Mihail Sebastian’s Shakespeare
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
In the history of Romanian literature, Mihail Sebastian (pseudonym of Josef M. Hechter) fares as a playwright, novelist, journalist and essayist who lived through most of the historical convulsions of the early 20th century – mainly institutionalised anti-Semitism – before he was killed in a traffic accident at the age of 38. His literary star however proved to shine posthumously, as more than fifty years after his death, following their publication in Romania, both his Journal 1935-1944 and his novel For Two Thousand Years were translated and published in French and English, stirring up a wave of international controversy as a result of their being read as historical and political documents. Sebastian‘s worst years were the early 1940s when, practically destitute as a result of the antisemitic laws, he taught Romanian literature and Shakespeare‘s sonnets at a Jewish college in Bucharest, while avidly reading, studying and translating Shakespeare‘s works. Based on the only available information on the topic – Sebastian‘s Journal and translator Petre Solomon‘s recently published memoir (2016), this paper considers the relationship between Sebastian and Shakespeare. All through this most trying period of Sebastian‘s life, Shakespeare provided the backdrop to the unfolding events and moral support, as his readings of the Bard prove.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
Bailey, Paul. “‘I am ashamed to be sad‘: the remarkable story of a Jewish student in 1920s Romania“. The Guardian.com. March, 2016. Web. 10 Sept. 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/19/mihail-sebastian-two-thousandyears-nazism-europe
Bălu, Andi. „Dragoş Protopopescu: Cronologie“. In Dragoş Protopopescu, Gramatica vie a limbei engleze. Ediţie facsimil îngrijită de C. George Săndulescu şi Lidia Vianu, ix-xxi, Bucureşti: Contemporary Literature Press, 2011. Print.
Burgess, Anthony. English Literature. London: Longman, 1974. Print.
Călinescu, George. Istoria literaturii române de la origini pînă în prezent. Bucureşti: Ed. Minerva, 1982. Print.
Codrescu, Andrei. “Writing Without the Enemy: The First Postrevolutionary Issue of România literară”. In The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed in New Orleans and other essays, 94-103, New York: Picador USA, 1993. Print.
Cornea, Paul. Interpretare şi raţionalitate. Iaşi: Polirom, 2006. Print.
Cornea, Paul. „Întîlnire cu Mihail Sebastian”. In Ce a fost. Cum a fost. Paul Cornea de vorbă cu Daniel Cristea-Enache, 14-20, Iaşi/Bucureşti: Polirom/Cartea Românească, 2013. Print.
Cristea-Enache, Daniel. “Cum a devenit huligan (I) - Diavolul şi ucenicul său, de Marta Petreu“. Web. 3 October 2016. http://atelier.liternet.ro/articol/10083/Daniel-Cristea-Enache/Cum-a-devenithuligan-I-Diavolul-si-ucenicul-sau-de-Marta-Petreu.html
Deleanu, Andrei Ion. Doamna brună din sonete (The Dark Lady of the Sonnets). Cluj-Napoca: Ed. Dacia, 1978. Print.
Dobson, Michael. “Sonnets”. The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Eds. Michael
Dobson and Stanley Wells. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 438-440. Print.
Dutton, Richard. “Shake-speares Sonnets, Shakespeare‘s Sonnets, and Shakespearean Biography”. A Companion to Shakespeare‟s Sonnets. Ed. Michael Schoenfeldt. Malden, MA & Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. 121-136. Print.
Eliade, Mircea. “Fragment autobiografic (1953)”. In Memorii vol. 2. Anexe, 215-234, Bucureşti: Humanitas, 1991. Print.
Heinemann, Margot. “How Brecht Read Shakespeare”. Political Shakespeare. Eds. Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1994. 226-254. Print.
Holland, Norman N. Psychoanalysis and Shakespeare. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966. Print.
Kalas, Rayna. “Fickle Glass”. A Companion to Shakespeare‟s Sonnets, Ed. Michael Schoenfeldt. Malden, MA & Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. 261-276. Print.
Kott, Jan. Shakespeare - contemporanul nostru. Bucureşti: E.L.U., 1969. Print.
Manole, Dinu. “Nae Ionescu a fost o vreme Dumnezeul lui”. Adevărul de weekend 4-6 Nov. 2016: 17. Print.
Manolescu, Nicolae. Istoria critică a literaturii române. 5 secole de literatură. Piteşti: Ed. Paralela 45, 2008. Print.
Matheson, Tom. “Christian criticism”. The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. Ed. Michael Dobson and Stanley Wells. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 78. Print.
Micu, Dumitru. „Sebastian, Mihail“.Dicţionarul general al literaturii române. S/T, Ed. Eugen Simion. Bucureşti: Ed. Univers Enciclopedic, 2007.152-156.
Moscovici, Serge. Psychologie sociale. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1984. Print.
Ó Ceallaigh, Philip. “Mihail Sebastian mi se pare echilibrat”. Adevărul de weekend 4-6 Nov. 2016: 17. Print.
Partridge, Eric. Shakespeare‟s Bawdy. London & New York: Routledge, 2005. Print.
Sebastian, Mihail. De două mii de ani.... Bucureşti: Humanitas, 1990a. Print.
Sebastian, Mihail. Cum am devenit huligan. Bucureşti: Humanitas, 1990b. Print.
Sebastian, Mihail. Journal 1935-1944. The Fascist Years. Transl. from the Romanian by Patrick Camiller. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012. Print.
Sebastian, Mihail. Jurnal. 1935-1944. Bucureşti: Humanitas, 2016. Print.
Shakespeare, William. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, edited by W.J. Craig. London & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1957. Print.
Smith, Bruce. “I, You, He, She, and We: On the Sexual Politics of Shakespeare‘s Sonnets.“ Shakespeare‟s Sonnets: Critical Essays. Ed. James Schiffer. New York: Garland, 1999. 411-29. Print.
Solomon Petre. Un personaj care-mi poartă numele. Colaj memorialistic 1923-1947. Bucureşti: Humanitas, 2016. Print.
Sommer, Andrei. „Mihail Caffé. Memorii. Anii de război” Web. 6 October 2016. http://sommercaffe.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/8-anii-de-razboi/comment-page-1.
Stănescu, Gabriel. Nae Ionescu în conştiinţa contemporanilor săi. Bucureşti: Criterion Publishing, 1998. Print.
Strier, Richard. “The Refusal to be Judged in Petrarch and Shakespeare”. A Companion to Shakespeare‟s Sonnets. Ed. Michael Schoenfeldt. Malden, MA & Oxford: Blackwell, 2007. 73-89. Print.
Şerban, Geo. Dimensiunea Sebastian. Incursiuni documentare. Bucureşti: Ed. Hasefer, 2013. Print.
Traversi, Derek. “Shakespeare: The Young Dramatist”. The Age of Shakespeare. Ed. Boris Ford. Middlesex & Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1964. 179-200. Print.
Trevelyan, George Macaulay. English Social History. A Survey of Six Centuries. Chaucer to Queen Victoria. London: Pelican Books, 1967. Print.
Vasiliu, Luiza. “How‘s Mihail Sebastian Doing in the UK?” Web. 6 October 2016. http:// www.scena9.ro/en/article/hows-mihail-sebastian-doing-in-the-uk.
Vianu, Lidia. “Predarea limbii engleze pentru români, azi: între imitarea prin conversaţie şi predarea inteligentă”. Web. 3 October 2016. http://rseas.ro/predarea-limbii-engleze-pentru-romani-azi-intre-imitarea-princonversatie-si-predarea-inteligenta/
Vianu, Tudor. „Shakespeare ca poet al Renaşterii”. In Studii de literatură universală şi comparată, 57-69, Bucureşti: Ed. Academiei RPR, 1963a. Print.
Vianu, Tudor. „Eminescu şi Shakespeare”. In Studii de literatură universală şi comparată, 565-567, Bucureşti: Ed. Academiei RPR, 1963b. Print.
Vianu, Tudor. „Umanitatea lui Shakespeare”. In Studii de literatură universală şi comparată, 79-90, Bucureşti: Ed. Academiei RPR, 1963c. Print.
Volceanov, George. „Un altfel de Shakespeare - unul fără perdea”. Dilema veche : 21-27 Aprilie 2016: iii. Print.
Volovici, Leon (ed.). Mihail Sebastian. Dilemele identităţii. Cluj-Napoca: Biblioteca Apostrof, 2009. Print.
Volovici, Leon. „Prefaţă”. In Mihail Sebastian, Jurnal. 1935-1944, 5-11, Bucureşti: Humanitas, 2016. Print.