A LOST LETTER

The satirical lucidity with which Ion Luca Caragiale used the formula of intelligent humour to hold a magnifying glass to the dysfunctionalities of the social mechanism recommends him as a playwright who deserves to be revisited, as an exercise in seeking equilibrium in a world in crisis. The kitsch mentality, that is, the mediocrity that proliferates especially in unstable societies, the obsession with conspiracy, the excesses of identitarianism masking a void of values, social behaviour subordinated to personal and group interests rather than the interests of the community—these are the flaws of Romanian (and not only Romanian) society that have persisted from Caragiale’s century to the present day.