The Modern Novel

Biography

Mihail Sebastian was born Iosif Hechter to a Jewish family in Brăila in 1907. He studied law in Bucharest but soon turned to writing, publishing novels and writing plays. He belonged to a group calledCriterion which came under the influence of Nae Ionescu, noted for his far-right politics and anti-Semitism. As a Jew, Sebastian often felt excluded. When he published De două mii de ani (For Two Thousand Years), about life as a Jew in Romania he asked Ionescu, with whom he was still on good terms, to write a preface to it. Ionescu wrote a vitriolic, anti-Semitic introduction to it. After considering it and discussing it with his publisher, Sebastian left the introduction in the published version. The result was that he was criticised by both Jews and the far right.

His response was to write Cum am devenit huligan [How I Became a Hooligan] which addressed the various issues and the comments by both sides.I was born in Romania, and I am Jewish. That makes me a Jew, and a Romanian., he stated.

He later became best known for his plays though he also wrote a journal, published posthumously, detailing the anti-Semitism he had suffered. He was killed when hit by a lorry in 1945.

Other links

Mihail Sebastian
Mihail Sebastian
Mihail Sebastian
Mihail Sebastian
Mihail Sebastian
Mihail Sebastian
The Jew as Pariah (about publication of De două mii de ani (For Two Thousand Years ))