Intamplari in irealitatea imediata

Bucharest: Vremea, nd, 1936 Octavo, wrappers, 88pp. Frontispiece portrait of author by S. Perahim. Max Blecher (1909-1938) writer of genius who contributed to the interwar Romanian avant-garde, a surrealist whose writings show strong kinship to Kafka, Bruno Schulz and Robert Walser, with the special talent of “making a home in misfortune" (Crohmalniceanu). His work began in 1930 with sketches published in the journal Bileta de papagal of Tudor Arghezi and his correspondence with Geo Bogza, I. Voronca, Sasa Pasa, Mihailescu et al in Romania as well as international literary and philosophical luminaries of the day. Marked by a tragic development at 19 (bedridden by a bone tuberculosis, Pott's disease) Blecher died at 29. Max Blecher’s prose is found in three novels, Intamplari in irealitatea imediata (1935), Inimi cicatrizate (1936) and Vizuita luminata, the latter only published in 1971. They are all of great literary significance. Only recently are they appearing in translation. Intamplari is probably the most provocative of all three and the most discussed, a surrealist fantasy based on the entrapment of life in a sanitarium impinging on chaos and fractured, multiple worlds. Blechner's first editions from 1930s Romania are extremely scarce. Blecher's works are acknowledged to be major contributions to 20th-century literature. This copy appears to be the trade edition of unstated number, but undoubtedly small. No copies found in worldcat of this first edition.