Accident (37 page)
Authors: Mihail Sebastian
Tags: #Fiction, #Espionage, #Man-Woman Relationships, #Europe; Central, #Jewish, #War & Military, #Romance Languages (Other), #Literary, #Skis and Skiing, #Foreign Language Study
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STEPHEN HENIGHAN
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mihail Sebastian (1907 â 1945) was one of the major Central European writers of the 1930s. Born in southeastern Romania, he worked in Bucharest as a lawyer, journalist, novelist and playwright until anti-semitic legislation forced him to abandon his public career. His long-lost diary,
Journal 1935 â 1944: The Fascist Years,
was published in seven countries between 1996 and 2007, launching an international revival of his work. Sebastian's novels and plays are available in translation throughout Europe, and also have been published in Chinese, Hindi, Bengali and Hebrew.
Journal 1935 â 1944: The Fascist Years,
was published in seven countries between 1996 and 2007, launching an international revival of his work. Sebastian's novels and plays are available in translation throughout Europe, and also have been published in Chinese, Hindi, Bengali and Hebrew.
The Accident
is Sebastian's first work of fiction to appear in English.
is Sebastian's first work of fiction to appear in English.
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ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Stephen Henighan's books include
Lost Province: Adventures in a Moldovan Family
,
A Grave in the Air
,
The Streets of Winter
and
A Report on the Afterlife of Culture
. A nominee for the Governor General of Canada's Literary Award, he teaches at the University of Guelph, Ontario.
Lost Province: Adventures in a Moldovan Family
,
A Grave in the Air
,
The Streets of Winter
and
A Report on the Afterlife of Culture
. A nominee for the Governor General of Canada's Literary Award, he teaches at the University of Guelph, Ontario.
1
Romanian Orthodox Epiphany, celebrated on 6 January, is the most important religious holiday after Christmas and Easter. January 24, the date on which two of the country's three constituent regions united in 1859, is also a national holiday.
2
Abraham Zissu was a millionaire Bucharest socialite and leader of the Romanian Zionist movement.
3
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627 â 1704): French bishop and royalist preacher.
4
Popular summer and winter mountain resort north of Bucharest.
5
Transylvania, where these scenes are set, had a significant German-speaking minority at this time.
6
Capital city of Transylvania.
7
Raoul Duffy (1877 â 1953): Popular French painter and decorator.
8
The most popular Black Sea resort in Romania between the two world wars, a favourite of the Romanian Royal Family. Today it is the Bulgarian town of Balchik.
9
The painters named in this passage were all leading avant-garde figures in the Bucharest art world of the 1920s and 1930s.
10
Åtefan Luchian (1868 â 1917): Romanian painter whose artistic legacy was the subject of controversy in 1930s Bucharest.
11
On June 30, 1934, Adolf Hitler's SS began to eliminate the rival right-wing paramilitary group, the SA (or Brownshirts), killing dozens, or possibly hundreds, of its members.
12
“All right, okay.”
13
“In a difficult ascent, nothing can replace the use of sealskin. The seeming inconvenience of the procedure is largely compensated for by the greater security and stability obtained.”
14
The
Siebenbürgischer Karpaten Verein
(literally, “Transylvanian Carpathian Society”) was founded in 1880 to develop the region's winter sports facilities.
Siebenbürgischer Karpaten Verein
(literally, “Transylvanian Carpathian Society”) was founded in 1880 to develop the region's winter sports facilities.
15
“You've really lost your way. Where were you going? Where are you coming from?”
16
“Oh no! That's just Saxon dialect. The two of us always talk to each other in Saxon dialect.”
17
“Many, in their wandering/ Reach the door by dark paths....”
18
“Traveller, enter silently/ Pain studs the threshold/ There shining in clear light/ Are bread and wine on the table.”
19
Georg Trakl (1887 â 1914).
20
“Wednesday, May 5, 1932.”
21
“Break, lovely morning light/ and let the heavens dawn/ fear not, you shepherds / for the angels speak to you...”
22
“The family path.”
23
“Sing out joyfully, rejoice and praise the days!”
24
Transylvania derives its German name (
Siebenbürgen
, or “seven towns”) from the seven fortress-towns founded in the region by Saxon settlers in the 12
th
century.
Siebenbürgen
, or “seven towns”) from the seven fortress-towns founded in the region by Saxon settlers in the 12
th
century.
25
“Young Grodeck, young Grodeck....”
26
Hungarian: “An Agreement Was Reached in Rome!”
Copyright © Mihail Sebastian, 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
First published as
Accidentul
by Fundatia Regala, Bucharest, Romania, 1940.
Accidentul
by Fundatia Regala, Bucharest, Romania, 1940.
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Sebastian, Mihail, 1907 â 1945
The accident / Mihail Sebastian; translated from the Romanian by Stephen Henighan.
(Biblioasis international translation series ; 6)
Translation of: Accidentul.
eISBN : 978-1-926-84534-0
I. Henighan, Stephen, 1960 â II. Title. III. Series: Biblioasis international translation series ; 6
PC839.S37A'.332 C2011-901004-6
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program.
PRINTED AND BOUND IN CANADA
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