Max Blecher
Max Blecher | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Poet,Novelist |
| Nationality | Romanian |
| Period | 1934-1939 |
| Genre | poetry,fiction,novel,diary,memoir,correspondence |
| Subject | Pott's Disease |
| Literary movement | Surrealism, Avant-Garde, Modernism |
| Notable works | Adventures in Immediate Unreality, Scarred Hearts |
Max Blecher (born September 8, 1909, Botoşani,Romania - d. May 31 1938, Roman, Romania) was a Jewish Romanian Novelist and Poet best known for his Surrealist novels based loosely around his then incurable illness spinal tuberculosis also known as Pott's disease. Romanian critics call him the principal representative of authentic literature.
Biography
His father owned a glass factory. He moved with his parents during childhood to Roman, Romania. He studied French and English literature, and translated from the French and English into Romanian. During these years he discovered the poetry of Tudor Arghezi and wrote essays on William Blake and Soren Kierkegaard. For university-level studies, he studied Chemistry in Paris, France at the Medical faculty of the University of Paris. When he was 19, he contracted Pott's disease and would spend the next ten years until his death in sanatoriums. He first went to the sanatorium in Berck sur Mer, France, then to Leysin, Switzerland and finally to Techirghiol in Romania. His first book of poetry Corps Transparent (engl. Transparent Body) was published in 1934 with the help of his friend Geo Bogza. His first novel Întâmplari în irealitatea imediat?; Inimi cicatrizate or Adventures in Immediate Unreality was published in 1936. His books were rediscovered starting in 1970, and especially after the fall of communism in 1989.
Major Works
He was aided by his friends Geo Bogza and Saşa Pană in publishing his poetry and novels.
1. Blecher, Max, Vizuina luminată, ediţie şi note de Saşa Pană, Bucureşti, Editura Cartea Românească, 1971
2. Blecher, Max, Întâmplari în irealitatea imediată; Inimi cicatrizate, Bucureşti, Editura Gramar, 1995
3. Blecher, Max, Întâmplări în irealitatea imediată; Inimi cicatrizate; Vizuina luminată; Corp transparent; Corespondenţă, Bucureşti & Craiova, Editura Vinea & Editura Aius, 1999
4. Blecher, Max, Max Blecher, mai putin cunoscut, Bucureşti, Editura Hasefer, 2000
5. Blecher, Max Scrisori către Geo şi Elisabeta Bogza în Max Blecher, mai puţin cunoscut, Bucureşti, Editura Hasefer, 2000
Translations
Max Blecher's books have been translated into English, French, German, Czech and Hungarian. Andre Breton gave one of the first translations of one of Blecher's poems into French. The German translation of Inimi cicatrizate, entitled Vernarbte Herzen was number 1 on Die Zeit's list of Notable Books.[1]
English Translations
1. Scarred Hearts, Julian Semilian (trans.) London, Old Street Publishing (2008) ISBN 978-1-90584-718-1
2. Adventures in Immediate Unreality, ISBN XXX-X-XXXXX-XXX-X
3. Adventures in the Immediate Unreality, Alina Savin (trans.) [2] [3]
4. Poem Pastoral trans. Victor Pambuccian [4]
Notable Translations in other Languages
1. Aus der unmittelbaren Unwirklichkeit, Herta Müller (Trans.), Frankfurt, Suhrkamp Verlag (2003) ISBN 978-3-518-22367-3
2. Aventures dans l'irréalité immédiate, Marrianne Sora Paris, M, Nadeu (1989) ISBN 978-2862310855
3. Vernarbte Herzen, Ernest Wichner (Trans.), Frankfurt, Suhrkamp Verlag (2006) ISBN 978-3-518-22399-4
Literary Criticism and Influence
He become a hero in Mihail Sebastian's famous Journal. Eugène_Ionesco has compared him to Franz Kafka. Numerous books have been written about him in Romanian. He is often also compared to Bruno Schulz and Robert Walser.
- "…a unique writer… a remarkable stylist… he attracts and conquers with his sense of humor by which he intends to overcome the tragic side of his existence…" (Camil Baltazar).
- "Rise to expression by the Romanian art, from that Jewish blood, cursed and abused for so long, M. Blecher is, for us, the Jews from Romania, a distinction, an escutcheon, a pleading" (Felix Aderca).
- "Intamplari is a book without correspondence in the Romanian literature. I would link it with Nadja, a book about magic and raving which will survive its author, Andre Breton" (Sasa Pana).
- "Hailed by Ionesco as a master, Blecher’s writing combines the stark lucidity of Kafka’s prose with the literary sensibility of Proust and the atmosphere and setting of Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain."
(Romanian Cultural Center London [5])
External Links
- "The Complete Reviews"'s critical review of Adventures in Immediate Unreality [6]
- "The Complete Review'"s critical review of Scarred Hearts [7]
[[Category:Romanian Poets]