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Max Blecher
Even at a young age it was clear that Max Blecher (1909-38) was quite talented. By age 16 he had been published by a prominent Bucharest magazine and by 19 he began medical school in Paris. During this year of medical school Blecher was diagnosed with tuberculosis of the spine, or Pott’s disease, and was forced to abandon his studies. He sought treatment at various sanatoria in France, Switzerland, and Romania but the disease was incurable. The treatment at the time was prolonged bed rest and a plaster body cast, which encased Blecher for the remainder of his life. Blecher spent this decade between his diagnosis and death by writing two novels, one book of poetry, and numerous articles and translations. He also continually corresponded with some of the great writers and philosophers of the time, including Geo Bogza, André Breton, André Gide, and Martin Heidegger. His writing was deeply influenced by surrealism and rich with metaphors and dream-like moments. Often compared to Kafka, Blecher wrote about his illness without an element of self-pity. He died at the age of 28. Adventures in Immediate Irreality will be published by New Directions on 17 February 2015.
 

Articles Available Online


Adventures in Immediate...

fiction

January 2015

Max Blecher

TR. Michael Henry Heim

fiction

January 2015

I can picture myself as a small child wearing a nightshirt that comes down to my heels. I am weeping desperately, sitting on a...

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fiction

September 2011

In the Aisles

Clemens Meyer

fiction

September 2011

Before I became a shelf-stacker and spent my evenings and nights in the aisles of the cash and carry...

Interview

Issue No. 2

Interview with Richard Wentworth

Ben Eastham

Interview

Issue No. 2

Richard Wentworth is among the most influential artists alive in Britain. He emerged in the 1970s as part of...

fiction

August 2013

Foxy

Siân Melangell Dafydd

fiction

August 2013

If you don’t want to lose your eyes, grab them by the veins sticking out of their behinds and...

 

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