Benjamin Fondane (French pronunciation:[bɛ̃ʒamɛ̃fɔ̃dan]) or Benjamin Fundoianu (Romanian pronunciation:[benʒaˈminfundoˈjanu]; born Benjamin Wechsler, Wexler or Vecsler, first name also Beniamin or Barbu, usually abridged to B.; November 14, 1898 – October 2, 1944) was a Romanian and French poet, critic and existentialist philosopher, also noted for his work in film and theater. Known from his Romanian youth as a Symbolist poet and columnist, he alternated Neoromantic and Expressionist themes with echoes from Tudor Arghezi, and dedicated several poetic cycles to the rural life of his native Moldavia. Fondane, who was of Jewish Romanian extraction and a nephew of Jewish intellectuals Elias and Moses Schwartzfeld, participated in both minority secular Jewish culture and mainstream Romanian culture. During and after World War I, he was active as a cultural critic, avant-garde promoter and, with his brother-in-law Armand Pascal, manager of the theatrical troupe Insula.
Fondane began a second career in 1923, when he moved to Paris. Affiliated with Surrealism, but strongly opposed to its communist leanings, he moved on to become a figure in Jewish existentialism and a leading disciple of Lev Shestov. His critique of political dogma, rejection of rationalism, expectation of historical catastrophe and belief in the soteriological force of literature were outlined in his celebrated essays on Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud, as well as in his final works of poetry. His literary and philosophical activities helped him build close relationships with other intellectuals: Shestov, Emil Cioran, David Gascoyne, Jacques Maritain, Victoria Ocampo, Ilarie Voronca etc. In parallel, Fondane also had a career in cinema: a film critic and a screenwriter for Paramount Pictures, he later worked on Rapt with Dimitri Kirsanoff, and directed the since-lost film Tararira in Argentina.
A prisoner of war during the fall of France, Fondane was released and spent the occupation years in clandestinity. He was eventually captured and handed to Nazi German authorities, who deported him to Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was sent to the gas chamber during the last wave of the Holocaust. His work was largely rediscovered later in the 20th century, when it became the subject of scholarly research and public curiosity in both France and Romania. In the latter country, this revival of interest also sparked a controversy over copyright issues.
BenjaminFondane (French pronunciation: [bɛ̃ʒamɛ̃ fɔ̃dan]) or Benjamin Fundoianu (Romanian pronunciation: [benʒaˈmin fundoˈjanu]; born Benjamin Wechsler...
1921, he befriended and influenced thinkers such as Edmund Husserl, BenjaminFondane, Rachel Bespaloff, and Georges Bataille. He lived in Paris until his...
to the avant-garde trend, notably BenjaminFondane and George Bacovia. Like in the cases of Eugène Ionesco and Fondane, Cernat proposes, Samyro sought self-exile...
Man Ray's films Matt Robinson's films Stark Electric Jesus (India) BenjaminFondane's poems Fuyuhiko Kitagawa's or Iku Takenaka's poems For Rent (Sakutaro...
Desbordes [fr] (1944) Robert Desnos (1945) Luc Dietrich (1944) Benjamin Fondane (1944) Charles Hainchelin (1944) Maurice Halbwachs (1945) Max Jacob (1944)...
John Steuart Curry, American painter and academic (d. 1946) 1898 – BenjaminFondane, Romanian-French philosopher, poet, and critic (d. 1944) 1900 – Aaron...
1991 Czechoslovakia Philosopher Also associated with phenomenology BenjaminFondane November 14, 1898 – October 2 or 3, 1944 Romania Author, poet, film...
2009, he received the Prix Goncourt de la Poésie In 2011, he won the BenjaminFondane International Prize for Francophone Literature In 2011, he was awarded...
existentialist themes are Martin Buber, Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Lev Shestov, BenjaminFondane, Franz Kafka, Franz Rosenzweig, Hans Jonas, Emmanuel Levinas, Hannah...
Maxim Ziese – Siebenstein Edwin James Brady – Wardens of the Seas BenjaminFondane – Ulysse Mascha Kaléko – Das Lyrische Stenogrammheft: Verse vom Alltag...
his writing was no longer considered relevant. As poet and critic BenjaminFondane argued in 1921: "It took Haralamb Lecca ten years to realize how much...
businessman (b. 1843) Rudolf Schmundt, German general (b. 1896) October 2 BenjaminFondane, Romanian-French Symbolist poet, critic and existentialist philosopher...
Saint-Exupéry, Enrique Díez Canedo, Agnes Mary Frances Duclaux, Edith Durham, BenjaminFondane, Giovanni Gentile, Henri Ghéon, Jean Giraudoux, Philippe Henriot, Max...
poet and essayist Vladimir Colin, short story writer and novelist BenjaminFondane, poet, playwright, and literary critic Abraham Goldfaden, poet and...
Alexandru Zub Alumni Sorin Antohi Teoctist Arăpaşu Gabriela Creţu BenjaminFondane Dimitrie Gusti Horia Hulubei Nicolae Iorga Traian Lalescu Nicolae Malaxa...
Timothy Ferris – The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report BenjaminFondane (died 1944) – Le Voyageur n'a pas fini de voyager Stephen Fry – Moab...
photography. In that same period he became a friend of the Romanian poet BenjaminFondane and met Yves Tanguy, who would later introduce him to the circle of...
few weeks after the liberation of Theresienstadt concentration camp BenjaminFondane 1898–1944 French poet, literary critic Jewish, French Resistance gas...
roots and bucolic echoes from Romanian traditionalism, poet and critic BenjaminFondane (Fundoianu) became a leading exponent of this process. Over the late...
various local companies and promoters. Among the latter, he cites Zissu, BenjaminFondane, Ion Marin Sadoveanu, Armand Pascal, Sandu Eliad, Scarlat Callimachi...
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