Journal, 1935-44

Paperback (02 Jan 2003)

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Publisher's Synopsis

Mihail Sebastian was a promising young Jewish writer in pre-war Bucharest, a novelist, playwright, poet and journalist who counted among his friends the leading intellectuals and social luminaries of a sophisticated Eastern European culture. Because of Romania's opportunistic treatment of Jews, he survived the war and the Holocaust, only to be killed in a road accident early in 1945. His remarkable diary was published only recently in its original language and is here translated into English for the first time.

Sebastian's Journal offers not only a chronicle of the darkest years of European anti-Semitism but a lucid and finely shaded analysis of erotic and social life, a reader's notebook, and a music lover's journal. Above all, it is a measured but blistering account of the major Romanian intellectuals, Sebastian's friends, writers and thinkers who were mesmerised by the Nazi-fascist delirium of Europe's 'reactionary revolution'. In poignant and memorable sequences, Sebastian touches on the progression of the machinery of brutalisation and on the historical context that lay behind it.

One of the most remarkable literary achievements of the Nazi period, Sebastian's journal vividly captures the now-vanished world of pre-war Bucharest. Under 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 intelligence, standing as one of the most important human and literary documents to survive from a singular era of terror and despair.

About the Publisher

Pimlico

Pimlico

Established in 1991 Pimlico has become leading paperback publisher of specialised, award-winning, high-end non-fiction. Areas of interest cover Politics, for example Bernard Donohue?s Downing Street Diaries Art, such as John Richardson?s prize-winning biography of Picasso Biography, for example Norman Sherry?s 3-part acclaimed biography of Graham Greene, and History, with authors such as Gillian Tindall, Charles Freeman and Anthony Read. Readable, informative, entertaining and important, Pimlico ? with its easily recognizable spines and innovative design ? publishes books that matter.

Book information

ISBN: 9780712683883
Publisher: Random House
Imprint: Pimlico
Pub date:
DEWEY: 940.5318092
DEWEY edition: 21
Language: English
Number of pages: 642
Weight: 745g
Height: 235mm
Width: 155mm
Spine width: 34mm