Imaginea/imaginile lui Mihail Sebastian azi
Image(s) of Mihail Sebastian Today

Summary/Abstract: Until the 1990s, Mihail Sebastian is dedicated two monographs (by Ştefănescu, 1968, and Grăsoiu, 1986) and occupies a peripheral position in the literary canon, as established in the seminal history of literature by G. Călinescu (1941), with a lasting effect of more than four decades, exactly how Sebastian feared. With the publication of the Journal (1996), a major change takes place in the reception of Sebastian, in that the focus shifts from his novels and plays to his diary and essays. Talking and writing about him, now, involves mixing history with romance, fiction with non-fiction. This paper is intended to provide a bird’s eye view over some recent interpretations of his life and work, in the Romanian essay and theatre. By revisiting his “bearing witness” literature, contemporary critics were able to construct and deconstruct several images (The Jew under Fascism, The Dissident or The Intellectual under dictatorship, The Man in troubled times), that pervaded from the high into the popular culture. So, Sebastian’s figure (de)materialized further on in some postmodern theatrical texts and representations, mixing private/ public histories/ fantasies, which resulted in products of relative success, raising also some cultural and legal controversies.

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