{"product_id":"the-life-and-opinions-of-zacharias-lichter-paperback-by-matei-calinescu-translated-from-the-romanian-by-adriana-calinescu-and-breon-mitchell-introduction-by-norman-manea","title":"The Life and Opinions of Zacharias Lichter Paperback by Matei Calinescu, translated from the Romanian by Adriana Calinescu and Breon Mitchell, introduction by Norman Manea","description":"\u003cbody\u003e\n                            \n                                \n                                    \u003ch2\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h2\u003e\n                                    \u003cul\u003e\n                                        \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cb\u003eNYRB Classics\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e(2018-03-20)\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                                        \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLanguage\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003eEnglish\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                                        \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePaperback\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e160\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003epages\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                                        \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eISBN-13\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e9781681371955\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                                        \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eItem Weight\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e181.44\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003egrams\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                                        \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e8.0 x 5.0 x 0.6\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cb\u003ecm\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n                                    \u003c\/ul\u003e\n                                    \u003cbr\u003e\n                                    \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA new translation of the only novel by lauded Romanian literary critic Matei Călinescu\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eAn NYRB Classics Original \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUgly, unkempt, a haunter of low dives who begs for a living and lives on the street, Zacharias Lichter exists for all that in a state of unlikely rapture. After being engulfed by a divine flame as a teenager, Zacharias has devoted his days to doing nothing at all—apart, that is, from composing the odd poem he immediately throws away and consorting with a handful of stray friends: Poldy, for example, the catatonic alcoholic whom Zacharias considers a brilliant philosopher, or another more vigorous barfly whose prolific output of pornographic verses has won him the nickname of the Poet. Zacharias is a kind of holy fool, but one whose foolery calls in question both social convention and conventional wisdom. He is as much skeptic as ecstatic, affirming above all the truth of perplexity. This of course is what makes him a permanent outrage to the powers that be, be they reactionary or revolutionary, and to all other self-appointed champions of morality who are blind to their own absurdity. The only thing that scares Zacharias is that all-purpose servant of conformity, the psychiatrist.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis Romanian classic, originally published under the brutally dictatorial Ceauşescu regime, whose censors initially let it pass because they couldn’t make head or tail of it, is as delicious and telling an assault on the modern world order as ever.\u003c\/p\u003e\n                                    \u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n                                    \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMatei Calinescu\u003c\/b\u003e (1934–2009), born and educated in Romania, was one of the leading intellectuals of his generation. His novel \u003ci\u003eThe Life and Opinions of Zacharias Lichter\u003c\/i\u003e (published in Romanian in 1969) acquired cult status among generations  of young people despite attempts by Romanian authorities to expunge  Calinescu’s name and works from cultural memory. He emigrated to America  in 1973 and established himself in his new homeland as a literary  scholar, publishing his two major works,\u003ci\u003e Five Faces of Modernity\u003c\/i\u003e (1977; ultimately translated into eight languages) and \u003ci\u003eRereading\u003c\/i\u003e (1993), and teaching in the Comparative Literature Department at  Indiana University. After the collapse of Ceauşescu’s national-Communist  dictatorship in 1989, Calinescu was welcomed once more in his home  country. In a poll of literary critics conducted there in 2001, \u003ci\u003eThe Life and Opinions of Zacharias Lichter\u003c\/i\u003e was ranked among the top ten Romanian prose works of the twentieth  century. A sixteen-volume edition of his selected literary and scholarly  works is currently in progress.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAdriana Calinescu\u003c\/b\u003e is the Thomas T. Solley curator emerita of ancient art at Indiana  University’s Eskenazi Museum of Art. She has written widely on the  subject of ancient art and is the editor of the scholarly work \u003ci\u003eAncient Jewelry and Archaeology\u003c\/i\u003e. She has translated works from English into Romanian, including Mary Shelley’s \u003ci\u003eFrankenstein\u003c\/i\u003e, which is the standard text in Romania.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBreon Mitchell\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor emeritus of Germanic studies and comparative literature  at Indiana University. A past president of the American Literary  Translators Association, he has received numerous national awards for  literary translations, including the Helen and Kurt Wolff Prize, the  Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize from the Modern Language Association,  and the Schlegel-Tieck Prize from the British Society of Authors. His  translations from the German include Franz Kafka’s \u003ci\u003eThe Trial\u003c\/i\u003e and Günter Grass’s \u003ci\u003eThe Tin Drum\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as works by Heinrich Böll, Siegfried Lenz, Uwe Timm, and Marcel Beyer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNorman Manea\u003c\/b\u003e has written numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, including the memoir \u003ci\u003eThe Hooligan’s Return\u003c\/i\u003e and the novel The Lair. He has been awarded several literary prizes,  including the MacArthur Fellowship, the Guadalajara International Book  Fair’s (FIL) 2016 Literature in Romance Languages Award, and the Prix  Médicis étranger. He is a professor emeritus and Distinguished Writer in  Residence at Bard College.\u003c\/p\u003e\n                                \n                            \n                            \u003c\/body\u003e","brand":"Best Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"New","offer_id":45350635896993,"sku":"BBSNIJ9781681371955","price":19.95,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/2084\/5473\/files\/9781681371955.jpg?v=1762933292","url":"https:\/\/www.bestbookstore.ca\/products\/the-life-and-opinions-of-zacharias-lichter-paperback-by-matei-calinescu-translated-from-the-romanian-by-adriana-calinescu-and-breon-mitchell-introduction-by-norman-manea","provider":"Best Book Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}