Mihail Sebastian (Romanian pronunciation: [mihaˈil sebastiˈan]; born Iosif Hechter; October 18, 1907 – May 29, 1945) was a Romanian playwright, essayist, journalist and novelist.
Sebastian was born to a Jewish family in Brăila. After finishing his secondary studies, Sebastian went on to study law in Bucharest, but was soon attracted to the literary life and the exciting ideas of the new generation of Romanian intellectuals, as epitomized by the l...
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Mihail Sebastian (Romanian pronunciation: [mihaˈil sebastiˈan]; born Iosif Hechter; October 18, 1907 – May 29, 1945) was a Romanian playwright, essayist, journalist and novelist.
Sebastian was born to a Jewish family in Brăila. After finishing his secondary studies, Sebastian went on to study law in Bucharest, but was soon attracted to the literary life and the exciting ideas of the new generation of Romanian intellectuals, as epitomized by the literary group Criterion which included such luminaries as Emil Cioran, Mircea Eliade and Nae Ionescu. Sebastian published several novels, including Accidentul ("The Accident") and Oraşul cu salcâmi ("The Acacia Tree City"), heavily influenced by French novelists such as Marcel Proust and Jules Renard.
Although initially an apolitical movement, Criterion came under the increasing influence of Nae Ionescu's own brand of philosophy, called Trăirism, which mixed jingoistic nationalism, existentialism and Christian mysticism, as well as that of the...
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