Benjamin Fondane – born Wechsler – was born in Jassy (Iaşi), Romania, on November 14th 1898. His father, Isaac Wechsler, a merchant, died in 1917. His mother, Adela Schwarzfeld, belonged to a prominent family of Jewish intellectuals: her father, Benjamin Schwarzfeld, founded the first Jewish school in Jassy and her brothers (Elias, Moses and Wilhelm) were acknowledged scholars.
From 1912, aged 14, Fondane began to sign his first articles, under the pseudonym B. Fundoianu. From 1916 to 1918, he published his first translations from Yiddish poetry in various Jewish reviews; his “biblical sonnets”, a gospel-inspired metaphysical drama, Le Reniement de Pierre; and a Romanian version of Le Festin de Balthazar. Biblical themes are recurrent in his first works and in 1919 an important
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Citation: Guedj, Dominique. "Benjamin Fondane". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 July 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12580, accessed 22 November 2024.]
