Synopses & Reviews
This chronicle of the dark years of Nazism by the Romanian Jewish writer Mihail Sebastian, long delayed in its publication, has aroused a fury in Eastern Europe where appraisals of the Nazi period have been frozen in the cliches of old Communist regimes. In this respect the book resembles Victor Klemperer's massive diary from Germany, but Sebastian's Journal is a much greater literary achievement. It is now translated into English for the first time. Sebastian journalist, novelist, playwright was an elegant stylist who moved from theme to theme with admirable ease. His Journal offers a lucid and finely shaded analysis of erotic and social life, a Jew's diary, a reader's notebook, a music-lover's journal. Above all, it is an account of the rhinocerization of major Romanian intellectuals whom Sebastian counted among his friends, including Mircea Eliade and E.M. Cioran, writers and thinkers who were mesmerized by the Nazi-fascist delirium of Europe's reactionary revolution. In poignant sequences that are not easily forgotten, Sebastian touches on the progressions of the machinery of brutalization and on the historical context in which it developed. Under the pressure of hatred and horror, his writing maintains the grace of its intelligence. Today Sebastian's Journal stands as one of the most important human and literary documents of the climate that preceded the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Synopsis
The remarkable and many sided diary of the fascist years in Romania by a young novelist, playwright, journalist, and poet -- a Jew who counted among his friends the leading intellectuals and social luminaries of a sophisticated Eastern European culture.
Synopsis
Hailed as one of the most important portrayals of the dark years of Nazism, this powerful chronicle by the Romanian Jewish writer Mihail Sebastian aroused a furious response in Eastern Europe when it was first published. A profound and powerful literary achievement, it offers a lucid and finely shaded analysis of erotic and social life, a Jew's diary, a reader's notebook, a music-lover's journal. Above all, it is an account of the "rhinocerization" of major Romanian intellectuals whom Sebastian counted among his friends, including Mircea Eliade and E.M. Cioran, writers and thinkers who were mesmerized by the Nazi-fascist delirium of Europe's "reactionary revolution." In poignant, unforgettable sequences, Sebastian follows the grinding progression of the "machinery" of brutalization and traces the historical context in which it developed. Despite the pressure of hatred and horror in the "huge anti-Semitic factory" that was Romania in the years of World War II, his writing maintains the grace of its perceptive and luminous intelligence. The legacy of a journalist, novelist, and playwright, Sebastian's Journal stands as one of the most important human and literary documents of the climate that preceded the Holocaust in Eastern Europe. Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Synopsis
This book is a chronicle of the dark years of Nazism by the Romanian Jewish writer, Mihail Sebastian.