Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - An haife shi a Uzunu, Giurgiu County, iyayensa sune Anghel Cartojan da Maria ("née" Petrescu). Ya kammala karatunsa daga Kwalejin Kasa ta Saint Sava ta Bucharest a 1902. Daga nan sai ya shiga makarantar adabi da falsafar Jami'ar Bucharest, inda Ioan Bianu ya kasance ɗaya daga cikin farfesa, kuma ya kammala karatu a 1906. Tun da farko, ya sami sha'awar adabin Romanian na farko da kuma binciken rubuce-rubucen Laburaren Kwalejin Romanian, inda ya yi aiki daga 1906 zuwa 1912. A lokaci guda, shi mataimakin malami ne. Daga 1912 zuwa 1914, Cartojan ya halarci kwasa-kwasan kwararru a Jami'ar Friedrich Wilhelm da ke Berlin. Bayan ya koma Bucharest, an nada shi darektan makarantar motsa jiki ta Ioan Maiorescu. Ya auri Sevastia Condeescu a ranar 14 ga Afrilu, 1916. Bayan da Romania ta shiga yakin duniya na 1 da kuma Tsakiyar Tsakiya ta mallaki Bucharest
a watan Disamba na shekarar 1916, an mayar da gidan wasan motsa jiki sansanin da ake tsare da fursunonin yaki na Romania da Rasha. Cartojan ya ci gaba da koyarwa na ɗan lokaci a makarantun sakandare na Matei Basarab da Gheorghe Lazăr; bayan da sojojin mamaye suka ɗaure shi na ɗan gajeren lokaci, ya sami damar sake buɗe makarantar motsa jiki a Giurgiu.