CARAGIALE, ION LUCA

born Jan. 30, 1852, Haimanale, Walachia, Ottoman Empire [now in Romania] died June 10, 1912, Berlin, Ger. Romanian playwright and prose writer of great satirical power. Caragiale's comedies expose the effects on Romanian urban society of the hasty introduction of a modern way of life and the comical results of social and political change. Conul Leonida (1879; Mr. Leonida), O noapte furtunoasa (1880; A Stormy Night), and O scrisoare pierduta (1884; A Lost Letter) are among his most popular plays. With Napasta (1890; The False Accusation), he created the peasant drama. His short stories, O faclie de Paste (1889; An Easter Torch), Pacat (1892; The Sin), and Kir Ianulea (1909), are among the best prose works in Romanian literature; Momente and Schite are vivid sketches of the change from rural to urban society.