Bogdan Murgescu, Andrei Florin Sora (eds.), ''România Mare votează. Alegerile parlamentare din 1919 "la firul ierbii"'', pp. 286–294. Iași: Polirom, 2019. {{ISBN|978-973-46-7993-5}}
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