[4] Through his grandmother, Uța Scărișoreanu, Theodorian descended from the lower ranks of Oltenian boyardom, but his family estates had been sold off to pay outstanding debts.

[5] Ion, an avid reader of literature and political science, had failed as a businessman and an actor, entering the civil service of Wallachia and then that of the United Principalities (modern Romania).

[8] In 1870, having returned to Oltenia, Theodorian Sr organized the city's riotous opposition to Domnitor Carol of Hohenzollern (in conjunction with the failed "Republic of Ploiești"), and then, helped by Carada, advanced through the party ranks.

[11] Mariu was adopted by his uncle Eugeniu and his aunt Sultana,[12] while Caton began his education at the private C. Dima Popovici Institute in his native city, where his mother was the principal.

[1] His uncle wished for him to become an officer, but Caton ran away from school, allegedly spending some time studying in Paris,[14] then working for Teodor Popescu's theatrical troupe as a prompter, copyist and extra.

[14] Theodorian headed ephemeral provincial publications such as Lumina ("The Light", 1890), which hosted his literary debut, and was for a while both editor and writer at Adevărul and Naționalul,[1] often signing as Alexandru Răzvan, Olymp, and Zaveră.

[20] In parallel to his writing, Theodorian advanced through with his bureau jobs, working as second inspector for State Monopolies in 1896, and being assigned a clerical position at Bucharest Police Headquarters in 1897.

[14] In April 1898, while commanding the police unit in Gara de Nord, he apprehended a ring of mail thieves who had thrived on transited Western merchandise.

[25] Theodorian returned to short-story writing with Prima durere, followed by Calea sufletului ("The Way of the Soul", 1909), then La masa calicului ("At the Cadger's Table", 1911), also debuting as a novelist with the 1908 Sângele Solovenilor ("Blood of the Soloveni").

[27] He was by then involved with the Romanian Writers' Society (SSR), having joined its embryonic predecessor in 1908–1909, and becoming an executive committee member of the reorganized forum in November 1911,[28] reelected in 1912 and 1914.

[30] As noted by literary historian George Călinescu, while lacking "a particular career", Theodorian maintained a "sumptuous" lifestyle; also: "beyond [his] outbursts of violence and a domineering nature, he was a sentimental character.

"[36] He eventually returned with a tragedy, Ziua cea din urmă ("That Last Day"), hosted by Noua Revistă Română in 1912,[37] and staged at Bucharest's Modern Theater by Marioara Voiculescu's company in 1913.

[45] During the first two years of war, with Romania maintaining a cautious neutrality, Mariu Theodorian became a major proponent of non-alignment, speaking out against supporters of both the Entente and the Central Powers.

[47] An expert in canon law,[48] he was noted as a critic of the Romanian Orthodox Church, having argued, as early as 1897, that "all true Christians will end up turning to Rome.

In his 1965 recollections, Eftimiu claims that, while he had trouble making ends meet, Theodorian "knew how to take care of himself, though not by hard work, nor by mental concentration.

[61] In the meantime, the fall of Bucharest had left Romania divided: King Ferdinand, his government, and the army proceeded to Western Moldavia, where they continued resistance; in the Wallachian south, Conservative Lupu Kostaki [ro] and his allies tolerated, or collaborated with, the German occupation.

[64] Mariu remained in office under the emergency cabinet of Constantin Coandă, during which time Romania gravitated back toward the Entente camp: an interlude of "anarchy", as he himself put it.

As he explained in letters addressed to Liviu Rebreanu, he resented the "cheeky" Romanian Ententists who had escaped to France, advocating a purge of those who had "pushed us into a crazy war".

Created solely by Theodorian's efforts, it fulfilled his dream to give dramatists more social standing, and, on his initiative, offered special prizes specifically for Romanian-themed comedies.

[84] Jucării sfărâmate ("Broken Toys"), which came out in 1927,[76] unusually premiered at Chișinău National Theatre, Bessarabia, Theodorian having decided he preferred this over the Bucharest equivalent[85] (the latter only staged it in 1936).

From March 1938, alongside Ioan Alexandru Brătescu-Voinești, Emanoil Bucuța, Maria Filotti and Constantin Kirițescu, he led the General Directorate of the Press and Propaganda, which dealt with both promoting regime literature and censoring out its critics.

[90] During his Petale and Prima durere years, Theodorian borrowed inspiration from his Craiova colleague, Traian Demetrescu, producing novellas about aggrieved figures—pious prostitutes, marginalized officers, altruistic girls.

A. Bassarabescu: urban-themed but longing for the "patriarchal" environment of the countryside, this "quite uniform" literature is "rather better in its miniature portrayals [of] aged maniacs and most of all survivors from a bygone era".

He reserved some praise for the more "dramatic" ones, such as Calea sufletului, in which the protagonist, an Orthodox priest, confronts the notary and a band of robbers to protect his charity box.

"[92] Contrarily, Nicolae Iorga of Sămănătorul found the works illuminating, with Theodorian as "master of the smooth and solid form", including "one of the best stories ever written in Romanian.

"[93] Summarized by George Călinescu as "literature opposing boyars to the upstarts",[94] its more lively elements, according to Lovinescu, are its recurring samples of Theodorian's native Oltenian dialect.

[96] Heredity is also the background theme in Povestea unei odăi, where Lady Zinca tries her best to fend off destiny, keeping her grandson uninformed about his father's gambling addiction.

[99] Călinescu notes that, beyond superficial similarities with the plays of Émile Augier, Bujoreștii is original in depicting Fotin, a boyar, consumed not by thoughts of his mortality and his lineage dying out, but by the notion of eternity adapted to the Romanian psyche: he desperately wants his name to live on, not necessarily his aristocratic genes.

[14] On its 1921 premiere in Iași, Bujoreștii was noted by critic D. Razu for its richness of detail, with "every scene [...] a tiny work of drama"; a disadvantage of this was a certain slowness of action, which left actors with fewer lines simply "caged" on the stage.

[100] Written on the same structure as Bujoreștii, these works often touch on romantic subjects, particularly so Comedia inimii—in which Amos makes his return; and Greșeala lui Dumnezeu—in which the architect Scutaru is present to fill in the same mediating role.